The Best Entertainment Era

In the conference room of the Embassy Pictures, Ronan found Robert Lee and Garcia Rodriguez.

Ronan asked Garcia directly: Is the recruitment going smoothly for the establishment of overseas channels?

If Embassy Pictures finds the right people, there's no other way.

Garcia shook his head: It's very difficult. He explained: Only recruiting a single person is not very helpful for establishing overseas distribution channels. What we need is a team. But among all the companies in Hollywood that have distribution capabilities, any one of them The scale and platform are much larger than the embassy film industry, and we have contacted the leaders and members of six small teams, all of which were rejected.

Robert then added: We have quietly contacted the overseas distribution team of New Line, and they directly reported to the senior management of New Line, and the senior management of New Line specially sent us a warning.

Ronan asked concerned: Is there any other trouble?

No. Robert said: We immediately stopped contacting people from the new line, and this incident will be over for the time being.

Ronan remembered it in his heart, and reminded: Pay more attention to the new line in the future.

Poaching people's corners will definitely make people very uncomfortable.

Garcia added: Issuing this kind of key position basically has signed a breach of contract with the hiring company. If you want to poach people, the liquidated damages alone are huge expenses.

Ronan nodded lightly. This situation is normal. Employees in key positions in Shahai Entertainment and Embassy Pictures also have liquidated damages.

I think back when the Japanese first entered Hollywood, there was a big joke about liquidated damages.

After Sony Entertainment bought Columbia Pictures, the Japanese were very self-aware and knew that they were laymen in the film industry. After being recommended by others and careful inspection, they hired two producers, Jon Peters and Peter Guber, from Warner Bros. at the helm of Columbia Pictures.

But I don’t know why, when Sony investigated, they didn’t find any breach of contract between Jon Peters and Peter Guber and Warner Bros. Warner Bros. sued the court with a lawsuit, and Sony Entertainment paid 800 million US dollars for the poaching. Compensation!

Of course, Sony Entertainment is willing to pay the money and must think these two characters are worth it.

In fact, the two were well-known bastards in Hollywood in the late 1980s.

The two had invested in The Purple One directed by Spielberg, but under Spielberg's strong request, there was a clear stipulation in the contract that Jon Peters and Peter Guber were not allowed to enter the set!

It can make the famous Spielberg fear like a tiger, which shows the outstanding destructive ability of these two people.

The cooperation between Sony Entertainment and these two people is a tragedy among tragedies. From the acquisition of Columbia by Sony Entertainment to the dismissal of the two in 1994, it is said that Sony has caused a total loss of more than three billion US dollars from movies to peripheral related industries.

Akio Morita's resignation is more or less related to Sony Columbia's dismal management and the employment of these two people.

But these two people are definitely not useless. Jon Peters and Peter Guber have a good investment vision, especially Peter Guber, who later established a film investment company, which only invests and does not participate in production. Ten years later, he became a gold medalist. Co-owner of the State Warriors.

Robert said at this time: Poaching will not only be costly, it may also make us a public enemy in the industry.

Poaching people alone can't solve the problem. Ronan had this realization.

If overseas distribution can be solved by digging the wall, DreamWorks will not always have no overseas channels.

Ronan asked, You know Polygram Entertainment, right?

I've heard of it. Garcia Rodriguez answered, It's a small film company under the record company PolyGram, but this company... how should I put it, it has too many people and a bloated organization.

Robert’s news is more well-informed: “At the beginning of this year, Philips and Siemens, the holding company of PolyGram, sold the main body of the company, that is, the record company, to the French media giant Seagram for US$10.6 billion. Seagram was previously the owner of Universal Pictures. Holding company, but not now, they have reached an agreement with the French water group Vivendi, and Universal Pictures is already owned by Vivendi.”

Ronan did a simple search on the Internet last night, knowing what Robert said was true, and said: In this transaction, Polygram's film subsidiary was not initially involved, but with Vivendi and Seagram An agreement was reached, and Universal Pictures asked the new owner to take over Polygram Pictures, because Polygram has a lot of high-value film copyrights in its film library.

Thinking of the titles of those movies, Ronan was a little envious: Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Usual Suspects, Trainspotting, Two Smoking Barrels, Fargo, Death Row Walking and so on.

As we all know, the film library is the most valuable asset of a film company.

Universal Pictures only wants Polygram's film library? Garcia specialized in distribution, so he roughly guessed what Ronan meant.

