Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Barbara has very high expectations for her sons. Her eldest son, George Jr., and his second son, Jeb, performed well in last year's general election, which gave Barbara hope of continuing her political family.

However, among the two sons, he still prefers the younger son Jeb.In George Sr.'s cabinet, little Jeb appeared much more frequently than his older brother.

Therefore, after having a long talk with his father, little George took the initiative to change his position. He spent most of his time in Texas, busy being the manager of the Rangers, mediating conflicts among the players, communicating with the audience on the spot, and doing The easiest thing to do to increase your visibility.

The governor of Texas is about to face a general election, and George is eager to resign from the team and try to run for public office for the first time.

So it would be inconvenient for him to do anything as Rangers manager during this period.In order to avoid being attacked by competitors during the election.

Soon, little George helped pull the strings, and Dahe once again flew to the Congressional Golf Course near DC to meet with key figures.

Detailed discussions yielded mixed results.The "Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee" and the "House Financial Services Committee" that Dahe had met before raised no objections.

But the media began to hype up the impact of the acquisition of a major Hollywood film studio by a Japanese company on the American cultural industry.That gave two other committees, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, reason to step in.

Members of the two committees began to leak to the media to follow up and evaluate the impact of the acquisition on American culture and whether there is a subtle cultural invasion by foreign entities against the American people.

Dahe started to get busy again, mobilizing various resources to respond to this.And Akio Morita has the aura of a prophet within Sony, and what he said before has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In fact, it is very clear that these American congressmen make a living by making troubles.Originally, these two committees were originally established to review science and energy matters, but Akio Morita's words gave them a reason to intervene in the cultural industry. After all, this is also a commercial merger and acquisition, and theoretically they can have jurisdiction.

Just when Dahe was uneasy and Morita Akio was elated, an unexpected person called Ronald...

"Senator Inoue?" Ronald did not expect that the caller was the Japanese senator Danny Inoue from Hawaii.

"Ronald, long time no see." Danny Inoue, the one-armed war hero, has a very good relationship with George Sr., and is the senator who has the best relationship with the commander-in-chief.

He is a Japanese Hawaiian who was imprisoned in a concentration camp during World War II. He later joined the 442nd Infantry Regiment, fought in Europe, and lost an arm.

"I watched the third Dragon King movie, and it was not as good as the first two. It was not directed by you, and the quality dropped a lot." Danny Inoue helped a lot with the filming of the first Dragon King film, and he and Ronald They are also old acquaintances.

"Hey, sequels are always difficult to make, Senator Inoue." Ronald replied with a smile.

"Listen, I'm going back to Hawaii soon. You can ask your Japanese friends to come over."

"Huh? Oh, okay."

This choice was beyond Ronald's expectation.Hawaii has two Japanese-American senators. One is Danny Inoue. He has a very tough attitude towards Japan and often makes speeches in support of trade measures against Japan.He is a Japanese who deeply agrees with America's philosophy.

On the other hand, another Japanese-American Hawaii state senator, Masayuki Matsunaga, in turn, supported Sony's acquisition of Colombia.After the Wall Street Journal announced the acquisition, he issued a statement saying he was "pleased" with the merger of two of the world's leading entertainment companies.

Matsunaga also said the deal would "create a new global entertainment giant" that can "compete effectively in the world market."And the acquisition is also beneficial for Hawaii because it will lead to increased investment in the state's film industry.He said Sony planned to build a new studio in Hawaii, which would create jobs and boost the local economy.

Therefore, Hollywood and Washington generally believe that if Sony has any die-hard supporter in politics, it must be the senator who has been calling on the government to compensate Japanese nationals who were sent to concentration camps during World War II for decades.

"Hey, just send the message. I'm too busy in Washington, and Tokyo is too far away..." Danny Inoue hung up the phone.

This is probably how Japanese Americans survive in America.Whether it is Inoue who opposes the Japanese, or Matsui who wants to seek justice for the Japanese in World War II, first of all, they must stand firm as Americans.

No matter what they really think about Japan in their hearts.

Sure enough, two days later, Norio Ohga returned from Hawaii, stayed in Los Angeles for one night, and talked to Ronald about his communication with Senator Inoue.

