Chapter 144

Richmond, northeast of San Francisco Bay.

Pixar's office at this time is located in a humble office building in the city.

Simon arrived at Pixar headquarters at two o'clock in the afternoon. Jobs didn't show up. He was received by Pixar president ed catmoore. This middle-aged man with glasses and whiskers is the main developer of Pixar Animation software and rendering tools.

Before arriving in San Francisco, Simon had actually heard that due to financial constraints, jobs had just laid off Pixar after the new year. At this time, there were less than 20 Pixar employees living in this office building.

Simon didn't mind the fact that the owner didn't show up. He spent the whole afternoon seriously visiting a series of Pixar's technological achievements, including John lassett's just started brewing "tin soldier". This 3D animation short film not only won the Oscar for best animation short film, but also was the inspiration of later "Toy Story".

In this way, it was not until after work time, when he was about to leave, that Simon said to ED catmoore, "ed, I proposed to jobs to buy this company last year. This offer is still valid. You can tell him that if he wants to sell Pixar at any time, you can contact me."

In the afternoon, he got along very happily. Ed catmoore also felt that Simon was really interested in Pixar's technology and said, "Simon, do you have to buy our company? If it's just a stake, Steve would be very happy, and we can help convince him

"It's about control," Simon said, shaking his head. "I don't think jobs wants to repeat his experience at Apple any more. I personally do the same. Ed, you should realize that I'm interested in using Pixar's technology to make 3D animation and develop CG special effects technology related to movies. Jobs's goal is to produce professional computers for animation production. Our business concepts are completely in conflict. "

After a few words of conversation, Simon shakes hands with ED catmoore and others one by one again and leaves Pixar headquarters with Jennifer.

The main shooting of instinct will be in San Francisco. On Tuesday, I came here with several creators of instinct and spent two days to confirm the location of the film. Brian De Palma and others have returned to Los Angeles.

Simon visited Silicon Graphics headquarters in Silicon Valley in the morning, visited Pixar in the afternoon, and will fly to park city, Utah tomorrow to attend the opening ceremony of this year's Sundance Film Festival.

"Lola Run" only made a big hit at the Sundance Film Festival last year with the strong support of Robert Redford. Redford even said hello to him a few days ago. Simon can't fail to join in either promotion or personal friendship.

The Hilton Hotel in downtown San Francisco.

Jennifer returns to the living room with a pot of coffee, and Neil Bennett has checked the suite for eavesdropping.

He enthusiastically helped Neil Bennett put all kinds of instruments in the box. When the other party left, Jennifer poured Simon a cup of coffee, sat down on the sofa beside him and said, "it's like obsessive-compulsive disorder."

"Obsessive compulsive disorder is better than being bugged. I feel uncomfortable when I think of those little things in the plaza hotel suite," Simon said, putting down his papers, patting his female assistant and saying, "come on."

"No, I'm not a kitten," she said, turning slightly red. Besides, it's time you called my dad. "

Simon, not reluctant, picked up the phone with a smile and dialed the number of the leibulde family.

It's more than eight o'clock in the evening in New York. The phone is soon connected. Simon and James talk about entertainment in the new world.

New World Entertainment's share price rose again today compared with yesterday's high of $15, which was fixed at $16.75 in the afternoon, with a total market value of more than $400 million. Simon can't afford to buy any more now. After discussing with James on the phone, Simon made a decisive decision to clear all the New World Entertainment stocks held by Westeros.

Simon's acquisition of New World Entertainment's fundamental purpose is marvel, the company's film and television entertainment assets are also second.

Now that a group of people have come together to kill the fat sheep, Simon's wisest choice now is to get out at once. If we keep holding the 7% shares of new world entertainment, the share price of the company will only keep firm, and may even make new world entertainment survive the most difficult period in the future.

Once that happens, it's more difficult for Simon to get marvel.

The New World Entertainment shares held by westero are all non restricted circulating shares. Therefore, although the proportion of shares held by westero exceeds 5%, it is not subject to the SEC's share reduction restrictions.

Early the next morning.

Westero began to sell its shares immediately after it publicly announced the reduction of its holdings in accordance with SEC regulations.

