hunt hollywood

The official work of this trip has ended. Simon and Janet woke up in Brisbane, Queensland, northern Australia in the morning. They came to visit the set yesterday. Produced by George Miller and starring Nicole Kidman "Crossing the Horizon" is filming near Brisbane.

Because he had already made the decision to win over the Hollywood Australian gang, and George Miller definitely belonged to the kind of talented director worthy of cooperation, Simon deliberately spared a day to come here.

During breakfast, George Miller also brought up the topic that Amy and Semel were discussing across the ocean. Hollywood is such a circle of contacts, and he also received a call from Mel Gibson.Compared with Warner, George Miller and Mel Gibson, who made their fortune together in the "Mad Max" series, have a closer relationship.

In addition to the two major action film series "Mad Max" and "Lethal Weapon", Mel Gibson has also starred in such successful romantic comedies as "The Percentage of Men". He readily agreed.

However, Nicole Kidman found Simon after breakfast and tactfully declined the invitation of "Angel".

There are indeed some problems with the script of "Angels" originally scheduled to star in Brooke Shields. Since Nicole refused, Simon did not force it.

After breakfast, Simon and Janet bid farewell to George Miller and others. Instead of returning directly to Melbourne, the two flew to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, just south of Melbourne.

Simon has not forgotten his ambition to encircle this super large island at the end of the world, and Janet has been secretly eating various properties on the island in private.

With the help of the Johnston family, Simon’s shell company bought a vast forest land in northern Tasmania with an area of ​​more than 700 square kilometers for only 500 million US dollars some time ago. Various strict restrictions have been imposed on such matters as harshness, but Simon has never thought about logging these precious virgin forests, so those restrictions are irrelevant.

Counting some other farm and woodland, Simon is now a large landowner with 15 acres of land.

Of course, this is far inferior to the Kidman family.

The Kidman family owns a total of nearly 10 square kilometers of land across Australia, which converts to more than 2400 million acres. This is the real super landowner.

However, compared to the relatively thin Johnston family, the Kidman family is very large. Starting from Nicole's great-grandfather Sidney Kidman, the total number of the Kidman family has exceeded Hundred.The Nicole family has long deviated from the core of the Kidman family, and can only enjoy some rights and interests through the family trust, without much say. This is why Nicole rarely talks about the Kidman family.

After another full day in Tasmania, it is probably time to return.

Back in Melbourne in the evening, the two drove back from the airport to Johnston's mansion together. Simon leaned back in his chair leisurely and looked through the information on several of his lands, but Janet picked up the car phone and dialed a series of numbers. There was obviously no one answering, and the woman made several calls in a row unwillingly, before finally getting through.

"What, Singapore, what is Bingshan going to Singapore for... Really, why do you keep hiding, she doesn't want to marry, and it's impossible for Dad to tie her up and throw her to someone, do you know her number in Singapore? ...Well, how long does it take to get from here to Singapore...Hmph, just asking, I won't chase her to see her...Hang up, bye."

After Janet hung up the phone, Simon smiled and said, "Aren't you here?"

"It is said that I went to Singapore temporarily for a business trip again. I don't think we should come to Melbourne often in the future. Hehe, just come this once, and Bingshan will be tossed and run around," Janet said with a smile on her face, very happy He said helplessly, and then said: "Actually, it's understandable. Don't look at how kind your father is to you these days. In the past few years, every time I came back, I always kept a straight face, and forced me to go on blind dates several times. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be hiding in Los Angeles and would not want to come back.”

Simon couldn't help being more curious about Aunt Janet. He suddenly discovered that although he knew most of Janet's family, he hadn't even seen a picture of Veronica Johnston.

Thinking of this, Simon asked: "Your aunt should be different from you, right?"

"It's all the same. You know, my aunt is a few years younger than Tony. Although they are brothers and sisters, her father treats her like a daughter more often. My aunt is also very afraid of her father. Haha, in fact, everyone in our family is very nervous. Afraid of Dad."

Listening to Janet talking, Simon smiled and said, "Why didn't I feel it, your father is fine."

Janet came over, hugged Simon's face and kissed, and said: "Dad is so satisfied with you, how could he possibly kill you. However, it will not be certain after a long time in the future. Wait, um, wait... You get it."

Simon shook his head deliberately: "I don't understand."

