Boston.
In the affluent West district on the western outskirts of the city, there is the manor where Ullyana Meretskova lives.
It’s January 27th, and it’s the beginning of a new week.
In the dimly lit bedroom in the early morning, Ulyanna lay on her side, looking at the two attendants Katya and Irina she brought from Ukraine beside the big bed, wearing light nightgowns to serve the man, and said softly: "What if If you don’t like Anna and Nick, can I send them back to Ukraine?”
"You're the only one here in Boston, okay?"
"I..." Ulyana paused and said in a soft voice: "I'm okay."
In fact, she didn't like the two trolls around her even more. She almost blurted out just now, but luckily she stopped in time.
Simon looked at the woman on the big bed who was five months pregnant but was getting hotter regardless of her figure or temperament. He took advantage of the two women beside him to bring their shoes and sat down on the edge of the bed. He reached over and said calmly: "Let them stay." Well, I might as well stay with you."
Ulyanna moved her body to let the man follow more easily, and nodded: "I listen to you."
Although he was interested, after putting on his shoes, Simon just told the woman to sleep a little longer and left the bedroom.
After the man left, Ulyanna said to the two attendants who were left behind: "Prepare some hot water for me. I want to take a bath."
Katya Saponova, a standard Slavic girl with blond hair and blue eyes, said softly: "Madam, are you going to sleep for a while?"
"When Simon is gone, I can sleep all day."
Ulyanna said, raising her hand slightly, and Irina Dachinskaya, the female guard, quickly stepped forward and carefully helped the woman up.
After the pregnancy became more and more obvious, Ulyanna asked the two attendants she brought from Ukraine to sleep with her in the master bedroom. Of course, there was a small bed next to it, and they could help her turn over and get up at any time at night. Last night, the men stayed here for the night. Not only did Ulyanna not let them avoid it, she took the initiative to pull the two women, who were both good-looking and in good shape, into the big bed to please someone.
The effect looks good.
Of course, in order to prevent the two women around her from having other thoughts, after something happened last night, Ulyana drove them to the small bed in the corner of the bedroom, and spared no effort to manipulate the two women in the morning. Coming from a noble family, she knew that these seemingly inconspicuous means were actually very effective, because people always adapt to their position unconsciously.
Simon always paid little attention to the little tricks of the women around him. After his routine morning exercise, as soon as he sat down in the restaurant, Girl A brought a fresh stack of information to him.
After months of private planning, the new technology short forces headed by Tiger Fund and the Mellon family finally launched today.
The first is the article that Simon intercepted years ago: "A shocking conspiracy? A Ponzi scheme in the Internet industry!" 》Compared with the original version, this article has been supplemented many times over the past few months, making it much more detailed and meticulous in terms of logic and data. At first glance, it is quite convincing.
If there is no preparation in advance, it is difficult to say whether it will have an impact on the new technology market.
"According to the current information feedback, a total of 17 local newspapers on the east and west coasts published this article today. However, large newspapers such as the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Los Angeles Times did not participate. Mainly because of the Local newspapers such as the Pittsburgh Tribune controlled by Chad Mellon Scaife. In addition, some news websites and famous bloggers will also publish this article, also excluding the most influential portals. "
Girl A said? Seeing her boss looking at the list of newspapers where a certain article was expected to be published, his slender fingers pointed at the two companies circled in red in advance: "These two companies belong to the Hearst family, Skye My husband had connections with Hearst, and he wanted the Hearst family to publish this article in the San Francisco Chronicle. They didn’t agree, but they still provided two local newspaper platforms.”
Simon just nodded slightly, continued to read the subsequent information, and asked, "Where is our side?"
"Below, Igret has posted a portal headline with the title "The Coachman Tried to Dismantle the Railway"? This is the general direction. It mainly attacks the conservative forces trying to contain the new technology industry. There will also be some more A targeted counter-argument to refute the Ponzi scheme argument contained in Scaife’s article.”
While listening, Simon looked through the various drafts compiled by Girl A.
