hunt hollywood

Sofia Fish looked at the check in her hand again, and said, "In this case, 120 million francs is actually not much."

120 million francs, which is about 18 US dollars according to the exchange rate at this time, which is equivalent to the annual salary of a vice president of a Fortune 500 company. In the 80s, this annual salary level is definitely considered a high-income earner.

Simon noticed the obvious hints in words and deeds after Sofia Feixi appeared today, and because he just needed it, he sent out this job invitation temporarily. Hearing this, he said: "Sophia, it's like raising a cat. You can't always Feed them too much, so the cat will become more dependent on the owner."

"Mister Westeros, do you think women are cats?"

"Yeah, as the most capricious creature in the world, I never expect too much from you," Simon nodded, and said, "So, the first year is only 120 million francs, but as long as you satisfy me, Maybe 10 years later, you can get 1200 million francs, or even 1200 million US dollars."

"Is this a promise?"

"Calculate."

"I suddenly feel, Mr. Westeros, according to your current spending speed, you may not be able to pay this salary ten years from now."

"It's not a problem, because before that, you may have decided to leave."

Sofia Feixi hesitated this time before saying, "I won't do that."

"I'm glad to hear that from you, but still can't give you a raise right away."

Sophia Feixi showed an intellectual and good-looking smile on her face, and said, "What if I want to resign one day?"

"You may be responsible for a very large asset next, so let me know six months in advance."

Sophia Fish nodded: "Then, Mr. Westeros, I have no problem."

"But I have another question." Simon looked at the woman in front of him again, and said, "I need to know what kind of woman I hired."

Sofia Feixi nodded and said, "I will prepare a resume for you."

"No, I mean, do you have certain pasts that you absolutely don't want outsiders to know?"

Sophia Feixi thought for a while, then shook her head: "No."

"In this case, I will hire a detective company to do a 'resume' about you, I hope you don't mind."

Sophia Feixi said: "I mind very much."

Simon said: "You can stop, and I can only say sorry, but I must ensure that the people I hire do not have violent tendencies, mental illness history, criminal records, etc."

Sofia Fishy looked at Simon strangely: "Violent tendencies and history of mental illness?"

Simon froze for a moment, then smiled and spread his hands, saying: "Yes, this is probably a very dangerous job, you can think about it carefully, and let me know the result before I leave Cannes."

"Mr Westeros, but you will be leaving in an hour."

"The opportunity is fleeting."

Sofia Fish hesitated for a moment, but said, "I will draw up my own employment contract as soon as possible."

Simon snapped his fingers: "A wise choice."

Chapter 172 Debt-to-Equity Swap (Revised)

Simon returned from Cannes, and the media discussion and controversy over Pulp Fiction's Palme d'Or became more intense as the film approached its release, even overshadowing Ronald Reagan's upcoming state visit to the Soviet Union at the end of the month.

During the two weeks he left, he had accumulated too much work. Before Simon could fully adjust to the jet lag, he quickly threw himself into the busy company affairs.

In addition to "Pulp Fiction", "Instinct", which is set to be released on July 7, has entered the final stage of final editing since it started filming in February. As an investor, screenwriter and the person who is most familiar with the selling points of this project, Simon naturally wants to participate.

Fox Pictures, which is in charge of the distribution of "Instinct", released the film's first TV trailer during Simon's participation in the Cannes Film Festival, and the film will be submitted to MP for rating in early June.

During this period, Dustin Hoffman made some changes to the script of "Rain Man" on the spur of the moment. The filming cycle of the film was inevitably extended again, and it is expected to be completed by the end of June.

When Simon heard the news in Cannes, he could only hope that the project would not exceed the $2500 million production budget, and he also realized that Tom Cruise's own screenwriting team will make all the movies he starred in, whether the ending is good or bad. Where did the 'Tom Cruise movie' get its bad stuff.

In addition to "Rain Man", the progress of projects such as "Scream", "Steel Magnolia" and "Dead Poets Society" seems to be much smoother. The selection of the actor of "Batman" has entered the third round, and Simon has also started Get involved yourself.

He participated in a lot of sample viewing, production meetings and casting auditions for a lot of projects. On May 5th, Simon flew to New York again to participate in the NBC "Johnny Carson Tonight Show" promoting "Pulp Fiction" Recording, because of several reality shows, Amy Pascal also rushed to the East Coast with Simon.

At the same time, the competition for the summer file has also become fierce.

