Exploiting Hollywood 1980

As a major shareholder of Coca-Cola, Buffy's phone call quickly attracted the attention of the top management. They called Ronald to express their gratitude. Coca-Cola, which has always wanted to make a breakthrough in doing business with the world's most populous country, specially sent people to the hotel where Ronald was staying in West Berlin for face-to-face consultation.

Coca-Cola has long coveted the huge market of more than one billion people. They thought Ronald had received some official information. They were disappointed to hear that it was just an advertising sponsorship for the PBS documentary "Will the Dragon Rise Again?"

However, making a gesture of goodwill is still beneficial without cost. When Ronald flew back to Los Angeles, he heard that not only was Coca-Cola's huge sponsorship (relative to the documentary) in place, but the news also attracted a large number of Fortune 500 companies to compete for goodwill.

In addition to Coca-Cola, Johnson \u0026 Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Allianz Insurance all took the initiative to sponsor this program.

For a while, the producer of Nova Company couldn't stop laughing. When did the budget for making documentaries become so rich? Helen called and said that they were planning to invite Helen to Xujiahui and the Great Wall to shoot a few scenes as the opening remarks of the documentary.

"Didn't I expect my influence to be so great?" Ronald thought happily. He didn't expect so many big companies to sponsor just because of a phone call...

"No, I'm not that famous in the business world, am I?" Ronald woke up after being happy. He asked Lawrence for the annual reports of these companies and took a look. He definitely didn't have such a big influence on companies with such market value.

"It must be Buffett's influence..." Ronald corrected his cognition. As a famous investor, Buffett's stock price rose slowly after he invested all his money in Coca-Cola. Many people on Wall Street also admired his vision. It must be Buffett's phone call that many people in the industry misunderstood his idea.

"Well, before I file my tax return this year, I will invest all the income I can move in Coca-Cola." Ronald thought that Buffett was so respected, and it must be right to follow him to buy...

"Well, some investment in Microsoft..." Ronald saw the Microsoft Word software used by accountant Lawrence at a glance and added another sentence.

Although he wrote his own scripts, it was more convenient to use Word Star, but Word software does not require any shortcut keys to be memorized, and it can be used right away. Many secretaries use it a lot.

Lawrence has long been accustomed to Ronald's investment style, so he doesn't say much. Ronald's income was very good last year. Although the sales of the soundtrack of Dirty Dancing have gradually come to an end. But the videotape is still very popular and there is no sign of unsalable.

Last year, two million videotapes were sold in America. Although it was slightly lower than the sales of 3.8 million last year, it still made it into the top ten in the domestic videotape sales and rental rankings.

As a movie released in 1987, such an achievement is really enviable for major studios. Usually, the sales of videotapes of a hit movie will fall into weakness in the second year. Such strong sales are not comparable to those of the seven major studios.

Just for this item, Ronald has a sales volume of 80 million US dollars, and this has not yet included the sales in Japan, Europe and other places. In addition to the sales of the soundtrack, Ronald can achieve sales revenue of over 100 million from the videotapes of this movie.

In addition to the various dividends and surpluses from the hit movies in the past two years, and the soundtrack of "Working Girls" funded by Carly Simon, it also entered the top 20 sales rankings in the United States. Not counting the dividends from his stocks, Ronald's annual income from the film and entertainment industry alone can already be compared with Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" series and Lucas's "Star Wars" series.

Thinking about the fact that there are no special effects in his filming of this movie, and he doesn't need to support an expensive special effects company like "Industrial Light and Magic", Ronald really had a money printing machine last year, and it was the kind that kept running.

Ronald's daydream is now only to invest in some low-cost movies, so with a lot of cash in hand, he still follows Buffy's footsteps and buys some stocks to share the fruits of economic development.

…

“Hey, Ronald, have you heard? That idiot Menahan Golan is going to invest in Spider-Man?”

That day, Ronald, who was resting at home, suddenly received a call from Cameron.

“What? You heard about it too? Hahahaha” Ronald laughed out loud. It seems that Menahan’s words to Hollywood have worked. Now several of the seven major companies have begun to invest in these two comic book adaptations and are really interested.

“I heard that you have something to do with this? I am very interested in taking over one of them, Spider-Man… Do you have any ideas?”

“Are you serious?” Ronald stood up from the sofa. What’s the matter? I just asked Menahan to do some tricks to trick Warner Bros. out of the basic copyright I want.

