Hollywood Domination Chapter 323: Ghost Call

"What? Big Dream has taken care of Susan Collins?"

In the luxurious president's office of Paramount Pictures, Brad Gray repeated what his subordinates said in disbelief, "Are you sure—I remember that just a day ago, you told me that there is currently only Three companies made an offer for The Hunger Games, and that didn't include Big Dreams, didn't the rights broker—I remember her name was Ellie.What—say that?"

"Yes, you remember correctly." His assistant Jack also looked quite nervous, but he still tried hard to defend himself, "In order to avoid the inefficiency of the colleagues in the film purchasing department, I contacted Ellie. Brown and Academic Press, that's what they gave me at the time. You know, it's the first book in the series, and while it's getting a lot of attention, most studios are on the sidelines until Disney makes an offer But when I called Elle Brown again this morning to give Paramount an offer, Elle Brown said that the original author had reached a letter of intent with Dameng—"

He glanced at the boss carefully, his voice weakened unconsciously, and said, "Susan Collins has decided to give the copyright of "The Hunger Games" to Dameng, Ellie said that her attitude is very firm, I'm afraid the result will be difficult to change..."

First of all, Jennifer was behind the turmoil after the Oscars and someone made a noise, and then Jennifer released a video, which perfectly cleared her suspicion of hype, and then Brad was invited by irs Drinking tea, when this news seems to have grown wings overnight and flew to major newspapers, even after Paramount's PR department had no time to respond, if anyone in Beverly Hills still doesn't know that Brad and Dave The love and resentment between dreams, if you can't guess the inside story behind it, I'm afraid you don't have the qualifications to gain a foothold in this community.

At least as Brad's close confidant, Jack is very clear about Brad's true feelings - no one dares to ask how much it cost him to walk out of IRS unscathed, and how much it cost him. It took a lot of human resources to suppress the follow-up report, and also sealed the mouth of irs, making this a major event and a trivial matter, which became a "misunderstanding caused by poor communication", but Brad's status in Paramount This is a fact that has been shaken by this matter, and there is no lack of complaints about it within the company: When everyone is trying to build a good relationship with Jennifer Jefferson, Brad's troubles directly make the cooperation became impossible. Originally, tit-for-tat in some business matters is considered business affairs, no big deal, but Brad played too dirty, directly making the whole thing private, and now Jennifer and Fox are doing "Avatar" again. ", together with Warner on "Code Name" and Disney on "Oz", Paramount not only can't get involved, but also has to spend huge sums of money to re-establish a very strict computer security system to prevent Big Dream from causing trouble , why bother? Although Dameng made money, he never confronted Paramount, did he?

For a company with such a huge system like the Big Six, it is impossible to be monolithic internally at any time. Perhaps this incident will become one of the factors that will cause Brad to step down in the future, but for now, since the damage has been done , and an apology is absolutely impossible to be useful, so whether it is public or private, what Brad must do is to continue to spoil the big dream, and compete for the projects they fancy, whether it is to suppress the big dream, or for Paramount Adding a few more high-quality movies is of great significance. Therefore, when Dameng began to make extensive inquiries, Brad immediately instructed Jack to keep an eye on the situation—of course, they would not immediately jump out and rush to raise prices. Who knew that Cesare’s inquiry Is it just a smoke screen, or is it more sinister, trying to trap companies that implement tight-sighted strategies?

Looking at it now, Brad had indeed guessed right before, and Big Dream had indeed prevented his competitors from making a move. It was really hard for Ramon to see that Dameng had taken a fancy to this book—Since Jack reported the news to the boss, Brad had attached great importance to it. How much did he value it? I am concerned that he still did not make an offer immediately, and I am afraid that this is a two-person magic show between Dameng and Disney headquarters. "The Hunger Games" is still a cover, and the real target is another book. If you follow the trend blindly, you will be caught by Dameng again It's a trap...

As the only one of the six CEOs who has been cheated by the big dream, Brad's caution is not comparable to Sony and Lions Gate. , verified its adaptation value with his own eyes, and at the same time asked Jack to closely follow up on the progress of the copyright, and take this matter as the first priority-based on Jack's understanding of the boss and his own speculation, once Brad is sure that " The Hunger Games is the real goal of Dameng, and it will be taken at all costs, and it will be given great attention. This book will be made as the key movie of the year, of course, and it will be led by him himself , he definitely intends to turn this movie into a defense of his position.

