An open-air restaurant halfway up the hillside of Beverly Hills.

In the rising sun, two Hollywood tycoons, Barry Diller and Michael Eisner, were sitting leisurely on the terrace overlooking the entire Los Angeles.

After ordering the meal, Michael Eisner said to Barry Diller: "You haven't seen last week's box office report, right? 13.88 million U.S. dollars, a total of 53.85 million in three weeks. Goldberg finally won't do it again this year.

It’s so embarrassing.”

Today is May 1st, Friday.

Michael Eisner did not mention the name of the movie, but Barry Diller understood that the only movie that can achieve a box office of more than 10 million US dollars in a single week during this unpopular period is Fox's "The Butterfly Effect" which is still in theaters.

》This one.

Since he was focused on the operation of the Fox TV network, Barry Diller really didn't pay much attention to the movie business, and asked: "What about "Run Lola Run"?"

Michael Eisner's expression became more emotional, he shook his head slightly and said: "7.59 million US dollars, a total of 175.6 million, Orion may earn more than 80 million from the box office alone. Add in "Platoon",

From February to now, Orion's stock price has tripled, and its market value is now close to $1 billion. I heard that both Summer Redstone and John Kruger are planning to seize control of Orion."

Barry Diller also felt a little incredible. Thinking of a certain young man who was being talked about everywhere during this period, he couldn't help but said: "What a miraculous little guy. Maybe you should make time to meet him."

Michael Eisner smiled and said: "If you want to see him, you can come with me to Burbank later."

Barry Diller made a confused look.

At this time, the waiter brought their breakfast, and the conversation paused for a moment. After the waiter left, Michael Eisner picked up the tableware and ate breakfast, and then said: "That little guy opened a production company.

Did you hear that?"

Barry Diller smiled and nodded, saying: "Of course, Daenerys Pictures also poached one of our Fox production vice presidents."

Michael Eisner showed a gloating smile and continued: "Daenerys Pictures is looking for a film distribution cooperation, and Disney should be one of their choices. In addition, Simon Westeros also handed over a

The animation script has been given to us, and we want to entrust Disney to produce it. Amy Pascal and I have made an appointment to have a formal discussion today. We will wait for someone to make a call and ask Westeros to come with us."

Barry Diller nodded, paused, and then shook his head slightly.

The two were colleagues at ABC, and Michael Eisner knew Barry Diller very well. When he noticed his little moves, he understood that the shaking of his head afterward was actually directed at Ronald Goldberg.

Simon Westeros has already collaborated with Fox Films on two movies. "The Return of the Dead" may have yet to be verified, but "The Butterfly Effect" has been very successful. In this case, Fox should have been the one to film Daenerys.

The best partner in the industry.

Now, Ronald Goldberg has apparently passed up another chance.

Michael Eisner actually didn’t like Ronald Goldberg very much. However, he also understood the deep friendship between Ronald Goldberg and Barry Diller, so he said: "

This is actually not Ronald's fault. The director and screenwriter of that movie were not from Westeros, and the script was relatively anti-mainstream. Daenerys Pictures was not only willing to give up the local theater distribution rights of the film, but also

I want the Easter slot next year.”

Barry Diller listened silently and asked: "Where are you here?"

"We originally planned to re-release "Bambi" next Easter, and there is no pressure to release a live-action movie. Also, you should have seen "Lola Run", although the success of this movie has

There are many accidental factors, but Westeros’s film skills are absolutely impeccable, and I plan to take the opportunity to sign him for a few films.” After Michael Eisner finished speaking, he smiled and said: “So, Barry, go and meet him.

That little guy?"

…

While Barry Diller and Michael Eisner were having breakfast, Simon woke up in his Century Tower apartment a little earlier.

The location is the study room.

Sighing secretly that the life of a bachelor was really bleak, Simon packed up a pile of financial books next to the sofa, got up and walked to the writing board embedded in the wall of the study room.

The large writing board is currently drawing two general trend charts of the Dow Jones Index and the S&P 500 Index in the next few months, as well as a dense mixture of Chinese, French, Spanish, Hebrew and other languages ​​​​around it.

text label.

It is not easy to search for this information from more than ten memories in his mind. Sometimes it is just a passing thought. Therefore, Simon saved up for a week to get this.

Just in case, Simon did not use English labels, and the other languages ​​were all suggestive words that only he could understand. Except for the two index charts, it was probably unlikely that the others would be discovered even if they were discovered.

understand.

After looking at it for a while, he carefully wiped away the two trend charts that had been drawn many times and had been completely engraved in his mind, leaving only various scattered text annotations, before Simon left the study.

