Mentally sorting out the success factors of "Taken" for future reference, Chris Lee did not ignore his boss's question and quickly answered: "John, if you think it is necessary, can I contact the Asian side in the near future?"
John Kelly asked: "Can't you just woo Jack Cheng or Jet Lee?"
"Jet and Daenerys have signed a three-film contract. We will definitely not have a chance before it is completed." Chris Lee said this, and then thought about it and said: "Jack can give it a try, but last year's "Rush Hour" "After that, his salary was very high and he has reached the top level of Hollywood. The "Police Story 4" that we tried to compete with last year ended up in the hands of Disney, and they offered a very high price. Moreover, even if we are willing The price is set, and Jack has no schedule in the short term. "Rush Hour 2" will start filming in the second half of the year."
John Kelly weighed it up and said: "In this case, let's make contact with Asia first."
Chris Lee nodded.
In fact, I didn’t have any expectations.
With the strength of Daenerys Entertainment, in today's Hollywood, it is no longer a question of whether other film companies can make good movies.
Let's take "Taken" as an example. The production cost is 25 million U.S. dollars. Under normal circumstances, the investment in publicity and distribution should be about 10 million U.S. dollars. However, with the recent popularity of this film on the Internet, TV, print media and other aspects, it is definitely not a momentum that can be created with a publicity expenditure of 10 million US dollars.
So why
Because Daenerys Entertainment owns the ABC TV network and many other cable TV channels, because the Westeros system controls Ygritte, the largest online platform, because Simon Westeros has a close relationship with the "Los Angeles Times" and " The family consortium behind major newspapers such as The New York Times has very good relationships.
Therefore, when Daenerys Entertainment's film is released, it doesn't even need to be greeted too much. These media platforms will naturally give it enough exposure.
Not only that, due to the continuous blockbusters of films produced by Daenerys Entertainment, coupled with Daenerys Entertainment's own pressure operation, major theaters in North America and even overseas will also give films produced by Daenerys Entertainment more opportunities. Good screen resources, better screening times, and even more active marketing through its own channels.
These will inevitably make it easier for films produced by Daenerys Entertainment to obtain higher box office numbers.
Even outside of theaters, in video tape channels, Daenerys Entertainment controls Blockbuster, the world's largest video tape chain company, and the Amazon online mall owned by Igret. Video tape sales have also shown geometric growth in recent years.
And television, too.
All these resources have unknowingly built a potential barrier, making Daenerys Entertainment, the strong one, stronger and making other studios, the weak ones, weaker.
The fate of the weak is likely to be eliminated.
After expelling Peter Cooper and Jon Peters, Sony has been suffering from continuous losses in recent years, and news has spread every day that the Japanese will withdraw from Hollywood.
As an insider, Chris Lee sees it better.
The global economy has been improving in the past few years, and Sony can still manage to support it. Now that the new technology bubble bursts, Sony's main business will inevitably be affected. In addition, Tinker Bayer's iPlayer, iCam and other products have impacted Sony's traditional players, cameras and other businesses, and Internet pirated music has caused Sony's record business to suffer. Rapid decline, unless a miracle occurs, the Japanese really have no choice but to give up the film business this time.
John Kelly is 67 years old this year. If he loses his job because Sony withdraws from Hollywood, he can retire directly. Chris Lee himself is only 41 years old, in his prime, and still has a long way to go in the future.
Therefore, after the failure of "Walking with the Devil", Chris Lee has been thinking more about his own way out recently.
The two Sony Pictures executives had a discussion in the VIP screening room and left the theater in the evening.
Chris Lee had dinner with his family after get off work, then went out again and drove to WMA head Jonathan Friedman's mansion in the Bel Air mountains.
Regularly holding various parties and receptions to promote communication between its filmmakers and studios in order to achieve more cooperation is something that major Hollywood agencies frequently do.
That's what happened tonight at Jonathan Friedman's mansion.
Speaking of which, it was not easy for Chris Lee, who was not considered a top producer in Hollywood before becoming the president of Columbia Pictures, to attend some high-end events at the top of the Hollywood pyramid. This is the biggest benefit of this job. . In the six months since he took office, Chris Lee has never let go of similar opportunities to expand his network.
From the backyard of the mansion with a view of the night view of Los Angeles down the hill, it was a very leisurely cocktail party, with only the occasional tinkling of the piano by some guests.
