Seeing Ovitz come out, David O'Donnell, who was talking to Mia Sara, nodded to him and left first.

Some things are best arranged by the boss himself.

Motioning for the two to follow him back to the office, everyone sat down, Michael Ovitz handed over the script and said to the two: "I just remind you, this is the script that Simon Westeros personally fancied, audition in three days, in the past few days, the two of you have to eat the script thoroughly even if you don't sleep, some people may have this one chance in their lives, and if they mess up, they will be gone." ”

Although CAA is a cross-agency system, brokers are interlocked, and no one can absolutely grasp certain customers, but different levels of brokers are still distinct.

Mark Ferguson and Mia Sara, though not at the bottom, are the kind that Ovitz doesn't notice on a daily basis, and hearing him say this at this time makes them a little trembling and inevitably excited.

Simon Westeros personally saw the script, and all of Hollywood understood what that meant.

If Mia Sara can get the role, the already hopeless career is likely to be revived, and Mark Ferguson, who is 37 years old this year, can also take a step forward.

The two flipped over and over, and Ovitz turned his gaze to Mia Sara, and asked in a casual tone, "Mia, do you have a boyfriend now?"

Mia Sara didn't know why Ovitz asked about this for a while, and felt that her calf was kicked by her agent, and she was still a little confused, and she said honestly after a little hesitation: "I've been dating Jason Connery recently, and it's Mr. Sean Connery's son." ”

Michael Ovitz smiled a slightly formulaic smile when he heard this, and nodded, "Jason is good." So, that's it, remember to prepare this script carefully. ”

After saying that, he got up to see off the guests.

Mark Ferguson said goodbye to Ovitz respectfully, just went out, glanced at Mia Sara, who was holding the script next to him with a happy face, became more and more depressed, and silently walked all the way until he arrived at the underground parking lot of the CAA building, Mark Ferguson came to his black Chevrolet, pressed the remote control car lock, but suddenly couldn't help it anymore and kicked it hard.

Bang –

In the reverberating muffled sound, a large piece of the car door on one side had been recessed, and the middle-aged man, who was already close to not confused, was not tall and a little bald, and still did not calm down after a kick, and kicked a few more times in a row, and cursed quickly in a low voice in his mouth.

Mia Sara looked at the agent who suddenly erupted, her original happy expression turned to horror, she didn't know what was going on, she could only back a little, until the agent finished venting and got into the car, she hesitated to pull the car door and sit in the passenger seat.

It wasn't until the Black Chevrolet pulled out of the parking lot that Mia Sara finally asked, "Mark, am I doing something wrong?"

The agent, who had calmed down a bit, looked straight ahead, and involuntarily raised his foot to slam on the accelerator, but let go suddenly: "What do you say?"

Mia Sarannen said, "I, I don't understand. ”

Mark Ferguson suddenly sneered, still not looking at her, and said stiffly, "You think you can get extra care by telling Mr. Ovitz that you're dating Jason Connerry?"

Mia Sara doesn't speak, that's what she thinks.

As the first big name to sign with CAA that year, Sean Connery has always been quite detached in this talent agency. It was Connelly who opened up the situation for the grass stage team of Ovitz and several people, and in order to show respect and gratitude to the veteran 007 actor, the CAA headquarters has reserved a special office for each other.

Mia Sara met Jason Connery while filming an HBO TV movie last year, and after being courted by the other party, they quickly began to fall in love, of course, with the idea of using Jason Connery's father, Sean Connery, to help him get some resources.

Even if you still can't turn over in the end, if you marry each other, it can be regarded as a good home.

After all, although Jason Connery completely relied on his father's relationship to get mixed up in Hollywood, he is the most unsuccessful second generation of Hollywood, but Sean Connery is still very rich, and he will not leave it to his son in the future.

Mark Ferguson saw that the woman next to him obviously hadn't reacted yet, and couldn't help but remind: "Then you haven't thought about it, why did Mr. Ovitz ask about this just now?"

Mia Sara was stunned, the agent had reminded her here, and of course she was not incorrigibly stupid.

This kind of thing, Hollywood is actually very common.

The atmosphere fell silent again, and the car drove for a while, and Mark Ferguson sneered again: "Got it, Simon Westeros, that's Simon Westeros, ha, think Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Valerie Golino, Famick Jensen...... Think about these people, think about yourself, Mia, do you understand what you're missing out on now?"

"I ......" Mia Sara of course understood, her face turned red and pale, and then she took out the script she had just put in her satchel and said to her agent: "Mark, this script, didn't I already get the script, it should be ...... I'm breaking up with Jason tonight, tonight. ”

Mark Ferguson wanted to sneer again, but in the end he held back a little dejectedly, and said: "This script must have been given to you by Westeros, but if Westeros's purpose is very clear, that is, to be interested in you, do you think Mr. Ovitz still needs to ask you that question just now?"

Mia Sarah's expression flickered for a moment, and she fully understood.

The joy of just getting the script suddenly disappeared.

Since the script of "Horror Ghost" was sent to her by Simon Westeros himself, it means that the big man noticed her as a small actor. It's just that the other party obviously didn't express a clear purpose, such as inviting them to dinner together.

The subtext of Michael Ovitz's question is not actually to ask her if she is single, in Hollywood, even if she is married, what is it, the other party is actually testing whether she is willing or not.

If she wants, she may find an opportunity to send her to Westeros.

Then, as long as she catches that man, even if she is now 29 years old, with the energy of the other party, she still has the opportunity to be tied with the series of actresses just cited by her agent.

That's a thousand times ten thousand times stronger than a son of Sean Connery.

