Hollywood Hunter

Simon and Jack Welch reached a basic transaction framework for New World Entertainment, and the detailed contract terms require further consultation between the two parties.

With the acquiescence of New World Entertainment’s major shareholders and General Electric, Daenerys Pictures quickly intervened in the company’s operations in the next few days and asked New World Entertainment CEO Robert Rem to temporarily stop all film and television projects. Production and distribution, any expenditure exceeding $50,000 must be approved by Daenerys Pictures.

Due to the long-term uninterrupted paparazzi with Simon, the news of his meeting with Jack Welch and others appeared in the newspaper the next day, and the media immediately clarified the ins and outs of the matter.

However, this time it did not reappear the situation where capital was rushed at the beginning of the year.

In half a year, things have changed too much.

At the beginning of the year, the news that Simon suddenly became rich through the operation of the stock index futures market has just been exposed, and it is the fat sheep in the eyes of many people. Moreover, the strike of Hollywood screenwriters had not happened yet, and the crisis of New World Entertainment was not as serious as it was at this time.

Now, due to the strike of Hollywood screenwriters, New World Entertainment's heavily dependent television production business has almost ceased, which has further deteriorated the operating conditions of the company that is already in financial crisis. Simon also expressed his attitude through the operation at the beginning of the year.

Therefore, the transaction is proceeding quite smoothly.

The second day that Simon and Jack Welch met was July 4, American Independence Day.

After four consecutive days of vacation, Daenerys Pictures, New World Entertainment and General Electric jointly issued an announcement and officially disclosed relevant news.

Daenerys Pictures plans to acquire all shares of New World Entertainment after General Electric’s debt-to-equity swap operation at a price of $250 million. Through this transaction, General Electric can recover US$225 million in funds, and the original shareholders of New World Entertainment will receive a total of US$25 million in compensation, equivalent to one-sixth of the stock price before the transaction.

Although some shareholders expressed dissatisfaction with this transaction, all parties know that this is actually the best result.

Without this transaction, New World Entertainment would either go bankrupt and liquidate, or sell assets to repay debt, both of which would only leave shareholders empty-handed.

After finalizing these, Simon began to ask James Rebold to organize a team to conduct asset and financial audits of New World Entertainment.

In addition to financing loans on the surface, many companies will accumulate a certain amount of hidden debts through false reporting of operating income or defaulting on payment due, etc. The worse the business conditions, the easier it is for companies to do so. Once the acquirer ignores this point, it is often necessary to bear this part of the expenditure after the transaction.

Hidden debt is even more common in Hollywood, where the accounting system is complex.

Simon did not choose to first buy the debts in the hands of General Electric and then carry out the debt-to-equity swap operation on his own. He was worried that Daenerys Pictures would be caught off guard by New World Entertainment's sudden large amount of hidden debts. Let GE conduct debt-to-equity swaps in advance. As long as the contract is not formally signed, the risks in this regard are still on the side of GE and New World Entertainment.

The pre-audit work will take about a month, and coupled with the financing of the acquisition of New World Entertainment, Daenerys Pictures may not officially take over the company until August.

With such a busy schedule, a new week has passed.

Due to the four consecutive days of the Independent Day holiday, the overall box office in North America during the week from July 1 to July 7 exceeded the 100 million U.S. dollar mark, reaching 117 million U.S. dollars.

Paramount Pictures produced Eddie Murphy's "A Journey to America" ​​film with a 2065 screen opening in the first week, which earned $36.15 million, making it the highest-grossing film in the first week of this summer archive. Before this, it was also produced by Paramount "Alligator Dundee 2", which opened on the screen at 2,837, and the box office was only 30.17 million US dollars in the first week.

Disney's "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" received 21.65 million US dollars in the box office in the first week. With the support of fiery word-of-mouth and four days of vacation, the next week received almost zero drop and another 21.34 million US dollars. Reached $42.99 million.

Sandra's black comedy "A Fish Named Wanda" ranked third in the first week of its release, with a box office of 13.96 million US dollars. Although the start is not amazing, but relative to the film’s production budget of only 8 million US dollars, this film will be enough to recover all the production and distribution costs next week. The reputation and topical heat shown by the film are also enough to support its emergence of a very beautiful Long line.

