Hollywood Hunter

Daenerys Pictures headquarters.

Jennifer Rebold knocked gently on the door of the editing room. After receiving a response, he opened the door and said to Simon who was busy in front of the editing station: "Boss, it's four o'clock."

Simon just nodded slightly, his eyes still on the monitor screen of the editing station, and his hands kept moving, saying, "Wait a minute, it will be all right."

Jennifer didn't say anything, walked in lightly, closed the editing room door from behind again, and watched Simon work quietly with the slight click of the equipment. "Pulp Fiction" has a sufficient budget, and Simon does not need to do everything by himself. The previous rough cut of the film was done by a professional editor, but at the fine cut stage, Simon decided to do it himself.

Back in Los Angeles, Simon spends most of these days in the company's editing room.

After a while, Simon archived the images and began to organize the tape notes and other items on the editing stage. Jennifer also stepped forward and helped Simon put everything into the safe in the corner of the editing room.

After spending a quiet time with him secretly like this, leaving the editing room, Jennifer talked about today’s work: "I have collected information on some major North American record companies and second and third-tier labels, which have been placed on your office desk. Yes; Mr. Steve Jobs’ secretary gave a response in the morning. The other party stated that Jobs had no plans to sell Pixar; Silicon Graphics CEO Ed McCracken invited you to visit Silicon Graphics’ headquarters in San Francisco recently; Bill Mr. Gates’ assistant called. Gates plans to come to Los Angeles next Monday, hoping to have lunch with you; and, well, a lecture invitation from Stanford University."

Simon took Jennifer through the corridor, took the invitation letter from Stanford University from her, took a look, and then handed it back, saying: "If you have any more invitations of this kind, just reject it. I will give them a speech. Energy: Look, that guy is the same age as us, God is really unfair."

Jennifer chuckled lightly, put the invitation letter in the folder, hugged her chest and looked up, and asked, "Where are the invitations of Mr. McCracken and Mr. Gates?"

"I'll definitely go there in San Francisco, but I don't have time lately. I need to push it back. As for Gates, you should reserve a restaurant. We are the hosts. We must be more enthusiastic. In addition, I suddenly thought of one today. Now that all those stocks have been exposed, I have the right to request board seats from these companies based on Westero's shareholding ratio. You can ask your dad to see if he is interested in serving as a director for me in these companies. I don’t have that much time myself. So, my idea is that George is in charge of these companies on the west coast and your father is in charge of the east coast."

Westeros' 4.9% shareholding in 26 technology companies basically allows Simon to squeeze into the ranks of these companies' major shareholders.

If these holdings are not exposed, Simon also intends to become a silent individual shareholder, watching the development of these companies in secret. Now, since these holdings are well known, Simon has decided to claim his rights as a shareholder.

In theory, the board of directors is usually the most direct institution through which shareholders of a listed company exercise their power. In most cases, the company’s management is also voted by the board for appointment. As long as Simon gets a seat on the board of directors of the corresponding company, it is enough to exert his own influence on the future development of these companies.

Jennifer followed Simon and wrote the restaurant reservation in her memo as she walked. Hearing Simon's last words, her expression was suddenly a little surprised, and some inexplicably shy. Just as they were about to say something, the two had already arrived in a meeting room of the company. Jennifer had to temporarily give up the idea of ​​questioning and followed Simon to sit down at the meeting table.

It is difficult to calm down in my heart.

The most direct manifestation of the power of the US consortium is to control hundreds of board seats of a large number of global corporate giants.

Simon's current wealth can't be compared with any of the ten largest consortia in the United States, but if he can win the board of directors of all 26 companies, this is definitely a strength that cannot be underestimated.

If Simon really allowed his father and uncle to act as directors of these companies, relying on Simon Westero’s huge wealth as a spokesperson and the influence represented by these companies’ board seats, the Rebold family and the Norman family would immediately be able to The formerly prestigious family of lawyers stepped into the most influential class in this country.

After all, billions of dollars in wealth is definitely not just a series of simple numbers on the surface.

Simon and Jennifer sat down at the conference table. In fact, there were only four people in the room. The other two were Amy and her assistant named Vanessa Lind. When Amy was just picked up, Danny Liz Pictures also had to pay Vanessa's salary in person because of lack of funds.

This kind of embarrassment will not happen again.

However, the conference room with only four people still shows that Daenerys Pictures is still a small workshop. In daily life, including Simon, there are actually only fifteen permanent employees in the two-story office building of Daenerys Films, who are responsible for all tasks such as finance, sending and receiving, and logistics. As for film production, it was the boss Simon and Amy Pascal who did it by themselves.

Today is already December 16th, Wednesday.

The three film projects planned by Daenerys Films in 1987, "Reaper is Coming", are coming to an end.

From the beginning of the painting on October 23 to now, in seven and a half weeks, the cumulative box office of "Reaper is Coming" has reached 67.53 million US dollars. Since the news that Simon suddenly became a billionaire in November inevitably played a role in boosting the film’s box office, the box office performance of "Reaper Is Coming" easily exceeded the expected $60 million.

