Chatty Hollywood

Speaking of Electronic Arts (EA), some people may not be familiar with it.

Speaking of Blizzard, or Activision Blizzard, this game company is very famous.

——After all, the cheating Alsace has influenced a generation.

And as a company that can follow Activision Blizzard in the game industry, EA is not to be underestimated.

Apart from anything else, the famous "estood" studio, which created the "Red Alert" series, was eventually disbanded after being acquired by EA.

In this regard, EA actually has a very bad record——

This company always likes to acquire some well-known game studios, and then disband them for various reasons not long after.

Although the reasons used are generally more high-sounding, no one knows unless there is an opportunity to eliminate the opponent and completely annex it.

However, for Charlotte, none of this is a problem.

After all, as the seller of copyright, he can sit firmly on the Diaoyutai when facing game companies.

All he needs to care about is the development strength of EA and the question of how much money he is willing to pay.

——Fortunately, as a well-known old game company, EA is relatively reliable in terms of development capabilities.

As for money--

"EA's bid for copyright is not too low, but it is a one-time buyout of $3.5 million—"

"Less!"

Charlotte was straightforward.

"Even if it is limited to one game work, the price is not very high. What's more, what they want is the right to develop and use the entire copyright in the game within a few years, right?"

"Yes."

Alexis nodded.

"EA actually wanted to bypass us and reach an agreement directly with Rowling. However, because we had already had an agreement with Rowling before, Rowling didn't agree, but directly relayed it to me."

Long before preparing for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", Charlotte signed a supplementary agreement with J.K. Rowling-different from the copyright of the original work, the peripheral copyright derived from the adaptation of the film no longer belongs to Luo. Lynn.

Although she is able to obtain profit sharing from the authorization of these copyrights, the management of this part of the copyright has been received under the name of the Ghost Party Studio.

—— Rowling will agree to this agreement, on the one hand because the current practice is indeed the case. On the other hand, it is also because her current financial strength is not sufficient to hire professionals to help manage copyright.

In this case, giving it to the ghost party studio to operate it might not be a solution.

——At least it can reduce a lot of problems.

Take this EA thing for example-

EA's move this time is actually suspected of being a side ball.

Indeed, unlike movies and TV animation, the copyright of the Harry Potter series belongs entirely to Rowling.

If Rowling authorizes the game in the name of that, it's not impossible.

But EA came to the door at this time, how could it be just for pure copyright authorization! ?

They obviously want to take advantage of the popularity of the "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" movie!

If the release of the game can be synchronized with the release of the movie, it can save a lot of publicity costs and maximize the benefits.

——Isn't this the common movie game linkage mode in later generations?

Charlotte can imagine that once Rowling agrees to authorize, EA will inevitably "learn from" the TV animation of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and the character and scene design in future movies...

And once the Ghost Party Studio initiates a copyright lawsuit, the other party will fight against it on the grounds that it has obtained the authorization of the original author...

You must know that copyright lawsuits have always been a difficult problem for the judiciary. As long as both parties hold the same argument and have excuses, they will often be protracted.

Therefore, more than 80% of copyright lawsuits ended in out-of-court settlements.

This is not a distinction between right and wrong, but purely because both sides are too dragged to bear and have to reach a compromise.

Fortunately, because an agreement was reached with the original author Rowling in advance, this time EA's small actions did not work.

However, Charlotte still felt a lack of sincerity for the other party's $3.5 million offer.

You know, in the 21st century, tens of millions of dollars in copyright royalties are not so rare.

Although it is only in 1998, the dollar has not depreciated so much, but the authorization of 3.5 million US dollars is still too small.

Especially, looking at what EA means, what they want is full copyright in the game field...

"Full copyright is impossible!"

When discussing this issue with Rowling, Charlotte made this point very clearly.

"Joanna, since you are going to write "Harry Potter" as a full-length series, unless it is a astronomical royalty of hundreds of millions of dollars, it is best not to grant full copyright, which will cause a lot of trouble."

"I understand this."

Rowling nodded.

After "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" gradually became popular, Rowling also learned a lot about copyright.

——After all, the main income of literary and artistic creators, apart from the contribution fee, is the copyright.

Even if Rowling is a "magic mother", she has to pay attention to it.

——What's more, she got out of poverty and became rich, and it was just over a year...

In short, Rowling still attaches great importance to EA's plan to adapt "Harry Potter" into a game.

Although looking at EA's quotation, it can't be regarded as very sincere, but business is to be discussed!

"I hope to get a royalty of 5 million U.S. dollars, with a certain percentage of profit sharing."

Charlotte saw Rowling's meaning, and he directly stated his plan, which surprised Mother Magic.

"It's really a lion's mouth wide open!"

Although I feel that 3.5 million US dollars is insufficient sincerity, but Charlotte's terms, in Rowling's view, are a bit too much—

Just $5 million is enough, which is not a small amount, but it is not an exaggeration.

But the profit share ratio is really not acceptable to ordinary companies.

——After all, at this time, the "Harry Potter" series, the second "Secret Chamber" has not been officially published, and it is far from reaching its peak.

To put it simply, the magic mother at this time is just a turtle that has never seen a lot of money.

In contrast ~www.readwn.com~Charlotte, as a famous director, has a light and graceful performance——

First of all, he knew that the copyright of the "Harry Potter" series, or this IP, was getting more and more valuable.

As long as he does not play Beng, this trend will not change. Even if EA is not bought this time, there will be people who are willing to pay more in the future;

Therefore, he has no fear;

Secondly, he has the memory of the future. He knows that although EA is a company that often has small calculations, it is really willing to invest money in IP.

Not to mention, the overall development cost of "Star Wars: The Old Republic" after they got the authorization of Lucas Studios in the future was more than 100 million U.S. dollars.

——In this, it is of course indispensable to contribute to the copyright of the Sith Maharaja George Lucas.

Because Charlotte is not very worried about EA being scared away by his own price.

Finally, in Charlotte’s hands, there is also a set of killers——

When the TV animation version of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was made before, the Hogwarts 3D scene and the 3D modeling of many characters in the story, if open to EA, would definitely save their development. cost.

——With this in hand, Charlotte has no worries about not getting the bait in EA.

"It just happens that the 1998 Oscars will be held in a few days. I am going back to the United States. I will go directly to EA's Los Angeles headquarters to talk about it!"

After talking to Rowling for a while, Charlotte finally came to this conclusion.

Rowling didn't object. She wanted to wish Charlotte an Oscar, but she didn't expect Charlotte to wave her hand like a mind-reader.

"I don't need to mention the Oscars. I guess I'm just going for a cutscene this time. I shouldn't get the award!"

"This Oscar is destined to belong to "Titanic"!"