Chapter 791： ****family

In the mid-1990s, the cable TV industry in the United States was on the verge of a new wave of new technology.

As long as FFM is operating properly, the valuation will only double, and five times and ten times will be very conservative estimates until the peak of the new technology wave five years later. At this time, Eric promised more than $10 million worth of options to Wayne Stan, which may even bring in a return of hundreds of millions of dollars. As long as the development of FFM TV is expected, Eric pays management compensation. Absolutely not awkward.

However, Harvey Weinstein obviously does not think so. After all, not everyone can see the future. He shook his head: "Eric, I can accept the annual salary of 250,000 US dollars, but the option of 1 million shares. Too little."

Eric said: "Harvey, after the cable TV company has handed it over to you, according to the annual growth rate of 30%, the market value of the company will be about four times that of the current five years, and the salary you finally receive is also It will be more than 40 million US dollars. This is very generous. No matter it is Firefly or News Corporation, there are no more than ten executives with annual salary of 10 million."

Harvey Weinstein opened his mouth and wanted to refute it, but he couldn’t say it. He couldn’t say that he didn’t have the confidence to achieve an annual growth rate of 30%.

Enterprises that have passed the rapid development period are not easy to achieve an annual growth rate of 30%, and more are just defensive. However, for a startup like FFM, which has just been established and has sufficient funds and resources to support it, if it can't achieve an annual growth rate of 30%, it is really not a success.

Seeing Weinstein somewhat hesitant, Eric thought about it and said: "If you think the option risk is too big, we can take another way to set up a special bonus, as long as you complete the annual performance target, you can Get this bonus. However, I can only give you a maximum of $5 million per year."

At the time, Sony hired Peter Cooper to manage Colombia, this way, Peter Cooper's contract is also five years, Sony set a prize of 50 million US dollars. In the end, Peter Cooper took the bonus and left a mess for Sony.

Sony is an outsider who will be pitted, and Firefly and News Corp. will certainly not make this mistake. However, at the level of CEO of Peter Cooper Film Company, the prize amount is only 50 million US dollars. Of course, Eric can not set up a too high prize amount for Weinstein, otherwise the two companies are at the same level as Weinstein. The executives will certainly be dissatisfied.

Harvey obviously also knows the rules and his hesitation is more hesitant. It is undoubtedly very safe to choose a bonus.

Although he has received a lot of money from Miramax in the past two years, it is also a great time in the film industry. The film industry has always had a lot of variables. Maybe next year, he will not get a penny due to losses.

However, the high rate of return on options is also very attractive, but it is also accompanied by very high risks. The continuous growth described by Eric is only the best, if one of the years is due to factors such as huge losses, FFM valuation A sharp drop, then the efforts of the previous one or two years are likely to be drowned.

In the end, Weinstein still said: "Eric, can you give me a few days to consider time?"

"No problem," Eric nodded. He didn't expect Wayne Stan to promise it on the spot. He said: "If you are not in a hurry to leave, you may be able to listen to my thoughts about FFM. This should decide you. It is helpful to accept this job."

Harvey smiled refreshingly and implicitly complimented: "Of course I am very happy, I don't think anyone will let this opportunity."

Starting from the project, FFM determined that the target of chase is HBO.

Since the establishment of HBO in the early 1970s, a total of eight slogans have been exchanged. This is actually the process of HBO's exploration of the charging cable TV business model.

HBO's current slogan is ‘We\\\\\'re-Out-of-Town-Today determined in 1993. The most classic HBO is also the longest-served slogan, suggesting that the HBO business model is completely mature. This is not TV, this is HBO, and it has not yet been released.

‘This is not TV. This is HBO’, which actually represents the core business philosophy of HBO, which gives the audience a completely different viewing experience than ordinary TV programs. It is around this core that HBO introduces hundreds of outstanding films every year, and HBO has consistently invested heavily in producing a large number of high-quality TV series with its production specifications and concepts.

Since HBO has not yet launched its own classic slogan, Eric will not hesitate to replace it with ‘this is not TV, this is FFM’.

Combining the memories of previous life and the materials reviewed in the recent period, he discussed in detail with Murdoch and Waynestein his development ideas for FFM TV planning.

