Along the way, Eric was racking his brains to figure out how to explain this to Barry Diller. At the "Feng Yue" celebration party, the two had already discussed the issue of the next movie, almost tacitly acquiescing that the next movie will be released by Fox in the summer.
With a sudden change of mind now, it is hard to predict how Fox will react. If possible, Eric doesn't want to fight against any film giant. He is not strong enough now, and it is hard to say whether he will be hurt if he is suppressed. What's more, Fox still holds the distribution rights of his three films, which involves hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Because he would get into entanglements from time to time, Eric accidentally ran a red light once, but fortunately nothing happened.
Finally arrived at the Fox headquarters. After Eric reported his identity, he went all the way to Barry Diller's office unimpeded.
"Mr. Williams, please wait for a few minutes. The president is receiving guests." Barry Diller's secretary led Eric into the outer lounge and served Eric a cup of coffee carefully.
Eric glanced at the door of Barry Diller's office curiously. The sound insulation in the office is very good, and there is no sound at all** here. The young and beautiful female secretary noticed Eric's curious look, hesitated for a moment, and whispered: "Fox TV station manager."
Eric raised his eyebrows, and had no choice but to throw a thankful look at the girl who had pretended to be nonchalant, as if she hadn't made a sound just now. This girl is really a fine person. In a simple sentence, it can be said that she almost didn't reveal anything, but she gave Eric a small favor. Moreover, when the girl leaned over, whether it was intentional or unintentional, the badge just appeared in front of Eric, and it was impossible to remember the other party's name.
After waiting patiently for seven or eight minutes, a middle-aged man opened the door dejectedly and walked out of the office. Seeing Eric sitting on the sofa in the lounge and looking at him through the glass, the middle-aged man quickly put away his frustrated expression, nodded politely at Eric, and left in a hurry.
"Mr. Williams, you can go in."
Eric walked into the office, a faint smell of cigarettes wafted in the air, and there were several cigarette butts piled up in the ashtray in front of Barry Diller.
"Eric, I kept you waiting." After Eric entered the door, Barry Diller had put away his emotions just now, but Eric still saw the residual anger on the other's face.
"It's only a few minutes." Eric said, and under the signal of Barry Diller, he walked to the opposite sofa and sat down.
Barry Diller didn't explain anything, but considering the identity of the middle-aged man who had just left, Eric still guessed the reason for the other party's anger. It was nothing more than the unsatisfactory performance of Fox TV. Abc, Nbc, and Cbs have dominated the North American wireless TV market for so many years, and it is impossible for a latecomer to easily become bigger and threaten their position.
From this point of view, Barry Diller is indeed a media wizard. In his previous life, under the pressure of the three major TV stations, he insisted on developing the Fox TV network and becoming the fourth largest TV station in North America.
After chatting for a while, Barry Diller asked Eric why he came.
Eric didn't think of any euphemisms along the way, so he could only get straight to the point: "Mr. Diller, I'm afraid my next movie won't be released by Fox."
Barry Diller was sure that he heard correctly, his brows furrowed immediately, and his eyes narrowed slightly. He had just heard some bad news from the manager of Fox TV. Unexpectedly, the mood had not completely changed, and another bad news came.
"Eric, do you want to break the contract? Have you thought about the consequences of doing so?"
Now that the matter has been spread out, Eric no longer looked forward and backward, looked straight at Barry Diller and said: "Mr. Diller, I don't intend to breach the contract. The contract does not prohibit me from cooperating with other film companies. There is no specific schedule for the three films, so I just need to deliver three films to Fox before the end of the year."
Barry Diller froze for a moment, and a touch of regret came out.
He was personally responsible for signing the contract at the beginning. It was indeed Fox's oversight that Eric was not prohibited from cooperating with other film companies. Because most of the staff who drafted the contract focused on the details of "Home Alone". Moreover, Eric signed three movies at once, and there are very few directors in Hollywood who can direct three movies a year. If most directors can maintain the speed of one movie a year, they will be considered highly productive. Who would have thought that this young man had such great energy.
But there is no schedule for the movie, but Barry Diller did it on purpose. When drafting the contract, Fox was not very optimistic about the other two movies that Eric asked to be bundled. Therefore, although Eric specifically mentioned the issue of schedule, he hoped to put all three movies on popular holiday schedules. There was also a small dispute with Barry Diller, but Fox eventually turned it down for various reasons.
Fox also has its own ideas. Once Eric's first two movies are not favored, Fox can calmly put these two movies in the unpopular spring or autumn file, which will not take up too many Fox resources. The contract can also be fulfilled smoothly.
Who would have thought that Eric's next "Wind and Moon" was a great success again, making it impossible for everyone to judge this boy based on luck and other reasons. Many fans are also looking forward to his next movie.
But now, in the stagnant office, when Eric said what he said just now, Barry Diller realized that he had previously complacently rejected Eric's schedule request, but now he has become a big dog. Cocoon, wrap yourself in it.
"Eric, doesn't the 35% share satisfy you? The cost of "Feng Yue" is only 7 million US dollars. If Lamborghini's 1 million advertising sponsorship is deducted, the actual cost of the movie is only 6 million. And Fox has paid more than 15 million U.S. dollars for publicity and distribution so far, which is 2.5 times the cost of your film, 2.5 times! We only take 20%. With such a profit division, how can you still pay? What is there to be dissatisfied with?"
At the end of Barry Diller's speech, his tone was almost roaring, and his whole body exuded a compelling aura. He just came back from Europe last night. He was exhausted from traveling for several days, and he didn't even get a good night's sleep. Early in the morning, he heard the news that a new Fox drama was strangled by the three major TV stations, and the ratings were terrible. .
He had just reprimanded the Fox TV manager and kicked him out of the office, only to receive another bad news. The suppressed anger erupted again.
Eric was not frightened by Barry Diller's aura, and calmly retorted: "Mr. Diller, although Fox paid a price of 15 million US dollars, it can get more than 80 million profits in exchange, so I don't owe you any money." What are you guys, to be honest, when I came here, I was very uneasy, I didn't want to get into trouble with Fox, but just wanted to have a good talk."
Seeing that the boy opposite him was not frightened by him, nor was he yelling at him with arrogance, but instead took the time to refute his words, Barry Diller quickly calmed down, and found that his ability to control emotions was even less than 20 percent. Young people are not as good. After reflecting on himself, Barry Diller sat back in his executive chair and took a few deep breaths. Still staring at Eric, he said, "Okay, Eric, do you... have any new conditions, can you talk about them first?"
Eric realized that Barry Diller did not fully understand what he meant, and explained: "Mr. Diller, I have no intention of revising the contract. What I just said was not intended to take Joe from Fox. There are many benefits. Someone offered me an offer I couldn't refuse, and wanted to win the distribution rights of my next film."
Barry Diller has been in Hollywood for so many years. After calming down at this moment, he quickly thought of a possibility and asked, "Columbia?"
Eric nodded.
Barry Diller lowered his head in silence and took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag. Now that Columbia has persuaded Eric, it means that it is impossible for Fox to come up with the conditions offered by the other party. All of Colombia's current actions are aimed at driving up the stock price and obtaining more benefits from the Japanese. At this time, it is not uncommon for the other party to offer any crazy conditions in order to pull Eric's new film over.