I’m in Hollywood Chapter 691: Change some money

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The city of San Diego where Qualcomm Headquarters is located is in the south of California, less than two hours ’drive from Los Angeles, and it is very convenient to travel. After Eric indicated to Owen Jacob the intention to invest in Qualcomm, Double Convenience began a close consultation.

In the office of Firefly Studios Eric, Kelly, who had just returned from San Diego, handed over a memorandum to Eric, saying: "Chris will also consult with several important shareholders of Qualcomm in the afternoon. He asked me to come back first, This is the result of our negotiation in the morning. Qualcomm Board of Directors is only willing to accept half of the amount of capital raised by us, but their attitude is not so determined. It should only be a matter of time before the transaction is finally reached. "

Eric opened the memo handed over by Kelly and said, "Since the formal contact has started, this matter will definitely not be concealed for too long, and if it is dragged for a long time, it will inevitably happen. What I only care about is time. Week, I hope this deal will be confirmed within the next week. "

Kelly said: "Eric, if the negotiations are compressed to within a week, we will definitely be very passive."

Eric shook his head and said: "This matter can't be resolved quickly and attracts too many people's attention. Only then can we truly become passive. You will continue to go to San Diego tomorrow to explain the benefits and Qualcomm aspects. AT&T just got it The spectrum license has announced GSM as its technical standard, and several operators who have obtained the spectrum license will not hesitate for too long. If they miss the best time to lobby for CDMA because of hesitation, we will not hesitate Abandon this transaction, so, only one week. "

Once the news of Firefly's attempt to acquire shares in Qualcomm was spread. Not only will it cause the stock price to skyrocket. It may also cause interested people to follow up. after all. Firefly's investment in enterprises such as Cisco, AOL, Yahoo and Nokia in recent years has now achieved very rich returns, and the capital market has already begun to pay close attention to the investment trends of Firefly. If the negotiation is dragged on for too long, another company interested in Qualcomm will suddenly appear in the process, that is the biggest trouble.

Kelly thought about it for a moment, but nodded: "Well, I will prepare it."

After reading the memorandum, Eric discussed some precautions with Kelly and picked up a thick package on the desk. Get up and say: "Wachowski Brothers will be here soon, so come with you."

Kelly followed, surprised: "Eric, do you really want them to direct" The Matrix "?"

Eric said: "It hasn't been decided yet, let me see you first."

"I always feel that this thing is a little too ... outrageous, they are just two little-known little screenwriter."

Eric laughed and said: "I used to be just a little screenwriter who was not well known."

Kelly said: "But you didn't direct a movie with such a huge budget from the beginning." Home Alone "originally had a budget of 1 million. Later, there were 《Pretty Woman》," Home Alone2 ", 《Running Out of Time》, and" Ghost ". "Twister". Only started to try to make movies. "

Eric explained: "At that time, my courage was relatively small, in case I directly produced a large project with an investment of more than 100 million yuan. Box Office failed disastrously, there must be no me now."

Kelly is still a bit puzzled. Judging from the Eric's once-from-small-strength command line, he has always been a very sensible person, but this time his behavior seems a little unreasonable.

Because of the great success of "Jurassic Park", Firefly has great expectations for the film adaptation of "The Matrix" of Eric, and the production budget is directly opened to 100 million USD. Katzenberg and others actually hope that Eric can continue to direct in person, but Eric is interested in two fledgling Hollywood rookies who do not even have a directed work. This is really puzzling.

It is still the small restaurant where Eric often eats lunch near the administrative building. Just after entering the door, the two brothers who had already waited in the restaurant stood up and were accompanied by a cinema staff.

Eric sent the employee responsible for accompanying him to leave, and sat down opposite Wachowski Brothers with Kelly. Looking at the Wachowski Brothers who was still a man at this time, Eric had an inexplicable feeling, perhaps because of the difference in cultural concepts. Eric has a hard time understanding transgender thoughts.

Feeling Eric ’s gaze, Larry · Wachowski, who was thin and wearing glasses but actually his brother, looked at the package that Eric was placed on the table and said, "Mr. Williams, may I ask, do you think we think about" The Matrix " How is it? "

Eric put away some inexplicable thoughts, took out the sub-lens sketch in the package, and said: "You can call me Eric, I think the ideas about bullet time and 360-degree rotating lens in your sketch are very cool, but, I I feel that you have n’t adapted the novel completely, but there is no detailed script in these paintings. Can you talk about your specific thoughts on the plot? "

In order to avoid the collision of thinking, the novel version of "The Matrix" originally written by Eric, in addition to the name and main line concept, did not follow the line of the movie version in memory, nor did it have esoteric philosophical thinking, but the main actor Neo accidentally discovered After living in illusion, fight against the mother to return to reality.

