Hollywood Hunter

In recent years, from "The Sixth Sense of Supernatural" to "Cape of Terror", Robert De Niro has been at the peak of his career. Al Pacino's "Smell the Fragrance and Know a Woman" at the end of last year quickly picked up the originally sluggish popularity. Coupled with the fact that the two are the four veteran Hollywood male stars, it is not easy to get together.

Daenerys had already had contact with De Niro on the entertainment side, but the other party did not immediately agree.

So Simon had to come out in person.

The two talked for a while at the party. Simon made a detailed analysis of "The Wire" and promised that it would become a classic police film in the 1990s, and De Niro finally let go.

After the cooperation of "Scent of a Woman", Al Pacino had agreed to "Stealing the Wire" in advance.

This time, De Niro was settled, and the project basically had no major obstacles.

Many people at the party have been paying close attention to Simon's movements. Seeing that he finally finished talking with De Niro, they all came forward to greet him.

For most of the filmmakers around who are only in the second and third line or even without a coffee position, it is a rare opportunity to meet Simon Westeros. If you can leave some special impressions, then you can at least be in Hollywood. Ten years and twenty years.

In recent years, Daenerys Entertainment has not only been a dazzling person in Westeros, but also spared no effort in cultivating cutting-edge filmmakers.

Simon is not indifferent to the greetings of the people around him, and he is patiently socializing, and will chat for a while if he is interested, but he will not immediately give any promises.

So it was not until ten o'clock that the Simon and his wife left the party and returned to their residence in the mountains southeast of the town.

The next day I slept until more than eight o'clock.

After waking up, I did not leave the bed. January was the coldest season in Park City. There was no snow recently, but the weather was getting dry and cold, and the outdoor temperature was below minus ten degrees.

The wooden house on a hill is naturally warm like spring.

There is no schedule today. After waking up, Janet was still entangled with the man like an octopus, rubbing and rubbing, rubbing and rubbing, and then naturally love it.

At ten o'clock, I went to the bathroom with the lazy woman, took a hot bath, and went downstairs after washing. It was past eleven in the morning.

This time four girls from ABD and Aaliyah followed.

After going downstairs, lunch is ready, and I go directly to the restaurant.

Although it is a wooden structure house, the architectural design is full of fashion sense. The restaurant is facing the south, and a whole sealed floor-to-ceiling glass is installed, mainly for keeping warm. The sun shines in at noon, it seems that there is no temperature, and it matches the heating in the house. , But it gives people a very comfortable feeling.

Sitting at the dining table next to Simon, Janet still had a faint blush on her face. After taking a bite of the food in front of him, she touched the man sideways and asked, "What are we doing this afternoon?"

Simon smiled and said, "Do nothing, bask in the sun."

Janet's beautiful eyes flickered a few times, nodded, the corners of her mouth curled, and said, "Yeah."

Since you are here to participate in the film festival, the best activity is of course to watch a movie.

However, no matter which movie Simon appears on the screening site now, it will probably cause some riots. In addition, there is no film of particular interest, so I just stay at home.

Not to mention skiing.

Mainly Janet can't ski.

It's noon, and the outdoor temperature in Park City is still below zero. Of course, it's impossible to bask outside.

After lunch, I moved to another bright living room with floor-to-ceiling windows, made coffee, prepared some fruits, and hugged them on the sofa together. A black and white movie, "Casablanca" was shown on the TV.

This is from the Blockbuster chain store in Park City.

There is actually a private screening room in the wooden house, but at this time the couple prefer to watch TV in the warm and bright living room.

Simon had drafted a plan to release old-brand classic films through Blockbuster channels imitating Disney's re-screening of animated films.

Blockbuster has been doing this all the time, and it has been quite successful.

The most recent recommendation is this "Casablanca".

The film is actually produced by Warner Bros. However, since the plan is successful, Blockbuster will naturally not just put the pattern in the MGM family.

I remember as if it had been a long time ago. One night during the call, Simon made a joke about the two male protagonists of "Casablanca" and Janet. The woman still remembered it clearly, so she couldn't help thinking during the movie. Wandering off the track, and then complained again that someone had ruined his mood for a classic film.

