Chapter 556 The Old Fox's Words Are Sincere

Since the 1980s, caa has expanded the business scope of agents, and more professional script agents have appeared. Since the channels have been smooth, in addition to the various types of adapted scripts specially hired by film companies to write, Hollywood film companies receive thousands of scripts every year. The original script of the plan, because once these scripts are picked by big film companies, and even sold for millions of dollars, they often make many poor boys who were originally penniless into the ranks of millionaires, so Hollywood has another choice for original scripts. A title, both 'speculative play'. Eric's first script, "Back to Seventeen", was a very successful speculative script.

In recent days, in order to select projects for DreamWorks Studios, which was established in cooperation with MGM Pictures, Eric always carries a thick tome with him wherever he goes, which looks like a small sixteen. It is a famous novel, but the tome of five or six hundred pages is actually a script outline submitted by many Hollywood agencies.

After the news of the selection of the script was released, Eric's desk was initially filled with preliminarily screened scripts every day. With his current situation, it was impossible for Eric to take enough time to read them one by one, so he simply ordered After a few words, a day later, the script synopsis, which was carefully bound according to Eric's request, was sent to him. Except for some necessary script writers and other information, each script was reduced to a short story of about two or three pages.

Rupert Murdoch sat on the main road of Firefly Studios in his luxury car, looking at the huge photo studios and the busy people on both sides, he couldn't help feeling a little emotional, but thinking of today's meeting, a ray of worry Come to mind again.

The luxury car passed through the office area and stopped outside a well-decorated restaurant inside Firefly Studios.

Because it was not yet lunch time, there were not many people in the restaurant. When Murdoch walked into the restaurant, he saw a simple T-shirt and jeans in the corner, reading a book in a leisurely manner, as if any one in Firefly Studios Eric, an ordinary young employee.

If not witness the whole process. Who can imagine that a young man who is not even twenty-five years old can annex Disney from scratch in just a few years and establish a large-scale Firefly Films.

Although the source of funds for the annexation of Disney is a miracle, with the current global box office scale of "Jurassic Park", Murdoch knows that even without the oil crisis brought about by the war two years ago, Firefly Pictures has developed into a Hollywood giant. one of the film companies. It's also just a simple matter of time.

Out of the corner of Eric's eyes, he felt someone entering the restaurant, and when he looked up, he realized that it was Murdoch. He quickly put down Ben and got up to greet him: "Rupert, didn't you make an appointment for twelve o'clock, why did you come so early?"

Murdoch shook hands with Eric with a smile on his face, and said, "I was curious about how you looked when you were working, so I came over to see it in advance. I didn't expect them to tell me you were here."

Eric and Murdoch sat down together,

"I've just been here talking to a director, and he hasn't left for long," explained the man.

Murdoch asked curiously: "Is it "007" or "Charlie's Angels", I heard that MGM gave you "007" too?"

"'007' won't be produced until next year at least. And I won't get involved too much. Currently, 'Charlie's Angels' is the main one, but it's a coincidence that I chose the same director for both films, the one I just met. Man, Martin Campbell."

Murdoch didn't think of Martin Campbell for a while, though. There must be something special about someone who can let Eric deliver two heavyweight film guides at the same time. Murdoch secretly took this name in his heart and planned to let people investigate. Maybe Fox can also win over. .

The waiter quickly served Murdoch a cup of coffee, and Murdoch took a sip. But he was reluctant to mention the topic of today's meeting. Seeing the tome book that was neatly bound but had no title in front of Eric, he continued chatting and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"For the DreamWorks thing, I received a lot of scripts recently, and I had people do a simple script synopsis, which was quite interesting to read," Eric said. Pushed Ben in front of Murdoch.

Like other Hollywood studios, Murdoch is very envious of Eric's plan to supply MGM with ten films in three years using DreamWorks as his production company, and Fox wouldn't even mind equal conditions if possible. Cooperation. After all, an average of three high-quality films a year will not make a big film company dependent on the production company, but also bring very rich benefits, and no one will not covet. But he is also very aware of a series of intricate black market transactions behind the establishment of DreamWorks, so he can only watch this piece of fat fall into the hands of MGM, a Hollywood "shattered settlement", just like other film company executives.

Murdoch simply flipped through it, then handed it to Eric and said, "These are all speculative scripts, right? Can you pick out a good one?"

The ones that can be sent to Eric must be good scripts. Of course, Eric is more in the mind of 'picking leaks'. It would be even better if he could come across a good movie script in his memory. If you can't, just read a short story collection, and when you come across a script that you are very interested in and the budget is not too high, Eric will pick it out and give it to the production department to try.

Of course, Eric will not put all his attention on these original scripts in his hands. He also asked people to investigate some good movies that will appear in the next few years according to the memory of his previous life. If it is not enough in the end, Eric also intends to choose a few blockbusters that did not appear in the original time and space to make. As for the result, it is not in his consideration. Anyway, DreamWorks does not have too many interests in Firefly Pictures. As long as he guarantees that most of the ten films will make money, he is already worthy of those European investors.

Putting aside the Ben that Murdoch handed over again, Eric replied, "My vision is still good."

Murdoch is really very envious of Eric's 'vision'. If he could have had Eric's discerning vision, News Corporation would have ruled the world long ago. Of course, this is definitely only for envy. He picked up the coffee and took another sip. Murdoch said: "I thought you would write the script yourself."