Due to the weak word-of-mouth and box office of Lucasfilm and MGM's special effects blockbuster "The Gathering", Paramount and Samsung unanimously chose to advance the release time of "Crocodile Dundee 2" and "First Blood 3" Wednesday, May 5th.

作为1986年度仅次于《壮志凌云》的票房亚军续集，《鳄鱼邓迪2》的最终上映银幕规模达到2837块。希尔维斯特·史泰龙主演的《第一滴血3》开画银幕数也达到2562块。

5月20日到5月26日一周时间，《风云际会》七天累计票房为1105万美元，位列周票房排行榜No.1位置。

Ranked No. 2, "Crocodile Dundee 2" had a box office figure of US$475 million within two days of its opening.

"First Blood 3", No.3 on the list, had a two-day box office of 446 million US dollars.

值得一提的是，《第一滴血3》的制作预算完全达到了失控级别的6300万美元。相比起来，两年前首部曲只是北美就取得了1.74亿美元票房的《鳄鱼邓迪2》制作成本依旧很好地控制在1400万美元。

And, this summer is coming up with another movie with a seriously out-of-the-budget budget, Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Disney originally prepared a budget of 4500 million US dollars for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", which is already a rare large-scale production level in the 80s, but Robert Zemeckis eventually pushed the production cost of this project to 7000 million US dollars.

The current Disney simply can’t afford the failure of a project with a budget of 7000 million US dollars. Although Simon knows that the final box office data of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is very good, but during this period, Disney’s internal project is already popular because of this project. In a state of panic, several persons in charge let out the news in advance to help themselves shirk their responsibilities.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit has a release date of June 6, let alone that.

Squeezed by three new films, "When Harry Met Sally", whose box office curve has always been very bright, dropped by 33% this week, far exceeding the single-week decline of only [-]-[-]% since its release.

In the 11th week of its release, "When Harry Met Sally" received another US$411 million, with a cumulative box office of US$9423 million, one step closer to breaking [-] million.

Simon was juggling Westeros business while arriving in New York to film The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.

Jennifer's father, James Raybould, has settled the loan matters during this period, Westeros' investment in several companies such as Cisco, and some important affairs of many technology companies in which the company has shares, and many related contract documents. And so on, Simon needs to discuss with James Raybould to review and sign in person.

the other side.

Negotiations between Amy and the TV network continue.

The four major TV networks have expressed interest in the four reality show plans proposed by Daenerys Films, but because Daenerys Films wants to gain the initiative as much as possible so as to share more profits in the later stage, things are not going well. It was too smooth.

TV networks generally classify these reality shows as traditional variety shows. This type of program is usually created by an industry production company or producer, and the TV network buys the idea, invests in it and owns the copyright.Even if it is outsourced, the production company in charge of the program often only earns simple labor fees. If the ratings of the program are high, they may get an additional bonus, that's all.

Simon would never accept such a condition anyway.

Phenomenal reality shows such as "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and "Survivor" were enough to support the ratings of a TV network in the original time and space. In my memory, only the annual advertising revenue can bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the TV network. Profits, and the effect of the program on boosting the ratings of the entire TV network is even more immeasurable.

Moreover, once this kind of reality show is successful, the future overseas production authorization fee will also be a very considerable income.Just like "Who Will Be a Millionaire", this reality show has reprinted versions in dozens of countries around the world at its peak, and copyright fees are required for these.

If the copyright is handed over to the TV network, the profits that Daenerys Pictures can share in the future will definitely shrink significantly, and the overseas licensing fees that can continue to generate income will have nothing to do with the company.

Upper East Side, Raybould's apartment.

It's already June 6st. Last night, "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" aired a special interview with the main creator of "Pulp Fiction", and the film is one step closer to being released.All the pre-publicity and marketing work has been completed, and the next step is to look at the market performance of this movie.

Tonight is a dinner invitation from the Raybould family. Apart from Simon and Amy, the friends of the Raybould family, Robert Iger and his wife, also came together.

After this period of see-saw, Daenerys Pictures finally reached the first contract with ABC on "Who Will Be a Millionaire" yesterday.

ABC Television Network will acquire the North American copyright of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", and Daenerys Pictures will retain the copyright of the project outside of North America and will be solely responsible for the production of this program.According to the terms of the contract, ABC Television Network cannot get rid of Daenerys Films to produce this program alone. At the same time, it is impossible for Daenerys Films to transfer this program to other television networks in the United States.

It can be said that this is a contract that neither party can kick out.

In addition, the project production budget and competition bonuses are borne by Daenerys Films, and ABC pays for each season's program subscription fees according to the ratings.Daenerys Films will then pre-produce a continuous week of pilots to test the program's effects, and determine to broadcast the following week starting June 6.