"."

Janet scolded, and leaned over to rest on Simon's shoulder. Perhaps she was too tired after playing all day, and the woman's body quickly slid down and finally lay on Simon's lap.

Chapter 202 Phenomenon level again? ! (build)

After continuing to stay in Melbourne for one night, Simon and his party returned to Los Angeles. At the same time, they also brought back the leading actors and actresses of "Batman", Adam Baldwin and Valerie Golino, who had been here for a while. The filming of "Batman" will start early next year, and in the remaining months of this year, the film will go through the selection of various supporting roles, auditions and rehearsals and other work will also need to be carried out in Los Angeles, all of which require the cooperation of the two protagonists.

Simon and others boarded the return plane on the morning of September 9, Melbourne time.

One day in advance, in North America, "Survivor" of the NBC TV network also started broadcasting at 9 o'clock in the evening on Monday, September 12, local time, and initially obtained ratings data on the afternoon of September 9, Melbourne time.

new York.

Although he was also very concerned about the ratings of "Survivor", Robert Iger was still very surprised when the phone rang at one o'clock in the morning.

Robert White, the CEO of NBC Television Network, called him personally, with all sorts of emotions in his tone, such as surprise and excitement. Meet to discuss the production of the second season of the series.

At the same time, Amy Pascal on the west coast also got the first broadcast ratings data of "Survivor" at midnight, and Simon, who was far away in Australia, was also notified soon.

In the early morning of September 9, North American time, NBC couldn't wait to publish the ratings data of "Survivor" on mainstream media such as "New York Times" and "Los Angeles Times", and the major newspapers generally used the phrase "another phenomenon Level' or something like that.

Why do you say 'again'?

Obviously, "Who Will Be a Millionaire" has created a phenomenon-level ratings trend, and the ratings performance of "Survivor" seems to be stronger than "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

After more detailed statistics, only the first episode, the number of viewers of "Survivor" soared from the initial 1780 million to 2265 million, and the final average viewership reached 2095 million, far exceeding NBC's expectations before the broadcast The viewing scale of about 1500 million.

Anyone in the industry knows very well that there is a big difference between a TV program with 1000 million viewers and a TV program with 2000 million viewers. The two are completely from quantitative to qualitative.

Moreover, although the first issue of "Survivor" failed to surpass the previous day's "Who Will Be a Millionaire" in terms of total audience, among the most core audience group aged 18 to 49, "Survivor" unexpectedly did just that.

周日的《谁会成为百万富翁》，收视人数是2370万，18到49岁的核心群体收视率为11.1。相比起来，虽然《幸存者》的总收视人数只有2095万，但18到49岁核心观众收视率却意外地达到了11.5。这意味着在18到49岁的观众群体中，《谁会成为百万富翁》的第一期观众数量为1330万，而《幸存者》的观众人数却达到1380万。

Although the difference is only about 50, no one can ignore that "Who Will Become a Millionaire" has already experienced several months of summer popularity accumulation, while "Survivor" is only the premiere, and even in the publicity , NBC did not spare as much as ABC, which paid huge sums of money for this reality show.

Therefore, the first episode of the premiere surpassed the original "Who Will Be a Millionaire" with obvious advantages, and the overall ratings of "Survivor" will only be better in the future.

Right now, NBC's only regret is that "Survivor" only has 13 episodes a season, instead of the 69 episodes of "Who Will Be a Millionaire."

Moreover, in order to reduce the risk as much as possible, NBC only signed a contract with Daenerys Entertainment for the first season.

According to the current broadcast rhythm, the first season will end before the winter break. NBC wants to ensure the smooth start of the second season of next year's spring after the winter break. The dilemma of Si Entertainment paying sky-high prices.

NBC was very eager, but Robert Iger seemed more cautious. He had never encountered the situation of producing two phenomenal TV shows in succession in his career.After having breakfast with NBC Television Network CEO Robert White in the morning, he hurriedly boarded the plane to the west coast.

The next specific cooperation plan obviously needs to be decided by Simon, who is about to return from Australia.

After an internal emergency meeting to discuss, NBC Television Network CEO Robert White also set off for Los Angeles.

