Hollywood starts with a broker

As the summer movie season approached, Hollywood was rocked by a major piece of news:

Entertainment giant Viacom and QVC, the television shopping network led by former Paramount executive Barry Diller, were jointly bidding for Paramount Communications Group!

Gulf and Western Industries had just recently changed its name to Paramount Communications Group, which owned Paramount Pictures, Simon \u0026 Schuster, 50% of the USA Network, and MSG (Madison Square Garden) Group.

MSG owned assets such as Madison Square Garden arena in Manhattan, New York, the NHL's New York Rangers, the NBA's New York Knicks, and the Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island, as well as related multimedia businesses.

That evening, at a cocktail party at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Aaron sat with Monica Bellucci on a sofa in the lounge area. "Dawn and Geffen Pictures are going to co-produce 'Interview with the Vampire,' which will be filmed in the second half of the year."

"Why don't you make a cameo appearance in it? It should be filmed in Paris!"

"Okay," Monica Bellucci had no objections. She would do whatever Aaron arranged.

Besides, she had already disrobed in 'Bram Stoker's Dracula,' so another 'Interview with the Vampire' was nothing.

Aaron kissed the woman on the face. "It's a serious role, not the kind that requires you to show off your figure and face!"

Monica Bellucci smiled. "There's nothing wrong with showing it off. Beautiful things can be shared for everyone to appreciate."

In Hollywood, they prefer blonde, blue-eyed women with petite figures. They are somewhat resistant to Monica Bellucci's voluptuous figure.

Coupled with the language barrier, this made it difficult for Monica Bellucci to obtain important roles in Hollywood!

Aaron patted her. "It's better to keep it for me to admire. You should also familiarize yourself with English as soon as possible."

Monica Bellucci is good at Italian and French, so learning English shouldn't be difficult.

Actually, if possible, Aaron could also arrange for Monica Bellucci to make a cameo appearance in 'Pulp Fiction,' but since Cristiana Yeri was already in it, he decided to let it go.

"Recently, you can help Victoria's Secret shoot some lingerie ads. I recently joined others to acquire Victoria's Secret."

"Next, I will be going to Cannes!"

Monica Bellucci was already a model, so of course she had no objections.

Soon after, Aaron spotted Sumner Redstone, the chairman of Viacom, at the party.

Born into a Jewish mafia family in Boston, he started with a chain of movie theaters and, seven years ago, used his family's holding company, National Amusements, to take over Viacom!

At the time, Warner Communications Group was suffering huge losses due to its involvement in video games and desperately needed cash, so it sold its MTV music cable network, Nickelodeon children's channel, VH1 comedy channel, etc., to Viacom as a package.

Viacom itself already owned Lifetime and Showtime pay-cable channels. Two years ago, Viacom merged VH1 Comedy Channel with Time Warner's Comedy Channel to form Comedy Central (CC), with each owning half of the shares.

Therefore, the current Viacom Group owns several cable networks, especially the MTV music cable network, which is a highly profitable channel that provides Viacom with a large amount of revenue!

"Aaron, good evening," suddenly, Ted Turner, the chairman of TBS Group, came to Aaron's side.

"Mr. Turner," Aaron raised his glass and clinked it against the other man's. The CNN he owned was currently the highest-rated television station.

"TBS Group has also launched a children's cable channel, Cartoon Network. Congratulations!"

TBS formed Cartoon Network the year before last after acquiring Hanna-Barbera animation company.

Hanna-Barbera animation company was once an animation production company under MGM, and produced the famous 'Tom and Jerry'.

Ted Turner shook his head. "The children's market is still dominated by Disney and Nickelodeon!"

"By the way, what do you think about Viacom and QVC bidding for Paramount Communications this time?"

Aaron was stunned for a moment, then thought for a while. "It mainly depends on whether Sumner Redstone and Barry Diller have enough determination."

"Barry Diller's advantage is that he once led Paramount Pictures and achieved success, and he also helped Rupert Murdoch build FOX, so he has a wealth of experience in Hollywood."

"Sumner Redstone's advantage lies in the fact that Viacom is large enough, which is not comparable to a mere QVC. Even just one MTV network is enough to overwhelm QVC."

As he spoke, Aaron deliberately glanced at Ted Turner. Could this guy also be interested in Paramount Communications?

Currently, TBS Group's financial situation should not be that good.

Ted Turner smiled. "Barry Diller's fight with Sumner Redstone for Paramount is backed by the Roberts family of Comcast."

"Otherwise, Barry Diller would not be able to raise the necessary funds!"

"Comcast Group, the Roberts family?"

Aaron pondered. The current Comcast Group, managed by Ralph Roberts and his son Brian Roberts, mainly focuses on telephone communications.

"It seems that companies that focus on telecommunications are also turning to the media and cable television fields."

Because, Aaron also knew that recently, the largest cable television operator in the United States, TCI, was preparing to be sold to telecommunications giant Bell Atlantic.

The chairman of TCI was the famous father of cable television, John Malone.

"Hollywood is a delicious cake, and everyone wants to take a bite," Ted Turner looked at Aaron and smiled.

"Moreover, the merger of film groups and television stations is also a general trend."

"Aaron, your Dawn may not escape this fate either."

"Me?" Aaron shook his head. "Dawn is just a small distributor, and in terms of size, it can't compare to the seven major film groups."

Just look at the film library they own and the complete global distribution system. Dawn is still lacking.

"This problem is easy to solve. Future film companies will become part of media groups, including cable television, home entertainment, publishing and advertising companies, consumer goods markets, etc."

"The revenue of movies will be diversified!"

Ted Turner knew that Aaron also understood that TBS could not swallow the seven major film groups, but it could acquire Hollywood's independent film companies.

According to the current division of power in Hollywood, Dawn is the most dazzling film company after the seven major film groups.

Not only do other large film companies want to acquire Dawn, but other forces outside of Hollywood are also extremely interested in Dawn.

Ted Turner was no exception.