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Robert Iger, who was in charge of TV program production at ABC, successfully took over and restarted a series of TV drama projects under New World Entertainment.

New World Entertainment has accumulated a very good foundation in the past few years, and this matter has not encountered too many difficulties.

Although there are some voices in the American Screenwriters Guild who want members to resist cooperation with Daenerys Films, however, the blockade of a large number of second- and third-tier film companies in Hollywood has already greatly reduced the choice of screenwriters. In the face of a large number of job opportunities in the industry to start multiple projects at one time, there are not many screenwriters who have enough confidence to initiate resistance.

It is difficult for a trade union of more than 1 people to work together without mandatory constraints.If you don't want the job, there are too many people lining up to take it.

While restarting the TV business, the integration of Daenerys Pictures and New World Entertainment is also advancing rapidly.

On August 8, the new company after the initial adjustment officially held a press conference, announcing that the former Daenerys Films and New World Entertainment were reorganized into Daenerys Entertainment Group.

After this integration, Daenerys Entertainment will retain three film labels, namely Daenerys Films, New World Pictures and another independent label originally owned by New World Entertainment, Gaomen Films ( Highgate Film).

Before that, because of the start-up of the company, whether it was a romance film like "When Harry Met Sally", an anti-genre film like "Pulp Fiction", or a B-grade horror film like "Death Comes", all They are all produced by the same label of Daenerys Films, which is actually very detrimental to the company's brand building.

Now, Simon intends to use these three labels to be responsible for different types of films.

Daenerys Pictures will focus on mainstream commercial films such as "When Harry Met Sally", "Rain Man" and "Batman" in the future, and New World Pictures will take over "Scream", "Scream" and "Batman". Violent, thriller, and horror-type film productions such as Death Comes.

As for Gaomen Films, Simon intends to let it set foot in the field of art films.

The Weinstein Brothers' Miramax has not yet risen, and art films are just tasteless in the eyes of many major film companies, and the reality does tend to be this way.

In today's Hollywood, a good-quality art film, after a few months or even a year or two of operation, is lucky to make a profit of 1000 million US dollars, which is considered very successful.But in the eyes of major studios, this may only be equivalent to their weekly income.

What a lot of people in Hollywood don't notice, though, is how much more successful arthouse movies are if they can run each year.Then, the cumulative income brought by this business will be very considerable.What's more, there must be no shortage of dark horses at the box office in art films.

Not only that, but doing so can quickly expand the film library resources of a film company.

Hollywood's videotape and DVD industries will thrive for at least another 20 years, and the development of the cable television industry continues to increase demand for movie content.Under such an industry background, it is very beneficial for any film company to have a movie library with rich content and resources.

In order to implement this as soon as possible, Simon put all the original outsourcing film teams under New World Entertainment under the banner of Gaomen Films.

The film production cycle is long, but when it expands to the whole world, new films will be completed every day. The first thing the Gaomen Films team will do next is to search for various high-quality film copyright belts around the world. distribution in North America.

In addition to the three major labels, the company also reorganized the original distribution team.

Also for brand building, the company's theatrical distribution team will be divided into two, a Daenerys distribution company for the distribution of mainstream commercial films, and a New World distribution company responsible for both New World Pictures and Gaomen Pictures. Film distribution under a label.

Daenerys Entertainment will also form Daenerys Home Entertainment for videotape and television distribution.

Both theatrical distribution teams and Daenerys Home Entertainment are headed by Robert Rehm.

In terms of TV business, the company will set up Daenerys TV Company, which will be led by Robert Iger and will be responsible for the production and distribution of all TV projects under the company.

The special effects of Daenerys under the charge of Mark Silvers were also merged into Daenerys Entertainment in this reorganization, focusing on the research and development of film CG special effects and 3D animation technology.

As for Marvel Entertainment, this comic book company that has not attracted much attention from the industry in this acquisition will not launch any movie plans in the short term.However, the company will not only maintain its independent operation in the future, but will also bypass the three executives of Amy, Iger and Rem, and be directly responsible to Simon personally.