"Hey, we know too little about Senator Inoue. It turns out that he was angry with the political boss Kishi Nobu many years ago..."

At the earliest, America had intended to send Senator Inoue, a Japanese-American, back to Japan to serve as ambassador to Japan.When Nobu Kishi met him for the first time at that time, he said unceremoniously that in Japan before the war, only those with ability could gain a foothold in the country, and only those without ability could go abroad.

Kishi Nobu from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry was very dissatisfied with America's attempt to dismantle Japan's heavy industrial capabilities through Takeshita from the Ministry of Finance.

After they gained power, they had no good feelings toward Americans like Inoue, who had yellow skin and white hearts.

But politicians and international politics are complex.Senator Inoue may not be proud of the rise of Japan's industrial capabilities.He is also very close to Sony, which is based on the international market and can become a world-class enterprise.

It happened that Senator Matsui, who was ambiguous on the Japan issue, was not in a position to pass a message to Sony. Inoue, as a die-hard anti-Japanist, took the opportunity to return to the constituency to handle affairs and finally conveyed the attitude of some upper-level people in America.

Sony is very sensible in doing things. Because the company and its owners do not have American citizenship, they will transfer the main equity of the sensitive TV business.And it was declared early that Colombia was still run by Americans.

It just so happens that America's top management also feels that Hollywood's financial situation is very problematic. If someone injects capital, it is still welcome, as long as it abides by America's laws and rules.

"Ronald San, this time I went to Hawaii and had a phone call with Chairman Akio Morita. This time he lost face and promised not to directly intervene in the affairs of Columbia after the acquisition. But Japanese people still respect their predecessors, CEO The candidate, is it just..."

"This is Sony's internal matter, just handle it."

Ronald understood Dahe’s purpose of staying in Los Angeles for one night to meet him.Anyway, he has no ambition to deeply influence Sony Columbia, so he will not fight for the interests of Price, who has no special relationship.

After all, Akio Morita is still the chairman of Sony. He does not care about daily affairs, but he still has personnel rights.He is different from ordinary chairman. With Akio Morita's office, his control over Sony's board members is much greater than that of ordinary chairman of a multinational company.

Norio Ohga has an emperor above him, and the appointments of people in the business department have to be guided.It seems that he is not easy to do as CEO. "Mr. Frank Price, I will give him a suitable seat."

Sure enough, a few days later, Frank Price received an invitation from Sony to serve as president of Sony Columbia after the merger.

This position does not have as much daily power as the CEO, but it is a key position responsible for film production.Just perfect for Frank Price's abilities and character.

Frank Price's own Price Pictures will be acquired by New Columbia after the merger.Anyway, his production company didn't produce or distribute any famous movies. The distribution contract with TriStar Pictures, which was merged with Columbia, happened to be bought out together. Frank Price could also get a very good cash buyout fee. , which is equivalent to compensating him.

Price is very happy about this, which is much more generous than the previous two owners, Universal and Columbia.He also called Ronald specifically to express his gratitude and pat his chest on the back. Ronald's movies will get green light from Sony...

The news of this personnel appointment was announced together with Sony's interest in Peter Guber.Similarly, Guber and Peters' company will be acquired by Sony and merged into Columbia Pictures.

Guber-Peters Films, which has several film distribution deals with Warner Bros., will also be bought out.Together with Frank Price, they were responsible for about one-third of the top ten box-office films of the first half of the 80s.

For a time, it caused a shock in the Hollywood industry.The salaries earned by the three of them are far above the industry average.And it seems that they have more power than ordinary CEOs and presidents.

Are the Japanese people serious?If you say you won't interfere, you won't interfere. You really let the white people in America take care of the business of New Columbia.You know, the Columbia Records they previously acquired had Japanese executives flown in.

Among the envy and envy of studio executives, the one who regrets it the most is Twentieth Century Fox's Tom Sherak.

He believed Ovitz's estimate of Sony, but he didn't expect that the candidate recommended by Ronald would also occupy an important position. Gubel's partner, Peters, a hairstylist, could only settle for the position of vice president.

"If I lick Ronald more, can I get a chance to interview myself?"

