After cooperating with Columbia on "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", according to the original contract, there are four other cooperative development plans for the film. After getting the fat meat of Columbia's overseas distribution resources, Eric no longer has much enthusiasm, but Peter Cooper has been entangled tightly after Eric completed the later stage of "Jurassic Park". Not only a few calls a day, but also a trip to the Firefly headquarters or the Sharp Point Manor every three days, Eric had to start selecting the remaining cooperation projects. After all, Firefly would occupy 60% of the interests, and he could not choose a few at random. If the movie handles the matter, it's tantamount to cheating yourself, and it's a headache to think about it.
The salary negotiation between Nicole and Universal on the "Mummy" project has also been successfully completed. Nicole gave up the $10 million salary and enjoyed 8% of the omni-channel profit sharing of "The Mummy". Eric heard that this contract is within Universal It also caused quite a bit of controversy. Michael Eisner advocated paying Nicole a cash remuneration, but in order to reduce investment risks, Universal's board of directors insisted on agreeing to the sharing contract proposed by Nicole, and finally even moved out Panasonic's top management. , Michael Eisner had no choice but to agree under the pressure given by Panasonic's top management.
After reading the outline of the "Mummy" series drafted by Universal, Eric confirmed that there would be an army of undead in the second sequel, so he let the digital field take the initiative to contact Universal and wanted to win the special effects production project of the "Mummy" series. .
Because of Eric's investment in technology research and development regardless of cost, Industrial Light and Magic at this time has fallen far behind the digital field in terms of cg special effects, although Michael Eisner reached an agreement with Industrial Light and Magic under Spielberg's matchmaking. some long-term cooperation agreements. But it is also impossible to refuse the request for cooperation in the digital field. After all, he couldn't refuse to make Universal's movies even better in terms of special effects. However, Michael Eisner did not hand over all the special effects of "The Mummy" to the digital field. He subcontracted the special effects to Industrial Light and Magic and the digital field for joint production on the grounds of the tight production cycle of the film. Eric originally He was only interested in the special effects scene of the army of the undead, and did not raise any objections.
The sale of tg film company to Fox is just to confirm the intention. The specific transaction can only be implemented after at least tg completes this year's project. Drew and Elizabeth are still focusing on the production of "Buffy" and Jim Carrey's new film , Charlize Theron's episode did not affect the process of determining the heroine of "Buffy". If all goes well, the production of the TV series will start at the end of March.
After a period of research, Jim Carrey's new film was determined to be the sequel to "Aeroplane" at the end of last year. The results of this sequel in the original space and time are indeed much better than the first one, and Eric also stepped in to make some suggestions for the script.
Because tg is not in a hurry to sell, and it is impossible for Drew to get out in a short time, let alone the production of "Charlie's Angels".
Eric originally planned to hand over the writing of the script of "Charlie's Angels" to the screenwriting team of Firefly, but after thinking about it in the end, he still planned to do it himself, anyway, next, because of the birth of the two little guys. He will definitely have some free time in New York, which can be used to slowly conceive the script of "Charlie's Angels". Since the idea of imitating the 007 series, the movie series of "Charlie's Angels" certainly needs a complete world view and story background, and in this regard, Eric, who has countless movie storylines in his mind, is definitely better than others. Therefore, during this period of time, Eric always carried a small notepad with him, and recorded the occasional inspirations about "Charlie's Angels" anytime and anywhere.
Among these scattered and trivial things, there is "Forbes" magazine to add to the chaos. In early March, "Forbes" magazine officially announced the annual list of the 400 richest people in North America, although Eric did not appear in the richest man's seat However, his worth of 7.5 billion US dollars still caused some media entanglement. After all, although Eric is not the wealthiest on the list, his age is very dazzling. After his birthday in May this year, Eric Ke is only 23 years old, which is hard to compare with Bill Gates, who also has a net worth of more than five billion U.S. dollars. Although Bill was once called "the youngest billionaire", he will soon be It will be forty years old.
Of course, if it's just age, it's not a big problem, just let the outside world say whatever you want, but for Eric's source of wealth, although "Forbes" magazine has given a clear analysis, many media still have doubts. All kinds of malicious speculation, and some people even strongly called on the federal government to conduct related investigations and give taxpayers an explanation.
Of course there is no explanation, but it is certain because of the controversy.
In this turbulent environment, Eric has been busy until the end of March, and after finishing everything, he hurriedly left everything and rushed to New York.
…
In East Hampton, Long Island, because the two women have to live for a long time, the original rented house has been returned. In January, Eric asked Chris in New York to help buy another house not far from the sea. They bought a small five-acre manor and came to New York again, where both Virginia and Joanna had moved in.
The weather in New York at the end of March was still cold. Although there was no more snow, the maximum temperature still did not exceed fifteen degrees, and occasionally dropped below freezing.
Suddenly coming to this small manor like a paradise from the busy work without touching the ground, Eric did not suddenly feel at a loss like many workaholics, but enjoyed the sudden tranquility very much.
For the two girls now, it is definitely not suitable to go out in the morning and evening. They will only go for a walk outside when the weather is warm near noon.
New York ushered in a rare sunny day, there was no wind, and staying under the sun gave people a warm feeling. Eric was standing on the green lawn just now, with a picture clip in front of him and a charcoal pencil in his hand, whispering small things while talking to Joe, who was quietly sitting on the bench by the roadside in front of him. Anna drew on the white paper, and the woman said she would keep it as a souvenir, and show the little guy what his mother looked like when she was pregnant.