After initially completing all this, the summer file of 1988 also came to an end.

8月11日，在北美院线上映恰好20周的《当哈利遇上莎莉》全线下档，最终累计票房1亿1092万美元。

According to the original contract signed with Disney, Daenerys Pictures will recover 3550 million US dollars of box office revenue from the box office. Silk Film will recover a total of 3000 million US dollars.

After deducting the $1500 million in production costs and the share with British Craft Films, Daenerys Pictures can get a net profit of $3030 million from these two parts of the proceeds.

After the window period of the next three months, Daenerys Pictures will also launch the videotape release of this film, which will continue to bring huge profit returns to the company.

Although it can only get [-]% of the net income, Handicraft Films has become the envy of many independent film producers.

Many independent producers in Hollywood may not be able to earn the return that the handicraft film industry obtained from "When Harry Met Sally" after several years of operation.Dennis O'Brien, head of Craft Films, has been in frequent contact with Daenerys Films during this period, hoping to continue to cooperate.

Then on August 8, the 18th week of its release, the North American box office of "Pulp Fiction" reached 11 million US dollars, temporarily ranking No.1 on the North American annual box office list. Orion Films swept it all with just this one project. In the first half of the year, the company's performance was dull.

In its fifth week of release, "Basic Instinct" received another $1021 million at the box office, bringing its cumulative box office to $8276 million.The controversial film has significantly outperformed the original and is set to break $1988 million within the next three weeks, making it the third Daenerys film to hit $[-] million at the box office in [-].

Santa Monica.

Although New World Entertainment also has a larger office in Burbank, Daenerys Entertainment is temporarily headquartered in an office building on 4th Street in Santa Monica.

In the blink of an eye, it was already August 8.

Although he handed over the company's business to several executives as much as possible, Simon was still extremely busy during this time. In addition to the preparation of "Batman", he also has to take care of the post-production work of the four films "Rain Man", "Scream", "Steel Magnolia" and "Dead Poets Society".

Just this aspect basically consumed most of Simon's week.

After the initial integration, the original film projects under New World Entertainment also need Simon to personally participate in sorting out, and it is impossible for him to completely ignore the several TV series that the TV department is promoting.

Although New World Entertainment was already in serious trouble before the acquisition, it still has a lot of film and television projects in progress.Although he failed to find any films with the potential to sell at the box office, Simon can't cut all these projects that have invested a lot of manpower and material resources.

In addition, in order to avoid the embarrassing situation of Daenerys Entertainment's film release next year, Simon also needs to allocate energy to select new film projects.

In such a busy environment, Simon's planned trip to Australia could only continue to be delayed.

The conference room at Daenerys Films headquarters.

"Next, this is a film that New World Pictures originally planned to invest in with two other independent production companies. The production team has invested 30 US dollars in early development, and has signed a contract of intent with Timothy Dalton, the actor of 007, and Brooke Shields, the heroine of the "Pretty Baby". The budget is $1500 million, with the three companies contributing $500 million each."

After a brief introduction, Amy Pascal looked at Simon who was sitting on the other side, and suggested: "I think this project is very interesting and can be continued. Timothy Dalton and Brooke Shields are both famous. Yes, if necessary, we can also cancel the cooperation with the other two companies and invest independently."

After flipping through the project information in his hand, Simon looked up at Amy and said, "What do you think is the selling point of this movie?"

Amy thought for a while and said: "The biggest selling point is the creativity of comic writers into their works, which will bring a very wonderful sense of substitution to the audience. Moreover, Timothy Dalton and Brooke Shields People’s box office appeal is also sufficient. Brooke Shields seems to be still in love with Michael Jackson, which is also a very beneficial publicity point for us.”

After listening to Amy, Simon said: "If you think it's okay, then go ahead. However, the script must be revised, and I need a clearer storyline."

Amy paused, looked at Simon and said, "You don't like this movie?"

