Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Barbara has high expectations for her sons. Her eldest son, George, and second son, Jeb, performed well in last year's presidential election, which gave Barbara hope to continue the political family.

However, of the two sons, she still prefers the younger son, Jeb. In George's cabinet, Jeb appears much more frequently than his brother.

Therefore, after a long talk with his father, George took the initiative to change his position. He spent most of his time in Texas, busy as the manager of the Rangers, mediating the conflicts between the players, communicating with the audience on the spot, and doing the things that are most likely to increase his popularity.

Soon, the governor of Texas is facing a re-election, and George began to be eager to resign from the team and try to run for public office for the first time.

So during this period, it is not convenient for him to do anything as the manager of the Rangers. In order to avoid being attacked by competitors during the election.

Soon, George helped to pull the strings, and Da He once again flew to the Capitol Golf Course near DC to meet the key figures.

After a detailed discussion, the results were mixed. The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, which Ohga had met before, did not raise any objections.

However, the media began to hype the impact of a Japanese company's acquisition of a major Hollywood film studio on the American cultural industry. This gave the other two committees, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a reason to intervene.

Members of the two committees began to leak to the media that they would follow up and evaluate the impact of the acquisition on American culture and whether there were foreign entities that would subtly invade the American people.

Ohga became busy again, mobilizing various resources to respond to this. And Akio Morita has some of 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 trouble. Originally, these two committees were established to review scientific 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 Ohga was worried and Morita Akio was elated, an unexpected person called Ronald...

"Senator Inoue?" Ronald didn't expect that the person who called was Danny Inoue, a Japanese-American senator from Hawaii.

"Ronald, long time no see." Danny Inoue, a one-armed war hero, had a very good relationship with George Sr. and was the senator with the best relationship with the President.

He was a Japanese-Hawaiian who was imprisoned in a concentration camp during World War II. Later, he joined the 442nd Infantry Regiment and fought in Europe, losing an arm.

"I watched the third film of The Karate Kid, and it's not as good as the first two. It wasn't directed by you, so the quality has dropped a lot." Danny Inoue helped a lot with the filming of the first film of The Karate Kid, and he was also an old acquaintance of Ronald.

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

"Listen, I'm going back to Hawaii soon, can you ask your Japanese friend to come?"

"Ah? Oh, okay."

This person was really beyond Ronald's expectations. There are two Japanese senators in Hawaii. One is Danny Inouye, who has a very tough attitude towards Japan and often speaks out in support of trade measures against Japan. He is a Japanese who fully agrees with the American concept.

Another Japanese Hawaiian state senator, Masayuki Matsunaga, on the other hand, supports Sony's acquisition of Columbia. After the Wall Street Journal announced the acquisition, he issued a statement saying that he was "happy" about the merger of the two world-leading entertainment companies.

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

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

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

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

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

Sure enough, two days later, Norio Ohga came back from Hawaii and stayed in Los Angeles for one night. He 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 bigwig Kishi Nobuyuki many years ago..."

At first, America had intended to send Japanese-American Senator Inoue back to Japan as ambassador to Japan. When Kishi Nobuyuki met him for the first time, he said bluntly that in pre-war Japan, only capable people could gain a foothold in the country, and those without ability went abroad.

Nobu Kishi, who was from the MITI faction, was very dissatisfied with America's attempt to dismantle Japan's heavy industrial capacity through Takeshita, who was from the MF faction.

After they came to power, they had no good face for Americans like Inoue who were yellow-skinned but white-hearted.

However, politicians and international politics are complicated. Senator Inoue may not be proud of the rise of Japan's industrial capacity. He was also very willing to get close to Sony, which was based on the international market and could become a world-class company.

Senator Matsui, who happened to be ambiguous about the issue of Japan, was not convenient to pass on the message for Sony. As a die-hard anti-Japanese faction, Inoue took the opportunity to return to his constituency to handle affairs and finally conveyed the attitude of some American upper-class people.

Sony was still very sensible in doing things. Because the company and its owners did not have American nationality, they would transfer the main equity of the sensitive TV business. And they made a statement early on that Columbia would still be managed by Americans.

It just so happened that the top management of America also felt that Hollywood's financial situation was a problem. If someone invested, they would still welcome it, as long as they could abide by American laws and rules.

"Ronald-san, when I went to Hawaii this time, I also talked to Chairman Akio Morita on the phone. This time he lost face and promised not to directly intervene in the affairs of Columbia after the acquisition. But the Japanese still respect their predecessors. Is the selection of CEO just..."

"This is Sony's internal affairs, you can handle it."

Ronald understood why Ohga stayed in Los Angeles for one night to meet him. Anyway, he had no ambition to deeply influence Sony and Columbia, so he would not fight for the interests of Price, who had no special relationship.

After all, Akio Morita was still the chairman of Sony. He didn't care about daily affairs, but he still had the power of personnel. He was different from ordinary chairmen. With Akio Morita's office, his control over Sony's board members was far greater than that of ordinary multinational company chairmen.

