Amy said: "Yes, but certainly not this year and next year, if everything goes well, the company will probably have an IPO in 1992 at the earliest." ”

The reason why this topic is brought up is because of Amy's contract issues.

The contract Amy signed with Simon when she joined the company included half of the cash dividends and the same amount of equity awards, although the outside world has various valuations of Daenerys Entertainment, but the company has not gone public after all, and Amy's equity awards are difficult to quantify.

Simon took the initiative to talk to Amy about this topic when he was still in Los Angeles the other day.

Amy's contract expires early next year, and Simon wants to cash out the equity award to her before the company goes public, and Amy agrees.

Nancy heard Amy say this, but she keenly grasped another meaning in her words, and repeated tentatively, "If all goes well?"

"Don't guess," Amy interrupted with a smile, "Speaking of which, the theme building of Malibu Studios has been completed, do you want to go with me tomorrow and choose an office building to design your own decoration style?"

"Of course, I'm not going to save money for our boss. ”

Nancy said, still thinking about what had just happened.

Cersei Capital has accumulated a large amount of money overseas, and anyone who is not too stupid should know that this money can only reflect its value if it is spent as soon as possible, and hoarding it will only depreciate in the constant inflation.

Among the companies in the Westeros system, the most suitable and most needed to use this capital for large-scale expansion is Daenerys Entertainment, and the expansion target will obviously only be the Hollywood Seven.

Nancy had already locked on the merger target even in the blink of an eye.

Now the Big Seven in Hollywood, Columbia and MGM have just changed hands, and it is impossible to sell them again in a short period of time, and Simon should not look down on these two companies.

Rupert Murdoch is ambitious to build a direct, global media empire and will not sell Fox.

Although Paramount has just experienced the failure of "Rocket Expert", the company's film business has been excellent in the last two years, and the stock price is on the high side.

Martin Davis has turned down several takeover offers in recent years and is not a good takeover.

Time Warner is too big for Daenerys Entertainment to eat.

Disney has been in a state of rapid recovery in recent years, and its stock price has grown rapidly, and the Bass family and the Disney family, who hold a large stake in the company, will not take it lightly.

In the end, only MCA, the parent company of Universal Pictures, remained.

If it were Nancy herself, she would not hesitate to choose MCA.

Outside of movies, MCA's TV, music, and theme park businesses can all be very complementary to Daenerys Entertainment. And the aging Lou Vasalman is not as resistant to a takeover as Martin Davis does.

The next afternoon.

Because it was Saturday and there was a celebration party for "Batman: Time to War" in the evening, Daenerys Entertainment executives of all sizes rushed to Malibu to check out the studio park where they will be staying in the middle of this year.

Five kilometers from California Highway 1 into the Malibu area, this mountainside site is no longer in its original state of barren slopes.

After a year-long construction, the main buildings of the three areas of the studio have been completed, from top to bottom.

The top-of-the-line district has five three- to five-story office buildings of varying sizes, and unlike the old-fashioned small buildings and bungalows of traditional cinemas, these five patchwork office towers are designed in the style of high-ceilinged glass curtain walls, each with a sleek and modern design aesthetic in simplicity.

In addition to the office, the five buildings also include restaurants, cafes, gyms and other employee activities and leisure areas.

The most conspicuous on the second floor are three 150-meter-long and 30-meter-long two-storey factory-style office LOFT buildings, which are a combination of red brick walls, tempered glass and black steel beams, and the ceiling is also designed with attic-style roofs, which is full of literary style.

In this era, the LOFT model office buildings have not yet emerged.

As a result, Simon amazed many people when he drew the draft drawings himself, and the results of the building were excellent.

The three office lofts will house creative departments such as Pixar Animation, Daenerys Special Effects, Blizzard Studios, and Marvel Entertainment's West Coast team.

The current Pixar and other teams are not large, but even considering future expansion factors, the theoretical double-storey 9,000 square meters of internal space in each office LOFT is enough to accommodate 500 to 1,000 people.

In addition to the three office lofts, a large event center in the style of circular fiberglass was built on the second floor, covering an area of 2,500 square meters, including a hall with a capacity of 1,200 people and several small halls with a capacity of 100 people, which can be used for multiple purposes such as film screenings, galas and conferences.

On the lowest floor of the cinema are six studios of various sizes and a large post-production center.

