"Thank you, David. Thank you very much for your help..."
"Don't take it to heart, Ronald, hey, if you are interested in the movie star's collection, there are many rich people from the former league who are interested, and we can cooperate..."
"Of course, we exchange news, but those people don't understand it anyway, and they are attracted to it when they hear it is a product of a Hollywood star. Maybe they only watch those classic Hollywood movies and only know those stars."
"Hahaha, you are so humorous, but I like your attitude. Just like you said, there is nothing to be learned from each other..."
Ronald put down the phone. The auction of Audrey Hepburn's belongings was actually managed by her family and friends. These people did not respect Hepburn's privacy very much. Instead, they all handed it over to the auction house. Gregory Peck used to
The jewelry given to Hepburn was expected to fetch a high price because the two had co-produced "Roman Holiday", so they were unwilling to cancel the auction and sell it to Ronald privately.
Ronald had no choice but to use his relationship with David Geffen. He was very popular with old stars in Hollywood and European film circles because of his art collection. With his intervention, Christie's Auction House persuaded Hepburn.
His partner removed the jewelry that Gregory Peck had given away before and sold it to Ronald at a price higher than the expected auction price.
Gregory Peck was very satisfied with the jewelry that Ronald sent to his door. He used his position as a union and college leader for many years to make phone calls to many living old stars to promote Ronald's attitude of respecting the elderly.
He asked them to cheer for Ronald's movies more, and said that if there was anything that couldn't be solved in the future, they could try Ronald, and if he could help, he would definitely help.
Ronald took this opportunity to discuss the copyrights of classic movies with many old stars. The copyrights of most such movies were in the hands of the eight major film studios in America. Of course, after decades of evolution,
, many copyrights have been transferred to other studios through transfers and mergers and acquisitions.
For example, RKO, which was once a major studio and was acquired by aviation tycoon Hughes, produced classic films such as "Citizen Kane", "King Kong" and "The African Queen". His
The home entertainment rights (the production rights to the video tapes) of the film library were acquired by Jane Fonda's husband Ted Turner.
However, the home entertainment copyrights of most movies are still scattered in the hands of major studios, and there is no intention to package them for sale. But after all, these stars have good relationships with retired executives of many studios. If they
If you appeal, it would not be difficult to let Ronald's company handle the distribution of video tapes under the same conditions.
With this unexpected blessing, Ronald also encountered good luck in another merger and acquisition business.
The standard collection company he asked Michelle Cannold to find was the first company in the American market to adopt the conversion format of leaving black edges at the top and bottom and retaining the original frame and edited envelope edges. It happened to encounter a crisis of trust.
The label's parent company, Voyager, was co-founded by three founders: Jon Turrell, Bill Baker, and Ari Stein. The fourth shareholder, Robert Stein, is a
A technical expert, he convinced the three founders to use LaserDisc to distribute these classic movies.
This initiative was a great success because the medium of DVD can accommodate better definition and more behind-the-scenes material. Robert Stein also took advantage of this feature to expand the uses of DVDs and produced many movies suitable for students.
Watch educational videos, such as introducing baseball, hummingbirds, foreign history, artists, musicians, etc.
As a result, the company moved from being close to the studios in Hollywood to New York, which is closer to the television stations and the Department of Education in Washington, DC.
Although the sales of this part are also very good, after all, it is far away from the original intention of the three founders, the idea of re-releasing some classic movies. Coupled with some power struggles, problems arose between the four people, and Ronald contacted
They were discussing the company's future development strategy and whether it could be split into two companies.
The two parties had originally intended to part ways, but they were just re-building an expensive assembly line, which made everyone unwilling. Now a wealthy man from Hollywood came to negotiate the acquisition with a checkbook, and many obstacles were cleared at once.
The terms Ronald negotiated with them were to buy the shares of Robert Stein, who wanted to bring his main business to educational video discs, let him become independent from the company, and then invest some money to build a new video disc production line.
Become a major shareholder of Voyager.
The obstacles to negotiation lie in the number of shares and the asking price. This is a private company and is not listed on the market. It is the shareholders who have the final say whether to sell or how much to sell.
Robert Stein was easier to talk to. He originally wanted to start his own business. Ronald negotiated with him for a price of five million US dollars to buy 25% of his shares, and the other party agreed. But the remaining three shareholders
They didn't want Ronald to become the controlling shareholder, so they only agreed to give up another 15% of the shares, and each kept 20%. This way, they could resist Ronald's will while uniting. They said that the three of them were experts in film history.
Only films they agree on can be entered into the "Criterion Collection" and re-released as classics.
Of course Ronald refused. With such constraints, it was impossible for his "Criterion Collection" to become a source of expanding his influence in Hollywood. He only agreed to at least 60% of the shares, or directly increased his money to buy them all out.
