In the mid-1990s, the American cable TV industry took advantage of the new technology wave and was on the verge of an explosion.

As long as FFM is operated properly, at the peak of the new technology wave in five years, how can the valuation only double? Five times and ten times are very conservative estimates. The options worth more than 10 million US dollars that Eric promised Weinstein at this time may even bring returns of hundreds of millions of dollars. As long as the development of FFM TV station reaches expectations, Eric will never be stingy in paying management compensation.

However, Harvey Weinstein obviously doesn't think so. After all, not everyone can see the future. He shook his head and said, "Eric, I can accept an annual salary of $250,000, but there are too few options for 1 million shares."

Eric said: "Harvey, after this cable TV company is handed over to you, at an annual growth rate of 30%, the company's market value will be about four times that of now in five years, and the final salary will be more than $40 million. This is already very generous. Whether it is Firefly or News Corp., there are no more than ten executives with annual salary of tens of millions."

Harvey Weinstein opened his mouth and wanted to refute it, but failed to say it. He couldn't say that he didn't have the confidence to achieve an annual growth rate of 30%, right?

For companies that have passed the period of rapid development, it is indeed not easy to achieve an annual growth rate of 30%, and it is more just a success. However, for a newly established startup like FFM that has sufficient financial and resource support, if it cannot achieve an annual growth rate of 30%, it cannot be considered a success.

Seeing that Weinstein was hesitant, Eric thought for a while and said, "If you think the option risk is too high, we can take another method to set up a special bonus. As long as you complete your annual performance target, you can get this bonus. However, I can only give you a bonus of $5 million at most."

Sony used this method when he hired Peter Cooper to manage Colombia. Peter Cooper's contract was also five years, and Sony set up a bonus of $50 million. In the end, Peter Cooper took the bonus and left a mess for Sony.

Sony is only a foreigner who will be cheated. Fireflies and News Corporation certainly won’t make such a mistake. However, with the level of CEO of Peter Coopers, the bonus amount is only 50 million US dollars, and Eric certainly cannot set up too high bonus amounts for Weinstein, otherwise executives of the two companies at the same level as Weinstein will definitely be dissatisfied.

Harvey obviously also knew the rules, and his expression was even hesitant. It was undoubtedly very safe to choose the bonus.

Although he has received a lot of money from Miramax in the past two years, this is also when the year is good. The variables in the film industry have always been very high. Perhaps next year, they will not get a penny of dividends due to losses.

However, the high return rate of options is also very attractive, but it also comes with very high risks. The continuous growth described by Eric is just a best state. If the FFM valuation drops sharply in one year due to huge losses and other factors, then the efforts of the previous year or two may be wasted.

Finally, Weinstein said: "Eric, can you give me a few days to consider?"

"No problem," Eric nodded. He didn't expect Weinstein to agree on the spot, and said, "If you are not in a hurry to leave, maybe you can listen to my thoughts on FFM, which should help you decide whether to accept the job."

Harvey smiled cheerfully and complimented: "Of course I'm happy, I don't think anyone will miss this opportunity."

FFM starts with the establishment of the project and determines the goal of chasing it is HBO.

Since its establishment in the early 1970s, HBO has changed its slogans in total, which is actually HBO's exploration of the paid cable platform business model.

HBO's current slogan is the 'We\\'re-Out-of-Town-Today' determined in 1993. The most classic and long-lasting slogan HBO implies that the HBO business model has completely matured, "This is not TV, this is HBO," and has not yet been released.

‘This is not TV, this is HBO’ actually also represents HBO’s most core business philosophy, which not only gives viewing experiences that are completely different from ordinary TV programs. It is precisely around this core that while introducing hundreds of excellent movies every year, HBO has persistently invested huge amounts of money to produce a large number of high-quality dramas with a production specification and concept that is not inferior to the movie.

Since HBO has not launched its own classic slogan, Eric did not hesitate to replace it with 'This is not TV, this is FFM'.