由于长达18个小时的时差缘故，西蒙一行人在墨尔本时间9月14日上午10点钟起飞，经历了16个小时的飞行，抵达洛杉矶时这边还只是9月14日早上8点钟。

While not wanting to appear too eager, Robert White, along with several Daenerys Entertainment execs, felt personally picked up at LAX.

Simon originally planned to go back to Malibu to rest for a morning. Seeing the crowds gathered, he had to temporarily change his plan and sent Janet back first. He, Amy, Iger, White and others rushed to Daenerys Entertainment in St. Monie Card headquarters.

The conference room at Daenerys Entertainment headquarters.

Everyone took their seats, and Robert White got straight to the point: "Simon, I communicated with the parent company yesterday. NBC hopes to sign the contract for the next three seasons of "Survivor". The same $200 million per issue offer for Millionaire."

Simon took a cup of hot coffee passed by Jennifer from behind, picked it up, took a sip, cheered up and said: "Bob, the ratings data of "Survivor" is stronger than "Who Will Be a Millionaire", you Do you think the same offer is appropriate?"

"This is only the first season, Simon," Robert White shook his head. "There is no guarantee that this reality show will be so popular in the following seasons. According to the usual TV show ratings curve, its popularity in the following seasons The ratings data must have dropped, so we made an offer of 200 million US dollars, and we took a certain risk."

Simon noticed that Robert Iger hesitated to speak after Robert White's voice fell, and gestured to him with a smile.

Robert Iger refuted Robert White: "Bob, the long-term ratings data for the usual hit series should be a parabola, not the downward curve you mentioned. With the further increase in popularity, in the next few seasons, "Surviving The viewership data of "The Reader" will be even higher."

Robert White forgot Robert Iger's background for a while, but he didn't show much embarrassment when he was exposed on the spot, and said again: "Simon, compared to the cost Daenerys Entertainment paid for "Survivor" Say, $200 million is a very high price tag."

"In Hollywood, the investment cost and rate of return of film and television productions are not directly proportional in most cases," Simon shook his head, and said, "So, 200 million US dollars for a phase is definitely not enough."

"If it is higher, the NBC television network can no longer take the risk," Robert White said: "Simon, we are different from ABC and the others. In recent years, NBC has performed very well. ", NBC will not be affected too much."

Simon smiled and said, "Bob, if you continue to treat me as a layman, there is no need to continue today's meeting."

The competition among the four major TV networks has always been fierce, and if you stand still, it means you are going backwards.

NBC's current operating conditions may surpass the other three and rank first, but if they lose "Survivor", let alone CBS and FOX, with the popularity of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", ABC will definitely surpass NBC quickly Won the first share of TV network ratings.

Therefore, NBC dare not give up "Survivor" at all.

"Okay, Simon," Robert White said with a helpless expression on his face, "So, how much do you think is appropriate for each issue?"

"In the next few seasons, Daenerys Entertainment can take the initiative to increase the length of some episodes, and each season will be about 15 episodes. If NBC wants to win the next three seasons at once, I can give you a package price, 5000 per season million, and $1 million in three seasons."

Robert White was taken aback and blurted out, "That's impossible."

Just kidding.

According to NBC's understanding, Daenerys Entertainment's production budget for the first season of "Survivor" is only about 500 million U.S. dollars, 5000 million U.S. dollars for one season, including the internal advertising placement rights reserved by Daenerys Entertainment and syndicate distribution Daenerys Entertainment will be able to obtain at least 10 times the net profit, which is simply huge profits.

"Let's calculate it," Simon said with a relaxed tone, "According to the ratings data of the first episode, in the next few seasons, "Survivor" may reach the peak of an average of 3000 million viewers per episode, which is already the peak of some awards ceremonies." Rating level. As far as I know, the Grammy’s ratings at the beginning of the year were around 3000 million, and their 30-second commercial fee reached 30 US dollars. In this way, the 15-minute commercial breaks of "Survivor" each issue, you guys It was able to get back $900 million. In comparison, Daenerys Entertainment only got a little over $300 million."

"But have you calculated the cost?" Robert White retorted: "Simon, the operating costs of the television network are very high."

Simon simply interrupted Robert White's nonsense, and said: "Bob, if you talk about the cost, Hollywood's cost is actually higher. Over the past few decades, the movies produced by major studios have basically lost money, and there has never been a loss. Profitable."