Of course, these are just the main buildings within the studio.

In addition to the five office buildings on the top floor, there are a number of other buildings such as restaurants, shops, warehouses, and dormitories on the second and third floors.

However, with a total area of 50 hectares, all of these buildings do not occupy a large area.

Due to the popularity of automobiles in the United States and the lack of public transportation in Los Angeles, not counting the land used for greenery and spare, the largest area in the studio is actually a parking lot. The top-down three-storey park has six parking lots, large and small, which are large and small enough to accommodate 3,000 cars when fully loaded.

Walking around the studio, and the others were still looking around, Amy, Nancy, and Jennifer made their way to the second level near the cliff parking lot guardrail.

Leaning on the railing, with more than ten high cliffs at her feet, and the blue waves of the sea and sky in the distance, Nancy took a deep breath with great enjoyment, and curiously accused Jennifer of the shell-shaped building that had gradually taken shape in the far Cape Dume Manor: "When will it be built there, it looks so beautiful?"

Simon is not in Los Angeles, and female assistants have to juggle the multiple roles of assistant and housekeeper.

Following Nancy's gaze, Jennifer said: "It will be next year at the earliest, the interior decoration is very troublesome, and many things have to be customized." ”

Nancy leaned forward with envy and said sourly: "Build such a conspicuous villa, when the time comes, someone will definitely say that the boss is extravagant, and Hearst has been criticized for many years." ”

William Randolph Hearst, the founder of the Hearst Group, spent most of his life building Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California, and was criticized by many as extravagant for many years after his death.

Jennifer argued: "Simon is just building a house that he likes, how can he spend as much money as Hearst." ”

Nancy nodded solemnly, but there was a mockery in her tone, and said, "Yes, yes, Simon is right to do everything." ”

Jennifer's face was slightly red, and she was going to ignore Nancy.

Nancy stopped looking at the shell villa in the distance, turned to look at the office lofts on the second floor of the park, and said to Amy: "I would rather work in these loft-like buildings, which are much better than those office buildings above." I think it's more creative for employees. ”

"So these three buildings are for Pixar and their use," Amy said, "but if you really want to bring your own department to work here, you can do that." These lofts now have a lot of spare space. You can use the second layer of the No. 3 loft. ”

"That's it, I'll take the time to discuss the renovation plan with the designer. Nancy nodded immediately, she didn't care about the potential difference in status between the first floor of the administrative area and the second floor of the office area, her own comfort was the most important thing, not to mention that no one dared to take the consumer goods department to the second floor.

With that, Nancy looked around at the open area, remembered yesterday's incident, and asked Amy tentatively, "Our office buildings in Burbank are all rented, just move here and return them." But, Amy, it's empty enough, what if we have a second studio campus?"

The three men at the railing were extremely smart, and when Nancy said this, Jennifer immediately looked at her in confusion.

Nancy noticed Jennifer's eyes, and couldn't help but tease: "Really, even Jenny knows, I still have to be hidden, and I talk around the bush." ”

As the closest person to Simon in the company, and with James's relationship, Jennifer naturally knows about Daenerys Entertainment's plan to acquire MCA. Although Simon has been in Australia recently, he has been discussing this matter with James and Amy, and sometimes needs the help of a female assistant to pass the word.

Amy smiled: "Then pretend not to know, you are only the president of the consumer goods department, you really want to steal my position." ”

"Maybe," Nancy bared her little white teeth as a threat, and asked, "So, what about the two parks?"

Amy said: "We have a lot of high-quality copyrights in our hands now, and the employees of another park have moved over, and this side is full." The space that is freed up there to expand some superhero attractions, add a horror community, and so on, can also increase the attraction of the studio to visitors. ”

Speaking of which, Simon and Amy discussed this after they proposed their plan to acquire MCA.

Universal Studios in Burbank is 212 hectares, and Daenerys Studios in Malibu is 50 hectares. If the MCA were to be acquired, Daenerys Entertainment would own a much larger studio than the other Hollywood studios combined.

However, this problem did not bother Simon.

A large part of Simon's reason for buying MCA was for the company's theme park business.

Movie theme parks are promising for the next two or three decades.

As long as the acquisition of MCA can be successfully completed, Simon will increase investment in theme parks and build more attractions in Universal Studios to attract tourists, and the film and television production business there can be transferred to Malibu.

