Since caa expanded the business scope of agents in the 1980s, more professional script agents appeared, and the channels became smooth. In addition to various types of adapted scripts specially hired by film companies to write screenwriters, Hollywood film companies receive thousands of scripts every year. Because once these scripts are selected by big film companies, and even sold for a high price of one million dollars, many poor boys who were originally penniless will often enter the ranks of millionaires, so Hollywood has other reasons for original scripts. A title, both 'speculative script'. Eric's first script, "Back to Seventeen", was a very successful speculative script.
In recent days, in order to select projects for DreamWorks Films, which was established in cooperation with MGM Pictures, Eric always carries a thick tome with him wherever he goes, which looks like a small sixteen It's a famous book, but the five to six hundred pages of the tome are actually outlines of scripts submitted by many Hollywood agencies.
After the news of the selection of scripts was released, at first Eric’s desk was filled with scripts that had been preliminarily screened every day. With his current situation, it was impossible for Eric to spare enough time to check them one by one, so he simply ordered After a few words, a day later, the outline of the script carefully bound according to Eric's request was sent to him. Except for some necessary ≈, script author and other information, each script was reduced to about two or three pages. story.
Rupert Murdoch sat in his luxury car on the main road of Firefly Studios, looking at the huge studios and the busy crowd on both sides, he couldn't help feeling a little bit emotional, but thinking of today's meeting, he felt a tinge of worry. It came to mind again.
The luxury car passed through the office area and stopped outside a well-decorated restaurant inside Firefly Studios.
Because it was not yet lunch time, there were not many people in the restaurant. When Murdoch walked into the restaurant, he saw Eric in a simple t-shirt and jeans in the corner, reading a book in a leisurely manner, just like any ordinary young employee in Firefly Studios.
If he hadn't witnessed the whole process, who would have imagined that a young man who was not even 25 years old would annex Disney from scratch in just a few years. Established a large-scale Firefly Films.
Although the source of funds for annexing Disney is miraculous, with the current global box office scale of "Jurassic Park", Murdoch knows that even without the oil crisis brought about by the war two years ago, Firefly Pictures would have developed into a Hollywood giant. One of the film companies is also just a simple matter of time.
Out of the corner of Eric's eye, he sensed someone coming in from the restaurant. He looked up and found that it was Murdoch. He quickly put down his book and got up to greet him: "Rupert, didn't you make an appointment at twelve o'clock. Why are you here so early?"
Murdoch shook hands with Eric with a smile on his face, and said, "I'm curious about what you look like when you work, so I came here in advance to have a look. I didn't expect them to tell me you were here."
Eric sat down with Murdoch and explained: "I just had a conversation with a director here, and he hasn't been away for a long time."
Murdoch asked curiously: "Is it "007" or "Charlie's Angels", I heard that MGM also handed over "007" to you?"
"'007' won't be made until at least next year, and I won't get involved too much. Right now, it's mainly 'Charlie's Angels', but it's a coincidence. I chose the same director for both films, the one I just met. A man named Martin Campbell."
Murdoch didn't think of Martin Campbell for a while, but there must be something special about someone who can let Eric deliver two heavyweight film guides at the same time. Murdoch secretly kept this name in his heart, and planned to have someone investigate it, and perhaps Fox could also win him over.
The waiter quickly served Murdoch a cup of coffee. Murdoch picked it up and took a sip, but he was reluctant to mention the topic of today's meeting. Seeing the beautifully bound but untitled tome in front of Eric, he continued to chat and ask, "What book are you reading?"
"For the sake of DreamWorks, I have received a lot of scripts recently, and I asked someone to make a simple outline of the script, which is quite interesting to read," Eric said, pushing the book in front of Murdoch.
Like other Hollywood film companies, Murdoch is very envious of Eric's plan to use DreamWorks as the production company to provide MGM with ten films within three years. If possible, Fox does not even mind the same conditions. cooperate. After all, an average of three high-quality films a year will neither make a big film company dependent on the production company, but also bring very lucrative benefits, and no one will covet it. But he is also very clear about a series of intricate black market transactions behind the establishment of DreamWorks, so he can only watch this piece of fat fall into the hands of MGM, the "broken settler" of Hollywood, like other film company executives.
Murdoch simply flipped through it, handed it to Eric again, and said, "These are all speculative scripts, can you pick out the good ones?"
The scripts that can be sent to Eric must be good scripts. Of course, Eric is more interested in 'picking up the leaks'. It would be even better if he could meet a good movie script in memory. If you can't, just read a collection of short stories, and when you encounter a script that you are very interested in and the budget is not too high, Eric will pick it out and hand it over to the production department to try.
Of course, Eric will not put all his attention on the original scripts in his hands. He also asked people to investigate the information of some good movies that will appear in the next few years according to the memory of his previous life. If it is not enough in the end, Eric also intends to pick a few blockbuster films that did not appear in the original time and space to produce. As for the result, it is out of his consideration. Anyway, DreamWorks doesn't have too many interests involved in Firefly Pictures, as long as he guarantees that most of the ten films will make money, he is already worthy of those European investors.
Putting aside the book that Murdoch handed over again, Eric replied: "My vision is still good."
Murdoch is really envious of Eric's 'vision'. If he could have Eric's picky vision, News Corporation would have ruled the world long ago. Of course, this point is definitely only for envy. He took another sip of coffee, and Murdoch said, "I thought you would write the script yourself."
