Hollywood Tycoon [US Entertainment + Business War]

In the end, NBC and Dongfeng Productions, represented by Jade, reached a TV drama purchase memorandum. According to the agreement in the memorandum, "Friends" produced by Dongfeng and "Seinfeld" produced by Castle Rock Entertainment will be broadcast on Tuesday at the same time.Since the airing time of a sitcom is generally about half that of a drama, two sitcoms can be aired for the same length of time.Jed looked at the schedule on Tuesday and knew that NBC was quite confident in these two sitcoms.

Generally speaking, American dramas are broadcast from Monday to Friday from [-]:[-] to [-]:[-].Of course, some cable stations that specialize in broadcasting film and television dramas are not different.Monday to Wednesday are considered the best three days for ratings, while Thursday and Friday are relatively poor.Therefore, each TV station will broadcast their strong dramas on Monday to Wednesday, and the weaker dramas will be on Thursday and Friday.

But "Will & Grace" is obviously not as lucky as "Friends", because the wonderful cable station itself rarely broadcasts TV dramas, so this sitcom is scheduled to go on Friday, but fortunately, every Two episodes simulcast every week.

NBC has agreed to buy a full season of the two TV shows, and has also clearly requested the "right of first refusal" and "right to produce spin-off series", which means that these two series have become NBC's new dramas this fall. darling.After the memorandum was obtained, NBC and Dongfeng Productions naturally arranged for their respective lawyers to come over to discuss the text of the contract. After signing the contract, the official promotion can begin.

With these two thick memos, Jed and his team drove back to Los Angeles from Burbank.David Klein didn't calm down at this time. It must be known that Dongfeng Production had previously cooperated with several local TV stations in Los Angeles on a few daytime sitcoms in addition to the cooperation with Oriental TV Station.There is no such thing as today, who actually negotiated a cooperation with a national TV network like NBC, and even sold two sitcoms at once.

Seeing the smile on Klein's face, Jed also smiled and said: "There will still be such things. One day, Dongfeng Productions will become the best TV production company in the United States and even in the world. We not only produce sitcoms, but also have dramas. There are even reality shows and talk shows. Klein, you will be very busy with your work in the future."

"This kind of busyness will make me very happy." Klein, who was always serious, couldn't help but joked with Jed.

Because of such good news, when everyone returned to the company, they were still very excited to call all the managers above the middle level for a meeting. After all, how many years has Dongfeng Production not released a program produced by itself?In particular, the turmoil in the past year has caused the entire company to lose a lot of confidence. Klein and the others need to use this opportunity to restore everyone's confidence.

Sure enough, when Klein announced that "Friends" and "Will & Grace" had signed contracts with NBC to broadcast on NBC and Wonderful Cable, the entire conference room cheered.Dongfeng Production has always been an unknown small production company, but now it has won such a big contract, which naturally means that the current management has plans for the company's future.

And everyone looked at Jed Sherman differently.Jed became the chairman and president of Dongfeng Production with 25% of the holdings, almost exercising one-word rule in the company.Originally, these managers thought that this [-]-year-old dude knew nothing about TV drama production, but the script he wrote was so good that he led the company out of the predicament.

"I'm very happy to see everyone's smiles, and I promise, there will be more such smiles." Jed stood up, "I didn't acquire Dongfeng Productions to relieve the pressure on the 'Sherman Family Development Fund', I Taking out real money to acquire companies is not to waste your own money. Although I put a lot of pressure on you, I can guarantee that the rewards brought about by such pressure will be great. Our goal this year is to ensure that Completed the production of "Friends" and "Will & Grace" at the highest level, and we have even greater ambitions next year. I might as well tell you that next year we will produce two drama dramas, a sci-fi drama and a crime drama In addition, we will also enter the talk show market. Of course, this may not be all work that can be completed next year, but I still hope that everyone can show your greatest ability and highest enthusiasm to meet the next one. work. Although the company will have a lot of jobs in the future, I will not spend money to keep incompetent employees.”

Jed first described a bright future to everyone, and at the same time woke up all the employees, which made everyone's hearts shrink suddenly.Indeed, the company will get better and better, especially under the leadership of such a rich and capable boss.But whether I can grow together with such a company, I have to let the boss see my ability.Jade now associates Muse Culture with Dongfeng Production, Muse Culture will be the agent of the scripts, and Dongfeng Production will be responsible for turning these scripts into real TV dramas.The reason for such a complicated operation is "tax avoidance" given by lawyer Ron En.