At present, "Reaper Is Coming" temporarily ranks No. 7 in the annual North American box office chart with a box office of 67.43 million U.S. dollars, following the summer file "Iron Selfless" starring Sean Connery. The film still had a box office of 1.06 million U.S. dollars for the three days from December 11th to December 13th. In the next few weeks, the film's gross box office before the downgrade was enough to easily break the $70 million mark.

Simone pays attention to the two major films at the end of the year.

According to the information in memory, the Thanksgiving file and the Christmas file also include "Three Dads and One Baby" which was released on November 25, the following "Moonlight Splendid" on December 18, and the "Morning" on December 25. "Ann Vietnam" is expected to squeeze into the top ten of the annual list, and nothing else is enough to pose a threat to "Death is Coming".

As a result, "Reaper is coming" unexpectedly entered the top 10 from the top 15 in the North American box office rankings originally expected. If no other box office dark horses appear next, this movie will happen to be ranked in the North American annual box office rankings. Ranked 10th.

Counting "Rola Run", which firmly holds the No. 1 throne, and "Butterfly Effect", which is temporarily ranked No. 4, all three movies related to Simon in 1987 have all squeezed into the top of the North American box office charts. 10 people.

Even though Simon’s operation of making more than one billion dollars in the financial market shocked the entire world, in recent weeks, with "Reaper Coming", it has continuously surpassed the strength of films such as "Easttown Witch", "Deadly Weapon" and "The Road to Development" Won the 7th place on the annual list, Simon's personal three films a year all squeeze into the top ten of the annual box office list, and the whole Hollywood is still eye-catching.

Therefore, although "Pulp Fiction" and "When Harry Meets Sally" are still in the post-production stage, under the aura of more than one billion US dollars of personal wealth and three consecutive annual box office top ten movies, the capital market finally The door was completely opened to Simon.

Simon actually agrees not to use his own money to invest in movies.

In this world, no matter in any industry, using other people's money to make your own profits is absolutely king. However, even before the exposure of the wealth in November, Simon had not yet reached the point where others could pay for himself.

right now.

Daenerys Pictures finally, like the Big Seven and the top second-tier film companies such as Orion Pictures, obtained the qualification to obtain loans from banks only through brand guarantees.

Obviously, the brand guarantee of Daenerys Films is Simon herself.

Conference room.

Amy Pascal waited for Simon and Jennifer to sit down, and then handed over a folder, saying: "Simon, it has been negotiated. This is a draft contract. Wells Fargo is willing to provide Daenerys Pictures with 100 million yuan. A dollar loan with a term of 5 years and an annual interest rate of 6.5%."

Simon took the file and opened it, and couldn't help saying: "6.5%, it's still a bit high."

"If it were before the stock market crash, we might be able to get 5%," Amy looked at Simon and explained: "Now banks are generally tightening loans. The 6.5% is still the result of a long negotiation between me and Wells Fargo. You know. Yes, Paul Olsen originally offered an annual interest rate of 8%. In addition, the US$10 million loan of "Instinct" is not included in this amount, and it is still mortgaged through the "Reaper" share contract. The interest rate is 5% and the term is 3 years."

Paul Olsen is the senior vice president of Wells Fargo Bank who contacted here when Simon got the US$20 million loan last time. He has the connection with the last loan. This cooperation can be said to be the result of a hit after the two sides contacted each other. .

Simon nodded with a smile, and continued to look through the draft contract in his hand.

Less than an hour before leaving get off work, Amy did not wait for Simon to finish watching all, and then continued: "Simon, I have talked with Wes Craven, and he is happy to continue working with us on the next film. But , He also hopes to see the script first."

"Death is Coming" squeezed into the top ten box office in North America. Although everyone knows that this is largely due to Simon's personal script and popularity, as a director, it is like Brian de Palma who has returned to the pinnacle of his career. Similarly, Wes Craven was promoted to the first-line director smoothly.

"I already have a good idea, probably a campus thriller. In the two days I will take the time to write a summary of the story. However, now I don’t have much time to perfect the script. You will discuss it with Wes. , Hire other screenwriters to write."

Amy heard Simon say this, and subconsciously said: "What about the signature?"

Simon smiled and said, "There are enough three movies this year, Amy, do you think there are seven or eight films written by Simon Westero in Hollywood a year, how much interest can the audience keep?"

Amy caught another meaning in Simon’s words. She put her arm on the conference table and gently raised her hand in gestures: "Simon, you mean, we are going to make seven or eight movies next year?"

"Of course, not only movies, but also TV shows," Simon played on the draft contract in front of him, and said: "Otherwise, where do we need so much money. So, next, you can continue to hire people, we Next year, we will not only set foot in the field of TV programs, but also try to distribute films independently."

Although expected, Amy couldn't help feeling that Simon was a little too eager. However, thinking about the series of miracles created by the young man in front of him this year, Amy nodded quickly.