Hollywood Hunter

At the beginning of the year, a pilot episode of project preparation was identified, and the promotion season in May will be promoted to TV networks, and the fall will start broadcasting. This is the operation process of most TV programs in the United States.

Simon used his free time to just complete the story outline and general script of the first season of "Desperate Housewives". Many details still need to be revised, which happens to transfer the authorship rights.

It is actually very strange that Simon himself wrote the script for such a project. He does not need to rely on a TV show to accumulate anything now.

Of course, this does not prevent Hollywood from quickly spreading news about new projects created by Simon Westero himself.

Although it is a TV series, the reality show, which is still popular in recent years, has long confirmed that Simon can also perform miracles in the TV field.

You know, popular reality shows such as "Survivor", "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and "The Wife of Beverly" have not only created billions of industrial value, but also made a large number of TV popular. Reality star.

Take "Who Will Be a Millionaire" as an example. Although the popularity of this puzzle reality show has been in decline after the initial boom, the annual salary of the show host Regis Phil has reached 10 million. Dollar.

In the first four reality shows launched in 1988, although "Beverly's Sweet Wife" had the lowest ratings, several housewives have become well-known TV stars. Even though the income of participating in this reality show is not high, they rely on Acting in other TV shows, advertising endorsements, and personal careers developed outside of TV are also fame and fortune. This is why Chrissy Jenner is so obedient in front of Simon.

The more you are in the game, the more you can experience the true power and energy of some people at the top of the pyramid in a circle, and therefore the easier it is to awe and surrender.

Now, a TV drama project created by Simon himself, even if it will only be broadcast on a cable network like the USA, after understanding some of the details of the project, it is enough to attract many actresses who have stepped on the tail of their personal careers.

Hollywood circles, especially female stars, if they can’t make a name for themselves before the age of 30, after the age of 30, they will either get married and have children and be housewives, or they can only be in the second line. There are only a handful of people who can really make a comeback.

It's only February 1992, and the spring file has already opened. The schedule for "Desperate Housewives" will definitely only be this autumn, so there is still enough preparation time.

Simon took out a brief story and script, and handed the preliminary preparations of the project to Robert Iger. He still has many more important things to deal with.

On February 18, after more than a month of auditing, Daenerys Entertainment Group’s 1991 financial report was finally released.

In 1991, Daenerys Entertainment, which completed the merger of MCA, achieved total revenue of 9.3 billion US dollars for the whole year. Because of the need to mobilize a large amount of cash flow to repay the debt borne by the MCA acquisition, as well as the company's layoffs, asset write-downs and other expenses, the company's annual net profit was ultimately US$270 million.

However, because of the large amount of debt settlement, even after the completion of the entire acquisition of EA, which cost more than 800 million US dollars, Daenerys Entertainment Group’s overall debt is only 7.8 billion US dollars.

Because of the great success of "Toy Story" at the end of last year, the industry generally valued Daenerys Entertainment Group at US$20 billion.

According to this valuation level, a debt of $7.8 billion is actually only equivalent to a debt ratio of 39%.

After completing a large-scale merger and acquisition, Daenerys Entertainment's debt ratio can be controlled within 40%, which is already a pioneering move.

After Time Warner Group adopted a series of measures to reduce debt, coupled with the continuous rebound of the US stock market for more than a year, the company's debt ratio at this stage is still over 70%.

The reason why media tycoons such as Redstone and Murdoch have rapidly shrunk in recent years is mainly due to the heavy debts of their companies after the outbreak of the US bond crisis.

In addition, Daenerys Entertainment’s annual revenue of 9.3 billion US dollars is equivalent to the company’s ranking basically entering the top 50 of the Fortune 500 in the United States.

In the entire media industry, this revenue volume is second only to Time Warner Group.

However, because of the completely out-of-control merger and fierce internal struggles among the management, Time Warner, although it has more than tens of billions of dollars in revenue, is actually far inferior to Daenerys Entertainment, which is still thriving.

