The power structure in Hollywood is very complex and cannot simply be determined by a person's position.

Often, to understand a person's apparent and potential power, you only need to look at the hierarchy in Hollywood to which he reports.

If a president of a studio is directly responsible for the top management of the parent company, his power may be as powerful as the CEO. And a director of Spielberg's level can communicate directly with big bosses such as Steve Ross.

His potential influence exceeds that of studio CEOs.

Robert Rem's proposal did not surprise Simon.

In Hollywood at this time, Disney CEO Michael Eisner and President Frank Wells had this kind of equal relationship. Both reported directly to the Disney board of directors, and Michael Eisner had a higher position than Frank Wells.

Wells is at the first level, but in fact, he has no jurisdiction over Frank Wells and no authority to appoint or remove him. The two of them have their own respective tasks.

From what I can recall, Disney's check-and-balance power structure largely contributed to the company's rapid rise in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In the mid-1990s, Frank Wells died unexpectedly in a helicopter accident. Michael Eisner began to take control of Disney. In order to maintain his rule over Disney, he did not hesitate to eliminate dissidents. Fierce internal struggles made Disney lose control in the last ten years of his reign.

Gradually it drifted into mediocrity, only to be revived in the era of Robert Egger.

Simon agreed to Robert Rem's request without much hesitation.

If it is a listed publicly held company, this level of executive hierarchy can easily lead to internal struggles within the company. But for Daenerys Pictures, Simon is not worried about this. He owns the company

He has absolute control. Once there is internal strife among senior executives, he has enough power to kick the unstable factors out of the company at any time to eliminate the trouble.

After confirming this, the two discussed Robert Rehm's salary.

Daenerys Pictures is developing rapidly, and the expected profit situation is even more astonishing. Naturally, Simon will no longer be able to easily promise Robert Reim's company's overall net profit sharing plan like Amy did.

However, Simon is not stingy. In addition to the agreed three-year contract, which has the same basic annual salary of US$250,000 as Amy, Simon also agreed to set a bonus of up to US$3 million per year, based on Robert Rehm's performance.

Determine the amount of bonus he can receive.

In the current Hollywood, even among the seven major studios, there are absolutely only a handful of executives who can earn US$3 million a year. Even after Daenerys Pictures integrates New World Entertainment, it can only be regarded as a second-tier film company. Robert

Rem has no objection to this contract.

There are many precedents for such compensation plans in Hollywood. Therefore, how to judge Robert Rehm's business performance and other details only need to be negotiated by the lawyers of both parties based on past experience.

After discussing these, Robert Rehm also began to talk openly and honestly with Simon about the operating conditions and various problems of New World Entertainment.

New World Entertainment's current main problem is the lack of cash, and the Hollywood writers' strike has prevented the company's TV series projects that should have started preparations from starting. In addition, Robert Rehm also proactively admitted to Simon that New World Entertainment has about 20 million US dollars in various projects.

Type hidden debt.

The US$20 million did not exceed Simon's expectations, and the amount was within his affordability.

Now that he has confirmed that he has won Marvel, Simon has no intention of making any more trouble for the money. After all, this is just a common problem for Hollywood entertainment companies to make their financial situation look better, and it is not about shareholders or management lining their pockets. As long as New World Entertainment

If it can resume operations, this money can be directly absorbed into the company's abundant cash flow in the future.

The two talked for more than an hour, and Robert Rem said goodbye and left.

Simon saw Robert Rem off and just sat down behind his desk when Amy knocked on the door of his office.

"Simon, this is the advertising placement contract I just negotiated with Mars, AT-T and other sponsors. There are five companies in total. We can get a total of US$56 million in sponsorship fees. Also, this is Wells Fargo, Citibank, etc.

