Chapter 302 Lease Copyright

Blockbuster rental store in Long Island, New York.

Standing behind the counter, Arthur was skillfully busy with the work at hand, handling rental matters for customers. There were a lot of people renting movies tonight, and the long line was about to reach the shelves.

""The Bourne Shadow", the rental time is one week." Arthur finished the formalities and said with a smile: "Thank you for your patronage."

The male customer picked up the disc and walked straight out of the store.

The customers behind came to the counter and put the selected discs on the counter. Arthur quickly started to scan the code, and the computer system quickly recorded the relevant information.

Arthur read the name of the disc silently while scanning the code, so as to check it with the name that appeared on the computer screen: ""The Mummy 2", "Jurassic Park 3", "Hannibal", "The Bourne Shadow" "..."

Probably because tomorrow is the weekend, this customer rented all the popular movie discs of this year, as if he was going to hide at home and watch movies on the weekend.

"Thank you for your patronage." Arthur sent another customer away.

Two female customers came up behind, renting romance and comedy films, and a black customer in the back rented a large stack of horror movie DVDs.

Two more young men came over, and Arthur repeated the previous work.

Both of these two rented only one movie, and the name displayed by scanning the QR code was - "The Bourne Shadow".

Repeating the same work continuously, Arthur quickly became numb, but still maintained a serious and responsible attitude, constantly reciting the name of the disc silently, and checking it with the result of the computer scanning code.

After the dozen or so customers left, the title of "The Bourne Shadow" was silently read to him seven times.

It was close to nine o'clock in the evening, and the store finally quieted down. Arthur stretched his head to look between the shelves and saw that there was no one in the empty space, so he quickly stretched himself.

"I'm exhausted," Arthur muttered.

The store manager Old York came over and said, "Get ready to leave work."

Arthur and another clerk cheered, "Yes!"

Old York reminded: "Don't be happy, remember to pass today's data to the statistics department of the head office,

Check the latest list released by the head office, we will update the list and recommended positions in the store in advance. "

Arthur quickly made a list and said, "Today is the same as yesterday, "Bourne Shadow" has the most rentals, with a total of 63 rentals."

Old York nodded: "Since the release of discs, this film seems to be more popular in the rental market than in movie theaters."

Another clerk reminded: "The store manager, there are only 40 copies of "The Bourne" in stock, should we apply for a new batch of discs? Otherwise, after tomorrow, there will be no "Bourne" discs. Available for rent."

Old York had already thought about it, and said directly: "Arthur, send an email and apply for another 300 discs of "The Bourne" from the channel department."

"So many?" Arthur was a little surprised.

Old York said: "The disc was just launched last week, and the rental peak period has not yet arrived. These 300 copies plus the previous 200 copies, a total of 500 discs, should be enough to support the rental cycle."

While busy with the work at hand, Arthur said, "The Bourne Movie is obviously going to explode in the rental market."

Another clerk answered, "It seems that it's not bad in the theater."

"The box office in North America is 178.62 million U.S. dollars." Old York said with certainty: "It is absolutely no problem to be among the top 15 at the box office this year."

Arthur asked: "How much is the global box office?"

The clerk replied, "It's almost $350 million?"

Old York obviously paid attention to this film, and said: "Some overseas regions are still showing it, and the final global box office of 350 million U.S. dollars will definitely be no problem."

"This company sent it again." Arthur said.

The clerk said: "I read the news on the Internet a few days ago, it is said that the TV premiere of this film sold 7 million dollars!"

"More than that." Old York has worked in the industry for decades and is quite well-informed: "I attended the regional channel meeting last weekend, and I heard from the people above that the Embassy Pictures, which released "The Bourne" in the first round of TV broadcast, There is also a 15% advertising share."

Arthur was speechless for a moment. As a practitioner in the film industry, he could only be envious and jealous.

How great it would be if he was the boss of this movie, how many luxury cars can be bought with such a high-income movie? How many beauties do you want?

Throw a bunch of checks out, have those beautiful models line up on the ground, and then go over and take turns.

Such a wonderful life can only be imagined.

"What are you thinking about?" Seeing Arthur's hand stop, Old York knocked on the counter and reminded, "Hurry up! We get off work on time today!"

Arthur quickly came back to his senses, after uploading the data, he opened the mailbox and downloaded the file issued by the head office.

"Okay!" Arthur said quickly: "The store manager, the latest statistics of the head office's rental list, the number one is still "The Bourne Shadow"!"

