Heads Up Hollywood

Entering November, New Universal continued to lead the entertainment market in North America.

The music album "I Come, I Create" is so popular that half the sky has already had five songs, topping the US bulletin list and becoming the champion single;

In the TV market, New Universal is also leading the way.

NBC's reality show "Universal's Next Top Model", TV series "Forensic", abc's reality show "Smart and Brave", Fox's reality show "Truth or Dare", TV series "How I Met Your Mother", amc The TV series "Shameless"...... Except for CBS, several famous TV stations in the United States are almost broadcasting TV programs produced by Universal Television.

Not to mention the popular American drama "Warcraft" broadcast on Starz TV, it has a sense of sight of a reduced version of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and the visual effect is very shocking.

In the game market, "World of Warcraft" was born;

In the film market, "The Incredibles" and "Harry Potter 3: The Prisoner of Azkaban" were released successively to suppress all "demons and ghosts". (Early November is the schedule for Halloween horror movies)

Even in the fashion market, because New Universal completed the acquisition of Prada, after some free publicity, more Americans recognized this luxury brand, and sales surged...

It's like a raging fire cooking oil.

In the latest issue of "Wall Street Japan" in the corporate value section, a survey report was provided, and a list of the top ten unlisted companies in the United States was issued.

Among them, New Global Group ranked second with a valuation of US$114 billion!

It trails only Minnesota's low-key farming family Cargill, which is valued at $135 billion.

What is the concept of New Global Group's valuation of US$114 billion?

The current market value of News Corporation is 72 billion US dollars, which is not as good as New Global.

Disney's market capitalization is $57.2 billion, or half of New Universal's market valuation.

In the film and television media industry, New Universal is only behind Time Warner.

In its heyday, AOL Time Warner had a market value of nearly 250 billion US dollars, and its current market value is 123 billion US dollars.

However, it is only a matter of time before Time Warner is surpassed.

It is estimated that it will not take half a year.

With the successful re-election of President Bush Jr., it is conceivable that in his second term, it will be an opportunity for the New Global Group to stir up the situation of the times.

There are even rumors that President Bush Jr. will present Tang En with the Medal of Freedom, which symbolizes the highest civilian honor in the United States, at the commendation meeting at the end of the year, in recognition of his efforts to improve women's rights this year, especially in terms of sexual assault protection for underage women outstanding contribution.

This is of course the official statement.

The real reason is probably because Twain successfully captured Harvey Weinstein and blocked the release of "Fahrenheit 9/11", allowing President Bush Jr. to be re-elected without any risk.

The rumors are true.

Tang En did receive a call from the White House Office.

But he refused.

This kind of limelight is unnecessary and meaningless.

It was as if the British royal family wanted to award Tang En an honor in recognition of his outstanding contributions, but he refused.

Tang En is Tang En!

His name is Halo, and he can represent himself.

He does not need the glory and blessing of the government and royal family to prove his success.

This summer, Tang En contacted all parties and suppressed "Fahrenheit 9/11" with a gesture of justice. It can be said that he did President Bush Jr. a huge favor.

It is conceivable that in the next few years, New Global Group will definitely not encounter too strict policy restrictions in the process of development.

It's as if Murdoch's News Corporation wants to acquire Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, and there will be no more obstacles. As a major funder, he provided political donations to President Bush Jr.'s campaign and made such a big contribution. If the president is re-elected, News Corporation will naturally receive a lot of benefits.

In the midst of the rising momentum, Tang En heard some discordant voices.

It's from Hollywood.

"What? Strike?"

Looking at the document in his hand, Tang En was really surprised.

This document is from the mpaa and is marked "important". The content is simple: "Reliable news, the Hollywood Screenwriters Association, is planning a new round of collective strike. Tomorrow at 9:00 am, an emergency meeting at the mapp headquarters building."

Concise but rich enough.

The Hollywood Screenwriters Guild is going on strike again!

Strikes are very common in Hollywood. In order to fight for more rights and interests, many unions can only take extreme measures-strikes when negotiations with the six major studios fail.

This is a problem left over from history.