Hearing what Simon said, Amy and Iger couldn't help but chuckle.

It's a joke, of course, but a well-known factual joke that studio films have never been profitable.

In order to avoid taxes and fees payable by labor unions, most of the film projects of Hollywood's major studios are indeed at a loss, and even if they are barely "profitable", the amount is often insignificant.

In comparison, the operating conditions of the four major TV networks are even more opaque in order to avoid various similar expenses.

So Robert White was right when he said that the operating costs of television networks were very high.But Simon knows that in the previous fiscal year, the net profit of NBC TV network reached more than 3 million US dollars, which far exceeded several competitors such as ABC, CBS and FOX.

Now, if "Survivor" can be guaranteed, although it will pay a high fee, NBC's benefits are also obvious. He can keep the number one share of his TV network ratings, and he is not afraid of the other three major players such as ABC. .On the contrary, if there is no "Survivor", maybe just after this autumn file, ABC will be able to overtake it.

TV networks also have the Matthew effect that the stronger gets stronger. When there is not enough financial resources to spread advertisements on the four major TV networks at the same time, advertisers usually prefer the one with the highest market share.

Therefore, once it is overtaken by ABC, it will be even more difficult for NBC to catch up.Although it will not fall into a loss all at once, but being left behind by ABC, NBC's profitability will definitely decline rapidly.In contrast, ABC, which was still losing money last year, was able to turn a profit by relying on the market share of the audience brought by "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

Robert White continued to fight for a few words, but Simon insisted on not giving in, so he had to temporarily suspend the meeting and said that he would go out and make a phone call.

Knowing that Robert White was going to report to Jack Welch, chairman of the parent company General Electric, Simon readily asked Jennifer to lead him to an office next door.

General Electric's volume is far from reaching the US$5000 billion level at the peak of the Internet bubble ten years later. Although it has gradually recovered from last year's stock market crash, at present, General Electric's market value is less than US$500 billion.Two years ago, General Electric purchased RCA (Radio Corporation of America), the parent company of the NBC television network, but spent $65 billion, more than one-tenth of General Electric's current volume. A direct business reporting to Jack Welch.

Simon, Amy, and Iger chatted in a low voice for a while about the company's latest affairs. After 10 minutes, Robert White returned again.

"Simon, I just communicated with Jack," Robert White said without concealing it, "We can accept Daenerys Entertainment's offer of 5000 million US dollars per season, but Daenerys Entertainment must also agree to several of us. condition."

Simon made a please gesture.

Robert White said: "First of all, Daenerys Entertainment must increase its investment in the production of "Survivor". We can all see that many details in the first season are still very rough. This is obviously to save costs, but Now that we have set a high price, Daenerys Entertainment is also obliged to do better. For the next three seasons, the production cost of this reality show will not be less than 1000 million U.S. dollars per season."

Even if NBC doesn't raise it, in order to keep it as attractive as possible to the audience, Daenerys Entertainment will increase investment in program production in the future.Although Simon likes to control the production cost of film and television projects, he never thought of affecting the quality of film and television series simply to save costs.

Therefore, he nodded readily and said, "This request is very reasonable, and I agree."

Robert White continued: "Secondly, in the next three seasons, "Survivor" must have at least 16 episodes per season, instead of the 15 episodes you just mentioned. At the same time, Daenerys Entertainment must agree to NBC's stationed staff to participate in the production of the show .”

Simon did a simple mental calculation, and the difference between the 15th and 16th episodes seems to be small, but this can just reduce the cost NBC paid for this reality show to about 300 million US dollars.He exchanged glances with Amy and Iger, and seeing that neither of them raised any objections, Simon nodded again and said, "Yes."

Chapter 203 Wonder Woman (Revised)

After negotiating a total package price of US$1 million for the next three seasons and several additional conditions offered by NBC, the two parties began to negotiate on important details such as payment settlement.

In order to reduce their own cash flow pressure as much as possible, TV networks generally adopt a strategy of delaying payment as much as possible in the process of purchasing TV programs from outside, which is exactly the same as Hollywood film distributors.Most of the independent producers in the industry can only get their money back from the network after the series has finished airing.

"Who Will Be a Millionaire" co-operated by Daenerys Entertainment and ABC, in the case of its own obvious advantage, ABC is only willing to pay 30% of the advance payment before the first season, and the rest of the balance will be in the winter break. The other 30% and 40% are paid in two instalments after the end of the period and the first quarter.

