Hollywood Hunter

In the new week, since the TV series for this fall will generally not be broadcast until October, Daenerys Entertainment’s several reality shows continue to dominate the ratings.

The weekly "Who Will Be a Millionaire" is a complete G-level reality show for all ages, and almost everyone talks about it from the elderly to the children. The highest ratings for the second issue of "Survivor" at 8 o'clock on Monday rushed directly to a high of 25.65 million, almost locked in the ratings champion of this fall season. The only regret of this TV show is that it has only 13 issues. The ratings of "Big Brother" and "The Beverly Wife", which were crowded on Wednesday, have also risen steadily due to the lack of competitors.

In the end, CBS had previously attempted to abandon the reality show that Daenerys Entertainment produced separately, and it was also broadcast this week, and it achieved an average of 13.6 million viewers in the first period. Although not outstanding, it regrets the other three TV networks that generally maintain a conservative attitude towards reality shows.

Obviously, the major TV networks will definitely put their energy into creating their own reality shows in the next few years. Once one of the hottest items appears, Daenerys Entertainment will definitely not be able to maintain the current initiative and huge profits.

However, Simon is not too worried about this. In my memory, reality shows have developed for more than 20 years, and only a few have truly reached the phenomenon level. The ratings data of the two ever-hot reality shows, "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and "Survivor", will be "Big Brother". "And "Beverly's Sweet Wife" are far away, enough to prove that it is definitely not so easy to create a hit.

After careful consideration and modification during the two weekends and subsequent working days, Daenerys Entertainment resubmitted the revised version of "Scream" to the MPAA's rating committee.

The time is already at the end of September. The company originally hoped that the movie could be released on Halloween on October 28th, and has already invested a lot of manpower and material resources in pre-publicity. However, due to the delay caused by the re-rating, Daenerys Entertainment has not yet been able to sign a formal screening contract with major theaters in North America. Seeing this situation, Simon secretly began to make other preparations.

Santa Monica.

A meeting room in Daenerys's special effects office building is already on Wednesday, September 28.

Simon was standing in front of the demo board and personally introducing the script overview of the two animated films "Toy Story" and "The Lion King". At the conference table, besides several Daenerys special effects executives such as Mark Silvers, there were Ed Catmoore and John Lasseter, two former Pixar executives who just joined the company.

After the call with Jobs on the plane to Australia, James Rebald and Amy Pascal have been cooperating to complete the acquisition of Pixar this month, which is now considered to be a complete finalization.

Daenerys Entertainment eventually paid US$20 million to buy all of Pixar’s software and hardware divisions. Jobs and Pixar’s former employees gave up their equity. Daenerys Entertainment acquired full ownership of Randerman and other software series. Completely make up for Daenerys's previous shortcomings in the technical rendering of special effects.

After completing the acquisition, Simon’s first request was to move Pixar as a whole to Los Angeles.

Most of the executives and employees, including Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, agreed to this point, but it was inevitable that some people refused. Alvi Ray Smith, another Pixar technical backbone Therefore, he withdrew from the company, and Simon allowed the other party to leave after his stay was fruitless. 3D animation film is an important layout for Daenerys Entertainment in the next few years. In order to control as directly as possible, he does not intend to be like the original time and space Let Pixar stay in San Francisco like that.

Simon originally planned to change Pixar's name directly to Daenerys Animation Company, but Ed Cartermoor, John Lasseter and others hope to keep Pixar's name. This is irrelevant, and Simon agreed.

The main purpose of this meeting is to discuss the details of porting Randerman and other Pixar software to the professional graphics workstation of Silicon Graphics and the plan for two 3D animation movies.

Pixar's original positioning is also a professional graphics workstation, but technically it cannot be compared with Silicon Graphics, but has software advantages such as Randerman. In order to integrate Pixar software and Daenerys's special effects software as much as possible to improve efficiency, Simon plans to abandon the research and development of Pixar computers, and Pixar can also focus on software and animation business.