The reason the three founders used to negotiate was that they had negotiated the home entertainment rights of many classic movies in the past. Without this, the Criterion Collection would not have become a small name in its own fan circle.
s brand.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! And those old stars, who have done their own public relations, sent it to Ronald to help them create the best remastered version of their masterpiece, once again the original
Meet the audience authentically and pass on forever.
This gave Ronald an instant upper hand in the negotiation with Navigator. Anyway, his dozens of DVDs were nothing. Instead of staying in the company and being treated as a subordinate by Ronald, he might as well take the money and leave.
.The three founders all agreed to sell their shares to Ronald at a premium of 6 million each, and then hold a symbolic share of the shares. The dozens of movies that were originally released will also be given to future re-releases.
They keep their share.
On the other hand, Robert Stein, who originally wanted to take the money and run away, after learning about this, came back to Ronald to discuss that his educational video discs should be kept within the company, and he did not want five million, but only asked for
He holds a share equivalent to five million in the new company, and as a technical expert, he contributes to the new Voyager Company. He was originally the one who worked hard among the founders, but now a big boss has injected capital.
Who are you working for?
On this day, Robert Stein came to Los Angeles to personally demonstrate his business plan to the new boss Ronald.
"Robert, you are also a shareholder of the company. These things can be done by your subordinates." Ronald looked at Robert Stein who was busy working on his computer at home, and gave Robert Stein a free new device and connected it with various cables.
Because, I also find it a bit funny. This guy is a technical expert and wants to do everything by himself. He has accepted him as a minority shareholder of the new Voyager and is ready to give him 15% of the shares and a million US dollars.
The reward allows him to continue his work as general manager here with peace of mind and maintain the stability of the team.
"No, Ronald, I love doing this. In addition, I also want you to see how convenient it is for anyone to enjoy this advanced education method. Anyone can just read the instructions for ten minutes.
Done. Dangdang..."
Robert Stein turned around and showed Ronald a white box he had just connected and two small white plastic speakers.
"What is this?" Ronald felt very familiar. This white box looked like a Sony CD player, but it was larger and more angular. The connected cord also seemed to Ronald.
Recognized it as an audio cable and a data cable connected to the computer.
"Please turn on your computer..."
Ronald turned on the computer, and Robert Stein tinkered with it for a while. There were blue screens and restarts, and it took far more than ten minutes. But he finally got it done.
A CD-like disc was put into the white box, and a sizzling noise came. Stein double-clicked an icon on the Windows desktop of the computer, and a screen popped up.
"Who is this person?" Ronald saw a person wearing medieval clothes with a staff pattern on it, and a line of small words next to it said, "Trout Quintet, Franz Schubert"
Ronald picked up the mouse and clicked on it, and a human narration was added to explain the background of the quintet. When he clicked on the directory icon of the movement below, the music appeared and was played in the speaker.
"Hey, Dad..."
The melody of this trout quintet was beautiful, and the piano and strings were also rhythmic. Ronald's eldest son, Roger Jr., who was running up and down the corridor, liked it so much that he tilted his head to come in.
Ronald held Roger in his arms and let him click the mouse to play. He figured out the connection between the buttons and the music on his own without having to learn, and he had a great time playing.
"Roger, your dad is working, don't disturb him?" Diane ran in and wanted to take Roger away, making him squirm in her mother's arms.
"Diane, Roger is working for me, isn't he, Roger?"
"Dad, work, Roger..."
The child was very playful, so after playing with it for a few times, he picked up the mouse and started clicking buttons randomly.
"Robert, I think your demonstration was very successful. It is an educational tool that a child can fall in love with without studying. It does not need to go through the public relations education system, and it can be sold well in the market." Ronald turned around and said.
I shook hands with Robert Stein, who was a little nervous. The demonstration was very successful and I handed him the contract smoothly.
"Show it to your lawyer. If you are willing, I will ask my assistant to send you a check tomorrow..."
"It's a pleasure to work with you..." Robert Stein breathed a sigh of relief and even shook hands with little Roger. If this kid hadn't come to play, Ronald probably wouldn't have agreed to his promotion so easily.
"How's it going? What's the new strategic plan?" Anyway, Stein said he was satisfied with the conditions, so Ronald chatted with him about the next business plan.
"I think Janus Films and cooperation are the most important part of the film business. Multimedia CD, I call that thing multimedia CD, because it has text, sound, and video.
… We need a big publisher to work with.”
"OK, first tell me, what's going on with Janus Films?"
"Janus was the largest distributor of European films in America, including Akira Kurosawa, Antonioni, Eisenstein, Ingmar Bergman, Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, and Satyajit Ray.
, Truffaut and other international masters’ film works are mostly distributed in America, so they own the American copyright of these works.”
"Really? I thought Kurosawa himself, as well as Roger Corman's New World Pictures, owned some of the copyrights of Bergman and Kurosawa." Ronald's reaction to these foreign films
I really don't know much about copyright. The contract here may be more complicated than Hollywood's copyright.
