Taking back the post-production rights of "Rain Man", Simon did not expect Barry Levinson to remain silent as he hoped.

What Simon didn't expect was that the next day, the "Hollywood Reporter" quickly published the front-page news that "Barry Levinson was forced to withdraw from the post-production period of "Rain Man"". The article completely placed Barry Levinson as the victim.

From the standpoint of the reporter, Simon's wanton interference in the production of "Rain Man" was vividly described from the perspective of Simon until yesterday when Barry Levinson was forcibly kicked out of the project he was responsible for.

As if arranged in advance, on the day the news was published, the two stars of "Rain Man", Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, accepted interviews with CNN at the same time, accusing Simon of disrespecting the film's creators.

Immediately afterwards, the Directors Guild of America issued a public statement on Friday, claiming that it would investigate whether Daenerys Pictures had violated the rights of directors.

In just a few days, Daenerys Pictures was quickly thrust into the center of a public opinion storm.

Hollywood has always been a producer-centered system.

Whether it’s the uproarious incident in the early 1980s that director Tobe Hooper of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was sidelined by producer Spielberg in the “The Ghostbusters” project, or Simon’s memory of “Justice” many years later.

The director-replacement tragedy of "Alliance", it is very common for directors to be kicked out during the film production process.

However, more ordinary people obviously don't care too much about these things.

Under the hype of the media, which is accustomed to sensationalism, an incident that is common in Hollywood was quickly exaggerated into a major incident that was close to a scandal.

New York.

Morton Street in Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan.

In a nine-story red brick building not far from New York University, this is the East Coast headquarters of New World Entertainment.

New World Entertainment occupies six floors of the nine-story red brick building. Half of the company's more than 110 employees other than Marvel are here, and the other half are in Los Angeles. The six-story office space accommodates fifty

Multiple employees are more than enough. New World Entertainment’s current employee size is actually the result of several layoffs.

Because it focuses on TV program production, New World Entertainment East Coast originally had nearly a hundred employees, but has laid off nearly half of its employees in the past six months. It is only because the lease of the office building has not expired yet that it has been occupying a large amount of vacant space.

It was August 2. After a month-long financing and audit work, Simon officially signed an acquisition agreement with New World Entertainment Chairman Larry Copping at the company's East Coast headquarters. The two companies

For this reason, high-level officials, big and small, gathered in New York.

After finishing various signing and handover processes in the morning, a group of senior executives from the two companies, mainly New World Entertainment, gathered in the largest conference room in the office building after lunch.

Simon next plans to use this six-story office building as the East Coast headquarters of Daenerys Entertainment. Although he has bought several buildings with better conditions in the uptown area, according to the plan, the residents there will probably be in

Moving out will only begin around 1990.

Although it was the longest day in summer, long meetings involving personnel adjustments, financial planning and project discussions were still held until the lights began to turn on in Manhattan. Fortunately, a company bankruptcy in which everyone lost their jobs was avoided.

Following a promising new owner, everyone's interest was very high.

After the meeting, Daenerys Pictures also arranged a dinner at a nearby hotel, and it wasn't until ten o'clock in the evening that everyone dispersed.

Simon did not have time to spare, but returned to New World Entertainment headquarters with Amy Pascal, Robert Rehm, and Robert Egger, who had successfully resigned from ABC to join Daenerys Pictures.

Everyone sat down in a small conference room, and Jennifer personally made coffee for everyone. Simon took the coffee handed over by the female assistant and said thank you softly, but his expression was not so relaxed.

"Simon, if things continue to ferment like this, many directors in Hollywood will definitely avoid cooperating with us out of scruples. This is a very difficult problem," said Robert Rehm, the oldest person among the people present: "

We must clarify and fight back as soon as possible."

If it is not necessary and we have been busy all day long, we will naturally not gather together late at night.

The discussion at this time was naturally the Barry Levinson firing incident that suddenly broke out a few days ago. Simon did not let this incident affect the work rhythm of Daenerys Pictures, and completed the work of New World Entertainment step by step.

The acquisition finally secured this company and Marvel Entertainment, which he valued most.

However, no matter what, Daenerys Films will definitely have to face this problem.

What Simon hasn't been able to figure out these days is why Barry Levinson wanted to make this incident known to everyone. Even, there is obviously a shadow of CAA behind it. Although he is a first-line director, without the support of the entire CAA

, it is simply impossible for Barry Levinson alone to cause such a big fuss in just a few days.

After all, we are all businessmen.

If there is a demand, CAA can contact itself, but it should not be so unabashedly tearing apart, which is actually not good for both parties. Although the media trend generally favors Barry Levinson, there is no shortage in Hollywood.

A discerning person.

Which film company has not produced several directors?

People in your CAA family are so squeamish, and they will make things worse if they are even slightly wronged. All parties will definitely be very cautious when choosing to cooperate.

However, these days, Simon has not received any news from CAA.

Habitually playing with a pencil in his hand, Simon glanced down and suddenly discovered something. He seemed to always be able to find a pencil at hand. He raised his head in confusion, noticed Jennifer's figure, and then understood.