Pixar Computer has not launched a complete product, and it has no profit at all, otherwise it will not become a drag on Jobs. Therefore, Ed Carter Moore and others did not oppose Simon's proposal to cancel hardware development.

However, after listening to Simon's introduction of the scripts of "Toy Story" and "The Lion King", Ed Cartermoore said: "Simon, with our current technology, it is not difficult to realize the "Toy Story" plan, but "The Lion King" "If you want to show animal movements and hair and other details very vividly, the current technology cannot achieve this level."

"This is your business," Simon looked at Ed Catmull, then glanced at the others in the conference room, and said: "I don't know much about technology, but I understand that the current hardware technology is enough. To support you in accomplishing this, the hardware platform is like a paintbrush. What you have to do is to develop software that can achieve special effects. This is equivalent to a paintbrush. Finally, we don’t lack animators, so I just look forward to seeing what I think The desired result."

Mark Silvers also said at this time: "Simon, this will take a long time."

Simon turned to Mark and said, "Don't use the term ‘long time’. It’s too general. How long do you need to tell me?"

After hearing this, Mark Silvers communicated a few words with Ed Cartermoor in a low voice, then raised his head again: "If you want to develop the technology required for "The Lion King" and complete the effect test, according to Daenerys The current R&D teams of Special Effects and Pixar will take at least two years, and this is still in the case of sufficient funds."

"No problem," Simon nodded happily. In two years, it was far below his expectation: "You can recruit some more people appropriately, but pay attention to restraint. It is not a good thing that a company is too large in the initial development stage. I You can guarantee your funding, and then you give me the results I want." Simon finished speaking, turned to John Lasseter, and said, "John, do you have a problem with you?"

The story script of "Toy Story" is the result of several phone discussions between Simon and Lasseter over the past month. Upon hearing Simon's question, John Lasseter said, "I need three years."

It is well known that the 3D animation production cycle is long. The original time and space Pixar can release an animation film in two years on average, but it is actually the result of several teams working at the same time. It generally takes three to four years or even longer for an animated film to go from the script stage to the completion of the film. This cannot be promoted by increasing the number of animators. The scale of the animated film crew is too large, which will definitely seriously affect the film’s production. quality.

"In that case, today's meeting ends here," Simon announced the end of the meeting, and said to Mark Silvers: "How are the special effects of the Batman cloak here, let me see the effect."

At the stage of drawing the concept map of "Batman", Simon discovered that Batman's cloak in the film was a very troublesome problem. During the process of Bruce Wayne flying over the wall, if he completely used the real cloak, the effect would be absolutely horrible, so Simon did. Considering the possibility of the CG cloak, and handing it over to Daenerys special effects for research

Mark Silvers believes: "We just finished a CG shot of Batman's cloak unfolding when he fell from a high altitude. Although it is only 3 seconds, the effect is absolutely amazing. I originally planned to show you today."

Everyone got up as they talked, and was about to see the sample that Mark Silvers said. Simon’s female assistant, Jennifer, came over after receiving a call and whispered to him: "Ms. Pascal’s call, she Said that the R-level review of "Screaming Scream" was rejected again."

Simon stopped and motioned to Mark Silvis and others to make their own way first, and said, "Are the materials ready?"

Jennifer nodded.

Simon said: "In this case, help me make an appointment with MPAA Chairman Jack Valenti. I will talk to him tonight or tomorrow noon."

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is generally a trade association organization established in 1922 to lobby for government film-related bills on behalf of major Hollywood film companies, promote film and television copyright protection, and develop film and television content guidelines.

For a long time, MPAA member companies have not been static.

At the founding stage, MPAA members consisted of eight major Hollywood film companies. In the previous years, with the rapid rise of a number of second-tier film companies in Hollywood, several companies such as Orion Pictures and De Laurentiis Entertainment have also joined the MPAA. After several companies such as De Laurentiis Entertainment went bankrupt, the two Year after year, they withdrew one after another. At present, the main members of MPAA are the traditional seven and Orion.

