Projects are identified at the beginning of the year to prepare pilot episodes, pitches are pitched to TV networks during the May pitch season, and the show is launched in the fall. This is the operational process of most TV programs in the United States.
Simon used his free time to just complete the story outline and rough script of the first season of "Desperate Housewives". Many details still need to be revised, which is just a good way to transfer the authorship rights.
For such a project, it is actually very strange that Simon himself is credited as the screenwriter. Now he no longer needs to rely on a TV series to accumulate anything.
Of course, this does not prevent Hollywood from quickly spreading news of new projects created by Simon Westeros himself.
Although it is a TV series, the reality show that has remained popular in recent years has already proven that Simon can also create miracles in the television field.
You know, popular reality shows such as "Survivor", "Who Will Be a Millionaire", "The House of Beverly Hills", etc. have not only created billions of industry value, but also made a large number of TV stars popular. Reality star.
Take "Who Will Be a Millionaire" as an example? Although the popularity of this puzzle reality show has been in decline after its initial prosperity, the annual salary of the show host Regis Phil still reaches tens of millions. Dollar.
Although the first four reality shows launched in 1988, "The Housewives of Beverly Hills" had the lowest ratings, several housewives have become household TV stars. Even though the income from participating in this reality show itself is not high, relying on He also gained fame and fortune by taking on other TV shows, advertising endorsements, and developing personal careers outside of television. This is why Kris Jenner is so submissive in front of Simon.
The more people are in the game, the more they can appreciate the true power and energy of some people at the top of the pyramid in a circle, so it is easier to develop awe and surrender.
Now, a TV series project created by Simon himself, even if it will only be broadcast on cable TV networks like USA, after knowing some details of the project, it is enough to make many actresses who have stepped on the tail of their personal careers flock to it.
In the Hollywood industry, especially female stars, if they are unable to gain fame before the age of thirty, after the age of thirty, they will either get married and have children and become housewives, or they can only live in the second line. There are only a handful of people who can really make a comeback.
It is still only February 1992, and the spring schedule has already started. "Desperate Housewives" will definitely be released this fall, so there is still enough preparation time.
Simon took out a brief story and script and handed over the early preparation of the project to Robert Egger. He still had many more important things to deal with.
On February 18, after more than a month of auditing, Daenerys Entertainment Group’s 1991 financial report was finally released.
In 1991, Daenerys Entertainment, which completed the merger with MCA, achieved total revenue of US$9.3 billion for the year. Due to the need to allocate a large amount of cash flow to repay the debt borne by the MCA acquisition as well as the company's layoffs, asset write-downs and other expenses, the company's full-year net profit was ultimately US$270 million.
However, due to large-scale debt repayments, even after completing the full acquisition of EA that cost more than $800 million, Daenerys Entertainment Group's overall debt amount is only $7.8 billion.
Due to the great success of "Toy Story" at the end of last year, the industry generally valued Daenerys Entertainment Group at US$20 billion.
According to this valuation level, the debt of US$7.8 billion is actually only equivalent to a debt ratio of 39%.
Even after completing a large-scale merger and acquisition, Daenerys Entertainment was able to control its debt ratio within 40%, which is already a pioneering achievement.
After Time Warner Group has taken a series of measures to reduce debt, coupled with the continued rebound of the U.S. stock market for more than a year, the company's current debt ratio is still over 70%.
The assets of media tycoons such as Redstone and Murdoch have shrunk rapidly in recent years, mainly because they were dragged down by the high liabilities of their companies after the outbreak of the U.S. bond crisis.
In addition, Daenerys Entertainment’s annual revenue of US$9.3 billion is equivalent to the company’s ranking basically entering the top 50 of the Fortune 500 in the United States.
In the entire media industry, this revenue volume is second only to Time Warner Group.
However, due to the completely out-of-control merger and the fierce internal struggles of the management, although Time Warner has more than 10 billion US dollars in revenue, its actual operating conditions are far inferior to those of Daenerys Entertainment, which is still thriving.
