I’m in Hollywood

Taking the memo from Allen, the two walked to the conference room together, and Eric asked in a low voice, How's that going?

Allen also lowered his voice: It's all done, the candidates for director Renee Harlem and actress Geena Davis have been revealed to Bruce Evans, but we also succeeded in making him aware When someone is very interested in the script of Cutthroat Island, he is not in a hurry to shoot now, and is in a stalemate with the staff we sent. Moreover, some other people have begun to inquire about the script of Cutthroat Island, it should be It's Robert's.

Eric nodded reassuringly, pushed open the conference room door, and the two walked in together.

The main topic of today's meeting is a summary of the year's work on Firefly.

From the beginning of the year to the present, the only films wholly-owned by Firefly Company are The Ghosts of Humans and Sleeping with the Enemy, but their achievements in film distribution are very dazzling. The four films, Sleeping with the Enemy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Silence of the Lambs, have all achieved box office sales of over 100 million. In addition, Firefly has also released several small productions by independent production companies in the off-season of the film. The film also brought a small profit.

Although the holiday season at the end of the year has just begun, the total domestic box office in North America in 1990 has exceeded 5 billion US dollars, but the total box office achieved by Firefly this year is only a little over 600 million so far, accounting for 12% of the domestic box office share. Although this number is a lot worse than the box office results achieved by Eric's film last year, if you think about it carefully, you will find the huge difference. This year's results were achieved under the condition of Firefly's independent release. Last year, almost all of Eric's films were distributed by the seven major agencies, and even if it was extremely profitable, it was just a pure production company.

After a year of integration with the new line, Firefly has already had the prototype of a major studio with a complete production and distribution channel like the Big Seven. Although there is still a gap with the old seven major film companies in terms of background, the box office share has exceeded the 10% ratio of Paramount Pictures. As for MGM, it has been left far behind. Ranked sixth among all Hollywood studios.

In terms of TV production, Friends independently produced by Firefly still leads the audience in the fall season, and the variety show Who Will Be a Millionaire is even more widely acclaimed.

The X-Files, which aired at the same time as Friends in September, also received an average of 17 million viewers. Although this score is much worse than Friends, the main audience group of X-Files is concentrated among teenagers between 16 and 30 years old, not an all-age comedy like Friends, so this score is also very good.

What's more, because the viewing age group is very concentrated. On the contrary, X-Files is more favored by advertising companies, and its advertising revenue is more than 20% higher than that of TV dramas with the same ratings.

In addition, the company has also made considerable progress in the two businesses of video tape and overseas distribution. The video tape distribution department has established cooperation with the video tape rental giant Blockbuster. Through the overseas distribution operation of several films such as The Ghost Story, Firefly has also established its own branches in several major ticket warehouse countries such as Britain, France and Australia.

The expansion of the business also means a lot of capital investment. Therefore, the net profit of Firefly in the first three quarters is only more than 160 million, after Caroline Elliott finished the financial report. Eric immediately announced a dividend plan for all employees of Firefly with a total amount of 20 million US dollars.

Amidst the low cheers, only Robert Shea frowned slightly. Robert Shea knew about this dividend plan beforehand. After this plan was proposed, Robert Shea expressed his objection, but Eric used his chairman's power to pass the plan.

Hearing Eric's announcement again at this time, Robert Shea still felt very unhappy. He felt that Eric was too generous,

after all. Taking out the $20 million means that his shareholder dividend will be reduced by $5 million. To make Ghost Detective. Robert Shea raised $30 million by mortgaging his assets, and now the film is a flop. He had to use his dividends at the end of the year to repay the account, so $5 million was also a very big loss for Robert Shea.

While thinking about this matter in his heart, Robert suddenly heard Eric continue: Now, let's start the next topic, about the dismissal of Mr. Robert Shea's Firefly position.

For a moment, Robert Shea almost thought he had heard it wrong, but seeing the strange atmosphere in the conference room and the strange eyes of all the executives looking at him, Robert Shea first felt a chill on his back , followed by extreme anger, he stood up suddenly, pointed at Eric and shouted: Eric Williams, do you know what you are doing?

Eric didn't answer immediately, but looked at the others in the conference room: You go out first, I'll talk to Robert alone.

The voice fell, everyone in the conference room, including Robert Shea's direct subordinates, all stood up quietly and walked out of the office.

Robert Shea waved his arms excitedly and sneered: I don't need to talk to you alone, there is something I can't let everyone hear, hello, Michael, Hardy, Renas, you stay.

Michael Lynn, who was named by Robert Shay, and several other original subordinates stopped briefly, looked at Eric and Robert, Michael Lynn sighed, and said, Robert, you follow closely. Eric, let's talk.

After speaking, several people walked out of the office without stopping.

Robert Shay saw the reactions of several direct descendants, and instantly realized that Eric had already begun to deploy this matter, which made him feel a sense of frustration and anger being fooled. If Eric is not a tall man The strong young man, Robert Shea, almost threw himself at him.

But he still roared: I tell you, you will not succeed, you will pay the price, I am a shareholder of Firefly, I own a quarter of the shares, so if you want to drive me away, don't even think about it. think.

After Robert Shea paused for a while, Eric interjected: Regarding the Firefly shares, I will use a reasonable price to recover it, and I will not make you suffer. In addition, this year's profits will be shared with me. It will also be paid to you in full. (To be continued)