Hollywood Tycoon [US Entertainment + Business War]

Cosberg's shooting budget was fully supported by Jaffe, but it also made Jed extremely painful.In fact, Cosberg's budget is the most in line with the company's normal operations, leaving enough reserves to prevent the company from having special accidents.But Jed doesn't think about it this way. He always feels that if there is something special, he and his family's strong capital can completely carry it through.In this regard, John only said, "I hope you will distinguish between personal accounts and company accounts in the future."

Because of the limited budget, Jade had to arrange a large number of shots to be shot in the studio, but for some unavoidable shots, it was necessary to find suitable classic shots in Los Angeles and its surrounding cities.Fortunately, Los Angeles itself is a super diverse city, and soon the crew members found streets with Baltimore and Philadelphia characteristics near Los Angeles.At that time, as long as the scene is retouched with a computer, it will almost be possible to distinguish the real one from the real one.But it was the first time that Jed used computer technology to make a lot of modifications to the scene, and Jed was a little worried about the current computer technology.

It is actually not difficult to use a computer to simulate a surreal scene, because the audience knows that it is fake, and you can design it according to your own needs.But the real scene is real. Any flaws will be found out by the audience and the director will be labeled as "not serious".If it was in 2010, Jed would not have worried about computer technology. You must know that in that era, destroying or rebuilding a city by computer was as simple as playing the game "Sim City", and the realism made the residents of that city Can't find the problem.

Facing the almost harsh demands made by Jed, Lucas also went crazy.Originally, the virtual future city scene made ILM’s technicians insufficient. Now Jed also requested to virtualize Baltimore and Philadelphia in Los Angeles. Lucas almost smashed his coffee cup on Jed’s face.But Lucas, who quickly calmed down, decided to regard Jed's abnormal request as a new challenge for Industrial Light and Magic, and summoned all the remaining technicians of the company to study how to realize it.What the technicians now know is that Galaxy Films would shoot exteriors on the streets of Los Angeles that have the character of Baltimore or Philadelphia, but ILM needed to retouch those shots to look more like Baltimore or Philadelphia.

"It's impossible!" The technicians quickly vetoed Jed's whimsy, "It means we need to use the computer to build a Baltimore or Philadelphia. Even if we can catch up with the modeling time, the post-production modification also needs to be completed. plenty of time."

Lucas also frowned. He was also a technician himself, so he naturally understood what his subordinates were worried about.It is indeed a bit difficult to build a city of Philadelphia using computers, but it is possible to realize a street or a block.But the problem is that computers need a lot of time to model, to simulate buildings, public properties, and some characters, which takes a lot of time to do.In addition, these simulated things need a lot of time to beautify the artist in the later stage, so that they look no different from the real ones.Only in this way can the technical strength of Industrial Light and Magic make this static scene move.This technology alone made Industrial Light and Magic a big step ahead of other special effects companies, but even so, I still couldn't escape the initial modeling and beautification process.

"Maybe we have another way." Suddenly someone made a suggestion, "Mr. Lucas, now there is a technology that can make the photos taken on the plane into three-dimensional by using the method of three-point distance measurement. If we buy This technology, and then use the acquisition equipment to shoot some scenes on specific streets in Philadelphia or Baltimore, and we will soon be able to obtain the modeling of these streets. Anyway, our purpose is to reproduce this real city, not to really create this city .”

"Who owns this technology?" Lucas is worthy of being a person who has been doing special effects for many years, and he immediately saw the future potential of this technology. "If they're small and they specialize in visual effects, we'll just buy them."

To completely master a technology in your own hands, it is best to buy the company and the entire team.This will not only avoid future patent disputes, but more importantly, allow this research to continue until your company can fully take over the research.With the order from his boss, relevant personnel will naturally follow up and investigate.It turned out that this technology was researched by a few college students, and their team was only a few people.These college students were very excited when they heard that Industrial Light & Magic was willing to acquire their company.Therefore, in less than a week, the two parties signed a formal contract, and the problem of patents was completely resolved.Lucas also enthusiastically talked to Jed about how the problem was solved.

Jed at the shooting scene still had mixed feelings. He didn't expect Lucas to be so lucky to come across this technology, and others also keenly discovered the importance of this technology.Now that we have such an acquisition and modeling technology, we don’t need too much time to shoot exterior scenes for any big scenes in Galaxy movies in the future. At the same time, some disaster shots will be more realistic.