Simon only remembers some sporadic information about the box office failure of this film, and Brooke Shields completely lost her foothold in Hollywood because of the box office failure of this film.

However, combining various information, Simon also knows that the failure of the original space-time project was largely due to the internal turmoil of New World Entertainment. At that time, whether the company could continue to survive was a problem, and it was impossible to focus on movies. make.

A film has to go through too many links from the script to the finished film. If the script is reprocessed and matched with Daenerys Entertainment's current production and distribution capabilities, it is unlikely that the same mistakes will be repeated.

With the scale of the company, it is simply not realistic for Simon to only invest in producing films that can sell at the box office.Moreover, with an investment of 1500 million US dollars, even if it fails, Daenerys Entertainment can fully afford it now.

"My opinion doesn't matter, Amy, you need your own judgment. However, for this project, Brooke Shields is fine. Her acting skills are too bad, and the audience only pays attention to her before she is 18 years old. Movies are more interesting. I remember that her last "Sahara" failed at the box office, and it seemed to be a big production."

Amy looked at Simon and said, "So, shall we continue to promote this project?"

"You decide," Simon shook his hand directly, and said, "You are the CEO of the company. In the future, there will be more projects under the company's umbrella. It is impossible for me to decide all of them. Of course, if the loss is too severe, I will also scold people. of."

Amy hesitated for a moment, then made up her mind decisively, and said, "I will ask someone to re-edit the script. In addition, if Brooke Shields can't do it, maybe Ms. Kidman can try it. The film will start shooting early next year. She "Crossing the Horizon" should have been done by then."

Simon nodded and said, "Nicole is good. The heroine of this script has a very outgoing personality. Nicole's acting skills are enough to support her."

The two were chatting, and Robert Iger knocked on the door of the meeting room and walked in, still carrying his briefcase in his hand.Because I just flew here from the east coast, Iger's expression was obviously a little tired.

After greeting each other, everyone sat down at the conference table again.

"Simon, Amy, this is the draft agreement I just negotiated with HBO," Robert Iger took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Simon, saying: "HBO is willing to order one season at a price of $60 per episode." "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," however, they demanded that the first season be only 13 episodes."

There is only one agreement, and Amy leans over to read it with Simon.

"Who Will Be a Millionaire", "Survivor" and "Big Brother" were bought by the three major TV networks, but the final "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" has never been found because it was not favored.It's not that the TV network doesn't want it, but Daenerys Entertainment's offer and various additional conditions make the TV network unacceptable.

As a daily reality show, "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" has a lower budget, only about $20 per episode.

The six wives confirmed to participate in the show are mainly interested in the benefits that this reality show may bring to the family business and personal reputation, so the salary is not high. It is 5000 US dollars, and the total of six people is only 3 US dollars. The rest is for team salaries and equipment consumption.

The original offer from Daenerys Films was US$80 per episode, and it was just the first round of broadcasting rights in North America, followed by domestic and foreign syndicate distribution rights and all posters, music, books, recipes, etc. of the episodes. Proceeds also go to Daenerys Pictures.

The four major TV networks therefore chose to refuse.

After several twists and turns, HBO, a paid cable station owned by Time Inc., became interested in this reality show.

Simon doesn't think it's a good idea for HBO to win "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills", but if someone is willing to buy this series, Simon will naturally not object. Business contacts, so Iger was asked to contact HBO.

Chapter 191 Unexpected Forbes Ranking (Revised)

Robert Iger didn't come from the East Coast just for "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." After meeting with Simon and Amy, he hurried to Burbank to participate in the production of the new season of "The Ultimate Police Network" Meeting.

Although the strike is over, Daenerys Entertainment doesn't have enough time to pick new TV projects this year.

However, as long as it can ensure the production of the company's four reality shows and successfully complete the five TV series projects renewed by New World Entertainment last year, Daenerys Entertainment will be able to completely consolidate its position in the field of TV program suppliers after this fall. strong position.

Burbank.

