Hollywood Domination Chapter 254: Tiger beard

"Yes, he disappeared, and the private investigators we hired did not find him." Cesare said from the other side of the computer screen, "He didn't use a credit card, and he didn't contact his family or friends. I think Under such circumstances, it is quite necessary to increase your security level."

"He shouldn't take the risk, will he?" Jenny said, she looked at Woody questioningly, and the other party was participating in a multi-person video conference in front of her computer.

After hearing Jenny's question, Woody shook his head, but did not give an absolutely negative answer, "Judging from his profile, Jeff Cohen is not too dangerous, but not completely non-existent. He went to the police station twice when he was a teenager, on the grounds that he participated in mob fights. In the divorce lawsuit, his wife also accused him of domestic violence, but no matter what, he was not arrested for criminal cases as an adult, but he was often involved in *In the lawsuit."

"I already have three bodyguards," Jenny hesitated, "Woody and the others are doing well. Is it necessary to add more? After all, I will leave London in half a month. Shef should be very happy." It's hard to get in touch with me during this period, even if he wants to."

"The company can bear this part of the extra expenses for you," Cesare seemed to see through her thoughts, he insisted, "until Shef escapes abroad, or you leave the country, send a few more bodyguards All are necessary."

Although Cesare should be very clear about her financial situation, it is impossible for him not to understand why Jenny cares about money—but she is still a little embarrassed when Cesare sees through her stinginess: in Hollywood, After seven years of working together, the company has grown bigger and bigger, and she has won awards one after another, but her finances seem to have never been particularly affluent.

Of course, this is mainly because she has transferred a large part of her advantages to Dream Sharing, such as "Avatar" and "Iron Man", Disney will share half of the investment income, and Jenny can only get 25% ——This is also the price of borrowing Disney's influence. Correspondingly, after she has invested, Jenny's salary will not be very high, such as "Iron Man", "Monroe", and "Michael Clayton", the money she took is simply not worth two thousand million club title.

After tax avoidance methods that are so complicated that she can no longer understand (Jenny hired an accounting firm to be in charge of Xiaomeng Studio, and cooperated with Jin to handle her tax returns, so that she can let go of this one with mutual checks and balances) , Leaving aside the dividends of the dream and the salaries paid to Mary and others, Jenny’s remaining salary last year was only a few million. After moving into Chris’s house, she saved some expenses, but even so, millions of dollars a year The bodyguard fee, which can't be saved after the stalker incident, and some charitable expenses, she can only be regarded as equal income and equal expenditure on film salary alone, leaving a balance of one or two million at most. This is because she maintains the habit of exercising, has a strong schedule, and maintains a good appearance all the time. She does not need to go to the beauty salon for regular 'returning to the factory', and she does not have the bad habit of spending money in nightclubs. Otherwise, it is only about the salary. If it is not, there may be a lot of losses in a year. ——This is also the reason why Lindsay Lohan has a high degree of attention and a lot of sponsorship resources, but he has repeatedly revealed that the economic situation is not good. With the minimum rights of rights, personal safety, and maintaining the star's face, without external financial resources, the salary is really not enough.

However, fortunately, Jenny's financial management habits are very exemplary among celebrities. She even said that she is as conservative as an 80-year-old old man. After she hired a team of bodyguards, she sold her car. For any extravagant hobbies, except for food expenses and maintenance expenses, almost everything in life is sponsored by others. The money left over each year is generally used to buy some capital-guaranteed financial products, and refuses to diversify investment and use money to make money. It is because she has no time to pay attention to this area, and she is afraid that she will be extorted money and become a model of stupid stars. It is also because she knows that the financial turmoil in the United States will sweep the world in the past few years. I can't keep it. So although I haven't gotten much salary in the past few years, the savings over the years are counted together. Although it is still far away from 70 million, there are still 20 to 30 million savings. Heroes, "Marley and Me", "Twilight", "Avatar" and other movies are crazily grabbing cash. Even if Disney has to pay nearly half of the dividends, it will not be too difficult to get 70 million. It can be said that although the road is tortuous, the future is indeed bright. — until the stalker invasion event.

Before that, even if the rent was due, it would not be a big problem for Jenny to spend two to three million yuan to buy property or rent a house, but the stalker invasion incident was a wake-up call. Jenny found that what she needs now is a big house similar to Chris Malibu Manor. It is best to have the same exclusive bay as him, facing the mountains and the sea, so as to preserve privacy and ensure security. However, the rent of this kind of house is usually very expensive, and the security system is also expensive. Instead of renting for a few years and then spending a lot of money to install the security system, it is better to take advantage of the drop in housing prices in the United States after the outbreak of the financial crisis last year. buy it.

