Hollywood Tycoon [US Entertainment + Business War]

The "Apollo Moon Landing Project" may be just a fragment of the great human exploration plan, but for ordinary people, this is the most colorful movement in the current exploration plan.When Armstrong stepped on the moon, even the calm CBS anchor couldn't help taking off his glasses and wiping his eye sockets.But this great moment was accompanied by a lot of misfortune and luck. No one can forget the fire during the launch of Apollo [-]. The three astronauts returned to heaven because of this, and almost bankrupted the Apollo program halfway.

However, with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the space exploration program announced the suspension of the United States having no rivals.Jed also knew that the NASA of later generations was about to declare bankruptcy. If it weren't for the resurgence of space exploration enthusiasm in China and Europe, NASA would have been abolished long ago.This time, Dr. Johnson, the director of NASA's public relations office, is going to interview Jed and Jafei.

Because NASA's budget is also limited, NASA's delineation this time is all Hollywood's second- and third-tier production companies.Galaxy Films, which has only produced and distributed three films, is naturally classified as a third-tier film company, and is grouped with a bunch of film companies in Los Angeles that produce adult films or bad horror films.But because the director of this company is Jed Sherman after all, NASA also sent an invitation letter to hear their thoughts.

"Thank you for coming to the special zone in a hurry," Dr. Johnson said to Jafei and Jade very politely, "I think you two should know our intentions. But I still have some questions before talking to you in detail. A few points need to be emphasized, first of all, our budget is limited, so if you two want to shoot space wars or sci-fi movies with a lot of special effects, I can only say sorry to you in advance; second, this shooting plan is for publicity NASA and our space exploration program, so the tone of the script must be positive. NASA has the ability to review scripts. If this restriction makes you feel constrained, then we can stop this conversation at any time; in the end, although NASA will not Participate in the share of the movie box office, but if NASA is required to cooperate with the filming, we also need to charge according to the regulations. This is a policy requirement, and I am really sorry. If you have no opinion on the above three points, we will We can continue talking."

Jed shrugged and asked, "I have no problem with those three points, but if I need to use some of NASA's videotapes, will there be an extra cost for those?"

"No need." Dr. Johnson laughed, "NASA's exploration data, as long as it has been made public, it is free for anyone to use, just need to indicate the source and author of these materials." -Mr. Sherman , what I want to know is, what kind of movie would you do for NASA?"

"I will shoot the 'Apollo Project'." Jed said lightly, "After all, this is NASA's most important and well-known exploration program. Until now, the situation of Armstrong's landing on the moon is still a memory for many people. It’s still new. Of course, for us filmmakers, this is a project with vivid characters involved, after all, movies still rely on characters to tell stories.”

"Oh, you guys are actually planning to make a historical biographical movie?" Dr. Johnson suddenly became interested, "You know what? I've met about seven or eight directors, and they're all talking to me about what foreign films I should shoot. Alien invasion, and then NASA’s theme of saving mankind. This seems to be different from our NASA’s responsibilities? If there is an alien invasion, I think it should be the responsibility of the US military and the National Guard. Mr. Sherman, you are going to shoot Which Apollo spacecraft?"

"Apollo NO.13." Jed said the number lightly.

"Apollo NO.13?" Dr. Johnson was a little surprised, "Why not Apollo NO.11? After all, that was the spacecraft that Armstrong was on? Or Apollo NO.17, which was the last time we humans landed on the moon...even Apollo Luo NO.14 is also good, after all, Alan Shepard, who was on this spacecraft at the time, was the oldest astronaut who landed on the moon so far."

"Success stories don't remind one of the risks involved in space exploration," Jed responded. "Dr. Johnson, what the public doesn't understand now is why are we spending so much money to go to the moon? Haven't we been there several times?" Why? If you always show them our success stories, the public will only think it is such an 'easy' thing. Why waste our tax dollars? The beauty of space exploration is not in the moment of success, but in the moment of success. The risks encountered during the exploration process and our process of solving the risks. Only Apollo NO.13 meets this requirement! Think about it, the astronauts who suffered an explosion and lost most of their power and oxygen were trapped in deep space , What should they do? Should they wait for the rescue spacecraft sent by the earth, or wait quietly for death? The astronauts on Apollo NO.13 did not wait passively, but worked with the ground staff to find a way to save themselves, and finally returned successfully. Johnson Doctor, do you think there is any more inspiring story than this one?"

"I have to say, the story really appealed to me, but I needed some reasoning," Dr. Johnson said.

