Simon heard Ronald Goldberg's question, felt Barry Diller's equally inquiring gaze, and explained with a smile: "Ronald, I warned everyone before the film started filming that the reputation of "Instinct" may not be as good as last year's "Butterfly Effect". ”

Ronald Goldberg was still a little worried, and motioned to the surrounding crowd without a trace, and said, "Simon, no one left the venue early during the test screening last year. ”

"This film doesn't have the elaborate plot setting of "The Butterfly Effect", and its selling point is actually controversial," Simon noticed that no one else leaned over, and lowered his voice slightly to Ronald Goldberg: "Ronald, what Fox has to do next is to control this controversial trend of public opinion, and hold on until the film is released next month, and we will win." ”

After many internal discussions, Simon's words did not give Ronald Goldberg much reassurance: "Of course I understand, Simon, I'm just worried that we may not be able to control the media at all. ”

"If it's really messed up, then I can only say it's a pity," Simon said, helpless at Goldberg's indecisive character, "Ronald, we all know that the film business has always been full of risks. ”

Ronald Goldberg also felt Simon's emotions to some extent, looked around, and said, "Okay, you guys talk, I'll go and say hello to Garrett of "Variety", hoping to get more praise." ”

Simon watched Goldberg leave and asked Barry Diller, "Barry, has Fox found a replacement for Ronald?"

Barry Diller nodded and said, "I'm going to make Joe Ross president, and Rupert is happy with him, Simon, do you know Rose?"

"I've heard of it, but I haven't touched it. ”

Simon replied with his mouth in his mouth, and his heart said that it was still Joe Rose.

In the original time and space, the president of Fox during this period was Joe Ross, the famous producer who began in the 70s to take charge of Fox, whose greatest achievement was to discover the highest-grossing comedy film series in Hollywood history, Home Alone.

Joe Ross, who has just turned 40 this year, currently runs a production company with several partners, and has worked on films such as Tom Hanks' early blockbuster "The Bachelor's Party," which is well-known in the industry, but not top-notch.

Therefore, Joe Ross is not qualified to join the Hollywood Big Seven chair-grabbing game. But neither Rupert Murdoch, a Hollywood outsider, nor Barry Diller, who is only 46 years old this year and wants to tighten his grip on Fox Films, wants another Hollywood executive like Ronald Goldberg to run the company.

Joe Ross has been in the industry for more than ten years, and has good experience in both production and running companies, but at the same time he does not have too deep roots in Hollywood, so it seems appropriate to hire him to be in charge of Fox Films.

"I'll introduce you next time," Barry Diller said, adding, "Simon, after Instinct, I'd love to see if we could continue to work together." You've said before that you'd like to have some cooperation with Fox Network, but this time, Daenerys Pictures doesn't seem to have much interest in working with us on several reality shows?"

Simon said quietly: "Barry, it's because Fox doesn't offer a way ahead of other TV networks. ”

Although it is already the fourth largest national television network, Fox still has a big gap in strength compared to the traditional three major television networks ABC, NBC and CBS.

It's just the most basic number of franchised TV stations, the number of franchised TV stations in North America is more than 200 in the traditional three major TV networks, but the number of franchised TV stations in Fox TV Network is only more than 100. And, in order to save money, Fox currently only operates two hours of prime-time programming, while the three major networks run three hours from eight o'clock to eleven o'clock.

All of these factors limit the Fox Network's audience base.

Daenerys Pictures has actually pitched several reality show plans to Fox Network, but the conditions offered by Fox Network are not enough for Simon to ignore its disadvantages in all aspects.

Barry Diller is definitely a very shrewd and visionary business manager, and it was Barry Diller's persuasion of the hesitant Ronald Goldberg in the original "Death Comes" project that led to the groundbreaking contract between Fox Films and Daenerys Films, and Fox also benefited a lot from it.

Out of the importance of Simon's continuous creation of many box office miracles, Barry Diller has carefully studied several reality show plans of Daenerys Pictures, in his opinion, "Survivor" is the most likely to cause a sensation, followed by the "Big Brother" plan, North America has never been short of quiz variety shows, so "Who Will Be a Millionaire" was ranked third by him, as for the last "Beverly Wife", Barry Diller feels that it is completely this young man's personal interest', he seems to have just messed up the marriage of the glamorous actress named Natasha Kinski.

Barry Diller also knows that Daenerys Films has come up with four program plans at once, targeting the current four major TV networks in North America, and Fox obviously only has one chance to bet.

After thinking about it for a moment, Barry Diller said, "Simon, let's be honest, I want to get Survivor, what kind of cooperation plan do you want?"

"Barry, the most important thing for Fox Network right now is to grow the audience, and as for profitability, that's obviously secondary, right?" Simon looked at Barry Diller, and without waiting for him to answer, he continued: "So, if Fox wants to get 'Survivor,' the partnership is simple, you get the audience, and Daenerys Pictures gets the profit. ”

Barry Diller shook his head and said, "Simon, that's too harsh. The cost of running a television network is very high, and I can't allow my platform to become someone else's money-making tool, and Rupert won't say yes. ”

"Barry, we think of Fox Network as a pioneering farm, and Daenerys Pictures has a show that happens to be the farmer in charge of pioneering, and if you want this farmer to give up other farm jobs that are already on track and go to your side, it will definitely pay more. Only if the Fox Network farm expands rapidly will you be able to make more profits in the future. ”

"Of course I understand that," said Barry Diller, "but, Simon, I don't know what the 'farmer' you recommend to me is capable of working. ”

Simon shook his head the same and said with a smile: "Actually, I don't know. ”

Barry Diller remembers the preview of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" next Monday, which has been in the thick of preparations for a while ago, and he even made a low-key trip to the test shoot in New York to watch the recording. "Who Will Be a Millionaire" does give him some special feelings that are completely different from traditional quiz shows.