When Tom Sherak was thinking about his strategy, Ovitz happened to call.

"Tom, when can you arrange a meeting with Mr. Barry Diller and Mr. Rupert? It's time to further deepen our cooperation agreement."

"Speaking of the devil, here comes the devil..." Tom Sherak complained in his heart, and then said to the receiver, "Mr. Rupert is in London now, and he has some TV business to deal with there. Some things We can postpone it until later.”

"Push it back, until when? Can I meet Mr. Barry Diller first?" Ovitz was anxious.There is not much information about him recently, and some people in the Hollywood circle have begun to alienate him.

Ovitz wants to reach an upgraded cooperation agreement with 20th Century Fox to deepen cooperation between the two parties.He hopes that in the future, all major commercial films produced by 20th Century Fox will be organized by CAA, and directors, screenwriters and stars contracted by CAA will be used to participate in the filming.

Since Hollywood's labor unions explicitly prohibit such an agreement, this can only be done in the form of a gentleman's agreement, with the real talkers from Ovitz and 20th Century Fox finalizing it.

Who knew that Tom Sherak, the specific manager, actually started to take Joe, and he was suspected of deliberately delaying it.

"Tom, we have known each other for a long time, do you have any ideas?"

"It's not me. Hollywood is now talking about that Wall Street Journal article, where the profitability of your organization's packaged projects is declining."

"Hey, that's just some flies attacking me. In this business, information is the most important asset. Who is as well-informed about actors and directors as I am? My guesses about Sony Columbia's personnel appointments are very accurate... …”

It was okay not to mention it, but when the Colombian incident was mentioned, Tom Sherak became angry and said, "I will tell Mr. Diller, just wait for my notification."

"Beep beep..." Ovitz held the receiver and heard the busy tone inside. He was a little confused for a moment... What happened to Tom?
……

"Ronald, I heard them say that you would come to the scene every day to watch the filming of Die Hard 2. Sure enough, with you here, everything goes smoothly. The current filming progress..." Tom Sherak made up for it and went to The window of time when Ronald came to the studio to catch him.

"Tom, I'm hoping to make up for the lag. You see, Joel (Silver) is the most important producer, and he has to be here for more than ten hours every day.

I hope that our current expenditure on shooting costs can satisfy you..."

Ronald had a businesslike attitude.

"Ronald, Ronald, please don't say that, the budget for Die Hard 2 will be taken care of, and there will never be any inappropriate reporting in the media. This movie has you and Bruce Willi." Si, and some of the original cast, it will definitely be a success..."

Tom Sherak was anxious to say good things. Don't let this guy take Ronald's attitude to heart.Who knew you had such a strong relationship with Sony?I was wrong. Isn’t it okay that I was wrong?
It just so happened that Bonnie Bedelia's scene was filmed there.Her appearance in this sequel is not as much as in the first one. There are many scenes inside the airplane, which were distributed at different shooting times.With this arrangement, her subsidy can be legitimately increased.Female stars are always paid much less than male stars.

"Bonnie, well done, your performance is wonderful. A small part of the audience went to the theater to watch the sequel because of you..." Tom Sherak began to say good things.

"Well, that's not the case. The audience is here to watch Bruce..." Bonnie Bedelia was not so unclear about her status.

"Hey, you can't say that, Bonnie. I participated in the publicity work of the first movie, and I know that many male fans like you." Tom Sherak didn't want to lose points with Ronald again. Well, praise his people.

"Ahem, Bonnie has a nephew at home who wants to audition for a Fox movie, but he..."

"Oh? Your nephew, that's the acting family? What's his name? I'll call him personally to arrange it."

"Well, his name is Macaulay, Macaulay Culkin, which is my maiden name..." Although Bonnie didn't know why Tom Sherak suddenly denied her, but all kinds of weird things can happen in Hollywood, she quickly put her nephew He took out his photo and resume from the dressing room and handed them to Tom Sherak.

"Okay, you guys get busy first..." Tom Sherak felt that a major crisis was just around the corner, and he quickly wanted to get this kid's audition done.

When he returned to the office, he called his subordinate producer, "What about the boy starring in Home Alone? It's decided, who has been chosen? I don't care, stop it now..."