But in this way, if she doesn't want to borrow money, her cash will bottom out immediately. Even if the matter of Disney's equity is not considered (the realization of this preferential allotment option seems to be far away in a few years), Jenny is still heartbroken. I don't think it's worth paying more for a few bodyguards: she hired a bodyguard company that specializes in protecting celebrities. The basic equipment of a bodyguard team is a driver who is good at throwing off paparazzi, an SUV, and three bodyguards. Each person is 1,000 a day. U.S. dollars, 4,000 U.S. dollars without any discounts. You can work up to four days a week and up to eight hours a day. Overtime work will cost you more. Overseas work will cost you more than meals and lodging, and work hours will be calculated 24 hours a day. If you upgrade the security level, There is an increase in the price, and there is a monthly minimum guaranteed price for the extra team, even if they only come for one day, they have to charge so much money-safety is safe, but it is also very expensive, so when Jenny first came to the UK I didn't bring the American team with me at all, and I didn't let them come over until before the official shooting, in order to save the bodyguard fees these days...

But no matter what, asking Dameng to pay is still an arrangement she is unwilling to accept, after all, the absolute amount of her equity is not much.

"Are you too nervous, Cesare?" Jenny was embarrassed to admit that she was stingy in front of Woody. She still wanted to persuade Cesare to give up this idea, "With Woody and the others here, thank you My husband can't get close to me, and besides, even if he still has a basic conscience, he shouldn't come to me, why does he come to me? Revenge me because I called the police?"

Cesare smirked and said dryly, "Jefferson, Woody has been a bodyguard for more than ten years."

Woody also laughed behind his computer—of course he didn't follow Cesare to tease his boss, but analyzed in an objective tone, "Jeff Cohen did what he did in the "Mirror" For almost 20 years, until 4 years ago he was running on the political line, he should be very clear about the office efficiency of Scotland Yard, and the political backstage of "Mirror"—"

So of course he is also very clear that without the pressure of public opinion exerted by American newspapers and websites, including the help of the two powerful private detectives hired by Dameng, it would be difficult for Scotland Yard to locate the suspect to him. From this point of view, his hatred must be very obvious, and it cannot be said that there is a mistake—the trend of the American media is certainly not the result of luck. Without Cesare and Judy's gossip and sales, even if some editors choose to ridicule the British media as a selling point, it is impossible to form a momentum. Of course, without the hype marketing of the puppeteers on the Internet, Scotland Yard may not be They will feel so much pressure that they are forced to accept the just-right "help" from Dream's side. As for whether their superiors have asked about this matter, it's hard to say: Disney is really nothing in the UK network, but Warner is different. The "Harry Potter" series has provided them with tens of thousands of jobs in the UK, and the good relationship formed by "Michael Clayton" has also made Warner According to Cesare, after hearing about the anger of Jenny's team, several senior executives hinted that they had made a few phone calls to their "British friends" during the dinner with him. The husband's misfortune had nothing to do with these few phone calls.

It is true that Jenny hates Shaf very much, but it is the team's decision to punish him to death. In addition to venting their anger for Jenny, the team also intends to make an example of others. The bigger the incident, the more Shafe will end up. Unfortunately, the paparazzi will be more worried when they spy on her in the future. For this kind of industry with a strong background, mastering the mouthpiece of public opinion, and being able to disgust you anytime and anywhere without paying any price, no matter whether you respond or not, they win the industry. The best way to protect your legal rights is to beat them. Pain, don’t think you can clean yourself up by sending someone in. I, Jennifer Jefferson, can send you there for five or ten years—I can do it in the UK, but it’s not a problem in the United States. ? If you want to go to jail, just come to eavesdrop and hack. The news you send may not harm me, but I can definitely send you to prison and shake out every dime you earn.

Of course, after Hollywood has reached its current level, some services are also within reach for Jenny and Cesare. As long as they pay a fair price, some agents can even guarantee that the prisoner will not come out alive after entering the prison—— Or at least not healthily, these services are available even in the UK, just a bit more expensive. However, the team has not yet crossed the bottom line. After all, Dameng is a serious film company, and Jenny does not want to have anything to do with these potential forces.

However, for Shef, while Jenny's team is definitely pushing him to be sent to prison, he may not believe that the team's revenge will stop there. An old paparazzi who has been running for 20 years will never believe in celebrities The dignitaries are all law-abiding innocent citizens (they are indeed not counted), and no one knows how many fantasies they will have if they want to get into the horns. A fish dies and a net breaks. ——If he secretly used his savings after he left, or contacted some of his secret friends in order to get a new identity and settle down in London again, then it can be judged that he just didn't want to go to jail, precisely because he There was no news after he left, and he seemed to have no appeal for his new identity, which proved that his motive was probably not as simple as absconding.

