I’m in Hollywood Chapter 465: layoffs
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It is the introduction of the Microsoft Windows operating system that has greatly accelerated the pace of promotion of personal computers from professional technicians to ordinary people. The current computer network browsing tools are just like the original DOS system, which requires strong professional knowledge to operate. This is also the reason why personal computers have been widely popularized but computer networks have not developed much. Chris can imagine that if Eric ’s The idea can really be realized, it will definitely cause a revolution in the computer network.
Only the first idea has made Chris feel a bright light, and he ca n’t wait to ask: "What about the second idea?"
Eric took a sip of coffee and said, "The second idea is the online email service."
"This is already there, I just learned it recently, but I think there is nothing special and it is not very convenient."
"I am talking about the" online "e-mail service," Eric put a bit more emphasis on the word "online", and said: "Most of the current e-mail transmissions use software for point-to-point transmission. One computer is transferred to another computer, and it is often used in a small local area network, so if you leave the office, you can no longer watch mail. What I want to do is a company that provides online e-mail services, using independent Websites and servers are used as email carriers, so that as long as users apply for an account, no matter where they are, as long as they can connect to the Internet, they can view emails sent by friends or colleagues from anywhere. "
Chris said: "I do n’t think too many people will spend money to apply for such an email account. Now the cost of making calls is not too high. Public phones are everywhere. What can be done on the phone? Said. And people do n’t necessarily send emails every day. "
After hearing Chris, Eric even expressed some emotion. He put forward this idea, Chris immediately thought of spending money to buy such a service, and did not expect to be free, and Eric was too lazy to complain. Soon said: "I didn't plan to charge at the beginning. This will be a free online online service. The first stage we have to do is to accumulate users. If the computer network can be popularized, then our email service users also It will expand to a very large scale. You can imagine that if we have active mailbox users with 100 million people, those advertising merchants will let us send advertising messages to these users. How much will USD pay? "
Chris seems to really count consider as finished for a while, and then shows a numb and admirable expression, laughing: "Okay, what about the third one?"
"web portal (PortalWeb)," Eric said, also taking some water, and spelling two words on the table.
Although the Internet has just developed a prototype, various websites have appeared on this original network, as far as movies are concerned. previous life's most famous movie information website, IMDB, was established as early as 1990, and has been quite large now. Therefore, the launch of web portal is not too advanced. Hundreds of thousands of USD, slowly waiting for the advent of the golden age of the Internet, one year of expenditure is equivalent to a small-cost movie, which is not worth mentioning for Eric.
The first two ideas Chris listen to the name. You can probably guess the meaning, but ‘web portal (PortalWeb)’ is definitely a very unfamiliar concept.
Eric did n’t know the translation of web portal of previous life. He could only use the most superficial word “Portal (main entrance)”: “Probably, to categorize the disordered websites on the Internet. Create a web directory, Internet users You can easily find the consultation you want on this directory website. "
Chris nodded and said that he understood a little bit. However, compared with the first two amazing ideas, Chris thinks that the Eric idea has little commercial value. It is a category directory website. Although it is very practical, it seems to be very easy to imitate, it is estimated that it is difficult to achieve single hegemony.
Eric can also be seen, Chris should be regarded as the "two heads" of the last two projects, but he did not rush to explain anything, let the fact surprise Chris, previous life Yahoo Its market value is dozens of times that of contemporary browser companies and online email service companies.
The two talked about the late night in this roadside cafe with great interest. Although it is already three or four in the morning according to the Western time that Eric is more accustomed to, Eric does not feel tired, young body and sufficient Exercise has kept Eric full of personal energy, and there will be no problem if I stay up all night.
It wasn't until two o'clock in the morning of Eastern Time that Chris and Eric got up and left in the eyes of the coffee shop waiter 'You You'. The street of Manhattan in the middle of the night seemed even colder, but it didn't affect their mood.
"You have time to write your plan in the past few days, and wait for the AOL to get things done, I will prepare these three companies as soon as possible. By the way, since you have come up with these ideas, do you think of your name?" Chris asked in the final division.
Eric has a slightly wicked smile: "Of course, the three companies are called‘ Internet Explorer (Internet Explorer), Hotmail and Yahoo (Yah00). ’
......
In the next few days, Eric and Chris continued to discuss the cooperation conditions with Steve Case of AOL. During this period, the 64th Oscar was also held on March 30 at the Los Angeles Music Center.
As a result of 12 Oscar nominations, "Dances with Wolves" won seven awards including best film, best Director and best actor, because of the good news stimulation of Oscar, The movie "Box Office" of "Dances with Wolves" rebounded sharply again. In the fifteenth week of its release, it received 1 more than 1 million USD Box Office in less than 1500 theaters. The total Box Office also broke through 150 million. This commercial prospect is not very optimistic about Eric. The Box Office score made everyone surprised.
Although only the cinema distribution rights of the film, according to the performance of "Dances with Wolves" in North America local and overseas Box Office, this film is expected to get a total Box Office of global exceeding 500 million USD. According to the original share agreement signed, Fox will The money is divided into nearly 100 million USD profits. For Fox, this huge amount of money equivalent to half of Film Industry's profit last year is almost the same as the one picked up. Even many insiders who know the insider ridicule Murdoch on some party and gave birth to a good daughter.
