"Invest 10 million without any strings attached?"

Ronald received the interest from Samsung Pictures, and was stunned by such a simple and powerful investment intention from this joint venture studio with a complicated background. Do they trust themselves so much? They have never received it from other film studios.

Tristar Pictures (Tristar) is called Samsung because when it was founded in 1982, it had three major shareholders.

The only film company among shareholders was Columbia, which had just been acquired by Coca-Cola at that time and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coca-Cola. Due to various internal political struggles, it turned out that the Columbia faction had great conflicts with the airborne Coca-Cola gang, and the capable people were

President Frank Price, the only one in Hollywood who read his own scripts, squeezed out of Columbia.

When Price was still the president of Columbia, he felt that the contradiction between the two groups was too great, and the increasing cost of film shooting was a headache. At that time, a large number of middle managers parachuted from Coca-Cola headquarters, and they were also clamoring to make a film.

, but suffered from insufficient budget.

So in 1982, on the eve of his withdrawal, he brokered a deal. At that time, two television stations, HBO and CBS, who wanted to enter the film shooting market and give their own television stations more film sources to play, agreed.

Investing in the establishment of a joint venture company, Samsung Pictures, with Columbia providing the filming capabilities, HBO providing the cable TV channel, and CBS providing the public television channel, the three powerful companies can join forces to achieve a win-win situation.

But the reality is cruel. Whether it is cable HBO or wireless CBS, what is needed is a large number of mediocre quality movies to fill the broadcast time.

Columbia Studios' film-making strategy emphasizes quality over quantity. The production of about fifteen films each year has consumed most of the Ethical Delphi Fund they raised from Wall Street.

Differences in the production quantity and quality of the three parties caused CBS to withdraw from the joint venture in 1985 and HBO in 1986.

In this way, Samsung changed from a joint venture to a wholly owned company in Colombia. What was originally an arrangement mainly to allow both groups of managers to have something to do, has now become a redundant burden.

The parent company, Coca-Cola, could not tolerate such waste, so it spent 50 million to continue to increase its capital in Samsung Pictures at a price of US$15 per share, becoming the largest shareholder. The purpose of this capital increase was mainly to revive Samsung.

Profitability.

Samsung's management was originally brought down by Coca-Cola. Their motivation increased greatly and they successively signed contracts with two medium-sized Hollywood production companies, Carloco Pictures and Heimdall Pictures, to underwrite their distribution business.

The two companies released the first blood part three and The Last Emperor respectively that year. They are preparing to go big and cooperate with Tristar Pictures to continue to produce the next installment of the Rambo and Terminator film series.

set.

Who knew that what was coming was not a good movie market, but a stock market crash on Wall Street. Coca-Cola's stock price suddenly stagnated. The stock that had maintained a growth rate of more than 30% in the past few years only rose in 1987 from the previous year.

Less than 1%.

Although it has either lost or won in the stock market crash, Coca-Cola is also adopting various tightening policies. The money-losing movie business is the first to be adjusted.

In any case, its two film companies, Columbia and TriStar Pictures, are terrible investments. Coca-Cola decided to reorganize TriStar Pictures and inject all the assets of the original Columbia into TriStar Cinemas.

TriStar Pictures was renamed Columbia Entertainment and became the parent company of Columbia Pictures. TriStar Pictures was only retained as a label, taking into account the continuity of audience reputation.

In this way, the first large-scale comprehensive production and distribution company established in thirty years ended its operation as an entity.

The person who approached Ronald this time and wanted to invest in Sybil Shepard's new film was actually Columbia Entertainment, which owns the Samsung label. The person who made this decision was their new president Dawn Steel.

).

To Ronald's surprise, Dane Steele, who bears the name of a man, is actually a middle-aged beauty. She is sexy and cheerful. When she asked Ronald to talk about something, she expressed her thoughts clearly from the beginning.

"My purpose is very clear, which is to allow women to gain commensurate status in Hollywood. I have promoted qualified women to serve as film promotion directors and production directors. They have been delayed for a long time by Hollywood's deep-rooted discrimination.

This film, 'Love in the Afterlife', is to my liking. Movies that reflect women's balance between work and life are rare in recent years. So I have the idea to invest, as long as Sybil Shepard plays the leading role.

Enough appeal.

I will find a leading actor who matches her to work with, such as her old partner Ryan O'Neal, who is very good."

"So, Ms. Steele, how do you plan to divide the production rights between my Daydream and Tristar Pictures?"

Ronald looked at the plan proposed by the other party. The new president, who had just taken office at the end of last year to replace David Putnam, who had squeezed out Frank Price, did not seem to have any idea about film production.

breed people.

The person she found was Ryan O'Neal, who was the most attractive handsome star in Hollywood in the late 1970s. He was also director Peter Bogdanovich's favorite male lead. At that time, Sybil Shepard was

His favorite female lead. We have made several movies together.

Although it was not a success at the box office, critics liked the chemistry between the handsome guy and the beautiful girl, so it might be a good idea to cast them to reprise their roles as a middle-aged couple.

"I want TriStar Pictures to lead the production business. Your pipe dream is to retain the production rights and the highest priority dividend rights." Dan Steele was straightforward.

"Emil Adolino from our company will be the director." Ronald made the condition.

"Actually, I originally wanted Peter Bogdanovich. He works well with both the male and female protagonists. But his recent performance has disappointed me."

Dane Steele was talking about the movie Bogdanovich made for De Laurentiis. Because Laurentiis significantly lowered the production budget near the time of filming, the film was

Very bad.