Based on Paramount's abundant funds, once a certain movie is to be won at all costs, the hope of success should be quite high. Of course, Jack will not be arrogant enough to believe that Paramount will be the last one. The winner of the competition, but in terms of a general copyright transaction battle, when there are already three companies making offers, this is bound to be a protracted tug-of-war. Copyright brokers tend to let competitors push the price higher and higher. At least it will last for one to two months, and then choose the best deal before the craze fades—at least, she will spend a week deliberating the pros and cons of the quotations from all parties, after all, for a bestseller like Susan As far as the author is concerned, she must be paid dividends at the box office of the movie. For her own development, she will also pay close attention to the company's commitment to the movie itself, what cast to make, how much budget to give, and what ideas to adapt... In such a In a long-term battle, at least Paramount won't even have a chance to make a move, and they can still fight for it.

"I really, really asked Elle Brown and the publishing house again and again, and they all said that Big Dream just asked them to pass the recommendation list in their hands during a routine contact, and "The Hunger Games" happened to be Included." Thinking of this, Jack couldn't help emphasizing it again. In fact, he was also puzzled by this matter, "Besides, Dameng has never communicated with them about "The Hunger Games". But the tricky thing about this matter is that the film and television adaptation rights of "The Hunger Games" are in the hands of the original author, and neither Ellie nor Academic Publishing House enjoys exclusive agency rights, so when Susan Collins suddenly became possessed When I made up my mind, neither the publishing house nor the agent could change the result... I have already asked Elle to communicate with the original author to see why she suddenly made this decision. According to Ellie herself, The cooperation between her and Susan has always been relatively pleasant, and it is hard to imagine that Susan would contact Dameng privately without telling her, all this seems more like a sudden decision—"

Brad waved his hand, interrupting the assistant's nervous chatter, but he didn't get angry-contrary to Jack's fears, although Paramount's big plan was stillborn again, Brad He seemed to be in a good mood. He didn't mean to get angry at all, but rubbed his chin and said thoughtfully, "Yes, don't you think this is really too sudden?"

"You mean—" Jack cleverly guessed following the boss's meaning, "is the rhythm of this copyright transaction very unusual?"

"In the beginning, we suspected that the department suddenly made an offer for five films, and thus leaked "The Hunger Games". It was a trap set by Dick Cook and Jennifer Jefferson." Brad habitually Pressing his temples—a habit he picked up after returning from the IRS, where he was told he had a really bad migraine attack—"but if you think about it this way, what if it wasn't a trap? What if The big dream was just a trap at the beginning, "The Hunger Games" was their target, and the quotation from Disney headquarters actually destroyed their plan, so they could only be forced to attack in a hurry, how can they get this movie?"

"Infighting within the group?" Jack said in astonishment—he immediately smacked his lips, realizing the value of this idea, "It's not impossible, the current plan of Dameng is getting bigger and bigger, and its positioning has already conflicted with the headquarters , It is natural for conflicts to occur within the group—however, it is quite rare for such a huge momentum to attract the attention of so many peers..."

"Maybe it's not intentional infighting, the problem is still in the transmission of information, maybe the communication is not smooth, and the department that quotes to the outside world accidentally leaked the cards." Brad shook his head at the disapproving look on Jack's face, "Don't think that This kind of low-level mistake is impossible to happen. Mistakes happen every day in the world. If you carefully examine many major events in human history, you will find that low-level mistakes play a lot more roles than you think... But in any case, the reason is not important, the result is the most important——just like you said, the current positioning of Dameng has conflicted with Disney movies, and the result of this matter is so abrupt, Dameng Meng snatched "The Hunger Games" in a flash without coordinating with Disney headquarters—there must be no coordinating—what does that mean?"

