I’m in Hollywood Chapter 790: Below expectations
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The framing countries of "Casino Royale" include the United Kingdom, Italy, Czech Republic, and Bahamas archipelago. The detailed shoots locations are more than sixty. This is also the place where the 007 series has always been generous.
Eric departed in early April, surveyed all shoots locations, and returned to Los Angeles on May 6th. The time was Monday, which happened to be the fifth week of "Seven".
After accumulating Box Office of 60.43 million USD in the four weeks of "Seven", it made another 7.12 million USD Box Office on the third day of the fifth week and weekend, which is still only a slight 17% drop compared to the previous week's Box Office. Next is the summer file. Although the filming of "Seven" will be squeezed by then, with the super high attention, the film's attendance will definitely rebound at that time, and there is no suspense when the total Box Office exceeds 100 million.
As for "First Level Fear", with its Box Office of 1.63 million USD on the third day of the fifth week and weekend, it will be completely painted from North America after next week.
Fear 1 is not a Paramount-focused movie, neither of which is a popular movie, so Firefly won so easily this time.
The next summer blockbuster confrontation, a company that wants to manipulate word of mouth Yu Lun is not so easy, you can only do the publicity work can be done, and then sit down and wait for the market response, even, this At this time, even word of mouth is not the most important. In some movies, the film critic word of mouth is super bad, but it can't stop the audience from buying tickets with enthusiasm.
"Titanic" is still slowly in the late stage and is expected to be completed by the end of July.
There are only two major movies of Firefly this summer, "The Matrix" released on May 31 and "The Rock" released on June 14. Because of the absence of "Titanic", the new line will insert the already completed "Final Destination" in the original "Titanic" schedule, and the schedule will be June 28.
"Casino Royale" is scheduled to be officially launched on June 2. However, Eric is unlikely to arrive on the same day. To match his schedule, the premiere of "The Matrix" was advanced to May 27. As for the premiere of "The Rock", Eric had to be absent.
Returning to Los Angeles, Eric has no time to rest due to jet lag, so I have to invest again in the preparation of the three jointly-operated FFM toll cable stations.
After several months of preliminary work, in addition to the original cable station in the hands of remote communications, the three have successively acquired several smaller toll cable stations from operators such as CABClevision, for a total of approximately 4million users.
Eric originally wanted to win Showtime in the hands of Viacom. This previous life scale and reputation is second only to HBO's paid cable TV Station. The current user scale is only about 500,000. Because the scale is still very small, this TV Station is in In the Viacom system, it is completely an optional business. However, after Katzenberg called to express interest in the acquisition, Summer · Redstone did not hesitate to choose to decline. Eric estimated that Redstone would definitely study privately why Firefly would be interested in Showtime, but this behavior is destined to just Useless, the only thing that Eric is interested in at this time is the hundreds of thousands of users in showtime.
Since Redstone refused to sell Showtime, Eric will focus on the TV Station that have got it.
According to the original historical trajectory, in addition to HBO, several other major media companies have missed the fat of the cable TV station. When Showtime, Starz and other cable TV stations started to catch up, the era of network streaming has already arrived. At that time, Fox, Disney and Comcast cooperated to establish a network streaming media platform HULU in order to fight against Time Warner's old toll cable station business and the emerging network streaming business. However, the three companies have different opinions on the development of HULU. There is no absolute controlling right of the platform, and eventually it breaks down. Even the management has to find another way to compete with him. It is even more impossible to compete with platforms such as HBO and Netflix.
HULU's cooperation is very similar to several FFMs currently under preparation.
In the preliminary plan, FFM ’s equity distribution is Firefly30%, News Corp30%, Metro Goldwyn Mayer20%, and the remaining 20% of the shares are dispersedly held by cable operators such as telecom and CABClevision, although Firefly and Metro Goldwyn Mayer jointly, 50% Eric has enough equity to fully control the company, but if you want to cooperate for a longer period of time, TV Station must agree on the development trajectory and profit model at the beginning of its establishment.