As for "Survivor," NBC eventually agreed to pay 50 percent before and after each season after hours of back-and-forth disputes.

After the meeting was over and everyone had lunch together, Robert White hurried back to the East Coast. He also personally supervised the TV network's marketing adjustments to the follow-up broadcast of "Survivor" in order to maximize the influence of this reality show .

The specific contract needs to be drafted by the staff of the two companies according to the meeting memorandum, and it will take about a week for the formal signing.

After leaving Los Angeles for two weeks, Simon has maintained a remote control of Daenerys Entertainment through telephone, fax and other means.After dealing with the matter of "Survivor" in the morning, Simon did not rush back to Malibu, but personally checked the production progress of several films.

"Scream" has completed the post-production in the first few days and sent it to MP for rating, and it is still waiting for the result.

Taking over the post-production of "Rain Man" from Barry Levinson, after more than a month of busy work, the re-editing of the film has been completed, and Simon also wrote the soundtrack for the film himself during his time in Melbourne.

The soundtrack of the original "Rain Man" was Hans Zimmer, who later became a well-known film soundtrack master and won his first Oscar nomination for best soundtrack.But at the moment, Hans Zimmer is just an unknown little guy. The soundtrack of "Rain Man" is not complicated. With the version in memory as the background, Simon can easily complete it, so he didn't bother to find the other party.

The later stages of "Steel Magnolia" and "Dead Poets Society" are progressing smoothly. Not surprisingly, the three films "Rain Man", "Steel Magnolia" and "Dead Poets Society" will be completely completed by the end of September.

After checking the post-production of several films, they held a production meeting for more than two hours to discuss the preparation progress of a series of films that Daenerys Entertainment is advancing.

The meeting ended and it was already evening.

After reporting on the preparation status of a series of projects such as "The Sixth Sense of Spirituality", "Bodyguard", "Flying Beyond Childhood", "Uncle Buck", all the executives and producers who participated in the meeting left early, and as usual, only Get off Simon and Amy.

Sitting by the window and feeling the golden sunset that spilled into the conference room in the evening, Simon closed the folder in front of him and said to Amy on the other side: "Since you have confirmed that you have obtained "Wonder Woman", you have recently asked Send a shortlist from several major brokerage companies. Like "Batman", I need newcomers, between the ages of 20 and 25, with a height of about six feet." Noticing the puzzled look on Amy's face, Simon added with a smile: "I don't plan to start shooting this movie now. I must finish the first part of "Batman" and "Superman" first. However, I hope to cultivate several candidates from scratch and determine the candidates. Afterwards, in the last few years, I arranged some small roles for them to hone their acting skills, speaking of which, Batman’s choice was a bit hasty.”

Having won the DC Big Three, the obstacles to advancing the DC movie universe in advance are not big.As for the need to introduce other DC superheroes in the future, Simon doesn't think this is a problem.With Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all in his hands, Warner didn't have much choice at all.Because Warner has reserved the investment authority to share profits, he does not think that Warner has the courage to use second-line heroes in Marvel to create a new movie universe.

However, in Simon's impression, there is no suitable candidate to play Wonder Woman in Hollywood right now. He still hopes to find a Diana Prince similar to Gal Gadot. The start of "Wonder Woman" must at least be after the release of "Batman", which still has plenty of time to cultivate from scratch.

Amy nodded understandingly, and said, "Then do we have to recast the Superman actor? Christopher Reeve is definitely not suitable anymore."

Simon nodded and said, "Yes, let the brokerage company choose some candidates."

Amy recorded this matter in the memo, then raised her head and said: "Aged between 20 and 25, six feet tall, Simon, isn't Miss Kidman just right?"

"I remember you reminding me so much," Simon shook his head lightly, and said, "When I was in Australia, I went to visit the crew of "Crossing the Horizon", and Nicole rejected the role in "Angel". He has his own ideas about acting career.”

Hearing what Simon said, Amy just smiled, nodded and said: "I also received a call from Nicole, so, shall we let the Wonder Woman candidate we pick try out the "Angel" first? heroine?"

"It depends on the situation." Simon was noncommittal, and asked again: "How is the script revision of "Angel God"?"