In the silence, Roger Ailes, the director of "The Lion King", still asked unwillingly: "Mr. Williams, did you really say just now that you want a new boss for the Disney animation department?"
"It's not the Disney animation department," Eric said, emphasizing the pronunciation of 'Disney', "To be more precise, I plan to sell the hand-drawn animation department as a whole. The Disney brand belongs to Firefly, and no one can take it away."
In the silence again, Peter Schneider suddenly felt a strong sense of crisis. If Eric doesn't even care about Disney's animation department, then what is the meaning and more important of the things he and Roy Disney did before? Unfortunately, without the support of Disney's animation department, the two of them...
The worries in his heart gradually turned into fear, Peter Schneider suddenly stood up from his seat, pointed at Eric and shouted: "No, you won't, Eric Williams, you will never put Disney animation The department sold it, you just want to force us to make concessions, we will never give in, absolutely not."
Eric looked at the somewhat hysterical Peter Schneider expressionlessly, and said to the female assistant beside him, "Kelly, go and call the security guard in."
Kelly glanced at Peter Schneider, got up and walked out of the meeting room.
After Kelly left, Eric said to Peter Schneider: "Either sit down and continue this meeting, or let me out, or I will let the security throw you out."
Peter Schneider gritted his teeth in embarrassment, stood in a stalemate for a few seconds, and sat down slumped.
Compared to Peter Schneider's gaffe, Roy Disney was even more shocked. However, Roy Disney, who thought he was used to storms, knew that he had to be calmer in times like this. He also felt that Eric might It was just a bluff that wanted to force the animation department to give in, and I thought about it. Roy Disney asked: "Mr. Williams, do you think Disney can still be considered Disney without the animation department?"
Eric sighed suddenly. After such a long time, these people still haven't figured out what he was thinking: "Disney will always have an animation department. It's just that it will no longer use hand-drawn animation to make animated movies. Moreover, Disney Several cartoon studios located in Canada and Australia will be preserved, and will continue to provide TV animation for the Disney Channel. However, Disney’s animated films will be fully turned to 3D digital production.”
Roy Disney heard Eric speak calmly about the subsequent plan. My heart skipped a beat, but on the surface, I still calmly gestured to more than a dozen people in the meeting room, and said, "So, you plan to sell all of us, that is, more than 700 people in the hand-painted animation department, haha, even if you I really don't plan to continue to keep the hand-drawn animation department, do you think we will be willing to let you sell it as a bargaining chip?"
Roy Disney's words immediately gave everyone in a slump a shot in the arm, and all the management of the animation department looked at Eric with piercing eyes. It seemed like if Eric said something inappropriate, they would quit immediately, leaving the animation department as a worthless shell.
Hand-drawn animation is very different from computer animation. The production of computer animation requires not only skilled digital animators, but also tool software and technical support departments that contain a large number of technical patents. Therefore, it is not so easy for digital animators to change jobs. . But hand-drawn animation is an industry with a low technical content. An animator can participate in the production of hand-drawn animation after a few years of training, and even if he leaves the original company, the hand-drawn animator can continue to work on his own career.
Of course Eric knew this, looking at more than a dozen pairs of eyes staring at him. Eric smiled, rubbing the folder on the desktop, and said: "Everyone don't need to test each other anymore, the decision to abolish Disney's hand-drawn animation department has been obtained by Warren Buffett, Tom Murphy and David outside the Firefly system. .The agreement of the three directors of West. So now there will be no surprises in this resolution.”
There was another burst of freezing in the meeting room, but in the end, no one was so angry that they slammed the door and left. Even Peter Schneider, who was furious just now, just stared at Eric with wide eyes.
Eric patiently waited for everyone to quiet down again, and continued: "Then, let's talk about the disadvantages of you resigning voluntarily. You can all leave. Turning the animation department into an empty shell without any value is fundamental to Firefly. It won't cause any damage. But next, let's make the most satisfactory assumption. You have found a new employer who fully agrees with the generous conditions you put forward to Firefly. Well, this negotiation will take at least half a year. After half a year, you still need to start from scratch, set up a new animation production department, start to make development plans, and find suitable animation projects. This will take another half a year. Next, animation The pre-planning of the project, everyone knows how long it will take at this time, and it is very uncertain. Perhaps, it has been two years since you left voluntarily and the production process of the first animation started, and the production time will take at least two years. Then, you It may be four years since the new animation department came out with the first animated film. No doubt, if your memory is good, you should remember clearly, from Michael Eisner's decision to revitalize the animation department to the release of "The Little Mermaid" How long did it take, five years, and I shortened the time for you by one year. Therefore, according to the salary conditions you proposed, the entire animation department needs to spend at least 100 million U.S. dollars a year to maintain operations, and four years is 400 million U.S. dollars, which is enough We have produced five big-budget films. At that time, if the animated film you produced did not achieve the amazing effect of "The Lion King", think about what the new owner would think after waiting patiently for four years and investing a lot of money Come to think of it, you all should be aware that "The Lion King" was an accident, and the average Disney animation department would be "Aladdin," "Beauty and the Beast," and so on. So, 90 percent of the time, they're probably going to be very Very disappointed, then cuts to the animation department, budget cuts, quality of animated films suffers, and then it's the usual vicious cycle."