What's more, MGM at its peak had as many as six filming bases in Los Angeles, and even if it didn't reach the height of MGM in the big studio era, Simon was confident that Daenerys Entertainment would grow enough to digest these two large film and television parks in the future.

When Nancy heard Amy say this, she immediately understood, thought for a moment, and said, "It's a very good idea. ”

Amy advised: "Remember to keep it secret, the news is out, don't say steal my position, Simon has to fire you." ”

"Of course I do. ”

The three girls chatted, and Robert Rehm, Ella Deutchman, and Robert Iger, who had flown over from the East Coast in the morning, walked over together.

It was already evening.

The Batman: Time to War celebration party takes place at seven o'clock in the evening at Simon's mansion halfway up the hill in Palisad, and everyone says hello, Amy and Jennifer rush to Palisade to check on the progress of the party preparations, and the others leave for the time being.

Daenerys Entertainment's party is undoubtedly the most sought after party in Hollywood in the last two years, and this has been especially true in recent months.

The 10-film project for the second half of last year continues, and with the box office hit of "Batman: Time to War", the upcoming DC Cinematic Universe project undoubtedly means more hot opportunities for Hollywood filmmakers.

With the birth of the first film in North America that is expected to break $400 million at the domestic box office, Adam Baldwin, the actor of "Batman: Time to Go to War", who was not even a third-tier film, has jumped to the ranks of first-line superstars, and Catwoman's actor Valerie Golino has also completely established himself in Hollywood.

The film's supporting actors, such as Willem Dafoe, Tommy Lee Jones and Anthony Hopkins, have all become famous.

It is conceivable that even if other films in the DC Cinematic Universe in the next few years can reach half the commercial height of "Batman: Time to War", it will mean too many rare opportunities for countless Hollywood filmmakers who are eager to make their mark.

Therefore, in order to get the invitation to tonight's celebration party, many people can be said to have done their best.

The originally planned party size of 200 people was eventually expanded to more than 500 people due to the irresistible human offensive of all parties.

The party started at seven o'clock in the evening, but just after six o'clock, the mansion in Palisades was already full of celebrities, and the large number of paparazzi who heard the news almost blocked the mountain road, and Amy had to send security personnel to maintain traffic outside the mansion.

As soon as the sky darkened, the mansion began to be full of glitz and glamour, with men and women in gorgeous costumes shuttling around the mansion, looking for every opportunity to let themselves climb to the sky.

The young man who many expected to shine brightest did not appear, so Daenerys Entertainment and Time Warner, as well as other Hollywood bigwigs, who attended the party, became the close partners of the party.

However, the reason why a circle is a circle is that some people think they are within reach, but they can't break into it anyway.

The main villa inside the mansion is not fully open this time.

At the entrance of the staircase leading to the second floor of the villa, two bodyguards stood with their hands crossed, from time to time blocking guests who wanted to go upstairs under various pretexts to get close to those big people.

In the study on the second floor, there were only Amy and Jonathan Friedman.

Amy leaned on the edge of the desk, crossed her arms, looked at Jonathan Friedman next to the bookshelf next to her with a serious expression, and said, "Joe, we must make this matter very clear today, Adam and Valerie's contract, as well as everyone else's contract, is absolutely impossible to modify." The DC Cinematic Universe is a big project, and if every movie is a big hit, and the actors feel that they don't have enough and ask for a change in their contract, then the plan can't go ahead. ”

Probably what kind of boss brings out what kind of employees, Jonathan Friedman felt that Amy clearly had Simon's breath on her when she said this: "Amy, even if the salary can't be changed, but other aspects, such as the character figure of "Batman: Time to War", which involves the image rights of the actors, I think Adam and Valerie should be entitled to a proper share of the toys that use their own image, and the restrictions in the contract on their participation in other films during the contract period are too harsh." ”

"Joe, I remember very well that the contract stipulated the corresponding derivatives licensing clauses. Moreover, what we make is not the figure of the actor himself, but the figure of the movie character they represent, in the end, they are just a carrier. As for the restrictions on their participation in other films, this is to ensure that they can fulfill their contracts smoothly. ”

