Hollywood Tycoon [US Entertainment + Business War]

Although Jed had expressed to MGM that his time and energy were limited, he still couldn't stand MGM's three requests and four reminders, and he also participated in several "Thelma & Louise" promotional activities.Although "Thelma & Louise" took the No. [-] box office in its first weekend, it is not a typical "popcorn" movie after all, so it quickly slipped to the fourth place in the weekend box office in the second week of the summer holiday. .

However, film critics still received good reviews. As the film was released across the country, more and more people also participated in the discussion of the film.Women's rights issues, racial issues, and family issues in modern America have become hot topics of discussion in newspapers and on television, and even the then US President Bush Sr. expressed his views on the film.

Through the report of the White House Press Secretary, Bush Sr. said that "this movie is an excellent work, and it warns us that we should pay attention to some problems in the current society." The media made a lot of hype, which also kept the box office of "Thelma and Louise" in the top five in the third week.

As "Thelma & Louise" has been released for three weeks, and the craze for the movie has gradually passed, MGM is also embarrassed to continue to let Jed participate in the film promotion, and finally allows Jed to return to Los Angeles.

Before Jed returns to Los Angeles, the first thing to do is to take Shirley Lansing to NBC's headquarters in New York to discuss the second season of "Friends" and "Will & Grace."

Due to the popularity of the first season, the price of simultaneous advertising on the national television network has increased a lot, and at the same time, the number of subscribers of NBC's wonderful cable station has increased a lot.In view of this situation, the subscription prices for the second season of the two dramas will naturally have to increase.

Although NBC is somewhat dissatisfied with Dongfeng Production's behavior, it also knows that this is what it should be.The advertising fees and subscription fees brought by their TV series are naturally eligible for a price increase.It’s just that NBC’s heartache is that when the contract was signed at the beginning, it did not require a particularly complete copyright sharing. Now, in addition to earning a little share when the videotapes of “Friends” are released in the future, the second round of broadcast fees for the two dramas on local channels It has nothing to do with myself.

Since I gave up such a right claim in the first season, according to the principle of "estoppel" in American civil law litigation, I have no way to make such a right claim in the second season.Although NBC seldom cares about the affairs of local stations, but this time I also learned from occasional inquiries that the three-round broadcast rights of "Friends" have been snapped up, let alone the second-round broadcast?That's why NBC decided to slightly limit the cost of the second season of Dongfeng Production, but Jed is not a vegetarian, so he directly sent Lansing and the legal team there.Anyway, everyone has plenty of time to chat. In the end, it was NBC who suffered from not being able to show the show in the fall, so Jed was happy to watch the show on the sidelines.

But when Jed was negotiating with NBC, he had nothing to hang out in the New York General Electric building where NBC was located.For this currently very popular TV series producer, NBC still showed a certain degree of sincerity and specially arranged for people to accompany him to visit NBC's New York headquarters.While passing by the technical department, Jed suddenly discovered something very interesting.Of course, this thing is very old in his opinion, but it is still a very advanced thing in this era-Laser Disc (LD).

Laser discs were not popular in the North American market, but they were very popular in Japan and Asian markets, because they were the necessary audio and video storage media for karaoke rooms at that time.Seeing LD, Jed suddenly remembered that two years later, in 1993, VCD, an epoch-making audio-visual storage method, would appear.Compared with LD, which is only popular in Asia, VCD can be said to have swept the world. Although users in the North American market still insist on using video tapes, the video tape market finally collapsed after the next-generation product of VCD, DVD, appeared at the conference.

From the CD standard to the later BD standard, Japanese manufacturers basically had the final say. Sony, Sanyo, Pioneer and JVC, four electrical appliance manufacturers, monopolized all the optical disc standards of later generations.Although Philips had sound in the CD era and VCD era, it was soon squeezed out of the optical disc market by the Japanese.

Thinking of this, Jed decided to get something out of it.So Jade quickly entrusted his own lawyers and accountants to register a small company called Horizon Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. in Europe, and then this company quickly formulated a set of optical disc standards and developed it under the guidance of Jed. Out of the prototype.Using this set of standards and prototypes, Horizon Electronics soon acquired part of Philips' shares.And under the leadership of Philips, he participated in the discussion meeting with Japanese electronics manufacturers to discuss the new optical disc standard.

What Jade brought out for Horizon was the VCD1.0 standard of later generations, not the real commercial VCD1.1 standard, but this standard alone made Japanese manufacturers very jealous.Although there are still some flaws in this set of standards, everyone has already seen the prospect of commercial use.Sony and Sanyo were extremely jealous that Philips, a poor European company, had dug up the treasure of Horizon Company, but they also knew that this was not the time to fall out.

After all, this set of standards has been registered for patent protection in the patent offices of various countries. If you want to bypass it, you will definitely need more time and money to develop it.I'm afraid that by that time, VCD will have become the mainstream, and my own development will be in vain.

