Simon returned from Cannes, and the media discussion and controversy about "Pulp Fiction" winning the Palme d'Or became more and more noisy as the film approached its release, even overshadowing Ronald Reagan's upcoming state visit to the Soviet Union at the end of the month.

There was so much work accumulated in the two weeks he left that Simon didn't have time to fully adjust to the time difference and quickly immersed himself in the busy company affairs.

In addition to "Pulp Fiction", "Basic Instinct", which is scheduled to be released on July 15, has entered the final editing stage since it started filming in February. As an investor, screenwriter and the person who is most familiar with the selling points of this project, Simon naturally wants to participate.

Fox Pictures, which is responsible for the distribution of "Basic Instinct," has already released the first TV trailer for the film while Simon was attending the Cannes Film Festival. The film will be submitted to the MPAA for rating in early June.

During this time, Dustin Hoffman made some impromptu changes to the script of "Rain Man". The filming period of the film was inevitably extended again, and it is not expected to be completed until the end of June.

When Simon heard the news in Cannes, he could only hope that the project would not exceed a production budget of 25 million US dollars. He also realized that Tom Cruise's own screenwriter team would make all films starring him, no matter the ending, good or bad. Where do the bad things about 'Tom Cruise movies' come from?

In addition to "Rain Man", "Scream", "Steel Magnolias" and "Dead Poets Society" and other projects are progressing much smoothly. The selection of the male lead of "Batman" has entered the third round, and Simon has also begun Get involved yourself.

After attending numerous project demos, production meetings and casting auditions, Simon flew to New York again on May 30 to participate in NBC's "The Johnny Carson Tonight Show" to promote "Pulp Fiction" During the recording, Amy Pascal also rushed to the East Coast with Simon because of several reality shows.

At the same time, the competition for summer slots has also begun to become fierce.

Due to the weak reputation and box office of the special effects blockbuster "The Gathering" jointly produced by Lucasfilm and MGM, Paramount and Samsung unanimously chose to advance the release date of "Crocodile Dundee 2" and "Rambo 3" Available until Wednesday, May 25th.

As the runner-up box office sequel after "Top Gun" in 1986, "Crocodile Dundee 2" was finally released on 2,837 screens. "Rambo 3" starring Sylvester Stallone opened on 28 screens. It also reached 2562 yuan.

During the week from May 20th to May 26th, the seven-day cumulative box office of "The Gathering" was US$11.05 million, ranking first in the weekly box office rankings.

"Crocodile Dundee 2" ranked second, with box office figures reaching US$4.75 million in its first two days.

"Rabo", which ranked third on the list, had a two-day box office of US$4.46 million.

It is worth mentioning that the production budget of "Blood 3" has completely reached an out-of-control level of 63 million U.S. dollars. In comparison, the first "Crocodile Dundee 2" made 174 million U.S. dollars at the box office in North America two years ago. 》The production cost is still well controlled at US$14 million.

Moreover, this summer there will be another movie with a seriously out-of-budget budget, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

Disney originally prepared a budget of US$45 million for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", which was a rare large-scale production level in the 1980s, but Robert Zemeckis ultimately pushed the production cost of this project to US$70 million.

Dollar.

Now Disney simply cannot afford the failure of a project with a budget of $70 million. Although Simon knows that the final box office data of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is very good, at this time, internally at Disney, this project has become a popular choice.

Frightened, several people in charge publicly or secretly let themselves know in advance to shirk their responsibilities.

The release date of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is June 24th, let's not mention it yet.

Squeezed by three new films, "When Harry Met Sally", which has always had a very bright box office curve, saw its box office decline reach 33% this week, far exceeding the single-week decline of only 120% since its release.

In its 11th week of release, "When Harry Met Sally" took in another US$4.11 million, with a cumulative box office of US$94.23 million, one step closer to breaking 100 million.

While arriving in New York to record "The Johnny Carson Tonight Show," Simon also had to take care of the business of the Westeros company.