The taxes in the United States are actually not low at all, especially for some creative people.Even though the average income of American writers and playwrights is not bad, but the deduction of personal tax is basically enough to make ends meet.No wonder the screenwriters did not hesitate to break with the TV station and went on strike to raise their salaries. They really couldn't survive.

The current Dongfeng Production is mainly composed of two parts: the screenwriting department is responsible for the output of scripts; the production department is responsible for the production of TV dramas.Fortunately, Jed is quite kind, and the salary of the screenwriters is above the average line, so he has accumulated a lot of excellent screenwriters in the company.If Jed can memorize the list of screenwriters for the Emmy Awards every year, he will find that there are already many future masters and minor gods under his name.

It's a pity that Jed stayed in the company for two days, encouraged the staff and actors, and then flew to Chicago.He went to Chicago for a woman, a woman who would be very influential in the United States in the future-Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah began her hosting career in 1973, when at the age of 19 she became the first African-American host of a local TV station in Nashville.After starting her career in Nashville, she was quickly promoted to anchor the Six O'Clock News by a Baltimore TV station.In the United States, the news anchors at [-] pm and [-] am are the top anchors, followed by the news anchors at [-] am and [-] noon.Therefore, it can be said that Oprah really became a star anchor in Baltimore.

But Oprah's talent is not to be a news anchor. Soon, Richard Scheer, the talk-talking host on the same stage, discovered Oprah's talent.So Oprah transformed herself from star news anchor on Baltimore TV to co-host of the station's flagship talk show.

When Oprah was 30 years old, she decided to start her own business, so she bid farewell to her thriving career and came to Chicago, one of the famous media cities in the United States.

Soon she replaced the host of a local TV talk show and became the host of "Chicago Morning Radio".In just one year, she would bring the show back from the dead and revive it as The Oprah Show the following year.By 1990, the show had become a nationally recognized daytime talk show, though it hadn't quite reached the status of the future "Oprah Show."

Oprah is not one to settle for just being a talk show host, but her efforts to make the show more serious matter were not well received by her original partner, ABC7.So Oprah faced a dilemma, either to survive this underestimation alone, or to compromise with a partner.Jed is planning to intervene in Oprah's career at this time to help her through this difficult time.Of course, Jed didn't come to be a good guy, his purpose was to sign Oprah.

Since Ron was busy leading the team to negotiate a contract with NBC's legal department at this time, the lawyer Jed brought to Chicago this time was Alden Tuller.In addition to Jade's status as a former justice assistant to Thurrell, more importantly, she is a woman, so that Oprah will not be too repulsive.The distance from Chicago Midway International Airport to Harper Productions is not far away, so Jed rushed to Harper Productions alone before lunch.

At this time, Harper's company is not as grand as the future, but as the production company of the most popular daytime talk show in the United States, "The Oprah Show", it still has a bit of grace.Since Jed had made an appointment in advance, Oprah was already waiting for Jed in her office.Oprah's impression of Jed is that he is a fairly good writer. It is said that he sold two movie scripts to the film company, but Oprah could not think of any connection between them.

However, Oprah did not refuse Jed's visit. We are all colleagues in the entertainment industry, and it is not too much to meet.Seeing Oprah at this time, Jed told everyone with a slightly tired expression that she hadn't been doing well recently.Due to Oprah's birth and growth experience, she has always paid close attention to women's topics.But just when she thought she could help women, her partner who has been helping her told her "this is not possible", which made her very hurt.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Sherman." Oprah still smiled and shook hands with Jed, "I don't know why Mr. Sherman came all the way here? Don't tell me, it's really just because of watching I just wanted to visit because of my show."

Jed didn't intend to go around in circles with Oprah, because everyone is smart, and it would be beneficial to cooperate with each other to state their goals earlier. "I heard that Harper Productions and ABC7 have some troubles, so I want to win over Harper Productions."

"Hahaha," Oprah laughed, "thank you Mr. Sherman for your concern. We get along very well with ABC7, so we don't need your help. But since we're here, why don't we find a place together Shall I have lunch?"

Jed nodded in agreement. He didn't believe what Oprah said.Don't say that I am a person who is familiar with history, even if I don't know history, I understand a thing or two after seeing Oprah's actions.If you really get on well with your partner, why invite your partner's rival to dinner?Obviously there are some things that are not good to say in the company.Although Harper's is Oprah's private company, but after all, this production company was established with the help of ABC7, who knows if there will be any news?