Who knew that good brother Cameron really wanted to make Spider-Man?

“Let me ask about this matter. I will contact you when I have specific information.” After thinking about it, Ronald stabilized Cameron first and went to Menahan to talk about the situation.

"Warner Bros. hasn't responded, Ronald. But Columbia, which had changed its owner before, and some other TV stations are interested..." Minahan received Ronald's call and hurried to his house for coffee.

"This coffee is really good..." Minahan took the coffee made by Diane and drank it very vigorously.

"What do they think?" Ronald frowned slightly. He didn't really want to make a movie based on a comic book. This kind of movie involves huge investments and huge risks. It sounds like I made a lot of money last year, but in reality it was just about the same as making a big investment like a movie.

"Hey, Robert Daley of Warner Bros. is an old man. He always wants to spend a small amount of money to do big things. He wants to buy the movie rights directly from me.

Minahan Golan said the direct reason is that Daley, an invisible Jew, is actually still using the TV station’s business methods to run the film industry. If you can afford not to spend money, you will definitely not spend it; if you can spend less, you will definitely not spend more.

"How can you still pick at me?" Ronald glanced at Minahan. He performed very well today and did not spit in front of Diane at home.

"Now there is an opportunity. There is a very suitable director who really wants to shoot the script in your hand. What do you think?" Ronald released the news first to see Minahan's reaction.

"Quack, quack, is it true? Am I going to turn over?" Minahan let out a vulgar laugh, drank the coffee in one gulp, and began to express his thoughts while dancing.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ronald's smile. Minahan felt a sudden thought and immediately put down his cup, "In this way, Warner Bros. will definitely alleviate its doubts about our script. As long as we put a little more emphasis on If there is news that other large studios are interested, they will definitely increase their offer, so that our real purpose can be achieved. "

"Very good, but I'm not unreasonable. As long as we can get Warner Bros. to let go, if this movie can be approved, if you are willing to cooperate with them, I will facilitate it instead of obstructing it."

Ronald knew that Minahan had a dream in his heart to make a blockbuster movie, and Cameron also had a dream in his heart to make Spider-Man. If Cameron's expressed interest really leads to the script he wants being sold, he doesn't mind if someone else realizes their dream.

"Quack, can you tell me who is interested?" Minahan is very clear about his role as a tool. If Ronald were not behind him, he would probably have the right to adapt these two comics. Can't keep it. However, I heard that a director is interested and can also get the interest of Qida. I feel itchy in my heart. Could it be Spielberg?

"What's the inconvenience? It's Jim Cameron."

"It's him? Okay!" Minahan started dancing. He liked the style of finding light in the darkness in Cameron's movies. If he could hire such a person, he might really succeed.

"He has been a fan of Spider-Man since he was a child..."

"Gah...uh..." Minahan, who had been smiling happily just now, suddenly choked.

"You mean Spider-Man? I thought it was the Fantastic Four."

"The Fantastic Four? Are Warner Bros. interested in the Fantastic Four?" Ronald was also surprised, "Why? Superman and Batman have proven that comic book adaptations require characters with the best comic fan base. ?”

"Hey, Warner Bros., I think the Fantastic Four are also very popular... uh, uh... you know, there is only one Spider-Man, and there are four Fantastic Four..."

Minahan Golan stretched out four chubby fingers, waved them in front of Ronald, and then replaced them with one finger.

"What's the point?" Ronald didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Movies are not toy manufacturing, how can they still count heads?

Besides, aren’t the various villains in Spider-Man more interesting than the Fantastic Four? Moreover, the format of the movie, with four protagonists, actually weakens the plot and character portrayal of the movie...

"Hey, they are completely judging by the TV series now. Robert Daly doesn't read comics anyway..." Minahan retracted his chubby fingers. He has dealt with Warner Bros. more and expressed his feelings. Said it again.

Although they filmed the first few Superman films, a lot of money was taken away by the Mexican independent producers Salkind and his son, who held the rights to adapt and film the films. After Daly took office, the filming of Superman sequels was limited.

He also gave the script of Superman III to Richard Pryor, a popular black comedy star at the time, and asked him to take the lead in the filming of the third installment. The whole movie was neither fish nor fowl, comedy didn't look like comedy, science fiction didn't look like science fiction, and it caused a lot of scolding from the audience.

Later, I felt that the potential of this series had been drained, so Minahan Golan took advantage of it and persuaded Christopher Reeve to star in the fourth film (of course, he failed even more badly).

