Hollywood Hunter

Withdrawing the post-production power of "Rain Man", Simon did not expect Barry Levinson to remain silent as he hoped.

What Simon did not expect was that the next day, the "Hollywood Reporter" quickly published the front-page news of "Barry Levinson was forced to withdraw from the late stage of "Rain Man". The article completely put Barry Levinson as victimized. From the standpoint of the writer, Simon has been indiscriminately interfering in the production of the film from the shooting stage of "Rain Man" until yesterday when Barry Levinson was forcibly kicked out of his project by Simon.

As pre-arranged, on the day the news appeared in the newspaper, the two leading actors of "Rain Man" Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise accepted an interview with CNN at the same time, accusing Simon of disrespect for the film creators.

Immediately afterwards, the Directors’ Guild of America issued a public statement on Friday, claiming that it would investigate whether Daenerys Pictures violated the rights of directors.

In just a few days, Daenerys Pictures was quickly pushed to the center of a storm of public opinion.

Hollywood has always been producer-centric.

Whether it was the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" director Toby Hopper who was raised by the producer Spielberg in the "Ghost Drive" project in the early 1980s, or the "Justice" many years later in Simon's memory It is very common for the director to be kicked out of the movie production process in the "League".

However, more ordinary people are obviously not too concerned about these things.

Under the hype of the media accustomed to grandstanding, an event that was commonplace in Hollywood was quickly rendered into a major event close to a scandal.

new York.

Morton Street in Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan.

In a nine-story red brick building not far from New York University, this is the East Coast headquarters of New World Entertainment.

In the nine-story red brick building, New World Entertainment occupies six of them. Half of the company's more than 110 employees except Marvel are here, and the other half are in Los Angeles. The six-story office space is more than enough for more than 50 employees. The current staff size of New World Entertainment is actually the result of several layoffs.

Because of its focus on TV program production, New World Entertainment’s east coast originally had nearly a hundred employees, and it has laid off nearly half in the past six months. Just because the lease of the office building has not yet expired, it has been occupying a lot of free space.

It was August 2nd. After a month of financing and auditing, Simon formally signed an acquisition agreement with New World Entertainment’s chairman Larry Coupin at the company’s east coast headquarters. High-rises, large and small, are also gathered in New York.

In the morning, the various signature handover and other processes were completed. The two companies mainly focused on New World Entertainment's large and small executives who gathered in the largest conference room in the office building after lunch.

Simon plans to use these six-story office buildings directly as the East Coast headquarters of Daenerys Entertainment. Although he has bought several buildings with better conditions in Shangcheng District, according to the plan, residents there will probably not start to move out until around 1990.

Although it is the longest time of summer, long meetings involving a series of issues such as personnel adjustments, financial planning and project discussions have been held until the dawn of Manhattan. Fortunately, I avoided a company bankruptcy and everyone lost their jobs. I also followed a promising new owner. Everyone was very interested.

At the end of the meeting, Daenerys Films also arranged a dinner in a nearby hotel, so until ten o'clock in the evening, all the talents dispersed.

Simon was not free, but returned to the New World Entertainment headquarters with Amy Pascal, Robert Rem, and Robert Iger, who had successfully resigned from ABC and joined Daenerys Pictures.

Everyone sat down in a small meeting room. Jennifer personally made coffee for everyone and brought it up. Simon took the coffee handed by the female assistant and said thank you softly, but his expression was not so relaxed.

"Simon, things continue to ferment like this, and it will definitely make many Hollywood directors avoid cooperating with us out of scruples. This is a very difficult problem," said Robert Rem, the oldest qualified person on the scene: " We must clarify and fight back as soon as possible."

If it is not necessary, after a busy day, everyone will naturally not gather together late at night.

The discussion at this time was naturally the fire of Barry Levinson that broke out a few days ago. Simon did not let this matter affect Daenerys's work rhythm, and completed the acquisition of New World Entertainment step by step, and finally settled the company and Marvel Entertainment, which he values ​​most.

However, in any case, Daenerys Pictures must still face this problem.

What Simon has been wondering these days is why Barry Levinson made this matter known to everyone, and there is even a CAA shadow behind it. Although he is a first-line director, without the support of the entire CAA, it would be impossible for Barry Levinson to make such a big mess in just a few days.

After all, everyone is a business man.

If there is a demand, CAA can completely contact itself, and should not tear its face so unabashedly, this is actually not good for both parties. Although the media tends to favor Barry Levinson, Hollywood does not lack discerning people.

Whose film company hasn't issued a few directors?

People from your CAA family are so squeamish, and if you feel wronged, you will make things worse. All parties will definitely be very cautious when choosing cooperation.

However, these days, Simon has not received any news from CAA.

He habitually played with a pencil in his hand, Simon lowered his head and glanced, and suddenly noticed one thing, he always seemed to be able to find a pencil on hand. Looking up suspiciously, and noticing Jennifer's figure, he came to understand.

Unable to take a few more glances at the ponytail that was shaking during the female assistant's movements, Simon quickly withdrew his attention, nodded to Robert Rem, who was already in the state, and looked at the others: "What do you mean?"

Amy shook her head silently.

Robert Iger has just been thinking about it. Hearing Simon's question, he said: "In this recent incident, I always feel that there is a feeling of'cannot wait' in it."

Simon was puzzled: "Huh?"

Robert Iger sorted out his thoughts again and said: "If the information I understand is correct, you just fired Barry Levinson. This incident broke out the next day, and it seemed too deliberate and too impatient."

Robert Rem said: "Bob, it's nothing. You should know how much energy Ovitz has in Hollywood. He only needs to make a few phone calls."

