I’m in Hollywood Chapter 844: Control the future
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Easter has just passed. Due to being too busy, Eric did not return to New York to accompany the children for Easter, but promised that the women would rush back to Eath Hampton before April 10, and the two little guys will be four years old.
In a restaurant in the Firefly studio, on the new Monday, Eric and Katzenberg ate breakfast together to discuss the recent topics about the three animated movies in the summer.
"" The Lion King2 "is a film that was established simultaneously with Paramount's" Sound of the Desert "released last year. Although it has been three years, the influence of" The Lion King "is still in place. Roger · Allers spent three years carefully crafting this In a movie, the animation quality must not be inferior to first part. The only thing we can do is create obstacles for Paramount in publicity. "
Katzenberg introduced the latest situation, took a sip of juice, and continued: "I have talked with Mr. Murdoch a few times. During the next two months of publicity, all TV platforms including ABCTV Network and Disney Channel under Firefly have There will not be any trailer ads for "The Lion King2", the audience will only see the information of "Finding Nemo" and "Ice Age". The same is true for platforms such as Fox TV Network and Fox family channels on News Corp. We will also compete for NBC, The trailers of the two TV Networks of CBS. According to the publicity department, when these deployments are fully implemented, the publicity budget invested by Paramount can only achieve at most half of the usual effect. "
Commercial competition has never been warm-hearted. During the promotion of "Titanic" at the end of last year, MTVTV Station, a flagship young audience of Viacom, once refused to put up trailers for "Titanic" on the ground of tight advertising space. As the method of full distribution becomes more and more common, the importance of film promotion to Box Office becomes more and more obvious. This can be seen from the increasing proportion of the film promotion budget in the total investment cost.
This time, whether it is a counterattack to the behavior of Viacom a few months ago or out of competition, it is very necessary to completely block "The Lion King2" in the Firefly system.
The Viacom Group ’s highest-quality TV asset at this time is only one MTVTV Station. As for Nick ’s Children ’s Channel, which is in line with Disney Channel ’s positioning, the number of users is not an order of magnitude at all. Since the Internet has only just emerged in recent years, the current mainstream methods of film promotion are still TV trailers, paper media advertisements and posters posted in a large number of public advertising spaces. Among them, the role of TV trailers is undoubtedly the most important This is especially true for animated movies. After all, the proportion of young people in the audience of animated movies will not read newspaper or magazine.
The joint blockade of ABCTV Network and FOXTV Network will mean that "The Lion King2" will lose at least half of North America's TV advertising platform. Viacom's own TV resources are quite limited. It also has competition from Firefly and Fox to obtain advertising positions on external platforms such as CBS and NBC , Paramount Pictures must pay a higher price for the promotion of "The Lion King2", but the final marketing results will be far from "Finding Nemo" and "Looking for Nemo".
Eric has finished the breakfast in front of him, drinking a cup of hot milk slowly, listening to Katzenberg, and asking: "Have you considered, may Viacom provoke the" The Lion King2 "being blocked in the media?"
"Of course, the response method is very simple. Unless necessary, we will ignore it as much as possible. This can also avoid Paramount using this topic for hype. This matter has been discussed at the last week ’s meeting. If Viacom makes similar remarks in the media, no department of Firefly will make a public response. Moreover, we do not have any violations in this way. If someone raises a question, we can come up with enough evidence to prove that we TV Station has sold out all the advertising hours, "Katzenberg spreads his hands, showing a spoiled Totoro with a smile, and makes a very vivid analogy:" If there is no opponent to take the trick, a person who punches in the air. , Will only make people feel funny. "
Eric also laughed and said: "I guess after this incident, Redstone will definitely make up his mind to attack CBS or NBC again."
"General Electric will not sell NBC at all in recent years. As for CBS, according to its current market value, Viacom may want to buy more than 30billion USD now. In the case where public TV Network continues to be eroded by cable TV market share, let alone 30billion USD Even if the price is reduced by half, I do n’t think it ’s worth it. When we bought Metropolis / ABC, if we did n’t have shares in ESPN and AETV Network, it would definitely be worthwhile now. ”
Eric said: "But Redstone certainly wouldn't think so. His conception still stayed twenty years ago, the most prosperous period of public TV Network."
In my memory, the former Viacom spent 46billion USD heavily in order to annex CBSTV Network, but after this business was reached, CBS began to fall into a long loss due to the impact of the cable TV industry. Many years later, in order to avoid being dragged down by CBSTV Network to the overall performance of the group, Viacom had to separate CBS from its profitable cable TV business such as its MTV.