The production method of TV series is actually very different from that of movies. Comparatively speaking, characters are more important in TV series. Many viewers watch TV series just to watch the important characters, and the plot is secondary.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Warner Bros. is more focused on the "Fantastic Four" with four main characters, and it is not Minahan's nonsense.

Rather than buying the rights to "Fantastic Four" from Minahan, or using "other people's money" in exchange for "Forrest Gump", Warner Bros. is more willing to wait for Minahan's adaptation rights to expire. , and then re-purchase it from Marvel at a very low price (two to three hundred thousand US dollars)... Marvel, which is now in financial difficulties, may have more favorable terms for adaptation.

"That's it...then, let's use Spider-Man to stimulate Warner Bros."

Ronald found the daydream man, learned about the situation with Richard, and confirmed Minahan's statement.

After that, he immediately contacted Columbia Pictures to get support from them.

"Sorry, Ronald, Colombia has its own troubles to deal with now, and we can't initiate such a big project for the time being..."

Ronald approached the new president, Frank Price, but was politely rejected by the latter.

It turns out that Colombia now has its own problems. New CEO Peter Guber and his good friend, Jon Peters, had previously signed a distribution deal with Warner Bros. to underwrite their studio's films.

Now after Sony acquired Columbia, it spent a large sum of money to buy out their production companies, and then all the works of the previous Gubel-Peters Production Company were also placed under the new Columbia Pictures.

In this way, in fact, the two of them breached the contract with Warner Bros. This made Warner Bros. executives furious. After Guber became CEO of Columbia Pictures, he launched a lawsuit against Sony, seeking one billion US dollars in compensation.

Of course, Sony was not a small player like Ronald, and immediately filed a countersuit, suing Warner Bros. for infringement proceedings against its CEO and vice president.

Now within Sony Columbia Pictures, many film projects have been suspended due to this incident.

"Is that so? Are you disgusted enough by Warner Brothers? Do you want to think of some way to disgust them?" Another idea popped up in Ronald's mind.

In fact, if this kind of prosecution occurred in two companies controlled by American Capital, it would not be a problem at all, let alone an issue between Jews.

It was because of the Japanese companies that the reputation was so bad in America that Warner Brothers made a big deal about it and wanted to take advantage of it privately.

Japanese people love saving face, and no matter what the actual outcome of this lawsuit is, they will feel that they have been insulted by their Hollywood counterparts.

That's why they were so rude and had to launch a countersuit. They couldn't let their reputation as the first company to acquire a Hollywood company be shattered by a bizarre lawsuit.

Lawyers for both parties are trying their best to reach an out-of-court settlement. If such a case goes to court and lifts the lid on a large number of scandals within Hollywood, neither party is willing to see it.

At this time, if it can slightly win over Warner Bros. in the competition, I'm afraid Sony will be willing to do it no matter what.

However, doing so would be very humiliating to current CEO Gubel. The big turmoil he caused caused Frank Price, another faction in the company, to regain his face. He was definitely not willing to do so.

In this way, the matter was submitted to Dahe's office. In the midst of his busy schedule, Dahe called Ronald.

"Ronald Sang, as long as it is within the scope of the company's rules, you and Plesan can do whatever they want, and I will support you. But don't break the rules and let Chairman Morita pick out..."

Guber was found by Akio Morita "in a flash of inspiration", while Price was recommended to Dahe by Ronald. There are actually many interest groups within Japanese companies like Sony, which are solving and operating in effective ways that American executives don't understand.

"It's within the rules... that means don't make trouble with them?" Frank Price didn't quite understand the Japanese way of thinking, so he wanted to ask Ronald for advice.

"Gubel and Peters have the power to greenlight the project. According to the regulations, do you have any power?" Ronald asked.

"I can buy a script with one item and pay it in advance, I understand..." Price finally understood the implication of Da He.

One day later, Minahan got the good news and immediately called Ronald and asked to advance Spider-Man immediately. After all, there was not much time left for the adaptation rights to expire.

"Quack, Ronald, we have received an advance payment from Columbia to purchase the distribution rights of Spider-Man's video tape, and an advance payment from Viacom for the TV broadcast rights. Can we extend an invitation to Director Cameron?"

"Okay, you send a formal invitation to Jim right away, and I'll call him right away. Wait, what did you say about Viacom buying the TV broadcast rights?" Just as he was about to hang up, he found Minahan Also mentioned the name of another company.