Based on the memories of his past lives and the information he has reviewed recently, he discussed in detail his development ideas for FFM TV with Murdoch and Weinstein.

Since we decided to put forward the slogan of "This is not TV, this is FFM", this paid cable station must be completely de-TV-oriented, completely eliminate the profit model of conventional TV stations based on advertising revenue, and make profits through user subscriptions and copyright operations. While introducing high-quality content, FFM needs to produce more high-quality self-made dramas. Of course, this does not mean blindly spending money to pursue large investments and large productions, but based on the current situation of FFM audiences as the elite group of social elites, it produces more open and more thoughtful and artistic works that meet the taste requirements of this group of audiences.

The three then discussed other details such as brand building and paying attention to user satisfaction. Eric also talked about some big data concepts that appeared more than ten years later. It was not until 8 o'clock in the evening, and after dinner, the three of them left.

After a busy day and a little tired, Eric did not rush back to the sharp corner manor, but went to Drew's residence in Trausdale Manor nearby.

The girl didn't know where she went, and there was no one in the villa. Eric sent the driver away, took out the key and opened the door and entered the house.

I took a shower, went to the living room in my bathrobe, turned on the TV, sat on the sofa with my laptop, watching TV while checking today's emails.

Judging from the reaction when Weinstein left, he had basically confirmed that he would accept the job, and at most he would only strive for some salary. Finding a suitable manager, Eric began to consider the next plan.

In the media field, the core of competition is still content after all.

If FFM wants to quickly become famous and establish a brand, it is definitely not enough to introduce external film and television copyrights, and homemade content with sufficient topicality is essential.

Apart from "The City of Suowang", which has been taken to Lifetime, the first thing Eric thinks of is "The Black Doom Family".

In the original time and space, due to the rise of the Internet, mainland audiences are much more familiar with "House of Cards" produced by Netflix than "The Black Dooms".

With the strong influence of "House of Cards", Netflix surpassed HBO in the number of subscribers, and in the following years it even left HBO far behind. The status of "The Black Doom" in HBO is actually equivalent to Netflix's "House of Cards". Although it once had many fine series such as "The City of Desire", "Six Footballs", "Brothers Company", etc., it was actually the one who really pushed HBO into the dominant position of paid cable platforms.

Back then, even in China, Eric often heard the famous "The Black Dooms".

This TV series masterpiece ranks first in the "Greatest TV Series in History" among many Western media. Although the influence of "The City of Hope" was very strong, it was limited to women, but "The Black Doom Family" was able to become the focus of the topic at the national level.

Generally speaking, dramas of the same quality are usually larger than the basic cable station in terms of viewership, and the basic cable station is larger than the paid cable station.

Due to the inherent disadvantage of audience base, few TV programs of paid cable channels can squeeze into the top ratings rankings, but "The Black Dooms" did it. At the peak of HBO, this TV series even achieved more than 10 million viewers. Compared with the total number of subscribers of other paid cable channels, the ratings data of "The Black Dooms" is simply a miracle. It is precisely because of the ratings data of "The Black Dooms" that HBO was able to become the overlord of paid cable channels.

The rise of "The Black Dooms" has many reasons, but it is inseparable from the excellent quality of the series and the tastes that cater to the American media and audience.

Although the emergence of Eric has changed Hollywood history, David Chess, the screenwriter of "The Black Dooms", still wrote the script because the creativity of this script was conceived by David Chess based on some of his personal experiences when he was a teenager. The story has been brewing in David Chess' mind for many years.

David Chess is currently a well-known producer in the TV industry and has participated in the production of the CBS hit drama "Northern Storm".

However, the script sales of "The Black Dooms" were not so smooth. While Eric paid attention to this, several major TV stations, including ABC, had received this script. However, the senior executives of the four major TV stations were not interested in this cold-style alternative gangster film, so they chose to refuse without exception.