If the program meets the viewing standards, the two parties will negotiate the subscription price for the first season.

This year's autumn file has been severely affected by the screenwriter's strike. Once the trial broadcast of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" is passed, ABC plans to order 69 episodes at one time, and broadcast 3 episodes a week, which just fills the traditional 23 episodes of the TV network from autumn to spring. Week schedule.

As an indoor reality show, "Who Will Be a Millionaire" does not have a high production budget for each episode. Basic venue recording and other expenses only cost about 20 US dollars, and the bonus of 100 million US dollars is not so good. Taken, the average total bonus payout of $10 per period is more than enough.

However, even if calculated on the basis of an expenditure of US$30 per episode, the cumulative production cost for a total of 69 episodes of the entire season will exceed US$2000 million, which is obviously a lot of money.

The break-even line given by ABC is 1000 million viewers in the fall.

The audience size is less than 1000 million, and the subscription price of the programs that ABC can provide will also be less than 2000 million US dollars.Within the tolerable viewing range of the TV network, if Daenerys Pictures wants to keep this program, it can only rely on self-raised in-program sponsorship fees to make up for the production budget.

In this era when cable TV has not yet become popular, although the threshold of 1000 million viewers is not low, it is definitely not high.This also shows that ABC does not have much expectation for "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

In addition, because the trial broadcast time is the most popular summer program for the TV network, ABC's standard for the number of viewers of the pilot episode is 650 million.

In the restaurant, everyone was enjoying the food, and the conversation about these reality shows was naturally discussed.

Robert Iger happened to be placed across from Simon and talked about "Who Will Be a Millionaire", and the ABC executive turned the topic to "Survivor": "Simon, I actually think "Survivor" Much more interesting than "Who Would Be a Millionaire". Still, the show is too risky because of the coherence of the plot, it has to do one season at a time, it can't schedule a pilot, and it can't be right off the bat in case of poor ratings Cut it off. Therefore, I think it is best to arrange it to be broadcast in the summer file. If it succeeds, it can be transferred to the autumn file. If it fails, it will not have too much impact on the TV network.”

Simon nodded in approval, and shook his head again: "Unfortunately, Bob, although we have done a lot of preparatory work, it must be too late in time."

Many popular reality shows in my memory were actually put on the summer schedule for trial broadcast first, and then re-adjusted to the popular schedule after success.Reality TV isn't on the rise right now, and Robert Iger can easily see that, which certainly shows the network executive's keen professional sense.

"Actually, now is just an opportunity. Everyone has no programs to broadcast this year, so we can only take some risks." Robert Iger continued with a smile: "So, Simon, if you can make some concessions on the terms of cooperation , I can call Daniel right now to finalize this matter."

Now that "Who Will Be a Millionaire" has signed, Simon is no longer so eager for the other three reality shows.As long as the pilot episode next month can be successful, there will naturally be no shortage of buyers for these projects, and Daenerys Pictures will also be able to gain more initiative.

Of course, if you fail, there is nothing you can do.

"Bob, the cooperation conditions for "Survivor" I can accept are similar to "Who Will Be a Millionaire". This is a win-win cooperation plan, and I don't think I have any room for compromise," Simon shook his head and refused, Then he continued: "Speaking of which, Bob, if the TV business of Daenerys Films develops well in the future, are you willing to jump to help me?"

Simon had only made some temptations through James Raybould before, and at this time he raised it in front of everyone, and everyone in the restaurant looked at Robert Iger.

Robert Iger was also a little surprised, but he still said quickly: "Simon, if there is a better career development platform, I would be happy to change jobs. But I don't see this kind of Daenerys Films yet. potential."

Simon laughed: "Can I take this as a promise?"

"You are an amazing young man, and I am also curious about what will happen to work for you. So, why not," Robert Iger shrugged, and asked Simon again under everyone's unexpected eyes: "I remember You tried to acquire New World Entertainment at the beginning of the year?"

Unexpectedly received a reply from Robert Iger, Simon did not hide this matter, saying: "That's right, I still haven't given up on this effort."

"New World Entertainment is still very strong in the field of TV program production," Robert Iger commented: "It's a pity that the pace of expansion is too large, and they have encountered stock market crashes and strikes in succession. They are destined to be unable to escape this catastrophe."

Simon nodded, looked at James Raybould, and asked, "Jim, what is the latest stock price of New World Entertainment?"