An audition for a supporting role in "Pulp Fiction" was originally scheduled in the morning. Simon received a call from Amy while having breakfast. Michael Eisner wanted him to participate in today's meeting in person, so he had to change his schedule temporarily.

At eight o'clock, Simon met Amy first, and then rushed to the Disney headquarters in Burbank.

The secretary took the two people to a conference room. When Simon entered, he found that in addition to Michael Eisner, there was another middle-aged man sitting at the conference table. Moreover, he immediately recognized the other person's face.

Identity: Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO of Twentieth Century Fox.

Everyone greeted each other, Simon shook hands with Michael Eisner, then reached out to Barry Diller, and said with a smile: "Mr. Diller, it's nice to meet you. Your high-concept movie model makes all of us filmmakers admire us."

Benefited a lot.”

Barry Diller shook hands with Simon, and after hearing what he said, he pointed to the script of "When Harry Met Sally" that he was just reading, and asked with a hint of questioning: "But, Simon, I found that it has something to do with you.

None of his projects are high-concept movies?"

Simon noticed that both Amy and Eisner were looking at him with interest, waiting for his answer, and said with a relaxed tone: "Daenerys Pictures is just a child, and children can be more creative."

When you grow up, you will definitely have to behave yourself."

Seeing Simon's answer that was both decent and ambitious without hesitation, Barry Diller couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and said, "I'm looking forward to seeing what Daenerys Films will look like when it 'grows up'."

With that said, everyone sat down at the conference table. Simon saw that Michael Eisner did not intend to talk about business immediately, and he also understood that the two bosses specially called him here today, just to meet him.

In this case, Simon did not miss the opportunity in front of him and continued to say to Barry Diller: "Mr. Diller, I heard that you are helping Mr. Murdoch improve the Fox Television Network. Maybe we can cooperate next year."

Barry Diller looked at the young man sitting opposite him and asked: "Why not this year? Simon, this month is the pitch season. If you have a good idea, you can go to New York soon."

The North American television network determines its TV programs for the new year every May. Therefore, every year in this month, program producers from North America and around the world gather in New York to promote their television programs to the television network through various promotion meetings.

programme.

Simon shook his head and said: "Daenerys Pictures will definitely have no chance this year. Our strength is still too weak. But that won't be the case next year."

Barry Diller said: "Simon, you're telling me that Daenerys Pictures only needs one year to 'grow up'?"

"Of course not," Simon shook his head and said, "I mean, the WGA may go on strike next year. By then, Daenerys Pictures may be able to get some opportunities."

If Daenerys Pictures now wants to cooperate with the TV network, even if it has a good idea, the best result will be that the creativity will be bought, and then the TV network will entrust Daenerys Pictures to produce. In the end

Important copyrights must belong to the television network.

What Simon is looking forward to is that powerful program producers such as Warner and Universal will only sell the first-round broadcast rights to the TV network, while other distribution channels will still be in their hands. Only in this way can Daenerys Pictures obtain maximum benefits.

.

However, to achieve this goal in the short term, Daenerys Films can only seize the opportunity next year when major TV networks are affected by the writers' strike and are unable to produce enough TV programs.

Barry Diller heard the explanation of the young man in front of him, but said: "Simon, you should also be a member of the Writers Guild, right? If the WGA announces a strike next year, don't you plan to participate?"

Simon shook his head and said: "Barry, I am not a member of the WGA, and I have no plans to join the WGA."

When Barry Diller heard this, he couldn't help but look at Simon again for a moment, then he smiled, took out a business card from his suit pocket and handed it over, saying: "It's really nice to meet you, Simon. If I can do anything, I can

Call me."

"certainly."

Simon agreed, took Barry Diller's business card, and also took a business card and handed it over.

Barry Diller put away Simon's business card, stood up and said goodbye to everyone.

After sending Barry Diller away, the three of them returned to the conference room and sat down.

Michael Eisner opened the memo in front of him, almost subconsciously no longer paying attention to Amy Pascal, who had contacted him several times, and directly said to Simon: "About the cooperation on "When Harry Met Sally"

, Simon, Disney can give you an Easter schedule with a minimum of 1,000 screens. However, our requirement is that you need to sign two directorial contracts with Disney. You can write the script yourself or Disney can provide it. The salary will be based on the project.

It depends on the specific situation when it is confirmed. As for "The Lion King", Disney's animation department will not do projects for others. So, we hope to buy this script for $300,000, what do you think?"

Before this meeting, Michael Eisner originally planned to kill the above conditions.

However, with the conversation between Simon and Barry Diller lingering in his mind, and recalling the various deeds of the young people in front of him over the past year, Michael Eisner almost instinctively felt that Disney should talk about this cooperation.
Chapter completed!