Hollywood Domination: The Rise of the First Mister

"Are you sure that Jennifer wasn't involved, Larry?" Nancy Thrun paced back and forth in her office with a phone in her hand, "Are you sure?—Of course, I know how Jennifer treats you Yes, but what I'm asking is your own judgment. Do you think Jennifer lied to you? Did she deliberately hide behind the scenes to... I don't know, to gain prestige for her husband? After all, you You know, Larry—we're talking about a TV show!"

Although movies are generally considered to have a much higher style than TV dramas, generally speaking, the ideals of TV drama actors are to develop in the film industry, but for TV station executives, the production of TV dramas is more difficult than movies. One point is the general consensus among them-this difficulty does not mean that shooting TV series is more difficult than filming. Of course, for many countries, the production of TV series is much easier than filming. Of course, in the production of refined As far as the American drama industry is concerned, unless it is a multi-camera comedy, the technical reserves for shooting American dramas and movies are similar. Cutting the face back and forth counts as filming a dialogue, which blatantly fools the audience.

Therefore, the filming cycle of American TV dramas has become more "difficult" than movies. On the one hand, for big TV and giant productions, each episode is as well-produced as a small movie, and on the other hand On the one hand, in terms of timing, they have to regularly produce one episode a week, which places extremely high demands on screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, and it is even more difficult for the project leader of the production company For Qigao's job, first of all, it must have prestige, be able to hold down all the big names involved in the production, and secondly, it must have connections, be able to invite big names to guest stars for TV dramas, find a good broadcast schedule, and contact sponsorship, etc., all need high-level contacts To open the way, thirdly, we must be able to balance the production cycle and product quality, including the intricate personnel relations within the crew, and improve the work efficiency of the crew. Until no one dared to play big cards in front of him.

Big-produced American dramas like "Hip-Hop Empire", the leading actors are all well-developed in the film industry, and they are closely related to Oscars. They have either won nominations or starred in nominated films. The screenwriters are Oscar-winning actors. In addition, many big-name cameos have already been announced—such a big-name, rebellious crew, if Jennifer brings it, ok, even if she is a spiritual leader, Nancy also believes that the crew will work honestly. To question any of her decisions—she has such prestige and weight, and several Oscars are in front of her. As long as the quality of this show is not too bad, the Emmy Awards must not be ignored. With this carrot in front, who would Not doing your best? Even the lead actor and screenwriter, I believe they would not dare to play big names in front of her, but if Jennifer didn't show up at all at the beginning, Cesare Vigeri would take care of everything...

Of course, he is related to Jennifer Jefferson, which cannot be denied, but based on Nancy's understanding of actors and screenwriters, most of them are not people who follow others. If Cesare doesn't live in the field, as the chief person in charge, if he has no real talent, even if there is only a little bit of unreliability, they will bully him and run away—this kind of unruliness is actually a kind of crew. Self-protection, American drama filming is a very precise assembly line. If you don’t have the skills, it’s impossible to maintain its precise operation. If you can’t do it, if you don’t know how to do it, you’d better get out from the beginning. There is no mistake here. room for.

"Nancy, I know what you're thinking." Larry Garner's voice was a bit vague on the other end of the phone, "I know, it's not easy to accept miracles, and it might be hard for you to believe Cesare's The first TV series - with absolutely no previous experience in this area - can be so successful, but I'm sure Jennifer is not lying about this, you know, the focus of the dream is always in the film department, even if it is She's not that good at TV dramas either, so she doesn't have to give credit to anyone, does she?"

The ratings of TV dramas are not that easy to predict. This is not the same as the box office. Sometimes film companies are more gamblers. Spend a little money to develop a cheap comedy, and maybe you can win big. Profit, but for TV dramas, the broadcasting time of TV stations is the biggest cost, and the cost of developing new dramas is also extremely high, and you get what you pay for. Basically, the only TV dramas with low cost and high ratings are comedies, but comedies have come a long way in recent years. It is also getting weaker and weaker, and there are fewer and fewer new dramas that can stand up. Therefore, TV stations must go through very strict investigation and analysis before launching new dramas. Even so, there are still very few new dramas that survive each year-even the ratings that professional organizations like them cannot predict, can Jennifer?

