Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 971 Take what you need

  The series of disputes between Minahan and Cannon all trace back to the time when he and Yoram spent money lavishly.

  At that time, they passed Milken, the Wall Street bond tycoon, and used junk bonds to raise more than 400 million US dollars. But both of them spend money very fast. Among them, Minahan invested heavily in comic book adaptation movies, such as the fourth part of Superman, and Heman the universe king. And Yoram didn't know how to make films, so he spent money by buying theaters, including the Starlight Cinemas in Britain.

   When the bullets ran out, the strategy of the two changed from helping each other to tearing each other down. Minahan's Superman 4 failed due to insufficient budget, and Yoram did not have enough money to acquire a theater chain owned by EMI.

   Since then, there has been a rift between the two, and Cannon is facing bankruptcy. At this time, Yoram's commercial talent played a more important role than Minahan's filmmaking talent. He brought in Hair Country EMI, which wanted to enter Hollywood, and facilitated a merger and acquisition plan. In this way, EMI invested in Cannon, temporarily solving the funding problem.

  But the interest on junk bonds is very high. The new "Cannon-EMI" dare not give Minahan the power to shoot big productions, and the company's income is still not enough to fill the big hole. When the stock market crashed, there were no financing channels on Wall Street, and Cannon was facing the biggest crisis and almost went bankrupt.

   At the critical moment when the SEC launched an investigation into the falsification of financial statements of the Cannon listed company, Yoram recruited an Italian banker, Giancarlo Paretti. He initiated the acquisition of Cannon with a huge amount of funds from the Lyon Bank of China.

  And one of his conditions is to kick Minahan out of the Cannon, and he will be the talker of the Cannon.

   "I anticipated Cannon's financial crisis in advance, so several of my confirmed new film projects used Cannon to sign 21st Century Pictures, which signed a 20-part distribution agreement, so..."

  Minahan told the truth, he looked at Ronald, expecting his reaction.

   "This guy, he still has a hand with his cousin. It seems that he has planned to run away long ago. It's just that Giancarlo Paretti's unexpected acquisition disrupted his plan."

   "Then you said the exit clause?" Ronald asked again, noncommittal.

"That was a supplementary clause that Yoram and I signed when the cannon was in crisis. If someone else wants to buy our cannon, both of us must agree to fulfill it. If one party does not agree, then you can withdraw Cannon, transfer the shares to another party.

  If you are dissatisfied with the share price transferred by the other party, you can also automatically initiate an anti-acquisition and buy the other party’s equity at the same price. This provision is automatic. "

"I don't understand. It seems that you all arranged it very well." Ronald was puzzled. This kind of clause must have been designed by a lawyer, taking all the conditions into consideration. If it is implemented according to this clause, it shouldn't happen. what is the problem. Why hasn't Minahan settled the conditions for his exit?

  However, thinking that back then, the two brothers were good enough to imitate each other's handwriting and signature on each other's checks, and now they have to be so defensive, Ronald still feels a little embarrassed.

"It's not that **** Yoram..." Minahan turned around, "Ah... bah..." He spit on the ground again, "That **** forged my signature on the withdrawal contract, **** Judas, This Milik, this Tobias..."

  Minahan mentioned the names of several traitorous villains in the Jewish classics in one breath, and cursed angrily.

"Don't throw up, this is my office..." Ronald frowned. Minahan's behavior actually has some habits of his Russian Jewish ancestors. When he said the name of a villain who betrayed him, he would throw himself on the ground. To spit on means to curse.

"I sympathize with you, Minahan. However, in order to acquire 21st Century Films, I have formed a working team of lawyers, accountants, and the management of my company. I can't give up just because of your words. The fees are very expensive.”

"I know, Ronald, I can give in, as long as you let me choose a few films that have the production rights in the 21st century, let me take them away, and I can talk about the rest. You know my character, if you can't continue to make Movies, my soul would be gone.

  This is an artist's request to an artist, Ronald... I didn't expect to end up in the field I am today, and I blame Minahan... Ah... Bah..."

  Ronald reached out his hand to stop Minahan, who was still spitting, "Let me think about it, give me the list of movies you want...I still have a meeting with the team to discuss..."

  …

"Could Minahan be playing tricks on purpose? If we bought the 21st Century, the acquisition fee prepared by Cannon, we can give Minahan severance pay. If he doesn't take away the movie project, he can get more cash, according to The average rate of return of the films he produced, it is more cost-effective to take the money."