The original headquarters of New World Entertainment was located on Ventura Boulevard where film and television production companies gathered at the northern foot of the Santa Monica Mountains. Within a five-kilometer radius, there were many studios such as Disney, Universal Studios, and Warner Studios.

However, compared to a large park like Universal Studios that covers an area of ​​tens of hectares, New World Entertainment only owns a three-story office building, and it is now temporarily a branch of Daenerys Entertainment, the company's distribution department and TV station. Departments are located here.

In the screening room, the sample of "Scream" which has no ending subtitles for the time being is finished, the lights are on, and Simon walks to the front of the stage, looking at Amy Pascal, Robert Rehm and other people from the company's distribution department The core staff clapped their hands and said: "Let's start with a light topic, which can be called 'Horror Movie Survival Guide'. If you are the protagonist in a horror movie and want to survive, what do you think you should do? What should be done?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.

Simon waited for a moment, then simply pointed to his female executive: "Amy, you go first."

Amy thought for a while and said, "Never say 'I'll be right back', because then you will never come back."

Everyone laughed.

Simon also smiled and said, "Okay, even though I said it in the movie just now, you still pass the test. What about the others, Bob?"

This is the launch meeting for Scream.

Robert Rehm has previously provided Simon with a "Scream" publicity plan, saying that he can ensure that at least 1000 opening screens will be drawn, and he has formulated a marketing strategy mainly for young audiences.

Decades of Hollywood work experience have made Robert Rehm's work in this area seem to be more than capable, but it is inevitable that it is somewhat satisfactory, and it has not reached the point where Simon is satisfied.

Hearing Simon point to him, Robert Rem could only think for a moment, and said, "Don't get entangled with strangers on the phone."

"That counts."

Simon nodded, and then casually pointed to other people in the projection room.

Everyone talked about it enthusiastically, and Simon finally said: "Look, this is a good publicity point. Wes made a very good film, from the beginning when Cathy was killed to the end of the film, Thrills and suspense are everywhere, and the film's horror setting has reached a peak level. But on the other hand, I guess you just felt that this movie uses too many of the usual plots of traditional horror movies, so it Think clichéd, right?"

Some employees in the screening room nodded subconsciously.

Simon didn't wait for someone to answer, so he put away his expression and said seriously: "But this is wrong. As film distributors, what you need to do is to discover the advantages of a movie as much as possible, even if it has no advantages, you have to Find ways to turn its shortcomings into advantages, and pass this concept to the audience. Just like just now, you feel that the plot is repetitive, but I think this is the selling point. We can say that this film is a reflection of many traditional horror films. Tribute and poke fun at the routine. The next thing you have to do is to craft a 'horror movie survival guide', link it with "Scream", and publish it in newspapers and magazines that the target audience will notice , let this become a topic that people talk about. Now, can you give me some other ideas?"

Feeling the gaze of Simon on the stage, the surroundings were silent for a while, and finally a young employee raised his hand and said, "Mr. Westeros, I heard that the original idea for this film came from you, but you didn't Signed screenwriter?"

Simon nodded and said, "That's right."

"Then," the young man hesitated for a moment, and summoned up his courage, "We can disclose this. Simon Westeros gave up his authorship because he was worried about causing the controversy of "Basic Instinct" again. To a large extent, it arouses the strong curiosity of the audience."

"Very good," Simon nodded, "What's your name?"

Hearing Simon's approval, the young man immediately felt relieved and said, "Mark Belford."

"Let Mark join the "Scream" announcement team," Simon said directly to Robert Rehm who was sitting in the front row, then looked at everyone, and said, "Who has any ideas?"

It can attract the attention of the boss, and everyone else starts to speak enthusiastically.

After discussing this for about half an hour, Simon concluded: "If you are careful enough, you will find that many things in Hollywood have changed rapidly in recent years. This summer, Paramount Pictures has adopted a saturated full-scale release of two Both "Crocodile Dundee 2" and "Journey to America" ​​have achieved unexpected success, which is destined to become the future promotion trend of Hollywood movies. The traditional distribution strategy of relying on long-term screenings to accumulate word of mouth and continuously attract audiences to theaters will gradually Get eliminated. We have to go with the changes and try to get a movie into the audience as much as possible before it’s even released.”