Jennifer's father, James Raybould, has already settled the loan matter during this time, Westeros' investment in Cisco and other companies, as well as some important matters of the many technology companies in which the company has stakes, and many related contract documents and memorandums

All this requires Simon to discuss with James Raybould in person for review and signature.

The other side.

Negotiations between Amy and the network continue.

The four major TV networks have all expressed interest in the four reality show plans proposed by Daenerys Pictures. However, because Daenerys Pictures wants to gain the initiative as much as possible so that it can share more profits later, things are not progressing.

It was so smooth.

Television networks generally classify these reality shows as traditional variety shows. This type of program usually comes with creative ideas from industry production companies or producers, and the television network buys the creative ideas and invests in them personally and owns the copyright. Even if it is outsourced

, the production company responsible for the program often only earns simple labor fees. If the program has higher ratings, it may receive an additional bonus, but that's it.

Simon would never accept this condition under any circumstances.

Phenomenal reality shows such as "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and "Survivor" were enough to support the ratings of a TV network in the original time and space. In my memory, the annual advertising revenue alone can bring hundreds of millions of dollars in net income to the TV network.

The profit and the boosting effect of the program on the ratings of the entire TV network are even more immeasurable.

Moreover, once this kind of reality show is successful, the future overseas production licensing fees will also be a very considerable income. Just like "Who Will Be a Millionaire", this reality show was popular in dozens of countries around the world at its peak.

They all have reproduced versions, and these require payment of copyright fees.

If the copyright is handed over to the TV network, the profits that Daenerys Pictures can share in the future will definitely shrink significantly, and the overseas licensing fees that can continue to bring in revenue will have nothing to do with the company.

Upper East Side, Raybould's apartment.

It’s already June 1st. Last night, “The Johnny Carson Tonight Show” aired a special interview with the creator of “Pulp Fiction.” The film is one step closer to being released. All pre-production publicity and marketing work has been completed. What’s next?

It all depends on the market performance of the movie.

Tonight is a dinner invitation from the Raybould family. In addition to Simon and Amy, Robert Egger and his wife, friends of the Raybould family, are also here.

After a period of tug-of-war, Daenerys Pictures finally reached its first contract with ABC yesterday regarding "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

ABC Television Network will acquire the North American rights to "Who Will Be a Millionaire?" Daenerys Pictures retains the rights outside North America and is fully responsible for the production of the show. According to the terms of the contract, ABC Television Network cannot get rid of Dany

Daenerys Films produces this program alone. At the same time, Daenerys Films cannot transfer this program to other television networks in the United States.

It can be said that this is a contract that neither party can kick out.

In addition, the project production budget and competition bonuses will be borne by Daenerys Films, and ABC will pay the program subscription fee for each season based on the ratings. Daenerys Films will next pre-produce a one-week pilot to test the program's effect.

, and is confirmed to be played the following week starting on June 20.

If the show meets the ratings standards, the two parties will negotiate the subscription price for the first season.

This year's autumn schedule has been severely affected by the writers' strike. Once the pilot of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" is passed, ABC plans to order 69 episodes of the program at one time and broadcast 3 episodes per week, which will exactly fill the network's traditional 23 episodes from autumn to spring.

Weekly schedule.

As an indoor quiz-type reality show, the production budget for each episode of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" is actually not high. Basic venue recording and other expenses only cost about US$200,000, and the bonus of US$1 million is not that good either.

The average total bonus payout of US$100,000 per period is more than enough.

However, even if calculated based on the expenditure of US$300,000 per episode, the cumulative production cost of the entire season of 69 episodes will exceed US$20 million, which is obviously a considerable expense.

ABC's break-even line is 10 million viewers for the fall season.

The audience size is less than 10 million, and the subscription price of the programs that ABC can provide will also be less than 20 million US dollars. Within the viewership range that the television network can tolerate, if Daenerys Pictures wants to retain this program, it can only rely on

Self-raised in-show sponsorship fees to supplement the production budget.