In the acquisition team, PwC accountant Ed Bastian took the production list, looked it over and over again, and compared it with the list of Cannonball's released movies over the years in the bankruptcy application documents received by the court. He always felt that there was something in it. question.

"No, when all Hollywood companies dismiss executives, they would rather give various preferential terms than cash. In this industry, ten people have projects, and only one has money." Attorney Mitch Kan Te has experienced a lot of drafting of the terms of dismissing executives, so he understands it very well.

"But this Italian 'financier', Giancarlo Paretti, undoubtedly brought a high credit line from Crédit Lyonnais. Just for the acquisition of cannons this time, the amount that can be used is Two hundred million dollars." Ed Bastian still didn't quite understand the logic of the entertainment industry.

   "What does financier mean?" Ronald asked Lindsay Dole, a private lawyer sitting next to him, a professional M&A team.

"It means a financier in English, but this appellation in Italian does not mean that this person has the qualifications to work in the financial industry, but that he has the corresponding financial knowledge, or has made money through the financial industry, and he can be recognized as a financier." Called financier, or in Italian, finanziere…”

   Ronald snorted and sat upright. He looked at the two professionals who were still discussing, and said, "Don't doubt Minahan's intentions. I know this person. In order to make a movie, he once put his baby daughter in the cradle as a group performer. The daughter may have to ask for help." Falling off the prop, his first instinct was to let the camera go, not to catch his daughter."

   "Puchi...", everyone laughed.

   "All the passion of this person is to make movies. Without movies, even if you give him twice the money, he will not agree."

   "So, most of the list of film projects he gave is true?" Lawyer Mitch Kanter turned to look at Ronald. This is where Hollywood people have a tricky vision, where artists gather together, and everything cannot be measured by money.

   "I think it matches his usual taste..." Ronald picked up a pencil and ticked off the names of several movies on the list.

   "Spider-Man, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Phantom of the Opera, and the right to adapt seven or eight Edgar Allan Poe horror novels..."

   Everyone felt that it was impossible for Minahan to list all the film projects that he wanted to bring to the new company. There must be some fake names in this list to mislead daydreams.

  But Ronald knows Minahan's taste very well. This is either a movie based on comics, or a movie based on an opera or a musical. Horror movies are the genre that Cannon focused on at the beginning. The credibility of this list should be high.

"You have to understand the issue of copyright for these few films. I remember that Roger Coleman sold it and New Century Pictures bought Marvel, which owns the copyrights of Fantastic Four and Captain America." Mitch Kan Te saw the problem.

  The production rights of movies are often complicated. Because of the difficulty of financing, it often goes through several production companies before and after, and the contract is also full of clauses that are not clear to non-professional lawyers.

"Yes, I still remember that when Roger Coleman was still a director, he made several horror films based on Edgar Allan Poe's novels. I also want to know whether we can remake these films. Ronald added that although the copyright of Edgar Allan Poe's novels has long expired, the film adaptations also enjoy the copyright. If these scripts are actually adapted and remade from Coleman's films, then you have to ask him to buy the remakes that power. "

  The M&A team has many quick-witted members. Under the leadership of lawyer Kanter and PwC partner Bastian, the audit and background investigation started immediately.

  Ronald called Roger Coleman and asked him to have dinner at a newly popular creative restaurant, and talk about movies by the way.

"I'm glad you asked me in advance, Ronald." Coleman looked a little better. He found a new market for video tapes. The influence also began to improve slowly.

"I don't think it is necessary to turn filmmaking into a cut-throat war like the Seventh. Most of the movies we make are medium and low-cost movies, just to entertain the public. They are not big productions made by the Seventh. We must compete for less than Seventh. top male stars and roughly double the number of top female stars.

   Besides, we are all geared towards the video tape market, and no one stipulates that we can only watch one video tape on weekends. "

   Ronald took a sip of the juice, which smelled like a mixture of carrots and tomatoes. Although it was a product of green agriculture, it was unexpectedly delicious.

   "Yes, I have always felt that spending 30 to 40 million dollars to make a movie is not necessary in most cases. There are places where more money is needed in America, such as improving the education of public schools and providing medical insurance to the people at the bottom..."

   Ronald agreed with a smile. Few people would have thought that Coleman, who has always made violent, horror, sci-fi, and pornographic B-grade movies, is actually a leftist who pursues social justice in his heart.