Simon was just joking at first, and still enjoys the movie.

Compared with the current black and white films decades ago, there are no complicated techniques, no rich colors, no complicated plots, but it does not prevent it from becoming a classic that is still talked about half a century later.

This is probably the whole charm of the movie.

When Rick and Sheriff Reynolds planned to travel the world ‘again’ on the big screen, Janet blinked a few times, couldn’t help but laugh a few times, and then turned his head and hammered Simon’s shoulder again.

Simon twisted a strawberry from the fruit plate that Janet was holding, and smiled: "I was joking. They are actually a pure male-male relationship."

Janet was not big, but she opened her mouth to the man.

Simon had to deliver the strawberry he just picked up to the woman's mouth, but he was bitten by his fingers a few times.

After frolicking for a while, Janet also sent a strawberry to Simon's mouth and said, "Speaking of spies, we now have a team of more than 100 people. Would you like to do something bad?"

Things have to start from the fall of the previous year.

Realizing that he has been stalked by many forces around him, Simon began to gradually belong to the intelligence team of the Westeros family.

It just happened to encounter the merger of East and West Germany and the subsequent drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The changes in the world structure have caused many things to change, especially the huge intelligence network built by the Eastern forces. The Westeros system recruits relevant talents.

However, because Simon is too busy, Janet has always been in charge of this matter. The woman only occasionally talks to Simon, what has developed a team of people, what interesting things have been dug up, and what have been discovered Guys who are'interested' in Westeros's family.

After a long time, Simon did not pay much attention to this matter unconsciously.

Unexpectedly, a team of more than one hundred people appeared at once.

Turning his head to look at the woman beside him, Simon asked, "Specifically, how many people?"

Janet said: "136 people."

When Simon heard this number, he couldn't help but said: "You don't want any messy people, right?"

Janet blinked a few times and shook her head. "Of course not, they are all the best. For example, the KGB team we first discovered was actually discovered by us for deliberately revealing flaws, behind the team. There is also a very powerful couple. They had a foresight of the end of the Soviet Union and were looking for a way out from the beginning."

Simon vaguely remembered the family that Janet had mentioned before.

The couple worked as teachers in a lesser-known university in London, England, and had a daughter who studied in USC.

At that time Simon was struggling to acquire MCA and Bell Atlantic, and did not have much energy to pay attention to this matter, and Janet rarely mentioned it afterwards.

However, there are more than a hundred people.

Although they can afford it, and there is no shortage of places they need, but with so many spies, a little carelessness can cause trouble.

Janet looked at Simon’s expression, suddenly smiled, and said: “Don’t worry, only I know the specific information of these people. They are all scattered teams, and the largest group has only eight people. Even some people Once discovered, it is impossible to bring out the entire network."

Simon did not relax, and asked: "Will it involve us?"

Janet thought for a while, and said: "Some people will, such as some we recruited from Australia, but they will not do things that are too far beyond the boundaries. Even if they are discovered, there will be nothing, and there will be no evidence that points to us too directly. There are other people whose identities are more sensitive, so they won’t. I always keep in touch with them indirectly."

Simon thought of another question: "How to guarantee loyalty?"

Janet shrugged: "I tried my best to make sure of this. However, it is impossible to confirm 100%. You know, the human heart is the most complicated thing in the world. No one dares to be 100% except one person. What to ensure."

Simon nodded slightly, remembering another thing, and said: "I remember that the two groups of Martin Dinham were treated very generously. It was just a one-time retirement reward of 5 million U.S. dollars. These more than 100 people, no Will it be like this?"

At the beginning, the old man helped to find 11 people, and the Simons paid a handsome salary almost to buy out their lives. A 20-year working period, an annual salary of 200,000 U.S. dollars, a one-time settlement fee of 1 million U.S. dollars, and a retirement reward of 5 million U.S. dollars in the future, and the same lucrative retirement pension.

Both sides know that this is almost a buy-in.

