Top of the big era

Financing for Chaowan Commune was quite troublesome, but Zhou Buqi was not in a hurry and made a few phone calls one night, and SoftBank and Temasek expressed their willingness to follow up.

With a leader, there is a bidding relationship, which is safer. Next, just ask them to send a team to do due diligence.

In addition, Zhou Buqi has another thing to solve.

Ziweixing Global's business is now basically stable. At least the market-oriented activities of project establishment, financing, launch, distribution, and screening of film and television works have not been affected by corporate mergers and acquisitions.

There are probably three things that really require Zhou Buqi's personal involvement.

First, there is currently no progress in acquiring Lucasfilm;

Second, poach Hulu’s entrepreneurial team, which is currently in good shape. Not surprisingly, Hulu's management had a fierce ideological conflict with its new owner, Comcast.

There is no need for Ziweixing Global to recruit people. It won't be long before they will resign collectively.

It's better to resign. If you poach people, MSI Global will have to pay more human resources costs. If they leave Hulu on their own, it means they don’t need to pay a “transfer fee” and are visa-free.

The third thing is the outlook for future streaming media.

However, streaming is further away.

You can lay the foundation first.

To create an exclusive, world-shaking super masterpiece that can only be watched on our own streaming media platform!

What Zhou Buqi is eyeing is the TV series rights to the two novels "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" held by MGM. The complete TV series rights are in the hands of MGM, and it only needs to pay a 7.5% profit dividend to the Tolkien Foundation.

Warner wanted to make a movie in the "Hobbit" series, but Zhou Buqi put forward a series of harsh conditions, and the other party was not that strong.

Moreover, because of the uneven distribution of profits from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Warner had conflicts with producer Harvey Weinstein, director Peter Jackson, and the Tolkien Foundation, which lasted for several years. lawsuit.

After several evaluations, Warner decisively gave up the movie plan for "The Hobbit".

However, Warner is only a subsidiary of Time Warner, which owns HBO, the most popular professional pay cable TV station in the United States.

This is a paradise for watching TV series and blockbusters.

Warners withdrew from the "The Hobbit" project. When HBO heard the news, they took the initiative to come to the door.

Shooting a large-scale TV series is not a conventional method. In the United States, HBO is the best. Ziweixing Global has the ambition to present the entire series of "The Lord of the Rings" in the form of a TV series. If it doesn't cooperate with HBO, who else can it turn to?

HBO's headquarters is in New York.

On this day, Senior Sister Zhen Yu and Brett Herrington, the president of Ziweixing Global Television Department, came to New York and visited the headquarters of HBO together with Zhou Buqi.

The other party warmly invited me.

This is Zhou Buqi’s first time coming to HBO, so the first thing he did was visit and experience the work culture and historical heritage of this well-known television station.

This is really different from the domestic tradition.

But it's not surprising.

Domestic enterprises basically started slowly after the reform and opening up, and there is no history to show off. Companies in the United States are different. Large companies generally have a long history, ranging from decades to hundreds of years. They seem very proud of their "long" history.

Zhou Buqi always found it very ridiculous. Out of respect, he was really embarrassed to talk about history with these Americans, as he was suspected of humiliating them.

However, he personally came to HBO this time for other purposes, so it would be a good idea to take a tour.

Although this is New York, the company culture is similar to that of Hollywood. The walls are also covered with posters, all of which are classic TV series produced by HBO, such as "Band of Brothers", "Online Prison", "The Wire", "Entourage"...

Then, I finally saw the passionate and magnificent poster of "Roma".

"I love this TV show!"

Zhou Buqi stopped in front of the poster of "Roma" and turned to look at Richard Blyler, the president of HBO.

Richard said proudly: "Yes, this is a great work, and it is also the most expensive TV series that HBO has ever invested in."

"The maximum cost?" Zhou Buqi was curious, "Is it higher than the investment in "Band of Brothers"?"

Richard explained: "The cost of a single season is still higher for 'Band of Brothers'. But 'Band of Brothers' is a collaboration between HBO and DreamWorks, and the copyright belongs to DreamWorks. HBO is only the television broadcaster in North America. "Roma" is different. This is a big production invested and produced by HBO."

Zhou Buqi nodded and said with admiration: "I like this kind of medieval historical theme very much, war, death, pride, blood, conspiracy, and trickery. This is a great epic work."

Richard was very proud and said with a smile: "Yes, this TV series has received countless praises for HBO."

Zhou Buqi asked: "Why was it only filmed for two seasons? I thought it would last ten or eight seasons, but I didn't expect it to end in a hurry. The story was never finished."