"This is a cooperation agreement proposed by the other party. I hope everyone can study it carefully." Michael Eisner is not only the chairman of the board of directors of Disney Film Company at this time, but also the executive director of Walt Disney Company. that power.It was also because of his proposal that Disney once again set its sights on ABC after acquiring Miramax Pictures. "I have to admit that the conditions of the other party are very far from our expectations, but they have given us the most urgently needed compensation in other aspects, so I don't know whether to reject them."

The people present at the meeting are Disney Film Production Company and Disney Television Media Company, which are owned by Disney Film Company.In fact, Bowei International is a distribution department under the Disney Film Production Company, but it has formed an independent company due to the requirements of the "Hollywood Antitrust Law"; and Disney Television Media Company will be the American Broadcasting Corporation to be acquired in the future. parent company.Therefore, it can be said that these few people present at the meeting will completely determine the future relationship between Disney and Galaxy Films.

"Their proposal is indeed very interesting, and I have no way to refuse." The first to speak was Anne Wisney, president of Disney Television Media.One of the few female executives in the TV media circle, it is because of her in later generations that ABC has become more and more inclined to be a "female channel", so that in the end ABC has become a "female channel" Defeated is also a "female station", but you have to admit that she is indeed a very good executive of a TV media company.

"At present, ABC's share of the viewing market in the United States must be known to everyone. The first army composed of CBS and NBC has left us far behind, and behind us is Fox Broadcasting. Also, I ask you not to forget the fact that Viacom this year announced the formation of APNs, which will be the fifth over-the-air broadcast network in the US market. Now that Fox Network can Success, the United Paramount Television Network may not be successful. The current US viewing market is no longer an era of three companies competing for supremacy. There are already five wireless TV networks, plus those cable TV networks formed through cable networks and satellite TV. Internet, ABC doesn't have much advantage anymore."

Eisner frowned and said, "Didn't Viacom have a very strong relationship with CBS? How could this be?"

"After all, CBS is now a company of Westinghouse Electric, and Viacom only has a part of the shares. Besides, the dispute between Viacom and News Corporation is not unnoticed. The two are not only in the emerging In the Asian market, they are fighting to the death, and they have even started a new war in the North American market." Annie didn't care about the disputes between the two companies, "So for us, after completing the acquisition of ABC, we must There are one to many sets of ace dramas to stabilize our ratings. Obviously, Galaxy is a very good choice. Dongfeng not only has the ability to produce sitcoms, they filmed "X-Files" and "New York Serious Case" for Fox. The ratings of "Group" are also very strong."

"What's the point of us buying a film company we don't control?" Sean Bailey, the president of distribution for Disney Pictures, said very dissatisfied. "Aren't companies like Touchstone and Miramax all our brands in the end? We don't need any independent production companies to join in, which is not good for the company's development."

"But the question is, has Touchstone succeeded?" Eisner sneered, "We originally hoped to use Touchstone to open up the PG-13 movie box office market, but has Touchstone brought us any masterpieces now? No ! Instead of waiting for the touchstone to develop slowly, I might as well invest in Galaxy Films, at least we can see the benefits now. Robert, since you are in distribution, can you talk about how much profit your Galaxy Films can bring us? "

Robert Chapok is the distribution president of Disney Films and the CEO of Bowei International. He thought for a while and said: "The current box office performance of Galaxy Movies is basically around 1 million to 2 million US dollars. For about 10% of the box office, we can get at least 5000 million to 7000 million gross profits from Galaxy every year. If we count the overseas distribution and video tape market, we should be able to get no less than 1 million US dollars Gross profit."

"I want to know, what reason do we have to reject this big cake?" Eisner asked rhetorically.

There is no objection from those present, because Disney has almost emptied the company's cash reserves in order to acquire ABC. Now there is a cash cow named Galaxy Films waiting for adoption. How can Disney have the capital to refuse?

"I suggest that Galaxy Films retain their distribution company and home entertainment company system, but the actual distribution is handed over to Budweiser International. Galaxy Movies will eventually become one of Budweiser International's labels, which is more beneficial to us." Robert suggested, "Although we cannot control or acquire Galaxy Films, I still suggest that it is safer to control them in our hands, so it is necessary to prevent them from getting involved in distribution channels."