"So I can agree to give your Emil Adolino a chance, but I have a condition. You must participate in the pre-casting and do the work of a producer. Otherwise, I cannot give him such a large investment.

Making my debut."

"Very fair conditions", Ronald thought for a while and agreed. Emil Adolino's level was actually good, and he would not spend too much time on his project.

The two stood up and shook hands, indicating that they had reached a verbal agreement. This Dane Steele, it can be seen that she was a beautiful woman when she was young, but she spoke and acted very masculinely, a bit deliberately imitating the behavior of male executives, and acted like a man.

Act like I can do it too.

As he spoke, Dan Steele poured two glasses of brandy and handed one to Ronald to celebrate the cooperation.

"Actually, I have been paying attention to you for a long time. When you were a co-producer on the "Flashdance" crew, I was working as a production supervisor at Paramount. I read the set reports you wrote carefully.

I like all the series of films you have made from a female perspective, which is why I will invest in your project this time, I am optimistic about your vision."

"cheers……"

After Ronald and Dane Steele parted ways, he returned to Daydream and asked his subordinates to prepare a cooperation agreement. He drank black tea in the office and slowly thought about something.

He always felt that although the female CEO wanted to make a good start, this cooperation was still a bit frivolous. It was unlikely that Dane Steele decided to invest in the movie just because it was from a female perspective. I don’t know what he didn’t do behind the scenes.

Know the reason.

The puzzle that Ronald couldn't figure out was soon solved. Michael Ovitz of CAA came to him to take credit.

"I was talking to them about other things in Colombia, and Dan came over and asked me if I had any projects worth investing in. I immediately thought of your movie."

"Why did she make a movie about women?" Ronald asked Ovitz.

"All women in Hollywood are very excited right now, including your friend Gale Heard and New York film critic Pauline Carr." Ovitz said about the impact of this incident on Hollywood.

Dane Steele may not be the first female president of the seven major Hollywood film studios, but she is definitely the first executive to hold real power. Shirley Lansing was previously the president of 20th Century Fox, basically

Fox was bought by an oil tycoon after only a few days as a home. After that, she was just a decoration and was put aside. No one came to consult her about anything.

So Dane Steele made a series of actions to highlight the improvement of women's status in Hollywood. In addition to promoting a large number of female managers, she needed a film that issued a strong female declaration to declare to everyone that women have transcended

Got a vase and officially came to Hollywood.

"Pauline Carr even believes that no matter what Dane Steele said or did, what she does today will be cutting-edge and progressive in the next twenty years."

"Ah..." After hearing this, Ronald actually felt uneasy. Dane Steele did not make investment decisions based on the quality of the movie itself at all. She did it for female empowerment. This kind of

Things that have nothing to do with movie box office.

"I just seized the opportunity and highly recommended you. Your Working Girl is really a great female theme. Harrison Ford even played a supporting role. And your sultry Moonlight won the Oscar for Best Actress.

The leading role, and the Best Supporting Actress award, Dane Steele appreciates it very much."

"I see, it seems I have a thank you for your recommendation." Ronald didn't take it seriously. Hollywood is so big, and Dane Steele wouldn't know that he is good at photographing female stars. But Ovitz has always liked

Take credit for yourself.

"I help you, and you have to help me and CAA, right? We now have a newly signed young male star, Robert Downey Jr., and I hope you can come and see him when he auditions for the role in this movie.

His acting skills are very strong and he is very suitable for this role."

"Of course, when Emil held the casting meeting, I went back to show my support." Ronald thought that I would have to support Emil then.

This young actor himself had seen that his girlfriend at the time was Sarah Jessica Parker, who was almost chosen to be the heroine of "Dirty Dancing" but failed in the end.

I wonder if they are still a couple now? I just remember that Sarah Jessica Parker’s face looks like that in newly renovated Chinese homes, they like to put a long piece of equipment at the door to facilitate changing shoes.

.

If it's not suitable for a movie, no matter how good your acting skills are, you can't give the green light and you have to reject it.

Sarah Jessica Parker is also Jewish. At that time, between two candidates competing for the lead role of Jewish Babay, Ronald chose Jennifer Gray, who had few Jewish facial features.

Ovitz recommended it so, maybe Robert Downey Jr. is also Jewish this time?

"As for the supporting actress who plays Shepard's daughter, I will recommend all suitable young girls from CAA. It will be up to you to decide when the time comes. Your vision in selecting women is very good."

"Huh?" Ronald thought Ovitz smiled a bit obscenely, like a pimp.

…

"Ronald, our mutual friend from Japan has come to America again. Is it convenient for you to meet him?" Immediately afterwards, Ronald received a call from Bannon.

"Oh, does he have any plans for acquisition?" Ronald knew he was talking about Sony's Norio Ohga.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "I heard that the target has been selected, so I didn't ask any more questions. This time he may also want to ask for your opinion. You have to charge more consulting fees.

.”

"Hahaha... It's all help from friends. Japanese people are very particular about this. Not everything is measured in terms of money."

This time, the meeting changed place. Norio Ohga asked the chef to cook at the private mansion where he lived during his stay in Los Angeles, and the two of them had some French food.

"We have basically identified the acquisition target, Columbia Pictures. On the one hand, the hero of the acquisition of Columbia Records, Michael Schulhoff, the vice chairman of Sony America, and Walter, the former vice president of Columbia Records
To be continued...