"So the team should really treat this news with caution." Hu Di said, "But on the bright side, we are leaving London soon, and he is unlikely to use his ID when he violates the bail system. Passing customs to go abroad - he should not have this source of funds. According to my estimation, Shef may give up this idea after a while. Even if he doesn't give up, we don't need to worry too much about him until the next time he comes to live in the UK. If it's just a short-term stay, it's hard for him to find a chance to make a move in the hotel."

Jenny is unwilling to have a video consultation with Maggie, mainly because she is worried about her computer. Her own video environment is still very safe. What kind of clues, even before Cesare pointed it out, Jenny didn't mean to tell the truth to Woody, and she still pretended to be innocent in front of him, so after discovering that Woody might have already known about it, she naturally couldn't help feeling a little bit. Embarrassed, she also felt that she had lost the initiative, and Woody and Cesare's analysis was indeed reasonable, and she also approved the proposal to upgrade the security, "Then just ask for a little longer, the premiere in Sydney There will definitely be a need for manpower, so this money should be spent by Xiaomeng."

Cesare nodded, "Are you sure we don't need to communicate with Marvel? In fact, holding the premiere in London is also a good choice."

"Forget it." Jenny was also a little helpless, "You know Kevin's style, since he doesn't want to accept our kindness, then just hold the premiere in Sydney - it won't affect anything. "

Although Jenny invested in "Iron Man", she has little say in the marketing and distribution of the film. Marvel Studios under the management of Kevin Feige is indeed not a very orthodox film company. Generally speaking, big productions with hundreds of millions of dollars will have their premiere in the ticket warehouse city-the traditional best choice is Los Angeles, but there are also New York and London, but Marvel just chose Sydney, which is relatively unpopular. It is also unexpected that the overseas release time is arranged before the North American release time.

Because Iron Man itself does not have a global reputation, this is indeed incomparable with Superman, Batman, Spiderman and other first-line heroes. This arrangement is actually a bit risky. If overseas film reviews are bad, it is tantamount to losing' The opportunity to deceive North American audiences into movie theaters, without this wave of box office, the possibility of losses will be greatly increased. After all, in terms of box office, it is still North America that makes money: distribution costs are low and the market is large, but this It also shows that Marvel has a lot of confidence in "Iron Man", or they are simply playing high - "Iron Man" only makes a lot of money, so that Marvel can bid high-priced capital in the acquisition, even if it is only a small profit It will reduce Paramount's enthusiasm for acquisitions. If the capital is preserved, the idea of ​​the Marvel universe is simply useless. So Kevin Feige simply assumed that "Iron Man" would be a hit, and used it as a benchmark for distribution and marketing layout. Dameng was willing to provide convenience, held the premiere in Los Angeles, and promised to bring at least ten CAA artists to join him, but Marvel didn't even nod.

"Okay, Sydney." Cesare ticked the document in his hand, "Woody, you can contact the company. As for Jenny, the organizers of Cannes contacted me, they want to know that you are in the film Can the finished product be produced at the festival."

According to the original schedule of "Monroe", it is not impossible to produce a special edited version for exhibition in May after filming is finished in February, but this is Jenny's first production, and it is also the Wei's first feature film director, they were either accidentally or unsurprisingly... overdue. It is already mid-March, but there are still a few days of work before the film is completely finished. Even if Cannes sees Jenny's signboard, and just watched a few pieces of filming materials, they invite the crew of "Monroe" to participate in the screening and observation unit-it is impossible to be selected as the main competition unit only by looking at the materials. As for the screening and observation without awards, of course The more the better, if the much-anticipated film "Monroe" is scheduled to be shown for the first time in Cannes, it will also be of great help to the influence of the film festival.

"I guess it's too late." Jenny said helplessly, "I think we should give up Cannes, the first appearance of "Monroe" must be perfect-if it can't be a sensation when it debuts, I don’t even count on Venice, I’d rather stay at the London Film Festival, at least I can guarantee to win an award.”

Under the premise that "Michael Clayton" has already won two awards, "Monroe" with a very obvious "Jennifer color" will definitely not be able to continue to win awards in Venice. This is certain, so she Not so enthusiastic about participating in the Venice Film Festival.

Cesare did not accuse Jenny, as a producer, of failing to control the shooting cycle. Instead, he agreed, "If it's just a screening unit, Cannes really doesn't make much sense. Your film doesn't need too much. The publicity has attracted a lot of attention... By the way, the distribution department has drawn up the marketing plan, as well as the finalized file and analysis of this year's Oscars. I need you to read it carefully and discuss it with me, especially about marketing. One piece, you have to communicate with Salvi, because we expect him to be part of the marketing.”