"Pulp Fiction" slipped to fourth this week, with a box office drop of 17% and another $12.53 million. Within 5 weeks of its release, the film’s cumulative box office reached 95.79 million U.S. dollars and is destined to exceed 100 million next week.

"Flying the Future" starring Tom Hanks also entered the fifth week, and the box office received another 9.24 million U.S. dollars. This movie, which has never won a weekly box office championship, unknowingly has accumulated 55.46 million U.S. dollars. , The trend can be said to be firm.

On July 8, the North American theaters released four new films from mainstream studios at once.

However, judging from the box office data for the three days of the weekend, the four new films basically ended in failure. It is estimated that the Fox Pictures comedy "Driver's License" with the best performance will only have a box office of about 7.5 million US dollars in the first week. No one can make the top five positions on the list.

At the same time, "Instinct" also launched a sprint propaganda in the last week before its release.

On the other hand, after only a stalemate for a week, the ABC television network resumed contact with Daenerys Pictures.

As Simon had previously judged, ABC did not have enough confidence to give up a TV show that could earn the network $1 million per issue. What's more, the number of episodes per season of this TV show is three times that of the traditional one-hour TV series.

Restarting negotiations, Daenerys Pictures still insisted on the offer of US$2 million per issue, but also made some concessions in other aspects, agreeing to provide ABC with 15 additional episodes for the next period of time before the autumn file, to make up for the reason. The strike caused a shortage of TV programs.

Counting the pilot episodes of the previous week, for this additional 22 episodes, ABC will pay Daenerys Pictures a one-time payment of US$30 million.

ABC wants to get this extra part of the program, more so as to get more TV viewers before the fall season. This is actually the reason why ABC is willing to compromise so quickly. In comparison, although the contract with Daenerys Pictures was also quickly signed, the "Survivor" obtained by NBC could not play this role.

In "Survivor", Daenerys Pictures and NBC also signed a binding clause similar to ABC.

However, Daenerys Pictures only got a one-time buyout price of US$1.2 million per issue for the first season because it was unable to confirm the ratings in advance. After the program is broadcast, the two parties can renegotiate the subsequent offer according to the specific viewing situation.

Simon actually wanted to get a share contract, but was firmly rejected by NBC.

He later learned that this is more because the TV network does not want to expose its financial data to the outside world. The TV network also has an accounting system similar to the Hollywood ledger, and it is more opaque.

Compared with the standard 69 issues per season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", Daenerys Pictures’ plan for the first season of "Survivor" has only 13 issues, and may be adjusted according to the broadcast schedule in the future. But it will basically be controlled within 20 issues per season.

The estimated production cost for the first season is about 5 million US dollars, which is much more expensive than "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

Therefore, the revenue of "Survivor" cannot be compared with "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

Even if the price is re-negotiated in the second season, Simon expects that this show will probably only get a similar offer to "Who Will Be a Millionaire". However, the projected screen life of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" is much shorter than that of "Survivor". Even if Daenerys Pictures actively controls to prevent the program from becoming too flooded, it will be at most three to five years. Once the audience develops aesthetic fatigue, this program will end.

In contrast, according to the production schedule of the two seasons each year, "Survivor" has been able to persist on TV screens for more than ten years.

Moreover, although it cannot be compared with "Who Will Be a Millionaire", the return rate of "Survivor" is still unmatched by traditional TV programs.

As long as this program can achieve the same success as the original time and space, two seasons a year, the number of episodes is appropriately expanded, and the number of episodes is calculated according to the two seasons 30 issues, plus Daenerys Pictures also retains the in-program advertising revenue, "Survival "Zher" can bring Daenerys Films an income of no less than 60 million US dollars every year.

In short, these two reality show works are actually like low-cost and high-box office dark horses. If Daenerys Pictures wants to develop its TV business for a long time, it also needs to produce various types of mainstream TV programs.

City of Santa Monica.

Daenerys Pictures headquarters, the time is July 12.

In Simon's office, opposite him was sitting a middle-aged man in his fifties. Even if he was sitting, he could see that he was absolutely taller than 1.9 meters.

This is Robert Rem, the current CEO of New World Entertainment.

The transaction plan between the two parties was finalized. In recent days, Robert Rem has been very proactive in keeping in touch with Simon, and Simon has also carefully inquired about the middle-aged man's professional resume through his contacts in the circle.

