Hollywood Hunter

Chapter 58

New Chapter!

Internally combing through the elements of Hurricane Rescue's success for future reference, Chris Lee did not ignore his boss's question and quickly replied, "John, if you feel the need, can I get in touch with Asia in the near future?"

John Kelly asked, "Can't we just bring in Jack Seng or Jet Lee?"

"Jett and Daenerys have signed a three-picture deal, and we won't have a chance until it's done," Chris Lee said, thinking about it, "Jack could try, but after last year's Peaky Blinders, he's been paid a lot of money, and he's been on the top tier of Hollywood. Last year, we tried to compete for Police Story 4, which ended up in Disney's hands, and they offered us a very high price. And even if we were willing to make the offer, Jack doesn't have a schedule in the short term, and Peak Time 2 starts shooting in the second half of the year."

John Kelly weighed the pros and cons and said, "In that case, let's contact the Asian side first."

Chris Lee nodded.

It is not really expected.

With the strength of Daenerys Entertainment, it's no longer a question of whether other studios can make good movies in Hollywood.

With a production cost of $25 million, under normal circumstances, the publicity expenditure would have been around $10 million. However, with the recent widespread popularity of the film on the Internet, television, and print media, it is definitely not the kind of momentum that can be created by a $10 million publicity expenditure.

Then why?

Because Daenerys Entertainment owns the ABC network and many other cable channels, because the Westeros system owns the biggest network platform, Ygritte, and because Simon Westeros has very good relationships with the family consortium behind major newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.

So, when Danielle's film is released, it doesn't even need to be greeted, as these media platforms will naturally give it enough exposure.

Moreover, due to the success of Daenerys Entertainment's films and the pressure from Daenerys Entertainment itself, the major theaters in North America and overseas will also give Daenerys Entertainment's films better screen space, better showtimes, and more active marketing through their own channels.

These inevitably lead to higher box office receipts for Daenerys Entertainment productions.

Even beyond the theatrical line? The video channel, where Daenerys Entertainment owns Blockbuster, the world's largest video tape chain, and Amazon.com, an online marketplace owned by Ignite, has experienced geometric growth in recent years. Sales of videotapes have also grown geometrically in recent years.

And television? The same.

All of these resources? has unwittingly built a potential barrier that makes the strongest, Danielle Entertainment, stronger, and the other studios? The weaker the weaker.

The result for the weak? Probably elimination.

After ousting Peter Cooper and Jon Peters, Sony has continued to lose money for the last few years, and there have been rumors that the Japanese are leaving Hollywood.

As an insider? Chris Lee sees it more clearly.

The global economy has been improving for the past few years? Sony was barely hanging on. Now? New technology bubble burst? Sony's main business is bound to be affected. The impact of Tinker Bell's iCam and other products on Sony's traditional players, cameras and other businesses, as well as music piracy on the Internet, has led to a rapid decline in Sony's record business. And with the rapid decline of Sony's record business due to music piracy on the Internet, unless there is a miracle, the Japanese will really have no choice but to give up the movie business this time.

John Kelly is 67 years old, and if he loses his job because Sony is pulling out of Hollywood? He could have just retired. Chris Lee himself is only 41? In his prime? There is still a long way to go in the future.

So? After the failure of Walking with the Devil, Chris Lee recently considered more, already his own way out.

A discussion between two Sony Pictures executives in this VIP screening room? leaving the theater.

After Chris Lee had dinner with his family after work, he left the house again and drove to WMA head Jonathan Friedman's mansion in the hills of Bel Air.

Regular parties and receptions to facilitate communication and collaboration between filmmakers and studios are frequent events for major Hollywood agencies.

Such is the case here tonight at the Jonathan Friedman mansion.

By the way, before becoming the president of Columbia Pictures, it was not easy for Chris Lee, who is not one of the top producers in Hollywood, to attend some of the high profile events that gather at the top of the Hollywood pyramid, which is one of the greatest benefits of the job. Chris Lee has never missed an opportunity to expand his network during his more than half year in office.

In the backyard of the mansion with a view of the Los Angeles night below, it was a laid-back cocktail party, with only the occasional tinkling of the piano by some of the guests.