"Those films of Edgar Allen Poe were the best-selling films I directed, and they were also the first batch of color films I directed. But I didn't like them very much in my heart, maybe the big distributor AIP at the time Too much urging me to continue to shoot Allen Poe, wanting to finish his novels, so I am a bit rebellious.

  If I had followed this path, maybe I would have been able to make big productions for the eight major studios. "

Roger Coleman began to recall the past, "Ellen Poe's novels have already entered the public edition, and anyone can shoot them. If you ask me, I am very happy. In this way, I do have plans to remake the films of that year. If You also want to shoot, you can say hello to me in advance, there are many novels by Edgar Allan Poe, let's not crash."

"If you are willing to come out and direct again, we can actually cooperate again and invest in the filming together." Ronald thinks that movies, especially movies adapted by famous writers, still need to control the rhythm. The same theme will undoubtedly drag down the box office.

   It’s better to join a joint stock company, so the quality of the shooting will be better. Movies are for appreciation. There is no such thing as you buying a movie ticket and I can’t watch it. If everyone cooperates in filming, it is entirely possible that the overall box office will be many times higher than that of the two filming separately. One plus one is greater than two.

   "Then it's settled..." Roger Coleman stretched out his hand and shook Ronald. Between the two of them, this kind of gentlemanly demeanor can still be maintained.

  The investigation work of the merger and acquisition team was carried out very quickly, and the results were placed on Ronald's desk three days later.

   As a result and subtlety, Minahan Golan and New Century Pictures, neither party has the full rights to "Spider-Man", "Captain America", and "Fantastic Four". Or to put it another way, both of them can shoot.

  Marvel’s rights to adapt these comics were all sold to Cannon Pictures for a period of five years. At that time, Marvel hoped that Cannon could shoot Marvel comic characters like DC's "Superman IV". In this way, the company can also acquire toy companies and make a fortune in derivative toy products.

   But unexpectedly, the "Superman IV" filmed by Cannon was very bad. The dream of selling film copyrights and earning money from toys was shattered before it even started.

  At this time, there was another stock market crash, and many stock prices that had been supported by mergers and acquisitions and capital operations in the market fell miserably. And Marvel is even worse. Their income largely relies on the support of original comic books and collectible cards. The bubble of these collectibles has shrunk severely before.

   At this time, it was New World Pictures sold by Roger Coleman that bought Marvel. Therefore, New World also naturally has the copyright to adapt these comics.

  The production rights have changed hands several times before and after, and it may take a legal team to study carefully for a week to get the exact answer. The way Hollywood handles these disputes is very simple. Whoever gets the investment first will get the film.

   If the box office is good, then you can also sue after the fact for compensation.

  So, if the legal details are deducted, the filming rights of this film will belong to Cannon in the next five years, and will be given to him along with Minahan's dismissal agreement. But five years later, with the expiration of the production agreement, they will automatically return to the new world.

However, New World is in danger of protecting itself now, and it is also seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy, so it is unknown who will own the production rights. Maybe the next company that takes over will pay attention if they are interested. Sleeping in a warehouse with a bunch of contracts.

  So the key to this question is whether Minahan can operate enough funds to start this project within five years (in fact, it has been less than five years).

   "It's dangerous, I don't think he can get enough money."

   "But what if we get money? If we let go of such a big project, will it be a joke? It's like Price who let go of ET aliens."

   Inside Daydream, general manager Eddie, and distribution manager Michelle Cannold also had an argument.

  In the end, they all looked at Ronald. Since his debut, Ronald has not made a mistake in judging the box office prospects of the project.

   "Have you ever thought that even if he gets the money, he may not be able to shoot."

   "Huh?" Both of them were taken aback.

   "This kind of comic adaptation film requires a lot of special effects, and there is only one company in Hollywood that can do this."

   Ronald knows more about the selling points of this type of movie than they do. Whether it is traditional special effects props, makeup, or the latest computer technology, only the Industrial Light and Magic created by George Lucas for Star Wars is the only Hollywood that can operate such large-scale and large-scale special effects movies.

   And now the sequel to "Back to the Future" has begun. Industrial Light & Magic's production capacity can only satisfy one major production at the same time.

  In this way, at least in the next year and a half, the production line of Industrial Light and Magic will make way for this movie. After the filming of Back to the Future, I don't know where the future has changed. It is not certain who will acquire New World Pictures.