In terms of FFM development, Eric and Murdoch do not have much disagreement. Metro Goldwyn Mayer naturally stands on the side of Eric. Several other major operators also promise not to participate in the company ’s operations, so as long as Eric and Murdoch are negotiated, everything Can go on smoothly.
In order to avoid the respective management of the three companies from affecting the development of FFM, Eric and Murdoch unanimously decided to set up a brand new limited TV company to be responsible for the operation of FFM. The company's management is directly responsible to Eric, Murdoch and others Restrictions on the management of large groups.
With the content support of Firefly, News Corp and Metro Goldwyn Mayer, FFM wants to grow and develop, and there are not too many restrictions on the content. The main problem of FFM is the lack of foundation. There is no HBO brand that has been operating for more than 20 years. Therefore, if you want FFM to grow and develop as soon as possible, a manager who knows how to run a reputation with Xiaobo is essential. Eric The first time I thought of a certain Fatty.
Beverly Hills Manor is still the open-air restaurant that Eric has been to several times.
The time is in the afternoon, Eric and Murdoch alone occupy a terrace and talk about FFM. Murdoch lives in New York most of the time, and occasionally goes to London, this time only came to Los Angeles for FFM.
"HBO has been developing for 23 years from 1973 to the present, and has a very solid reputation among the audience. FFM wants to grow and develop in this brand-new market, the most critical issue is brand building, let The audience recognizes the FFM brand in the shortest time. In this respect, although we have more film resources than Time Warner, the audience cannot know this. The power of habit is very powerful, so we can only find another way. "
Eric said here, Murdoch sitting next to him said: "You mean, Reality Show like" America's Next Top Model "," Project Runway "?"
LifetimeTV Station became famous with these two files Reality TV Show, and has become a classic case in the industry.
Eric shook his head and said: "No, although everyone knows that Reality Show is not so real, but it eventually carries a word of" true ". The Reality Show of the pay cable station wants to attract the attention of the audience. The scale must be far beyond the basic Cable stations and public stations will touch social ethics and even legal tolerance limits with little attention. This is a minefield and we definitely should not touch it. "
"That's a homemade drama like" Sex and the City "," Murdoch immediately understood and shook his head slightly: "However, TV series can never be as well-produced as a movie, and the basic cable station is just over. I want to let The audience spends more money to watch the fee TV series, but it is not so easy. "
"So, we will use the standard for making movies to make TV series. In fact, Firefly originally had such a project. It was my idea after" Saving Private Ryan ". I originally planned to invest about 100 million USD to make a movie about World War II. Large mini-drama, unfortunately this project is not suitable for ABCTV Station, so it was stranded. "
Murdoch gently rubbed the coffee cup in his hand and leaned on the back of the chair, asking: "100 million USD, do you think we might recover the cost?"
"If this project is put on ABC, it will definitely not be able to recover the cost. Advertisers will absolutely not be able to pay far more than the advertising costs of other TV programs. After broadcasting on public channels, the income of Cindy plus video tapes will also be greatly reduced. However, it is not necessary after the broadcast on the pay cable station. First, we can get a subscription income. Secondly, as long as these mini-series can gain enough fame, we can fully recover the cost on the subsequent video tapes and Cindy plus distribution and Profitable. "
Murdoch showed a clear expression and said, "I understand, so you want Weinstein to run this TV Station, right?"
Eric nodded with a smile.
A home-made drama on a cable TV station wants to gain fame. In addition to the necessary word of mouth, other methods are also similar to those of a film produced by a single Film Studio. If you want to get high Box Office, you need to be similar to Xiaoboda. Marketing operations.
The biggest gimmick of HBO that once demonstrated its excellent production is the hundreds of Emmy nominations often mentioned by the media. As long as you have a good enough work, in terms of operating awards, there is no one who wants to exceed Weinstein Brothers in recent years. This year Oscar swept the Quartet under "Forrest Gump", Miramax still snatched two heavyweight performance awards for Best Heroine and Best Supporting Actor.
When the Eric people were still in Europe, they talked with Harvey · Weinstein on the phone a few times, and Weinstein was also very interested in taking over FFMTV Station.
Eric looked at his watch, and the appointed time came soon, so he waved his hands to the waiter and ordered a new pot of coffee.
