Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Ronald, you have always been very kind to me. I got the most coveted job at Daydream. But this is an offer from Paramount. I don't want to do anything behind my back, so I have to be honest. , I want to try it, I hope you can understand.”

Michelle Cannold, the distribution director who has been working for Ronald since "Dirty Dancing", approached Ronald that day and confessed that he had been contacted by a headhunter and would ask him to interview for a new job at Paramount Pictures. position of president.

As a typical white man who has never been immersed in the office politics of a major studio, he has been daydreaming about development since his debut in video distribution. He was quite honest with Ronald.

Michelle Cannold admits that he is very satisfied with the platform that Daydreaming has given him, but the temptation of big studios is difficult to resist for everyone working in Hollywood.

"Oh, Michelle, a big studio may not be suitable for you. In Daydream, as long as you do your job well, there will be no problems, but that is not the case in a big studio. There is no boss watching, everything is look

Ronald was also surprised by this sudden poaching. This time, Martin Davis, the president of Paramount's parent company Gulf \u0026 Western (the same name as the original boss of 20th Century Fox), suddenly personally intervened in Paramount's personnel affairs.

Ever since Michael Eisner was pushed out of Paramount and failed to take over, Paramount has been in a situation where the heroes are competing for hegemony. Everyone at the vice president level feels that they can rise to the top and replicate Eisner's path.

But there was no one who had Eisner's skills and his ability to recognize people and do their jobs well. Paramount has been deteriorating in recent years, and its output of good works has fallen into a mess compared to the years when Eisner was in power.

To make matters worse, during Michael Eisner's time at Paramount, he had many visionary and capable independent producers who contributed to more than half of the films that were blockbuster and award-winning.

For example, the two producers of "Top Gun" that Ronald once directed, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, were also driven away by these infighting people.

Their previous project "Days of Thunder", which they collaborated with Tom Cruise on, failed to recoup its costs in the domestic market due to mediocre box office, and could only wait for the slow recovery of its profits from overseas box office and video revenue. It was eliminated due to internal strife. .

These two were not people to sit still and immediately went to Disney to find their old partner Eisner. Eisner did not hesitate, and immediately signed a three-movie distribution contract with them, suddenly making the strife within Paramount an open secret.

After some operations, the stock price of Gulf \u0026 Western Company, the parent company of Paramount Pictures, fell in response, from a peak of nearly fifty US dollars to less than forty US dollars. Disney, on the other hand, rose from 25 to 32 per share thanks to the huge sales of "Beauty and the Beast."

Gulf and Western Company, which had been renamed Paramount Communications on the stock market, encountered double negation from fund traders and analysts on Wall Street. President Martin Davis could not bear it and must re-appoint someone who could be like Al A capable person like Sna can come back to his glory. Completely ignoring that he was the one who was afraid of Eisner when he first arrived and drove him away.

"I know, I just want to give it a try..." Michelle Cannold took out a resignation letter and handed it to Ronald's hand.

"There is no need to resign. I will still reserve my position for you. Just give it a try. If you don't succeed, you will still be the distribution director of Daydream." Ronald turned over the resignation letter without reading it. On the table, and then said the above paragraph.

Michelle Cannold left very gratefully. He did not expect that the young boss could understand him so well. Ronald closed the door and found Richard to scold him.

"They poached me, it's really too much. Daydream is just a medium-sized film studio at best..."

"It's really hard to say no. Here he's facing Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme. When it comes to Paramount, he can decide whether to green light a project, and that's a star like Tom Cruise." Richard De is very clear about this. There are many Hollywood producers who have such a dream of guiding the country in front of stars.

"Whatever, I don't think Michelle has such talent. Taking the position of Paramount may not be a good thing for him. Unfortunately, I was quite optimistic about him and regarded him as a daydream candidate for president in the future. candidate……"

Ronald shook his head. He had some arrangements in cinemas, production, overseas distribution, video tapes, TV stations, etc. If Tiansui people were willing to have a chance to integrate these resources, then it might not be a mini pie. Ramon Communications.

"I don't think it may succeed. The most powerful candidate for the Paramount position this time is..." Richard whispered the person's name in Ronald's ear.

"This is the opportunity for Tom and Paula. I will not express any opinions on this matter. It depends on which of them can get this position..." Ronald nodded, Cruise Wagner Pictures As luck would have it, a major studio happened to be changing its president. This was a rare opportunity.

However, it is difficult to say whether it was agents like Paula Wagner who knew some inside information in advance and were so determined to establish a star-centered production company. In this case, Michelle Cannold's future is worrying.

My Daydream Pictures family is not big enough to attract talented people. Michelle Cannold's move...if it were placed in a big studio, he would definitely be kicked out. I still have to leave him a chance, but in future business and promotion, Ed Bastian, who is in charge of newspapers and TV stations in New York, will get the upper hand.

After Richard left, he was also amazed. His client could be so tolerant of a subordinate. Was it because of sincerity or just a gesture? No matter what it is, it is not something that a simple businessman can do.

In any case, having this kind of nostalgic approach shows that Ronald is not a cold-blooded person. He also cares about some old relationships in business calculations, which is a good thing for his status.

…

Sure enough, after going for the interview, Michelle Cannold only got a notification waiting for news. Feeling cheated, he could only come back with a low eyebrow and beg Ronald for forgiveness.

However, Ronald didn't seem to mind this matter too much and even comforted him in turn.

"Ah, don't lose heart, Michelle, at least you still have a daydream distribution system running for you..."

"I don't know what's wrong with me. Being headhunted has blinded my mind. Hey, I shouldn't have made such a choice." Michelle Cannold was still a little frustrated when she spoke.