In the past history, the production process of "The Dark Family" was even more difficult. After selling to several major TV networks ineffective, David Chez turned his goal to a smaller cable TV station. HBO finally won the script in 1997, but the production intention was not so strong. At David Chez's strong request, HBO finally approved the production funds for a pilot episode. David Chez personally directed the pilot episode, but was suppressed by HBO for more than a year. It was not until 1999 that "The Dark Family" finally came on the TV screen, and then it was a miraculous rise.

Eric recently asked Firefly's copyright department to contact David Chess again and wanted to get the script. There is another coincidence among them. The agent of David Chess's script is Brad Gray, who was once the assistant of Weinstein and currently has created a production company alone.

Of course Eric would not come forward in person about this matter, otherwise he would have told others clearly, come and grab it.

Eric specifically told the head of the copyright department to report to himself the negotiation progress of "The Black Doom Family" in a timely manner. He opened the email and quickly found a related email.

Perhaps because of the change in Firefly's attitude towards the script of "The Black Dooms", David actually asked to be the director and producer in the negotiations and participate in the selection of roles, Brad Gray refused to completely let go of the production of the series.

Compared to Fireflies' hugeness, Brad Gray's production company is like an inconspicuous small workshop. As long as the other party is not insatiable to share copyright, Eric doesn't mind giving the other party a little sweetness. As for David Chez who wants to participate in the production of the series, Eric wants to see it.

After writing a reply, Eric turned off the email interface and opened the Yahoo portal to browser the latest news.

It was unknown how long it took for Eric to fall asleep on the sofa, when Drew, wearing a blue evening gown, came back from outside with his twins.

"Eric," the girl entered the door and threw herself into Eric's arms and kissed her harshly.

Eric pushed away the laptop between the two, hugged the girl's waist, and asked, "Where are you going crazy? You're back so late?"

"It's not crazy. Godfather's party, I can't stop going," the girl said, twisting her body, pressing her tighter on Eric, and shaking her calves. The twins quietly stepped forward, helped the girl take off her high heels, and took the initiative to put away the laptop that was tilted aside. One of them asked softly, "Boss, do you want to take a shower?"

"Yeah, I'll wash with Eric later."

Eric smiled and said, "I've washed it."

"Then let's wash it again," the girl hugged Eric's neck and acted coquettishly.

Erickane had nodded, waited for the twins to leave to prepare hot water before asking again: "What party does Steven invite you to this time?"

"It's still some business cooperation," the girl obviously didn't have the heart to say this, just said, "Anyway, I always feel that the godfather and the others can't do much this time."

Eric smiled. At the end of last month, with the support of Microsoft, Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, George Lucas and others officially announced the plan for the big studio. Perhaps Eric took away the name of DreamWorks in advance, and the new studio did not rename it, but integrated all the resources of several parties into Amberlin Pictures under Spielberg's name.

Microsoft invested $500 million in the first batch and promised to provide technical support in film and television special effects and computer animation, and obtained 25% of the equity in Amberlin. George Lucas merged Lucas Film and Industrial Light and Magic into the company, and also held 25% of the shares. Amberlin will also obtain the production rights of Star Wars. Spielberg holds 30% of the equity for the remaining 50% of the equity. As the earliest initiator of the large studio project, David Geffen only obtained 20% of the equity this time, and there is a vague trend of being excluded from the core circle. It can be imagined that as long as Microsoft conducts the second and third round of capital injections, the first one to dilute the equity will definitely be David Geffen.

At the same time, Amberlin also signed a distribution agreement with Paramount for eight films in the next five years.

Eric has been paying attention to these things. Just like the girl's feeling at this time, Eric also felt that it is unlikely that Spielberg and others would grow the studio this time.

Not to mention the shortcomings in distribution channels and the secret suppression of the former seven major studios, Spielberg and George Lucas are not the kind of ambitious people. Although many people call Spielberg a film businessman, his personal indecisive personality is completely unsuitable for running a large studio.

Take this one, it is said that during the cooperation negotiations, Spielberg also told other partners that he would do his best to run the company, but at the same time maintain the right to cooperate with other film companies alone. Is this like something an ambitious person can say?
Chapter completed!