"I'll check the email," Jenny also ticked off an item in the agenda on the computer, "Is there anything else I should know? How is the shooting progress of "Twilight"?"

"It's almost finished, everything is going well, and the budget may save a few million." Cesare told her, "The filming of "Marley and Me" is also progressing well. After you return to Los Angeles from Sydney, Together, we can set the file for these two films, and of course set the marketing budget."

He flipped through the documents, "The company is still well funded. If you don't have new ideas in the short term, paying the distribution fee is not a problem."

Jennie was noncommittal about Cesare's spying: After filming "Monroe", she only had "Nine" left in her filming schedule. On the one hand, she really wanted to go back to Los Angeles to rest for a while and get busy Buying a house and decorating it, but on the other hand, she is not sure whether she has learned of a promising movie that is preparing to recruit actors and is determined to step in, or whether it is a series that is destined to be a hit Big dream to develop.

"No matter what, money will never be enough." She said sadly in a resigned tone, "Whether it's my money or the company's money, it seems to be the same, so let's try not to imitate Sony , Warner, throw a lot of money on distribution-try to do some precision marketing and spend more on online marketing.”

"The second round of TV broadcasting rights of "Sally" has already begun to negotiate prices," Cesare said with relief, "The next few years will be the project payment period, and the company's funds will not be too large Question -"

He changed the subject, "However, I really don't suggest that we allocate too much distribution funds for these two films, because I heard an internal news: Warner Independent Production is about to be abolished, and Warner President The company does not intend to include all of its films in its own library, they may sell some of the copyrights of the films to offset the debts of independent producers, I think this may be an opportunity for us.”

Movies are a circle that does not return money very quickly. It usually takes 2 years for a movie to recover its cost from investment, and the entire profit is realized through a long period of 5, 10 or even 15 years. This is also the reason why the industry values ​​the box office. Although it is said that the profits brought by the box office now only account for one-third of the entire project, and the remaining profits are divided among dvd sales, TV broadcasting rights, and peripheral development. Undoubtedly, the money can only be cashed out slowly, so the "Fifth Sally" in 2005 is still making money, and the amount is not low, but because of this, many big companies want to look good for their financial reports, and for themselves Its cash chain will not be dragged down, and it will also choose to sell some projects that still have potential to be tapped, such as Warner Independent, it is not losing money, just because it has not made any achievements, or even the failure of the parent company's internal struggle (Warner There have been rumors of intense internal friction), so they were abolished, so in order to make up for the benign debts on the books, Warner is very likely to sell some old films with little profit margin, or they think that the profit is not much. For Warner’s parent company For new films that are not worth making, of course, some bad films will also be sold together. This kind of fire sale is like a flea market, and it is very profitable for small companies that can scour. Especially for a company like Dameng, which is growing fast and has a relatively empty film library, this is a very good opportunity. It is reasonable for Cesare to want to "buy, buy, buy", but it also means Big Dream's finances are still stretched at the moment, and it is estimated that it will not be able to slow down until the box office of "Michael" starts to settle. As for "Iron Man", its returning money will get the fourth quarter at the earliest.

Actually, for Jenny, Big Dream will not lack blockbuster films for at least the next few years. She feels that what they lack is strong and stable distribution and operational capabilities. However, without revealing why she can see , she couldn't explain why she was so confident, and Cesare had always supported her decision-making, and worked hard to do the logistics of the dream, and even said that the projects that the dream is currently operating are all run by Jenny' Hand-picked', so she just hesitated and nodded. "Of course we can't miss this opportunity. I think the box office of "Iron Man" will not let us down. Cash flow will definitely not be a problem..."

The two continued to discuss a lot of details, and finally went through the plethora of business affairs recently. When Jenny started to stretch, Cesare told her in a relaxed tone, "By the way, we received A very interesting invitation - I don't know why at the moment, but Beijing seems to want to invite you to participate in the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco - the Los Angeles Consulate called my office this afternoon."

His tone fully explained Cesare's views on this matter: there is no doubt that he did not intend to agree to it at all, and he even felt that such an invitation from Beijing was completely unreasonable and almost ridiculous to the point of...

Jenny's stretching motion froze slightly: This invitation really surprised her. She guessed it had something to do with Director Zhang, but——Director Zhang has her email, why didn't he contact her directly?

Besides, she never mentioned to Cesare that Director Zhang invited her to watch the Olympics and that she could speak Chinese. To use an inappropriate analogy, when Cesare talked about Beijing’s invitation to participate in the Olympic torch relay, she felt as if her illegitimate child had been exposed. Han', she really didn't know how to explain to Cesare, or in other words, in the line of passing the torch, attending the Olympics, and even planning the mainland, how should she promote her own ideas while being in Cesare and even Marie? In front of these people, they hide their true secrets...