Nancy sighed, but she didn't speak, and Larry also softened his tone, somewhat consoling. "Besides, if it's Jennifer's producer, they won't fail to publicize this when they bid. You have to notice that Dameng never mentioned Jennifer during the negotiation process, which basically explains everything."

Nancy sighed again if she felt lost: In fact, she also prefers that this drama has nothing to do with Jennifer. It doesn't matter, cbs conservatively retreated from the offer of 5 million an episode. This is also because they are not so optimistic about the ratings of this TV series. They think that if they continue to raise prices, they will not be able to pay back. To put it bluntly, it is confidence insufficient. She has to admit that after such an excellent first episode, she also began to feel a little guilty and regretful—if she had taken it down at that time...

"Forget it, this TV series may not suit the temperament of CBS," she said with some self-comfort, "There are still too many outrageous scenes..."

She laughed at herself before she finished speaking, and Larry laughed softly on the other end of the phone, "Okay, Nancy, if I were you, I wouldn't waste my time On such complaints, I will call Cesare Vijari and ask him what new TV series he plans to launch after Big Dream—do you need their phone number?"

Because of "Spider-Man", Larry Garner has a complete set of Cesare's contact information, which is why Nancy originally called him. "Of course, give me the email too—by the way, have you guys made a decision on The Amazing Spider-Man?"

"What else can we decide?" Larry asked rhetorically, and now it was his turn to speak with a bit more bitterness, "Dream is completely insane now, this company has...it can't even be called A company, call it a religion, a belief—whatever you want to say, this company seems to be able to fail in everything, it is like a magnet, desperately absorbing resources, money and profits, even All six were shaken by its suction and began to revolve around it..."

Amid Nancy's sympathetic sighs, he also sighed, "I used to think Sony would be the only company not attracted to them, but now... I don't know, in "Avatar" and "Codename Shero "Afterwards, I can only say that if you think this will never happen, then maybe you haven't waited for the opportunity to change the world. Some companies... some people, they are destined to be born to subvert your world. "

It seems that Larry has been completely convinced. He has survived the skull-crushing attack of "Avatar" and the box office miracle of "Code Shero", but he has not survived "Fast and Furious 5" The quality improvement, and Warner's flattering attitude towards Jennifer...

Actually, in Nancy's view, the reason why Warner is so close to Jennifer is not because they have already completely underestimated Dameng psychologically and gave up the distribution rights. The profit will not be too much, and it represents a gesture of goodwill. After all, from the information Larry has learned, Dameng will also bear half of the investment in "Gatsby" and transfer the distribution rights to Sony , there are still some ways to think about the business operation here, but since Sony has made a decision to really hand over "The Amazing Spider-Man" to Dameng as the leader, Nancy will not spoil the fun. In fact, she also thinks that It might be a smart move, after all, as a network exec, she's kind of on her knees at the opening ratings for "Empire"—not a record, but far higher than she expected , this deviation really hit her. After decades of immersion in the TV drama industry, the final judgment of the situation is not as good as that of a young man who has just dabbled in the pond?

"How much do you know about Cesare Vigeri?" Nancy couldn't bear it anymore, and she said in a half-joking tone, "You know, I always thought that he was a lucky one—— Maybe he is still working hard, the traditional second generation, you know, excellent, full of scheming, full of competitive mentality, eager to climb up... just like his mother Virginia—"

In the film and television industry, contacts are very valuable resources. There are many second generations who do not have outstanding abilities, but can still climb to high positions and occupy superior resources. For example, Virginia Vijari, her The road to the workplace is full of family inheritance, and Nancy, who is also a strong woman in the workplace, looks down on her from a grassroots background. She can't imagine Virginia and her—how should I describe it? Parasite family? ——In the family, there will be people who are really talented and can really create subversive works. Cesare Vijari used to be Jennifer Jefferson's agent, ok, she can understand that, relying on contacts to make a living, she can understand how much he has achieved in the field of agents-but to be honest Yes, TV drama production?

"Trust me," Larry smiled contentedly. "You're not the first person to ask me this question. I mean, before last night, the world seemed to lack understanding of him. We only know that he is quite eloquent, especially for the interests of clients, but—"

He didn't go on, but Nancy fully understood what he meant—in the film and television industry, all producers of high-quality resources are in an advantageous position. Entertainment lawyers, agents, and TV executives all belong to the first place. The second class, they have to live with the first class, don’t look at Cesare’s outstanding performance as an agent before, when he is famous, he will fight for the interests of his clients and plan their careers for them, but he is still at the bottom of the food chain , it’s the second party in the cooperation—the TV station and the film company want to see you before they send out audition invitations to your young artists—executives like Nancy and Larry don’t really take him seriously .