Ohga Norio had an emperor above him, and the appointment of personnel in the business department had to be guided. It seemed that he was not easy to be the CEO.

"I will give Mr. Frank Price a suitable position."

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

The daily power of this position is not as great as that of the CEO, but it is a key position responsible for film production. It is just right for Frank Price's ability and personality.

Frank Price's own Price Pictures will be acquired by the new Columbia after the merger. Anyway, his production company has not produced and distributed any famous movies, and the distribution contract with TriStar Pictures, which has been merged into Columbia, can be bought out together. Frank Price can also get a very good cash buyout fee, which is equivalent to compensation for him.

Price was very happy about this, which was much more generous than the previous two owners, Universal and Columbia. He also called Ronald to express his gratitude and patted his chest that Ronald's movies would be green-lit at Sony in the future...

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

Gubel-Peters Pictures, which still has several film distribution contracts with Warner Bros., will also be bought out. This partner, along with Frank Price, contributed about one-third of the top ten box office films each year in the first half of the 1980s (referring to the executive producer's name on the end credits of the film).

For a time, it caused a stir in the Hollywood industry. The salaries of the three of them were far above the industry average. And it seems that their power is greater than that of ordinary CEOs and presidents.

Are the Japanese serious about this? They said they would not interfere, and they really let the white people from America manage the business of New Columbia. You know, they had Japanese executives parachuted in from Columbia Records, which they had previously acquired.

Among the envy and jealousy of the executives of this studio, Tom Sherak of 20th Century Fox was the one who regretted the most.

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, who was a hairstylist, could only be ranked as vice president.

"If I lick Ronald a little more, can I also get an interview opportunity?"

When Tom Sherak was thinking about the strategy, Ovitz called.

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

"Speaking of the devil, the devil is here..." 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 can be postponed."

"Postpone, when? Can I meet Mr. Barry Diller first?" Ovitz was anxious. Recently, his news was inaccurate, and some people in the Hollywood circle began to gradually alienate him.

Ovitz wanted to reach an upgraded cooperation agreement with 20th Century Fox to deepen the cooperation between the two sides. He expected that in the future, all major commercial films shot by 20th Century Fox would be handed over to CAA to organize, and use directors, screenwriters and stars signed by CAA to participate in the shooting.

Since the Hollywood union explicitly prohibits such agreements, this can only be done in the form of a gentleman's agreement, which must be finalized by Ovitz and the real decision-makers of 20th Century Fox.

Who knew that Tom Sherak, the specific person in charge, actually started to take advantage of Joe, and there was suspicion of deliberately dragging it out.

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

"Not me, now Hollywood is talking about the Wall Street Journal article, the profitability of the packaged projects you organized is declining."

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

It would have been better if he didn't mention it. When he mentioned Columbia, Tom Sherak was very angry, "I will tell Mr. Diller, you wait for my notification."

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

…

"Ronald, I heard from them that you 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 tried to make up for the delay and went to the studio to catch Ronald's time window.

"Tom, I hope to make up for the delay in progress. You see, Joel (Silver) is the most important producer choice. He has to stay here for more than ten hours every day.

I hope you will be satisfied with our current expenditure on filming costs..."

Ronald has a businesslike attitude.

"Ronald, Ronald, please don't say that. We will handle the budget of Die Hard 2. There will never be any inappropriate reports in the media. This movie has you and Bruce Willis, as well as some of the original cast, and it will definitely be a success..."

Tom Sherak said nice things anxiously. This guy, Ronald's attitude, don't let him think about it. Who knew that your relationship with Sony was so close? I was wrong, is it okay if I was wrong?

Coincidentally, Bonnie Bedelia's scenes were filmed there. She didn't appear as much in this sequel as in the first one, and there were many scenes inside the plane, all distributed in different shooting times. This arrangement allowed her subsidy to be increased a lot. The pay of female stars is always much less than that of male stars.

"Bonnie, well done, your performance is wonderful. A small half of the audience went to the cinema to watch the sequel for you..." Tom Sherak began to speak well of him.

"Well, that's not the case. The audience came to see Bruce..." Bonnie Bedelia was not so unclear about her position.

"Hey, you can't say that, Bonnie. I participated in the promotion of the first film, and I know that many male fans like you." Tom Sherak didn't want to lose points with Ronald again, so he praised him.

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

"Oh? Your nephew, that's an acting family? What's his name? I'll call and arrange it myself."

"Um, his name is Macaulay, Macaulay Culkin, which is my maiden name..." Although Bonnie didn't know why Tom Sherak suddenly denied her, anything strange could happen in Hollywood, so she quickly took out her nephew's photo and resume from the dressing room and handed them to Tom Sherak.

"Well, you guys get busy first..." Tom Sherak felt that a major crisis was imminent, and he had to quickly get the kid's audition done.

He returned to the office and called his subordinate producer, "What? It's decided, who's the star of the boy in Home Alone? I don't care, stop it now..."