I’m in Hollywood

Amy Pascal, who was sitting at the bottom of the conference table, felt that this matter was not as simple as she imagined. Although she and Eric had only been in contact for a few hours, she still noticed this. The boy has a calmness that is unmatched by his peers. People with this personality will definitely not have a fever and propose this kind of gambling agreement with a very low chance of winning. Well, this gambling deal is most likely one that Eric Williams has thought through.

Amy Pascal ignored other people's one-sided support for the gambling agreement, and said after thinking for a long time: Mr. Cohen, I think it's better to be cautious, there is no free lunch in the world. We can slightly increase the buyout price, and then talk to Amy. Rick Williams negotiates, it's not good, sign a sharing agreement, anyway, with the box office potential of this movie, we will definitely make a fortune.

Amy, I think you're too conservative, not even that kid. Lester Reed, who was the first to speak, retorted: Do you know the potential of this film? If we get the full rights to this film , then in addition to the box office share, in the following videotape copyrights, TV broadcasts and other peripheral licensing, it can at least make us tens of millions of dollars in profits, not to mention we can also shoot sequels. If you choose a sharing agreement, The copyright is still in the hands of the boy, and we have to give the boy a large share in the next operation.

Amy Pascal said: We can also increase the buyout price. Maybe, fifteen million dollars, the boy will definitely agree.

According to the potential of such low-budget comedies in the past, under normal circumstances, $50 million is already considered a dark horse at the box office, and most of the high-quality ones can only get $20 million at the box office. So, more than 80% The odds of getting the entire copyright of this movie for free, why should we pay more than 10 million dollars. That boy can come up with such a crazy gambling agreement with less than 20% odds of winning, don't we? Don't you even have the guts to gamble?

But... Amy Pascal looked at the greed and fanaticism in the eyes of her colleagues, and the sixth sense unique to women made her feel that this matter was even more inappropriate.

Okay, Amy, Blunt Cohen interrupted Amy Pascal, while Geoffrey Hansen and that Eric Williams might be your friends when you have to Understand that you are now an employee of Columbia and must act in the interests of the company.

Blunt Cohen's words made Amy Pascal stunned. She is indeed friends with Jeffrey Hansen, but as a professional manager, she has always been quite professional.

But now I just expressed my opinion out of prudence, but I was suspected to be eating inside and out, helping outsiders to gain benefits. A strong sense of humiliation made Amy Pascal's right hand trembling slightly while holding the pen. In the end, Amy Pascal stood up suddenly and said coldly: Mr. Cohen, since your opinion has produced such an idea, I think, I'm no longer fit for this project, I'm leaving now, bye.

After finishing speaking, Amy Pascal pursed her lips and hurriedly sorted out the documents in front of her, then turned silently and left the office.

The entire office fell into a brief silence.

Woman!

I don't know who sighed first. Amy Pascal holds a high position as a woman. In a patriarchal society, she will definitely be discriminated against in all kinds of ways. I just don't know. what emotion.

Blunt Cohen slightly regretted what he just said. Amy Pascal's work ability and professional ethics are obvious to all.

Otherwise, it is impossible to sit in this office as a woman. However, although Blunt Cohen lacked courage in managing the company, he was very headstrong. He felt that although he was a little abrupt, but Amy Pascal left the conference room like this, it was also a kind of provocation to his majesty, so It's natural to put the blame entirely on Amy Pascal.

The office was silent for more than ten seconds before Blunt Cohen said: Okay, since everyone agrees to this gambling agreement, let's go here today, Lester, from tomorrow onwards, you will be solely responsible for Little Ghost Let’s take this project of “Mastering the House”.”

In the eyes of everyone's envy, Lester Reed agreed excitedly. If he won the bet, he would definitely get a share of the credit, and it would be a matter of course for him to be promoted and raised in the future.

No problem, Mr. Cohen, I'll do my best to get this done.

The next day, Eric received a notice from Columbia to accept the gambling agreement. At the same time, Jeffrey also contacted the firm that Eric needed. After the two firms evaluated the value of Jurassic Park, It agreed to send a team to assist Eric in formulating and supervising the implementation of the gambling agreement.

On October 31st, although he was very interested, Eric still failed to participate in the first Halloween parade since his rebirth. Instead, he stayed in the conference room of Columbia headquarters with a lot of boring middle-aged men and women, and planned a gambling game. the specific content of the agreement.

On the basis of the conditions proposed by Eric, the specific content of the agreement was gradually refined. In order to ensure that Columbia Company did its best to promote and distribute Home Alone, the content of the agreement included the details of how many promotional articles were published in newspapers with different reputations. They are all listed in detail, as well as the number of screens that need to be increased or decreased depending on the number of theaters, the daily schedule and schedule of the cinema, and so on. And once Colombia violates the content of the agreement, it also makes different penalty measures for breach of contract according to the degree of violation of the agreement.

The last dozens of pages of the contract were drafted, and Eric himself was stunned when he saw it. He couldn't help but admire the professionalism of the accounting and lawyer team that Jeffrey Hansen hired.

In Colombia, Lester Reed, who is in charge of the Home Alone project, believes that Home Alone is basically in Colombia's pocket, so he did not pay too much attention to this dozens of pages of contract. Some ridiculed Eric for making a fuss. The two teams invited by the other party are estimated to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in commission alone, which is a waste.

Lester Reed feels that even if the contract is more detailed, the box office potential of Home Alone is there. Columbia's top management's boldest expectations for the box office of Home Alone have not surpassed Who's Who, which currently ranks first at the annual box office. Framed Roger Rabbit, the perfect combination of animation and live action, only had a box office of 150 million in North America.

Columbia's original plan was to release Home Alone during Christmas in December, but Eric firmly opposed it. No one knows better than him the tragic situation of the high-grossing film group crocodile strangling in December. Within a month, three of the top ten films at the annual box office accounted for three, and the previous life of Home Alone was released in November. It took more than two months of long-term screening to achieve an amazing box office.

In the end, Columbia made a compromise and determined the release date to be November 18, the same day as Return to Seventeen, which was also proposed by Eric. Two films related to him were released at the same time, because the theme and the The audience is different, not only will it not squeeze each other's box office, but it can play a role in promoting each other. To this end, Colombia even postponed the feature film New Horse originally planned to be released on November 18 to December, freeing up about 1,000 screens for Home Alone.

From the screen figures, we can see Colombia's ambivalence. Under normal circumstances, only movies with good box office will be shown in more than 1,000 theaters, so this number shows that Colombia is very optimistic about the box office of Home Alone. But at the same time, because of the gambling agreement, Columbia also does not want Home Alone to exceed 50 million, so that it can not only swallow all the box office shares of Home Alone, but also get all the Home Alone including the sequel. Copyright, so the number of screens did not exceed 1,000.

Eric is not dissatisfied with this. It is normal for Colombian executives to have such a mentality. Moreover, in the dozens of pages of gambling agreement, it is clearly stipulated that the corresponding screen must be increased if the box office reaches a certain number. If you refuse to execute it, then just wait for the lawsuit. Eric believes that the income from a movie is not enough for a giant like Columbia to tear up his face and lose his business reputation.

After the signing of the gambling agreement, because neither of the signatories intended to conceal the agreement, but rather hoped that the gambling agreement would spread, the content of the agreement quickly spread throughout Hollywood.

Under the operation of the propaganda department of Columbia Pictures, the next day, the headline of the entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times published an article about the bet.

Teenage Genius Vs Gaming Giant Columbia: Crazy or Stupid? 》