Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Seeing that Ohga Norio still likes to make movies about Japanese culture, Ronald thought about it and reminded him again. American politicians will never allow Sony to make Hollywood movies that reflect Japanese culture on a large scale after acquiring Columbia.

"But the big directors in your country's Hollywood all like our country's movies, especially Mr. Kurosawa Akira. The reason why he can still make movies now is thanks to the funding from Mr. Lucas and Mr. Spielberg." Ohga Norio disagreed, it was just a movie.

"I don't know how to explain it, but good movies will shape and change the thoughts and views of the entire society. Now that our dispute with Japan is so intense, I intuitively think that if you want to make a movie that reflects the Japanese way of thinking, that is, Japanese culture, you will encounter difficulties."

Ronald intuitively felt that Ohga's idea of ​​not paying enough attention to this point would be problematic, but he didn't understand the operation of politics well enough and couldn't give a reasonable explanation.

But the experience of several East Asian movies in Hollywood has already explained many problems. The movie "Gonghe" that reflects the desperate working style of Japanese car factory workers was fiercely criticized by film critics. Now the semiconductor industry is repeating the war in the automotive industry. If Ohga wants to film how Sony makes the best Walkman in the world, some people will definitely not like it.

In "Working Girl", the heroine Tess used legal clauses to prevent Japanese media companies from acquiring American TV stations. This plot is not made up out of thin air. Workers in the industries where friction is now occurring have a fear of Japanese companies. And their unions are very strong political forces.

And in "Die Hard", the boss of the protagonist McLean's wife, a successful Japanese entrepreneur, was shot dead by gangsters. It can't be said that it caters to the thoughts that some audiences cannot say secretly.

"What I am more worried about is the complicated contracts between various Hollywood stars, directors, and producers." Ohga Norio said, raising his glass to invite Ronald to drink more.

Don't want to discuss it anymore? Ronald felt that Ohga didn't care much about the business philosophy that came from his mouth as an artist. He had dinner and chatted with himself more because of Ohga's artistic temperament, found artists with similar aesthetics, and recalled the artistic path he didn't take.

Ronald felt that what he said was probably just a reference for Da He, and the two of them still had a good chat about everything.

Da He Norio talked about the third part of "The Karate Kid", and Ronald asked his agent Richard to ask the producer Weintraub. After he opened his own film company, he invested heavily in filming, and he was so busy that it was difficult to call him.

…

It's tax season again. After the release of "Dirty Dancing" last year, Ronald ushered in the year when he made the most money in his life. Because he made too much money, the complicated terms of various dividends needed more professional people to handle. In addition to his personal accountant Lawrence Wang, Ronald also asked Ed Bastian, a partner of Pricewaterhouse, to help him with tax services this year to ensure that the IRS would not find any problems.

"Another 20 million. The entertainment industry has a really good cash flow income once a box office hit movie is released. I have helped so many companies, and only the insurance industry can compare with you."

Ed Bastian helped Ronald with the accounting work for the Daydream movie, and he attracted a big client, so he met the partner requirements of Pricewaterhouse in New York Office, and was officially promoted to partner at the end of last year.

"This year, there will be more. The third wave of revenue sharing for videotapes and soundtracks has been released. It will be a year since the movie was released. I have asked Lindsay Doll to send a lawyer's letter to various theaters and cinemas, and I can almost get the box office revenue sharing."

Ronald smiled from ear to ear. The sales trend of "Dirty Dancing" and all other videotapes is different. It is not affected by time at all. It continues to sell more than 100,000 boxes every month. Looking at the report brought by the company, the sales volume is almost a parallel line.

To be honest, he didn't know why, the movie has been off the screen for several months, and there are still so many people buying videotapes. And the replenishment of videotape rental stores is also very stable every month.

This shows that the rental rate of this movie in Blockbuster is very high. After being rented several times, the image quality of the videotape will decrease, so the rental stores will replenish the stock of those popular movies every month.

"Are they all securities investments? Although this can defer some income tax, tax reform is imperative after the election of the new president. Don't you consider making some other investment arrangements?"

Ed Bastian turned to ask Lawrence Wang. Ronald's handling of the money after receiving it was very simple. He just threw the cash to Lawrence to buy Coca-Cola stocks.

"And why are you staring at this stock? Although Coca-Cola's performance after the stock market crash is not bad, it is far inferior to the upstarts that performed well."

