Echoes of Hollywood

In the minds of many, the financial and securities industries are shrouded in mystery, seen as high-brow fields populated by high-educated and high-IQ individuals. This is a misconception. According to several professional stockbrokers, finance doesn't require extreme specialization but does require sharp intelligence. When that intelligence is misapplied, it's easy for rascals to become financial elites. This isn't particularly unusual, as finance and securities are industries where it's easy to stray from the straight and narrow.

The entry barrier for the lowest level of financial jobs on Wall Street is quite low. The work at the bottom is mostly grunt work, while the technical jobs are handled by the top-tier elite.

Think about it: what special skills are required to attract clients? It's mainly about making calls to reel in clients. A financial background helps in using professional jargon to impress and attract clients more easily.

Reliable companies have technical teams that analyze buy and sell points, making transactions based on analysis. Unreliable companies simply push clients to trade frequently to earn commissions, regardless of the client's benefit.

So, the finance sector isn't all high-brow and elite. A client manager rising from a client-reeling grunt to a manager is just moving from small-time hustling to big-time hustling.

In the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S., due to lack of government regulation and technological limitations, Jordan Belfort's situation was very common. It was absolute financial fraud, but investigations were difficult, and related laws and regulations were incomplete.

Back then, major transactions were still done with cash and over the phone, making it difficult to monitor communications, accounts, and assets.

From the mid-1990s onwards, especially with the rapid development of electronic computers in the new century, this approach became outdated.

High-frequency trading strategies, utilizing cutting-edge computers to trade in fractions of a second, have rendered Belfort's fraud and trading methods obsolete.

"Jordan Belfort's brokerage wasn't the pinnacle of the financial industry because they were technically just intermediaries earning commissions."

After Gal Gadot finished reading that part of the script, Murphy added, "There's a saying, 'Only those close to money can make money.' So it's said that the biggest earners on Wall Street are rarely these intermediary firms. They thrive on stability. The rags-to-riches stories mostly belong to traders, fund managers, private equity, or venture capitalists. However, they're also the ones who can go bankrupt overnight. The true elites of finance are typically those making massive amounts of money quietly. A billion-dollar private equity firm might not even be known by many within the industry."

Gal Gadot nodded. "I remember a line from Belfort's book, 'When companies like Merrill Lynch get involved, we won't stand a chance.'"

"They can't compare to Merrill Lynch," Murphy said, never believing that this "Wolf of Wall Street" could truly dominate Wall Street.

Although Belfort achieved considerable scale, his fraud amounted to over a hundred million dollars. Even considering inflation, it's no more than half a billion today, which is still far less than the real financial giants.

Finance is about wealth redistribution, not creation. It's a zero-sum game of moving money from one pocket to another.

Murphy recalled his university days when finance and stock markets were seen as prestigious.

One alumnus, unable to find a suitable job in the film industry, was recruited by a friend to work as a broker in a securities firm.

Starting with an intern salary of 1800 RMB, with no commission for the first three months, he made 60,000 in his best month but was once chased by clients and too scared to eat out.

Initially, his job was cold-calling from a list purchased from real estate companies and car dealerships. After two months, he moved to customer service, making idle talk in chat groups.

The company had a bunch of so-called former traders, given grand titles, who acted as mentors.

In some respects, Belfort's autobiography wasn't wrong—rascals, thugs, and crooks can make it big in finance.

In simpler terms, "hustling" has always been a very profitable skill.

Regardless, with the help of Wall Street professionals, Murphy and his writing team completed the financial and securities scenes in the script smoothly.

Murphy also finalized the tone of the future film—a wildly uninhibited and satirical dark comedy.

In the following weeks, the hired screenwriters continued to fill in the content within the framework Murphy set, while he modified the script's opening, changing it from a linear narrative to a flashback structure. For a biographical film, flashbacks were a more suitable narrative style.

Typically, the opening scene depicts the beginning of the story, but some films start mid-story, later transitioning to that point and continuing the story from there, adding depth and intrigue.

This approach enriches the story structure, creates more dramatic tension, and keeps the audience engaged, preventing them from getting bored with a straightforward plot.

Meanwhile, Murphy considered the cast. After discussing with Robert Downey Jr. and Jonah Hill, he tentatively decided they would play Jordan Belfort and his sidekick Donnie Azoff, respectively.

However, their specific salaries would depend on 20th Century Fox's review and the finalized investment budget.

Given their market rates, $20 million for both Robert Downey Jr. and Jonah Hill seemed reasonable.

By mid-March, the first draft of the script was completed. Since Murphy only provided the outline, most of the actual content was handled by hired screenwriters. This assembly-line scriptwriting significantly improved efficiency and saved time, but the final review had to be done by Murphy to catch any issues.

For assembly-line scripts, the leader must self-review.

First, Murphy checked all scenes involving the protagonist, ensuring Jordan Belfort was always active. A protagonist must stay in control and never give up, as a passive hero can't attract the audience.

This is a fundamental principle in character creation. Even Frodo Baggins, tricked by Gandalf, became proactive at Elrond's council.

Hollywood follows this principle religiously, as does the Pacific, such as in the popular "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf." Gray Wolf is a highly popular character because he has traits of a successful protagonist: never giving up, proactive, unwavering in his goal to catch sheep.

Despite numerous setbacks, Gray Wolf never gives up, earning him widespread admiration.

The second aspect of self-review was ensuring Belfort always stayed in the audience's view. Even if some scenes didn't feature him, they still had to be about him.

If supporting characters appeared more than the protagonist, it might warrant a separate script for the side characters, risking the film's success.

Murphy also reviewed all character dialogues. Each screenwriter had to read their lines aloud to Murphy and themselves. If all dialogues sounded like one person, the script needed major revisions.

Supporting characters were not overlooked. Even secondary roles needed distinctive traits to enhance the script's overall quality.

Finally, Murphy had lawyer Robert review the script to spot any legal issues related to Jordan Belfort.

Additionally, he avoided potential copyright conflicts.

Scriptwriting is inherently commercial, rarely entirely original or purely personal inspiration. Hollywood's assembly-line scripts share similar frameworks, such as the classic underdog story of rising to the top.

While the structure and patterns aren't new or old, the difference lies in details like the protagonist's personality, behavior, and opportunities, gradually unfolding for the audience.

With an experienced lawyer like Robert, major issues were unlikely.

After reviewing the script, Murphy promptly sent it to Kara Faith for 20th Century Fox's approval. Before the review was even complete, investors approached Murphy to finance the film.

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