Now that it has planned to go public, Daenerys Entertainment did not continue to keep a low profile on the company's financial data this time, and took the initiative to contact some financial media to publish the data.

Most corporate giants often made huge losses in the first few years of completing mergers and acquisitions. Although Daenerys Entertainment’s net profit margin in the past year was only 3%, anyone can see that such financial data has exceeded expected.

Moreover, after the initial turmoil after the end of mergers and acquisitions, after the company's operations have stabilized, Daenerys Entertainment's debt ratio will also decline rapidly as long as it is willing to rely on its own abundant cash flow.

With the media's discussion of Daenerys Entertainment's new annual financial report, Simon's 24th birthday came unknowingly.

February 22 this year happens to be a Saturday.

Although he doesn't plan to make such a big fanfare for his 20th birthday, it is not easy for Simon now to have a low-key birthday.

Since January, many people have been inquiring about Simon's 24th birthday party. Janet wished everyone would forget their birthday, but he also attached great importance to Simon's birthday and started preparations a month in advance.

The party location is still in the mansion halfway up the hill in Palisades.

After getting along for so long, most people around Simon can appreciate the primitive territorial consciousness in him. He doesn't like his private space being touched by others. Therefore, there is not much expectation for a birthday party at the Dume Point Manor. Perhaps in the future, few people will be able to enter the uppermost floor of the Westeros Building.

Of course, even the birthday party in the Palisades mansion, not everyone can participate.

Although the threshold is high, compared to the previously boring business parties, Simon's birthday party is very fun under the arrangement of Janet, and there is no shortage of singing, dancing, wine and beauties.

The party lasted from 7 o'clock on Saturday night to 2 o'clock in the morning. If it weren't for worrying that some unexpected things would happen to guests staying in the Palisades mansion, all night would be inevitable.

After leaving the party, no matter how ridiculous it is, there is nothing to do with Westeros.

Simon and his wife did not leave Palisades until 12 o’clock that evening, but they flew to Panama at night. A certain little guy was given to Catherine to look after. Catherine obviously has no experience in childcare, but women need What I did was actually just watching. The three ABD girls stayed at the Dome Point Manor. They were nanny trained by Janet herself.

After three days of playing in Panama, the couple did not return to Los Angeles until Wednesday.

Simon put down Janet, but flew directly to San Francisco.

After investing in graphics chip company ATI last year, ATI finally completed the first consumer graphics chip for the PC market in the near future.

When Westeros bought 25% of ATI for US$50 million, Simon then suggested that Intel wholly acquire ATI and fully invest in the promotion of graphics cards.

However, although Intel accepted Simon’s suggestion, ATI did not agree to Intel’s takeover offer.

This is the obvious thing.

Embracing the thigh of Westeros, ATI already has a strong enough backing, there is no need to sell itself to Intel, at least for the time being.

Everyone knows the truth behind the price.

However, ATI is also aware of Intel's strong influence in the semiconductor industry. Although it rejected the offer of a wholly-owned acquisition, it also accepted an investment from Intel and gave up 10% of its shares, making Intel its own shareholder.

The semiconductor industry is very expensive, so it is destined that ATI, which has been raising funds since its establishment, cannot have a large shareholder.

Westeros and Intel jointly hold a total of 35% of ATI's shares, and basically have most of the control of this company.

ATI's graphics chip is completed, and the next step is to promote it naturally.

After many years, it will be difficult for most PC users to realize the effects of graphics cards, because at that time, ordinary users were accustomed to the convenience of graphics cards. Unless they are professional image processing personnel and game enthusiasts, they are just integrated graphics cards. , It is enough to meet the needs of most users.

Of course, in the subsequent era of smart phones, the role of GPU is obvious.

Smartphones of various price grades can support different mobile games. The difference is largely due to the difference in the GPU function of the smartphone.

At this stage, graphics cards dedicated to image processing have been introduced to replace the corresponding operations supported by the CPU, and the display effect is almost immediate.

