hunt hollywood

"In this case," Simon tapped his fingers on the desktop, and said, "The company should add another business jet. Iger travels back and forth between the east and west coasts every week for TV business. You and Rem also need to travel frequently, and the company For other executives and James, one is definitely not enough."

Amy raised her head: "Rent or buy?"

Simon smiled and said, "Rent, I don't want to add so many small planes, but I don't want that Gulfstream now."

Chapter 196 Hidden Worry (Revised)

The meeting with Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Butler after get off work still chose the restaurant at noon.

Although they met occasionally over the past year, and were invited to attend the grand birthday party at the beginning of the year, seeing Simon again, Peter Butler still had a feeling as if he had passed away.

Early last year, his Los Angeles Times article about Simon sparked controversy for his lavish praise of an 18-year-old.But now, even the most conceited person, facing Simon's achievements over the past year, can only be described as a miracle.

After ordering dinner casually, after the waiter left, Peter Butler turned to the topic and asked, "Simon, how do you feel about the Forbes ranking?"

Simon smiled and said truthfully: "I've been too busy these days, and I haven't had time to feel much."

"I don't know how many people will envy you for being so busy," Peter Butler joked, and continued: "Recently, there has been a lot of controversy about the evaluation of your personal net worth on the "Forbes" list. Personally, you think, Is the $31 billion figure accurate?"

Simon didn't want to cause a series of related chain problems, so he simply nodded and said, "Forbes is still very professional."

There was still a lot of time for dinner, and Peter Butler was not in a hurry to discuss this issue in depth, and instead said: "Speaking of which, I recently got a set of data, obviously influenced by your series of successes in Hollywood, North America this year The number of students applying for film and television professional colleges has more than tripled compared to the past, do you want to give these young people some advice?"

"Actually, I'm also a young man." Simon smiled and said, "Besides, I don't like to give advice to others, because I always think it's not very meaningful."

Peter Butler said: "It seems that you haven't changed much from a year ago, and you are still a pessimist who is alienated from the world in your bones."

Simon was noncommittal: "Maybe."

Peter Butler tentatively said, "Do you mind if I put this judgment in the article?"

Simon said indifferently: "This is your freedom."

"It seems that you don't care too much about the media's opinion," Peter Butler said, and then said: "So, let's talk about movies, Simon. From the original "Run Lola Run" to the latest "Instinct", two years have passed. At that time, you have directed a total of six films, and all of them have achieved amazing box office results, which has not happened in the entire history of Hollywood. Can you reveal what is the key to the success of these films?"

Simon thought for a while, and said, "Perhaps, these films just cater to the needs of the audience."

Peter Butler asked: "As we all know, the taste of movie audiences has always been the most difficult thing to guess, otherwise the risk in this industry would not be so great. How do you judge that the films you create and select are just right for the audience? required?"

"It's going to be classified as a personal talent," Simon said, shaking his head with a smile on his lips: "And, Peter, if there is really some kind of judgment standard, do you think I will tell you?"

Peter Butler also realized that his question just now was a bit silly.

In two years, all six films sold well at the box office.If Simon really had some kind of knack, no studio in Hollywood would mind paying anything to get it, how could he just tell himself so casually.

but.

After carefully considering the conversation just now, Peter Butler suddenly realized something, looked at Simon intently, and said, "Simon, so you really have some talents that can ensure the success of a film?"

"Peter, a movie has to go through too many variable and uncertain links from the script to the finished film. Even after the film is finished, the film's announcement process will have an unpredictable impact on its market performance, so I just try my best to Make sure to make a movie the best it can be from beginning to end."

Peter Butler retorted: "But, Simon, there are not many people in Hollywood who joke about investing tens of millions of dollars. Everyone is trying to make the best of their projects."

The waiter happened to bring up two appetizers at this time. Simon waited for a while, pointed to the seafood salad on the plate and said, "In fact, Hollywood is very similar to the catering industry. No matter how hard a chef with one Michelin star works, it is difficult to compare Samsung Chef does it better."

Dinner, which was much richer than lunch, was served one after another, and the conversation between the two continued.

The controversy caused by "Pulp Fiction" and "Instinct", the production progress of "Batman", the future development plan of Daenerys Entertainment, the investment in technology stocks of Westeros, etc., etc., although it is impossible for Simon to have nothing Reserved, but Peter Butler still got enough material to write an exclusive compared to a lot of media that couldn't get in touch with him at all.