"Don't think so. I understand that people want to realize their ambitions. This is what everyone wants in Hollywood. And you are also very honest with me...I have no reason to blame you..." Ronald was being honest. The two words were emphasized.

Michelle Cannold's heart skipped a beat. Fortunately, she wasn't so obsessed at the time that she listened to the evil headhunter and went to the interview without telling Ronald. Hollywood is not a place where secrets can be kept secret for long...

"What questions did Paramount ask you? What kind of person are they looking for?" Ronald asked another question casually.

"This is..." Michelle was about to say that the questions in the interview were confidential, but her heart suddenly jumped again. The honesty that Ronald said just now was still ringing in her ears. He quickly organized his words, " I think they wanted to find someone who could bring them box office success, and that's where I lost points..."

Michelle Cannold honestly told Ronald the interview questions and his answers. Unsurprisingly, Paramount needs a president who can boost its stock price.

Therefore, this is not only a matter of how to make money, but also how to satisfy the analysts and fund buyers on Wall Street. Although they don't understand Hollywood, they can affect the company's stock price. The same financial report comes out, whether it is publicized or not publicized, the stock price can fluctuate a lot.

And this is the only assessment indicator for the boards of directors and CEOs of those companies.

Michelle Cannold, who serves as the distribution director in an unlisted company like Daydream, has no similar experience at all. His answer is to control the scale of investment, produce and distribute a large number of small and medium-cost productions, and other Cooperating with small production companies, each film does not seek big wins, but only seeks small profits to recover costs in the local market.

To put it simply, it is to accumulate small wins into big wins and ensure that you do not lose money at the same time. Goddess of luck will always favor one or two films out of ten movies, so that you can achieve good box office results.

This kind of thinking is quite in line with the thinking of non-listed companies like Daydream. If it has its own distribution channel, this approach can undoubtedly achieve good results.

But in the eyes of Paramount boss Martin Davis, this answer was simply unintelligible. If you don't make big productions and gather big stars, how can you let people know what you are doing on Wall Street? Those fund managers face dozens or hundreds of recommendations for listed companies every day. If there is no movement, how can they buy Paramount stock?

Michelle Cannold, who didn't know how to maintain investor relations and only knew how to make movies, was undoubtedly not a good candidate, so he was eliminated in the first round.

…

"What did you say during the interview?"

On the other side, CAA's agent Kevin Huwen is also communicating with another potential candidate for president. He didn't expect that Shirley Lansing, the outdated female star and producer working behind Stanley Jaffe, would actually have great hopes of becoming Paramount's new president and CEO. .

Since being kicked out by Twentieth Century Fox, the boss of the oil industry (he is also named Martin Davis), Shirley Lansing has been in the independent production business with Stanley Jaffe.

"Fatal Attraction", which they co-produced, allowed both actor Michael Douglas and actress Glenn Close to successfully expand their influence. But in the end, at the Oscars, Glenn Gross was nominated as a dark horse by Cher, directed by Ronald, and lost to "The Last Emperor," which swept the Oscars that year, and received no five nominations.

However, she also gained the attention of well-known female producers in Hollywood, and many sideline film projects approached her. For example, co-produced with Japan, Michael Douglas and Ken Takakura collaborated on "Black Rain", which tells the story of the nuclear bomb generation's resistance to American cultural invasion, and "The Pear Blossom", which made Jodie Foster win the Best Actress for the first time.

In fact, these film projects could not find distributors in mainstream Hollywood, but under the operation of her partner, Stanley Jaffe, they achieved double success at the box office and awards.

Then there was a series of dazzling operations. Stanley Jaffe and Shirley Lansing broke up, and he went to Paramount to replace Brandon Tartikoff, who left NBC because of his daughter's car accident, and became the president of Gulf and Western, the parent company of Paramount Pictures.

When it came to the big change of Paramount Pictures this year, it was also inseparable from his advice to Chairman Martin Davis.

In this way, the fat water was kept in the field, and Shirley Lansing, his partner at the time, naturally became a strong contender for the CEO of Paramount Pictures.

"I followed the plan you gave me, invited stars, invited big-name directors, reduced the risk of each project, did not pursue market share and profit margin, but pursued the maximum box office revenue for each movie. In this way, even with a small market share and profit margin, it can still give a relatively high profit figure and have a very good influence."

"Very good, this is the result of my discussion with several famous star agents. In summary, this is the most favorable answer to the stock price of listed companies. So how can you get these good projects?"

"Hey, what else can I say? Grab those popular stars, especially male stars who are capable of starring in different types of films. You know, Stanley (Jaffe) was responsible for selecting scripts."

"No, no, no, you are the best producer, the one who plays a leading role in the Stanley-Shirley combination. Your answer is very good. Some news I got here said that you have entered the second round."

"Well, you should find some directors to talk to me quickly. In the second round, they will definitely ask me how to choose good scripts and directors." Shirley Lansing thought to herself, you don't need to say this, Stanley called me a long time ago.

"I have found the director who is most suitable to answer this question to talk to you. You will definitely get this position..." Agent Kevin Huwen smiled.

"Oh, who is it?"

"Ronald Lee, perhaps one of the directors with the highest return on investment in Hollywood..."

"Oh, it's him..." Shirley Lansing felt a little unnatural. The director circle is mostly middle-aged and elderly. Such a young director, with her charming appearance, is not very attractive. Moreover, when she was in 20th Century Fox in her early years, she rejected Ronald.

"Don't worry, Ronald also has something to ask of you. He will tell you the secret of Hollywood's selection of successful scripts..."