Redstone is a very enterprising person, there is no doubt about it. However, perhaps due to the limitations of the times, his vision has always been worse. Although Viacom has developed more and more in the tide of media group integration, it has been proven afterwards that whether it is the acquisition of the Blockbuster video chain or The merger and acquisition of CBSTV Network is an extremely failed business. After the new century, Viacom gradually reduced from a first-line media giant to a second-line media group.
Then the next two talked about the distribution of several other films in the summer season. At the end, Katzenberg hesitated and said: "Eric, about the recent digital music distribution rights, Barry · Weiss and I talked to me. Once, he felt very uneasy. I also think that you are too aggressive about the digital distribution strategy formulated by Firefly Records. "
Barry · Weiss was a senior official dug by Firefly from JIVE Music Company, a subsidiary of Sony Records, and currently serves as Firefly Records Chairman.
In the past two years, the backstreet boy team that Barry · Weiss personally built quickly became one of the first-line pop singers, and created the first album global with sales exceeding 20 million last year.
In addition to the pillars of Backstreet Boys, other singers under Firefly Records rely on Firefly Group's rich media resources, and their development is also quite stable. Christina, Britney, Justin, Timberlake and other former MMC members, after several years of training, have released the test water single one after another last year, and received good market feedback. Firefly Records has launched a plan to create an album for them.
Eric is therefore very satisfied with the successful work of Barry · Weiss in the past two years.
At this time, hearing Katzenberg's quotation, Eric didn't feel surprised, just said: "Jeffrey, you should have seen the digital distribution plan I gave to Firefly Records?"
Katzenberg nodded and said: "It feels very similar to the staged release of the movie. The three-month physical record release cycle, three months later, log in to the Yahoo music store for digital album release. Although the three-month window period is short It ’s a little bit, but it ’s acceptable. But then, six months after the album ’s release, it will be split into single and sold separately. Barry said that this is the biggest hit to record sales. ”
For many albums, unless they are **** fans, most people will only like one or two of the best songs.
In fact, this is also what Record Company deliberately did to save resources and maximize profits. Making a mediocre song is definitely easier than creating a classic music, and you can also spend less money and energy. If the record is split, it will directly lead to a large number of mediocre songs that no one cares about, which will definitely threaten Record Company to form a way of survival for many years.
"Jeffrey, don't mention the pros and cons of this solution for the time being," said Eric, and took out a Fireflyer that he often carried recently from his pocket. "You must know this player very well, so, Let ’s make a hypothesis. If this player is completely developed by your own company and you have no interest in the record industry, what would you do to promote this machine as much as possible? "
Katzenberg in recent days, also realized that Fireflyer has the possibility to replace the traditional portable music player market.
In the current portable music player market, the Walkman of Sony still dominates, with annual sales of about 15 million units. The sales figures of other CD players, MD Walkman and other devices are probably on this order of magnitude. In other words, the annual market capacity of portable music players is around 30 million. If you can fully occupy this market, according to the net profit rate of electronic devices usually around 15%, the net profit of Fireflyer priced at 299USD is about 45USD. One year's sales of 30 million will bring 1.35 billion USD's net profit, which is enough to squeeze into the top 100 of the global corporate profit list.
Katzenberg is also not a person with a particularly strong sense of morality. In the case of empathy, considering the horrifying business opportunities contained in this player, he will naturally choose the most favorable marketing method for himself at all costs. Even secretly deliberately condoning the spread of online pirated music, as for the life and death of Record Company, what does it have to do with him.
According to this line of thought, if he is asked to take charge of the Firefly electronics company now, then he will abandon the benefits of Firefly Records without hesitation. Although Firefly Records has developed well in recent years, the profits it provides to the group are Less than 100 million USD, even if it grows to the scale of the five major Record Company, it is still not enough to compare the profits that Fireflyer may create. After all, the output value of the music industry is far from comparable to movies, and none of the world's top five Record Companys can exceed 1billion in annual profit.
Working together for so long, Eric knows the character of Katzenberg very well. After seeing his brief thoughts, he just grinned and did not speak. Eric can roughly guess what he was thinking, and said: "This world There is no shortage of smart people. The MP3 audio format has been initially launched five years ago. During these five years, I can guess with certainty that traditional music equipment manufacturers must have thoughts similar to Fireflyer players. But In order to protect the huge vested interests of their existing player products and the peripheral industries such as CDs and tapes, they will definitely prevent such projects from Basic Instinct. But this result is not the worst, as I just assumed, If similar player products are produced by electronics manufacturers that have nothing to do with the record industry, in order to gain more benefits, they will definitely ignore the benefits of Record Company as much as possible, not to mention Record Company as hard as I do now. Pull in. They only need a sounding excuse, for example, our player can only copy music from genuine CDs, but After that, you can produce and promote this kind of product. As for where users get music, do you think they will care? "
"What about you," Katzenberg suddenly asked: "Eric, do you care?"