Simon arrived in park city around 11:00 a.m. Utah local time. Janet has also arrived and rented an apartment at the last resort. The woman has been busy with the renovation of Fifth Avenue apartment in New York for some time. At this time, she will return to the west coast to participate in the 45th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony to be held next Saturday with Simon .The opening ceremony of Sundance Film Festival still starts at 1 pm.

After Simon arrived in Park City, he simply settled in and rushed to the Egyptian theater in park city where the opening ceremony was held.

Because "Lola Run" was a great success starting from the Sundance Film Festival last year, Park City has become a lot more lively this year. If Robert Redford hadn't arranged in advance, Simon might not even be able to squeeze into the packed Egyptian theater.

In some early chats, Simon also learned from Redford that compared with last year, the number of registered films at the Sundance Film Festival has doubled this year.

Thanks to the generosity of the sponsors, the number of screening halls used for participating films in the next 10 days has increased to 10 instead of 3 last year. There are not so many projection halls in park city. Many of them are temporary reconstruction. It is said that some films that failed to be shortlisted also set up their own screening halls, hoping to attract the attention of the media and film dealers in the process of the film festival.

After the opening ceremony, the opening film also has a lot of weight.

Milan Kundera's novel the unbearable lightness of life and Daniel Day Lewis and Juliet Binoche's love in Prague. Because sol zaenz, the producer of love in Prague, owns the copyright of the Lord of the rings, Simon noticed the film some time ago.

Love in Prague is set to be released on February 5 by Orion.

In order to promote the film, Saul zaenz and other creators also came to park city.

After the opening ceremony of the festival, everyone went to the headquarters of the Sundance Institute at the foot of the ski resort to attend the official opening party of the festival. Simon met Saul zaenz with the introduction of Robert Redford.

Saul zaenz, who is in his sixties, has a bushy white beard and habitually purses his mouth.

The famous Hollywood producer started his career as a record company in his early years. In 1975, his first film "flying over the madhouse" won many awards, such as best picture, best director and best actor. In 1984, "Mozart biography" attracted Hollywood's attention again with its excellent performance of 11-8.

For Hollywood filmmakers, to be able to produce two best Oscars in their career is absolutely a lifetime honor to show off.

At the party.

After introducing each other, Saul zaenz said, "Simon, I know you are very interested in the Lord of the rings. I also heard that you have obtained the copyright of the hobbit. However, unless you can provide a practical production plan. Otherwise, I will not give you the copyright of the Lord of the rings. "

Simon and Saul zaenz stood together in the corner of the hall. Wen Yan shook his head and said, "Saul, if I can't get the copyright, I certainly can't invest in the development of this project ahead of time."

"You can make hobbit first," Saul zaenz said shrewdly

"But I prefer to make the Lord of the rings series first," Simon said, hesitating for a moment, looking at Saul zaenz and seriously saying, "Saul, I know you may not be short of money, and I know it may be a bit abrupt. But to show my sincerity, what do you think of $10 million? "

Despite the noise at the party, sol zaenz fully understood Simon's offer.

10 million dollars?!

Subconsciously, Saul zaenz wanted to ask a question, but he knew he had heard it right.

But it's not.

It's impossible.

At present, the best novel or script copyright in Hollywood is about $1 million, and Simon westero has directly increased the market price by ten times.

However, feeling that the young man was throwing money at himself, although Saul zaenz wanted to show his anger, his face was more surprised and unbelievable.

No one in Hollywood will spend 10 million dollars to buy the copyright of a novel. Few people in the world will. After all, 10 million dollars is enough to make a very good movie in this era.

In fact, Saul zaenz also heard that Simon had invested heavily in the purchase of the copyright of "baby thunderbolt". Although the specific transaction price has not been disclosed, it can not be the rumored $10 million. Moreover, the deal also included the copyright of more than 100 episodes of TV series, which is a real asset, but the Lord of the rings is just a film adaptation right with uncertain future.

After hesitating for a long time, sol zaenz still couldn't refuse: "Simon, I need to think about it."

"Sure," Simon nodded. "But, sol, I hope to hear from you by the end of the weekend."