After finishing speaking, Eric paused for a moment, as if he was waiting for the reaction of the people in the conference room who had no arrogance. However, Eric was also very sure that they would not have any more excited reactions, because he just said All are facts. The original time and space. After Katzenberg left Disney to establish his own company, he poached a group of people from Disney Animation to establish DreamWorks Animation. It took exactly four years from the establishment of DreamWorks Animation to the release of the first "Prince of Egypt", and The box office of "Prince of Egypt" was also tepid. Another full three years have passed since the launch of DreamWorks' second animated film, Shrek. If "Shrek" hadn't been lucky enough to hit the box office, DreamWorks Animation, which had only completed two animated films in seven years, would have to close its doors and disband.
After waiting for a while, Eric patted his palm lightly and said, "Sorry, forgive me for being a talkative villain just now. Oh, no, my role today seems to be a talkative villain, but I still want to One more thing to add, if you change jobs, you are actively violating the labor contract, and the year-end bonus that should have been generated because of the box office success of "The Lion King" is gone, and this year-end bonus should be equivalent to more than half a year's salary for most people."
Roger Ailes, who was sitting near Eric, asked dryly: "Mr. Williams, may we know why you insist on canceling the 2D animation production?"
"Just like the steam loom replaces the manual loom and the electric loom replaces the steam loom. This is an inevitable trend of technological development. 3D animation movies have too many advantages. Of course, this can only be proved by time. If After a few years you find out that I was wrong, so you can laugh at me all you want. But for now, I stand by my judgment, and I gave you enough time to change. But these things recently made me realize that, It’s better for everyone to go their separate ways.”
Roger Ailes glanced at the silent Roy Disney and Peter Schneider, and sighed. Nothing more to say.
Of course, Eric would not show the detailed information to these people. Seeing that no one asked any more questions, he continued: "Now, let's talk about the benefits of selling the animation department in a package. First of all, even if you leave Now, the profits and dividends of "The Lion King" that belong to you will still be distributed to you. Secondly, you can negotiate with the new owner in a unified way. Take away the animation department that has a couple of 2D animation projects ready to go into production right away. Let me see, oh, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Tarzan, these are great ideas. And , you can also take away the production rights of the sequels of several 2D animated films such as "The Lion King", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin", which will greatly shorten the time for you to produce results."
With a look of astonishment in his eyes, Roger Ailes asked in an unbelievable tone: "Mr. Williams, are you sure you're not joking again?"
If Eric resolutely decides to sell the Disney animation department and everyone feels that he is abnormal, letting them leave with the copyright of "The Lion King" will immediately give people a feeling that he has gone completely crazy.
Of course Eric was not crazy, but explained very calmly: "Of course I am not joking, but what you can take away is the very simple sequel production rights of the films "The Lion King". Your new employer only With the right to use these copyrights to make sequels and make profits through film distribution, the rights to cartoon images and peripheral development of films such as "The Lion King" still belong to Firefly."
Although the original "The Lion King" grossed over $900 million worldwide, the sequel was released straight to video.
However, Eric believes that if he obtains the production copyright of the sequel, even if he does not have the development rights such as peripherals, other film companies will definitely not hesitate to develop a sequel movie under the stimulus of "The Lion King" with a global box office of 900 million US dollars. At that time, Firefly could still sell its surroundings through the influence brought by these sequel movies.
With the current global box office boom of "The Lion King", Roger Ailes can also appreciate the harshness of Eric's conditions and the coexistence of lures. At the same time, he has already begun to think about the sequel of "The Lion King" involuntarily. the plot.
"Then, the last point, after the animation department is successfully packaged and sold, you can get 5% of the total transaction amount as a reward. There is no precedent for this. It can be regarded as a kind of compensation for Firefly's willingness to use it as a bargaining chip for you."
If Eric proposed this condition first, it would definitely arouse strong resentment, but now everyone does not have much resistance. Peter Schneider, who had been silent for a long time, said, "Mr. Williams, the 5% bonus... the bonus is too little."
"The average annual salary of employees in the animation department is about 50,000 U.S. dollars. If the animation department sells for 1 billion U.S. dollars this time, the average compensation you get will be 70,000 U.S. dollars, which is equivalent to 16 months' salary, plus "The Lion King" 》The reward dividend is equivalent to the average salary of the previous two years." After Eric explained, he looked at Peter Schneider with a sneer on the corner of his mouth, and said: "And, Mr. Schneider, you, and Roy Disney Sir, you are not included in this award list, and this is the last resolution I will announce at this meeting, from now on, you will be fired!"
…
The news that Firefly Group would sell the hand-drawn animation department in a package quickly detonated the entire Hollywood after the meeting that day. And it was officially confirmed on the "Los Angeles Times" the next day that Firefly will conduct public bidding in the form of a public auction one month later.
Immediately afterwards, Firefly responded to the request of the Firefly creditor alliance to join the group's board of directors with an unprecedented tough stance.
After successively releasing the first half of 1994 financial report of Firefly Group, the profit forecast for the second half of the year, and the huge deal with Condé Nast Group on print media assets of US$1.52 billion, the spokesperson of Firefly Group publicly stated that, including the funds brought by the hand-drawn animation department to be sold, Firefly The group's expected non-operating free cash flow at the end of 1994 will be no less than US$3 billion, which is enough to explain the excellent operation and financial status of Firefly Group.
Firefly Group will regularly disclose relevant operational and financial information to creditors, but creditor directors are not required to participate in the management of the company. If creditor institutions are still worried about investment safety, Firefly Group is very willing to initiate bond repurchase measures in advance. (To be continued.)