Besides, because Eric advanced 《The Silence of the Lambs》 by one year. Without Jodie Foster competition, Susan Sarandon also won the best Heroine with TG's "Thelma & Louise", and "Thelma & Louise" also won the best Original Script award.
The commercial and artistic success of "Thelma & Louise" has made more people notice TG, the three girls, Film Studio. Although it is clear that the supporters behind TG are the two giants Firefly and Fox, there are still many investors Case who frequently contact the three women and try to buy shares or invest.
Independent Film Studio even if a certain film has achieved good results occasionally, but because the seven major distributors monopolizing the channel defaulted on the share, these Film Studios were made for shoots new movies. Had to finance externally.
However, for TG, this problem does not exist at all. Whether TG films are released by Fox or Firefly, they can be divided on time, and even if they still lack funds, whether it is Eric or Murdoch Investment, so investors who tried to participate in TG were all disappointed and returned.
The New York side, because the cooperation intention of both sides is very urgent. Firefly Investment successfully reached a preliminary agreement with AOL, however, the specific investment amount will be discussed in detail by the Chris team and Steve Case.
At the same time, Eric has also decided to invest 8000USD in the investment company of Emily Brighton. This number was negotiated together by Eric, Chris and Emily.
One week later, Eric left Chris with three project plans, and hurried back to Los Angeles.
The preparation of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" was very smooth, because it was his first part movie in Hollywood, Wu Baige seemed very important, and he would personally participate in every matter. The film ’s spectacle, scene design and supporting role selection are all carried out in an orderly manner. It is expected that in the end of April, when the two protagonists of Nicole and Pierce Brosnan will end their firearm training in the ‘Special School’. The film will start shooting smoothly.
Because you do n’t have to worry too much about “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, Eric put most of your energy into the preparation of “Jurassic Park”. The most important part of “Jurassic Park” is the design of the dinosaur image. According to the reduction of dinosaur fossils by paleontologists, in fact, whether it is Tyrannosaurus Rex or velociraptor, the original image is very different from the image in memory.
Eric combines memory in your mind. After several discussions with several paleontologists, the most important images of dinosaurs were determined.
For the special effects of "Jurassic Park", although Eric does not cost the cost of technology research and development, if "Jurassic Park" is completely produced with CG special effects, there is no big technical problem, but it takes a lot of time. After all, before No one has ever made a very realistic dinosaur monster with the full CG method. From scratch, it takes a lot of time and energy to explore the technology, plus Stan Winston is an expert in model special effects, thinking about the pros and cons, Eric Soon it was decided to follow the previous life Spielberg's method and operate the model and computer effects.
After this decision, a large number of model special effects designers in the huge studio of Playa Vista quickly invested in the production of dinosaur models. The dinosaur model that needs to be used is not a simple empty shell that can be solved. In addition to the realistic shape and skin, complex mechanical transmission devices are also needed inside the dinosaur, but compared to the computer special effects, this is done The dinosaur model is still very cost-effective, and in any case, the model must be more realistic than the current computer effects.
In the busy work, the days passed day by day, and in the process of intense preparations for "Jurassic Park", in mid-April, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" in cooperation with Disney and Columbia was officially launched in Los Angeles, and at the same time, the Firefly summer A film, "The Mask" produced by TG, starring Jim Carrey and Claudia Schiffer also successfully completed, the digital field soon took over the special effects production of "The Mask".
The time is less than two months away from the summer file. Firefly and Disney have also begun to conduct more intensive publicity work for the main film of the summer file. Of course, several other major Film Studio also took part in this marketing war.
At the same time when "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" was turned on, when Firefly was cooperating with Columbia, the two helmsmen of Columbia agreed that another secret condition of Firefly also began to be implemented.
In fact, the operation of this matter is not too complicated. After several close discussions between Peter Guber and Eric, the specific plan was determined.
In April, on a less conspicuous Hollywood professional magazine, Columbia announced to the outside world that in order to reduce the operating costs of Columbia, Columbia will lay off 2,000 people within six months, and will also abolish some Columbia. Important department.
The outside world did not have much response to this layoff of Columbia. After all, the performance of Columbia Film Studio in the past two years has indeed been stunned, and it has caused more than two consecutive years of losses. The layoff measures are very straightforward. If Japanese is not hindered by the original commitment If you can't intervene in the operation of Columbia, you may have taken layoffs to reduce costs.
However, although most people do not know the truth, how can such a large-scale movement not attract the attention of people in the Hollywood circle. When Columbia announced the first week of this news, it would be located directly in Latin America, Brazil, Argentina and When the branches of several countries in Columbia were closed directly, many people realized something strange.
Be aware that although Latin America is generally hostile to the United States policy, although it is geographically close to United States, Hollywood movies want to enter Latin America, but it is dozens of times more difficult than entering the Europe market.
But even so, it would be too much to completely abolish these branches. After all, Latin America is closed, but it is still a super market with a population of more than one billion, and its future potential is unlimited, just like Eastern Europe After the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the Eastern European market, which was originally very resistant to Hollywood movies, opened instantly. Film Studio, which was originally based in Eastern Europe, can gain more advantages than other Film Studio, and the situation in Latin America is obviously the same. (To be continued.)