Now that it has planned to go public, Daenerys Entertainment did not continue to keep a low profile on the company's financial data this time, and proactively contacted some financial media to publish the data.
Most corporate giants often suffer huge losses in the first few years after completing mergers and acquisitions. Although Daenerys Entertainment's net profit margin in the past year was only 3%, anyone can see that such financial data has exceeded expected.
Moreover, after the initial turmoil after the merger and acquisition is over and the business operations stabilize, Daenerys Entertainment's debt ratio will quickly decrease as long as it is willing to rely on its own abundant cash flow.
As the media discusses Daenerys Entertainment's new annual financial report, Simon's 24th birthday is coming unknowingly.
February 22 this year happens to be a Saturday.
Although he doesn't plan to make as big a show as on his 20th birthday, it's not easy for Simon to have a low-key birthday now.
Since January, many people have been asking about Simon's 24th birthday party. Janet wished everyone would forget her birthday, but she also took Simon's birthday very seriously and started preparations a month in advance.
The party location was still the mansion halfway up the Palisades.
After being together for so long, most people around Simon can understand his primitive territorial awareness. He doesn't like his personal space to be touched by others. Therefore, I don’t have much expectations for holding a birthday party at Dume Point Manor. Perhaps in the future, few people will be able to enter the top floor of the Westeros Building.
Of course, not everyone can attend even a birthday party in a Palisades mansion.
Although the threshold is very high, compared to the somewhat boring business parties in the past, under Janet's arrangement, Simon's birthday party was very fun, with singing, dancing, wine, and beautiful people.
The party lasted from seven o'clock on Saturday night until two o'clock in the morning. If it were not for the fear that some unpredictable things would happen to the guests staying at the Palisade mansion, the whole night would be inevitable.
Once you leave the party, no matter how ridiculous it is, it has nothing to do with the Westeros family.
Simon and his wife did not leave Palisades until twelve o'clock that night, but they flew to Panama at night. A certain little guy was given to Catherine to take care of. Catherine obviously had no experience in taking care of children, but women needed In fact, all he did was watch. The three ABD girls stayed at the Dume Point Manor. They were nannies trained by Janet herself.
After three days in Panama, the couple didn't return to Los Angeles until Wednesday.
Simon dropped Janet and flew directly to San Francisco.
After investing in graphics chip company ATI last year, ATI finally completed its first consumer-grade graphics chip for the PC market.
When Westeros bought 25% of ATI's shares for $50 million, Simon then suggested that Intel acquire ATI wholly and devote all its energy to the promotion of graphics cards.
However, although Intel accepted Simon's suggestion, ATI did not agree to Intel's acquisition invitation.
This is a no-brainer.
By embracing the Westeros Company, ATI already has a strong enough backing, and there is no need to sell itself to Intel, at least for the time being.
Everyone knows the principle of selling at a reasonable price.
However, ATI is also aware of Intel's strong influence in the semiconductor industry. Although it rejected the offer for a wholly-owned acquisition, it also accepted an investment from Intel and gave up 10% of its shares, making Intel its shareholder.
The semiconductor industry is very expensive, so it is destined that ATI, which has been continuously financing since its establishment, cannot have a large shareholding ratio of shareholders.
Westeros Corporation and Intel jointly hold a total of 35% of ATI's shares, basically controlling most of the company.
ATI's graphics card chip is completed, and the next step is naturally promotion.
Many years later, it will be difficult for most PC users to truly appreciate the effectiveness of graphics cards, because at that time, ordinary users have become accustomed to the convenience brought by graphics cards. Unless they are professional image processors and game enthusiasts, otherwise, only integrated graphics cards , is enough to meet the needs of most users.
Of course, in the subsequent smartphone era, the role of GPU became obvious.
Smartphones of various price levels also support different mobile games, and the difference is largely due to the differences in smartphone GPU functions.
At this stage, graphics cards specifically used for image processing are launched, replacing the corresponding operations supported by the CPU, and the display effect is almost immediate.