Since it was decided to play the slogan "This is not TV, this is FFM", this fee-based cable station must completely go to TV, completely eliminate the conventional TV station's advertising revenue-based profit model, and make profits through user subscription and copyright operation. While introducing high-quality content, FFM needs to produce more boutique homemade dramas. Of course, this does not mean blindly pursuing large-scale investment and large-scale production, but according to the current situation of FFM audiences for the social elite group, the production conforms to this. Appreciate the audience's taste for more open, more ideological and artistic works.

The trio later discussed other details such as branding and customer satisfaction. Eric also talked about some big data ideas that appeared more than a decade later, so until eight o'clock in the evening, I had dinner, three talents. Leave each one.

After a busy day and a little exhaustion, Eric did not rush back to the Sharp Point Manor, but went to the residence of Drewsdale's Manor Drew.

Shantou didn't know where to go. There was no one in the villa. Eric sent the driver away and took out the key to open the door.

I took a shower, went to the living room in a bathrobe, turned on the TV, sat on the sofa with my laptop and watched the TV while checking the mail today.

Judging from the reaction when Weinstein left, he has basically decided to accept the job, and at most he will only fight for compensation. Finding the right manager, Eric also began to consider the next step.

In the media field, the core of competition is ultimately content.

In order to let FFM quickly become famous and establish a brand, it is definitely not enough to introduce external film and television copyright. Self-made content with sufficient topicality is indispensable.

In addition to being taken to Lifetime's "Wuwang City", Eric first thought of it, "The Shudao Family."

In the original time and space, because of the rise of the Internet, mainland viewers were more familiar with Netflix's "House of Cards" than "The Shudao Family."

With the powerful influence of "House of Cards", Netflix surpassed HBO in the number of subscribers, and in the following years, HBO was far away. The status of "The Shu Road Family" in HBO is actually equivalent to Netflix's "House of Cards". Although there have been many fine dramas such as "Wuwang City", "Under Six Feet", "Brothers" and so on, but the real push of HBO to the dominant position of the toll line is actually "The Shudao Family."

At that time, even in China, Eric often heard the famous name of "The Shudao Family".

This TV drama is ranked first in many Western media's "greatest TV series in history." Although the influence of “Wuwang City” was great, it was limited to women, but the “Shudao Family” could become the focus of the national level.

Usually, the same quality episodes, in terms of ratings, are usually larger than the basic cable station, and the basic cable station is larger than the toll cable station.

Because of the inferior viewer base disadvantage, few TV programs with paid cable stations can squeeze into the top positions in the ratings list, but the "Shudao Family" has done it. This TV show was at the peak of HBO, even More than 10 million viewers have been obtained, and the total number of subscribers to other paid cable stations is only a few tens of millions. The ratings of the Shudao Family are simply miracles. It is precisely because of the "Street Family" that can be called the anti-sky viewing data, HBO was able to board the status of the toll-free cable station.

There are many reasons for the rise of the Shudao Family, but after all, it is inseparable from the quality of the episodes and the taste of the American media and audience.

Although the history of Hollywood has changed because of Eric’s appearance, David Chase, the scriptwriter of The Shudao Family, still wrote this script because the script was based on David Chess’s youth. Some personal experiences have been conceived, and the story has been brewing for many years in the mind of David Chess.

David Chess is currently a well-known producer in the television industry and has been involved in the production of the CBS hit "Northern Country".

However, the script sales of "The Shu Road Family" are not so smooth. In the case of Eric's attention to this matter, several TV stations including ABC have received this script, but only the top four TV stations have The cool alternative gangsters of the style were not interested at all, so they chose to refuse without exception.

In the past history, the production process of "The Shu Road Family" was even more bumpy. After being unsuccessful in selling to several major TV networks, David Chess turned his target to a smaller cable TV station. HBO finally won the script in 1997, but the willingness to make it is not so strong. At the strong request of David Chess, HBO finally approved the production of a pilot episode, and David Chess personally acted as the director to shoot the test, but was pressed by HBO for more than a year until 1999. In the year, "The Shudao Family" finally landed on the TV screen, and then it was a miraculous rise.

