Hollywood Hunter

After negotiating a package price of US$150 million in the next three quarters and several additional conditions issued by NBC, the two sides began to discuss important details such as payment settlement.

In order to reduce their own cash flow pressure as much as possible, in the process of purchasing TV programs, TV networks generally adopt the strategy of delaying payment as much as possible, which is exactly the same as Hollywood movie distributors.Most independent producers in the industry can only withdraw funds from the TV network after the episode is over.

"Who will become a millionaire" by Daenerys Entertainment and ABC, in the case of its obvious advantage, ABC is only willing to pay a 30% advance payment before the first season starts, and the remaining balance will be on the winter break After the end of the period and the first quarter, the other 30% and 40% will be paid separately.

As for "Survivor", after repeated disputes over the next few hours, NBC finally agreed to pay 50% before and after each season.

At the end of the meeting, everyone had lunch together, and Robert White hurriedly returned to the East Coast. He also had to personally supervise the television network to make marketing adjustments to the subsequent broadcast of "Survivor" in order to maximize the influence of this reality show. .

The specific contract needs to be drawn up by the staff of the two companies according to the meeting memorandum, and it will take about one week to formally sign.

After leaving Los Angeles for two weeks, Simon kept the remote control of Daenerys entertainment through telephone and fax.After finishing the matter of "Survivor" in the morning, Simon did not rush back to Malibu anymore, but personally checked the production progress of several films.

"Scream" has been sent to the MPAA for rating at the end of the first few days of the month, and is still waiting for the result.

After taking over the latter part of "Rainman" from Barry Levinson, after more than a month of busy work, the re-editing of the film has been completed. Simon also wrote the soundtrack for the film in Melbourne during this time.

The soundtrack for the original "Rainman" was Hans Zimmer, who later won the first Oscar nomination for the best soundtrack.But at the moment, Hans Zimmer is still an unknown person.The soundtrack of "Rainman" is not complicated, plus the version of the memory, Simon can easily complete, so there is no effort to find each other.

The later stages of "Steel Magnolia Flower" and "Death Poetry Society" are progressing smoothly. No accident, the three films "Rainman", "Steel Magnolia Flower" and "Death Poetry Society" will be completely completed at the end of September.

After reviewing several films, a series of more than two hours of production meetings were held to discuss the progress of the series of films that Daenerys Entertainment is advancing.

The meeting is coming to an end, the time is already in the evening.

After reporting on the preparation status of a series of projects such as "Sixth Sense of Insane", "Bodyguard", "Flying Childhood", and "Uncle Buck", the executives and producers who participated in the meeting dispersed in advance, and the conference room was only left as usual A few people under Simon and Amy.

Sitting by the window, feeling the golden sunset that spilled into the conference room in the evening, Simon closed the folder in front of him, and said to Amy on the other side: "Now that you have already got the "Wonder Woman", you recently let A few of the major brokerage companies have sent a shortlist. Come like Batman, I need a newcomer, between 20 and 25 years old, about six feet tall." Noticing Amy's face, Simon added with a smile again: "I didn't plan to start making this movie now, I must finish the first episodes of "Batman" and "Superman". However, I hope to be able to train several candidates from the beginning and determine the candidates. After that, in recent years, they arranged some small characters to sharpen their acting skills. Speaking of which, Batman's choice was a bit hasty."

After winning the DC Big Three, the obstacles to advance the DC movie universe in advance are not too big.As for the need to introduce other DC superheroes in the future, Simon does not think this is a problem.Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are all caught in their hands,

However, in the impression of Simon, Hollywood is not yet suitable for playing Wonder Woman. He still hopes to find a Diana Prince who is similar to Gail Gadot.The start of "Wonder Woman" must be at least after the release of "Batman", which still has enough time to train from scratch.

Amy nodded understandingly, and then said: "Are we going to re-elect Superman actors? Christopher Reeve must be inappropriate."

