Chapter 984 Packaging Contract

Three Easter films for next year have been set, and everyone has roughly planned the release strategy for next year based on the experience of this year's "Easter Film Package" plan, and the time will soon arrive at noon.

After lunch together, Amy Pascal and Joe Ross went back to their own companies. Eric and Katzenberg walked together on the corridor of the park, chatting about "Public Enemy of the People" mentioned by Katzenberg in the morning and "Men in Black 3" thing.

"Bill Michanick has been pestering me all this time, and Howard Stringer has personally called me a few times. Sony's attitude is very firm, they will never give up "Men in Black" " series copyright. If the Firefly side has been delaying the production of the sequel due to the issue of the protagonist's remuneration, they will file a lawsuit, or imitate the original model of Constantine Pictures' extension of the copyright of "Fantastic Four" and spend millions to make a super movie. A low-budget B-movie sequel."

Eric put one hand in his pocket and looked at the sky. The landing time of a flight from London to Los Angeles was two o'clock in the afternoon, and there was only half an hour left. Caroline and Melanie were early. Just went to Los Angeles International Airport.

Shaking his head gently, putting aside these thoughts, Eric asked: "Will Smith not want to sign a package contract, what is their offer?"

Katzenberg felt that Eric was obviously absent-minded today, and replied: "'Public Enemy' plus 'Men in Black 3', $40 million."

Eric immediately shook his head again and said, "Impossible."

Although Will Smith quickly became popular with "Lonely Day" and "Men in Black", in recent years, due to changes in the development process of Hollywood, Will Smith's several films did not arouse too enthusiastic response , After the North American box office of "Rush Hour 2" unexpectedly exceeded 200 million US dollars at the end of last year, Will Smith's coffee position even appeared to be overshadowed by Chris Tucker.

The "Men in Black" series is already a super blockbuster, and the other party's offer of $20 million is understandable, and Eric is willing to accept it. But other commercial films, Will Smith's current net worth is only about 10 million US dollars.

This contract seems to have an average salary offer of 20 million per movie, but in fact, the part occupied by "Men in Black 3" should be 30 million US dollars. Once a reality, it will once again break the record for the highest fixed-payment in Hollywood.

Katzenberg also expected Eric's reaction, and was not too surprised, and continued: "Eric, this is the result of bargaining with Will Smith, and the other party is unlikely to back down."

Eric also did not mean to give in at all, and shrugged his shoulders in a relaxed tone: "Then let's keep dragging, since Will Smith has the idea of ​​packing, it shows that he also knows what the "Men in Black" series means to him. ."

"Men in Black" was to Will Smith what "The Terminator" was to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been able to maintain a first-line status in Hollywood because of the popularity brought by two consecutive "Terminator" films in the 1980s and 1990s.

Now Will Smith's other films after "Solitary Day" and the two "Men in Black" have not stirred up any waves. His popularity is already in the decline stage. Once "Men in Black" is completely Say goodbye to Will Smith, and his Hollywood career will be reduced to an uncertain future.

After thinking about it, Eric added: "If he wants to package it, it will be 30 million US dollars. As for Sony Pictures, if they want to extend the copyright, then continue it, and sign a contract with them to extend the copyright term. You don’t need to do a B-grade film anymore. You can tell Howard Stringer about the rest, and we’ll have the final say.”

Katzenberg said: "Eric, if this is the case, Sony will definitely ask to sign extension copyright contracts for several other films. For those films, Sony had planned to give up, and we could have recovered all the copyrights."

"Then let's talk about conditions.

It is impossible for us to sign a copyright extension contract for "Men in Black" with Sony, of course, in exchange for 40% of the copyright of several other films. "

Katzenberg is also clear at one point, nodding with a smile: "This is indeed a good idea. However, on Will Smith's side, if we reject his package contract, the production of "Public Enemy" may change again."

Eric asked: "Isn't it possible for Cage, after "City of Angels", he doesn't seem to have taken other film contracts."

"It seems that Jerry has already shown him the script, and Cage is not interested, otherwise the two sides would have already negotiated."

