Chapter 253: The Magic Bible

"Tina? When did you get here?"

Stepping out of the VIP terminal, Duke found his personal assistant, Tina Fey, waiting for him alongside the representatives from the Warner Asia Branch Company.

"My flight landed two hours before yours," Tina Fey said, habitually taking her place beside him. "I tried to let you know, but I couldn't get through to your phone."

Duke pulled the latest Nokia from his briefcase, turning it on as he followed the Warner representatives out of the airport.

They climbed into a waiting Mercedes-Benz.

"Director Rosenberg, we've booked rooms for you and Miss Tina Fey at the Peninsula Hotel," the man named Jensen said.

"Thank you," Duke said with a nod. "Let's head to the hotel first."

Once the car started moving, the man added, "Phil and his deputy are currently negotiating separately with Mr. Yuen and Mr. Cheng. They won't be able to come see you until this afternoon."

Duke frowned. "They're still refusing to yield?"

"Yes, they're refusing to budge on the price."

The specifics would have to wait until he met with the head of the Warner Asia Branch Company. Duke said nothing more. He glanced at Tina Fey, who was struggling to keep her eyes open beside him, and shook his head.

"Tired?" he asked. "Get some sleep."

Tina Fey knew Duke's temperament and didn't decline. "I'll just rest my eyes for a bit," she said with a smile. "Wake me when we get to the hotel."

With outsiders present, it wasn't the right time to discuss the details of the London trip. Combined with her jet lag, Tina Fey fell asleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes.

When Tina Fey felt someone shaking her arm and opened her eyes, she realized the car was already parked in front of the hotel. She hurriedly pushed the door open and stepped out, carrying Duke's briefcase for him as they walked into the hotel's elevator lobby and headed up to the luxury suites on the top floors.

Entering the presidential suite, Duke dismissed the Warner representatives with a few words and dragged his luggage into the master bedroom.

He came back out, pointed to the second bedroom, and told Tina Fey, "Go sleep off your jet lag first."

"Let's talk about work first," she replied.

Walking over to the bar in the suite's living room, Tina Fey expertly brewed a pot of coffee. She brought it over, poured a cup for Duke and one for herself, and sat down in an armchair. Breathing in the rich aroma of the coffee to refresh herself, she began to recount her negotiations in London.

"The author, Joanne Rowling, is a single mother and a newly debuted writer," she said. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is her first official work."

Listening to her report, Duke took a sip from his coffee.

"Keep it brief," he said.

Tina Fey smiled at him.

"The sales for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone haven't been good," she continued. "They haven't brought any substantial change to Rowling's tight financial situation. She lacks confidence herself and isn't optimistic about the book's prospects. Honestly, she was the easiest to convince. The main reason negotiations have dragged on until now is what I mentioned on the phone—her literary agent is a bit difficult. Plus, the first draft of her second book is already finished and she's currently revising it..."

"You did beautifully, Tina," Duke said, highly approving of her results. "If the film becomes a massive hit in the future, you'll be the Vice President of Duke Studio."

"A Vice President over a dozen people?" Tina Fey muttered. "If it weren't for her literary agent, we could have gotten the film and merchandise rights for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for two hundred thousand dollars at most."

"You've already done an outstanding job getting the price down to two hundred and forty thousand dollars," Duke said.

Duke remembered very clearly that Warner Brothers had originally spent two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to acquire those rights. Furthermore, Tina Fey had negotiated not only for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but had also bought the related rights for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at the same price. On top of that, the two parties had signed an agreement giving Duke Studio the right of first refusal for the subsequent works in the Harry Potter Series.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone hadn't been on the market for long. Just as Duke had expected, without a massive promotional campaign, the sales numbers were dismal. From what Tina Fey had observed, Joanne Rowling had only just managed to get off government welfare.

If he couldn't even take advantage of a situation like this, there was no point in him staying in Hollywood.

Thinking about how to handle the future of the Harry Potter Series, Duke and Tina Fey returned to their respective bedrooms to sleep off their jet lag. By the afternoon, they felt much more refreshed. After getting off the phone with the Warner Asia Branch Company, they met them in the evening at the Peninsula Hotel's western restaurant.

Warner had been contacting Yuen Woo-ping and Cheng Xiaodong on Duke's behalf. They had put a lot of effort into it, but there hadn't been much progress.

"Phil, I never thought I'd see you here."

Sitting in a booth at the restaurant, Duke handed his phone to Tina Fey and exchanged familiar greetings with their host. The man used to be a deputy manager at Warner Brothers and had worked in Burbank, so the two were reasonably well acquainted.

"It's been a few years, and your name has only gotten bigger," Phil said.

After Duke and Tina Fey finished ordering, Phil handed the menus back to the waiter. He pointed toward the city outside the window.

"Even here, you're a top-tier director everyone knows, just like Spielberg."

Duke turned to look at the pedestrians passing by outside before bringing his gaze back to the man across from him.

"Phil, let's talk about the situation," he said.

