Chapter 131 129 Lionheart Network's Preparations for the Grand Show
Chapter 131 Preparing for the Lion Heart Network
He and Nicole spent a whole day together, and the two lived like a real couple.
The other person's tenderness made Eric a little addicted. If he was really a 20-year-old young man, he would most likely not feel this kind of family feeling and would not cherish it.
After all, young people are restless and have not yet polished their character. It is instinct and nature to pursue excitement and happiness.
But inside Eric's young body is actually a soul in his 30s, and a soul that has been in the entertainment industry for more than ten years.
In an extremely realistic place like the entertainment industry, he has seen too many human relationships and the world's ups and downs.
The more I see and experience, the stronger my desire for a warm home becomes. After wearing the mask for a long time, I naturally need a harbor to live in.
And Nicole is a good candidate in terms of personality, ability, or other aspects.
Unfortunately, when Eric saw the clothes he was wearing, the thought of stopping was extinguished unconsciously, because the clothes were specially bought for him by Gadot.
Wearing clothes bought by one woman, and then dating another woman, at the same time, there are third, fourth, fifth, sixth or even countless women hidden in places that neither of them know about.
There are also twins among them, which will develop into triplets in the future, and possibly triplets plus aunts.
What's even more outrageous is that there may be mother, daughter and cousin.
Sometimes Eric feels that he is a scumbag and evil, a complete scumbag.
But what can be done? Being too good is also a worry.
Eric even imagined a scenario where he would gather all the women in a room, tell them the truth, and let them choose whether to stay or go.
I think most of them will choose to stay.
And even if they haven't reached this point, Eric feels that they are not stupid, and they more or less know that his man must still have someone outside.
However, if you are not caught in bed with a rock hammer, you can selectively ignore it.
Even if you are stoned, you may continue to selectively ignore it. There are too many such things in the entertainment industry, such as Xiao S, Jin Qiaoqiao, Xu Fan, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, etc.
So in order to make it up to them, all Eric can do is work harder on the ship and help them in their careers.
Last night, he worked hard for several hours, until he was exhausted, and then the two of them called it quits.
In the office, Eric called Billy over.
"Billy, do you remember what I told you at the last party?"
Billy recalled for a moment: "You mean the Michael Dobbs thing?"
"Yes, I plan to send you to England again to talk to him about the adaptation of "House of Cards". Of course, this is just an excuse. The real purpose is to seek his help.
"Boss, what exactly is going on? I'm totally confused by what you're saying right now."
Eric pointed to the sofa and Billy sat down.
"Do you know about Michael Jackson's child molestation case?"
Billy nodded: "I probably know something, but not in detail. Are you talking about that time in 1993 or this year?"
"This year, the controversy originated from a BBC reporter named Martin Bascher. It was because of the documentary he shot that led to this incident."
"But I don't believe this is just his personal behavior. According to the information I have learned, Sony Records is likely to be involved behind the scenes."
"Sony Records? Isn't it Michael Jackson's contract company? Why is that?" Billy asked in confusion.
In order to facilitate the work, Eric simply told the grudges between McQueen and Sony Records.
After chatting about the inside story, Billy also sighed: "So that's it. If Sony really did it, these guys deserve to die."
"Do you feel like two atomic bombs are too cheap for them?"
"Yes, we should bomb this country into obscurity and let them sleep in the Pacific Ocean forever."
Eric laughed, and he was happy from the bottom of his heart when he heard RB being scolded.
"Billy, in short, you have to handle this matter no matter what, and you have to give me results even if you spend money on it."
"Don't worry, even if Michael Dobbs is a wall, I can still make a hole. His wife, Evelyn, is not a politician and will be much easier to deal with."
"I don't care what method you use, just give me the result as soon as possible."
"I promise to complete the task, but the adaptation of "House of Cards" you just mentioned, are you really planning to start filming this novel?"
Eric nodded: "Yes, it will start within one or two months. You can use this excuse to get close."
After Billy left, Eric wrote down a few numbers on a piece of paper.