It was past nine o'clock in the evening when dinner was over.

Sitting in the car, looking at the city lights passing by the Linhai Highway, Simon's thoughts still remained on the conversation with Peter Butler tonight.

In more than two years, from nothing to billions of dollars now, even though he was full of confidence in the future, Simon still did not expect that he could achieve this level in such a short period of time.When facing Peter Butler's question of how he feels at dinner just now, Simon really spoke from his heart, because the rise was too fast and sudden, and he did not have time to feel much before he found himself standing on the top of the pyramid.

perhaps.

It's time to stop and think about it.

In fact, Simon has always been very clear that the two major industries under his name, Westeros Corporation and Daenerys Entertainment, have expanded so rapidly that they have accumulated many problems unconsciously.

The most obvious point is that he, the third-ranked super-rich man in the Federation, does not have a matching network of contacts and considerable social influence at all.All he has is an empty personal fame and an astonishingly huge wealth, just like a child standing in a busy city holding a gold nugget.

The United States is a very mature and developed capitalist country, which is true, but this does not mean that having capital means having everything.After all, this is a world controlled by humans. Humans make rules, humans manipulate rules, and humans break rules.

If he continues to run blindfolded like this, Simon believes that one day, he will find that the business map he has built in a short period of time may be as fragile as the houses of the two lazy pigs in the story of "The Three Little Pigs".

The Land Rover stopped in the courtyard of the mansion, and Simon came back from his thoughts.

The lights were on in the living room of the villa, but Janet was not seen.Simon untied his tie casually and went to the living room next to the living room, where he found Janet and Sofia Fishy nestling on the sofa watching TV together, and the two women were enjoying themselves with a glass of red wine each.

Seeing Simon, Janet put down her wine glass, got up and hugged him again, and said, "Sophia brought us a few bottles of very good red wine from France, do you want to try it?"

"Okay."

Simon nodded, stepped forward to shake hands with Sophia Feixi, exchanged a few pleasantries, and sat down on the single sofa next to him.

Sofia Feisi also sat down again, watched as Janet helped Simon bring a glass of red wine, and huddled in the man's arms, and took the initiative to find a topic: "This is the 1982 red wine from the St. Julian's district of Bordeaux. The comprehensive score of climate, precipitation, light and other aspects of a region reached 98 points. In the past 20 years, the major wine producing regions in the world could not find such an excellent year, and it may be difficult to reappear in the future. The red wine of that year will definitely become a worthy wine. Favorite classic."

Janet waited for Sophia to finish speaking, and said, "I discussed buying a winery with Sophia during the day, Simon, what do you think?"

Simon picked up the goblet and took a sip, then said with a smile, "I don't know much about this, you can do it if you think so."

"Then I'll let Sophia start looking." Janet helped Simon take off his tie and put it aside, and said, "Sophia brought a total of [-] real estate information this time, London, Paris, Rome, Venice... Anyway, The big cities in Europe are all covered. I checked, and they are all very nice houses.”

As Janet said so, Sophia Feixi noticed Simon's probing eyes, and took the initiative to take the stack of documents under the coffee table and handed it to Simon.Simon held Janet's soft body and placed the materials on the woman's lap to flip through them casually.

Chapter 197 Cannot be Locked Back (Revised)

Since he wanted to buy real estate, Simon naturally chose the best one.

However, it is only the 80s now, and many years later, there will be almost no luxury houses with prices worth hundreds of millions of dollars.Even London's Kensington Gardens, where a number of the world's most expensive real estate houses gathered later, the price at this time was only in the tens of millions.A five-storey villa with more than 30 rooms on Kensington Garden Street in Simon's hands is priced at 1800 million pounds, which is already the most expensive of the sixteen luxury houses.

Under Janet's staff, Simon quickly looked through the information on the [-] properties in his hand.

Although the price of luxury houses in this era is generally not expensive, the 1.78 sets together cost 1100 million U.S. dollars, with an average of [-] million U.S. dollars per property.

Among them, except for the mansion on Kensington Garden Avenue that only covers an area of ​​half an acre, the area of ​​many other properties can be measured in hectares.A manor in the West End of Paris with a price tag of 1.2 million francs covers an area of ​​22 hectares, which is about 1700 million in US dollars.By comparison, the £1800 million price tag of the Kensington Gardens mansion is equivalent to $2500 million at the exchange rate at this time.