The old **** of Murdoch was waiting for the waiter to leave. Suddenly, he changed the tone of the elders with a long heart and said, "Eric, will you be twenty-six years old?"
Eric's heart jumped, how can this kind of line seem familiar.
What ’s next?
Eric was thinking about how to interrupt the past, a fat figure appeared in time, avoiding possible embarrassing scenes. Eric has always been a bachelor, previous life is also in the case of parents being forced to marry at the festive season, coupled with the influence of traditional oriental ideas, this only chose to marry at the age of 30. In this life, Eric doesn't want to be **** anymore, not to mention that the situation around him is also a bit complicated, and it is simply not suitable for marriage.
"Good afternoon, Rupert, Eric, I hope I'm not late," Weinstein walked in front of the two and warmly embraced the two standing up.
"Of course not, but we arrived a little early," Eric released Weinstein and said that you came too soon.
Murdoch is also helpless. Although he can be cunning like a fox in the mall, but in front of his children, Murdoch ca n’t do the same as the Redstone, but he is like the traditional parents who love children, hoping that their children can grow up. Then start a family, but unfortunately, some children are not worrying about each other, the second daughter and the eldest son will not say anything about the breaking point, the younger son James some time ago and people racing, just happened to be caught by the police, but fortunately there was no accident .
Weinstein felt that Murdoch's expression was a little strange. He took the initiative to get up and took the coffee pot from the waitress, poured it for three people, and puzzled at Eric.
Eric can only ignore it, which can't be explained at all.
Fortunately, Murdoch did n’t feel sad for too long, and he actively said: "Harvey, how do you think about that?"
Weinstein quickly said: "Of course I really hope to take over FFM, but I still have some problems."
"Tell me?"
Weinstein organized the following thoughts and said: "If I come to manage FFM, I absolutely only need to be like you and Eric, um, is there still Metro Goldwyn Mayer responsible?"
Murdoch looked at Eric.
Eric replied: "Of course, FFM is completely independent. The management of the three companies has no jurisdiction over you, but I still hope that you can work together with them."
Weinstein received a personal promise from Eric, and rest assured that Miramax has developed very well in the past two years, but it is only a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox, and it is two levels away from the parent company News Corp. Weinstein also hopes to gain a greater platform and power in the media industry. With the importance of the three companies on FFMTV Station, he is sensitively aware that this will be a very good opportunity.
"Also, about salary ..."
Speaking of which, Weinstein rubbed his hands sternly, seeming a little embarrassed.
Eric will not be confused by the expression of Weinstein, and will tell each other a good plan to discuss with Murdoch, saying: "Me and Rupert hope you can sign a five-year contract, annual salary 250,000 USD, 1 million stock options every year."
Due to the outstanding performance of Miramax, the bonuses and dividends received by Weinstein each year over the past two years have exceeded 10 million. However, he did not think that the annual salary of 250,000 USD is too small, even if it is Katzenberg, the annual salary is only 750,000 USD. At Hollywood, everyone is actually only paying bonuses and dividends. That is the big head. As long as the company ’s performance is good, the annual Hollywood supervisor Nearly millions, and tens of millions.
Weinstein also knows that the focus of this salary is on the 1 million stock option, so he asks: "Eric, what is the total share capital of FFM?"
Eric thought for a while and said: "After the company's integration is completed, probably 400 million shares."
The so-called stock option means that the shareholders propose a lower selling price to the management, and the management can choose whether to purchase the corresponding number of shares of the company at this price within a certain period of time. If the company's performance and market value do not increase, or even decline, the management is definitely not willing to cash in options at a high price. But if the company's stock price doubles or even higher, when the management buys stocks at that time, it is equivalent to giving half price, which is actually a company reward mechanism.
Weinstein has also read some materials before. The current market value of FFM is about 1billion USD. The 5 million stock option is equivalent to 1.25% of the total share capital. It only takes more than 10 million USD to realize all the money. He can get the money himself. .
It's just that even if the market value of FFM doubles in five years, the income he gets from this option is only more than 10 million USD, which is far below his expected value. (To be continued.)