The place where Oprah invited Jed to eat is called "Mr. Beef". According to Oprah, it is a very delicious but very secret restaurant.Hearing what Oprah said, Jed became more and more sure that Oprah was really interested in working with him.When Oprah brought Jade to Mr. Beef Restaurant, she was really infected by the hot business atmosphere here.Although this is just a store that sells beef burgers, the queue is more than ten meters long.Fortunately, Oprah was a regular customer. Under the arrangement of the boss, the two sat down in a relatively quiet booth on the second floor.

"I'm sorry, it's really inconvenient to talk about some things in the company." After coming out, Oprah immediately let go of her guard. "Yes, I do need partners, but I'm very picky about my partners and I need absolute power."

"No problem." Jed nodded, "Dongfeng Productions and Harper Productions will be in charge of the production of "The Oprah Show". Apart from making suggestions, Dongfeng Productions will never interfere with your topic selection and editing. The production cost will be shared by us, domestic and overseas distribution will be handed over to Dongfeng Production, and we will share half of the profits, how about it?"

"You really don't intend to interfere with my topic selection?" Oprah was somewhat disbelieving, after all, in this relatively conservative age, her practice of promoting women's goals would not be recognized by the mainstream. "My show will encourage women's liberation, support women's abortion, and I will even speak out for the gay rights movement...Mr. Sherman, do you know what this means?"

Jed shrugged. "Obviously Ms. Oprah forgot my two novels from earlier this year."

Oprah was taken aback, then laughed.Of course she knew Jed's two novels in "The New Yorker", and she even published a book review for "Hilma and Louise", thinking that this book is the most important novel for women's liberation in the past five years. "Yes, I almost forgot about Mr. Sherman's work. If that's the case, I'm fine. However, if I break with ABC7, it means my show will not be broadcast on the national network. out, what solution do you have?"

The easiest way for a show to gain national attention is to sell it to a national network.But there are other methods besides this. For example, the operation method of the later "Oprah Show" is to sell the program to different local TV stations across the country, and become a "quasi-national TV program" in the form of a national simulcast.

The peak moment of "The Oprah Show" in later generations was broadcast simultaneously on 64 TV stations across the country, and then got broadcast time on 281 TV stations around the world.When a program reaches this level of coverage, it doesn't matter whether it cooperates with a national TV network or not.So Jed told Oprah about his plan, and Oprah was surprised.

Oprah began to think about Jed's plan, which has to be said to be the most unrestricted form of cooperation.My contract with a TV station is signed separately, and if you are dissatisfied, you can only block my broadcast in a certain area.There are many local TV stations in the United States. If you choose to terminate the contract, I can immediately cooperate with other TV stations, basically it will not affect too much.

Of course, this kind of cooperation also has great disadvantages. It requires a lot of manpower and material resources to establish cooperation channels in the early stage, and it also needs high costs to be responsible for operations in the later stage.The most important thing is that this kind of cooperation seems to have the meaning of establishing a national TV network in disguise. I don't know if it will attract investigation by the federal government.

Regarding judicial concerns, Alden gave professional advice as a lawyer. All contracts were signed for a single program, which is not how the national television network operates, so the federal government has no right to investigate.As for the cost of laying such a channel, Jed boldly stated that he would be fully responsible for it.Now that there is such a guarantee, Oprah has no reason to refuse to cooperate.

After reaching an agreement with Oprah, Jed flew back to Los Angeles, and his goal now is to form a television distribution company.In fact, in addition to "The Oprah Show", Jade also has to think about his future shows and TV series.After all, if the national TV network hits a wall, at least there is another way for me to go.In addition, through this channel, you can also sell the second-round or even third-round broadcast rights of your existing programs to local TV stations, which is also a good way to collect money.

With this idea, Jade immediately set up a Dongfeng International Distribution Company.Regardless of the big name of the company, the current business is still mainly for domestic.Americans have always been arrogant enough to call it "International News" when they broadcast news from several states; the ice hockey leagues in the United States and Canada dare to be called "World Championships" or something... So Jade called his new distribution company "International News" Dongfeng International" really no one cares.

But when recruiting the CEO of the company, a resume surprised Jed, because this person was called Shirley Lansing.

Who is Shirley Lansing?Paramount became the president of Hollywood's leading boss era, the first woman in American history to be in charge of the Big Six companies in Hollywood.

According to the historical process, shouldn't she enter Paramount because of the acquisition of the company, and then be spotted by Redstone and become his confidant?However, Jed was very happy that such a strong media woman could come to his company, so he interviewed Shirley Lansing with the greatest sincerity.

It has to be said that Shirley Lansing quickly put forward her own suggestion to Dongfeng International, and then said to Jed very sincerely: "If Dongfeng International wants to have a place in the United States, my suggestion is to acquire Hughes Electronics as soon as possible."