Alison waited for a moment and asked: "Boss, in fact, if we release the evidence that Scaife is behind the scenes, the effect should be more direct. Why not do this?"
Simon asked rhetorically: "How much is Scaife losing now?"
"More than US$150 million," Alison said: "In addition to Scaife's US$300 million principal, other branches of the Mellon family also bet at least another US$300 million this time. After this time, although It is far from getting to the root of it, but the Mellon family's control over companies such as Alcoa will definitely weaken. In addition, Scaife himself has the most to lose, and since he provoked this dispute, the Mellon family will definitely be Marginalized.”
"It's only half of the loss. If the inside story is exposed now, it will probably make Scaife decide to liquidate his position. I don't want him to run away."
Girl A understood and nodded in approval.
Simon continued: "Compile a blacklist. All newspapers that published that article today, and all advertising we can influence, will be removed."
Alison quickly jotted it down on her memo.
"In addition, no matter what the impact of this article, it is just the beginning. We cannot just passively accept the move and let the Weijia PR team and Yigrit and other companies in charge of Kinsley take action, and finally push the Nasdaq to a higher level. Push one level up.”
Simon was discussing with Alison when the sound of footsteps came.
Looking up, Ulyana's children, Anna Meretskova and Nicholas Meretskov, entered the restaurant together. Seeing Simon looking at them, the siblings who had already reached the table stopped. After stepping down, my sister Anna took the initiative to say hello: "Good morning, Mr. Westeros."
His younger brother Nicholas, who was looking at the information in Simon's hand with a curious look on his face, also quickly greeted him.
Simon didn't know the two little guys, so he couldn't help but frown slightly and waved his hands: "You guys go to the restaurant next door, I have something to discuss here."
The two siblings were quite sensitive to Simon's emotional changes. Seeing him say this, the elder sister Anna even shrank her neck cutely, made an embarrassed expression, and pulled her brother out.
After the siblings left, Simon roughly looked through the information in his hands and did not continue. Today was just a beginning, and the details would depend on the follow-up, so he turned to ask: "How is Sundance?"
The 13th Film Festival, which lasted for 11 days, concluded yesterday.
"The Grand Jury Prize went to the film called 'Sunday', directed by Jonathan Nosit. From our side, only 'Two Smoking Barrels' won an Audience Award."
The result was as expected. Simon was not surprised, nor was he dissatisfied. He just said: "The planning of the "Ghost Record" I wrote over the weekend, transferred the information to Lin Yibin and asked him to prepare it first. Recently, there has been If you have time, let’s chat in person. Well, send a copy to C as well. After all, it can promote iRec and at least get her to sponsor a batch of the latest digital cameras for shooting.”
While at Sundance a few days ago, Simon had the idea of starting a mockumentary genre. After careful consideration, he chose "The Ghost Story" in his memory.
As for "Blair Witch", which once pioneered pseudo-documentaries, it was temporarily suppressed by Simon.
Mainly due to the success of "Blair Witch", in addition to Internet viral marketing, to a large extent, it is actually deception, deceiving the public who do not know the truth into thinking that a witch murder has occurred, thereby attracting audiences to the show.
If it were a small, unscrupulous publisher doing this project, it would be okay to adopt this method. But if it were done by Daenerys Entertainment, the same method would probably lead to a class action lawsuit because of this deceptive behavior. , Simon doesn’t want to cause this kind of trouble.
Even after the success of "Blair Witch", it wasn't until nearly ten years before another "Ghost Chronicles" became a hit. The key is that "Blair Witch" is a film that pioneered pseudo-documentaries. And it seriously hurt the audience's enthusiasm for this genre.
In comparison, "The Ghost Story" is truly a pioneer in the film genre.
This is evident from the subsequent commercial performance of the two series.
The first part of "Blair Witch" sold nearly 250 million US dollars worldwide. The sequel, released the following year, increased the cost from 60,000 US dollars to 15 million US dollars. As a result, there was no splash at all, and the two young directors of the two series also It was a short-lived flash in the pan, and no influential works appeared again.