"I don't know how to invest in stocks? I just think that Coca-Cola's sales volume has not changed, and its profit margin has increased. It has stopped falling after the stock market crash. It is much more stable than other stocks. So I bought it. This stock helped me make a lot of money before, and I don't expect it to rise several times again. Anyway, it will outperform inflation and don't lose money."

Ronald spread his hands and realized that it would be impossible to put such a large amount of money in a bank. Investing in stocks could also defer the payment of income tax, but he could not do other businesses. Those few houses and the little factory on Staten Island were nothing compared to the cash that Dirty Dancing brought in.

"I'm not saying that your investment strategy is bad. It's actually quite sound. But the super-rich allocate their assets diversified. You can consider taking a small part of it and investing in some stocks with higher risks and higher returns.

Then take some out and buy some stable investments, such as bonds. Interest rates are right now, and there are many Treasury and corporate bond products on Wall Street that offer good returns.

Some of our corporate clients at Puhua allocate their assets in this way. Unless you have a special investment method and invest all in a certain stock, such investors are quite rare and most of them invest diversified. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. "

Ed Bastian taught the artist about investing principles in words he could understand.

"Can you give me professional investment advice?" Ronald looked at Ed Bastian. He didn't know that this man could also do stock consulting. Indeed, it would be good if there is a professional investor who can teach you how to buy stocks. Even if some consultation points are given to him?

"No, I don't have the corresponding license. I just serve as your accountant and make reasonable overall recommendations. I can't recommend you any stocks. So you have to go to Wall Street to find a fund manager with a good reputation and then arrange your investment portfolio." Ed ·Bastian quickly denied that this matter was strictly speaking a moral hazard.

"Ah, a fund manager with a good reputation is even rarer than the giant panda gifted by China." Ronald joked.

"Hahaha..." Everyone has a bad opinion of those Wall Street investors, and making fun of them makes people happy.

Ronald said this actually out of his own experience. Bannon, the investment banker he worked with before, was not a "good guy". The two of them joined forces and took advantage of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's executives to make a fortune while taking advantage of the stock market crash.

If he were asked to hand over the money to Bannon, he would not dare.

There is also Melanie Griffiths, the heroine of "Working Girl". During the filming, she failed to pursue Alec Baldwin and got together with a young banker on Wall Street. He also handed over his savings to the other party for management.

But before the filming was finished, the two broke up and had a falling out. Melanie Griffiths wanted to get her money back, but the other party refused because she had signed a contract. Although Ronald paid the fee for the rehabilitation center with a fine, Melanie Griffiths could only spend a small amount of her salary on other expenses to maintain the ostentation required by the female star.

Fortunately, when her ex-husband, TV star Don Johnson came to see her, they rekindled their old relationship, so she didn't have to worry about money for a while.

"Just as a friend, can you talk to me about investing again?" Ronald changed his approach and asked accountant Ed Bastian.

"I'm really interested in running a company, and I don't want to work in an accounting firm for a long time. I think in addition to the stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange, you can also look at the Nasdaq, where there are many emerging companies listed, and their The growth potential is also very good.”

"Oh, so, which stock should I buy?" Ronald asked with a smile.

"That's professional investment advice, I can't say. But I think from the perspective of company management, you can also look for it. Is there a listed company like Coca-Cola that is widely used and has many good reviews? The investment is still suitable for you. It’s better to have your own style. Buy stocks in businesses you like, and at least you won’t be unable to sleep at night.”

Not only was Ronald rich, his income was diverse. In addition to Dirty Dancing's wealth, there are also several films from the original director, and the Directors Guild is still sending him checks regularly. Every time the TV station shows his movie, he will be credited with a residual share.

In addition, the theme song Ronald wrote for "Famous" was used as the opening and closing theme of the TV series of the same name, and the remaining dividends are quite large every year.

After working on it for a long time, after all the scattered income items were confirmed and signed, Ronald finished his tax return materials.

"What have you decided to do with the new batch of dividends?" Lawrence is his own personal accountant, and he knows his financial situation best. Without investing each dividend, he can buy several properties and build several properties with just the tax losses. A garden.

Ed Bastian developed a series of tax avoidance plans for him on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Artists like Ronald have been in business for three years. Therefore, in the next few years, film losses can be used to offset this year’s income. Ronald did not dare to use the more radical plan.

The new dividend in the account is nearly 20 million, which is the income from video tapes. Next week there will be the first dividend of the new album "More Dirty Dancing", and the purchase intensity of the old "Dirty Dancing" album has not passed yet. It is foreseeable that it will be another ten to twenty million. What should I do?