"this……"

Richard was instantly embarrassed.

Zhou Buqi pretended not to know, "Is there any problem?"

"It's a matter of budget," Richard sighed, "Mr. Zhou, you can definitely see that the scenes of "Roma" are too big and the production cost is too high. The production cost of the second season has reached 120 million. US dollars. According to the requirements of the production team, if the filming of the third season starts, the production cost will reach 150 million US dollars."

Zhou Buqi said like a dazed young man: "I think it's worth spending even more money for a great work!"

Richard was almost furious.

My heart says that you can stand and talk without pain in your back. Great works are of no use. HBO is a commercial company, and making money is the first priority. If he doesn't make money, he, the president, will be fired!

You are the boss, don’t be afraid.

I am a manager, and making money for shareholders is my top priority.

However, it cannot be said that way. Richard explained tactfully, "There are many difficulties in filming a large-scale production of the level of "Roma". When filming the second season, we made many mistakes, and the actors There were also huge mistakes in the selection. For all the reasons, the project was abandoned."

Zhou Buqi sighed, "What a pity. I am very interested in this kind of historical TV series with twists and turns and spectacular scenes."

Richard immediately followed, "Yes! Yes!"

"Um?"

"HBO has launched a new project. It has a similar historical background to "Rome". It is both medieval and has a bit of fantasy. It is an adaptation of Maurya."

"Fantasy is good, I like fantasy even more! Otherwise, I can't think of making the "Lord of the Rings" series into a TV series, because in my opinion, the length of the movie is too small to carry the rich details of such a large book. It also contains a profound philosophical legend."

Zhou Buqi said solemnly.

Richard said: "It is a contemporary fantasy novel "A Song of Ice and Fire"."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Oh, I seem to have heard of this novel. Many friends have recommended it to me, but I haven't read it yet. How is it? Has the filming been completed? If it is completed, I would like to be the first audience. !”

"Well..." Richard looked embarrassed, "Mr. Zhou, to be honest, there have been big changes in this project."

Zhou Buqi frowned, "What's going on?"

Richard said: "We have to raise HBO's funds ourselves. When the project was first established, our production budget was US$100 million. But then... you know, the economic crisis broke out, and our cash flow suffered a huge decline. Dilemma. Now, we can only cut the budget to US$60 million. The production team is very disappointed. All the big scenes that have been designed will probably be cancelled, and even the special effects shots must be used with restraint."

Zhou Buqi said in a deep voice: "If it is a good work or a good project, even if you have to take more risks, you still have to try to perfectly present the concept of the production team. A great work can be immortalized, and this is not about profit. Or the losses can be measured, this is a record of an era.”

…

In front, these two people were having a conversation.

There were many people following behind, including Senior Sister Zhen Yu and Brett Herrington.

Bright was previously vice president of Universal Pictures, responsible for TV series, classic films and Focus Features. After the establishment of Ziweixing Global, he received a promotion in his position and became the vice president of Ziweixing Global and concurrently served as the president of the television department.

However, he and Boss Zhou only met three times in total and had little communication.

Let alone understanding.

At this time, when he listened to the conversation between Boss Zhou and HBO's president Richard, his whole body collapsed.

Oh my God!

This week’s boss is an idealist!

What kind of good works should be immortalized forever, not to make money but to leave a name... Please, there is no such thing! Only making money is the most beneficial to the entire industry and individual companies.

Feelings cannot be eaten!

In Bright's view, this young boss Zhou is just like a college student who has not left school, with a pseudo-literary temperament that rejects capital.

This is not possible!

That guy Richard is a bastard, he’s the best at deceiving people, don’t be fooled by him!

Brett said "Excuseme" to the HBO person next to him, and then called Zhen Yu to the side to talk alone, "Jenny, please go over and remind me!"

Zhen Yu was puzzled, "What's wrong?"

Bright said: "This seems wrong. It seems to be a rhetorical trap."

"Did you see it?"

Zhen Yu was startled and opened her eyes wide.

This is not possible!

Brett is an American. If he could see it, wouldn't the people at HBO also see it? If they see this, the effect of Boss Zhou's deception will be greatly reduced!

Bright said nervously: "Richard has a lot of experience in the workplace. He is the co-president of HBO and is mainly responsible for the financing business. He is very experienced in making money. I am afraid he will take advantage of Boss Zhou's... feelings and idealism to stimulate his investment. Go and remind the boss, don’t be fooled!”

"You're talking about them..."

Zhen Yu breathed a sigh of relief, but she didn't know whether to laugh or cry again.

Who is deceiving whom?