Let's look at "The Ghost Story" again. After the first film was a huge success with a global box office of nearly 200 million U.S. dollars, five or six sequels were released in succession over the years. The cost did not exceed 10 million U.S. dollars, but each one was a hit. It can almost be regarded as a publisher. A golden-egg hen from Paramount, this is what Simon thinks is what a new genre and a blockbuster series should be.
However, even though "The Ghost Story" was selected, the idea of "The Blair Witch Project" can also be used in the follow-up, but this time it is definitely not possible to use deceptive techniques for publicity. As long as "The Ghost Story" opens up the situation and sets up a 'mock documentary' 'The Blair Witch Project' is a more serious film type, and with proper local promotion, it can still attract a large number of audiences.
As for director Justin Lin, although he was later mainly known for the "Fast and Furious" series, this director is actually a versatile actor who can handle various genres.
After all, "The Ghost Story" is just an experiment. From director to actors, Simon plans to use new people. Not to mention the actors, only newcomers will not make the audience confused in this form of pseudo-documentary. As for the director, on the one hand, it is an exercise for Lin Yibin from Simon, and Simon can also judge the strength of this 'newcomer' and potential. On the other hand, new directors definitely know how to cherish opportunities more, and they are also cheaper.
Of course, since Simon is personally taking the lead, he will definitely not give only the pitiful budget of US$15,000.
If it is really to be released, after shooting with a digital camera, just converting the low-quality digital images into 35mm film will cost far more than US$15,000. Therefore, from preparation to completion of a film that can be screened in theaters Simon prepared $300,000 for the 35mm film print.
The bulk is mainly in distribution.
If the results of the future film meet Simon's expectations, the distribution fee of three to five million may not be enough. Of course, as long as the film is successful, Daenerys Entertainment can earn more.
Girl A took note of this incident and took the initiative to report some other matters: "Chen sent an email. Over in China, the Rose Garden Villa project in Beijing has been finalized. Boss, do you want to see the details?"
"Well, on the plane back."
"Also, the Carlyle Group's acquisition of the British Perkins Engine Company, Caterpillar officially announced that it would join in the bidding. Mr. Rubinstein's email said that this may increase our acquisition cost by 10% to 20%. %."
"What does David mean?"
"It was suggested over there that if it exceeds 15% of our budget, the deal should be abandoned."
Simon nodded: "That's it."
"Also, regarding the clothing company Inditex in Spain, after several contacts, Inditex is very interested in our investment. However, Inditex's boss Amancio Ortega hopes to meet you. Also, He wants the companies of Westeros to invest directly, not through the Apollo Management Company."
"You can arrange the time," Simon did not refuse. Thinking of something, he asked again: "Has the matter of Inditex setting up a factory in Rivni settled?"
"It's agreed. However, the scale of the first phase of the factory will not be too large. The main reason is that Inditex has expanded very quickly in recent years and its own funds are not abundant. In addition, Inditex also mentioned one thing. I hope we can Increase investment in Rivni’s aviation industry, because Zara, a brand owned by Inditex, uses air transportation for global new product launches.”
"Let Komorov and the others discuss this matter," Simon said, thought for a moment, and then added: "We can further strengthen our control over the basic service areas of Rivne Oblast, such as electricity, railways, aviation, and energy. , telecommunications, real estate, etc.”
When Simon talked about this, he still thought of a certain Li family city on the other side of the ocean.
Regarding Rivni, Simon had had such ideas for a long time and planned to build a Westeros city in Ukraine.
To achieve this, the key is not to control the light industry or service industry that is the focus of development in the Rivne region, but to control the basic needs such as food, clothing, housing and transportation that everyone in a region cannot live without. To put it bluntly, it is actually developing a new rent-based economy.
If Simon wants to develop Rivni, he must introduce other capital to promote it together. He only relies on the Westeros system. Even if he has enough funds, it is impossible to cover all industrial fields. However, as long as the basic needs of everyone in a city are controlled, not only ordinary residents, but also various enterprises that exist in it, will eventually become long-term tenants of Simon, the charterer.