hollywood billionaire

Chapter 99 Cognitive Decision Lower Limit
"cheers!"

The three plastic cups met in mid-air, making a not-so-clear sound.

The food culture in East Asia is like this. Even if no one is drinking, a feast must be started with a toast at the table.

There was no special occasion, and Yuzhen cleaned up quickly and easily. The white T-shirt and light blue high-waisted jeans are the basic items of Topshop, which cost tens of dollars each. A ponytail is casually placed on the back of the head.

The same is true for Xu Yiru, except that Rainbow Bear's slippers were replaced by a pair of Converse, she just took off the headband, and did not move anything else, including the black-rimmed glasses that were still hanging on the bridge of her nose.

But even so, they are still undoubtedly the absolute focus of Taste of Chengdu's Alhambra store.

Whether it's the international students dining or the waiters serving the food, even the boss who is sitting at the counter and paying the bill can't control his gaze, so he has to let it float to the table for four in the northeast corner of the restaurant.

I have been to Taste Chengdu many times in my previous life. As a native of Rongcheng, it is definitely my duty to support my hometown cuisine.What's more, Taste of Chengdu can be regarded as a milestone restaurant that has changed the dining pattern in the Chinese district of Los Angeles.Before it opened in 2013, there were few authentic Sichuan cuisine restaurants in the Chinese district centered on the four cities of San Gabriel, Rowland Heights, Alhambra, and Arcadia.Even if there are two or three of them, from the workmanship to the materials used, they are full of laziness.

After the opening of Taste Chengdu, it has not only been well received by overseas students, but also attracted the attention of local gourmets in Los Angeles. LA No. 101 food critic Jonathan King has consistently ranked the restaurant at the top of the [-] best restaurants in Los Angeles since his first visit, and it has never dropped off the list.

By 2016, Taste Chengdu not only blossomed everywhere in Los Angeles, but also opened branches in New York, Las Vegas, and Honolulu one after another, becoming one of the classic success stories of Huaguo people operating in the United States in the new era.

Over the past few years, the boss has greeted and sent off countless diners, but Zhao Youzhen and Xu Yiru who came to the store today definitely impressed him the most.

Xu Yiru has been here before, and every time he visited with that young man from Rongcheng.This point, the boss does not need to mobilize the memory to recall it.After all, if you say that you can forget this kind of appearance, you are disrespecting the work of the Creator.

But Zhao Youzhen, he was sure, it must be the first time.

This baby... is blessed.

The thoughts of the boss are also the inner activities of almost everyone in the restaurant.

If it weren't for that Bentley Bentayga parked on the gray shoulder of Chengdu, at least six or seven rich kids in Givenchy dog-heads would try their luck.

That's right, in 2016, Givenchy's dog head shirt + Fear of God's pants + Alexander McQueen's white shoes are the standard equipment for boys studying in Huaguo.

Han Yi's gaze was reflected on everyone who cast his gaze, and the more he looked at it, the more he felt that the restaurant was full of his dark history.

How did you like this style back then?

Omg.

Rubbing his swollen temples, Han Yi decided to filter those curious prying eyes out of his thinking system.

"I'm not used to it yet, Yi Yi." Xu Yiru picked up a toothpick mutton from the dinner plate, and ordered at Han Yi, "It's the same treatment when you come out with Sister Yuzhen."

The last time they were at Gaonnuri in New York, the three of them finished their dinner with this kind of courtesy.

"It's obviously because of you, Xiao Ru."

Zhao Youzhen smiled indifferently, whether she was in Seoul or Los Angeles, after losing weight successfully, she was already immune to this kind of undisguised gaze.She picked up a piece of rattan pepper fish fillet and put it in Xu Yiru's bowl.

"Try this... This one is better than Mala East Village."

The second half of the sentence was said to Han Yi.