Simon had already experienced the effects of discrete graphics cards before he came to San Francisco. Under the same configuration, PCs with graphics cards installed, whether browsing the web or video games, are more fluent than computers without graphics cards.

After evaluation by all parties, one thing was also discovered.

Once the graphics card is promoted, not only will it not increase the burden on consumers, but it can actually reduce the overall cost of the PC.

Because before that, to get a better Internet surfing and gaming experience, users had to choose very expensive models. Now, you only need to increase the graphics card expenditure by a few hundred dollars, and maybe you can save a budget of two thousand dollars.

Moreover, this change will undoubtedly further accelerate the popularity of personal computers.

Traditional PC manufacturers are definitely inclined to maintain higher prices for personal computers. However, once this trend is formed, no one can stop it, either following the trend or being eliminated.

On the other hand, the further popularization of PCs will naturally promote the explosion of the Internet industry.

In this era, assembling machines have not yet risen. When users buy PCs, they are basically a complete set, including displays.

Therefore, the promotion of graphics cards requires the cooperation of OEM manufacturers.

ATI was originally one of IBM’s graphics workstation professional graphics chip suppliers. This time, after seeing the effects of consumer-grade graphics cards developed by ATI, IBM, which has always been the hardest piece of bone in the industry, no longer insists on its own opinions and quickly decided Launch the corresponding models.

Of course, IBM has the final say in pricing.

IBM took the lead, and companies such as Compaq and Hewlett-Packard also joined in.

As for Microsoft, under the promotion of Westeros, it has invested in the research and development of graphics card support programs last year. The Windows 3.1 system that will be released in March will support graphics cards. The previous 3.0 system will also Update accordingly.

The changes promoted by the Wintel Alliance naturally do not think of Apple.

It has always been difficult for Silicon Valley to keep secrets, but Apple has also shown sufficient inactivity in this matter. After the market value broke through $7 billion last year and set a new high, Apple felt obviously too good.

Simon personally rushed to Intel's headquarters to participate in a conference related to graphics card promotion, and stayed here until Friday, mainly for the arrangement of EA.

The promotion of graphics cards is undoubtedly the biggest promotion for the industry.

Nowadays, computer games are generally still 2D, but with the promotion of graphics cards, 3D games will not be far away.

Daenerys special effects technology accumulation in 3D special effects can also provide a lot of support for the development of 3D games. At the same time, EA has been positioned as a PC game manufacturer from the beginning, and has sufficient experience in game development.

With many advantages, if EA fails to seize this opportunity, it is a huge mistake by the management.

Simon does not allow this to happen.

Personally finalized some of EA's layout in 3D games, Simon returned to Los Angeles, the time was already February 28.

In the two months that have passed since 1992, Daenerys Entertainment’s series of film projects have been operating rapidly in various production stages, as well as film distribution.

In two months, Daenerys Entertainment's three labels have released 7 movies in this single season. According to this frequency, the annual circulation is enough to reach 40 movies.

Such a scale of distribution surpasses any other in Hollywood, but with Daenerys Entertainment's current strength, it is not too much.

In the original time and space, Disney acquired Miramax and Time Warner acquired New Line. In their heyday, the total issuance of major and sub-labels totaled over 40.

However, the current Miramax is like many small third-tier production companies in Hollywood, there is nothing special. The "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series was taken away by Simon, the popularity of the "Men Ghost Street" series fell, and the new line also fell into the 80s. Many second-tier companies experienced a similar downturn in the decade.

Daenerys Entertainment's two major labels, Highgate Pictures and New World Pictures, are now equivalent to replacing New Line and Miramax’s original position in Hollywood.

Gaomen Pictures and New World Pictures have achieved results in various fields. Other Hollywood studios will naturally not let go of this market. It is just that, under the strength of Daenerys Pictures, other studios are the main labels The business is still lacklustre. It is naturally impossible to compete with Gaomen Films and New World Films in fields such as literary films and horror films.