It is currently the end of the second quarter, and a new copyright fee will be credited soon. In addition, the performance of "The Walking Dead" is very good. Under Dad's lobbying, HBO rarely agreed to settle the payment in advance. The total of the two incomes It can be about 500 million US dollars.
After deducting the subsequent investment in projects that have already been filmed, as well as the interest and principal repaid to the bank, the current liquidity on hand is enough to start several new projects.
There is no need to consider big productions like "Transformers". What is in front of Eric are low-cost movies, TV series and variety shows.
For the upcoming Lionheart Network, Eric must provide more and better works. The long-term viewership of TV series and variety shows is obviously better than that of movies.
So it would be nice to shoot "House of Cards", "Hannibal", "Supernatural", "American Horror Story" and "Breaking Bad" first.
Among these films, "House of Cards" has the highest production cost, but it should be able to be produced with about 2 million US dollars per episode, provided that the bulk of the money is used to hire actors.
The original "House of Cards" is said to cost an average of 4.5 million US dollars per episode.
That's because his bulk of the money was used to hire actors, directors and screenwriters.
These three important positions account for more than 50% of the cost of the film, which is a bit similar to Chinese TV dramas in the traffic era.
The difference is that he really has acting skills and level, so this time Eric still wants to invite Kevin Spacey to play.
Two years ago, "American Beauty" won him the Oscar for Best Actor.
For Kevin Spacey, his acting skills have reached the peak. There is not much difference between 10 years ago and 10 years later. There is no pressure to play the leading actor Francis Underwood in "House of Cards". He doesn't even need to change the makeup. He can just change the age of the characters in the script.
Kevin Spacey is now 44 years old. In reality, there are countless 40-year-old congressmen. Obama sat on the presidential throne at the age of 47. There is no age limit in the political rules here.
If Eric is in charge of "House of Cards", he will be the director and writer at the same time, which will not only be efficient, but also greatly reduce the cost.
As for "Hannibal", "Supernatural", "American Horror Story" and "Breaking Bad", according to Hollywood in 2003, the average cost of producing a TV series is 550,000 US dollars.
"Hannibal" and "American Horror Story" can be allocated a little more money, and "Supernatural" and "Breaking Bad" can be 550,000 US dollars. It can even be reduced.
Eric plans to make these five dramas a drainage point for Lionheart Network from the second half of this year to the first half of next year.
"The Walking Dead" will be moved up first to attract a group of new users who have not watched it and old users who want to revisit it, and then "House of Cards" will be the real first shot.
"Supernatural" doesn't need to be too sophisticated, and the shooting progress is fast. It will be used as a successor, but it can only serve as a transition, and we can't expect it to attract too many viewers.
The reason why "Supernatural" has been long-lived and has been filmed for 15 seasons is that CW has no good works to show off, and it was helpless to renew it at the beginning.
What makes this drama very different is that it successfully draws the audience's attention from the plot to the actors, which is a bit similar to the fan economy.
The brothers often hold meet-and-greet sessions in private, and the peripherals are also sold well. In the end, "Supernatural" successfully transformed from a youth idol thriller to a long-lived drama.
Then there is "Breaking Bad". The first season of Walter White's story is not attractive. The best method is to merge the first two seasons together, speed up the pace, and delete irrelevant links.
After that, it will be "Hannibal" or "American Horror Story", whichever is filmed first will be broadcast.
Then there will be variety shows in the middle, such as "The Voice", inviting MJ to be a judge, and the specific progress of Michael's lawsuit will depend on the progress.
If it is launched next year, it will be good to compete with Fox's "American Idol". In addition to MJ, it will invite a few big-name superstars, even if it costs more money.
Eric doesn't believe that he can't beat "American Idol". It would be best if he can beat this predecessor on the beach within one or two seasons, become the number one music variety show, and monopolize the market share.
In addition, there are various popular variety shows such as "Got Talent", "Wild Survival", "Ninja Competition", "Take Me Out", etc. You can use whichever you want, and then sell the copyright all over the world to collect money.