Hearing the question of Eric, Larry · Wachowski said: "Eric, in fact, Andy and I have previously produced similar ideas, but it has only been some fragmented ideas until you see your We decided to make our story script, so the sub-lens draft you saw was drawn by me and Andy in combination with your novel and some of our own ideas. We think that compared to the novel version, this way A story should be able to be explored and explored at a deeper level, about reality and illusion, about the roots of life, etc., not just a science fiction novel. "

Eric nodded and said, "So, put aside my story completely and talk about your ideas?"

"Of course no problem," Larry · Wachowski said: "Our idea is this, in the illusion created by the mother. Neo should be a programmer who is proficient in hacking technology. One day. A mysterious person suddenly contacted him ... … "

Wachowski Brothers began to talk about his story with great interest. Eric inserted a few words from time to time. Unconsciously, even Kelly was gradually attracted to the discussion.

Until about two o'clock in the afternoon, several people thought of eating lunch and simply filling their stomachs. Eric began to ask Wachowski Brothers about the specific shoots idea, and so on until the evening. Wachowski Brothers only left Firefly Studios.

Eric asked the waiter to remove the coffee from the table, ordered dinner by the way, and then asked Kelly beside him: "What do you think of them?"

Kelly thought for a while and said: "Two people who are very thoughtful, but if they follow their ideas shoots, this film is likely to be a bit ... obscure, if it is made into a low-cost ult film, it may become Classic. But as a large production with an investment of hundreds of millions, it is difficult to guarantee Box Office. "

Eric nodded. The female assistant's eyes are still very sharp.

In the original time and space, in order to get the investment of "The Matrix". Wachowski Brothers is still very convergent in terms of script, which just combines the philosophical thinking and commercial elements that you want to express, so the audience saw a cool science fiction blockbuster without lack of connotation. The advent of "The Matrix" first part immediately caused a sensation. Not only did the Box Office word of mouth double harvest, but also the original unknown Wachowski Brothers became the Hollywood first-line Director. Hollywood has a very simple and rude rule, as long as you can make a Box Office big sale movie for Film Studio, then you can get everything you want. So, after the success of first part, the two brothers jumped into Hollywood first-line Director, and they obtained full control over the production of the sequel. The producer Warner was also omnipotent to the requirements of the two brothers. Unrestrainedly adding his own thoughts to the film, the sequel squandered the special effects at the same time, and the plot became dark and obscure. The catastrophic result of this extreme inconsistency is that after the fans have waited anxiously for four years, In the end, I saw two pieces of dogtail sequel. After second part "The Matrix Reloaded" ​​basically exhausted the reputation of the series, the fans directly swayed the disappointment on the third part, making the end of the series should be the pinnacle of the series. For the entire series Box Office and the most bleak part of word of mouth.

Recalling these things, Eric told the female assistant: "I will personally check the script, and I will definitely not let them mess up as I please."

"Eric, but they do n’t have any directing experience after all, according to the approximate film production cycle table, if everything goes well," The Matrix "will take about three months of shoots time and the same four months of post-production, pre-preparation is probably It also takes three months, and it probably takes less than a year to add up. From now to next summer, we still have one and a half years. In the future, announcement can be carried out at the same time as the later period. The time card is tighter, and they may be allowed to use this half a year. Time, first direct a low-cost movie to exercise. "

Eric nodded: "It's a good idea, um, a year and a half ... amount, a year and a half, eighteen months, six months, 1995, 1997 ..."

Kelly saw Eric talking and talking, his face suddenly changed continuously, strangely murmured to himself, and stood up anxiously: "Eric, what's wrong with you?"

Eric calmed down, barely smiled, reached out and patted the small hand that Kelly pressed on his shoulder, and said: "I'm fine, but I suddenly thought of something."

"Why doesn't it matter?" Kelly still worried, and put the back of his hand on the forehead of Eric. Except for some fine sweat, he didn't feel anything strange.

Eric smiled and caught the assistant ’s little hand and kissed her lips, saying, "It ’s really okay, but I suddenly thought I might have overlooked something."

