Strictly speaking, "Captain Hawk" did not fail commercially, and even made some profits, but this was achieved while consuming Spielberg's personal reputation, and it was far lower than the industry's original estimates Therefore, "Captain Hawk" can also be said to be an extremely failed work.
Martin Davis is well aware of these situations, but he doesn't want to be taken elsewhere by Eric with the topic of "Captain Hawk": "Eric, when Sony and Panasonic bought Columbia and Universal , Didn’t you have cooperated with them before, in this case, why not cooperate with Paramount, after all, it is a win-win thing.”
Eric smiled silently, looked at Martin Davis and said, "Martin, you should know that the situation now is very different from a few years ago."
When cooperating with Columbia and Universal, Firefly was still quite weak, and could only rely on the distribution channels of the two major film companies to improve its own strength. The situation is completely different now. Firefly’s strength and status are completely equal to those of the other six. If they can’t see enough benefits, they can cooperate with Paramount only by relying on some old grievances with Viacom. It's like helping your competitors.
Of course, Martin Davis also understands this point, but he has considered "1, related issues a long time ago, and said quickly: "Eric, do you still remember the "Fighting Condor" that you cooperated with Fox? ?”
Eric nodded slightly, faintly aware of what Martin Davis wanted to say.
"Paramount also has some movie project reserves. We can imitate the cooperation model of "Falcon Condor". You only need to select the next project and participate in the investment, and Paramount will do the rest. What do you think?"
Most Hollywood movies usually have a very long project incubation period. This stage is generally from the time when a book or a script is selected by the producer to the official start of filming. During this period, it often takes a long time to revise the script, find investors, find directors and actors, etc., more than 9% Ten of the projects may be aborted during the project incubation stage, and no more than 10% of them can be successfully tendered, after all. But compared to the investment of tens of millions of dollars, the story on paper is not worth much.
The project reserve that Martin Davis refers to is the film project at this stage.
Hear this advice. Eric's expression moved slightly, and after thinking for a moment, he nodded and said: "It's not impossible to consider, but Martin. You must know about the sequel of "Fighting Condor". It is definitely impossible for me to agree to the conditions."
"Of course, everything can be discussed," Martin Davis immediately beamed with joy, "Eric, I have already prepared the materials, and I will send them to you later."
"One more thing, if there is no project that satisfies me..." Eric said and shrugged towards Martin Davis, making an expression that you understand. He's also just a little curious about Paramount's copyright library, though. In the original time and space, Paramount's most successful "Forrest Gump" and "Mission: Impossible" series copyrights in the 1990s are now in Huahua Pictures, so Eric doesn't have much confidence in Paramount's copyright library expect.
The crew still had a regular meeting to be held at night, and after dinner, Eric bid farewell to Martin Davis and left the restaurant.
Early the next morning, just as Eric woke up, there was a hasty knock on the door.
"Eric, take a look at this first," Allen handed over the things in his hand immediately after entering the door.
Eric took it over and took a look. It was a copy of a newspaper faxed from Los Angeles.
"Martin Davis went to Hawaii for a secret meeting with Williams, and the two defenses are suspected of having a major cooperation."
Under the blackened title, there is also a photo of Martin Davis entering the "Jurassic Park" filming set and leaving in a car with Eric at the end.
Alan followed Eric into the room, closed the door and said, "Yesterday, I met a reporter who was taking pictures outside the studio. I thought it was an ordinary paparazzi and didn't care. Now it seems that it should be Martin David. In New York, after the stock market opened today, the stock price of Paramount Communications rose by 1.2% in a short period of time because of this news. I have already answered many calls asking about this, Mr. Hansen I called at four o'clock in the morning," Allen said, and handed a page of memo to Eric: "This is the communication record."
Eric took the contact list and looked at it. The executives of the Firefly system made a list, and the other list seemed longer. Eric raised his hand and looked at his watch. It was just six o'clock in the morning local time in Hawaii, and Los Angeles was three hours earlier than Hawaii, and it was just time to go to work there. These people's reactions were really fast enough. Fortunately, Eric didn't disclose his room number to too many people, and the few people who knew him knew his situation very well, so they didn't call before dawn, but turned to 'harass' Alan, otherwise he would Must have been woken up early.
Just about to call Jeffrey to explain the situation, the phone in the room finally rang.
"Hi, I'm Eric Williams... Jeffrey, good morning, I was just about to call you..."
After briefly introducing the situation, Eric hung up the phone, handed the memo to Allen and said, "Firefly's side is no longer a problem, please help me block it for others, just say that Martin Davis is coming to Hawaii On vacation, by chance."
Allen nodded, and couldn't help asking: "Eric, are we really going to cooperate with Paramount?"
"What do you mean?" Eric didn't answer immediately, but asked back.
Allen also heard Eric's explanation to Jeffrey just now, thought for a while, and said: "I don't think it is a good choice to cooperate now. Firefly is now completely on an equal footing with the other six, and every year The cake is only so big, even with the cooperation model of "Fighting Condor", it will definitely bring competition to itself."
"You're right, but don't worry, Allen. There's no clue about this matter, and even if it's a cooperation, it must be to ensure that Firefly may have enough interests."
Allen raised the fax in his hand: "What about this one?"
"Let's just pretend it's not the case. It won't do us any harm if Martin Davis spreads the word about it. Redstone or Barry Diller should be the ones who should worry," he said. Eric couldn't help smiling again: "So, maybe it can bring some windfalls, no matter what. We won't suffer."
…
"Mr. Ma Long," said a middle-aged man in a neat suit who looked meticulous walking over outside the CEO office of qvc. Barry Diller's assistant stood up and said hello.