"It's true. Mr. Kurosawa himself and Mr. Colman's New World only released some of the works of several directors after they became famous. As for the two most famous and famous masterpieces, they were originally Ya
Introduced and issued by Nouse Company."
Lindsay Doerr, Ronald's personal attorney, has now taken over part of Mickey Kent's business, is delving into Hollywood copyright law, and is hiring more people to bolster Ronald's legal team.
Her children were also playing at Ronald's house, lying on the table with little Roger, having a great time playing those multimedia CDs. In particular, there was a demo CD with an insect theme, and two
The children even screamed and screamed with joy.
"So that's it. Then there's no need to talk about cooperation. Just let Ed Bastian contact Janus and acquire it."
Ronald looked through the copyright list of Janus. Many of them are masterpieces of famous directors praised by several major directors. Such a film library is the best start for promoting the re-release of classic movies on home media.
.
These movies are must-see movies for senior movie fans and film school students. In this way, the so-called "standard collection" has become worthy of its name. Anyway, an arty person, or a person who has just started to join the ranks of movie fans, just need to put
A set of this "standard collection" can fully meet their needs to enter the ranks of "their own movie fans".
In fact, many directors and actors in the industry have never seen these classic movies. Ronald and others started with the easier-to-obtain classics of international masters, and then relied on their reputation to persuade Hollywood studios to release the classics.
Let them handle the re-issuance business, and it will be much smoother.
"Why are you spending money so readily lately?" Lindsay Dole had already seen Ronald signing tens of millions of checks, and found that her employer seemed to be spending money at a very fast pace recently.
"There is no way. The realization of art works is not included in the tax deduction, so I can only spend money unexpectedly. Besides, this is a good business, there is no need for me to save money. Four pieces of screen-printed garbage are exchanged for so many works of art.
With the copyright, didn’t I make a lot of money?”
"Hahaha..." Lindsay Dole also found it funny when she heard Ronald disparaging Andy Warhol's artwork. She didn't know that Ronald spent money to buy the four-part Marilyn Monroe
When I was doing Quad Pop Art, I felt heartbroken and felt that I had been at a disadvantage for several years.
After the small party at home, Ronald went to Cameron's residence by himself. His recent new script had been revised and was waiting for Ronald to read it.
"Linda, ah, this little guy is so cute..."
"Her name is Josephine..."
Linda Hamilton said hello to Ronald as she hugged a little guy, the daughter she and Cameron had just given birth to.
Linda Hamilton moved into Cameron's house after filming Terminator 2. But today Linda was dressed simply, without makeup, and her eyes were red, as if she had just cried. She and Rona
After chatting for a while, Germany went back to the house without knowing what to do. Josephine also stayed at the nanny's place.
"Are you two okay?" Ronald saw that Cameron had shaved off his beard, but his hair was as messy as a henhouse.
"Children really make us very confused..." Although Cameron has been married for the third time, this is the first time he has a child.
"You really don't need to ask Linda to see a doctor?" Ronald felt that Linda Hamilton was already a little sick.
"Do you think it's necessary? Really?" Cameron didn't believe it at first. Ronald told him that it also depends on the person. Diane was very stable before and after giving birth, but Helen had a bad experience, both during pregnancy and childbirth.
It was very torturous, especially for an actress. Not only did Ronald have a full team, but he also found excuses to go to New York to accompany Helen every once in a while.
"I will find the doctor you recommend, but I have more troublesome headaches now."
"what?"
"The heroine..."
Cameron handed over a script, which was his next movie. It happened that Spielberg's post-production work on Dinosaurs gradually reduced the number of people, and his movie could just be picked up, so that he would not be unable to find high-level special effects personnel.
.
"Linda?" Ronald thought, isn't your girlfriend just right?
"She is in a bad state now. Besides, would you let Diane film this kind of plot?"
"Uh..." Ronald saw the episode that Cameron was referring to, performing a striptease in front of her husband (who was scheduled to star Schwarzenegger)?
"Sigourney?" Sigourney Weaver is Cameron's long-term collaborator and has also crossed paths with Ronald. This is an actor who is fully qualified for this complex role.
"Linda said I..."
"Uh, okay." It's hard for actresses to handle jealousy, especially since Linda Hamilton herself and Cameron have done similar things.
20th Century Fox will be the domestic distributor of the film, and Cameron's own company also invested a large portion. Ronald, as a long-term supporter of Cameron, also received a share of the investment.
The heroine in this play is not only a vase, she has a very important role, but she also has to be as beautiful as the vase.
"I'm looking for someone to think about who is suitable..." Ronald understood that this was the key to box office success, so he agreed to help recommend people. With such nudity, several of his girlfriends would not be able to recommend him.