Simon nodded and said: "Yes, let the brokerage company pick some people over."

Amy recorded the matter in a memo and turned her head up again: "Between 20 and 25 years old, six feet tall, is Simon, Miss Kidman right?"

"You reminded me that I remembered it," Simon shook his head softly and said, "I went to the crew of "Across the Horizon" when I was in Australia. Nicole rejected the role in "Angel God Mission", she I have my own ideas about acting."

Amy listened to Simon's words, just smiled, and then nodded: "I also received a call from Nicole, so, let's try the Wonder Woman candidate we picked out and try "Angel God" first Heroine?"

"Look at the situation," Simon asked, "What happened to the "Angel God Mission" script?"

"The first draft has been completed, and I will ask someone to prepare a copy for you tomorrow," Amy said. Seeing that there was nothing else, she also picked up the folder in front of her. After a moment, she remembered something and looked up again: "There is another One thing, Simon, "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and "Survivor" have been so successful, are you celebrating this weekend?"

Although the other two reality shows have not yet aired, but with two hot reality shows "Who Will Be a Millionaire" and "Survivor", Daenerys Entertainment has become the envy of all Hollywood TV show providers, Organizing a celebration party to treat your creativity is also what it should be.

Moreover, the maintenance of contacts has always been very important for the development of a film company.

Many Hollywood film company executives hold a variety of party receptions almost every week. Compared with the industry superstars and celebrities, Simon is very unfamiliar with this matter. He has passively participated in the number of parties to host parties. It is far more frequent than doing things yourself.However, Simon also understands that this kind of thing can't be avoided and can't be avoided. If these things are completely handed over to executives such as Amy to be responsible, once the company's management changes unexpectedly, he will change his network. Be very passive.

Consider for a moment, Simon said: "Just hold it at that villa in Palisades. The date is set on Saturday. You can draw up an invitation list."

More than 20 million viewers were obtained on the first day of broadcasting, and "Survivor" quickly became the target of heated discussion in the following days.

NBC quickly adjusted the marketing efforts of "Survivor". At the same time, in order to avoid falling into too much disadvantage, ABC also strengthened the marketing of "Who will become a millionaire".FOX and CBS are full of anticipation for "Big Brother" and "Beverly Wife", which are broadcast simultaneously on Wednesday.

However, as expected, "Big Brother" and "Beverly Wife" still failed to replicate the ratings miracle of "Survivor" and "Who Will Be a Millionaire".On the first day of broadcast on Wednesday, the average number of viewers for FOX's eight-point "Big Brother" eventually reached 15.35 million, and CBS's nine-point "Beverly Wife", the average number of viewers for the first episode was even lower, only 11.7 million.

Of course, such ratings data are only relative to "Survivor" and "Who Will Be a Millionaire".

Compared to most of the premiere episodes of this era, the two reality shows that all broke through the 10 million level are already very good. "Big Brother" with 15.35 million viewers has even reached an excellent level, as the popularity has accumulated The future ratings data of this reality show can even hit the 20 million mark, and the average ratings data for the next few quarters should also be able to remain at around 15 million.

As for "Beverly Wife", although it was the last of the four reality shows, more than 10 million viewers exceeded Simon's expectations.In the original time and space, because it was a TV program of a basic cable station, the best viewing data of "Beverly Wife" is probably two or three million.

Moreover, although not as big as "Survivor" and "Who Will Be a Millionaire", FOX and CBS also expressed their willingness to renew after the episode began.

In the face of a sudden reality show, Hollywood film and television production companies have begun to look for similar TV programs, and the North American media has analyzed several reality shows in a row.

There is no doubt that the reason why Daenerys Entertainment was able to start its own TV business with four reality shows in this fall is ultimately due to the previous strike of the Hollywood screenwriter.If there is no strike for more than five consecutive months, the four major television networks will not give up so much initiative to sign such a generous contract with Daenerys Entertainment.