Of course, in addition to London and Paris, the prices of top luxury houses in other major European cities are much cheaper.

After flipping through the last document in his hand, Simon looked at Sophia Feixi and said, "Sixteen properties, including the one in Cannes, can you take care of them?"

Sophia Feixi was obviously taken aback when she heard this.Although sixteen properties have been carefully selected in the past few months, she actually only thought that Simon might choose two or three properties from them when she came here this time.But listening to Simon's words at this time, he obviously wants to buy all these sixteen properties? !

Spending 1.78 million U.S. dollars to purchase [-] properties at one time is definitely a crazy move in this era when the world's top richest people generally only have a net worth of several billion U.S. dollars.What's more, as a former luxury real estate agent, Sophia Feixi is very clear that most rich people will generally continue to spend a lot of money on redecorating and renovating their properties after purchasing them, which is also a huge expense.

After being dazed for a moment, feeling that Simon was still looking at him inquiringly, Sophia Feixi quickly collected her thoughts and recalled his question just now.

Sixteen, um, seventeen properties, can she take care of them?

Many wealthy people actually have the habit of buying multiple properties. If it was the case of buying a bunch of small apartments and villas in the past, she could immediately give an affirmative answer.

However, these 22 properties are currently the top batch of luxury houses in Europe. It is only the manor that covers an area of ​​[-] hectares in the western suburbs of Paris and has a private horse farm, orchard and lake in addition to the main villa. Daily maintenance requires at least ten a gardener's servant.All the [-] sets of mansions can only be maintained by a dedicated team of hundreds of people. Moreover, this matter is definitely not as simple as ordinary maintenance and cleaning.

After hesitating for a while, Sofia Feixi nodded lightly, but still couldn't help but confirm: "Simon, do you want to buy all these properties?"

"You can start this matter after you return to Europe," Simon said, patted Janet in his arms, lifted the woman up and said, "This is the case for today, Jenny, help Sophia arrange the room, I'm going to take a shower first .”

Sofia Fish watched Simon leave, and then looked at Janet who hadn't raised any objection to Simon's decision just now, and said, "Jenny, are you really going to let Simon do this?"

Janet leaned over and took Sophia by the arm and led her towards the guest room, saying, "I'm his girlfriend, not his mother. Actually, the longer you spend together, the more you get used to Simon's crazy thoughts, and you won't It's weird about this kind of thing."

Sophia Feixi said: "However, I don't think there is any need for sixteen properties."

"The most important thing is to do what a person wants to do, who cares whether he is necessary or not."

As Janet said, she accompanied Sofia to a guest room where the housekeeper's luggage had been moved during the day.Sophia Feixi opened the suitcase and took out some clothes for a change of clothes. Noticing that Janet was still standing at the door, she asked curiously, "Jenny, is there anything else?"

"No." Janet shook her head, but she raised her hand and knocked on the door, with a smile on her face, and said, "I just want to remind you that the door of this bedroom cannot be locked. "

After Janet finished speaking, without looking at the housekeeper's expression, she said good night and turned to leave.

Sophia Feixi was too late for Ann, she was not a little girl, how could she not understand the subtext in Janet's words.After forcing herself to tidy up her clothes as if nothing had happened, she couldn't help but walked to the door, looked out, closed the door and carefully studied the doorknob, and found that Janet was not joking with herself.

It really can't be locked!

The figure of her young boss could not help appearing in her mind. Since confirming the employment relationship, Sofia Fishy has started to pay close attention to many things related to Simon, and because of this, she has a better understanding of how legendary this young man is. one exists.

At the age of 20, when most of his peers are still confused about the future, he has already created achievements that many people may not necessarily be able to achieve in a few lifetimes.

As a mature woman in her prime, or perhaps because of the rather possessive precondition that Simon put forward, it's not like she hasn't fantasized about certain things in private, but it's just a fantasy.Although she was very confident in her appearance, otherwise she would not have found a rich husband, but she didn't expect him to be really interested in her.

just now.

Looking at the door in front of her, the housekeeper couldn't help but twirl and struggle in her mind.

What if he really broke in tonight?

What if he doesn't break in tonight?

Villa master bedroom.