Most importantly, if you look at the crowd, Sylvester Stallone, Roland Emmerich, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Will Smith, Michael Bay, Francis Coppola, Al Pacino ...... are all big names.

That's the kind of networking Chris Lee values most.

Like an old farmer who diligently watered and fertilized his crops, Chris Lee greeted each and every one of them, until he met Alec Baldwin, one of the four Baldwin brothers he knew well, and whispered to him that Simon Westeros was also here, arriving only a few minutes before him, which made Chris Lee even more excited.

Because if he loses his current job in the next two years, Chris Lee will most likely be the sole producer for a while.

The best Hollywood producer to work with today is undoubtedly Daenerys Entertainment.

He also listened to Al Pacino play a piece of music at the piano by the pool before finally arriving at the stairway that leads directly to the second floor of the villa.

The two of them were greeted by John Wu, who happened to be walking down the stairs with another Asian man whose name was also recognized by Chris Lee, with a smile on his face: "Hello, Wu, nice to meet you. And, you're Chow, right, that, The Hero's Own."

Fat, who had to come to North America because of some post-production dubbing for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, saw Chris Lee recognizing him, nodded politely and asked, "Hello, and you are?"

"I'm Chris Lee, and I'm currently the President of Columbia Pictures,"

Chris Lee said, taking the initiative to pull out his business card and give it to the two.

John Wu, who had been a bit cold, soon smiled when he heard Chris Lee introduce himself, took the business card and extended his hand again.

Chris Lee shook John Wu's hand and smiled: "John, I've seen your Broken Arrow and Mission Impossible 2, oh, and the film A Better Tomorrow, which created a box office miracle in Hong Kong. "

They looked at each other at the news, and John Wu said, "I just finished Changing Faces, and I have no plans for a new film at the moment, and Fat happens to be the same. But if it's ideas, Chris, I'm sorry, we don't have any at the moment."

"That's not a problem, we can take some time to talk, we can definitely hit on some good ideas, guys, how about tomorrow?"

Chris Lee once again extended a direct invitation, mainly because he was keenly aware of the subtext in John Woo's words: after Changing Faces, Woo and Daenerys Entertainment had no intention of following up, and there was a clear desire to leave Daenerys and work with other studios.

John Wu winked at Fat, who was about to say something, and said, "I'm sorry, Chris, but Chow and I won't be available tomorrow."

"That's okay, so, would you two leave me a contact information, so we can talk on the phone first recently?"

This time, John Wu didn't refuse, but Fat will be going to New York next Monday, and the post-production of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will be finished there.

He was unable to stay in Los Angeles to meet with Chris Lee, so he had to entrust the meeting to John Wu. With this kind of conversation, Chris Lee almost certainly reached an agreement, which was a real achievement tonight.

After seeing the two of them walking toward each other, Chris Lee stepped up the stairs to the second floor balcony.

At first glance, he saw the figure of a certain target.

Simon Westeros was leaning on a couch facing the railing, surrounded by four women, a two-generation Fae woman on the left, an Asian girl on the right, and Mia Sara, the star of the recent "Spectre of Terror" film.

Besides the other three familiar faces, it took a quick glance to recognize the Asian girl as the girl who played Jett Lee's kidnapped sister in "Hurricane Rescue," which I had just seen this afternoon. Even though the aesthetics were different between East and West, and the girl's appearance was clearly different from that of the Asian people commonly seen on Western screens, Chris Lee was still amazed during the afternoon's viewing.

Because she was really beautiful.

Now, seeing the other party here, Chris Lee also had a sudden feeling that this was really the case.

How could Simon Westeros have missed such a little beauty.

Or, probably it would have been a little beauty that Simon Westeros himself had chosen.

In addition to Simon Westeros on his left and right, a few couches next to him sat Jonathan Friedman, the owner of the mansion whom Chris Lee had just missed, as well as Jett Lee, Ben Stiller, Doug Liman and Peter Jackson, the creators of Hurricane Rescue and Spectre of Terror.

Perhaps deliberately put together to celebrate the success of the recent series of films.

Only Kim Carrey of The Cable Repairman did not appear in any of the four films associated with Daenerys Entertainment during the Easter season, and Chris Lee, who happens to be aware of certain rumors in the community, was not surprised.

