Michael Eisner, who was sitting in a high-end coffee shop in Beverly, glanced at his watch again. It was five minutes before the appointed time, but his face already showed an expression of impatience.
He has been in a state of irritability these days. Last summer, Disney failed several films and caused a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. None of the films released at the end of the year achieved too good results. Throughout 1990, if it hadn't been for Disneyland and branded product sales to make up for the loss, Disney would likely have suffered its first loss since he became CEO.
However, even though the balance of payments was barely maintained, some shareholders still began to accuse him of monopolizing power in Disney and insisting on suppressing Eric Williams, thus ending the good cooperative relationship between Disney and Firefly.
Of course, Michael Eisner would not admit his regret to others. If he had known that such a situation would result, he certainly would not have been such an early bird. But it’s useless to say these things now. After he expressed reconciliation to Eric through "Human and Ghost Love", it was only in exchange for Firefly not being openly hostile to Disney, but the cooperation between the two parties has been out of the question.
Although he has completely controlled Disney's board of directors, Michael Eisner is very clear that this absolute dominance is based on the fact that he can earn enough benefits for Disney shareholders.
Only if Disney can bring shareholders a steady stream of profit dividends, there will be no situation where shareholders unite against him in a company with very dispersed equity owners. Occasionally, one or two shareholders jump out to criticize, and it will not affect him in any way, not even those from the Disney family. therefore. He's only sitting here today. And rarely arrived earlier than others.
Before you know it, five minutes have passed. A waiter finally led Robert Shea to this table. Michael Eisner let himself show a warm smile, shook hands with Robert Shea, and the two sat down opposite each other.
"I'm really sorry, Michael, I'm late because of something," Robert Shea ordered a cup of coffee. Said to Michael Eisner.
Michael Eisner still had a smile on his face and said, "It's okay, Robert, and you're not late either."
The two chatted briefly, and the waiter quickly served the coffee. Robert Shea slowly added a few pieces of sugar for himself, with a leisurely look, as if there was no intention of discussing business matters, and his attitude showed exhaustive.
He is really living a good life these days, after getting rid of the resentment of being kicked out by Firefly. Because he held the script of "Cutthroat Island" snatched from Eric, Robert Shea found that he was even more beautiful than when he was the CEO of Firefly. The seven major film companies have lowered their stances to show their favor to him, hoping to cooperate with him to develop the "Cut Throat Island" project.
Of course, Robert Shea thought about making "Cut Throat Island" independently, but the distribution of a film with such a large scale of investment is not that simple.
Losing the new line, the little network he has now can't support the release of a big-budget movie like "Cut Throat Island". Unless he is willing to patiently accumulate for a few years, it is inevitable to rely on the seven major distribution channels.
But out of the resentment of being kicked out of Firefly, Robert Shea is eager to make a comeback. Of course, he also uses "Cutthroat Island" to disgust Eric, so he has decided to cooperate with Seventh. These days he has been The seven executives shuttled back and forth, hoping to use the chip in their hands to strive for the best interests for themselves.
Michael Eisner looked at Robert Shea, who had a good posture, with a sneer on the corner of his mouth, and stabbed indiscriminately: "I heard that kid went to New York again."
Of course, Robert Shea knew who Michael Eisner was referring to, and his expression became gloomy: "It must be because of this oil price fluctuation again, maybe I made some money last time, and I want to make some money this time." Pen. Young man, he is always ignorant, not only rejected the invitation of HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association) as an award presenter, he even did not attend this year's Golden Globe Awards Ceremony, this time he must have offended HFPA to death In the future, it will not be so easy for the films produced by Firefly to win awards."
Michael Eisner doesn't particularly care about the Golden Globes and Oscars. MGM has more than 150 Oscars, ranking first among all film companies. It's not half dead yet.
Only those small companies in the second and third tiers will be very concerned about the profit bonus brought by the Golden Globes and Oscars. From this, we can also see what level of Robert Shea's vision is still limited. Michael Eisner suddenly felt that it was a correct choice for Eric to kick Robert Shea out of Firefly.
"Sooner or later, that kid will get his own way, Robert, let's talk about "Cut Throat Island" now," Michael Eisner said bluntly.
Robert Shea put down the coffee in his hand, cheered up and said, "Let's talk about Disney's conditions first, Michael, I am still very inclined to cooperate with Disney, but you also need to come up with conditions that make my heart beat."
Michael Eisner said: "40% to 60%, including investment and distribution, you get 40% and Disney 60%. Of course, you can also get this percentage of income."
Robert Shea felt a burst of disbelief, looked at Michael Eisner's serious expression, and sneered: "Are you kidding, Michael, let alone me forty or sixty percent, even fifty-five percent, I would not agree I'm so sorry, I think I should leave, everyone's time is precious."
"What are you doing in such a hurry, Robert, why don't you listen to me," Michael Eisner waved to Robert Shea with a half-smile.
Noticing Michael Eisner's unusual expression, Robert Shea hesitated for a moment, then sat back.
Michael Eisner continued: "Let's talk about "Ghostly Love" first. At the beginning, Eric Williams said that the script was in the hands of others, and the possibility of success was unlikely. I didn't believe it at first, but after "Human Ghost" was released, I realized that what he said was not wrong. If it weren't for the tear-jerking "oh, my-love" soundtrack, the grade of this movie would have dropped by more than one level , the box office will definitely shrink significantly. Besides him, if you switch to other directors or soundtrack composers, the probability of linking this classic old song decades ago with "Human Ghost" is infinitely equal to zero."
"Does this have anything to do with what we're talking about today?" Robert Shea asked impatiently.
Michael Eisner nodded, looked at Robert Shea with piercing eyes, and said confidently: "Of course, do you know why I'm not as eager as other film companies, but I haven't contacted you until now?"
Instinctively, Robert Shea felt a strong sense of displeasure, and he stuttered and asked, "Why... why?" (To be continued...)