Old York came to the counter facing the store door and slightly adjusted the disc and poster of "Bourne Shadow" to ensure that it was in the most conspicuous position, so that customers could see it when they entered the door.

"I can't go wrong with my thirty years of experience!" Old York said again: "Look, "The Bourne Shadow" will create a miracle in the disc sales and rental market."

A dusty maroon Volvo station wagon pulls into a commuter parking lot in California's Silicon Valley, in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, early Sunday morning.

After the Nasdaq crash in 2000 and the 9/11 terrorist attack last month, the Internet industry was in a recession.

There are more than two dozen men and women waiting in the parking lot, which is still a downhill road into Silicon Valley, and these young computer geeks have to carpool together to finish.

On the canvas bags carried by geeks, there are various logos representing Silicon Valley companies such as Apple Computer, Sun Microsystems, and Oracle.

These people are all dressed up in typical Silicon Valley, wearing beach shorts or Levi's jeans, a crumpled long-sleeved sweater or woolen coat, and sneakers or canvas shoes. It looks unkempt, and staying up late for a long time also makes them look sleepy.

The Volvo station wagon drove toward the deserted side of the parking lot, where a shiny steel-blue Toyota Avalon sat alone.

The driver of the Toyota was sitting in the driver's seat, and when he saw the Volvo approaching, he immediately jumped out of the car.

He was a tall, thin man in his forties, wearing blue Levi's jeans, a slightly worn button-down shirt, and bright white sneakers.

Before the Volvo stopped, the driver yelled, "Reed!"

Reed Hastings put his hands in his trouser pockets, pacing impatiently, watching the Volvo approaching with dark blue eyes, the car stopped at an angle, and moved a few times to adjust its position.

Mark Randolph, who was driving a Volvo, finally got out of the car with satisfaction, walked around the Volvo station wagon and greeted Reed Hastings: "Good morning, Reed."

Reed Hastings said anxiously, "You are late!"

"It's not too late." Mark Randolph is nearly forty years old. Unlike Hastings, he is a communication genius, the ideal marketing manager for many companies. He smiled at Hastings and said, "The time is right."

Reed-Hastings shook his head, not caring about this trivial matter.

Although they are not the same kind of people, there is no lack of rapport, trust and friendship between the two: they both have the confidence brought by a superior education and the enthusiasm to integrate their own ideas into the enterprise.

"How?" asked Mark Randolph.

He came around the car and stood beside Hastings.

Reed-Hastings replied: "It's already here."

While speaking, he leaned into the Avalon sedan, rummaged through the briefcase on the co-pilot, and took out an oversized rose-colored envelope.

Mark Randolph saw the envelope and said, "Open it."

Reed Hastings took out an old-fashioned pocket knife from his coat pocket, cut open the envelope, took out a silver compact disc from the envelope, held it in his hand and examined it carefully.

The disc is intact!

"In good condition!" Reed Hastings handed the disc to Mark Randolph: "It was mailed from New York, and it took 16 hours."

Mark Randolph looked at the disc and said, "It's a quarter faster than it used to be."

As the largest online movie rental company in the United States, the speed and security of mailing CDs are the key to the company's business development.

Reed-Hastings leaned on the Avalon door and said: "The speed and security of mailing are very guaranteed these days."

Mark Randolph understood the meaning behind the words: "Our business is growing slowly." He also leaned on the car and said, "Reed, the current environment is not good."

Netflix is ​​indeed the largest online movie rental company in the United States, and that's because there are so few competitors.

Reed-Hastings did not answer, but instead asked: "Mark, what do you think we are lacking."

"There are too many things missing." Mark Randolph told the truth: "Funds, technology, talents, customers, film sources, etc."

Reed-Hastings continued to ask: "What is the most lacking?"

Mark Randolph thought about it, and said: "Customers. If we have hundreds of thousands of members, financing is easy. With funds, we can promote the website and purchase more content, thereby attracting new customers."

Reed-Hastings sighed: "In the final analysis, it is actually a matter of funds and content." He looked into the distance: "The funds cannot be resolved for a while, we can first try to get content that can attract new customers."

"What?" asked Mark Randolph.

"It's in your hands." Reed Hastings said, "This is a disc of "Bourne", the hottest movie in the offline rental market, and it has been ranked on the Blockbuster rental list for ten consecutive days. first place."

Mark Randolph picked up the disc and looked carefully at the cover side: "We don't have disc sales and rental rights for this film."

"If the user growth is like it is now," Reed-Hastings said: "Maybe it's time for us to get rid of it."