Eric thought for a while and said, "You ask Jerry to talk to Will Smith according to the single-part contract. I will take the time to chat with Cage. He should give me this face."

The two were chatting, and before they knew it, they had reached the parking lot of the studio. Katzenberg saw Eric's bodyguard helping him open the car door, and couldn't help but ask, "I think you're always a little absent-minded today. , is there something wrong?"

Eric nodded and said vaguely: "Well, some, private matters, it's not a big problem."

Katzenberg didn't ask any more questions, just made a gesture of concern: "If you need help, call me anytime."

"I will," Eric smiled, said goodbye, and got into his car.

The luxury car drove out of the parking lot of the studio. Thinking about what happened next, Eric was still a little frightened. Seeing that the car was about to drive out of the gate of the studio, Eric said to the bodyguards in the front row: "If you don't go back, go Look across, um, on the set of Desperate Housewives."

A wall has been erected for the theme park across from Studios Lincoln Avenue, and many projects are still in the planning stages, but some preliminary construction has already begun.

The Wisteria Street of "Desperate Housewives" could not be set up in the studio. There was no extra space in the East Studio, so it was placed inside the theme park. If "Desperate Housewives" can achieve enough influence in the next few years, The physical sets that cost a lot of money to build will also be retained as an attraction in the studio.

The set of "Desperate Housewives" is located in the southeast corner of the new campus. The luxury car crosses Lincoln Avenue, enters the new campus, and turns directly to the left. Not far ahead is the set of "Wisteria Street" surrounded by high curtains.

Through the car window, Eric can see that many workers are busy in the park. However, because it is a theme park and the nature of the building is different, it is not as noisy and noisy as other construction sites, and there are no large-scale engineering equipment. It seemed a little quiet.

As for the planned air corridor, construction will not start until next year, and the official opening of the park will definitely be after 2000. Disneyland Paris took eight years from its establishment in 1984 to its opening in 1992. Although the Firefly Studios theme park is much smaller than Disneyland Paris, the entire construction process will take two to three years.

In order to reduce the risk, "Desperate Housewives" adopts the traditional mode of filming and broadcasting.

The planned 13 episodes of the first season will start on February 26 and end on May 14. Up to now, 12 episodes have been broadcast, and the popularity of the episodes is also increasing step by step, and the number of viewers has since started. At 4.16 million, it has steadily climbed to 6.35 million in the latest episode.

MGM expects "Desperate Housewives" to reach more than 7 million viewers by the end of its first season on Thursday.

A single episode of 7 million viewers is already considered the peak viewership of cable TV programs at present. However, according to the current ratings and the rapid popularity of US cable networks in recent years, it is only a matter of time before "Desperate Housewives" reaches the tens of millions of viewers.

As a cable TV series, if the number of viewers can break through the 10 million mark, it is destined to leave a strong mark in the history of American TV dramas like the original time and space's "Black Road Family", "The Walking Dead" and other series. .

In addition, although e! Entertainment TV's reality show "Beverly Girls" did not have the high ratings of "Desperate Housewives" when it was launched, and the number of viewers for the first episode was only over one million, the viewership curve of this reality show has grown very much. ferocious.

Relying on the strong media resources of the Firefly system, Kris Jenner's various hype methods emerge in an endless stream, and several reality TV actors who participated in "Beverly Girls" have become the most famous reality TV stars in the United States in just a few months. .

Correspondingly, the viewership data of "Beverly Girls" has also soared. In the first episode, the average viewership of "Beverly Girls" was only 1.12 million. By the end of the eighth episode, the average viewership of "Beverly Girls" The number has reached an astonishing 4.57 million.

The only regret of the whole reality show is that it was not produced according to the standard of 13 episodes or even 26 episodes. Otherwise, the ratings of the first season will definitely be more amazing.

A TV show achieves a 400% increase in viewership data in its first season, which is rare in the entire history of TV. If history doesn't change, it's only a few years later that MTV's similar reality show "Jersey Shore" achieved this feat.

Because of the amazing ratings of "Beverly Girls", the second season of "Beverly Girls" and the first season of Eric's "Beverly Wife" series are already in the preparatory stage.