Eric smiled and relaxed on the back of the chair, saying honestly: "No, I don't care."
Katzenberg said: "Then why do you still have to do this?"
Eric thought about it and said, "Because I want to gain the initiative, or, more bluntly, I just want to be the rule maker. Rather than just pretending to be a rule maker, or even being eliminated. So , Jeffrey, if you pay more attention to the Yahoo network company, you should find that based on the MP3 audio format, Yahoo has been further developing the MP4 video format. The IT industry continues to develop in accordance with Moore ’s Law, and it will take less than ten years, Hollywood At this time, it will face a situation similar to the record industry. At that time, the easiest way to survive better was to become the rule maker instead of blaming others in vain or blindly resisting emerging technologies. "
Katzenberg has always admired his outstanding vision of the young Boss in the film and television industry and investment, but he also always felt that the Eric character lacks the desire for control that an upper-level person should have, and is even too gentle in many things. , Lack of aggressiveness.
But now, in this small restaurant in Firefly Studios, Katzenberg suddenly found that the pattern in Eric's mind is many times larger than him. Not only does he already own the present, he even plans to control the future.
Katzenberg even realized that maybe he was just a **** in Eric ’s ambitious layout for the future. After all, the **** could not see the entire board layout. It could only observe everything within its own established route area and think it was right. Point to the chess player at a certain time.
Will you be a pawn?
Katzenberg can't help asking, but the heart soon gave an answer, why not?
How many people in this world dare to say that they are not chess pieces? But there are too many people, maybe in a lifetime, there is no chance to connect with the chess player. Now, not only does he have such an opportunity, he can even consciously create a future with a chess player, which is much luckier than those who do not know what to do in a busy life.
"Eric, my relationship with Geffen is good. Perhaps, I can make a phone call and invite him to participate in the Fireflyer press conference of San Francisco on April 2, what do you think?"
David · Geffen ’s Record Company used to be a very important branch of the Warner Music Group. The music copyright owned by it is almost equivalent to Firefly Records. Katzenberg and David · Geffen have always been very good friends. When David · Geffen just left Time Warner, Katzenberg also suggested Eric to acquire David · Geffen's Record Company, but Eric did not agree.
Eric does not know what has changed in Katzenberg ’s state of mind in such a short period of time, but he is willing to take the initiative to match the way, and Eric will naturally not refuse.
"Of course, if he wants to, um, when the time comes, everyone can get together."
Breakfast has been eaten, and I have a few casual chats. Katzenberg will go to Burbank Headquarters to attend the weekly regular meeting. The two will be separated.
Eric's work schedule is also very busy today.
In the morning, I will check the sample of "Jurassic Park3" just after rough cut, and discuss the next post special effects work with Director Joe Johnston and the post team in the digital field. At noon, Jerry · Bruckheimer and Michael · Bei were invited to dinner together to discuss the "The Day After Tomorrow" project in the disaster film series. After all, this project can't be dragged on like this. Eric doesn't plan to guide it personally, and the company can't wait forever. It happens that after Michael · Bei has finished producing "Bad Boys2", he doesn't want to shoots "Bad Boys3", but wants to try the special effects theme, Jerry · Bruckheimer He proposed to hand over "The Day After Tomorrow" to Michael · Bei. In the afternoon, I will rush to the Fox studio to participate in the final round of audition of Dark Angel ****** Heroine. Eric has no interest in appreciating or even hunting beautiful women through auditions. What woman he wants now does not need at all. Such a complicated routine. But since he took the initiative to take over this errand, he also had to make a symbolic exposure.
Since the Box Office score of "Jurassic Park 2" is almost the same as first part, although the option contract was signed in advance, Joe Johnston still proposed to get more rewards in "Jurassic Park3", the two sides spent on negotiation It took three months to reach an agreement. The third part of script writing and team building was not as smooth as second part. Therefore, the planned two-year production cycle was extended to two and a half years. "Jurassic Park3" can only miss the summer file. , Was scheduled for the Christmas period at the end of the year.
"Jurassic Park3" was just killed on the eve of Oscar. Jerry · Bruckheimer is still the producer. The original appointment was at noon, but in order to understand the special effects production process, Michael · Bei came with Jerry · Bruckheimer Firefly Studios, listen to the discussion of the post-production plan of "Jurassic Park3". Everyone's success will not be a fluke. Eric is also very satisfied with Michael · Bei's attitude. After finishing the morning work, he has put down the hesitation and decided to hand over "The Day After Tomorrow" to him for production. Everyone was in the restaurant at noon. Very simply discuss the production plan of "The Day After Tomorrow" directly. (To be continued.)