Because of nutritional supplements during pregnancy, Joanna's cheeks no longer looked thin and plump at this time. With the delicate eyes. It looks more beautiful. As for Virginia. She absolutely does not allow Eric to make any comments on her round face now, and the little woman also realizes that Eric is also looking forward to the little guy in her belly, so she is even more confident.
The sound of the car came, but Eric didn't look back. Before he arrived in New York, Chris said that he would bring his girlfriend to visit, and he called again last night to talk about it.
Not far away came the voices of Virginia and Chris talking, and they said something. He walked towards Eric.
Eric saw Joanna slightly raised her chin and smiled behind him, then turned her head to see that the three of them had come behind him.
"Eric, the painting is really beautiful," Emily Bryton said with some envy. She was very interested in painting before, but unfortunately she had to apply for business school in order to take the class of the family business.
Chris then joked: "Yeah, if you don't plan to be a director in the future, you can still rely on this skill to make a living."
Looking at the portrait that was about to be completed, Virginia felt a bit like a snack. But she is determined not to leave any images, because she thinks that now is the period when she looks the ugliest when she grows up. Think about it. Virginia glared at Eric subconsciously, and vented the little resentment in her heart to Eric.
It's all the guy's fault, for sure.
Emily and Chris, who were standing on the other side, both noticed Virginia's expression, and snickered from the corners of their mouths, but neither said anything.
Eric carefully outlined the lines, listened to Chris' teasing, and said with a smile: "Your opinion is not unreasonable. Anyway, I have nothing to do recently, so I can just take a seat in Times Square and earn some money. A little guy to buy a few packs of milk powder."
These were of course jokes, and after a few words, Virginia took Emily to prepare lunch. During Eric’s absence, Emily often came to visit the two women, and the three had become very close friends at this time. friend.
Chris did not leave, put his hands in his coat pockets, watched Eric paint, and asked, "How long do you plan to stay in New York this time?"
"If there is nothing else, I will try to stay until the summer vacation," Eric thought for a while, and said with some uncertainty.
Chris smiled and said, "Judging from the tone of your words, I bet you won't be able to stay for that long."
Eric also shook his head slightly: "This is impossible. Speaking of it, I envy many other colleagues. They can take a few months of vacation every year. I heard that John Malone, the boss of Telecom, I only work for six months, and spend the rest of the year taking my family on vacation around the world."
Telecom is the major shareholder of QVC, which is managed by Barry Diller. Eric has been paying attention to QVC and Viacom's bid for Paramount, so he also heard this anecdote by chance.
"They are all old men. They have achieved great success, so of course they can live a more comfortable life, and these people have not climbed to the top ten of the "Forbes" rich list like you at the age of twenty-three, have they?"
Eric sighed slightly: "Yes, there are gains and losses, I hope the two little guys will not be too unfamiliar with me in the future."
Chris didn't know how to answer this topic, so he thought for a while and said: "Speaking of the rich list, I have registered several companies in Bermuda, Cayman Islands and other places during this time, and I can use these offshore companies to support us in the future. The investment in several companies that Firefly holds is gradually diluting the shares that Firefly invests in these companies. I have recently begun to communicate with Steve Case about AOL shares. The 30% of the shares we now own can also be dispersed in several In this way, Firefly Investment can become an 'empty shell' that will not appear on the shareholder list of listed companies in the future."
"This is the best way. I was blocked by those paparazzi in Los Angeles a few days ago. Some guys even fanned the flames. It was really annoying."
Chris said with a smile: "Even if we hide the investment of Firefly, if Firefly continues to develop at the current speed, sooner or later you will be pushed to the top of the list one day. Now many people have questioned "Forbes" The magazine underestimated the market value of Firefly Pictures, and Wall Street even scoffed at the valuation made by Forbes."
"Let's talk about it at that time. At the worst, I will split the shares of Firefly Films," Eric said, suddenly thinking of something, and asked: "What happened to the online mailbox of Hotmail, I found it in the latest file Haven't seen any news on the Internet?"
"The server is already being built," Chris said with a helpless expression: "The core code of the online mailbox has almost been completed a long time ago, and that guy Steve Mitnick is not satisfied with the encryption method of the mailbox password. The team developed a new encryption algorithm. This time, I mean, if there are no other accidents, it will be available in April. However, I have been paying attention to the trend of the Internet market, and no research has been found yet Technology companies with similar technologies, so it doesn’t matter if we wait for a while, even if there are competitors, with our IE and Yahoo portals in our hands, the promotion will be much faster than them.”
Eric nodded, becoming more and more interested in the guy who was also named Steve in Chris's mouth, and said: "If you have time, you must meet. I am most interested in perfectionists and paranoid, especially those who can People who stick to their perfectionist tendencies.”
Chris curled his lips in a rare way, and said, "After you see it, you may have the urge to beat someone up."
After finishing a painting, it was almost lunch time. Eric took off the drawing board and walked to Joanna who was sitting on the bench, and discussed with the woman in a low voice. The two then greeted Chris. , got up straight and walked towards the villa, Chris looked at the backs of the two of them, then at the lonely easel on the lawn, shrugged helplessly, laughed and scolded Eric, saying that there are opposite sexes but no humanity, and then stroked Pulling off his sleeves, he reached out to disassemble the easel, picked it up and followed.
During lunch, the restaurant completely became the home of three women. Women are very talkative creatures. In addition, Emily has become very familiar with the two women, and she is very talkative. Eighteen years after the birth of the little ones, I chatted with the two daughters. After lunch, I still couldn’t get enough. I left Eric and Chris behind and gathered in a small living room of the villa to discuss the possibility of holding a small prenatal party. matter.
Eric and Chris were not too interested in these topics, so they had to hide in the study to chat about the company's affairs. (To be continued..)