"The original novel of this script is written by Jim Lovell, an astronaut of Apollo NO.13. I think this gimmick is enough?"

In fact, even without NASA's access, Jed wanted to shoot this movie, so he negotiated with Lowell early on the issue of script adaptation authorization.Space is a fascinating place for people born in the 80s, when people were obsessed with "Star Wars" and "Star Trek".But as humans pay more and more attention to the economy, humans gradually give up the freedom to put their thoughts on the wings.

Therefore, when "Star Trek" was remade again in the new century, the themes given were no longer "exploration" and "communication", but some strange "national hatred and family hatred".But the audience only noticed the grand special effects of the film, but they have forgotten what the original meaning of this work is.And Jed intends to give everyone this dream full of courage and challenges while human beings still have dreams.

"Mr. Sherman, I will submit your words to the public relations office, and we will notify you of the final result." Dr. Johnson stood up.After all, this is an open selection, and Dr Johnson will not express his views until the final results are announced.

Jed didn't think it was a big deal, but after shaking hands with Dr. Johnson, he took Jia Fei and left the NASA office building.On the way back, Jia Fei asked: "Are you really planning to shoot a science fiction film? It's not profitable! Don't forget, Dongfeng's "X-Files" was almost canceled by the TV station. If it weren't for the audience If there is a joint request, this sci-fi drama will be over. If it weren't for the good income of another "New York Serious Cases", Dongfeng would not want to produce it."

"This movie is not going to fail," Jed said with a smile. "Strictly speaking, this is not a science fiction movie. It should be a historical movie and an adventure movie at the same time. Americans love it very much." For an adventure movie, maybe this movie will bring us a big box office. Jia Fei, don’t always pay money, "Pulp Fiction" has a very good box office."

Jia Fei shrugged and said, "Since I am the general manager of Yinhe Films, I must consider the company's profit. Mr. Sherman, you can't shoot as you want in the future. You have to come up with your budget and For box office estimates, we have to consider risks."

"Okay, I see." Jed also knew that Jia Fei was a very serious person in this regard, so he had to compromise in a hurry.

1995 was a very critical year for Jade. Windows95 will be launched this year, and at the same time, Microsoft's stock will be pushed to the highest point in history.But for Jade, this is the best opportunity to clear Microsoft's equity by himself.

At first, Jed's idea was to hold shares in Microsoft, Apple and Google for a long time, but he has changed his mind now.The future media industry will inevitably integrate with the Internet industry. Since I am so clear about the development of the Internet, why wait for others to occupy the market?After Jade planned to liquidate Microsoft stock, he began to develop his own Pioneer Computer and Internet Technology Co., Ltd.In fact, Jade has used this company to produce prototypes of many classic products in the future, but due to the current Internet technology, he has not released them in time.

At the same time, DVD technology will be successfully commercialized this year.If the impact of CD technology is on the traditional record industry, then the impact of DVD is on the film industry.We must know that the reason why cinemas are more popular than VCDs and videotapes is that a videotape or VCD at that time could not accommodate a movie with cinema-level definition.In the DVD era, DVD not only presents the picture quality of a movie theater at home, but also can be used with a home theater to create a small private movie theater.More importantly, the price of three VCDs may be about the same as a movie ticket, but the price of a DVD is definitely lower than a movie ticket, not to mention that DVDs can also be rented to minimize the cost.

The more important reason is that DVDs can be released almost simultaneously around the world, but movies cannot be released simultaneously.Sometimes, when the genuine DVD of a movie has been released in the United States, the movie has just been released in Japan, which will inevitably lead to dissatisfaction among Japanese distribution companies.In order to protect its own interests, Hollywood is bound to go to court with the DVD Alliance.Jed is looking forward to this day, because he already has a set of mature methods to solve this problem, and he intends to use this solution to gain some benefits from the DVD Alliance and Hollywood.

Of course, there is also Yahoo, which was established this year, and Jade still needs to take time to meet the young Chinese youth, get a share from him, and then cash out at high prices.

Jia Fei on the side looked at Jed with his eyes closed, thinking he was thinking about something, so he didn't say anything.The two flew back to Los Angeles from D.C. in silence, and Jed said after landing, "I'm going to meet someone at Stanford University."

Jia Fei was used to Jed's temporary decision, so he let him go.After Jade and Jia Fei left, he contacted his Internet team and headed for Stanford University.Stanford University is indeed the cradle of Internet geniuses in the United States, not to mention the birth of Jerry Yang, and later Google also came from this university.