"I meet someone who is interested. Of course I will make one or two, like "Charlie's Angels", but my personal energy is still limited," Eric saw that Murdoch didn't seem to want to talk about the topic, and he was not in a hurry Anyway, the withdrawal plan for Firefly Pictures' withdrawal from the Fox TV network has been submitted to Fox a few days ago. Even if Murdoch is unwilling to talk this time or even the talks between the two collapse, then Firefly Pictures can completely withdraw from the Fox TV network in accordance with normal business processes. Of course, in this case, the delay will definitely be longer.
Before I knew it, it was twelve o'clock, and it was meal time. There was a large staff cafeteria in the studio, but there were still many employees who walked into this restaurant from time to time, although I saw two big bosses in Hollywood sitting here. These employees consciously did not come to the dining table around Eric and Murdoch, but it was no longer time to talk about business.
After ordering two lunches, Eric and Murdoch continued to chat. After lunch, seeing that the people in the restaurant were almost gone, Eric asked the waiter to remove the tableware and replace it with coffee.
Both of them are busy people, and Murdoch didn't mention some irrelevant topics at this time. Eric took the initiative and said, "Rupert, you should have read the withdrawal plan, right?"
Murdoch nodded. Picking up the coffee and taking a sip, the bitter taste made him frown, and he added a few pieces of sugar to the coffee before Murdoch said, "Eric, although Firefly Pictures has developed very well in the past two years, you I don't think so. Are you taking this step too hastily?"
"Since we have seen the way of the future, of course we have to go through it early. It is better than going forward with a group of people in the future."
Since Viacom and qvc bid for Paramount this year, the prelude to the merger and acquisition of media groups has begun. There are only three large TV networks in the United States. The pace is slow, and it will definitely compete with other groups in the future, so both the difficulty of acquisition and the price paid will greatly increase.
"Based on your personality, even if you choose a certain percentage of share swaps for mergers and acquisitions, you will definitely not give up too many shares, and you don't plan to let Firefly Pictures go public, so the only way is to issue bonds," Murdoch said lightly Confidently spoke out the plan Eric conceived, and said: "You should know the risks involved, many companies that were originally developing well were dragged down due to the huge accumulation of debts in the process of unrestrained mergers and acquisitions. Just like the current MGM, because of the accumulation of a large amount of debt, even if it generates some profits every year, it is often just barely paying the interest on the debt. Apart from being repeatedly resold by shareholders to earn some profits, this film company has no value at all. If If it expands blindly, Firefly Pictures may also fall into this situation."
When Murdoch said this, he took a sip of the already somewhat sweet coffee, continued to look like a kind elder, and said to Eric earnestly: "Eric, do a simple calculation, even if Firefly Pictures releases 50 100 million US dollars of long-term bonds, at an annual interest rate of 5%, the annual debt interest payment is as high as 250 million US dollars, not to mention the 5 billion US dollars of debt principal, these funds must always be repaid, the film investment There is a lot of uncertainty, it is impossible to maintain high profits all the time, and the TV network is not so easy to manage. Once Firefly Pictures falls into a loss, you will find that those Wall Street capital forces that were originally enthusiastic will immediately open their claws , trying to control your company as a creditor, I have personally encountered this kind of thing more than once."
Of course Eric has considered these issues over and over again, and already has many solutions in his mind.
At this time, Eric also knew that Murdoch couldn't really be thinking about him. The old fox just didn't want to lose the original cooperative relationship with Firefly Pictures.
Except for a few TV programs, the high-quality movies produced by Firefly in the past two years will basically be played on the Fox TV network. It has greatly improved the brand reputation of the Fox TV network, and in this regard, the performance of 20th Century Fox is much worse.
Once Firefly Pictures acquires its own TV network, the original cooperation between the two parties will definitely be cancelled, or even become a hostile relationship.
Losing the film supply of Firefly Pictures is second to none, but at this time, several major programs on the Fox network, "Friends", "X-Files" and "Who Will Be a Millionaire" are all closely related to Firefly Pictures wisps of contact. Although Murdoch has created a series of miracles in the newspaper industry, he is not very good at media content. For example, in recent years, although there are several TV programs such as "Friends" to support the ratings, Fox TV However, the Internet itself has not developed a popular TV program with its own copyright.
The importance of these pillar programs to a TV network, without mentioning anything else, can be seen by thinking about the sky-high salary of the six leading actors in the last few seasons of "Friends" in the original time and space.
Although Eric is young, Murdoch will not regard Eric as a young man who has not experienced much in the world at all. He believes that if necessary, even if it is impossible for Eric to take back all three programs, he will take these three programs back. The blockbusters were all ruined, because Murdoch knew he would do it when he had to. And Firefly Pictures, which holds at least half of the copyright, definitely has this authority.
After talking a little dry again, Murdoch picked up the coffee again, and at the same time looked at the indifferent expression of the young man opposite him, and couldn't help sighing in his heart.
Putting down the coffee cup, Murdoch finally had to ask: "Eric, since you have made up your mind, let's talk about "Friends". The acquisition of the TV network is not something that happens overnight, but after this year, Fox Network and Firefly's contract on "Friends" is up, how about we talk about renewing the contract?"
The copyright of "Friends" completely belongs to Firefly, and the other two programs are five-season contracts, which will not expire until next year. Moreover, when talking about "Friends", Murdoch is also testing Eric's manner.
Eric didn't go around in circles, and said bluntly: "Rupert, "Friends" will definitely not renew the contract, but for the other two shows, I can assure you that after the contract expires next year, Firefly Pictures will still be able to Renewed contract with Fox Television Network.” (To be continued..)