Kelly was kissed by Eric on the back of his hand. He felt the strange look of the waitress not far away. His face reddened and pulled back his hand. He sat down again, but forgot to ask why Eric just lost his mind.

The expression of Eric quickly returned to normal, but I didn't let go of my thoughts.

Because of Kelly's unintentional reminder, Eric suddenly thought of the production cycle of "Titanic". In the original time and space, after "Titanic" created the miracle of Box Office, many production details were picked out by the media. Eric clearly remembers that the original "Titanic" in space and time began preparations in the second half of 1995, and officially began in 1996 as shoots. Fox was originally scheduled to be released in the summer of 1997. As a result, Cameron will delay the production cycle. It was finally dragged to the end of 1997 before it was released, and the entire production cycle was nearly two years.

Although the production budget for 150 million USD was approved for "Titanic" from the beginning, Eric already has the psychological preparation for Cameron to overrun. As long as it can bring the same classic as the original time and space, Eric does not mind Cameron Rush the budget again to 200 million USD. But he inadvertently ignored, Cameron will not only overspend on the budget, but also overdue in production.

Because of the auction of Disney Hand-Drawn Animation Department last year, Firefly will appear in a one-year animated film in the summer next year. If "Titanic" can no longer be released as scheduled, the 1996 Firefly summer file may be the only film "The Matrix".

In the past few years, the profits created by several major films of the Firefly summer file accounted for about half of the annual Film Industry business profit, which shows the importance of the summer file to the Firefly Film Industry business department. If the scale of the summer film next year suddenly shrinks to one-third of the past, Firefly Group Film Industry will inevitably be greatly affected.

For this kind of thing, staring at Cameron definitely has no effect. In the end, it is only possible to make his decibels growl a bit higher on the set.

Eric soon made up his mind, it is better to prepare in advance.

And, fortunately, it ’s just now in early 1995. If you realize this again in the second half of the year, you want to prepare for a film that can carry the 1996 summer file. Time will definitely be too late.

......

"The Matrix" Director was selected by Eric in person, and Wachowski Brothers was quickly determined.

Eric also based on the suggestion of Kelly, in the early preparation stage of "The Matrix", let Wachowski Brothers hone Director skills in advance of a low-cost movie shoots.

Wachowski Brothers was originally screenwriter, and there was a script named "Bound" written in person, but script had already been sold to a sole production company affiliated with Warner, personally coordinated in Eric and Firefly agreed to join In the case of investment, Warner readily agreed to hand over the power of Director to Wachowski Brothers.

Negotiations with Qualcomm are still continuing. The news inevitably leaked in the following days. Several major telecom operators have expressed close attention. There are even AT&T seniors who have called through Warren Buffett to inquire about Eric ’s intentions.

Although the stock price of Qualcomm also skyrocketed, Qualcomm shareholders and Board of Directors began to compromise step by step under the tough attitude of Firefly.

Hollywood, Golden Globe Award awards ceremony is coming. Eric rarely pays attention to this matter. In order to avoid the delay of Cameron "Titanic", which will make the summer file next year unavailable, Eric has been busy choosing script.

"Mr. Williams, the story is this, a marine officer was dissatisfied with the United States ’s attitude towards the fallen soldiers, led his subordinates to seize a batch of gas bombs, and hijacked it on a prison island that was converted into a tourist attraction. A group of tourists were taken as hostages, thus threatening the United States main house to pay 100 million USD ransom to compensate the fallen soldiers. The abandoned prison was once called 'Alcatraz Island', known for its tight guards. During the rescue of the hostages, one was found Former Agent United Kingdom was the only criminal who had successfully escaped from Alcatraz Island, so he forced the executive to deceive the agent that he would be **** by United States's main government, provided that he led the special forces into Alcatraz Island to save the hostages ... "

In the office of Firefly Studios, Eric, a thin middle-aged man described his script ideas to Eric, and gestures from time to time, Eric listening quietly, sitting on the other side of Jerry · Bruckheimer But he kept nodding and waited for the middle-aged people to finish the narrative and said, "How about the idea of ​​Eric and David, great?"

Eric smiled noncommittally and said to the thin middle-aged man: "Mr. Weisberg, please go back first, if there is a result, someone will notify you."