Probably because this was the last episode of the first season, Eric entered the set and found that MGM's vice president John Carley was also on set, and John Carley was now mainly in charge of MGM TV. business.

After receiving a notice from the doorman, John Carley brought Mark Cherry, the screenwriter of "Desperate Housewives", and Teri Hatcher, the heroine, to greet them.

Eric greeted everyone and said, "I'm just here to have a look. If you have a job, go ahead."

John Carley followed Eric and said with a smile: "Elizabeth and the others are filming, we just rested, Eric, is the shooting of "Iron Man" going well?"

"Of course, it will probably be finished by the end of this month," Eric nodded, and then said to Mark Cherry, who was wearing glasses and a fat white man: "Mark, I have read the outline of the second season you wrote, saying Really, better than the first one."

"Oh, thank you for your affirmation, Eric," Mark Cherry said very respectfully, bowing slightly, "but, if you didn't have the idea, I would definitely write This story doesn't come out."

Teri Hatcher, who was following a few people, watched Mark Cherry's respectful performance in front of Eric, and couldn't help but pouted slightly.

After a few months of filming, everyone knew the details of Mark Cherry. This guy was originally a small screenwriter who was on the verge of bankruptcy in Hollywood. He received help from Eric like a pie in the sky. Complete the task of the script of "Desperate Housewives". During this time, as the influence of "Desperate Housewives" gradually increased, Mark Cherry gave almost everyone a feeling of being a villain. He disappeared without a trace, and his temper in front of the actors and crew members became more and more serious.

Just now, even in front of MGM Vice President John Carley, Mark Cherry's attitude was a bit arrogant. Teri Hatcher originally thought that these people would never see Mark again. Cherry looked humble.

The crew is filming the perfect housewife Bree Van Diekan, played by Elizabeth Perkins. Everyone walked along the asphalt road of Wisteria Street to the outside of Bray's house, and saw the busy crew members in the field.

Eric didn't mean to disturb either. He sat down in the lounge area with John Cali and watched the shooting in the field.

After casually chatting about the filming of the series, Eric asked John Carley: "By the way, how are the preparations for the second season of 'Beverly Girls' and 'The Wife of Beverly'? "

John Carley said: "Chrissy hoped that Beverly Girls would be filmed and broadcast in the summer, but we rejected this somewhat radical plan. The second season will start shooting in June and fall in September. Everyone felt that 26 episodes might be too long for the broadcast, so the length of the second season was determined to be 13 episodes. However, next, like "America's Next Top Model", two seasons can be produced every year. "The Beverly Wife" "Over there, Chris is still looking for a wife, but she should be able to catch up with the fall season."

Eric looked at the people who were filming in the field, still a little absent-minded. After listening to John Carley, he just nodded slightly.

John Carley thought for a while, then said, "Eric, one more thing."

Eric turned his head to look at John Carley: "Huh?"

"Chris has signed manager contracts with several of the Beverly Girls protagonists, and, she said last time, hopes to set up a production company to be more deeply involved in the production of these two series of reality shows."

"No problem, as long as she can guarantee the quality of these two series of reality shows, it's okay for MGM to pay some more. We can't take all the benefits." Eric smiled, not mind too much.

Kris Jenner signed a manager contract with several actors of "Beverly Girls", and Eric probably understood the twists and turns. As long as the other party was a little smarter, it would be impossible to think about getting from a few girls. There are too many profits from the reality show remuneration. What she values ​​should be the income of a few girls' business activities outside the reality show, such as endorsements, the former Kardashian family, the main source of income has never been the reality show, It is the endorsement income of other commercial performances behind the popularity of reality shows.

As for setting up a production company, it's all too common in Hollywood.

The copyrights of "Beverly Girls" and "Beverly Wife" are in the hands of MGM. Kris Jenner can't set up a production company, and it is impossible to break away from the Firefly system, and it is impossible to grasp any initiative. It is determined by fundamental strength. After all, without the support of the media resources of the Firefly system, "Beverly Girls" would never have been as successful as it is now.