.

Unable to help but take a few more glances at the female assistant's ponytail swaying during her movements, Simon quickly retracted his attention, nodded towards Robert Rem, who was already in the state, and then looked at the other people: "What do you mean?"

Amy shook her head silently.

Robert Egger had been thinking about it just now. When he heard Simon's inquiry, he said: "I always feel a sense of 'can't wait' about this recent matter."

Simon was confused: "Huh?"

Robert Iger organized his thoughts again and said: "If the information I know is correct, you just fired Barry Levinson, and the matter broke out the next day. It seems too deliberate and impatient."

Robert Rehm said: "Bob, it's nothing. You should know how powerful Ovitz is in Hollywood. He only needs to make a few phone calls."

"Indeed, but, if it were me, I would definitely choose to communicate with Simon first, and only use these methods if the negotiation cannot be reached," Robert Egger said, looking at Simon, and said: "But, Simon, Austria

Wiz hasn't contacted you, right?"

Simon nodded and looked at Amy.

"We tried to contact CAA, but they said Ovitz went to Japan."

"If CAA intends to reconcile this matter, this is not a problem," Iger shook his head and said: "The problem now is that CAA has no intention of reconciliation. They seem to just want to embarrass us."

Amy said: "Although we are not as good as the top seven, CAA will not be stupid enough to completely quarrel with us. There must be some inside story that we don't know about."

Robert Rehm also said at this time: "Perhaps, is it possible that this is driven by the Big Seven?"

When Amy and Egg heard this, they both fell silent.

This summer season, which has entered the final stage, although Paramount Pictures has successfully achieved two films with a box office of 100 million yuan through two clean and saturated full-scale releases, during this period, the light of Hollywood has almost all focused on Dan.

On Nelis Pictures.

In addition to "Pulp Fiction" and "Basic Instinct", Daenerys Pictures has also launched reality shows such as "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

These days, the company has also successfully sold another reality show "Big Brother" to the Fox Television Network at a high price of US$1 million per episode. Compared with "Survivor" which only has more than ten episodes per season, "Big Brother" has

There are a standard 23 issues per quarter.

Moreover, it is completely filmed in a closed environment in a house. The production cost of each episode of "Big Brother" is almost the same as that of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", both at around 30 US dollars.

In addition, there is advertising revenue. Due to the demonstrative success of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and the in-program sponsorship fees obtained by "Big Brother", it is enough to cover the production budget. Daenerys Pictures easily obtained 23 million.

The net profit in US dollars was recorded, and the right to renegotiate the price for the next season based on the ratings of the program was also retained.

After calculation, the three reality shows sold in the past few months can bring a total of about 200 million US dollars in pre-tax profits to Daenerys Pictures in the first season alone. The performance of the seven major ones in recent years is not included.

Columbia and MGM are so good that their annual net profits may not reach US$200 million.

The principle that what is good in the forest will be destroyed by the wind is applicable to any country and any industry. Daenerys Pictures' performance is so dazzling that competitors will definitely not remain indifferent.

but.

In the conference room, Simon immediately ruled out the possibility of Qida taking action.

Although "Pulp Fiction" and "Basic Instinct" were very successful, the studios received profit sharing. Just like "Pulp Fiction", it is expected to get a box office of 150 million US dollars in North America alone. Daenerys Pictures

In fact, it can only get 10% of the box office share and 5% of the North American local video sales share in the later period. The majority is still taken by Orion. "Instinct" also gave half of the revenue to Fox. As for the other companies,

They still have a relationship with Daenerys Pictures or are looking forward to this kind of cooperative relationship, and have no motive to do such things that harm others and benefit themselves.

Even among the four major TV networks, except for CBS, which failed to grab "Big Brother" and looked down on "The Housewives of Beverly Hills" and gained nothing, the other three have no incentive to do this in order to ensure the success of several reality shows.

motivation?

motivation!

Suddenly, Simon finally grasped the key to the matter.

Michael Ovitz is not a fool, but is very shrewd and realistic. So, if there is not enough motivation, he will not do it.

The question now is.

What's the motivation for this whole thing?

Listening to the discussion of Amy and others, Simon reorganized the ins and outs of the whole incident, and suddenly, he finally understood something.

"OK, I probably know why Barry Levinson did this." Simon knocked on the table lightly, interrupting several people, and said: "It's already very late, everyone should go back and rest as soon as possible. Jenny, you make arrangements

Get off the plane tomorrow morning and contact Ovitz by the way. He should be back and I will see him when I arrive in Los Angeles tomorrow."

Everyone was confused, and Amy asked: "Simon, what is going on?"

Simon stood up and said: "Amy, do you remember those bad things during the filming of "Rain Man"? Whether it was Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, and Barry Levinson, they

Several of them are very unfavorable to this project."

Amy nodded.

For this reason, during the filming of "Rain Man", the entire crew was almost in a playful mood. Everyone felt that this project was going to be a failure. In the second week of filming, Dustin Hoffman was not convinced about this project.
To be continued...