Hollywood Tycoon [US Entertainment + Business War]

Since the Fox TV network has just been established, there are currently three main TV networks in the United States: Columbia Television Network, National Television Network and American Television Network.Columbia Television Network is the most experienced TV network of the three major TV networks, mainly focusing on news and commentary programs, and the TV dramas are relatively well-behaved, so it has the title of "Old People's TV"; American TV Network is the youngest of the three major TV networks , most of the programs are female audiences as potential users, so they won the reputation of "Women's Channel"; The reason is that the programs of national television networks are relatively responsible, as rich and colorful as peacock tail feathers.But Jed knows that the national television network has always made great achievements in sitcoms, from "Seinfeld" to "Friends" to "Will and Grace"... These classic sitcoms spanning the 90s are all produced by It airs on NBC national network, so Jed's first target is NBC.

Fortunately, the headquarters of NBC West Coast is in the Burbank Film and Television Center in Burbank, not far from Los Angeles.Television stations in the United States are divided into three types: wireless stations, cable stations and satellite stations, among which wireless stations are divided into regional wireless stations or national wireless stations.For example, Oriental TV Station under the Sherman Family Development Fund is a regional wireless station. Their programs mainly cover Los Angeles and surrounding areas through their own wireless transmission towers.National TV stations naturally have no way to cover the whole country through a wireless transmission tower, so they will build or lease wireless transmission towers in major cities across the country to transmit their own wireless signals.But the wireless frequency is limited, so if the wireless station wants to cover the whole country, it is inevitable to buy some local stations to expand its frequency range, so a TV network is formed.

Because there is no uniform standard time in the United States, there will be an hour difference between the broadcast time of TV stations on the east coast (New York) and the west coast (Los Angeles), so these programs are the same but not broadcast on the same station.For example, NBC's station in New York is NBC1, while in Los Angeles it is NBC2.Although the programs of Channel 1 and Channel 2 are roughly the same, the broadcasting times are different.

Cable and wireless stations are not so complicated. They generally provide their program signals to cable TV operators or satellite TV operators, and then viewers subscribe to these TV stations by purchasing equipment.However, cable stations and satellite stations are also divided into two types: paid and free. The free channels naturally pay attention to their own ratings, viewing share and other data like wireless TV stations; It's not what they pay attention to.Since different TV stations focus on different areas, the styles and scales of the TV stations are also different.

Generally speaking, the scale of wired stations is much higher than that of wireless stations.For example: HBO dares to broadcast a TV series like "Queer as Folk" because their subscribed audience likes such a program, so they don't care about other people's feelings; In a comedy like Bill & Grace, not to mention sex, even the kiss between sex must be concealed.

Along West Oliver Avenue, you can see NBC's production center in Burbank from a distance. Except for a tall NBC office building, there are more than a dozen super-large studios left.The size of each studio is nearly twice that of Dongfeng Production Studio, which can meet the production of more than [-] TV dramas or programs at the same time every day.

Seeing such a huge production center, Jed could only take a deep breath, and couldn't help sighing, "It is indeed one of the three major TV networks in the United States! Just one West Coast branch is so amazing, if you count East Coast GM The Electric Building and Tenth Plaza in Universal Studios, just this production center can blow the wind out of the sky."

David Klein, who accompanied Jed, said with a smile: "The Burbank Film and Television Center is indeed huge, but the General Electric Building and Tenth Square are not so big. After all, this is NBC's TV series production center, and the General Electric Building It is mainly the administrative center of NBC, while the Tenth Square is mainly used to produce entertainment programs, and there is no production center with such a large area.”

Jed just smiled, but there was an infinite sigh in his heart, a Hollywood tycoon really is not so easy to cultivate.Turning from West Oliver Avenue to Southern California Road is the office building of NBC's West Coast headquarters.After Jed got out of the car, he looked at the vacant land opposite the office building and thought for a while.

Jed vaguely remembers that in 2006, the office building of the Columbia Warner (CW) television network jointly launched by CBS and Warner Bros. was there.It's just that it's still an idle article, which made Jed think a little bit.How about buying a piece of land and building a building yourself to speculate on housing prices in the United States?

But then Jed was saddened by his lack of funds, and Jed shorted the yen before the insurance company's compensation was overheated.I have to wait at least until the end of this year to get back the funds, and now I am a "poor man"!

As one of the top TV networks in the country, NBC encounters all kinds of production companies that come to sell programs or TV dramas every day, so it has long had a set of regulations to deal with these people.Although Jed Sherman's name seems to have some origins, NBC will not make an exception for Jed.