James Raybould thought for a while, and said: "I don't know about it in the past few days. When the market closed last Friday, it was 8.5 US dollars, and the total market value was about 2.1 million US dollars."

When trying to acquire New World Entertainment at the beginning of the year, the company’s stock price once soared to close to 17 US dollars, and then Simon made a gesture of giving up completely. Coupled with financial deterioration and strikes, the stock price of New World Entertainment has been in recent months. fell back to the low state.

After James Raybould finished speaking, he glanced at Simon meaningfully.

During this period of time, according to Simon's order, Westeros secretly bought 123 million shares of New World Entertainment, which was still below the 5% shareholding ratio for public reporting.As long as the need arises, the Westeros Corporation can continue to absorb heavily from the open market at any time.

There is no need to be so frank with Robert Iger on this point.

Robert Iger didn't seem to think too much, but said: "Simon, if you want to get New World Entertainment, maybe you can contact General Electric."

Simon hadn't reacted yet, but James Raybould subconsciously said, "Good idea, I should have thought of it earlier."

Everyone looked at James Raybould without knowing why.

Realizing his gaffe, James Raybould smiled awkwardly and said to Simon: "General Electric is the main creditor of New World Entertainment, Simon, this company is now insolvent. If we make a public acquisition, the future We will definitely have to bear a huge debt that is almost equivalent to the market value of New World Entertainment. However, if we can buy out the debt held by General Electric, and then put pressure on New World Entertainment to perform a debt-to-equity swap operation. According to the scale of debt held by General Electric, we At least 90% of New World Entertainment’s shares can be obtained, and half of the cost can be saved.”

After listening to James Raybould's explanation, Simon quickly understood.

Of course, if this is done, retail investors in the circulation market, and even Westeros itself, which secretly holds shares, will undoubtedly become the biggest victims. A debt-to-equity ratio of 90% means that the stock in the hands of the original shareholders has directly depreciated to one-tenth of the original stock price.

but.

If New World Entertainment ends up going bankrupt and liquidated, the shares in the hands of shareholders will also become worthless.Investment is risky. Simon didn't sacrifice my dedication to help thousands of families, so he quickly made up his mind.

After dinner, it was already ten o'clock in the evening when they left Leibould's house. Simon and Leibould agreed to go to the company tomorrow morning to discuss the details of New World Entertainment. They opened the door and let Amy Pascal into the car.

Simon was going back to his apartment on Lexington Avenue in Midtown, and took Amy back to her hotel on the way.

Neil Bennett in the front row started the car, Simon and Amy chatted casually, and suddenly remembered something, said: "Amy, from tomorrow on, stop negotiating with NBC about our reality shows. "

Amy Pascal was a little puzzled: "Huh?"

Simon thought for a moment, and said, "Stop all of them, not just NBC, but also the others. You can go back to Los Angeles tomorrow."

Amy Pascal felt like she understood something, but couldn't quite sort out the joints.However, she gradually got used to not getting into the details of Simon's decision, and just said, "What about the preparations?"

Simon said: "Of course this must continue."

According to the current precarious state of New World Entertainment, Westeros' purchase of General Electric's debt can definitely help the other party avoid a large loss.However, compared to a behemoth like General Electric, Simon's strength is still too weak. Who knows if General Electric will have other thoughts.

"Who Will Be a Millionaire" will be piloted next month. If this reality show can be as successful as the original time and space, the other three reality show projects in the hands of Daenerys Films will also become a bargaining chip for Simon.

General Electric is the parent company of NBC Television Network. The original intention of this aircraft carrier-level corporate giant to invest in New World Entertainment is also to provide NBC with more content resources.At that time, Simon can rely on the reality show project with great potential in his hands in exchange for General Electric to cooperate with Westeros' debt-to-equity swap plan.

After sending Amy to the hotel, Simon hurried back to the penthouse on Lexington Avenue.

Open the door, the living room is very quiet, but the lights are on.

Simon took off his shoes and walked through the hallway. Catherine was sitting on the sofa facing the door, wearing a slim light blue wide check shirt and straight white slacks, looking down at a magazine.

Quietly turned behind the woman, and it wasn't until Simon leaned down that Catherine realized that he was back, she turned her head slightly shyly and let the man kiss her on the cheek, then went to rub her neck, and said softly: "Drink? "

Simon sniffed the woman's pleasant scent and said, "It's just some red wine."

Catherine felt Simon's two hands approaching from behind, she threw away the magazine in her hand and stretched out to hold him, her tone trembling slightly: "I, I just made coffee."