John Malone hummed without changing his face, knocked on the door a few times, pushed the door open and walked in. The assistant just opened his mouth, but he didn't dare to stop the big boss of qvc's parent company's remote communication.
"Barry. Have you contacted Eric Williams?"
Barry Diller, who was reading documents behind his desk, glanced at John Malone. Said: "Eric's assistant just called me back and said that Martin Davis was only traveling to Hawaii, and the two met by chance."
"Coincidentally, huh, how could there be such a coincidence," John Malone smiled disdainfully, and suddenly remembered what Barry Diller said just now: "So, you didn't talk to Williams in person?"
"No. My friendship with him is not to the point where he can call in person," Barry Diller said lightly.
John Malone could hear Barry Diller's tone with a little disinterestedness. He couldn't help but said, "Barry, you should take heart. You put forward the proposal to buy Paramount back then. Now it's just a small setback."
"Is it really just a small setback?" Barry Diller gave John Malone a cold look, and said, "You have been to Los Angeles at least four times in the past few months. I guess Martin Davis has even got me personally Drafted acquisition plan, John, tell me, am I right?"
When it came to the end, Barry Diller's tone contained a hint of irrepressible anger. He was not afraid of enemies or setbacks, but felt chilled by the betrayal of his allies. In the past few months, Barry Diller's several attempts to Paramount have been blocked, and he behaved as if he had taken precautions against Barry Diller's methods in advance.
After realizing the problem, Barry Diller immediately conducted relevant investigations and easily discovered the truth of the matter. Although Telecom, one of the parent companies, has authorized qvc to acquire Paramount, but John Malone has the idea of monopolizing Paramount, and John Malone has made no secret of his intentions. Visited Martin Davis's office several times in a row.
Therefore, Barry Diller was able to guess the ins and outs of the matter in a short period of time. Only Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Telecom boss John Malone were the only ones who knew about his acquisition plan in detail. Of course, there was also Barry Diller. Diller's own team, but he can be sure that there will be no problems with his own team, and John Malone is too obvious.
Hearing Barry Diller's obvious accusation, John Malone shook his head unchanged: "Barry, I think you must have made a mistake. I went to visit Martin Davis for the purpose of acquisition."
"It's for the acquisition of Paramount for Telecom, not for qvc's acquisition of Paramount, right?"
John Malone was a little annoyed by Barry Diller's relentless pursuit, and simply said: "So what if it's true, Barry, I also gave you a chance, but you haven't made any progress in the past few months , isn't it?"
Barry Diller was so enraged by the other party's rhetoric that he almost laughed out loud. If it hadn't been for the other party's betrayal and revealed his acquisition plan, Barry Diller could be sure that qvc would at least be able to acquire a certain percentage of Paramount from the secondary market Shares, in order to achieve the purpose of entering the board of directors.
Although John Malone always looked like a meticulous gentleman, Barry Diller knew that this was just an appearance, and what kind of person the other party was, had already been revealed from the rascal's words just now.
It has been Barry Diller's long-standing wish to acquire Paramount and return to the long-lost office as the owner, but Barry Diller does not have the capital himself, so he can only rely on remote communication and Comca Stuart funds.
The two looked at each other across a desk for a while, Barry Diller still sighed in his heart, and spoke first in compromise: "John, even if Paramount cooperates with Firefly, it won't change anything, Eric Although K. Williams is young, he is a person who will never let himself suffer. The cooperation between the two of them will cost us more at most. Our real enemies are Martin Davis and Summer Ray Shi Dong, based on what I know about Martin Davis, he doesn't want to sell Paramount at all, so even if you spend a year in his office, this situation is unlikely to change, and you want to win Paramount , the only way is compulsory acquisition. In this regard, Summer Redstone's style is more tough, as can be seen from the acquisition of Viacom in the 1980s and the acquisition of Disney last year. Redstone is a man who dares to bet on all chips."
Having said that, Barry Diller paused, looking at John Malone with a somewhat disappointed expression: "Summer Redstone is using the financing prepared for the acquisition of Disney last year to seek a controlling stake in the video rental giant Blockbuster. Right, once the other party succeeds, with Blockbuster's huge cash flow, we will have no advantage in the bidding. At the same time, Martin Davis began to contact Williams to seek cooperation and self-protection. They are all fighting for their own The goal is to work hard, look at us, what are we doing," Barry Diller excitedly hammered the tabletop, and made a bang: "But we are fighting among ourselves!"
"Mr. Diller, what happened?" Hearing the muffled noise in the office, Barry Diller's assistant was worried that the two would fight, so he slightly opened the door and asked.
Before Barry Diller could speak, John Malone turned his head and yelled at the assistant with a sinking face, "Get out, who let you in."
The assistant shrank his neck in fright, glanced at Barry Diller, and retreated with lingering fear after receiving the signal from the other party's eyes.
The office fell silent again. John Malone silently smoked two cigars and handed one to Barry Diller. The two men silently lit and took a deep puff at the same time.
"Brian Roberts doesn't seem enthusiastic about acquiring Paramount. It's only because of you that they agreed to this acquisition plan. Telecom doesn't want Comcast to take advantage of this ride, so I don't think so. I did something wrong, and, even if Telecom were to buy Paramount alone, I personally would very much like you to run it."
"I have told many people a long time ago that I will not sign another employment contract," Barry Diller retorted in a deep voice amidst the lingering green smoke. He owns shares in qvc, and according to the original agreement signed With the control of qvc, the acquisition of Paramount in the name of qvc, he is the master. But if parent company Telecom bought Paramount, what did it matter to him? (To be continued..)