"Yes, the master is from Rongcheng, and lives across the street from my house." Looking at Xiaoru who thanked Youzhen softly, Han Yi couldn't help showing a gratified smile on his face.In any case, there is nothing more gratifying than the fact that two girls who have played important roles in different aspects of their lives can get along as they do now.

"That's right." Xu Yiru blew on the hot fish, blinked narrowly, "I live on the same street, the gap is huge."

"Where is the gap?"

"He is a super chef of Sichuan cuisine." Xu Yiru pointed to the photo hanging on the wall, "You are a super instant noodle chef."

"Who said I only know instant noodles, don't look down on people, who eats it every day..." At this point, Han Yi quickly put the brakes on his mouth, "I'm sorry, Yuzhen, it's not against you."

"What?" Zhao Youzhen raised her head in a daze. She was concentrating on the stir-fried green beans in front of her just now, and didn't hear Han Yi's words clearly.

Of course, even if she heard it clearly, she would not understand why Han Yi apologized.

"It's nothing..." Han Yi glared at Xu Yiru who was choking with laughter beside him, "I mean, that friend of Bili, have you made an appointment yet?"

"Come to the company on Tuesday."

Zhao Youzhen took a sip of herbal tea, and frowned suspiciously.

"You seem to be very concerned about him. You have asked him several times."

Ever since Han Yi saw the black boy's name in Bi Li's watch list, he has been repeating it back and forth.

"Don't you think his works are very good?" Han Yi asked back, "Including the voice, the perfect baritone, it can no longer be described as full of magnetism."

"I don't deny this." Zhao Youzhen nodded, "Are you coming? Around two o'clock in the afternoon."

"Probably can't come." Han Yi turned on his phone, clicked on the calendar, and looked at the densely packed dots, "Tuesday at two o'clock at...Sony Pictures."

""James of the Brave"?"

"Well, there are four other projects to review, let's see if we can package them up and make a slate deal." Han Yi stretched his waist, "I guess it won't work if I don't do a slate deal, and I won't let go."

"There should be." Xiao Ru interjected, "I checked the movies that Sony is making, and there are many projects that look pretty good... Jennifer Lawrence and our UTA's Chris Pratt starred in the movie. That "Passengers" felt great."

"It's a pity that it has already been completed, and our investment may not keep up."

Han Yi smiled, and didn't say anything in front of Xu Yiru who was [-]% concerned about him.

On Tuesday, I will go face-to-face with Sony. In the past week, Han Yi, his lawyer Jordan Bromley, business manager Lou Taylor, and Kevin Hart and his Hartbeat team have been Dozens of emails with huge amount of information were sent back and forth in a mail group, evaluating and screening in the list of film and television projects that Sony might provide.

"Space Passengers" were the first names crossed out.

Not only because it has entered the post-production stage, it is estimated that it will be difficult to sell shares, but also because of its inherent fatal flaws.

First of all, when the film was approved, it was an exquisite sci-fi film with a medium production cost. There were no big scenes with superimposed special effects, and there was no first-line cast.

The actor was originally scheduled to be Keanu Reeves, and the heroine was vacillating between Rachel McAdams and Emily Blunt. The overall budget was around $4000 million.

The intention of the project is obvious. It is a follow-up work after the success of "Gravity" in 2013. It does not need to win the box office of 7.32 million like George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, as long as the global box office can exceed 1.2 million. billion US dollars, plus the income from film and television streaming platforms and VOD, it is enough for Sony Pictures and its investment partners to earn comfortably.

But Sony Pictures Chairman and CEO Tom Rothman wanted more.While at Fox, Tom Rothman was known as "a miser who likes to micromanage," when he arrived at Sony Pictures in 2015, he was eager to solidify the franchise with a mega-production. own position in the new organization.

There are two movies that he bet heavily on, the first is called "Spider-Man: Homecoming", and the second is "Space Passenger".

