In New York, Manhattan, Capet Pictures, negotiations began after the company revealed its intention to develop a live-action film based on Hasbro's popular transformers toys.
However, what Charles did not expect was that Hasbro had the idea of bringing transformers to the big screen as early as 2002.
New Line Cinema, DreamWorks Pictures, and Capet Pictures began a three-way battle for the rights, which immediately made Charles feel a sense of crisis.
He flew directly from Los Angeles to Hasbro's headquarters in Rhode Island, determined to personally persuade Hasbro's executives.
Producers Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto, along with Hasbro's chief operating officer Brian Goldner, met with Charles at Hasbro's headquarters.
Producers Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto had started the adaptation of the live-action transformers quite early but had not been very successful.
The interest shown by New Line Cinema and DreamWorks also put Hasbro in a dilemma, and this year, Hollywood's talented filmmaker Charles Capet also joined the competition.
"transformers was the highlight of my entire childhood; no boy doesn't love it. I did think about adapting it very early on, but the CG technology might not have met my requirements, and the massive production budget also made me hesitate."
"Now, I feel that I have sufficient capability, and the live-action transformers movie can enter development and preparation, with the improvement of technology, the accumulation of funds, and my understanding of film."
"The adaptation will be based on the main story of the animated version, focusing on the world view of Cybertron, the origin of the autobots, and the conflict between the two factions. However, the live-action version cannot be a movie only suitable for children. We need to incorporate some storylines that adults will enjoy, striving to make this series appealing to all ages!"
...Charles spoke eloquently on stage, starting from the transformers' universe, discussing the Collaboration between the animated version and toys, as well as the design of the models, and so on!
Hasbro's chief operating officer Brian Goldner knew Charles's capabilities, and he was further assisted by two producers, Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto, who had a deep understanding of Hollywood.
He might not fully understand the specifics of film production, but he generally grasped the concepts and was very interested in Charles's proposal for "transformers Worldview Development."
"Charles, we don't doubt your professionalism, but transformers is our ace card at Hasbro, and we don't want to develop it too casually," Brian Goldner said to Charles.
Don Murphy, who was beside him, also reminded, "Spielberg also seems to have a strong interest in the live-action transformers; he has always been a very childlike director in Hollywood!"
"New Line Cinema has developed the lord of the rings series and has sufficient experience," Tom DeSanto also explained.
Charles smiled, "Both of you are very familiar with Hollywood. I presume you are also clear about DreamWorks' current situation, and you should know how busy Mr. Spielberg is."
"He doesn't have time to direct. As for New Line Cinema, it indeed has experience in operating blockbusters. However, Capet Pictures already has three film projects exceeding 100 million US dollars in operation. mr. & mrs. smith will be released soon this summer, so there is no need to doubt Capet Pictures' experience and ability in developing blockbusters."
What Charles said was true. DreamWorks already had the idea of joining a major film studio, just waiting for the failure of the island to accelerate this process. As for New Line Cinema, it showed no sincerity at all, and seemed to feel little pressure regarding whether to obtain the transformers series.
After all, toy-adapted movies are much less popular than game adaptations!
However, Spielberg's status in the industry was simply too high. If he personally directed the live-action transformers, Charles believed that Capet Pictures would have no competitive advantage.
But Charles knew that Spielberg found Michael Bay to direct, and even spent time lobbying him, because Michael Bay's feeling about the live-action transformers movie at that time was that it was a stupid toy movie.
"Charles, who is the director you have in mind?" asked Don Murphy, one of the producers.
"J.J. Abrams!" Charles replied.
"The director of Lost, a screenwriter by profession, a very talented person. He should be filming Tom Cruise's mission: impossible iii right now," Don Murphy quickly explained.
"That's right, J.J. Abrams is a very capable filmmaker. Although he was in television before, his directorial debut being mission: impossible iii also shows his ability. Otherwise, Tom Cruise wouldn't have waited a year for him," Charles continued to explain,
"The live-action transformers cannot just have dazzling special effects and fight scenes; it needs a complete story to support its vast world view. What I want is to build this series into a sci-fi special effects blockbuster series that can rival harry potter!"
Brian Goldner laughed, "Charles, what you said is excellent. transformers needs to be built into a long-lasting explosive series. The continuity of the plot and story is very important; just having action scenes is absolutely not enough!"
This chief operating officer of Hasbro naturally hoped to see the continued popularity of the live-action transformers movie, as the profits the toy market would gain would be unimaginable.
Charles stayed in Rhode Island for three days, trying his best to persuade Hasbro's executives, but Hasbro would not so easily sign a copyright development agreement with Capet Pictures right now.
Because, in the eyes of many, if the great director Steven Spielberg directed it, the movie would already be half successful!