Saul zaenz shook his head and said, "this is too urgent."

Simon insisted, "I don't want to wait too long."

Sol zaenz hesitated for a moment and said, "Simon, now that you have got the Hobbit, you must know that the copyright actually includes a fixed share clause. The production company will have to pay 7.5% of the net profit of film, television and other aspects to the Tolkien Heritage Foundation in the future."Simon nodded and said, "I know."

"Well, if you want to get the copyright, I also need a share contract, at least 5%," says Saul zaenz

Simon refused without hesitation and said, "sol, I've already paid $10 million. I can't give you any more share. You may think that Simon westero would not mind paying more since he was willing to offer a sky high price of $10 million. But I can make it very clear that it's only $10 million, and only this weekend. After the weekend, I'll calm down and start from scratch. In addition, if you agree to this transaction, you must sign a confidentiality agreement and never disclose our transaction price. "

Sol zaenz listened to Simon's words and couldn't help thinking.

If he cooperates with other film companies, Saul zaenz knows that he can only get about one million dollars of copyright transfer price. Maybe the sharing terms are easy to negotiate. But even if the film company makes more than $200 million based on a 5% share of net profit, he can get the same income as Simon westero's offer at this time.

What's more, the Tolkien heritage foundation only took 7.5% of the net profit share. He just changed hands and could not talk about 5% at all, maybe only one or two percentage points at most. Taking into account the Hollywood ledger, it is even more unlikely that the future revenue share will reach Simon westero's $10 million offer.

After a moment of silence, Saul zaenzi raised his glass to Simon and said, "Simon, before you leave Park City, I'll give you an answer."

Simon took out a business card from his suit pocket, asked for a pen from Janet's handbag beside him, wrote down the address of his Resort and gave it to Saul zaenzi, who said, "Saul, I'm looking forward to hearing the good news."

Janet had just been quietly listening to Simon and sol zaenz talking. When sol zaenz almost walked away in a trance, the woman took Simon's arm and said with a smile: "ten million dollars, this is the price of the top luxury house on Fifth Avenue."

In my memory, Peter Jackson, Saul zaenz, Tolkien Heritage Foundation and other parties all went to court because of the malicious default of new line pictures, a famous Hollywood "Lao Lai", because of the income of the Lord of the rings series, and the amount involved in each lawsuit reached more than ten million dollars.

Although we don't know the exact amount of Saul zaenz's share in the original time and space, it would be very cost-effective if we could buy the right to adapt the Lord of the rings for 10 million dollars.

Simon thought about this, reached out to hold the woman gently, said: "recently, many things seem to be not very smooth, everyone regards Simon westrow as a fat sheep, I suddenly want to try, if I also regard myself as a fat sheep, some things will become easier."

Feeling the faint frustration in Simon's tone, Janet leaned over and pasted it gently on the man's face with her face and said, "you are not a fat sheep, Simon. Those who treat you as a fat sheep will surely find themselves stupid in the future."

Simon said with a smile, "that's what I'm worried about, too."

Janet wondered, "why?"

Simon was about to explain when Robert Redford came up from the crowd, said hello and asked, "how was the conversation?"

Hollywood's grapevine is always flying, and it's no secret that Simon is interested in the copyright of the Lord of the rings.

Hearing Redford's question, Simon shook his head and said, "Saul promised to think about it."

"Many of Hollywood's classic novels need to be adapted. It's useless to be urgent," Robert Redford said, rubbing his wine glass. "Simon, there's one thing. We've received a lot of scripts during this period, some of which are very good. I wonder if you can invest in a few, even one. They are all very talented directors or screenwriters. Like you, they just lack opportunities. Moreover, the cost of these projects will not be too high, about two or three million yuan. "

Simon is actually very interested in making some interesting independent films. Denise pictures can also support some direct filmmakers through this kind of project. Without waiting for Redford to go on, he said quickly: "I'll be in park city this weekend. Bob, just ask someone to send the script to me. I'll choose a few for investment."

Robert Redford didn't expect Simon to agree so simply, though he was already quite sure. However, he didn't hesitate and said with a smile, "I'll have the script sent to you tomorrow. In addition, I can help you with the issue if you need to."