"Indeed, but, if it were me, I would definitely choose to communicate with Simon first, and only use these methods if the negotiation is not correct," Robert Iger said, looking at Simon, and said: "But, Simon, O Wiitz didn't contact you, did he?"

Simon nodded and looked at Amy.

"We tried to contact CAA, but it said Ovitz had gone to Japan."

"If CAA intends to settle this matter, this is not a problem," Iger shook his head and said: "The problem now is that CAA has no intention of reconciliation. They seem to just want to embarrass us."

Amy said: "Although we are not as good as the Big Seven, CAA shouldn't be so stupid as to completely froze with us. There must be something inside that we don't know."

Robert Rem also said at this time: "Perhaps, is it possible, this is the Seventh Congress behind the push?"

Amy and Iger fell silent when they heard the words.

This summer file has entered the final stage. Although Paramount Pictures has successfully won two box office club movies with two clear and neat full-scale releases, but during this time, Hollywood's light has almost gathered in Dan. Nelise Pictures.

In addition to "Pulp Fiction" and "Instinct", Daenerys Pictures also launched a reality show like "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

These days, the company has also successfully sold another reality show "Big Brother" to Fox Television Network for a high price of US$1 million per issue. Compared with the "Survivor" which has only more than ten issues per season, "Big Brother" has It is a standard of 23 issues per season.

Moreover, shooting in a completely enclosed environment in a house, the production cost of each issue of "Big Brother" is almost the same as that of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", both at about $30.

In addition, there is also advertising placement income. Because of the exemplary success of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", the in-program sponsorships received by "Big Brother" are also enough to cover the production budget. Daenerys Films is equal to 23 million. The net profit in US dollars is accounted for, and the right to re-negotiate prices in the next quarter based on the viewing status of the program is also reserved.

Calculated, the three reality shows sold in the past few months, but the total of the first season can bring about 200 million US dollars in pre-tax profits for Daenerys Pictures, and the performance of the top seven in recent years is not counted. Colombia and MGM are too good, but the annual net profit scale may not be able to reach 200 million US dollars.

The principle that Mu Xiu Yu Lin Feng must destroy is applicable to any industry in any country. Daenerys Films’ performance is too dazzling, and competitors will certainly not be indifferent.

but.

In the meeting room, Simon immediately ruled out the possibility of the Seven Big Shots.

Although "Pulp Fiction" and "Instinct" were very successful, the studios got profit sharing. Just like "Pulp Fiction", it is expected that only North America can get a box office of 150 million US dollars. Daenerys Pictures can actually only get 10% of the box office share and 5% of the North American video tape sales in the later period. The big head was still taken away by Orion. "Instinct" also gave half of the income to Fox. As for the other companies, they still have or have a relationship with Daenerys Pictures or look forward to this kind of cooperative relationship. They have no motivation to do this kind of harm to others. Things.

Even for the four major TV networks, apart from CBS, which failed to grab "Big Brother" and looked down on "Beverly's Wife" and got nothing, the other three have no incentive to do so in order to ensure the success of several reality shows.

motivation?

motivation!

Suddenly, Simon finally caught the point of the matter.

Michael Ovitz is not a fool, but very shrewd and realistic. So, if there is not enough motivation, he will not do it either.

The question is now.

What is the motivation for this whole thing?

Listening to the discussions of Amy and the others, Simon re-organized the ins and outs of the whole incident, and suddenly, he finally understood something.

"OK, I probably know why Barry Levinson did this," Simon said after tapping on the table lightly and interrupting a few people. "It's already late. Please go back and rest as soon as possible. Jenny, you arrange Let’s take a flight tomorrow morning and contact Ovitz by the way. He should be back. I will see him when I arrive in Los Angeles tomorrow."

Everyone was confused, and Amy asked, "Simon, what is going on?"

Simon stood up and said, "Amy, do you remember the mess during the filming of "Rain Man"? Whether it's Dustin Hoffman or Tom Cruise, and Barry Levinson, they Several of them are very optimistic about this project."

Amy nodded.

For this reason, during the filming of "Rain Man", the entire crew was almost in a playful mentality. Everyone felt that the project was going to be broken. Dustin Hoffman was in the second week of filming because of the project. The prospects were not optimistic and even yelled to the producer on the set because of some trivial things, "Go find Jack Nicholson, I don’t want to shoot anymore." In the end, he was persuaded to come back. After the shooting, Dass Ting Hoffman and Tom Cruise even directly call their respective roles as'two idiots sitting in a car'.

Obviously, judging from what Barry Levinson did in the later stages of the film, the director's mentality is also the same.

Simon felt the curious gazes of a few people, and directly clicked: "After all, this is a big production costing $25 million, because Barry Levinson and Dustin Hoffman think this project will box office. The fiasco has affected your reputation and coffee status. So, if it were you, what would you do?"

Amy Pascal, Robert Rem, and Robert Iger looked at each other at the same time, and similar thoughts flashed through their minds.

However, none of the three spoke.

Obviously.

Shirk responsibility.

However, this kind of thing is obviously better not to react too quickly. Probably few bosses would like to see employees who like to shirk their responsibilities.

Simon looked at the expressions on the faces of the three of them, and knew they had understood.

Since Simon handed Barry Levinson a memorandum of his comments on "Rain Man" a few days ago, there have been rumors of Barry Levinson accusing Simon of excessive interference in this project.

Later, because of the serious ‘disagreement’ with Simon on the direction of the film’s creation, Barry Levinson naturally allowed himself to be fired by Simon. Then, several of them didn't want to carry on their backs the creator of the bad reputation of making a fiasco at the box office, and of course they decisively threw this scapegoat on Simon.

Now things have been full of ups and downs in the city. Even if the next box office of "Rain Man" hits the street again, the public will obviously only blame Simon for the blame, and the film's main creators became victims in an instant.