However, the show has been owned by ABC, and Fox is obviously unlikely to get involved again.

The dismal TV fall season caused by the writers' strike is an opportunity for Daenerys Pictures, as well as for Fox Network, which is still very weak compared to the other three. If one or two blockbuster TV shows can be released this fall, Fox Network's popularity among North American viewers will immediately increase dramatically.

Just as later Internet companies burned money to expand the scale of users, Fox TV Network is also in the stage of burning money. Barry Diller doesn't mind giving up profits for ratings if Simon's few reality shows are a success, but he doesn't want to sign Daenerys Films to a contract that could prove to be a big joke next.

There are only three days left before the start of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", and after a moment's hesitation, Barry Diller decided to wait another three days, and at the same time couldn't help but laugh at himself a little in his heart, he persuaded Goldberg to boldly agree to the cooperation plan of "The Grim Reaper", but when it was his turn, he inevitably hesitated.

However, Barry Diller is also determined that if "Who Will Be a Millionaire" is well received, he will definitely win at least one of the two reality shows he fancies.

Although there is still the idea of using several reality shows in his hands as bargaining chips from General Electric in exchange for New World Entertainment, for Simon, "Survivor" is undoubtedly the most valuable of the remaining three projects, except for "Who Will Be a Millionaire", which has been handed over to ABC, but others certainly don't know this, and Simon has no plans to give "Survivor" to NBC.

On the contrary, if the ratings of NBC's fall season are a little more bleak, GE may be more cooperative. After all, no one would think that Daenerys Pictures would only have these four reality show plans.

The official recording of the first episode of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" took place this weekend, and Simon had to go to the East Coast early tomorrow morning, so he didn't stop too long at the reception, and at ten o'clock, he returned to Malibu with Janet.

Early the next morning, because it was Saturday, the major newspapers generally withdrew from the most contentful issue of the week, and "Instinct", which had just undergone a test screening, quickly became the focus of media discussion and, as expected, sparked strong controversy.

In terms of the most basic film criticism, "Instinct" is actually better than "The Butterfly Effect", which was also a collaboration between Simon and Brian De Palma last year, which was about 5 points overall, not reaching a passing grade, but it was not completely broken.

"Variety" gave a very positive evaluation: "A sensual thriller with a sleek style, strong performances by actors and alternative thinking, with a strange and strong attraction." ”

"Rolling Stone" praised the film as 'a scarlet dream created by Simon Westeros, with Linda Fiorentino's performance impressive'.

In addition, important media outlets such as the New York Times and the Seattle Times also gave positive reviews.

However, the negative reviews that the film provoked were even more violent.

Roger Albert was unsparing in the Chicago Sun-Times for criticizing the film as 'all but a simple plot as predictable as a charade, and all other elements were useless rubbish'. To be able to make such a master film critic bluntly not use the word 'garbage', Simon doesn't know if he should feel honored.

The New Yorker's critic, Terrence Lafferty, also criticized The Instinct as 'a boring story that uses sex and violence to distract audiences'.

Other newspapers, such as Time Magazine and the Chicago Tribune, have also made critical remarks.

Moreover, because of the subject matter of "Instinct", this polarized media reputation quickly left the scope of film criticism and quickly spread to the content of the film itself.

A film critic who claimed to be a loyal fan of Simon published a critical article in the Los Angeles Times the next day, fiercely accusing Simon of selling violence through "Vulgar" and erotic sex through "Instinct," and then publicly announcing his de-fanization.

Mark Hollington, the East Coast lone writer who openly questioned Simon during the "Lola Run" period, was not invited to participate in the test screening, but this time he also jumped out again, still publishing an article in the Daily News, which is opposed to the New York Post, criticizing "Instinct" for overdescribing sex, and accusing Simon of lacking a sense of social responsibility.

In the days that followed, the media controversy that began to build up intensified, even to the point of personal attacks.

A film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle published an open letter questioning that Simon, who had produced "Vulgar" and "Instinct" in succession, two extremely uncomfortable films, may have gone insane again and should return to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, and the critic also claimed that "Instinct" should definitely fall under the NC-17 category and asked the MPAA to re-rate "Instinct."

After the open letter was published, many critics who criticized the film also spoke out again, calling on the MPAA to re-rate "Instinct".

Before the test screening, "Instinct" had already received an R rating from the MPAA.

The MPAA's rating committee is actually in the hands of the Seven, and everyone checks and balances each other, and occasionally uses it to suppress second- and third-tier film companies. Normally, studios will appeal or re-edit and submit ratings when they think their films are being rated too strictly, and there have been no cases where a film that has already been rated has been reconfirmed to a more restrictive rating.

There is a lot of noise in the media, but many people in Hollywood actually understand that unless it is completely one-sided public pressure or other powerful factors, the rating of "Instinct" will not change. But if you want "Instinct" to have a greater social impact, you can only wait for the release of the film.

Obviously, once the film is released, the rating is even more irreversible.

As a result, Daenerys Pictures and Fox were not disturbed by this controversy, but secretly contributed to the controversy of "Instinct" to attract public attention, and Fox deliberately suppressed the statement of the MPAA rating committee that tried to explain it to the public.

On the other hand, in order to show that they do not lack social responsibility, Fox and Daenerys Pictures also issued a joint statement on the new Monday, urging theaters that show "Instinct" to conduct stricter age screening to ensure that no teenagers who do not meet the conditions for watching movies will enter theaters.

Of course, whether this will arouse the curiosity of teenagers even more, this is beyond the control of the film company, who makes teenagers naturally rebellious.