   Spend millions of dollars now and buy a very uncertain future. When Ronald said this, everyone felt that it was not worthwhile, at least it was too early.

   "Your friend Cameron, how is his special effects level? Can you help?" Kannold was still not reconciled.

"It's his own studio, and it can only meet his own needs. After the Abyss (The Abyss) he is shooting now is finished, we will see the effect. And whether the comic-adapted movie can be said to be loved by the market, We can't say for sure, let's see how the box office of Batman will be filmed soon."

  Ronald decided to be conservative. Since the Superman series fell to the street, a series of comic-adapted movies have continued to suffer at the box office. Everyone doesn't know whether this type of movie has lost the love of the audience, or because the last few films have been made too badly.

  Ronald never dreamed of making a movie, so after some calculations, it's better to be conservative.

   "However, we can win the copyright of these films." Ronald pointed to the names of several other film projects on Minahan's film list.

These are some very distinctive horror films, the first one is called "George Romero's Night of the Living Dead", which is the orthodox sequel to George Romero's classic film "Dawn of the Dead" .

  After "Dawn of the Living Dead" became popular, the original director made a series of sequels under the name of "Return of the Living Dead", but the box office has not been good. George Romero, the original screenwriter, also got back the rights to the sequel after the contract expired. He teamed up with Cannon to film a sequel to the original.

  Ronald is going to win the production rights of this film, as well as the distribution rights of the ancient Chinese Kung Fu films of 21st Century Pictures.

  …

"Aha, I know your name, Ronald. Ronald Lee. Dino (De Laurentiis) said a lot of bad things about you to me. But I don't believe a word. I firmly believe A man who can make a movie like Top Gun is a real man! Not a sissy like Dino"

  Giancarlo Paretti, the new owner of the Cannon, was enthusiastic when he saw Ronald. He belittled Ronald's enemy, the Napoli boss Dino De Laurentiis. In his northern man's view, men in southern Italy are either gangsters or liars, and the film still needs us industrialists, artists, and 'financiers' to operate.

   "Nice to meet you." Ronald shook hands with him. This Giancarlo Paretti with his arm around a Cannonball starlet starlet looks like a dandy. Before taking over the company, he started dating the company's beauties.

   "It seems that this person is more interested in enjoying the Hollywood lifestyle than actually being the owner of a Hollywood production company." Ronald thought to himself.

   There is nothing wrong with this. If it weren't for the rich people in other parts of the world to continue to invest in Hollywood, I am afraid that Hollywood's production volume will drop by more than one-third.

   To outsiders, Hollywood will always be a golden signboard. Many people invest in it just to be in pairs with female celebrities. It seems that their social status will be improved a lot because of having a celebrity girlfriend.

  Everyone gets what they need.

   "Minahan, as I said earlier, let's clarify the property rights, so we should still cooperate?" Giancarlo Paretti greeted Minahan who also came to sign the contract.

   "Hey..." The Jew twisted his stout neck and didn't answer.

  After a lot of work by the team, the three parties finally reached a common agreement. Minahan still got his favorite comic book, a film adaptation of an opera, a large cash compensation, and a five-year distribution deal with Cannon Pictures. Each year, his soon-to-be-owned 21st Century Pictures, can let Cannon release five films unconditionally, with the rest subject to negotiation.

   Ronald used much less money to get a bunch of early Xiangjiang old action movies in the 21st century film library. And the production rights of some low-budget horror films in the shooting plan.

  The cannon run by Giancarlo Paretti and Yoram saved some money, and in exchange for the quick resolution of the property rights issue.

  The three signed the contract quickly, and Yoram also came over. As the new CEO, he also signed part of the agreement.

   "Minahan...", Yoram came over and greeted his cousin. Business is business, and it was imperative to force him out.

   "Ah...poof..." Minahan ignored him and spat on the ground.

   "Cheers..." Fortunately, Giancarlo Paretti opened the celebratory Champagne, which solved the embarrassment of the two.

   "Cheers..." Ronald also raised his glass.

  This time, it was achieved with very little money. It was a modest victory.

  However, there is no place to spend the original M&A funds and the money used to reorganize the company after the M&A. He had to discuss money again with Lawrence, his personal accountant.

   "Well, why don't you help me buy Coca-Cola, buy as much as you can."

  (end of this chapter)