Tom Rothman found CAA to work on the team building of "Passengers in Space", and CAA's acting management team just took over the job, and they placed the directors of "Boardwalk Empire" and "Game of Thrones" on the grounds that they lacked experience in directing A-level films. Ryan Kirk was removed and replaced by his client Morten Tydum.

Afterwards, it even dispatched its two up-and-coming first-line actors, Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, so that "Space Passenger" has the infrastructure to become a commercial science fiction blockbuster.

At this point, things were still under control, but the midnight raid at UTA in April 2015, which took away Chris Pratt, also completely angered CAA.

The original salary structure of the film is that Chris Pratt gets more and Jennifer Lawrence gets less, after all, the latter can only be regarded as a supporting role in the film.But after Chris Pratt switched to UTA, CAA retaliated.

It was at a time when confidential Sony Pictures documents were leaked by General Kim's hackers and amid overwhelming evidence of gender-based pay disparities within the conglomerate.One of them is that in "American Hustle", Jennifer Lawrence, who has a higher commercial value, received a lower salary than Jeremy Renner, who is also a supporting role and whose commercial value is far lower than hers.

CAA made a big fuss in the media, raised the banner of gender equality, and lobbied inside Sony Pictures, so that Sony, whose public image was seriously damaged, agreed to use the movie "Space Passenger" and one of the protagonists of the leak scandal Jennifer Lawrence came to do crisis communications.

As a result, the original reasonable salary structure of "Space Passengers" was seriously damaged.Jennifer Lawrence received $2000 million upfront and a 30% cut after the film recoups its cost.And Chris Pratt, who is absolutely starring, can only get 1200 million US dollars, and there is no share.On the movie promotional poster, Jennifer and Chris also have half a face, just like the two protagonists.

But the script written by Jon Spaitz for this movie was not originally based on the super blockbuster approach, nor did it leave enough room for the female supporting role. "Space Passenger" is a small but refined movie that can even be called a space chamber. If you want to forcibly elevate it to the level of visual spectacle and annual top-notch, naturally there are inherent flaws in the story structure.

On top of that, Passengers at this point was an utter disaster, even from a financial health standpoint, even if production-level stuff aside. The budget of 4000 million U.S. dollars was abruptly raised to 1.5 million U.S. dollars, and the two leading actors alone would take away 3200 million U.S. dollars.At this point, the global box office of 1.2 million US dollars is a blood loss. Even if this figure is tripled, it will only be able to protect the capital and have a small surplus.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the film, Tom Rothman brought in long-term partner Village Village Films, investors Lone Star Fund and Citigroup, and Wanda Films from the Far East to jointly invest and escort the project.

Finally, what did the film bring to the collaborators?

With a global box office of 3.03 million US dollars, the combined commercial appeal of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence cannot save the script that has been changed beyond recognition.Even with the addition of non-theater income, that is to say, it can only protect the capital, and there is nothing else.

Dwayne Johnson + Kevin Hart = (Chris Pratt + Jennifer Lawrence) x 3.

This is the highlight moment of the former two, and also the commercial Waterloo of the latter two.

All in all, "Space Passengers" can be called the epitome of the gradual decline of the Hollywood film industry after the 2010s.

The film production process is coerced by the social environment and public opinion that emphasizes political correctness, which consumes the profit space and flexibility of the project where it should not consume financial resources, resulting in one film after another that could have been called a classic in the end. Disappeared everyone.

Blooming alien garbage.

Most of the projects that Sony Pictures has prepared in the past few years are of this kind.

Thinking of this, Han Yiben's temples, which were throbbing wildly, became even more swollen.

It would be a pity to give up "Jumanji", but being forced into four pieces of shit by Sony Pictures for "Jumanji" is not as good as "Space Passenger", which is even more against Han Yi's code of conduct after his rebirth matter.

"On Tuesday, we will carefully screen the list of projects. Not only movies, but if they have excellent TV series production plans, they can also be considered."

"You also vote in TV dramas?"

"Yes, as long as it's about making money, you can do anything." Han Yi nodded with a smile.