In 1966, the MPAA hired Jack Valentine, an assistant to former US President Lyndon Johnson, as the chairman of the association. This powerful politician stayed in this position for 22 years and will continue. Jack Valenti’s greatest contribution after taking office was to abolish the infamous ‘Hays Code’ and re-enact the ‘Voluntary Film Rating System’. Of course, things have developed to the present, it is basically difficult for those films that are ‘involuntarily’ rated to enter the cinema and video market.

Simon met Jack Valenti, who was 67 this year, in Burbank in the valley at noon the next day. The MPAA headquarters is located near the junction of Highway 101 and Ventura Avenue in Burbank, not far from the headquarters of several major studios.

The agreed time was 12 o'clock noon, Simon arrived fifteen minutes earlier, and Jack Valenti stepped on the timeline to enter the restaurant.

"Simon, I have been looking forward to seeing you. The miracle you have created in the past two years is simply amazing."

Simon shook hands with the serious but talkative old man in front of him, and politely invited the other person to sit down, saying, "Thank you, Jack, I also admire what you have done for Hollywood over the years."

The two sat down and ordered two simple lunches.

When the waiter left, Jack Valenti noticed an unfolded folder in front of Simon. Although he knew the intention of the young man in inviting him, he couldn't help but curiously said: "Simon, just watching what?"

"The box office data report of North America in recent weeks," Simon handed over the folder directly, saying: "Starting from September 9th, the summer period ends. From September 9th to September 15th, the total box office in North America for a single week It fell to 29.88 million US dollars. From September 16 to September 22, the total box office for a single week was 25.67 million US dollars. Although the data for the most recent week will be released tomorrow, according to the previous weekend box office situation, September 23 to September 29 Japan’s single-week gross box office should also be only 27 million U.S. dollars. In comparison, in the whole year of last year, North America’s single-week box office fell below 30 million U.S. dollars, only in week 19."

Jack Valenti listened to Simon's words, glanced at the report on the folder, and exclaimed: "The impact of the strike on the industry is too great."

Simon nodded in agreement, and said: "I roughly checked the October release list. If Daenerys Entertainment's "Scream" cannot be released on time on October 28, the entire October schedule will be opened. There are only 5 films with more than 500 screens. In the same period last year, the number was 9 which is a decrease of almost half."

Jack Valenti didn’t expect that Simon would directly turn the topic to "Screaming Scream". After considering it, he said: "Simon, the rating committee is very strict and fair. Your film should really be needed. Change it again."

"Really?" Simon asked rhetorically, pointing his finger at the document in front of Jack Valenti, and said: "Jack, there are two memos under the report. One is the revised opinion of the rating committee to Instinct. To the extent that a certain shot needs to be cut for 2 seconds, the revision opinions obtained by "Screaming Scream" are very general. It only roughly asks us to modify some fragments of the film that are even more than ten minutes long. Is it fair?"

Jack Valenti just noticed that there were other documents under the box office report that Simon handed over. At this moment, he opened it and closed it again, with a wry smile on his face, and said: "Simon, you have to understand, you It's useless to find me. I don't have control over this matter."

Starting in 1966, Jack Valenti has served as the chairman of the MPAA for 22 years. He does have a high reputation in the industry, but in the final analysis, he is only an employee of a major Hollywood studio. If it weren't for what he had done over the years for the benefit of Hollywood, it would be impossible for Jack Valenti to stay in this position.

Therefore, Jack Valenti obviously cannot change the traditional big film company's desire to suppress Daenerys Entertainment, the latecomer.

"Of course I understand," Simon nodded, and said, "Jack, I just need you to help me pass the message to some people."

Jack Valenti made a please say gesture.

Simon glanced at the document in front of Jack Valenti again and said: "The North American box office has fallen below 30 million U.S. dollars for three consecutive weeks. I believe it will be the same for some time in the future. The box office for the entire year-end period will shrink. This was caused by the previous Hollywood screenwriter's strike, Jack, why do you think the screenwriter went on strike?"