Several financing institutions have provided us with loan programs. I think Citigroup's program is the best, a 7-year loan of US$250 million. The annual interest rate they offer is 4.6%. The annual interest rate offered by Wells Fargo is 5%, but

The loan term is 5 years. Although Citigroup’s plan will require us to pay an additional US$20 million in interest, it can minimize our cash flow pressure.”

Simon glanced at the nonchalant look on Amy's face, smiled, and first looked through the financing options provided by several banks for Daenerys Pictures' acquisition of New World Entertainment.

Although he resisted borrowing money in his heart, Simon always knew that it was inevitable.

I quickly browsed the two plans of Wells Fargo and Citibank. Wells Fargo's 5-year loan contract, Daenerys Pictures will pay a total of 60 million US dollars in interest, Citibank's 7-year contract, the total interest is 8,000

Ten thousand U.S. dollars.

In both plans, the total interest alone exceeds the principal by more than 20%.

From this, it is not difficult to imagine why highly indebted companies such as New World Entertainment can easily fall into crisis. Once operating conditions are not good, such a company may not be able to even pay loan interest with annual profits.

In the deal for Daenerys Pictures to acquire New World Entertainment, General Electric has actually taken the initiative to reduce a large amount of debt interest.

After looking through the information in his hand for a while, Simon took the initiative and said, "I have reached an agreement with Robert Rem and he will stay."

Amy's eyes flickered and she hummed, waiting for Simon to continue.

Simon didn't pause much and continued: "You know, Amy, we made an agreement at the last dinner at Egger's house, so he will also join Daenerys Films next. My

The plan is that your position will be changed to CEO of the company, mainly responsible for the day-to-day administrative management of the company and the film production business. Robert Rehm and Robert Iger will serve as presidents at the same time, with Rehm in charge of film distribution and Iger in charge of the television business."

Amy nodded, finally feeling more relaxed.

During this time, Amy felt more and more unbelievable what she had experienced over the past year or so. A small business that had been established for less than two years had quickly grown into a top second-tier film company in her own hands. This was something she could never have imagined.

things.

Let’s not talk about anything else, except that the salary contract she originally requested from Simon is now worth something staggering.

With a 5% share of the company's net profits, based on Daenerys Pictures' operating performance this year, her personal income is likely to easily reach over ten million US dollars. If coupled with forward equity awards of equal value in the contract, it will be

The annual income exceeds 20 million US dollars. No executive in the entire Hollywood can earn such a terrifying annual income.

Many times, Amy herself has some doubts about whether she is worth so much.

This suspicion has turned into worry in recent times.

You know, you can get 20 million US dollars this year. Then, next year, just relying on the successful "Who Will Be a Millionaire" project, Daenerys Pictures' operating performance will not be too bad. This year, such as "Who Will Be a Millionaire"?

Revenue from post-production video and TV rights to projects like When Harry Met Sally will also start to bring in big bucks. By then, she may be earning even more.

Simon will definitely not be able to afford this money this year.

However, according to the original contract, if Simon did not want to continue to pay her huge salary, he only had to pay a liquidated damages of US$1 million to let her leave.

Occasionally thinking about it, Amy felt that if it were herself, she would probably do this.

After all, such a terrifying salary is enough for Simon to poach company managers who are far better than her. Daenerys Pictures’ merger with New World Entertainment once again exacerbated Amy’s worries, because she discovered

, but the current CEO of New World Entertainment, Robert Rehm, has far more qualifications than her in all aspects.

Ever since Simon negotiated the deal with Jack Welch and others, Amy has been worried that Simon would let Robert Rehm replace her.

Across the desk, Simon saw Amy nodding, and added: "By the way, Robert also made a condition to me. Although the position is below you, he hopes to report directly to me personally, and I agreed. Also,

It will probably be the same after Iger joins the job. Your qualifications will hardly suppress the two of them, and you should know this, so I hope you can accept this and cooperate with them."

Amy was a little surprised, but quickly nodded again.

After a moment of silence, she took the initiative and said: "Simon, since there is a position adjustment, I think I can re-sign a salary contract."