When Simon said this, he paused for a short moment to allow everyone to digest it, and then continued: "To achieve this, we must abandon the traditional film marketing concept, and try our best to find all kinds of products that will not reveal the content of the film in advance. But it can also attract the attention of the audience. Proactively provoking controversy, hyping up the scandal of the protagonist, releasing the inside story in advance, etc., are actually very effective methods. Of course, you must understand that these are fundamentally auxiliary , theater posters, TV trailers, and magazine advertisements are the main channels to expand the popularity of a film. However, the relationship between the two is like the branches and leaves of a tree, and both are indispensable. You need to base a film on According to the specific situation, we can flexibly combine various publicity strategies.”

After finishing speaking, Simon looked at the people in the screening room and said, "I'm very busy. I will only say these words once today. Whether you can understand and implement them is up to you. If you do it well, you will get a generous salary. Do it well." No good, I will kick you out of the company without hesitation. So, always and always remember, don't be prejudiced against any film, as long as a film is released, in your eyes, it should be It is the best, what you have to do is to discover all its selling points as much as possible, and then push it to the market.”

Screening room.

When Simon finished speaking, everyone applauded lightly.

Simon didn't talk too much nonsense, and when everyone was quiet again, he announced the end of the meeting.

Both Amy Pascal and Robert Rem stayed, and Simon sat back in his seat, took a bottle of water from Jennifer and took a few sips, then said to Robert Rem: "Bob, "Scary Scream Called, Steel Magnolia and Dead Poets Society, I will give you a promotional budget of $500 million for each of them, and I need you to spend all of this money in the months at the end of the year. "

Before Robert Rem could react, Amy was already surprised: "Simon, this is too much. Besides, neither "Steel Magnolias" nor "Dead Poets Society" have been completed yet."

"I've been watching these films personally, and I know their quality very well," Simon shook his head, and said again: "Moreover, this money is not only for the promotion of the three films, Amy, this one Over the years, you should also find one thing, as long as there is any news about me personally and about Daenerys Films, the media will flock to hype and I don't want this to continue. However, we did not If you have enough time to make friends with these media, you can only spend money."

Amy Pascal and Robert Rem immediately understood what Simon said.

These days, the incident about Simon's firing of "Rain Man" director Barry Levinson has not completely subsided, and the aftermath of the controversy over "Basic Instinct" and Daenerys' reality show's response to the writer's strike have not completely subsided in the media from time to time. severe shock.

The foundation of Daenerys Entertainment is too shallow, and there is no time to establish extensive contacts with various media channels, which will cause frequent public opinion out of control.

To deal with this situation, the strategy Simon just proposed is very effective.

Each of the three films has a publicity budget of 500 million US dollars, which can not only promote the film to the greatest extent, but also make Daenerys Entertainment a major customer of major newspapers, magazines and even TV networks in North America in a short period of time.

As long as this state continues, if there is any negative news such as 'Simon Westeros wantonly interfering with the director's creation' in the future, all newspapers, media and TV stations must first consider whether they will lose Dan because of this before reporting. Nilith Entertainment places huge advertising orders on its own platform every year.

In a capitalist society, the most effective way to control media and public opinion is at the capital level. Other so-called good relationships and personal friendships are illusory.Whether it is the seven major studios or a giant in the brokerage industry like C, the reason why they are able to form close ties with the media is that there are very few explosive scandals. The fundamental reason is the relationship between the interests of all parties.

Today is July 8th, Thursday.

Simon has already planned to fly to Australia next Monday to end his day's work, and he specifically talked to Amy about it.

Since I'm going to Australia, it's impossible to come back after only a day or two. It's conservatively estimated that it will take a week to confirm the shooting location of "Batman", negotiate tax rebates with the Australian government and cooperate with the shooting, and visit Janet's house. time.