After taking only a few puffs, Barry Diller irritatedly put the cigarette out in the ashtray: "It seems that it is impossible for you to change your decision?"
"Mr. Diller, I could even stop communicating with Fox at all, just come up with a movie at will and complete the contract. If I don't care about the quality, I can make a movie within ten days."
Barry Diller knew that the teenager in front of him was determined and would not change his decision. Although I also had the idea of showing this little guy who doesn't know the heights of the sky and the earth a little bit of color in his heart. Barry Diller would soon veto the idea, though. Once this is done, the two parties will break up like Eric and Colombia after a previous cooperation.
A few days ago, he also heard the news that the president of Columbia, Brant Cohen, was suddenly dismissed from his position. He was a little puzzled at first that Coca-Cola was going to sell Columbia, so what was the point of doing so much. Only now did I realize that it was to remove obstacles to re-establish cooperation with the boy in front of me.
If I make some actions now and get into a stalemate with the other party, it is estimated that this young man will also break up with Fox after completing the contract, then () will be a bit of a lose-lose.
When the matter was irreversible, Barry Diller quickly thought of trying to get some extra benefits to make up for the loss: "Eric, you should understand that by doing this, it means that Fox will withdraw from the summer box office competition. Although your actions did not violate the contract, it will still hurt the relationship between the two parties. In order to appease the shareholders of Fox, maybe the original contract should be revised?"
After hearing what Barry Diller said, Eric immediately refused: "Mr. Diller, the contract will definitely not be revised, and I will not make any concessions on the share. As I said just now, I do not owe Fox What. The reason why I’m sitting here to discuss with you is that I don’t want the relationship between the two parties to become stalemate. We can only discuss a win-win compensation plan instead of harming the interests of either party. In this way, our cooperation can last longer.”
"Well, you must have a plan already?"
Eric nodded and said, "Yes, my Firefly company has just made plans for three other movies, and Fox can choose one of them to release."
Barry Diller almost wanted to laugh, what kind of compensation is this, if Fox wants to release a movie, just say hello, and those independent film companies will rush over crying and shouting. Barry Diller suddenly thought of the Fox TV manager who had just been kicked out by him, and had another idea: "Eric, are you interested in TV dramas?"
When Eric heard the word TV series, the figure of the little girl who stubbornly stayed in New York to film a workplace comedy on the street immediately appeared in his mind. In the past ten years, "Friends" has earned a huge profit of four billion US dollars for Warner. Eric had no intention of letting go of this TV series. Although he has not watched all ten seasons, the first two Ji just happened to see it, and the golden fingers brought by his rebirth were clearly engraved in his mind. As long as the first season can successfully make a name for itself, are you afraid that you won't be able to find a screenwriter to continue writing the following story
"Mr. Diller, in fact, I have already had some ideas for TV series. But maybe I didn't understand it just now. Although I didn't direct the three movies produced by Firefly, two of them were scripts written by me. I will also act as a producer and have the final editing rights of the film, which means that it is not much different from what I shot myself. In another film, I plan to let Julia play the leading role. Julia's current box office appeal , no one will doubt it, right?"
After listening to Eric's words, Barry Diller said without hesitation: "No problem, Eric, the other three films of Firefly are covered by Fox, and the TV series can also be produced at the same time, as long as you are responsible for writing the script. "
Although Barry Diller put on a seemingly generous look, Eric could still see the slight excitement in the other's tone. Obviously Barry Diller also judged the value of those three movies.
Eric hadn't planned to release those three films himself, but these were the films he had specially selected with the potential to sell well. Instead of using the 'cannon fodder' of expanding distribution channels.
But again, he has no plans to give all three films to a film company for distribution, let alone Fox. He is well aware of the truth of Sheng Mi's kindness against Mi's hatred. Give too much to one person alone, and gradually the other person will take this kind of thing for granted. Once one day, you don't want to give it anymore, and hatred will directly arise.
In fact, Barry Diller had already shown signs of this just now. Eric's behavior did not violate the contract, but Barry Diller felt that Fox had suffered a big loss.
Shaking his head, Eric raised a finger: "Mr. Diller, a TV series or a movie can only compensate for one. I am very confident in the box office potential of those three movies, no less than myself Directed movies. So, Fox has taken too much, and I am worried that your distribution capabilities will not be able to keep up."
Barry Diller quickly figured out another plan: "Eric, let's add a TV series and a movie."
"A TV series, or a movie."
"Eric..."
"..."
The two argued in the office for a long time. In the end, Barry Diller still chose that TV series because of his ambition for the TV network. If it wasn't for the development of the TV network, Barry Diller would not have left Paramount, so this Eric was not surprised by this choice.
But the other party did not let Eric go easily, forcing him to agree to personally direct the first two episodes of the TV series.
Eric didn't expect Barry Diller to come up with such a forward-looking idea. More than ten years later, inviting famous Hollywood directors to direct the first few episodes has become a popular trend in American dramas. , Hollywood directors also put down their airs one after another, and picked up the guide tube of TV dramas.
In fact, Barry Diller was not as far-sighted as Eric thought. Barry Diller himself would think it was a 'ridiculous' idea to ask a well-known Hollywood director to make a TV series. In this day and age, it is a shame for a film director to shoot a TV series. It's always been TV drama directors who slowly switch careers to make movies, and it's rare to see the reverse.
The reason why the condition for Eric to direct the first two episodes was put forward entirely because he did not get the distribution rights of the movie, and out of a teasing psychology, he wanted to make Eric look ugly. Barry Diller originally thought that Eric would definitely be killed, but he didn't expect that the other party nodded and agreed after thinking about it for a moment. According to the current atmosphere of Hollywood directors being superior, if the news of Eric directing a TV series spreads, he will definitely be criticized by some stubborn diehards with a sense of superiority.
Barry Diller didn't expect that his unintentional and rude request would cause such a big sensation later on, and even brought out the trend of big directors directing the first few episodes of American dramas in advance.
After reaching an understanding with Fox, Eric completely let go of his worries, and a cooperation agreement with Columbia was quickly reached. Since the other party is so generous, Eric directly increased the production budget to 40 million U.S. dollars. If the cost of publicity and distribution in the future is 20 million U.S. dollars, based on Columbia's 25% share, the North American box office will reach 2.4 100 million U.S. dollars for Colombia to recover the cost. Of course, if the overseas box office revenue is included, perhaps this figure only needs to reach 200 million U.S. dollars.
Eric estimated that Columbia did not intend to recover the cost at all. As long as the box office sells well and gives investors the illusion of a bright future, the stock price will go up directly. For every dollar that the stock price rises, Columbia's market value will directly increase by 180 million. Aren't you rich and powerful Sony, pay for it!
In this case, Eric still stingyly did not leave the copyright of "Dark War" to Colombia, but shared it with Firefly. After all, they paid so much money, it would be too cruel to not give it at all. Although the movie ends with a leading actor dead, as long as it succeeds, it is completely possible to change the leading actor to film the sequel as in the previous life, which is another big income.