"Disney has proposed a new cooperation plan." John came to the set to find Jed, "Basically, the conditions are similar to our estimate, but in terms of distribution, they are very tough. They demand that Bowei International is our future. The actual distribution company of the movie, and Galaxy Films is only one of the labels under Bowei International. They are willing to let us retain the establishment of a distribution company and a home entertainment company, but they do not allow us to contact any distribution channels. Therefore, our distribution company and The home entertainment company is actually just a marketing and planning company of Bowei International, what do you think of this cooperation plan?"

Jed frowned when he heard John's return.It is precisely because I don't know the distribution channels that I hope to find a big company to cooperate with, but the big company is not a fool, and naturally it will not give me the opportunity to "grow wings".Jed thought for a long time, and finally asked: "From your professional point of view, how do you think this will be agreed?"

"Although it did not meet expectations, it is definitely a good cooperation agreement." John said, "No company will stand on our side and serve us, and Disney is the same. Jed, I must remind you A basic law about business operations, no one company will be able to control everything, because before you want to do this, there will be a law called "Antitrust Act" to stop you. Procter & Gamble is not necessarily going to start its own Wal-Mart, right? Galaxy Films has to get our work out to as many places as possible in the shortest amount of time, and obviously Disney fits our needs. Before we become Procter & Gamble, it wouldn’t be bad to be a Wal-Mart specialist supplier, right? Wait for us At the level of P&G, we can not only cooperate with Wal-Mart, but also cooperate with Costco.”

"Are you optimistic about this contract?" Jed asked John back.

"As your personal lawyer, it's a great way to grow your assets quickly from a personal asset perspective."

"I see." Jed nodded, "I'll bring it up at the company meeting."

Jade returned to the company for a meeting after a short break from filming "12 Monkeys."On the one hand, it is because of the discussion of cooperation with Disney, and on the other hand, it is also necessary to plan the film distribution work in the second half of the year.Now not only John Woo's "Jumanji" has been finalized, but even Galaxy Animation Studio's "Toy Story" has been completed.What made Jade happiest was the investment promotion of "Toy Story". The two largest toy companies in the United States, Hasbro and Mattel, have repeatedly raised prices for the ownership of the toy images in the movie. In addition, the Japanese company Sanrio's In the end, Mattel bought the images of all the toys in "Toy Story" and its sequels in a package of US$2 million, and will become the authorized manufacturer of his toys in "Toy Story".

It can be said that this animated film has not yet been released, and Jed has already earned the production cost of the next two sequels.Coupled with the image licensing fees in the future, this cartoon will most likely become a cash cow for Galaxy Movies.Jed saw the report of Galaxy Animation Studio and deeply realized how Disney built a business empire through Mickey Mouse.

When discussing the cooperation plan with Disney, everyone unanimously agreed to this cooperation agreement, and believed that although this is not the best result, it is already a good result.If it was in the past, Jed would feel that everyone had no courage, but now Jed understands a truth. In addition to courage, ability is also very important in doing things.

"If there are no accidents, Disney will distribute the movies in the second half of this year, and next year our distribution will be fully entrusted to Bowei International." Jed said, "I hope that colleagues in distribution companies and home entertainment companies can borrow This is an opportunity to learn from the distribution experience of big companies. We will have three films in the second half of the year, and "Toy Story" will be released around the Thanksgiving holiday as a pre-heating work for our Christmas file; and then we will arrange "Game of the Brave" " went directly to the Christmas file as our annual masterpiece; finally, "12 Monkeys" is the finishing work."

"I don't think there is any problem with the arrangement of "Toy Story" and "Jumanji", but," Meribo suddenly raised a question, "is it too risky to arrange a sci-fi movie for Christmas? Easter or Valentine's Day festival?"

"This is not a simple sci-fi movie, but more of a disaster movie, or a horror-themed sci-fi movie." Jed replied seriously, "I am very confident that this movie will hit the Christmas box office. After all, everyone Being bored to death by a group of historical themes or biographies, there must be an exciting movie for everyone to watch? Of course, it will be of great help to us to hit the Saturn Award once the Saturn Award It will be very helpful for our distribution in the European market and the Japanese market. And we will also take advantage of the opportunity to win the MTV Movie Award, which will be very helpful in promoting our distribution in overseas markets.”

"Then I have no objection." Mai Ruibo shrugged, "I hope we can reach an agreement with Disney as soon as possible."