"By the way, I've always wanted to ask..." Xu Yiru raised his hand in front of his chest, and asked seriously like a primary school student, "Three music-related companies have been established, why don't the film and television companies set up a company first?"

"Because I don't plan to personally participate in the production of the project at present." Han Yi paused before continuing to explain, "And I don't know much about this field, so if I rush to operate independently, it may not be worth the loss. So , now just use Han Capital to invest in the production companies of Kevin Hart and others, follow them to make money, even if it is a little less, at least rest assured."

The reason Han Yi put on the surface is indeed very important. No matter in his career or life, Han Yi has always upheld a point of view, that is, people's self-awareness may not determine the upper limit, because how far they can climb to the top is very big. It is also related to luck to a certain extent.

However, broad horizons, humility and clear self-awareness can definitely determine your lower limit.Only by clarifying your own strengths and advantages, and at the same time objectively recognizing your shortcomings and defects, can you avoid most risks when making business decisions.

Since it is not the field that I am good at, I don't have solid professional knowledge, I don't have accurate industry insights, and my contacts in the circle are almost zero.What's even more exaggerated is that even if there is a project in front of him that he is sure will succeed, because of lack of understanding of the film and television financing rules, he has set the wrong goal and style of play, and he suddenly realized it under the reminder of Jordan Bromley.

Since the first step is walking on thin ice, why not choose the safest path?

Let professionals manage the project, hire compliance experts to supervise the operation, and then gather opinions from multiple parties to make the final decision.

For UTA, he has such an attitude, and in terms of film and television investment, this is also the way he obtains the highest reward.Because according to the reward rules, the projects that Han Yi chooses to participate in must not only allow him to obtain the strongest personal emotional feedback, but also consider the return on investment.

Han Yi does not have much enthusiasm and pursuit in the field of film and television, and this is why he wants to cooperate with Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, and other movie stars in the future.

His own positive emotional feedback comes from the partnership he has established with celebrities, and the satisfaction of "a big star who was out of reach in the previous life, now has to rely on me."At the same time, he also needs to rely on his partners' love for film and television art, so that the amount of rewards he can get in the film and television industry is equal to that in the music industry, or at least not too far behind.

Han Yi, who has just been reborn, is full of ambition, thinking that as long as he is protected by a huge amount of funds and a reward mechanism, he can do anything and be omnipotent.

But after more than two months of confrontation and tempering with reality, he gradually realized why every seemingly huge and leafy company, in fact, has only one core business as the support and core business in the deepest part. rely.

Not only because of the modern consumer market, companies need to have a clear identity to effectively build a brand, but also because human energy is born with insurmountable limitations.This is especially true for travelers like Han Yi, whose advanced information is not time-sensitive, and who will lose their information advantage in just a few years.

Seven years is not enough for him to slowly explore the ingenuity of other industries.In fact, even if I devote myself to the music business, these 2000 days are still a little stretched.

Therefore, taking music as the main axis, using investment and mergers and acquisitions in film and television and other fields to speed up the rate of capital accumulation and the value of assets under management, so as to build a deep-rooted and unshakable entertainment empire has become Han Yi's gradually clear career development line.

Learn to give up in order to get more.

"So, the music industry will always be the core business, right?"

Zhao Youzhen, who had been listening silently for a long time, suddenly asked.

"Yes, for me, what I know best, what I am best at, and what I love the most is always music."

Han Yi spread his hands, and smiled to tell his feelings.

"It was only when I really started to do things that I realized that it is enough for a person to do one thing well for a lifetime. I really like film and television, fashion and other art forms, but they... can't replace music in my heart. Location."

"Irreplaceable...that's great."

Zhao Youzhen chewed Han Yi's words carefully, and then she showed a bright smile that made the whole restaurant seem brighter.

"Then the copyright issue side, don't lag behind the progress."

"The real source of vitality of HMG should actually be released in Han."

(End of this chapter)