In the past two years, Simon has not seen wiretapping and other moths, and many attempts to target the Simon and his wife have been discovered in advance, which also proves that the directly under Martin Dinham team seems to have a real life. Value for money.

Janet shook her head and said, "Martin and the others are directly related. Of course, most of the others are paid for work, and we are not taken advantage of."

Even if these more than one hundred people were treated exactly according to Martin Dinham's treatment, Simon's current and future net worth would still be fully affordable, but this involves the question of whether it is worthwhile.

Simon has now reached the point where the money is too much to spend, and it will be so in the future, but he never likes to be a fat sheep.

Hearing what Janet said, Simon said at ease: "As for a net, under the premise of ensuring that it has the ability to fish, of course, it can be used as little as possible. It is best not to do useless work."

Janet understood what Simon meant, um, nodded, but wrapped her around again, and said with a smile: "However, I just want to do something bad."

Simon squeezed the woman's tender face and said, "I really want to do bad things, so I still have to do it."

Feeling the unabashed connivance in the man's tone, Janet chuckled slightly, rubbed her face against the man's palm, and pressed her body closer, saying: "I want to do other bad things."

I spent the whole weekend in a mountain cabin in Park City like an nerd, and time flies quickly.

In the new week, Simon returned to Los Angeles, and Janet flew to New York as usual.

Not only Cersei Capital, but now many of Westeros’ work, as well as Verizon Telecom, are largely in charge of Janet. In addition, inside and outside Westeros’s house, women There is no need for Simon to take care of the things that need to be taken care of on weekdays.

However, compared to the many micro-managements that Simon had to participate in in Hollywood and Silicon Valley, Janet has always been a macro-manager who is good at "the upper hand", so there are actually much less things to do than Simon. .

Malibu, Daenerys Studios.

The time is Tuesday, January 19th.

At lunchtime, Simon dines with Nancy Brill in the restaurant in the LOFT area on the second floor of the studio.

The two had just discussed the new development plan of Blockbuster under the charge of Nancy Brill, regarding Blockbuster's direct involvement in film production and distribution.

Blockbuster’s 1992 financial data is still under review, but preliminary data has been released.

In the four quarters of 1992, Blockbuster's total revenue was approximately US$3.36 billion.

The core video tape business has a revenue scale of US$2.51 billion, including US$130 million in online platform revenue. Although the proportion is still very low, the development in this area has far exceeded the industry's expectations.

In addition, the sales scale of movie peripheral products of the chain store was US$730 million. Of this revenue, the sales of Daenerys Entertainment-related peripheral products accounted for 69%, reaching US$510 million. This is also the sales of Daenerys Entertainment’s peripheral products. Among all retail channels such as Wal-Mart and Toys R Us, sales contribute the most.

Finally, there is about 120 million US dollars in store advertising and other income.

Controlling Blockbuster Over the past few years, Nancy Brill has been continuously making various adjustments to Blockbuster in order to keep this growing chain of videotapes in a healthy "long-distance runner" status. Rather than blindly pursuing scale and eventually becoming a slow-moving "obese patient".

Only last year, while canceling the late fee that has been criticized by users, Blockbuster decisively cut off corner businesses such as game cassette rental, and further streamlined non-video tape retail business, thoroughly establishing video tape rental and peripheral products Two core sales.

In terms of store expansion, Blockbuster has also maintained restraint.

This kind of business strategy has ensured the overall high-efficiency operation of Blockbuster, but it has also largely restricted Blockbuster's rapid revenue growth.

However, Blockbuster’s profit margin has also risen sharply due to the streamlining of its bloated business and the increase in efficiency. Even if the expansion of online platforms is still maintained, Blockbuster’s annual net profit margin will be around 15%. The net profit in 1992 was about 500 million US dollars.

This has exceeded the net profit scale of some major Hollywood studios.

As the news spreads, although the annual financial report will not be officially announced until next month, Blockbuster's stock price has continued to rise during this period.

With large amounts of cash in hand, expansion is necessary.

Therefore, there is a plan to directly get involved in film production and distribution, which is actually a supplement to Daenerys Entertainment's overall expansion in Hollywood.