"It's better to buy Coca-Cola stock. I'll ask experts about future dividends." Ronald closed his eyes and decided to buy Coca-Cola.

…

Ronald didn't know any investment experts, and he couldn't trust those Wall Street experts. The only truly qualified investor, Warren Buffy, runs a listed company and does investment business.

Buffy has a responsibility to shareholders and cannot tell Ronald which stock to buy. So Ronald didn't go to him to play bridge.

After thinking about it, only my cousin Donna could be considered an investment expert.

"You want to diversify? That's a good idea, Nasdaq? I'm not familiar with business. It's not easy for you to pick out the emerging Coca-Cola on Nasdaq. That's a contradiction." Donna In the call back, Ronald was stunned.

It turns out that Nasdaq is a GEM stock exchange for emerging companies that do not meet the qualifications to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Since it is an emerging company, it is naturally difficult for it to be loved by the people like Coca-Cola. So looking for a solid blue-chip stock, Nasdaq is the wrong place to look.

"I think only those computer companies probably meet your requirements." Donna thought for a while and mentioned an industry.

"Computer, what brand is our company's computer? IB?" Ronald listened to the phone and asked the fat assistant in the office, Laike.

"We bought them in two batches. They were from IB before, and later we bought them on a large scale from Compaq, which was cheaper." Rich Lake was doing well as an assistant at Daydream.

"Which brand of computer is popular now? Is it as popular as Coca-Cola?" Ronald asked her.

Asked the manager of the office whom Laike called, a black woman.

"There are many brands now, but none are as dominant as Coca-Cola or Pepsi." The black manager was very capable and brought over a form, which was a price comparison list for her when purchasing computers.

"IB, Compaq, HP, Dell..."

Ronald looked at the many names and saw that there were no mainstream brands in this market.

"Then how do I buy stocks?" Ronald scratched his head, and tah... everyone has similar models and prices, and they are all listed on Nasdaq.

"By the way, what brand is this?" Ronald looked at the last item on the purchase list, which was listed separately from other computer brands. It seemed to be called... Micro... Microsoft? "

"This is the name of the software company. Our computers are all equipped with their operating system, DOS." The black manager smiled, "They recently released a form software called excel, which is very easy to use. This form is what I use. It’s in Excel, so I bought it and installed it for everyone in our office who needed it.”

"You mean, these computers are all equipped with their software?" Ronald's eyes lit up.

"Except for Apple, all their software is installed."

"Okay, okay, thank you." Ronald asked the black manager out, and then said to Donna on the phone, "I think Microsoft is good, can I buy some?"

"Haha, their stock price trend is very good. During the IPO, they raised 500 million yuan, and then it rose from more than 20 yuan to 90 US dollars. After the IPO, it rose from more than 40 yuan back to more than 70 yuan. After the stock market crash, the decline was limited. Now it’s a little under $60.”

Donna typed a few times on the keyboard and brought up Microsoft's stock price chart.

"Hmm, stocks that didn't fall much after the stock market crash seem to be good stocks." Ronald knew that Coca-Cola also fell less than 10% after the stock market crash. It seems that this Microsoft is owned by Nasdaq. Coca-Cola.

"Okay, okay, thank you, Donna, you helped me a lot." Ronald made up his mind, and from now on, half of the dividends would be spent on Coca-Cola and half on Microsoft.

"Hey, wait a minute... Our Renaissance Company is about to launch a fund, which will be operated according to Mr. Simmons' new formula... Subscriptions are now open to employees and relatives..." Donna heard Ronald about to hang up the phone , shouted quickly.

"Ah? Didn't you buy it last time?" Ronald remembered that Donna borrowed some money from him and invested it.

"This is a new fund, not the original fund that invested in universities. We have reviewed the stock market in the past ten years and the results have been very good. It is only open to employees and relatives. The new formula performs better than the old formula, and there are years 30% of profits.”

"So good? Why don't you buy some? If you don't have enough, I'll lend you some. By the way, how much is the limit this time?"

"I got 500,000, how about 250,000 each of us? You have to lend me 200,000."

"This little money doesn't matter. I asked Lawrence to bring you the check when he returns to New York."

"Thank you, brother..." Donna returned with satisfaction.

"Ahem...who is my check payable to? What's the name of the fund you're talking about?" Ronald stopped Donna.

"Medal Fund."