In this era when cable television has not yet become popular, the threshold of 10 million viewers is not low, but it is definitely not high. This also shows that ABC does not have high expectations for "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

In addition, because the pilot time is the most unpopular summer season for TV networks, ABC's standard for the number of viewers of the pilot episode is 6.5 million.

In the restaurant, everyone was enjoying the food and naturally discussing these reality shows.

Robert Iger happened to be placed opposite Simon. After chatting about "Who Will Be a Millionaire", the ABC executive turned the topic to "Survivor": "Simon, actually I think "Survivor"

More interesting than "Who Will Be a Millionaire". However, the risk of this show is too great. Because of the continuity of the plot, it must be produced for one season at once. It cannot arrange a pilot episode, and it cannot be immediately released if the ratings are not good.

Cut off. Therefore, I think it is best to arrange it to be broadcast in the summer schedule. In this way, if it succeeds, it can be moved to the autumn schedule. If it fails, it will not have a big impact on the TV network."

Simon nodded in approval, then shook his head and said: "Unfortunately, Bob, although we have done a lot of preliminary preparations, we are definitely too late in time."

Many popular reality shows in my memory were actually first put on the summer schedule for trial broadcasts, and then they were readjusted to the popular schedule after success. At the moment, reality shows have not yet taken off, and Robert Iger can easily see this, which undoubtedly shows

The network executive has a keen sense of professionalism.

"Actually, now is an opportunity. Everyone has no programs to broadcast this year, so we can only take some risks." Robert Iger continued with a smile: "So, Simon, if you can make some concessions on the terms of cooperation,

, I can call Daniel right now to finalize this."

Now that "Who Will Be a Millionaire" has been signed, Simon is no longer so anxious about the other three reality shows. As long as the pilot episode next month can be successful, these projects will naturally not lack buyers, Daenerys

The film industry can also gain more initiative.

Of course, if it fails, there's nothing you can do about it.

"Bob, the conditions for cooperation on "Survivor" that I can accept are similar to those on "Who Will Be a Millionaire?" This is a win-win cooperation plan. I don't think I have room to compromise," Simon shook his head and refused.

Then he said: "Speaking of which, Bob, if the TV business of Daenerys Pictures develops well in the future, would you be willing to jump over and help me?"

Simon had only done some testing through James Raybould before, but now he raised it in front of everyone, and everyone in the restaurant looked at Robert Egger.

Robert Egger was also a little surprised, but he quickly said: "Simon, if there is a better career development platform, I would be happy to change my job. But I can't see this kind of thing in Daenerys Pictures right now.

potential."

Simon smiled and said: "Can I take this as a promise?"

"You are a very amazing young man, and I am also curious about what will happen when I work for you. So, why not," Robert Egger shrugged, and asked Simon again in the eyes of everyone's surprise: "I remember

You tried to acquire New World Entertainment at the beginning of the year?"

Unexpectedly, he received an answer from Robert Egger. Simon did not hide the matter and said: "Yes, I still have not given up this effort."

"New World Entertainment is still very strong in the field of television program production," Robert Iger commented: "It's a pity that the pace of expansion is too large, and they have encountered stock market crashes and strikes one after another. They are destined to be unable to escape this disaster."

Simon nodded, looked at James Raybould, and asked: "Jim, what is the recent stock price of New World Entertainment?"

James Raybould thought for a moment and said: "It's not clear in the past few days. The closing price last Friday was 8.5 US dollars, and the total market value was about 210 million US dollars."

When trying to acquire New World Entertainment at the beginning of the year, the company's stock price once soared to nearly $17. Later, Simon made a gesture of giving up completely. Coupled with financial deterioration and strikes, New World Entertainment's stock price has plummeted in the past few months.

It fell back to a low state again.

After James Raybould finished speaking, he glanced at Simon meaningfully.

During this period, according to Simon's instructions, Westeros Company secretly bought another 1.23 million shares of New World Entertainment stock, still stuck below the public reporting line of 5% shareholding ratio. As long as necessary, Westeros Company

You can continue to absorb large amounts from the open market at any time.
To be continued...