The most important thing is, looking at the crowd, Sylvester Stallone, Roland Emmerich, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Will Smith, Michael Bay, Francis Coppola, Al Pacino...all the big guys.
This is also the human resource that Chris Lee values most.
Like an old farmer who diligently watered and fertilized his crops, Chris Lee greeted them one by one. It wasn't until he met Alec Baldwin, one of the four Baldwin brothers, who he knew well, and whispered a few words that he learned that Simon Westeros was also here, arriving only a few minutes before him, and Chris Lee was immediately more excited.
Because once he loses his current job in the next two years, Chris Lee is most likely to be a solo producer for a period of time.
Today's Hollywood producers, the best partner is undoubtedly Daenerys Entertainment.
After asking a few questions in a low voice, he learned from Baldwin that Westeros was on the terrace on the second floor of the villa. Chris Lee did not go straight there, but continued to communicate with the guests and listened to Al's music at the piano by the swimming pool. Pacino played a piece of music before finally reaching the villa and walking directly to the stairs on the second floor.
I happened to bump into John Wu and another Asian man whose name Chris Lee also recognized walking down together. He quickly smiled and stepped forward to greet them: "Hello, Wu, it's nice to see you. And , you are Zhou, right, that one, "A Better Tomorrow"."
Fa Ge, who came to North America because of some post-dubbing work for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," saw Chris Lee recognizing him, nodded politely, and asked, "Hello, who are you?"
"I'm Chris Lee, currently president of Columbia Pictures."
Chris Lee said, taking out his business card and giving it to the two of them.
John Wu, who was a little cold at first, soon smiled when he heard Chris Lee introduce himself, took the business card and stretched out his hand.
Chris Lee shook hands with John Wu and smiled: "John, I have watched your "Broken Arrow" and "Mission: Impossible 2", oh, and the "Heroes" that created a box office miracle in Hong Kong. "True Colors", coincidentally, Chinese Kung Fu has been very popular in Hollywood in the past two years. I wonder if you have any ideas about this, maybe we can cooperate?"
The two looked at each other after hearing this, and John Wu said: "I just finished "Face" and I don't have any plans for a new film yet, and Ah Fa happens to be the same. However, if you have ideas, Chris, I'm sorry, we don't have any plans for the time being. .”
"That's not a problem. We can take time to chat and we will definitely come up with some good ideas. How about tomorrow, you two?"
Chris Lee once again directly extended the invitation, mainly because he was keenly aware of the subtext in John Wu's words: After "Face/Off", Wu and Daenerys Entertainment did not reach follow-up intentions, and it was obvious that he wanted to leave Daenerys. Willingness to work with other studios.
John Wu winked at Fa Ge who was about to say something, and took over the conversation: "I'm sorry, Chris, Zhou Zhou and I don't have time tomorrow."
"It's okay. In this case, can you two leave me your contact information? We can contact you by phone soon?"
This time, John Wu did not refuse again. However, Fa Ge was going to New York next Monday. The post-production of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was mainly completed there. He could not stay in Los Angeles to meet with Chris Lee, so he could only entrust it to John. · Wu.
After such a conversation, Chris Lee was basically certain that he had reached his intention, which was a real gain tonight.
After watching the two of them walk away, Chris Lee stepped onto the steps and came to the second-floor terrace.
I saw a certain target figure at a glance.
Simon Westeros was leaning on the couch facing the railing, with four women sitting on the left and right around him. On the left were two generations of alien girls, and on the right was an Asian girl, and the recent "Horror Ghost" The heroine Mia Sara.
In addition to the other three familiar faces, after taking another look, I recognized that the Asian girl was the girl who played Jet Lee's kidnapped sister in "Taken" that I just watched this afternoon. Even though there are differences in aesthetics between East and West, the girl's appearance is obviously different from the Asians commonly seen on Western screens. Chris Lee was still surprised during the afternoon viewing.
Because it's really beautiful.
Now, seeing the other party appear here, Chris Lee suddenly felt that this was indeed the case.
How could Simon Westeros miss such a little beauty.
Or maybe she was the little beauty chosen by Simon Westeros himself.
In addition to Simon Westeros hugging him, there were also Jonathan Friedman, the owner of the mansion whom Chris Lee had not seen, sitting on a few sofas nearby, as well as "The Rescue" and "Scary Ghost". The main creators of the two films are Jett Lee, Ben Stiller, Doug Liman and Peter Jackson.
Perhaps it was a deliberate gathering to celebrate the success of a recent series of films.