"Of course, at this time, it is the best way for Disney headquarters to continue to fight for it. If Big Dream doesn't move for a long time, our determination to bid may also be shaken... The choice of this radical path shows that Dameng is worried about allowing Disney headquarters to obtain the copyright, and does not believe that the headquarters will return it to Dameng after obtaining the copyright," Jack couldn't help showing a little excitement in his tone, "I believe more and more now that this matter is not A low-level mistake, Brad. Looking at it this way, the mutual defense between Disney movies and Dameng is already very heavy. All this is not the result of a mistake in coordination, but more like a Disney movie coming forward to compete with Dameng—— Dog eats dog, that makes it all very interesting, doesn't it?"

"Whether it was a mistake in coordination, or a genuine dog-eat-dog, I can't make a judgment yet." Brad shook his head, but not only did a smile appear on his lips, "But I know, now Bob. Iger would not be pleased, and neither would Dick Cook, that Disney Films would compete with its siblings—and lose humiliatingly—and lose embarrassingly, too: they were the first to make an offer, but He didn't even have a chance to compete, and he was killed by Dameng lore... Hehe, I really want to see Dick Cook's expression now... Of course, there is also Bob Iger's look when he knows about this—if If I could have been on the sidelines, I would have paid a million dollars for the opportunity."

Although Dameng is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney, because Disney owns a controlling stake, it is recognized that Dameng is a part of the Disney Group, and group internal strife is taboo news for every CEO, which shows that they are very concerned about the group. No matter who is right or wrong as the cause of this incident, whether the headquarters deliberately bullied Dameng, or did something bad with good intentions, Dameng's response methods are all wrong. Even if there was no resentment at first, now Anxiety has also been planted, and if there was a grievance in the first place, the conflict has become more intense and open now-if this continues, Dick and she must leave one another, otherwise how can we talk about cooperation? Whether Dick Cook leaves or Jennifer leaves, it will be a big loss for Disney, and of course it is also an opportunity for Paramount. No matter which elite leaves, it will definitely bring a wave of personnel. In turmoil, Paramount can also take the opportunity to incorporate new blood...

Thinking of this, Brad's originally relaxed and happy expression suddenly froze. He was sitting and watching the fire in his opponent's house gloating, as if he suddenly realized something, and his face became heavy, which of course made Jack very surprised. Nervous——During his careful peeking, Brad pondered for a while with a gloomy expression on his face, and his brows became tighter and tighter. After he pondered for a while, he suddenly stretched out his hand and told Jack, "Take Dick. Give me Cook's private number—remember, a private number."

Contacting Dick at this time, and asking for a private phone call—could it be that you want to join forces with Dick to suppress Dameng? Jack murmured in his heart, but of course he didn't dare to ask any more questions. Instead, he quickly walked out of the president's office and looked it up in the address book: Of course there are office phones, but it's hard to say about private calls. It was Brad's previous mobile phone that was completely destroyed, no data was imported, and all the phone numbers were completely lost. If it was not in the backup, he had to find a reasonable excuse to inquire at the coo office...

"Ring ring ring——" Just as Jack was typing on the keyboard, the phone rang, and he almost mechanically left the keyboard for a while, picked up the mug to sip coffee, and continued to pull down the address book, While holding the phone between his shoulders and neck, he said, "Hello, President's Office, who are you?"

The other party replied with a simple word, but Jack suddenly choked. Amidst his violent coughing, the coffee spilled out, splashing all the documents on the table, and his keyboard also suffered, Brad His second assistant cast a gloating glance, but Jack didn't care at all, and he spoke hoarsely as soon as he caught his breath.

"Okay, this will transfer you, please wait a moment."

After cutting off the standby button, while continuing to cough uncontrollably, he quickly pressed the call button, and at the same time desperately gestured to Brad through the glass, attracting the boss's attention—— When Brad took off his reading glasses and reached for the microphone suspiciously, he finally coughed a few times, desperately suppressing the itching in his throat—

"wt?" Brad said as soon as he picked up the phone, "did you find Dick's phone number so quickly?"

"Boss," Jack said in a calm tone that he was proud of, "Jennifer Jefferson is calling for you."

From the corner of his vision, he saw that the boss seemed to have choked the coffee out of his mouth—Jack straightened his body, pulled a stack of documents to block the chaos on the table, and was secretly proud of himself, his tone Even more calm and professional, "And I put her waiting on the first line, so if you are willing to answer..."