Robert Rem is 53 years old this year, as early as 16 years old, he used to work as a receptionist in a local theater. After graduating from university, Robert Rem has worked in a series of film and television entertainment, and has 30 years of experience in film and television production and distribution.

Before taking the post of CEO of New World Entertainment, Robert Rem was the vice president of marketing and marketing at Universal Pictures, and his previous work was more inclined to film distribution.

This also happens to be what Daenerys Pictures urgently needs.

Middle-aged people obviously see this as well, so they will be so positive.

After all, according to his resume, there is still a long way to go before grabbing the chair of the top studio. If Daenerys Pictures completes the acquisition of New World Entertainment and leaves after the acquisition, he is more likely to become a solo producer, and may be able to receive some other second- and third-line film company executive positions, but those jobs are obviously Can't compare with the rapid development of Daenerys Pictures.

You know, just in the first half of the year, the expected benefits from "When Harry Meets Sally", "Pulp Fiction" and the just-successful "Who Will Be a Millionaire" have already exceeded all Hollywood's generally poor operating conditions. Second-tier film companies are even comparable to the bottom-ranking companies in the top seven in terms of profitability.

Simon actually intends to let the other party stay, but he must also confirm Robert Rem's attitude.

After all, compared with Robert Rem, Amy Pascal’s seniority in Hollywood is much less, and she is still a woman. However, Simon did not make Amy give up the idea of ​​being a leader, he has always been very satisfied with Amy. If Robert Rem is unwilling to take the second place and wants to replace Amy, Simon can only regret it.

The main purpose of Robert Rem's visit today is to send Simon information on various projects in the hands of New World Entertainment.

When Larry Kupin bought New World Entertainment from Roger Coman in 1983, Roger Coman retained the copyright to all films before 1983. However, in recent years, due to continuous large-scale expansion, New World Entertainment has rapidly accumulated the copyrights of nearly a hundred movies and TV series in just five years through self-production and agency distribution.

Simon is most concerned about the company's TV shows.

According to the information in hand, several major TV networks announced plans from New World Entertainment last year, including "Ultimate Police Network", "Santa Barbara" and other five TV series with very good ratings. This spring file, ahead of the strike of Hollywood screenwriters, New World Entertainment also launched another highly acclaimed new drama "The Age of Innocence".

However, due to the strike of Hollywood screenwriters, the television network announced the renewal of these programs are temporarily stranded. Without the acquisition of Daenerys Films, even if the TV network still had demand, New World Entertainment would have to cut most of the projects due to funding and other reasons.

As for the movie.

Inheriting the production style of Roger Coman’s period, the films produced and released by New World Entertainment in recent years are generally low-cost B-level films, and most of them have flowed directly to the video tape market.

Compared with last year’s eight production lists, New World Entertainment’s production plan for this year is only three, and there are several other projects that are clearly in the pipeline.

As for the distribution, in the first half of the year, New World Entertainment released a total of seven movies, of which all four movies that entered the theater line ended in failure. In early May, the film "Zombie Special Police" was released on the edge of the summer file. The production cost was 5 million US dollars, and the screen was opened for 1012. In the end, it only recovered 3.59 million US dollars in the box office. This is the best result among the four theater-line movies. The other three films were only released on video tapes, which shows how bleak New World Entertainment's film business is.

Simon didn’t let Robert Rem wait too long. He quickly browsed through the information in his hands. He raised his head and said, “Bob, after completing this acquisition, I will integrate all New World Entertainment into Dannelly. Among the silk films, Daenerys Films was reorganized into Daenerys Entertainment, and subsidiaries were established in accordance with the model of New World Entertainment. In a short period of time, I do not plan to lay off this company, but according to custom, you personally Except. However, I also understand what you are thinking. So, everyone, be honest, would you like to be Amy's deputy?"

Of course, Robert Rem was unwilling in his heart. Before he came to Daenerys Pictures, he had considered the idea of ​​persuading Simon to let himself be the number one leader. However, Simon opened his mouth and regarded this as a precondition, and he was also aware of Simon's attitude.

After thinking about it for a moment, Robert Rem nodded and said, "No problem, Simon. However, I can serve as Ms. Pascal’s deputy in the position, but I hope to report directly to you personally, without Pascal’s jurisdiction."