Thinking of this, Japanese electrical appliance manufacturers have reached a compromise with Philips, approved the VCD1.0 standard and put forward their own development opinions for the future commercial VCD standard.Don't look at the groveling appearance of Japanese manufacturers now, in fact, they have long hated Philips and Horizon in their hearts, and are planning how to bypass Philips and Horizon in the next generation of standards.

Unfortunately, what Japanese companies do not know is that Horizon not only has a complete VCD1.0 standard, but also has completed the patent registration of the commercial 1.1 standard and the evolved version of the 2.0 standard.Even the SVCD standard, a transition product from VCD to DVD, has been completed and entered the patent registration process, and even the prototype standard of DVD has completed two-thirds of the progress, so there is no concern that Japanese manufacturers have any chance to surpass themselves.

Jade just started the work of the horizon and didn't care. There are many small companies in Europe that are pure research and development.Although this kind of company is small, it has a lot of patents.Relying on the income from these patents is enough to make such a small company live happily, not to mention that the patents provided by Jed for Horizon will be very profitable patents in the future.The boss has money, the company has a future, and Horizon soon became a well-known electronic technology development company in Europe.

In August, New Line, the producer of "Uninhibited Sky", sent an invitation, hoping that Jade could accompany the crew to Italy in September to stand for the Venice Film Festival.New Line also saw an example of MGM using Jade to successfully hype "Thelma and Louise", so they also planned to imitate.After all, the director and actors of "Uninhibited Sky" are not well-known people. On the contrary, as a screenwriter, Jed is still a little famous in Europe, especially "Resident Evil" and "Tomb Raider" are still quite popular in the European market. popular.

The important reason why Europeans accept "Resident Evil" is that the work criticizes big capitalism and describes the incompetence of the United States; while "Tomb Raider" is popular in Europe because the heroine is set to be a descendant of the British aristocracy.Now that Jed is going to Italy to promote "Uninhibited Sky", Simon & Schuster also held a European signing event for "Resident Evil" and "Tomb Raider" episode [-].As a result, Jed had to go to Europe to promote before the crew.

The average reading time of Europeans is much longer than that of Americans. Especially in the high-welfare countries in Northern Europe, reading has become a hobby of the whole people, so there are many bookstores in Europe.In order to choose the signing location, it is a bit of a headache for Simon & Schuster publishing house.Jed claimed that his time was limited, so he was unwilling to go to too many places for signings, so Simon & Schuster had to achieve the greatest promotion purpose in the least number of places.Since the reader base accumulated in the first two episodes is still good, the publisher is very satisfied with the signing of the third episode, and even the relatively slow-selling "Halo" in Europe has also sold well.

After the opening of the Venice Film Festival in September, Jed will meet with the crew of "Uninhibited Sky" in Venice to start promotional work.Although the three major European film festivals have always existed in a posture of opposing Hollywood films, it does not mean that American films have no chance to participate.On the contrary, the three major European film festivals still welcome small-budget art films from within the United States.

The three major film festivals each have their own preferences. The Berlin Film Festival has always loved political themes, especially the reflection films on World War II; It is a pioneer in film technology and subject matter, so it is relatively the first day of many new directors.

To Jed's surprise, he actually met Zhang Yimou at this year's film festival.His "Raise the Red Lantern" is also an entry for this year's film, and it is said that it has been favored by many film judges.At this time, China has just experienced a storm, and Chinese filmmakers have once again emerged from the blockade to show their own style.Europeans have always had a special plot towards the mysterious East, and the three major film festivals have always favored Chinese films, so it is only right that "Raise the Red Lantern" was praised by film critics.

"The Uninhibited Sky" written by Jed is in the form of a road movie, which is a unique type of movie in the United States.The long road symbolizes life, the scenery of the road symbolizes the experience of life, and the ultimate goal symbolizes the goal of life.It's just that unlike ordinary road movies that only explore the human nature of the male protagonist, "The Uninhibited Sky" uses two protagonists.In addition to thinking about their lives on this road, the two male protagonists also gained a new understanding of each other's emotional relationship. Such a novel setting has also been liked by many film critics.However, most film critics think that the subject matter of the film is a bit old, but the performances of the actors are still superb.

In the final competition, "The Uninhibited Sky" was nominated for the Golden Lion Award, and River Phoenix, one of the leading actors, was also nominated for Best Actor.However, Jed knew that this year's Golden Lion Award definitely did not have his own share, and even the most popular "Raise the Red Lantern" only won a Silver Lion Award in the end.The most popular non-English director this year is Nikita Mikhalkov from Russia. His "Mongolian Spirit" allows Western audiences to see the penetration of advanced Western civilization into traditional Mongolian civilization and the charm of traditional Mongolian civilization.