Simon came out of the bathroom after taking a shower and wiping his hair. Janet had already changed into a pale pink silk nightgown and was lying on the big bed flipping through a magazine. Seeing Simon coming out, the woman turned her head and smiled sweetly at him. Next, it looks very harmless to humans and animals.Simon was not polite at all, walked to the bed, raised his hand and slapped the woman's buttocks.

After a crisp snap, Janet immediately became tearful and said, "Why did you hit me?"

Simon raised his hand again as a gesture: "What do you say?"

Janet ducked to the side and argued: "There are so many bedrooms in the villa, aren't they just for entertaining guests? Do I still let Sophia live in a hotel?"

Chapter 198 Don't You Feel Ashamed (Repair)

Perhaps because of the jet lag, Sophia Feixi didn't sleep well all night, but she didn't feel much tired in the morning.

Naturally, the night attack did not happen.

I don't know whether it's luck or disappointment, and I feel that this may just be a prank by Janet.

When it was light, the housekeeper got out of bed.After a brief selection, he changed into a slightly professional white shirt and black slim-fit trousers, looked at the full-length mirror with satisfaction, and walked out of the guest room.

It was just past six o'clock in the morning.

I accidentally met Simon who just got up in the corridor, wearing a black vest, shorts and sneakers, he should be going to the gym.Subconsciously glanced at the man's muscle line under the vest, which was no less than that of a professional athlete. Sophia Feixi felt a little guilty for some reason, but still forced herself to greet him calmly: "Good morning, Simon."

"Morning." Simon was also a little surprised, stopped to look at the woman's serious attire, and joked: "Are you going to work?

The housekeeper, who was definitely very talkative on weekdays, felt Simon's eyes, and suddenly didn't know how to answer Simon's joke.

Simon noticed the restraint of the woman, and quickly added: "It's very beautiful, in fact, I really like the way women wear professional suits."

Sofia Fishy finally reacted: "Oh, thank you."

Simon smiled and said, "Since you've already woken up, help prepare breakfast, I just happened to be lazy once."

"Okay," Sophia Feixi nodded, followed Simon to the living room, and asked, "What do you and Jenny like to eat in the morning?"

"Just look at the ingredients in the kitchen and prepare them casually. Jenny and I are not picky about these things," Simon said, joking again: "Of course, if the cooking is too unpalatable, as the boss, I will deduct your wages. "

After finishing half an hour of fitness, Simon took a shower and changed his clothes. He didn't need to prepare breakfast, so he sat in the living room and read today's newspaper.

Today is July 8th, Tuesday.

Last week's "Forbes" list sparked the discussion continues, Simon and Peter Butler dinner last night, "Los Angeles Times" published an eloquent interview today.

In addition, although it has only reached an agreement of intent with Terry Semel, Warner can't wait to announce on today's "Hollywood Reporter" that Warner Bros. Pictures will soon cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment to expand "Batman". News about other project collaborations.

Warner Bros. has formally begun merger talks with Time Inc. in recent months.As a listed company, releasing such good news in a timely manner will obviously help stimulate Warner's stock price.

Apparently, he had seen the news in today's newspaper. Just in the short period of time before breakfast, Simon received successive tentative calls from several companies such as Disney, Fox, and Orion.Having created six blockbuster movies in a row that are enough to break into the top ten of the annual list, Daenerys Entertainment is now a partner that all major Hollywood studios are eagerly pursuing.

In the next few years, Simon does not intend to completely cut off the cooperation with the seven big companies, but he will not expand the scale of this cooperation too much, so he just perfunctory on the phone.

At seven o'clock, Sophia prepared breakfast, Janet had already gotten up, and everyone sat in the dining room together.

Last night because of Sophia's affairs, Simon severely 'cleaned up' her. When she woke up beautifully, Janet was still radiant, and she looked as if her scar had healed and she forgot the pain.After tasting the creamy muffins, sweet corn soup and fruit salad carefully prepared by Sophia, Janet couldn't help but praise: "It's really good, Sophia, I want to keep you as our chef, Simon on weekdays The breakfast made here is much worse than yours."

Simon glanced at Janet: "As a girlfriend, don't you feel ashamed to say such a thing?"

Janet blinked innocently: "Why should I be ashamed?"

Simon rolled his eyes helplessly.

Sophia pursed her lips and smiled, but didn't interrupt.

Simon drank a few sips of sweet corn soup, and talked about business: "There are five people from the company who will go to Australia with us this time. You said that you will be in charge of this trip. How are your preparations going?"