The only problem is that the production cost of variety shows is relatively high. Eric also wants to complete the preliminary contact with Marvel in the second half of the year, so the production progress is expected to be delayed a bit.
Wait until the box office returns of the several movies on hand are completed, and then the era of large-scale variety shows will be launched.
After roughly defining the development route of MGM in the next six months, Eric called Chen Xing in.
"Is the president here?"
"Yes!"
"Well, I'll go over there. I called you last time. Now I'll contact the other party and ask them to come over."
"Okay, boss!"
We took the elevator to the floor of my dad's office. Julio from the production department and a cute girl who looked pretty good in her early 20s also came up.
When they saw Eric coming in, they hurriedly made way to the sides and greeted him at the same time.
Eric nodded slightly, then looked at the unfamiliar cute girl: "New here?"
"Yes, boss, my name is Jenny, Jenny White."
The girl immediately took the initiative to extend her hand, and Eric was embarrassed to refuse her directly. His image and reputation within the company have always been good. The two simply touched their palms and left.
"What are you going to do?"
"The president wants to hear about the overall situation of the production department in the second quarter. I'm here to report."
Eric said, feeling a little guilty. He seemed to have become a little inflated recently, and he had not discussed many new projects or plans with his dad.
Although there is nothing to worry about between father and son, at least they should notify each other. Otherwise, respect or not, as the president, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the company's operation.
"Then let's go together. I happen to have something to do." Eric said.
"No, please go first."
"Then you may have to wait for a while. This conversation will not end soon."
The elevator door opened, and Eric walked towards Charlie Cooper's office. The big-wavy female secretary hurriedly opened the door for him.
Seeing the boss walk away, Julio said in a somewhat reproachful tone: "Jenny, what you did just now was too inconsiderate. You shouldn't take the initiative to reach out. This may make Eric embarrassed. Ignoring him will hurt your self-esteem. Paying attention to him may cause gossip."
"This is a company, not a party or a restaurant. You are facing our boss, not friends and customers. You must know how to maintain respect and awe, understand?"
As a newcomer in the workplace, Jenny nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.
What she thought in her heart was that he was as handsome as in the photo. I actually shook hands with Eric Cooper. I was so excited, hahahaha
In Charlie Cooper's office, the secretary closed the door and left.
"Eric, is there anything?"
No one knows his son better than his father. When he saw his son, an old man like Charlie Cooper knew at a glance that he must have something to ask for.
Eric nodded: "Dad, I may need to borrow your connections."
"Tell me what's going on. Is there an actor or director that can't be invited and needs me to step in."
"That's not the case. I might force it. I'm thinking that Lionheart.com will be online in a few months, and I'm going to shoot "House of Cards" as a facade. I want to ask Kevin Spacey to play the leading role."
"But after winning the Oscar for Best Actor, now is his peak moment. It would be best if the script can impress him, but if the salary can't be negotiated at that time, you may need to step in."
Dad thought for a while and said: "As for Kevin Spacey, his current movie salary is $10 million, but the friendship price can be less, but the salary for movies and TV series is two tracks. How many episodes do you plan to shoot for this show?"
" It won't be more than 15 episodes, probably around 12 or 13 episodes."
"How much do you want to pay Kevin Spacey per episode?"
"350,000 US dollars, the lower the better."
Hearing this, the father shook his head: "Too little, even if the script is of high quality, this price is too little, I suggest raising the price to 400,000 US dollars per episode."
"If 15 episodes are shot, Kevin Spacey can get 6 million US dollars in salary, I can negotiate this friendly price."
"After all, the shooting time of TV series is much shorter than that of movies, and he can take it as a break between two movies."
"Plus a good script, he should not refuse."
"Dad, is it the lowest?"
Eric still thinks it is a bit expensive. He remembers that Kevin Spacey's salary for "House of Cards" in 2013 was only 500,000 US dollars per episode.
I moved forward 10 years and thought about lowering the price.
"No way, he's an Oscar winner, and the big screen has always discriminated against the small screen, you know that."
"Okay, when our streaming media is established, I will make sure these movie stars are eager to act in it."