Sure enough, at the final awards ceremony, Nikita Mikhalkov won the Golden Lion Award for "The Mongolian Spirit", while Zhang Yimou had to succumb to the Silver Lion Award.Fortunately, River finally conquered the judges with his excellent acting skills and won the Volpi Cup (Best Actor), so the crew did not leave empty-handed.New Line's distribution manager is already smiling triumphantly, and the Venice Film Festival's best actor gimmick was enough to get "Uninhibited Skies" a successful U.S. release.After participating in the Venice Film Festival, New Line Company hurried to the Toronto International Film Festival with the crew.

The Toronto International Film Festival does not pay as much attention to art as the European film festivals. On the contrary, they attach great importance to the marketability of films.Similarly, they have no other awards except for one jury award, and the so-called jury award awards as many as ten films each year. "The Uninhibited Sky" just won this year's Toronto International Film Festival jury will win the prize.

After receiving two film festival awards, New Line Company began to plan for the domestic release of the film.Due to the many taboo scenes in this film, it was rated "R" by the MPAA, so it can only be shown in the midnight slot of a few theaters.Seeing such rating results, Jed knew that the final box office results must be dismal.Fortunately, there are quite a few arthouse movie theaters in the United States who are quite fond of this kind of niche film, so "Uninhibited Sky" will not be released until March of next year, which is a bit unexpected.In the end, the whole movie earned 640 million box office in the United States. Compared with the final box office revenue of 6600 million in "Thelma and Louise", it was a complete failure.The only thing that satisfied New Line was the two trophies the film brought to the company.

Jed doesn't have time to worry about what New Line is thinking. He is now paying close attention to the broadcast status of the second season of "Friends" and "Will & Grace".Fortunately, as far as the current situation is concerned, the popularity of the two TV series in the United States is getting higher and higher, which also comforts NBC, which has been slaughtered by Dongfeng Production.In addition to his own sitcom, Spielberg also called to say that "Jurassic Park" is about to start shooting. Universal has completed most of the exterior construction of "Jurassic Park" in Hawaii. The "Jurassic Flagship Park" will be established here.

Although the crew has not yet entered the location base, Spielberg and Jed have already arrived.The two wandered around the island with their cameras, taking pictures from time to time, in order to have good scenes to take when shooting in the future.In addition to this semi-tourist work, Spielberg will share with Jed some of his own experience in filming, which can be regarded as supporting this newcomer.

"Jed, I really hope that you can direct a movie as soon as possible, you know? I have a very important movie that I expect you to shoot." Spielberg suddenly brought up a topic, but he didn't want to be as relaxed as usual. "Have you read Thomas Keneally's novel Schindler's Ark? The script adaptation of this novel is in my hands, but I can't find a good director to shoot it. Martin Scorsese said he is not Jews, there is no way to express this emotion well; although Roman Polanski is Jewish, he said that he is not ready to shoot such a subject; Billy Wilder even directly rejected me because he has retired... …I’m actually like Polanski, I don’t think I’m ready to do this movie.”

As someone who lives in the future, Jade has certainly heard about the pain Spielberg went through while making this movie.It is equivalent to digging up the scar that has already healed and feeling it again. This kind of pain is the greatest devastation to a person's spirit.But Jed wasn't going to take over the movie, even though he had a picture of it in his mind.He knows that he may be able to reproduce a complete copy of "Schindler's List", but he has no way to give this movie more content.The reason why this movie impresses people is not how advanced the shooting technique is or how magnificent the new technology is used in the movie. On the contrary, this movie uses the most unpretentious documentary filming for the first time. As many as 40% of the shots are shot with hand-held cameras. shoot.A black-and-white movie shot with an almost primitive method has moved the whole world, which is definitely not something that ordinary directors can do.

"Mr. Spielberg, I have seen "Empire of the Sun" directed by you." Jed changed the topic, "It is a very good movie, but the Chinese hate it because you failed to stand Look at Japan’s war of aggression against China from the perspective of a victim. You may say that we should look at a war objectively, neutrally and rationally, but if we shoot a movie from this perspective, what is the difference from a news documentary? I haven't lived through the horrors of the Holocaust, so I can't understand what the Jews thought, the Germans thought, the Nazis thought...and you, Mr. Spielberg, you know all this The best candidate for a movie. For a movie like this, we don't need to be objective, what we need is to show the subjective emotions of the victims. Only if the audience feels the helplessness and sadness of the Jews at that time, they will cherish the peace today and resist possible future violence."

The author has something to say: Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" is actually a very good movie.If you can look at it from the standpoint of being a Chinese, you will feel that this movie is almost great.Unfortunately, we are all Chinese.Indeed, in the war, the common people on both sides of the war are tragic figures.However, it is a bit strange to strengthen the tragedy of the Japanese and weaken the tragedy of the Chinese in front of the Chinese people.So while I admit the movie is good, I didn't like it.