American Fortune Life

As the executive chairman of the original Paramount Pictures, Rob Freeman, to be honest, was tired of the factional struggles of Paramount and the excessive interference of the parent company Viacom and the Redstone family in the film company.

Since Shirley Lansing left Paramount in 2004, Paramount has lost its direction. In 2005, it acquired DreamWorks. The entire Paramount seems to have entered the era of DreamWorks, relying too much on Spielberg, the great director.

When Rob Freeman left Paramount, Spielberg officially launched his "Transformers" project. The main reason why Rob was persuaded by Peak's founder Pierce is that he also has a film company that has developed through his own efforts and is on an equal footing with the six major film companies.

He has great ambitions, but the road ahead has been full of twists and turns, especially in the past few months, and the continuous internal friction made him think that his and Pierce's ambitions are more like a joke.

Unexpectedly, the situation changed suddenly, but things developed to a point that no one expected. He was really entrusted with a heavy responsibility by the 22-year-old young boss in front of him. Everything happened so excitingly.

"Boss, my idea is market segment positioning, low-cost portfolio investment, deep mining of derivative income, stable cash flow from copyright library, resource leverage for cooperative filming, and diversified financing channels and financial platforms. , an important means of reducing risks.”

Andy listened carefully to Rob Freeman's development plan, knowing that what he planned was a successful GU independent film company's growth path, without the support of a powerful consortium behind it.

"Before Summit, it was a distribution company after all. Although there were many movie copyrights, if the copyright library wanted to form a stable cash flow, it might not be possible." Carl said lightly from the side, he was very concerned about copyright matters. After all, this is what he eats in Hollywood now.

"Of course I know this, but we hold the three major killers in our hands, and even the six majors are not willing to give in. The three major series of "Dancing Out of My Life", "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games", do you think those investment banks, Will private equity funds be stingy with the money in their hands? Believe it or not, I said today that if you want to raise funds to shoot any series, there will be a lot of people waving checks to invest in your door?

But everyone knows that no film company will take out this kind of blockbuster series of movies for others to invest in, so the best way now is to continue funding small-budget movies, come up with good scripts and find big companies to cooperate in filming to save money. Funding for our own series of films, establishing our leadership in the Hollywood teen category through these three franchises.

As for the film library, you can find some film companies that are facing bankruptcy for acquisition, or even find a bank for acquisition loans, and bring in people from Wall Street for private equity financing. "

Andy stroked his chin,

After thinking about it carefully, he and Carl have the same problem, they have a special preference for copyright IP, as if thinking of something, his eyes narrowed slightly, the hand touching his chin stopped, and he looked up at Rob.

"Rob, do you know Legendary Films?"

"Well, I know. It's a film investment company founded by a group of investors who don't understand films. It's similar to Relativity Media. If this kind of company does not perform well, it will go bankrupt. After all, the payback period and accounting calculation of the film business have a long cycle. A large amount of capital needs are generated, and these cash flow needs are made up through rounds of borrowings, and the breaking of the capital chain is only a matter of time."

Andy expressed his admiration for Rob Freeman's professionalism. This is the real talent. Everything in Hollywood is clear, and there is no such thing as Carl's half-baked level.

"I mean, they signed a cooperation agreement with Warner, and even part of the IP intellectual property rights of Batman were taken away by them. My "Inception" was also introduced by Warner to the funds of Legendary Pictures. You Say, what do you think if I bought the follow-up to Superman, the gorilla, and things like Wonder Woman and The Flash that they’ve already rotted?”

Rob Freeman stared at the young boss in a daze, the corners of his mouth twitched a few times, the black line on his forehead, and he glanced at the fat man who was rolling his eyes, but there was no surprise at all, and he complained wildly in his heart, what the hell is this? what! I really dare to think, unless Warner's people are crazy, even if Warner agrees, DC people will not hand over their heroes to others.

"Ahem, boss, this is a bit unrealistic. Whether it is Warner or DC, they would rather keep the copyright in their hands than sell it to others. Cooperative filming is possible. Maybe the copyright of IP derivatives can also get some , but if you want to buy it, boss, don’t even think about it.”

"No, no, Rob, how do you know if you haven't tried it? Didn't Carl buy the "Mad Max" series a while ago, so everything is possible..."

"What? You bought "Mad Max"?" Rob Freeman was very surprised when he heard the boss's words. He looked at the fat man beside him, and felt for the first time that this fat man had some skills.

The corners of Karl's mouth were upturned proudly, his mouth was pursed, his eyebrows raised, and he spread his hands, looking as if nothing, so easy, was in need of a beating.

After Rob Freeman frowned and thought for a while, he said to the boss who was waiting patiently: "Boss, don't even think about Superman. They won't even let us participate in the investment. DC is not surprised, it needs to rely on the sales of its superheroes." Copyright to profit, they built their own superhero team very early on, and it was difficult to get the copyright of their superheroes, whether it was Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Arrow, they were the main protagonists of their comics, very Difficult, really difficult.

That King Kong is possible. After all, it has been photographed many times, and the value is not very high. It is hopeful to pay some price to sign it. "

Andy was slightly disappointed. He also knew that he was a little whimsical. After all, DC Comics was integrated by Warner Brothers very early on, and an unknown number of superhero movies have been made. It is not comparable to the deadly Marvel Comics.

Seeing the disappointed boss, Rob gritted his teeth and said, "Why don't I try it out? I heard that Warner Bros. has started the Wonder Woman project, but it has been put on hold again because of the script. Maybe there is a glimmer of hope. If it’s really not possible, it’s okay to win some of the copyrights, after all, DC’s comic changes have been very aggressive in the past few years, if Nolan hadn’t come out, Batman would have died like Superman.”

"Hehe, okay, I will leave it to you. I hope you can bring me good news. I will leave the matter here to you. I will go to the new office to have a look..."

Andy smiled in satisfaction. He still didn't give up. How could he know it was impossible if he didn't try? After he finished speaking, he patted his ass and went to see his new office in Summit Entertainment.

Fatty Carl got up and wanted to follow, but was grabbed by Rob Freeman behind him.

"Carl, we need to talk..."

Carl turned his head to look at Rob Freeman with a friendly smile on his face, and felt uncomfortable all over. Even an idiot knew that this old boy had something to plot against him.

"Don't look at me like that, we've worked together for so long, so, I'll treat you tonight, let's have a drink together..."

"What do you want to say, your smile is a bit creepy..."

"Hehe, don't say that, tell me how you got the copyright of "Mad Max"..."

Fatty Carl showed a funny expression on his face, shook his head and said, "So I wanted to come up with this idea, we can talk about it, but hey, you can't give me any less benefits from my copyright company, box office share, and derivative products."

The corners of Rob Freeman's mouth twitched a few times, his eyes flickered, and he stretched out his hand to wrap the fat man's arm and said with a smile, "Hehe, it's easy to say, it's all a family, it's easy to say..."

Carl rolled his eyes, the old boy scolded him just now, now he will ask himself, and we are a family again.

Naturally, Andy didn't know about Rob and Carl's calculations. He saw that Pierce's original office had been cleaned up, and it was nothing special. It was not a bit worse than his own office in the Newsweek building.

But it's not bad, very modern decor, whether it's a desk or a sofa, there are some framed movie posters on the wall, there are "Two Smoking Barrels", "Vanilla Sky" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" Wait for the movie posters produced and distributed by some companies.

Andy sat on the comfortable boss chair with a relaxed smile on his face, and another piece of the puzzle on his career map was in hand.