Skinny middle-aged people looked at Jerry · Bruckheimer, and reluctantly said to Eric: "Mr. Williams, you can imagine that the role of the old United Kingdom agent is played by Shane · Connelly, and the first 007 plays United Kingdom agent A gimmick, the chemistry expert can hand it over to Nicolas · Cage, Director chooses John · Wu, and his Director style is very suitable for this script. With this card, shoots comes out. The movie will definitely sell well. And ... "

Eric still has nothing to say, Jerry · Bruckheimer frowned impatiently and said: "David, listen to Eric, you go back first, I will call you in the afternoon."

David · Weisberg felt the displeasure of Jerry · Bruckheimer, and dared not get entangled again, and stood up and left the office honestly.

When the office door is closed. Jerry · Bruckheimer told Eric: "Eric, can you talk about your thoughts now?"

"Jerry," Eric spread his hands and laughed, "You know my rules, I don't want the script incident of" Cutthroat Island "to happen again."

I learned that Eric is seeking script. In just a few days, Firefly received a large amount of script delivered by script manager. However, to learn the lessons of the past, if you want to send script to Eric, everyone in script needs to sign a strict intention contract with Firefly. After confirming that Eric selects script, screenwriter will not want to monopolize script to other Film Studio.

Today. Jerry · Bruckheimer suddenly came to the door with an screenwriter happily, saying that he had a good idea to recommend to him, so he had the situation just now.

Jerry · Bruckheimer said: "Of course I am clear, and I also think that the original thing was originally the hole you dug for Michael · Eisner, am I guessing right?"

Eric shrugged, even if everyone guessed, he would not admit it.

Jerry · Bruckheimer smiled clearly, and then explained: "I have already bought this script, so let go, as long as Firefly agrees to invest, there will be no other problems."

"Jerry, you seem to have overlooked a problem. Until now, I still don't know the name of this script."

"Yeah, I ignored it, but the names of movies in the script stage are often undecided. Of course, David has given this story a name called" The Rock "."

"Okay," The Rock "," Eric read it again, laughing: "That, David · Weissberg just said, Shane · Connelly, Nicolas · Cage, John · Wu, Oh, and you This gold producer, in this case, have you calculated film budget? "

Eric does n’t know what the original Shane · Connelly ’s pay was in “The Rock”, but he just knew that Shane · Connelly got his first 20 million pay in the subsequent “Entrapment”, Now even if it is lower, it will not be too low. Cage's current pay is also around 15 million USD, John · Wu has experienced three big-selling movies, Director film pay is also not less than 10 million USD, Jerry · Bruckheimer this gold medal Producer, without 10 million will certainly not work. Well, this film is just the main salary, not lower than 50 million.

Jerry · Bruckheimer set consider as finished for a moment, said: "Eric, the starring expenditure of this film is higher, but the film does not have too many special effects and big scenes, so the budget should be able to be controlled within 80 million."

Eric does not know how many Box Office previous life "The Rock" got, but this film is the earliest batch of imported films in China at that time. I want to come to North America and global Box Office will not be too bad. Knocking on the seat armrest for a moment, Eric nodded and said: "Well, Jerry, only 80 million, and you know, Firefly does not have the habit of signing a remuneration plus share agreement, so this 80 million is all production expenditure."

Jerry · Bruckheimer actually raised the budget when reporting this budget. According to his estimate, the film 75 million USD will probably be completed. Eric did not deliberately pull out a main creative or compress a budget of 10 to 20 million to create problems for the producer like those Film Studio seniors he had worked with. It also made him feel very comfortable, so he nodded: "No problem, Eric, I Very familiar with Shane · Connelly, I can help persuade him to join this project, Cage and John · Wu over there, you better be able to greet yourself. "

The two discussed the project in detail. Jerry · Bruckheimer was about to leave, and Eric joked: "Jerry, in the last few days, you will leave one or two script ideas in this office. Leave this way? "

Jerry · Bruckheimer haha ​​smiled, remembering that there was nothing urgent for him to leave, Eric said so, he sat down again, raised his legs and said casually: "I really have a script here, only However, there are some stereotypes that imitate the criminal action movies of the two modes of "Lethal Weapon". I originally planned to sell them to Columbia for a small amount of money. The budget is not high. Only 19million. Are you interested in listening? "

Eric narrowed its eyes slightly and smiled unchanged, saying: "What is the name of Oh, script?"

"" Bad Boys "." (To be continued.) For mobile phone users, please visit http: //