The team responsible for reviewing sitcoms was in the third meeting room on the seventh floor of the building. When Jed arrived, representatives from several companies were already waiting outside the door.Although everyone is competing for NBC's broadcast time, Americans really don't have the consciousness of "peers are enemies". Seeing that Jed and others are new faces, they all gather around, exchanging business cards and chatting.

Jed inquired a little, and the sitcoms promoted by these people were basically unheard of in later generations, which meant that these sitcoms were most likely rejected by major TV stations.

"Who's in there now?" Since it was late, Jed still had to care about the opponent in front of him.

"It's for Castle Rock Entertainment." A middle-aged businessman showed a trace of worry, "I've been in it for a long time, and it looks like there's something going on."

Jed also frowned. Although Castle Rock is a third- and fourth-tier company in Hollywood, this company often releases one or two excellent works to surprise the market.For example, "When Harry Met Sally" launched by Castle Rock last year was very successful, but this year the goal of Castle Rock turned to the TV drama market. "What's the film they brought?" Jed asked.

"Seinfeld." The middle-aged man said, "I've talked to them about their TV series, and it sounds very attractive. You should know that NBC's review team usually has a result in half an hour. If it hasn't come out in an hour , it means that your TV series is already guaranteed. If it does not come out for more than an hour and a half, it means that your TV series is very likely to be recommended by NBC... This "Seinfeld" has been talked about for almost two hours gone."

As a person who came from later generations, Jed didn't know the power of "Seinfeld".Perhaps the Chinese will cite "Friends" when they talk about classic American sitcoms, but the sitcom that has truly become a culture in the United States is "Seinfeld".It not only influenced the basic paradigm of making sitcoms in later generations, but also influenced the funny jokes of various variety shows. The most important thing is that even comedy movies pay tribute to this classic sitcom.

Whether it's a Golden Globe or an Emmy, "Seinfeld" dominated the comedy category from 1990 to 1998.Not to mention "Will & Grace", even "Friends" colliding with "Seinfeld" is a dead end.Jade now regrets coming to NBC. Now that he has the gems of "Seinfeld" in front of him, will NBC's review team still be interested in the two dramas he has in hand?But it doesn't make sense to go to CBS or ABC now. With "Seinfeld", the rest of the sitcoms are destined to be the characters who accompany the prince to study for the next nine years.

Just when Jed was feeling disheartened, the representatives of Castle Rock had already come out, and the staff of NBC was still very happy to greet them. It seemed that "Seinfeld" had officially signed the contract.This means that the rest of the population has little choice, and a network will only dedicate a prime time day to broadcast sitcoms.The rest either go to later slots or adult room slots.Compared with the daytime period, at least some broth can be drunk in the later period, so everyone's eyes became more intense.It's a pity that the NBC staff didn't care about the gazes of these people at all, and just asked each company to go in and play their pilot tapes in order.Perhaps it was because I had just finished watching "Song Feizheng Zhuan", so the next two companies in a row came out with a sad face within half an hour after entering.

After finally making it to Dongfeng’s production by Jed and others, Jed said lightly: “Anyway, since we’re here, let’s go in and have a look. If NBC really doesn’t like it, we’ll go to ABC and CBS. Even if it’s nationwide TV networks don’t want us anymore, and we can still sell it to local stations. In short, I believe in our production level.”

David Klein also nodded, and led his assistants into the NBC screening team.There is a TV and a video recorder in the meeting room. There are about seven reviewers, all of whom are sitting in front of the TV.When Jed and the others came in, some staff members took out the video tapes in their hands, and then another staff member arranged them on the side seats.The film reviewers didn't talk to them, they just ordered the staff to put the video tape into the VCR and play it.

The first thing NBC will vet is "Friends," a relatively conservative drama.The simple scene made the film review team frown. Although the set of a sitcom is not big, a few cafes are too stingy for a scene?But soon, the staff of the screening team were attracted by the lines and performances of the actors.Although the performances of several leading actors are still a bit green, but it happens that this TV series tells the story of a group of fresh people in society, so this kind of greenness has become a feature instead.After the first episode was finished, the staff saw someone in the review team nodding, and immediately played the second episode.Until the end of the three episodes, everyone in the review team smiled with satisfaction.One of them said: "Mr. Sherman, I'm Paula Madison, and I'm in charge of broadcasting NBC dramas. First of all, we are very grateful to your company for bringing us such an excellent sitcom. I don't know if your company has completed it yet. What about the creation of the first season? According to our broadcast plan, your company must provide at least 24 episodes, and we will broadcast 22 to 23 of them according to the actual situation."