Of course, on the surface they must be very polite to Cesare, but fundamentally, what they value is the person Cesare represents. As for him himself, he is just a difficult broker, a well-connected For the second generation, they don’t care about his emotions, his pursuit of hobbies, and for them, Cesare is just a tool. As for how he was lucky enough to get Jennifer’s favor and become the male owner of a huge wealth… these The stories after tea and dinner may be used by them to gossip, but in business, even if he has the daily operation rights of the dream, few people take him seriously, because his major is indeed not good, unlike the current The six major CEOs have all had successful projects in their hands. The official reason for him to take the position of Dameng is because he was favored by Jennifer and became her first gentleman, thus obtaining the management rights of the company—— Of course, there are private rumors that he is also one of the founders of the company, but all the brilliant projects of Dameng are facilitated by Jennifer. Even if the rumors are true, the person who manages the company's back office is also an appointment for Nancy and Larry. It means that it does not exist, and such an attitude should be the consensus of their circle. Of course, no one will deliberately communicate on this point, but the tacit understanding does exist.

But now, this "approximately non-existent" suddenly brought such a TV series to Fox, and produced such a delicate, generous, and excellent TV series in a very short period of time. Such a viewing...

Although she has known Virginia Vijari and Cesare Vijari for many years, Nancy really feels that after last night, she really discovered Cesare Vijari In this new continent, the TV circle is a smaller and more closed circle. Most of the information of the experts in the circle is registered in her small notebook, and now she really really wants to know more about Cesare Vivian. Everything about Jerry - he is not yet a Jennifer-level genius, but he is very close. He can make "Empire of Hip Hop" for the first time, at least the best of the best, the best of the best... and Nancy was almost overwhelmed by her curiosity and shock about him. Not only did she want to know all the details about him, but she also wanted to know how he made "Empire of Hip-Hop"—seriously, the truth behind this Is there really no shadow of Jennifer Jefferson?

"I think this is the most interesting topic for all TV stations—at least nbc and cw—what kind of person is Cesare Vijari," she said with some self-deprecation, "thank God, He's not a genius like Jennifer, and I'm going to have a heart attack if the "Avatar" miracle is repeated on the network."

"Haha, yes, but unfortunately, I don't know much about Cesare Vijari..."

Nancy's guess is quite right. The major TV networks are well aware of the production members of "Empire of Hip-Hop". After all, they were all potential buyers, and the reason why they were deterred was also Jennifer. Jefferson's Absence - Can Cesare Vijari Make a TV Show? The TV stations that chose the vote of no confidence at that time now feel regretful—like Nancy, they all feel that they can persist a little longer. The price offered by Fox is not very high...but For this first gentleman, who is well-known, but has always been low-key, completely hidden under Jennifer's huge halo, they also seemed to recognize this name for the first time. People are overwhelmed with curiosity. In Hollywood TV circles in January, it seemed that everyone was asking the question: Who is Cesare Vijri? Did he really have no contact with TV dramas before? ——Although he is not as talented as Jennifer, his talent is already impressive to make a TV series with 10 million first broadcasts!

That question, of course, didn't get anyone's answer, because Cesare just chose to go to New York this week to wrap up the filming of "Dragon Boys"-now, no one will take this low-budget comedy lightly. Amidst the discussions and inquiries in the TV drama circle, a week passed quietly, and "Empire of Hip-Hop" appeared again on Thursday——

This time, its ratings rose by another two points. The figure of 4.0/11 million deservedly became the ratings champion of the night. tie.

At the beginning of February, the third episode was aired, and the ratings soared to 4.4, with 12.5 million viewers, surpassing "Anti-Terrorism 24 Hours" in points... After the first episode of the new drama, it gradually fluctuated and fell, and finally stabilized. , "Empire of Hip-Hop" walked out of a big positive line, three episodes reversed, and the ratings of 4.4 surpassed the crowd, becoming the highest ratings peak of the month, and also the highest ratings point of the new drama launched this year, the previous record, in front of such figures It's meaningless, the show's sky-defying attributes have already begun to emerge!