At that time, red thoughts infiltrated Hollywood, created the "Hollywood Ten", set off round after round of strikes, and made the whole Hollywood a mess. Later, for a period of time, the entire United States was anti-communist, and even top scientists like Qian Xuesen were quarantined and deported. Back then, Hollywood even arrested a group of filmmakers with wrong political leanings, sent them to the guillotine, and actively engaged in a "color revolution."

But it failed to stop the strike trend.

Among the dozens of unions in Hollywood, the four most powerful unions are the Producers Union, Directors Union, Actors Union, and Screenwriters Union.

Among the four major trade unions, producers have the highest right to speak, so the conditions are the best. Every movie that makes money in Hollywood pays dividends to the producer union, which is omni-channel dividends.

The right to speak of the directors' union is similar to that of the actors' union. Secondly, every Hollywood movie that sells at the box office also has the right to participate in dividends, which is the box office share.

The producers' union, the directors' union, and the actor's union are too powerful, and no one can afford to offend them. Everyone can only pinch their noses and admit that they must give money.

This is a convention, and it has surpassed the height of the law. If you want to survive, you can only do this.

Fortunately, the film company has the ability to make accounts, especially after the conglomeration, it has increasingly increased the ability to turn left and right, can control the amount of dividends, and can control the other party with money.

Mutual restraint.

However, the screenwriters' union is too miserable. Because of the lack of strength enough to threaten the film company, Hollywood has always squeezed the screenwriters' union hard enough.

How low is the screenwriter's role? It can be seen through an entertainment news.

"Entertainment Weekly" once published an article, which listed "10 things you must not do if you want to mix in the entertainment circle". Among them, one is "must not have sex with the screenwriter"!

The implication is that Hollywood screenwriters have no status at all. For those actresses who fantasize about "sleeping" in Hollywood, sleeping with screenwriters is futile, sleep for nothing!

Hollywood has more than 100,000 screenwriters. Among them, there are 12,000 registered members of the Writers Guild, with an average annual salary of $200,000. However, there are only 2,000 screenwriters with an annual salary of more than 200,000 US dollars, and most of them are struggling to make ends meet.

There are even as many as 48% of screenwriters who are unemployed and do not get a penny of income!

Basically, the Screenwriters Guild is a small one every three years, and a big one every ten years!

The last Writers Guild strike was in 2001.

At that time, it was the California government who came forward to coordinate and settled the matter. They have calculated that if something goes wrong, it is likely to bring economic losses of up to $7 billion to California.

Twain was not yet a Hollywood giant at that time, so he did not participate in the negotiation process.

He only knows one result, that is, the Hollywood production company and the Screenwriters Guild have reached an agreement, agreeing to pay an additional 41 million U.S. dollars in royalties for the screenwriter's works in the next three years.

Now, three years have passed, and the Screenwriters Guild has repeated its old tricks, threatening a strike to make Hollywood studios back down and distribute more profits to them.

The Producers Guild is eating meat, while the Directors Guild and Actors Guild are eating vegetables.

Should the Screenwriters Guild have a drink at the head office?

Not to starve to death!

In matters of labor disputes, there is no distinction between good and evil, the ass determines the brain.

A typical example is Michael Jordan.

This basketball god, when he was a player, was actively running around, confronting the management, with a loud tone and a crazy attitude, demanding a substantial increase in the salary of the players to protect the interests of the players. At that time, he won and got the highest annual salary of 30 million US dollars in history.

Later, Jordan retired, bought an NBA team, became the owner, and became the biggest hawk. The tough attitude surprised Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Even Jordan became the representative of the management and the spokesperson of all the team owners in the nbc league. Later, the players had no ball to play and no money to make, so they couldn't hold on anymore and could only compromise. Jordan won again.

Tang En is a member of the Screenwriters Association, and he has registered more than 60 film and television works in the Screenwriters Association! The copyright protection fee alone costs more than $6,000 a year.

However, this is only small money.

Twain is also the big boss of New Universal Group!