Of the four movies related to Daenerys Entertainment in the Easter schedule, only Jim Carrey of "The Cable Fix" did not appear. Chris Lee, who happened to know some rumors in the circle, did not find it strange.
Seeing Chris Lee appear, everyone who was chatting enthusiastically looked over.
Jonathan Friedman, who was closest to the stairs and was the owner of the house, recognized Chris Lee, stood up on his own initiative, smiled and shook hands with him, and without waiting for others to get up, he directly pulled Lee to an empty seat next to him. Sit down.
Apparently considering the convenience of entertaining, six sets of sofas, large and small, were arranged in an arc around the oval coffee table near the railing on the more than 100-square-meter terrace, which was enough to hold a dozen people for a tea party.
Jonathan waited for Li to sit down and helped introduce him. Li, whose butt had just touched the sofa cushion, stood up slightly and nodded to everyone.
In fact, I would rather exchange business cards.
After all, Jet Lee, Doug Liman, Peter Jackson and others will all be popular in Hollywood in the next few years. However, the scene is obviously not suitable at this time, and there is no rush. There will definitely be an opportunity later.
Simon has been paying close attention to the trends in Hollywood. He also knew that Sony Pictures changed its management again last year. This was the first time he met the head of Columbia Studios. After being greeted by Li, he casually asked: "Fan Ho What were the post-production effects of the movie "Starship Troopers" written by Wen?"
Chris Lee didn't expect that Simon Westeros would suddenly ask him this. Even though it was inappropriate to inquire about sensitive information about competitors, and Westeros had a casual attitude and casual tone, Li He didn’t dare to be perfunctory at all, and he didn’t hesitate to hide it. He sat up slightly and said, “Starship Troopers is the team of Samsung Pictures in charge of it. However, I have also paid attention to it. In terms of CG effects, it is still good and very shocking. .”
Simon was noncommittal and asked: "Norio Ohga must be very angry these days, right?"
Chris Li was a little embarrassed, but still told the truth: "Mr. Dahe just had a video connection with us this morning, and he was indeed... not very happy."
Simon smiled, rubbed the slender waist of the Asian girl next to him with his palms, looked at Chris Lee and said consolingly: "Actually, if you do your job well, Hollywood belongs to us indigenous people after all, and the Japanese are Outsiders, outsiders come and go, we are still the masters of Hollywood.”
Chris Lee nodded subconsciously.
but.
I soon realized something.
Simon Westeros, in his words, obviously hopes that the Japanese can 'come and go' as soon as possible.
Or maybe it means to win over yourself.
Why win over
Presumably in the hope that he could promote the Japanese to 'come and go' as quickly as possible.
As the main production label of Sony Pictures, it is not easy for Chris Lee to do well, but it is too easy to mess up something.
With this in mind, Chris Lee looked tentatively at the young tycoon opposite who made people look up to him, but the other person had already turned away. On the other hand, Jonathan Friedman next to him also looked enlightened. Looked at him with a smile.
With these thoughts in mind, Chris Lee didn't stay here longer and took the initiative to stand up and leave.
When Chris Lee left, everyone seemed to have immediately forgotten what had just happened and continued to chat about trivial matters.
No one came up to say hello, so Simon, who was briefly free, looked at the Asian girl next to him. Deliberately asking in not very fluent Chinese: "By the way, how do you pronounce your name, 'Qi Qi'? It's very interesting."
Because she is not proficient in English, the girl who was confused just now smiled and corrected her: "It's 'qin', Mr. Westeros. This word means hardworking in Chinese, um, Hardworking."
"Oh I see."
The girl said with caution, "Actually, Mr. Westeros, you can also call me Angel. This is my English name. In Chinese, it's Jiang Anqi."
There was a smile on Simon's lips: "I think this name sounds better, just like you, as beautiful as an angel."
"Thank you for your compliment, Mr. Westeros."
"You can also call me Simon. Also, you don't have to speak so formally."
"It would be rude."
"No, people who are close to us here call each other by their first names. Aren't we close now?"
The girl named Jiang Anqi in English is actually very familiar with how to deal with people. She clearly felt the ambiguity in the words of the man next to her, but she pretended not to know, and said with a blushing face: "Well, okay, Simon."
Jet Lee, who was continuing to chat with someone next to him, couldn't help but curse when he heard this conversation.
He has seen how smooth this big man's Chinese is. Now, he is even more slippery when he deliberately pretends to be unfamiliar to pick up girls, which is admirable.