American Entertainment 1982

While enjoying the food, Tommy listened to an anecdote about Hollywood's past from Herbert, the vice chairman of Warner's board of directors.

In the eyes of the outside world, Hollywood is full of freedom, tolerance, star-studded, hundreds of film companies, large and small, and a film art sanctuary for countless men and women who dream of becoming stars.

But in the eyes of real Hollywood tycoons, this place is not so crowded, there are not even six big companies, only two big groups.

According to many business magazines, the six major companies in Hollywood are Universal, Warner, Paramount, Columbia, and Fox.

In addition to the top five, the sixth place has different opinions. Some magazines called Disney the sixth major film company, while others insisted that MGM should be in the top six.

The reason why the sixth place is controversial is mainly because Disney’s film library is much smaller than that of the top five or MGM, and the production of films is relatively low, with a single category, mainly concentrated in cartoon films.

As for the well-known MGM in the silent film era, even the sixth place is now being questioned because MGM’s own film library has been bought by CNN. They all need to go to CNN's boss Turner Jr. to obtain authorization.

Of course, whether it is the Big Six or the Big Seven, in short, from the perspective of the outside world, the real bosses of the Hollywood film industry are these giants, monolithic and impeccable, who often lobby for bills related to certain interests, or collectively fight against other The capitalists trying to get their hands in Hollywood have a big fight.

But in fact, these big companies can be broadly divided into two factions. Warner, Disney, and MGM are closely related, and in this small group, Warner is the leader of this group.

The other faction is Paramount, Universal, and Fox. It doesn't matter who is the leader, because Paramount and Fox are under the command of the same boss Barry Diller. In a sense, it can be said that the two major producers Giants share a president.

In fact, there is also Columbia Corporation, which should be regarded as a member of Paramount's faction. After all, the current president Dawn Steele also came from Paramount's Diller gang, but this company has been regarded as its own faction a few years ago. , have no intention of competing commercially with other film companies, and the two groups also have special feelings for Columbia, so Columbia is considered neutral.

The reason why they don’t want to compete with other film companies is naturally because all the Jewish executives in the entire Columbia company, from top to bottom, have focused on one thing since 1982, and that is the wool of the Coca-Cola Group, a layman boss with a lot of money. , successfully achieved Coca-Cola's proud record of losing US$1.6 billion after holding Columbia Pictures for seven years.

Coca-Cola couldn't figure out why Columbia had a few movies that looked good at the box office every year, but it showed negative growth when calculating profits.

Of course, the Coca-Cola Group is not an idiot. Of course they realized that Columbia executives were swallowing their own money, so they decided to clean up and find new people to take over, so Columbia Pictures appeared in seven years. Inside, senior management conducted six major purges.

Every time, they are elite talents poached from other film companies. Before joining Columbia Pictures, each of them has the ability to turn stones into gold, but once they take over Columbia Pictures, they immediately become mentally retarded and only know how to lose money. The strategy makes Coca-Cola, who only knows how to sell soda, can't help but frown.

In short, this acquisition made Coca-Cola understand a truth, that is, it can make money all over the world, except in Hollywood.

Moreover, the purge has no effect. Whether it is the executives recruited from the UK or other countries, they are still helpless when they come to Hollywood. Once they dare to break the rules, various lace scandals will immediately break out and be forced to resign.

This allowed Coca-Cola to see the power of Hollywood.

Coca-Cola can only comfort its shareholders at the general meeting of shareholders. At least 1.6 billion US dollars is not worthless. During the seven years of holding Columbia Corporation, all films produced by Columbia have Coca-Cola advertisements. 600 million can be counted as advertising expenditure.

In fact, the executives of the other five companies also indirectly participated in Columbia's seven-year gluttonous feast. Otherwise, Columbia would have been purged six times, how could so many managers who are familiar with the Hollywood industry be able to fill in?

Therefore, although Columbia Pictures lost money, it has always received unanimous praise from its peers, and has been recognized by the other five companies as the largest film company in Hollywood. Contact Columbia Pictures, ready to acquire the other party.

It can be said that Columbia Pictures is like a wild crane in Hollywood, with a detached status, and it can be regarded as the honorary leader of Hollywood promoted by other companies.

The remaining five major companies are the existences that really stir up the situation in Hollywood. The two factions are like the two big families in Romeo and Juliet, fighting to the death.

The president and CEO of Warner, Jewish Steve Ross, has become a thorn in the side of Paramount Pictures since the day he bought Warner Pictures, which was almost closed for $400 million in 1969, because of his intervention, Paramount Pictures Ramon's plan to swallow Warner at a low price was aborted.

At that time, Barry Diller, vice president of Paramount who planned to swallow Warner Pictures, is now the chairman and CEO of Fox Group. All Murdoch Group’s business related to film and television in the United States is in charge of this Polish Jew. .

When Murdoch entered the American film and television industry, his first choice was not Fox, but Warner. The reason why he chose Warner was mainly because Barry Diller wanted to heal the old hatred of the failed acquisition of Warner in 1969.

Warner Pictures and the Murdoch Group have been fighting for three years. Both sides have shown their talents. They have fought all the way from the set to the Supreme Court. In the end, Steve Ross found Herbert Siegel, the white warrior, and Clark Industries invested in the purchase. 25% of Warner's shares stabilized the situation, and although Murdoch failed to get what he wanted, he was repurchased by Warner through the previous hostile takeover of shares, making a profit of 40 million US dollars, which is considered a small victory.