Seeing Chris Lee appear, the people who were chatting enthusiastically looked over together.

Jonathan Friedman, who was closest to the stairway and the owner of the house, recognized Chris Lee, took the initiative to get up, shook hands with him with a smile, and without waiting for the others to follow, pulled Lee down and sat down on an empty seat next to him.

Obviously for the sake of socializing, six sets of sofas of various sizes were placed in an arc around the oval coffee table near the railing on this side of the 100-square-meter terrace, enough to squeeze in more than ten people for a tea party.

Jonathan waited for Li to sit down and helped introduce him, but Li, whose buttocks had just dipped into the cushions of the sofa, got up slightly and nodded his head in greeting to everyone.

In fact, he was more interested in exchanging business cards.

After all, Jett Lee, Doug Liman, Peter Jackson and others are all hot in Hollywood in the coming years. But the scene was clearly not appropriate at this time, and there was no hurry, there will certainly be opportunities later.

Simon has been closely following the movements of Hollywood, Sony Pictures last year again changed management, he also knows, but this is the first time to meet the head of Columbia Studios, after Lee greeted, casually asked: "Van Hoven's "Starship Troopers", how is the late effect?".

Chris Lee did not expect Simon Westeros to suddenly ask himself this, even if this kind of question to pry into the sensitive information of the competition is somewhat untimely, Westeros also acted like a casual posture and tone of casual look, but Lee did not dare to perfunctory, and did not hesitate to conceal, a little straight body, and said: "'Starship Troopers' is the team of Three Star Pictures in charge. However, I have paid some attention to it, and in terms of CG effects, it's pretty good, very impressive."

Without commenting, Simon asked, "Norio Oga must be very angry these days, right?"

Chris Lee was a little embarrassed, but still said honestly: "Mr. Oga just connected with us on video this morning, and he really ...... was not happy."

Simon smiled, his hand rubbing the slender waist of the Asian girl next to him, and looked at Chris Lee and said, seemingly persuasively, "Actually, you guys should do your own jobs.

Chris Lee subconsciously nodded his head.

However, he soon realized something.

But then he soon realized something.

Simon Westeros, in saying this, obviously had some hope that the Japanese would soon 'come and go'.

Or, a little bit of a rallying cry.

Why did he want to get involved?

Probably hoping he could facilitate the Japanese 'coming and going' as soon as possible.

As the major production label of Sony Pictures, it was not easy for Chris Lee to do well, but it would be too easy for him to screw something up.

The young mogul on the other side of the table, who was also a great admirer of the company, looked away, and Jonathan Friedman, who was smiling at him, looked equally enlightened.

With these thoughts in mind, Chris Lee didn't stay long and took the initiative to get up and leave.

When Chris Lee left, everyone seemed to forget about what had just happened and continued to talk about trivial things.

No one came up to greet him for a while, so Simon, who had a brief moment of leisure, looked at the Asian girl next to him. He deliberately asked in less than fluent Chinese: "By the way, what is your name pronounced again, 'Qiqi'?

The girl, who was not fluent in English and was at a loss for words, smiled and corrected: "It's 'qiqi', Mr. Westeros, which means hardworking in Chinese.

"Oh, I see."

The girl said again with caution, "Actually, Mr. Westeros, you can also call me Angel, that's my English name, in Chinese, it's Angel Jiang."

Simon smiled at the corner of his mouth, "I think this name sounds better, just like you, beautiful as an angel."

"Thank you for your appreciation, Mr. Westeros."

"You may also call me Simon, and there is no need to be so formal."

"It would be rude."

"No, we call each other by name over here who are close to each other, aren't we close now?"

The girl whose English name is Angel Jiang is actually very familiar with the way to treat people, and obviously felt the ambiguity in the words of the man next to her, but pretended not to know, and blushed appropriately: "That, okay, Simon."

The man next to him, Kit Lee, who heard the conversation while continuing to chat with the man, couldn't help but slander.

He had seen how smoothly the big man could speak Chinese, but now, he was deliberately playing astringent to pick up girls, which was simply more smooth and admirable.