Ronan nodded slightly: This is the news I heard by chance. Universal Pictures has its own complete distribution channels, and there is no need to rashly increase a large number of manpower to disrupt the existing mature configuration. Moreover, Polygram is far away in the UK. The studio plans to let go of most of Polygram's personnel, especially the distribution staff who are not of much use to them.

Robert raised his voice unconsciously: This is our chance!

Garcia has a deeper understanding of the distribution industry, saying: As far as I remember, Polygram has never released a film in North America. The very suspect distributor is Sony Columbia, and Fargo and Death Walking are Gramercy Pictures.

Ronan frowned: From what I found on the Internet, Polygram Pictures relies on its own world

The world's first-class record channel, established a movie distribution channel.

Is the news on the Internet false? It was inevitable for Ronan to think this way. After all, there were too many fake news on the Internet, and the encyclopedia of a certain woman in her previous life had simply become a base for counterfeiting.

The situation I'm talking about only refers to North America. Garcia said honestly: I don't know much about the situation overseas.

The business of Embassy Pictures is currently limited to North America, and due to the nature of Americans, the energy to focus outside of North America is relatively limited.

Ronan looked at Robert: Go and check the relevant situation, the transactions between Vidiwang, Seagram, Polygram, and Universal Pictures, the key point is their attitude towards Polygram Pictures, and Polygram's attitude. Golden Films' own business.

Compared with the businessman Garcia, Robert's path is more wild.

Robert said nothing: I will go today.

Ronan said to Garcia again: Do you know anyone in Universal Pictures? Ask if you have any.

Garcia knew that this was a major event related to the company's future, and said, I'll ask someone.

Ronan urged: This matter must be dealt with first.

After Robert and Garcia left, Ronan thought about it, and then called Lawyer Dinah. The Shengzhi Law Firm she works for also has business in the UK, and has a London branch, which is also a company specializing in entertainment and media business.

Afterwards, Ronan personally went to Shengzhi Law Firm and had an interview with Lawyer Dana for a period of time.

Lawyer Dana provided him with a contact information: This is a private detective who sometimes cooperates with Sheng Zhi. He is very familiar with the British entertainment industry. You can ask him to check the specific situation. I will call him soon.

Ronan knew that the world was not only black and white, but also that many law firms had contact with fringe forces, so he guessed that this should be some kind of private detective.

He complied, and reached a business relationship with a private detective on the same day. Shengzhi Firm also has business dealings with Polygram Films. Lawyer Dinah will also help him collect relevant information within the scope permitted by the regulations.

It's not a crime either.

In just two days, all aspects of the situation were gathered in Ronan's hands. There was a lot of information on various aspects, and it was necessary to summarize and find out useful things from them.

Since Ronan came here, he has never interrupted his studies and analyzed countless cases. This kind of work is not difficult for him at all.

After watching for an afternoon, he had a general understanding of the situation.

France's Seagram Media Group, which is the controlling shareholder of Universal Pictures in recent years, has started acquisition negotiations with PolyGram since 1997. This deal involving tens of billions of dollars has been negotiated for two full years, and finally Reached in 1999, Polygram was merged into Universal Music for $10.6 billion.

But just after the acquisition was completed, Seagram realized that what he had acquired was a huge burden. Coupled with the deterioration of his other businesses, he had no choice but to sell Universal Pictures, which was merged with Polygram Records. The French water company Vivendi Group also became a Take over Pan Xia, and the deal was reached last month, and the share change was completed this month.

As the transaction party, Universal Pictures wants more than Polygram Records, and is very interested in the film library of Polygram Entertainment, a subsidiary of Polygram. When Vivendi negotiated with Seagram, in order to win With the support of the senior executives of Universal Pictures, they also agreed to acquire Polygram Pictures again.

Compared with the tens of billions of dollars of Polygram Records, Polygram Pictures is not worth mentioning at all.

As for the Polygram crew, Universal has hardly any interest.

Polygram is a typical international company with multinational troops, and Polygram Pictures is the same.

These people have been stationed in London for a long time, and Universal Pictures' film business is completely centered in Los Angeles. If you want these people to move to Los Angeles, not to mention the willingness of the employees, the subsidy alone is a bottomless pit.

Universal Pictures has already negotiated with Polygram Pictures for the acquisition of the film library, and other aspects have not yet been finalized, but judging from the existing news, Universal Pictures does not need Polygram Pictures employees.

These people are numerous, well-paid, and don't want to leave London, which is basically not helpful for Universal Pictures.

Ronan doesn't need these people either, what he needs is a small number of employees in the distribution department.

Polygram Pictures has distribution capabilities!