Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 699 Avoiding Salary Disputes
Hollywood always has a lot of stars who like to talk about politics. For most of these guys who didn't even finish high school, talking about politics seems to make them feel more sophisticated!
Hollywood today is basically a Democratic stronghold because the Democratic Party’s stance on social issues such as abortion rights, LGBT rights, racial equality, and immigrant friendliness is highly compatible with Hollywood’s diverse and inclusive industry culture.
The Republican Party, on the other hand, leans towards conservatism on these issues (such as restricting abortion rights and tightening immigration policies), which differs from the demands of the celebrity group. In addition, the Democratic Party has greater support for the cultural and creative industries, giving them more benefits.

The controversy surrounding the recount of votes in Florida has brought the two parties to the brink of conflict, with each attacking the other.

George W. Bush's majority of the states with fewer electoral votes are small states, totaling 27. In contrast, Al Gore's majority of the states with more electoral votes, totaling only 12, are mostly large states with more electoral votes (such as California and New York).

Florida is clearly a large state, and its importance is self-evident. Now that the election is being handled by the judiciary, it has a huge impact on American politics!

The Southern District of Florida court allowed Democrats to conduct manual recounts in several districts of Palm Beach County;
But the Democrats are clearly not satisfied, as the scope is too small. Albert Gore's representative, Warren Christopher, hopes to extend the recount period so that the Democrats can manually count more districts, expanding the scope to the entire Palm Beach County, as well as Miami-Dade County and Broward County.

However, Florida Secretary of State Harris, on behalf of the Florida Elections Commission, refused to delay announcing the state's vote count results, which must be released at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the 14th, in accordance with state law!
This means that ballots being counted manually in the state may not be included in the final results, a major blow to the Albert Gore campaign.

On the evening of November 14, Florida Secretary of State Harris announced, "As of 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush still leads Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore by 300 votes in Florida!"

George W. Bush's campaign team immediately announced that they would accept the Florida recount results.

However, the Democratic Party clearly cannot accept this situation!
On November 15, Democratic presidential candidate Albert Gore made two proposals regarding a manual recount in Florida's presidential election:

The first suggestion was that if the Bush campaign agreed to continue manual recounts in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties in Florida, where Democratic voters hold a majority, and to include the results in the total count of the other 64 counties and overseas votes, which would be approved by midnight on the 17th, then he would accept the Florida vote count on behalf of the Democratic Party and would not file any further legal action.
The second suggestion is that if Bush prefers a manual recount of the 600 million votes in all of Florida's counties, then the Democrats will accept the new count.

Of course, Bush's Republican camp naturally rejected both suggestions. In addition, Florida Secretary of State Harris rejected the Democrats' request for a manual recount in three counties in Florida (Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County), and announced that the results of the recount in Florida would be released on the 18th.
Meanwhile, Harris also filed a lawsuit in the Florida Supreme Court, requesting the court to halt the manual vote counting in Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County.

The current focus for both sides is on the issue of manual recounts in three major counties with a majority of Democratic supporters: Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County!
There are definitely shady dealings involved, and many at that, which the Republicans absolutely will not allow. It has now reached the Florida Supreme Court.
The governor and secretary of state of Florida are both people affiliated with George W. Bush, so they definitely have an inherent advantage.

Meanwhile, at Universal Studios Hollywood, the fantasy comedy film "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" produced by Universal was having a grand premiere.
Director Ron Howard, lead actor Jim Carrey, and Audrey Geisel, the widow of the original author Dr. Seuss, attended the premiere. Aaron was also present!

Universal spent $1.23 million to make "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," including adaptation costs, actor salaries, and filming expenses.

Furthermore, Audrey Geisel demanded 4% of the box office revenue from *The Grinch*, 50% of the merchandise sales, and 70% of the book sales. In the Universal Theatre's lounge, Aaron sat on the sofa. "Dawn, is filming for *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone* finished?"

"It's almost done. Filming will wrap up at the end of the month. Special effects and post-production have already begun, and the script for the sequel, *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, has also been adapted."

"We won't wait until 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' is released before we start filming 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'."

There's no way around it, Harry Potter is incredibly popular right now. Although Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is scheduled to be released next November, the first trailer has already been released!

Aaron nodded. "After the Lord of the Rings trailer was released, I heard that the Elf Prince's appearance was very popular, right?"

Dawn Steele chuckled, "Yes, based on the feedback we've received, Peter Jackson has now taken on a significant amount of screen time as the Elf Prince."

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring will be released in the summer of 2022, which is plenty of time."

The actor who plays the Elf Prince is the young British actor Orlando Bloom, whose role is actually quite small;

However, Universal had previously released some trailer footage edited by Peter Jackson, in which he played the Elf Prince with blond hair and blue eyes, and was very handsome and stunning!

The Lord of the Rings trilogy will begin to be released in the summer of the year after next, one film per year. Of course, there will definitely be some reshoots in the middle, but that won't hurt.

However, Aaron did know a bit about Peter Jackson, and to prevent salary disputes after the Lord of the Rings trilogy became a huge success, the contract stipulated very clearly.

After all, Peter Jackson is now a nobody, not even as famous as Sam Raimi who starred in "Spider-Man";
The success of Spider-Man certainly brought Sam Raimi fame and fortune, as did Peter Jackson, but it was all within Universal's control!

(End of this chapter)