He represents the interests of Universal Pictures, Tang En Pictures, Marvel Pictures, Rose Pictures, Pixar, Lego Animation Studios, Focus Pictures, Universal TV Production Company, Sta TV Company and other companies!

In this "labor dispute", Tang En is the real "manager".

Tang En was more concerned about this matter, and called Lon Meyer and Shirley Lansing to his office to understand the situation.

In the Screen Actors Union strike in 2000 and the Screenwriters Guild strike in 2001, Twain was not able to participate because he was not strong enough.

This time, he is a real boss in Hollywood, and his words carry a lot of weight.

His attitude can even determine how to deal with the upcoming labor dispute.

"It's not a strike, it's mainly a threat." Lon Meyer was the president of CAA in his early years, and he handled such things with ease. He said with a smile, "The last agreement has been fulfilled, but with the development of the times, movies The market is getting better and better, and the previous agreement is outdated, so it’s not surprising that the Writers Guild wants to change to a new clause.”

The original agreement between the Hollywood production company and the Screenwriters Association was that the Screenwriters Association could get 3% of the copyright profits of film and television works, including box office, DVD, pay TV station and pay-on-demand.

It stands to reason that 3% is also very high.

However, there is a huge difference between "profit sharing" and "income sharing".

Even a global best-selling movie like "Harry Potter" can suffer losses, which shows how ruthless the methods of Hollywood studios are. As a result, it is almost difficult for the Screenwriters Association to get the due dividends.

Not only that.

Shirley Lansing said: "The 3% profit dividend is divided into two parts, 1% is a fixed dividend, and 2% is a big hit reward dividend. That is to say, only when the film has enough revenue, the Screenwriters Guild can Get the remaining 2% dividend. In fact, even if it is a 1% dividend, it is difficult for the Screenwriters Guild to get it. As far as I know, the only film company that honestly pays a 3% dividend to the Screenwriters Guild is Sony Pictures. "

Tang En laughed and said: "The Japanese, if they don't pay more protection fees, they won't be able to live in Hollywood at all. However, it's not much better now."

Shirley Lansing shook her head with a smile, and then said seriously: "Tang En, this matter shouldn't be a big deal, but it should be resolved as soon as possible. Those who benefit from the strike are often not the top star screenwriters, but Those little unknown screenwriters, this group is too huge, and they are more likely to be sympathized by the public. And this kind of thing is often an opportunity for big stars to show off, such as Tom Cruise, he has the most "sympathy", and every He will express his support for the strike every time, and has gained wide recognition from fans. Other actors, even if they don’t express their views publicly, they can’t express their opposition, and they must do it personally.”

Ron Meyer added: "Including producers, directors and other crew members, if they continue to make movies during the strike phase, it is tantamount to helping the film company. Not putting pressure on the film company is tantamount to opposing the strike. This has also led to the shelving of all film projects if there is a problem. Don’t forget, it is already November and the awards season is coming.”

Tang En's face also became serious.

Indeed, the Writers Guild found a good time.

If it cannot be resolved as soon as possible, it will not only affect the production of film and television programs, but also affect the awards season, and even boycott the Golden Globes and Oscars.

At the height of the screenwriters' strike in 2008, the Golden Globes were canceled due to the joint boycott of the Actors Guild and the Screenwriters Guild.

"Okay. Shirley, please take the trouble to attend the MPAA meeting tomorrow, and give me a report later." Tang En said in a deep voice.

This labor dispute, as Long Meyer said, should be a small fight.

The last 3-year increase of 41 million U.S. dollars in copyright agreement has expired, and this time I will add it to 45 million U.S. dollars, which is almost the same.

However, this is a battle for the right to speak.

Tang En had to get involved to show his status in the industry.

The strike thing will never stop.

Whoever has more power to speak will be able to fight for their own interests.

Regardless of the Screenwriters Guild, Producers Guild, Directors Guild, or Actors Guild, Twain's idea is very clear. Dividends can only be limited to the film's box office and surrounding copyrights. Derivative copyright is forbidden! For example, games, tourism real estate, consumer goods and fashion sales, this kind of industry must put an end to their invasion.

. Nine Heavens Emperor