Amy said this, paused, and continued: "Joe, if you need it, I can find the list of the last few shortlisted candidates for the role of Batman, you can see what kind of status they are in now, and what kind of coffee position Adam is. If it weren't for this role, Adam would still be just a small person who is not even a third-tier actor, and maybe he can only be such a small person for the rest of his life. Batman gave him everything. Simon and I mentioned that he never expected the actors he made popular to be grateful to him, he was a person who didn't believe in people's hearts, and he only hoped that those people would fulfill the promises he had signed. Moreover, if Adam's five contracts are completed, the total salary he can take away is $30.3 million, with an average of more than 6 million per film, which is already a first-line star level, and Daenerys Entertainment did not treat him badly. With the popularity that Batman brings, Adam can also participate in other movies and take on various commercials, which is enough to bring him a very good income, as well as others. So, Joe, I hope we've only talked about this once between us. ”

Jonathan Friedman quickly nodded after a brief silence and said with a soothing smile: "Okay, Amy, you know, we, the brokers, always have to obey the wishes of our clients. ”

Amy still had dissatisfaction on her face and said: "You can let them know how much Christopher Reeve was paid when he played "Superman", the first "Superman" sold $300 million worldwide, Reev's salary in the second "Superman" was only $500,000, and the third part barely rose to $1 million. Joe, if we hadn't signed a contract in advance, with the current results of "Batman: Time to War", they could have paid as much as they wanted for the sequel, 20 million, 30 million, or directly participate in the box office share, whether we accept it or not, it's their right. But since the contract is signed, it must be observed. ”

Since Amy has such an attitude, Jonathan knows that there is no way to end this matter, and it may be worse to talk to Simon directly, so he said, "Amy, I will tell them." ”

Seeing that Jonathan was leaving, Amy stopped him again and asked, "Joe, I need a name, who proposed to change the contract?"

Jonathan smiled wryly, "Amy, is this the end of this matter? ”

Amy and Jonathan looked at each other for a moment, nodded slightly, and said, "Joe, I want you to remind them that if you abide by the contract, we will have more opportunities to cooperate in the future." Otherwise, you know Simon's temperament, if someone gets in the way of the DC Cinematic Universe project, they won't have any place in Hollywood anymore. ”

In the living room downstairs of the villa, Adam Baldwin, who was chatting and laughing with some guests while being held by the stars, saw Jonathan appear and immediately walked up with an inquiring look in his eyes.

Adam Baldwin's agent, Matthew Steel, also came over.

Jonathan subconsciously glanced up the stairs and didn't find Amy, so he took Baldwin and the two to a corner in the backyard and communicated with them in a low voice.

Among the main creative actors of "Batman", the most emboldened attempt to renegotiate the contract with Daenerys Entertainment is undoubtedly Adam Baldwin, the actor of Bruce Wayne, Amy has obviously guessed this in her words just now, and finally asked for a name, just to get confirmation from Jonathan.

Jonathan's debt to the favor can be regarded as blocking a lot of things for Adam Baldwin.

However, upstairs in the villa, Amy didn't plan to forget about it directly.

Leaving the study, Amy went to another living room on the second floor, where Nancy, Jennifer, Valerie Golino, Sandra Bullock, and other ladies gathered, and the room and several sofas on the terrace were filled with women.

Greeting everyone, Amy called out her assistant Vanessa Lind, stood in the corridor outside and ordered: "You go and check tomorrow, what scripts Meg Ryan has read recently, which crews are in contact with, who she plans to work with, and I will see the results next Monday." ”

Vanessa didn't ask much and nodded, "Okay." ”

"Also," Amy added, "you tell the Finance Department tomorrow that the Batman: Time to War creative team reward plan that is being drawn up has been canceled, and there is no need to count it." ”

Vanessa was a little surprised this time, and asked uncertainly, "Cancellation?"

"That's right," Amy said, "besides, you've been trying to get the word out in the last few days, because someone wants to break the contract and re-sign the agreement, and all the cash prizes in the plan have been canceled." ”

Vanessa understood, nodded, and asked tentatively, "Amy, you don't really want to cancel, do you?"

$20 million, if it is all canceled because of some people's small actions, the creative team of "Batman: Time to War" will probably hate some people to death. It's just not known who is going to renegotiate the agreement.

Amy glared at her assistant: "Why do you ask so much, just do your own thing." ”

Vanessa shrunk her neck and said, "Okay, I got it." ”