Simon had already experienced the effectiveness of a discrete graphics card before he came to San Francisco. With other configurations being the same, a PC with a graphics card installed would be able to browse the web or play video games more smoothly than a computer without a graphics card.
After evaluation by all parties, one thing was discovered.
Once graphics cards are popularized, not only will they not increase the burden on consumers, they can actually reduce the overall cost of PCs.
Because before this, users had to choose very expensive models if they wanted to get a better Internet surfing and gaming experience. Now, by only adding a few hundred dollars to your graphics card expenses, you might be able to save a thousand or two thousand dollars in your budget.
Moreover, this change will undoubtedly further accelerate the popularity of personal computers.
Traditional PC manufacturers are definitely inclined to keep the price of personal computers higher. However, once this trend is formed, no one can stop it. They will either follow the trend or be eliminated.
On the other hand, the further popularization of PCs will naturally promote the explosion of the Internet industry.
In this era, assembly machines had not yet emerged. When users purchased a PC, they basically purchased a complete set, including a monitor.
Therefore, the promotion of graphics cards requires the cooperation of OEM manufacturers.
ATI was originally one of IBM's suppliers of professional graphics chips for graphics workstations. This time, after seeing the effects of the consumer-grade graphics cards developed by ATI, IBM, which has always been the hardest nut to crack in the industry, stopped being stubborn and quickly decided Launch corresponding models.
Of course, when it comes to pricing, IBM still has the final say.
IBM took the lead, and companies such as Compaq and HP also joined.
As for Microsoft, driven by the Westeros Company, it has already invested in the research and development of graphics card support programs last year. The Windows 3.1 system, which will be released in March, will support graphics cards. The previous 3.0 system will also support graphics cards. Update accordingly.
Naturally, Apple will not be thought of when it comes to the changes promoted by the Wintel Alliance.
It has always been difficult for Silicon Valley to keep secrets, but Apple has also shown enough indolence in this matter. After the market value broke through 7 billion U.S. dollars last year, setting a new high, Apple felt obviously too good about itself.
After Simon personally rushed to Intel's headquarters to attend a meeting related to graphics card promotion, he stayed here until Friday, mainly to make arrangements for EA.
The promotion of graphics cards is undoubtedly the biggest promotion for the industry, and it is gaming.
Today's computer games are generally still 2D, but with the promotion of graphics cards, 3D games will not be far away.
Daenerys Special Effects’ technical accumulation in 3D special effects can also provide a lot of support for the development of 3D games. At the same time, EA has been positioned as a PC game manufacturer from the beginning, and it also has sufficient experience in game development.
With many advantages, if EA cannot seize this opportunity, it will be a huge mistake of the management.
Simon would not allow this to happen.
After personally finalizing some of EA's plans for 3D games, Simon returned to Los Angeles on February 28th.
In the past two months of 1992, a series of Daenerys Entertainment film projects were operating rapidly at various stages of production, and the same was true for film distribution.
In two months, Daenerys Entertainment's three labels have released a total of 7 movies in this single season. At this frequency, it is enough to reach 40 movies in the whole year.
This kind of distribution scale exceeds that of any company in Hollywood, but with the current strength of Daenerys Entertainment, it is not too much.
In the original time and space, Disney, which acquired Miramax, and Time Warner, which acquired New Line, had a combined circulation of more than 40 movies by their major and subsidiary labels during their peak period.
However, the current Miramax is just like many third-tier small production companies in Hollywood. There is nothing special. The "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series was taken away by Simon, the popularity of the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series has declined, and New Line has also fallen into the eighties. Many second-tier companies experienced a similar downturn in the 1990s.
Daenerys Entertainment's two major labels, High Gate Pictures and New World Pictures, have now replaced New Line and Miramax's original positions in Hollywood.
High Gate Pictures and New World Pictures have achieved results in various fields. Naturally, other Hollywood studios will not let go of this market. However, with the strength of Daenerys Pictures, the main labels of other studios The management is still lackluster. It is naturally impossible to compete with Gaomen Pictures and New World Pictures in the fields of literary films and horror films in the short term.