"Hong Kong cinema might be in decline, but the people in the film industry here are as shrewd as ever." Phil didn't beat around the bush. "They know we need them, and they know Hollywood can't supply authentic kung fu internally, so they're demanding an astronomical price. Cheng and Yuen seem to have reached a tacit agreement. They're both stubbornly demanding two million dollars and won't back down."

"No room to negotiate?" Duke frowned.

"Their original asking price was five million dollars," Phil said with a helpless smile. "This is the result of a long negotiation. It's likely their absolute bottom line."

Two million dollars was, at best, the salary of a B-list Hollywood actor. It didn't seem like much, but an action choreographer was absolutely not worth that price, even if they had kung fu skills that Hollywood lacked.

Duke knew very well that these people in Hong Kong were trying to slaughter him like a fat sheep.

But was a fat sheep really that easy to slaughter?

True, he felt exceptionally fond of their yellow skin, black eyes, and black hair, but he wasn't stupid enough to bring those sentiments into a business negotiation. Besides, would the other party see a gweilo like him as one of their own? Even if they did, they wouldn't show any mercy when taking the knife to him.

He also hadn't forgotten the true nature of many of the people working in this city's film industry...

"So there's really no room to talk?" Duke asked.

Phil sighed. "I've already negotiated with them for three rounds at this price, but there's been no progress. They have plenty of confidence because the gap between them and the other action choreography teams here is incredibly obvious."

Duke nodded. "I understand."

If it really didn't work out, he could just abandon the kung fu element entirely. There was more than one way to display program conflicts; other fighting styles could be choreographed to look just as cool.

Duke had never been rigid, nor did he believe anyone was irreplaceable—even himself.

However, for a company like Warner that had long since entered the Hong Kong market, their methods weren't limited to above-board negotiations.

Phil spoke up suddenly.

"Duke, you might not know this, but Cheng and Yuen aren't successful just because of their own skills; it's also because they have fully developed teams working under them. Those people are as important to them as assistant directors and cinematographers are to a director. The two of them might refuse to budge, but the people under them might feel differently. Warner is currently having people contact their teams privately. This city is going through a massive upheaval. I understand how many of these people think. There are definitely quite a few who would love to go to Hollywood to build their careers and earn dollars."

Looking at the guy, Duke confirmed that this was indeed Phil, though it seemed his white exterior now housed a decidedly local mindset. He had clearly absorbed plenty of inspiration and influence during his years in Hong Kong.

"There are other angles, too."

It was obvious that Phil represented the attitude of the entire Warner organization; they were truly doing their utmost.

"Warner has business dealings with some of Yuen's friends and partners," Phil said. "We can always influence him from the sidelines."

Like all Hollywood-style negotiations, the bargaining was never confined to the negotiating table.

Phil then promised that these backchannel methods were already making progress and that he would have a result for Duke very soon.

Since Warner was being so enthusiastic and proactive, Duke had no reason to refuse. It was his first time visiting Asia in this lifetime, so he simply took Tina Fey out to tour the city.

It was April of 1997, and the city was on the verge of massive changes. Neither Duke nor Tina Fey were really in the mood for sightseeing. They just took casual walks around a few famous attractions before continuing to communicate with Warner to stay updated on the progress of the situation.

His time was limited, and he couldn't wait around here indefinitely. If they couldn't get an ideal result in the near future, it would be better to just give up and choose another fighting style.

Perhaps the city's impending changes had made people restless. According to the news from Warner, after a few rounds of contact and the offer of certain prices, someone in Yuen Woo-ping's team quickly expressed a desire to develop their career in Hollywood. Instigated intentionally by Warner and certain individuals blinded by greed, these people even began networking to rally more members to their side.

Anyone with even a little foresight could easily see that Hong Kong cinema had already declined and that Hollywood was the center of the global film industry. Looking from the outside, the pay over there was higher, and the opportunities were greater. Furthermore, with people like John Woo and Jack Chen setting the precedent of achieving global fame and fortune, how many people could truly resist the temptation of wealth and status?

The strongest fortresses were always dismantled from the inside. Just like the initial stages of this affair had been for Duke, some things simply couldn't develop entirely according to personal wishes. Duke had wanted to use a chip of around five hundred thousand dollars to invite Yuen Woo-ping's team, but the other party stubbornly held out for two million.

When key members of his team successively expressed their desire to jump ship—with a few faintly showing signs that they would go to Hollywood even if it meant falling out with him—and when many business partners stepped up to persuade him or analyze the pros and cons, even Yuen Woo-ping was forced to compromise. Much like a director's production crew, an action choreographer couldn't run the show all by themselves. In a new round of negotiations with Phil, both sides finally found a middle ground and reached an agreement on the issue of compensation.

Yuen Woo-ping and his team would serve as the action choreographers for The Matrix, with a total compensation of eight hundred thousand dollars.

Because of how this series of events unfolded, Duke couldn't be bothered to go meet Yuen Woo-ping in person. He left Tina Fey in charge of finalizing the last details of the negotiation with the other party while he departed from the city and returned to North America. Having lived in this world for over two decades, he knew perfectly well where his true foundation lay.