"In terms of the script, we have completed the content of the first season, but the filming part only has these three episodes." Jed replied. "If NBC is interested in ordering a full season, we can begin production on the remaining episodes immediately."

"OK, let's watch another show." Madison said with a smile.

At her prompt, the staff immediately changed to another TV series. Although "Will & Grace" has done a lot of conservative shooting due to its limited scale, it is controversial just because it is a gay-themed TV series.Moreover, Jed also specially introduced the concept of "Gay honey" into this drama, and at the same time created a relatively vicious gay supporting role.These settings are very common in later time and space, but they are very noticeable in this era.Although the review team had finished watching the three episodes of the trial broadcast, they did not show a relaxed expression on their faces, but rather regretted it.

Paula Madison pondered for a while, and said: "This is a TV series that is not weaker than "Friends", but unfortunately, NBC cannot broadcast such content. It is not because of the quality of the TV series, but because of the scale of the TV series. "

Jed still sighed secretly in his heart, it really was a mistake to delay the show from 1998 to 1990.But David Klein on the side said rather dissatisfied: "Could it be that he was rejected just because the male lead is gay?"

Paula sighed and said, "Mr. Klein, we also have our own difficulties. ——How about this, although NBC cannot broadcast this excellent TV series, but our wonderful cable TV station can broadcast it, what do you think? "

Wonderful cable station is one of several cable stations under NBC. The program is mainly comprehensive and belongs to the pay station.Although cable stations in the United States started earlier, due to the limitations of communication technology, the appeal of cable stations is naturally not as great as in the 21st century.But the wonderful cable station is not NBC's cold palace channel, on the contrary it is still a TV station favored by NBC. NBC's positioning of wonderful cable stations is fashionable and young, so "Will and Grace" is in line with the positioning of this TV station.Since premium cable channels are ad-free, that means Will & Grace will make a lot less money.Although Jed felt a little aggrieved, he couldn't give up.If even NBC doesn't dare to broadcast it, then which wireless station has the guts to do so?Thinking of this, Jed convinced himself that it would be better to have a cable station than to have no TV station.

"If it's a wonderful cable TV station, we will have some requirements for the contract." Jed said suddenly, "Unlike the usual sitcom contracts, the complete copyright of "Will & Grace" is in our hands, and the future design The rental and sales of the video tapes have nothing to do with your company, is that okay? Of course, "Friends" can still abide by the regular contract, how about it?"

Madison also felt a little uncomfortable when he heard Jed's conditions.Generally speaking, because the first broadcast station actually bears a part of the production cost of the TV series, it can generally share the copyright income of the TV series.But this time "Will and Grace" is unwilling to share the copyright revenue with Wonderful Cable, which makes Madison feel very unhappy.However, thinking that this TV series can only be broadcast on cable channels, without any advertising revenue, I think it's okay. "Okay, we can back off. But I have to say, we have limited renewal rights for both shows. At the same time, our company reserves the right to make spin-off series."

"Yes." The conditions proposed by Madison are basically the basic terms of the major TV stations for the production companies, so Jed has nothing to object to.Now that both parties have negotiated the general conditions, the rest is the matter of the lawyers of both parties.

After reviewing the film, Madison also sent Jed and others to the door of the meeting room.Madison said with a smile: "I heard that Mr. Sherman sold a script to MGM and New Line each. I wonder when we, Universal, will have the opportunity to cooperate with you?"

Jed was taken aback for a moment, and then remembered that the parent company of NBC is "NBC Universal Group"?Universal Films had to look forward to Jed's script, so they released some news through Madison to test Jed's attitude.Jade said with a smile: "If I plan to make a movie, is Universal interested in being our distribution company?"

This time it was Madison's turn to be dazed. She thought to herself, the person in front of her has just transformed from a writer to a playwright, and then immediately transformed into a TV producer. When is she going to be a film director again?Then Madison thought of Jed's information, and remembered that he was a graduate of the Directing Department of the USC School of Film Arts, and he became clear again.No matter how good this person's academic performance was during his college years, he still had a background in a major, so he should have a dream of being a director.But God knows how good this person is at directing. Madison didn't have the guts to agree for Universal Pictures, so he could only vaguely bring up the topic.

Jed didn't delve into it either, just smiled and did Tai Chi with Madison.