Simon turned the page of the information in his hand, glanced up at Amy, and said with a smile: "Are you dissatisfied with the current salary plan?"

Amy felt Simon's relaxed tone with a bit of ridicule, and wanted to roll her eyes at her young boss, but held back and said: "I mean, my current salary is too generous, I can take less."

Some. Probably, 2% will be fine.”

"There's no need," Simon shook his head and said, "Amy, when you resigned from your position as vice president of Fox Pictures to work for a young guy like me, you took a big risk. Moreover, this year

For many years, you have been working almost seven days a week and have not taken a vacation yet. This makes me very satisfied. I have always believed that hard work is more important than talent. If you didn't take care of this company, just rely on me

It is impossible for Daenerys Pictures to reach its current level by one person. Therefore, you are completely worthy of this reward. Of course, after the contract expires, Daenerys Pictures will definitely further develop and grow. If you still

If you plan to stay, I may not offer you such a high share terms again."

After convincing Amy to let go of her worries, the two discussed the two pieces of information in front of Simon.

In the days that followed, Daenerys Pictures' audit of New World Entertainment continued, and another week of the North American summer season passed unknowingly.

During the week from July 8th to July 14th, one thing that attracted the most attention in Hollywood was undoubtedly the successful success of "Pulp Fiction" over 100 million.

In the 6th week of its release, "Pulp Fiction" collected another US$9.87 million, bringing the cumulative box office to US$105.66 million, successfully becoming the second film produced by Daenerys Films in 1988 with a box office of over 100 million US dollars. Moreover, according to this

Based on the movie's box office trends, the box office potential of "Pulp Fiction" is definitely more than 100 million US dollars, and it will go even further in the future.

With the box office of "Pulp Fiction" exceeding 100 million, many people immediately turned their attention to "Basic Instinct", which was released on July 15.

During this period, various topics about "Basic Instinct" have continued in the media.

As the last week of release approaches, gossip newspapers also revealed the news that leading actor Michael Douglas refused to attend a promotional event for "Basic Instinct" due to a poster issue, which once again aroused discussion in the media.

Fox Studios has recently launched a multi-story giant poster for "Basic Instinct" in prosperous areas of major central cities in North America, and even appeared in Times Square in New York.

However, in this poster, Michael Douglas, as the new actor and the absolute leading actor of "Basic Instinct", is completely invisible. There is only the heroine Linda Fiorentino in the entire poster, dressed sexy like a queen.

Sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, holding a cigarette in his hand, his chin slightly raised, his expression proud and dangerous.

Anyone who has watched the original "Basic Instinct" will definitely remember a certain episode where Sharon Stone sat on the sofa with her legs exposed while being interrogated. Many "crazy movie fans" will also pause and watch frame by frame. Of course, in reality,

You can't see anything on it. But that episode has been talked about by too many people for many years.

This plot will still appear in the new version of "Basic Instinct", and the scenes shot by Brian De Palma are no less impressive than those of Paul Verhoeven and Linda Fiorentino, who are already proud and rebellious.

His character is clearly revealed in the film. Therefore, Simon specially designed a poster for this purpose.

Due to the high popularity of "Basic Instinct", after this period of hard work, Fox Pictures finally expanded the opening scale again. When it was released on July 15, the number of opening screens for "Basic Instinct" finally reached 1,776.

As expected, "Basic Instinct" was officially released, which unsurprisingly triggered even more intense media controversy.

Moreover, due to Simon's many previous works, although it will also trigger various discussions, but carefully calculated, whether it is "Run Lola Run" and "Pulp Fiction" directed by Simon himself, or "The Butterfly Effect" directed by others

" and "Death Comes Here", the scripts of those films are excellent.

However, this time, in the eyes of many people, "Basic Instinct" is completely a racy erotic film. Except for a large number of sex scenes, this film was rated as Simon Weiss in just a few days.
Chapter completed!