Eric also recently asked the firefighter copyright department to contact David Chase again to win the script. There is another coincidence. David Chase, the agent of the script, is Brad Gray, who was an assistant to Weinstein and has created a production company on his own.

Of course, Eric will not personally come forward, otherwise it will be obvious to tell others, come and grab.

Eric deliberately explained that the person in charge of the copyright department reported to the self-declaration progress of the "Sangdao Family" in time, opened the mailbox, and quickly found a related mail.

Perhaps it is the change of the firefly's attitude towards the script of the Shudao family. David actually asked himself to be the director and producer in the negotiation, and participated in the selection of the characters. Brad Gray would not let go of the drama completely. Production.

Compared to the huge size of fireflies, Brad Gray's production company is like a small workshop. As long as the other party is not greedy to share copyright, Eric does not mind giving the other party a little sweetness. As for David Chess who wants to participate in the production of the series, Eric hopes to see it.

After writing a reply letter, Eric turned off the email interface and opened the Yahoo! portal to browse the latest news.

I don't know how long it took, when Eric almost fell asleep on the sofa, Drew, wearing a blue evening gown, came back from the outside with twins.

"Eric," Shantou entered the door and slammed into Eric's arms and kissed him.

Eric pushed the laptop between the two people and grabbed the waist of the skull. He asked, "Where is it crazy, come back so late?"

"There is no madness, the godfather's party, I can't help but go," Shantou said, twisting his body and tightening it against Eric. He also lifted a pair of calves and shook. The twins quietly stepped forward, helped the **** to take off the high heels, and took the initiative to come over and put the laptop on the side, one of them whispered: "Boss, do you want to take a shower?"

"Well, wait for me to wash with Eric."

Eric smiled and said: "I have washed it."

"Then wash it again," Shantou grabbed Eric's neck and spoiled it.

Eric had no choice but to nod. When the twins left to prepare the hot water, they asked again: "What party did Steven invite you to this time?"

"It's still some business cooperation," Shantou apparently didn't think about it. He just said: "In any case, I always feel that the godfathers are not doing much this time."

Eric smiled. At the end of last month, with the support of Microsoft, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, George Lucas and others officially announced the plans of the big studio, perhaps It was Eric who took the name of DreamWorks ahead of time. The new studio did not re-name, but integrated all the resources of the parties into the Berlin film under the name of Spielberg.

Microsoft first invested $500 million and promised to provide technical support in film and television special effects and computer animation, and obtained a 25% stake in Ann Berlin. George Lucas merged Lucas and Industrial Lights into the company. , also holding 25%, An Berlin will also get the production rights of "Star Wars", the remaining 50% stake, Spielberg holds 30%, and as the earliest promoter of the large studio project, large Wei Gefen only got 20% of the shares this time, and there is a tendency to be excluded from the core circle. I can imagine that as long as Microsoft makes the second round of the third round of capital injection, the equity will be diluted first, it must be David. Geffen.

At the same time, Ann Berlin also signed a distribution agreement with Paramount for eight films in the next five years.

These things Eric has been paying attention to, and Shantou feels the same at this time, Eric also feels that this time Spielberg and others are not likely to be big in the studio.

Not to mention the distribution channel short board, the original seven major studios secretly suppressing and other factors, said Spielberg and George Lucas, the two of them are not the kind of ambitious people, although many people call Spiel Berg is a filmmaker, but he has some indecisive personality, but he is totally unsuitable for running a big studio.

Take this time, it is said that during the cooperation negotiations, Spielberg also told other partners that he would do his best to run the company, but at the same time maintain the power to cooperate with other film companies. Is this like an ambitious person can say?

Spielberg's talent in film is unquestionable, but he can't be a passer-by with Essex. In the original time and space, DreamWorks was established for many years. The real movie business basically did not achieve much profit. The only development is relatively stable. Only DreamWorks animation controlled by Kasenberg is personally controlled. Later, DreamWorks Animation simply chose to leave DreamWorks. The listing operation was carried out separately, and several of them immediately became close to each other and eventually parted ways.