The person Jade is going to meet is Jerry Yang, the entrepreneurial idol and spiritual leader of the first generation of Internet.If Jed remembered correctly, after a while, after Yang Zhiyuan registered the company, Sun Zhengyi would bring his Softbank to find Yang Zhiyuan.Softbank made Yahoo popular, and Yahoo also made Softbank successful. Unfortunately, the relationship between the two parties made Yang Zhiyuan's control over Yahoo more and more limited. change.

Yahoo is two relatively independent companies in the Chinese mainland market and the Japanese market, because Yahoo China is a joint venture between Yahoo and Alibaba, and Yahoo Japan is a joint venture between Softbank and Yahoo.Formally due to such an arrangement, Yahoo lost the largest user market and consumer market in the United States.

But Jed is very clear about Jerry Yang's personality, he will not entrust his future plans to Jerry Yang.For Jed, Yahoo, like Microsoft, is just a stepping stone on his way to making money.Of course, Jed didn't think what he was doing was immoral.After all, I invested in Jerry Yang and helped him develop Yahoo, and I was just taking my own profits with interest.

At this time, Yang Zhiyuan and his partner David Filo were surprised by their web dictionary website "Internet Guide".The current Internet is still a rather disordered world. Finally, someone made a classified and indexed guide website. One can imagine how popular this website is on the Internet in this era.But for Yang Zhiyuan and David who were involved in this matter, they were far from thinking that this was a business opportunity, and they were just happy to help others.

"Yang, someone from outside is looking for you, hoping to talk to you." When Yang Zhiyuan and David were discussing how to optimize the Internet guide, one of their classmates walked in and said to them.

In fact, some people approached Jerry Yang during this time, wanting to buy his website and technology.But Yang Zhiyuan, who was raised by his parents to be economically aware, felt that this website had great potential, so he rejected the proposals of those people. "David, let's go and meet him, maybe he's another guy who wants to buy our website. Hey, why doesn't anyone want to invest in us?"

"Yang, don't be too greedy." David comforted, "They have given you a lot of money, I think you can consider it."

"No, David, our website is worth more than this." Jerry Yang shook his head, "I think we are holding a key that can open the future world, David, we will become the richest people in the United States !"

Jade was waiting for Jerry Yang in a campus cafe, and the students next to him didn't think there was anything weird about them.After all, there are a lot of geniuses at Stanford, and companies often talk to someone, and that person immediately becomes a millionaire or something.In the eyes of many Stanford students, it must be another genius who has been spotted by this group of people and will become the next rich man in the United States.And when Jerry Yang and David appeared, many students were a little dazed, because these two people were too low-key.Although I recently heard that someone wanted to buy their products, they all refused. Many students felt that they overestimated their own products.

"Hello, Jed Sherman, the president of Pioneer Computer and Network Technology Development Co., Ltd." Seeing the two of Yang Zhiyuan, Jed first stood up and introduced himself. "I'm very interested in your website, and I want to talk to you about the future."

Jerry Yang looked at Jed, "I've heard about your company, the blogging program is great; and I also know you, aren't you a director? When did you start another computer company?"

"Everyone has a different identity, isn't it? Mr. Yang." Jed smiled and asked the two to do it, and then ordered the waiter to bring coffee. "I didn't come here with the intention of buying this website, because this website would be useless without the two of you. You can think that I am here to invest, to invest in the future. I am willing to pay a sum of money to let the two of you start a business, but I Need to have a certain share in this company. Rest assured, I will basically not interfere with the operation of the two. And I promise, I will sell these shares at some point, and the two will have the right of first refusal, how?"

Such conditions are undoubtedly the best for entrepreneurs, which is equivalent to using the shares of the future company as collateral to go to the bank for a loan.Yang Zhiyuan asked back: "I want to know, what can Mr. Sherman get? You think we will definitely make money in the future?"

"One hundred percent things do not exist." Jed said with a smile, "but if you are more than [-] percent sure, I think you can invest. Please rest assured, Mr. Yang, my investment is not for you alone, but for many companies .As long as one of you can make money in the future, my cost will be returned, and there will even be a lot of income. Mr. Yang, do you understand?"

Although Yang Zhiyuan studied science and engineering, it doesn't mean he doesn't know anything about business.He understood Jed's principle of making money, and he was just one of the many saplings that Jed planned to cultivate. If one of them was really a cash cow, then this investment would be completely profitable.Thinking of this, Yang Zhiyuan had nothing to say, nodded and agreed to Jade's investment.