Now, all parties in the industry have generally reacted.

The previous major strike, the American Screenwriters Union and the four major television networks were completely defeated. Other Hollywood production companies also suffered varying degrees of damage in this strike. Only Daenerys Entertainment made a big profit from this strike.

It’s not just these four reality TV shows that made Daenerys entertain. The next year’s end of the year, due to the prolonged strikes that led to the suspension of a large number of movie projects, Daenerys Entertainment’s films can also be improved. More market resources.

Completely wanting to understand this, lamenting the good luck of Daenerys Entertainment, Hollywood traditional forces have also started to instinctively protect their own interests.

The following Friday, Daenerys Entertainment received the MPAA rating report for "Scream", requesting Daenerys Entertainment to modify a large number of excessively violent and bloody plots in the film, otherwise, the film will It was rated as the strictest NC-17 level.

"Scream" was originally aimed at a crowd of young audiences over 16 years old, and Simon never thought of earning tickets for this movie from a 12- to 13-year-old.However, the NC-17 level does not only mean that viewers under the age of 17 are prohibited from watching. Once a movie is determined to have such a rating, it also means that the movie can only be played in a limited number of specific theaters, and it cannot be carried out on a large scale. Publicity.

In the original time and space, "Scream" did indeed spread news that many revisions have been made to avoid the fate of the NC-17 level, but Simon, who is very familiar with the Weinstein brothers, knows that this is basically just a publicity stunt,

Almost from the beginning of their debut, the two brothers have been operating with this rating gimmick, and it is very useful. Sometimes, the Weinstein brothers even took the initiative to send NC-17 standard movies for MPAA review. After the wind is released, then Modified to R-level standard and submitted for review again.Audiences are generally more interested in a film that is almost'NC-17'.

But this time, Simon was very clear that the encounter with the new version of "Scream" was not a gimmick at all, but a dismissal of Daenerys Entertainment by the MPAA Rating Committee under the seven major control.There was only one and a half months left before the release of "Screams". Suddenly encountered this situation, director Wes Craven had to rush to modify the film on the weekend, and Simon had to participate in person.

In a busy time, time came unconsciously on Saturday, September 17.

Towards the evening, people from all over the city began to gather at Simon's mansion in Palisades. Today is Daenerys Entertainment for "Who Will Be a Millionaire", "Survivor", "Big Brother" Celebration party with "Beverly Wife".

However, it is not just a series of creators of four reality shows, many celebrities in Hollywood have also received invitations.Because Daenerys Entertainment has been frequently searching for actors for a series of projects under its control during the recent period, many celebrities who had not been able to obtain invitations have also managed to attend this party through various channels, hoping to get a relationship with Simon Weiss Tello or Daenerys entertained other high-level contacts.

Simon and Wes Craven spent a whole day in the editing room for the modification of "Scream". When the two rushed to Simon's mansion in Palisades, it was almost eight o'clock.

After a busy day, the hungry two simply greeted the guests in the mansion and hurried to the buffet table.

Picking a plate full of food, Simon and Wes Craven are hiding in the corner to continue whispering about the modification of the film, and Sandra Bullock gathers together with a smile and directly hugs Simon's arm, He greeted Wes Craven and whispered into Simon's ear: "I didn't see Jenny, did she come over tonight?"

Simon looked at Wes Craven, who turned away ambiguously, picked up a grilled shrimp and stuffed it into Sandra's mouth, and said, "There is no need to show the thought of wanting to be so straightforward, everyone? They are all decent people."

Sandra rolled her eyes and raised her hand to stop the grilled shrimp from Simon’s, and squeezed it in her hand. The other hand still didn’t let go of Simon, saying, “I regret now that I didn’t feel more active than Jenny, As a result, the good man was robbed. However, I really did not see Jenny?"

Simon took Sandra to the table near the cliff and sat down. Looking at the beautiful view of Los Angeles at night, he smiled and explained, "She has gone to France."