Barry Diller took over Fox for Murdoch, and Don Bruckheimer, who succeeded Barry Diller as chairman and CEO of Paramount, was one of Barry Diller's favorite students. Diller Gang", so Paramount and Fox have established a very close partnership, or simply put, these two behemoths must listen to Barry Diller.

As for Universal Pictures, as early as the 1970s, under the leadership of Barry Diller, it cooperated with Paramount to establish an international company to distribute films and cooperate for many years.

And Warner's ally Disney, President Michael Eisner, was a senior vice president at Paramount before, and he was also Barry Diller's favorite student. He followed Barry Diller earlier than Don Bruckheimer, and he thought that Barry -Diller went to Fox College and would give Paramount to himself. As a result, Barry chose Don Bruckheimer to take over. Disgraced, turned against Barry and his mentor, resolutely resigned, and repeatedly sought the job of president of other large film companies. It was Warner's Steve Ross who spoke up and helped him contact several major shareholders of Disney, and finally let Michael E. Sina was offered the job of CEO of Disney.

As for the relationship between MGM and Warner, it all depends on Turner, the boss of CNN. Turner holds all the film copyrights of MGM before 1987 and all the film copyrights of Warner before 1950, and also holds two The stake in the company, coupled with the fact that he, like Steve Ross, has a blood feud against Murdoch, makes MGM almost a natural ally of Warner.

If you want to describe the nearly two decades of struggle between the two Hollywood groups in a simpler way, it is the grievances between two Jews, Warner Pictures Steve Ross and Paramount Pictures Barry Diller.

Every Jewish film tycoon, standing on the top of Beverly Hills overlooking the night scene, probably has dreamed of sweeping the Big Six and dominating Hollywood.

But in Hollywood with countless practitioners, these two old Jewish guys with very different personalities are the closest to realizing this dream in this decade.

Steve Ross is dubbed the godfather by industry insiders. With his personal charm, rich incentive system and free-ranging management style, all the employees who work for him have an illusion that Steve is the best image of their father in their eyes. Good interpretation.

After many Warner employees started their own businesses, they would come to him specifically because of business doubts, which made his disciples all over California, and every time Steve Ross saw his subordinates, he would always use the word "children" Kind words to say hello.

Over time, people who worked for Steve also used to call themselves Steve's children.

As for another explanation of the godfather, it is that Steve Ross is really the godfather of gangsters in Hollywood. Before stepping into the film industry in 1969, he did funeral and cleaning businesses in New York and New Jersey, and his partners were mainly Jewish gangsters and Italian gangsters.

There is also news that cannot be confirmed. It is said that Meyer Lansky, known as the "American gangster accountant", is the godfather of Steve Ross. After Mayer fled to Israel, Steve became an American Jewish gangster and The Italian gangster's new accountant in Hollywood.

Compared with Steve, the "Godfather" who used hacking to enter the business, Barry Diller is called a "killer" by industry insiders. Flaws, absolutely will not hesitate to shoot, a fatal blow.

Moreover, he started his career as an intern in a brokerage company at the lowest level, and has come to the present step by step. Not only has he quickly emerged with his own ability, but he has also formed the famous "Diller Gang" in Hollywood. All his children are completely different. The members of the Diller gang are all cultivated by him, and each one is carefully selected. Their ability and loyalty are far from comparable to others, and each one can be unique.

In addition to Disney's current CEO Michael Eisner and Paramount's current CEO Don Bruckheimer, Columbia Pictures CEO Dawn Steele, these three sub-film tycoons were born in Diller In addition to the Diller gang, there are also a group of Diller gang elites who are active in the American film and television industry under the brand of Diller.

For example, Garth Ansier, who was appointed by Diller as the founding president of Fox Broadcasting Company at the age of 28, and Don Simpson, the gold medal producer of the phenomenal commercial blockbuster "Top Gun" created by gang Ramon, and Fox TV network's The first Chinese-American executive, Stephen Zhao, and more than a dozen middle-level forces who have honed their abilities in major Hollywood companies and are waiting for opportunities to make their mark are also members of the Diller Gang.

After talking about Hollywood anecdotes at the dinner table, Herbert picked up a piece of beef with a fork and put it into his mouth, saying vaguely: "Actually, I am more optimistic about Diller. The United States is an elite society. If Steve can buy back the Warner shares in my hand at a price I am satisfied with, I am ready to invest the money in Fox. Diller definitely has a way. He stands alone. Hollywood can make Steve and Turner scrambling, while Murdoch can happily hold a camera in the UK to take pictures of nude women and publish them in the "Sun". How many people in the entire United States can make history People like Tiff and Turner running around?"

Herbert swallowed his food and looked at Julian Farrell: "What do you think?"

Julian wiped the corner of his mouth: "I'm not interested in the film and television industry at all, and I don't know Diller and Steve... Diller, I like Diller."

"What about you, kid." Herbert turned his eyes and looked at Tommy who was munching on spaghetti: "What do you think?"

"It sounds like Steve's children are more numerous and have a more mass base." Tommy swallowed the food in his mouth and took a sip of lemonade: "I'm more used to standing on the side with more people."

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