"Of course I'll play one or two films if I'm interested, just like Charlie's Angels, but my energy is still limited," Eric didn't seem to want to talk about the topic when he saw Murdoch. I'm not in a hurry, anyway, the withdrawal plan for Firefly Pictures to withdraw from Fox TV has been submitted to Fox a few days ago. Even if Murdoch is not willing to talk this time or even the two of them broke down, then Firefly Pictures will also You can withdraw from Fox TV completely in accordance with normal business processes, of course, in this case, it will definitely take a little longer.

Suddenly it was twelve o'clock. When it comes to meal time, the studio has a large staff canteen. But there are still many employees who walk into this restaurant from time to time. Although they saw two big Hollywood bosses sitting here, these employees consciously did not come to the table around Eric and Murdoch, but at this time they also It's not time for business anymore.

After ordering two lunches, Eric and Murdoch continued chatting. After lunch, seeing that the people in the restaurant were almost gone, Eric asked the waiter to remove the utensils and replace them with coffee.

Both are busy people. At this time, Murdoch did not mention some irrelevant topics, and Eric took the initiative to say: "Rupert, you should have seen the withdrawal plan, right?"

Murdoch nodded, took a sip of the coffee, the bitter taste made him frown, and added a few pieces of sugar to the coffee before Murdoch said: "Eric. Although Firefly Pictures has been in the past two years The development is very good, but don't you think that you are taking this step too quickly?"

"Since you have seen the road ahead, of course you have to walk there early. It is better than going forward with a group of people in the future."

From Viacom and its bid for Paramount this year, the media group's mergers and acquisitions have kicked off. There are only three large TV companies in the United States. The pace is slow, and they will definitely compete with other groups in the future. In this way, both the difficulty of acquisition and the price paid will greatly increase.

"With your character, even if you choose a certain percentage of stock-for-stock mergers and acquisitions, you will definitely not give up too many shares, and you don't plan to list Firefly Pictures. The only way is to issue bonds," Murdoch said lightly. Speaking out the plan conceived by Eric, he said: "You should know the risks involved, many companies that had developed very well were dragged down due to the huge accumulation of debts in the process of unrestrained mergers and acquisitions. Just like MGM now, because of the accumulation of a large amount of debt, even if it generates some profits every year, it is often only reluctant to pay the debt interest. Apart from being repeatedly sold by shareholders to earn some profits, this film company has no value at all. If If it expands blindly, Firefly Pictures is likely to fall into this situation.”

Murdoch said here, took a sip of the already sweet coffee, continued to look like a kind elder, and said to Eric earnestly: "Eric, simply calculate, even if Firefly Pictures releases fifty A long-term bond of $100 million, at an annual interest rate of 5%, pays as much as $250 million in debt interest each year, not to mention the debt principal of $5 billion, which will always be repaid, and the film investment Uncertainty is high, it is impossible to maintain high profits all the time, and TV is not so easy to operate. Once Firefly Pictures falls into losses, you will find that the originally enthusiastic Wall Street capital forces will immediately open their claws. Trying to take control of your company as a creditor is something I've personally encountered more than once."

Of course, Eric has thought about these issues repeatedly, and he already has many solutions in mind.

At this time, Eric of course also knew that Murdoch could not really be thinking of him. This old fox just didn't want to lose the original cooperative relationship with Firefly Pictures.

Except for a few TV programs, the high-quality films produced by Firefly in the past two years will basically choose Fox TV as the platform for the broadcast of TV channels. To a large extent, the brand reputation of Fox TV has been improved, and in this regard, the performance of 20th Century Fox is much worse.

Once Firefly Pictures acquires its own TV, the original cooperation between the two parties will definitely be cancelled, and even become a hostile relationship.

Losing the film supply of Firefly Pictures is second, but at this time, several major programs on Fox TV, "Friends", "The X-Files" and "Who Will Be a Millionaire" are inextricably linked with Firefly Pictures contact. Although Murdoch has created a series of miracles in the newspaper business, he is not very good at media content. For example, in recent years, although there are several TV shows such as "Friends" to support the ratings, Fox TV is not very good at it. It has not developed a popular TV show with its own copyright.

The importance of these pillar programs to a TV, not to mention others, can be seen by thinking about the astronomical salary of the six leading actors in the last few seasons of "Friends" in the original time and space for a single episode of millions of dollars.

Although Eric is young, Murdoch does not regard Eric as a young man who has not experienced the world at all. He believes that if necessary, even if Eric cannot withdraw all three programs, he will take these three programs. Block the show and ruin it all because Murdoch knows he will do it when he has to. And Firefly Pictures, which holds at least half of the copyright, definitely has this authority.

After speaking again with a dry mouth, Murdoch picked up the coffee again, and at the same time looked at the indifferent expression of the young man opposite, and couldn't help sighing in his heart.

Putting down the coffee cup, Murdoch finally had to ask: "Eric, since you've made up your mind, let's talk about "Friends", the acquisition of TV is not an overnight thing, but after this year, Fox TV and Firefly's contract on Friends is about to expire, how about we talk about the renewal?"

The copyright of "Friends" belongs entirely to Firefly, and the other two programs are five-season contracts, which will not expire until next year, and, first of all, when talking about "Friends", Murdoch is also testing Eric. manner.

Eric didn't go around in circles, and said bluntly: "Rupert, "Friends" will definitely not be renewed, but, for the other two programs, I can assure you that after the contract expires next year, Firefly Pictures will still be able to Renew the contract with Fox TV." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for a recommendation or a monthly pass. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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