As a result, she just messed up.

Or because of Sean Connery.

If she didn't mention Jason Connery's name just now, and didn't mention Sean Connery, even if she said that she was married, a certain CAA boss would be able to continue to help her connect and make plans to contact Simon Westeros.

It's Sean Connery.

In fact, because of the rapid changes in the Hollywood landscape over the years, Sean Connery, like many old Hollywood celebrities, has entered a trough in his career, and now Hollywood is already the world of a large number of new generations with the main creators of the DC Cinematic Universe as the core.

However, Sean Connery's significance to CAA is so special.

It's like the office that CAA headquarters is permanently reserved for Connally. Sean Connery is a symbol of CAA, a benchmark used by CAA to show attitude towards star actors.

Therefore, Michael Ovitz will not do anything that could damage the relationship between CAA and Connery. Introducing the other party's son and girlfriend to another Hollywood bigwig, not to mention exposing it in the face, even if it spreads in private, it will seriously damage the prestige of CAA, after all, many people will think, Ovitz, is this how you treated the great benefactor who helped you achieve your career back then?

All in all, even if she had the opportunity to get her hands on Westeros through this project, there are certain factors that could have led to Michael Ovitz creating obstacles in turn.

Thinking that she entered this circle at the age of 17, she has been stumbling for so many years, she is about to be 30 years old, and she is just a third-tier actor who is still going downhill, and just now, she missed another opportunity that may be the last step to the sky in this life, Mia Sara feels that her heart is getting more and more empty, her nose is getting more and more sore, and her eyes are getting more and more astringent

Los Angeles at the end of the day.

In the busy traffic of Santa Monica Boulevard, some oncoming drivers could only faintly notice a black-haired woman in the passenger seat of a black Chevrolet covering her face, and she didn't know what was going on.

......

Hollywood is a circle.

Compared with CAA, as the strongest spider king at the core of this big web, Simon is more well-informed.

The following weekend, news of the Middle-earth cinematic universe reached Simon's ears.

Whether inside or outside the circle, many people have directly or indirectly asked him about the news.

If Daenerys Entertainment really wants to create a Middle-earth cinematic universe, it will definitely involve all aspects of interests, and the level of this series will basically be the same as that of the DC cinematic universe, and it will no longer be a small volume like the Conjuring cinematic universe.

Therefore, Warner, for example, must be worried about whether the DC Cinematic Universe, which is firmly held in Simon's hands, will be marginalized, and whether it will sacrifice the DC Cinematic Universe for the benefit of the Middle-earth Cinematic Universe. The first consideration of major talent agencies is how to get a share of this big plan. There are other film companies, everyone's life is already so difficult, if someone puts another giant beast out, is it still alive?

To tell the truth, Simon had long planned to bring the entire Middle-earth franchise to the big screen, but he didn't think about the so-called Middle-earth cinematic universe because it wasn't suitable.

Whether it is the historic Marvel and DC, or the Warrens who have been supernatural investigators for decades, they have accumulated a lot of material for the creation of the two major cinematic universes, compared to Tol King's Middle-earth series, although the setting background is grand, but the overall story is clear at a glance, even the "Hobbit" trilogy series in the original time and space is actually known to be deliberately filled far-fetched, and this movie can be finished.

It is certainly not impossible to forcibly expand into a cinematic universe.

It's just that doing so will only add another assembly line to Hollywood, and what may be lost may be the waves and heaviness of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy that can go down in the annals of film history.

Simon wasn't going to do that.

At least, Simon wasn't going to do that until Peter Jackson's version of Middle-earth was complete.

How it will be in the future, we will talk about it in the future.

Of course, except for a few people who need to explain a few words, Simon has no intention of clarifying the misunderstanding about the Middle-earth cinematic universe, which is not a bad thing for future film series.

April 15th.

Monday.

After a short weekend, a busy week has arrived.

The most talked-about event in the Westeros system this week was supposed to be the listing of Melisandre on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, April 19, but on Monday, Westeros suddenly made public a shareholding report that attracted widespread attention.

This is actually a fulfillment of Simon's promise with Warren Buffett last year.

During the initial discussion of the acquisition of the Met's ABC Group, Simon and Buffett, as the majority shareholder of the deal, formed a tacit understanding that he would increase his stake in the company by more than 5% on the eve of this year's annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, in order to use the prestige of the Westeros system to increase investor confidence in Buffett and, most importantly, reduce the pressure on Buffett for his consistent refusal to invest in technology stocks.

In the late 90s, Berkshire Hathaway's stock price continued to fall because it had been refusing to invest in the new technology field that had fallen into a frenzy, and many shareholders jumped out to accuse Buffett of missing the best investment opportunity of this era, and some people threw eggs at Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting.

Simon started a new wave of technology ahead of schedule, and Warren Buffett, whose investment philosophy has not changed, still insists on rejecting technology stocks, and has faced increasing pressure in recent years.

Fortunately, last year, through Daenerys Entertainment's acquisition of Metropolis ABC Group, Berkshire Hathaway became a popular shareholder of Daenerys Entertainment Group through a share swap. Prior to the Tinkobar IPO, Berkshire Hathaway also participated in the subscription of new shares worth $60 million.

These operations, which are affiliated with the popularity of the Westeros system, have somewhat alleviated the pressure on Buffett.

This time, the Westeros system directly stood up and raised Berkshire Hathaway's shares, which had quietly absorbed 4.9%, to 5.1%, and publicly made a baby to the SEC, which is actually equivalent to Simon personally standing up for Buffett and supporting Berkshire Hathaway's business strategy.

With Berkshire Hathaway's share price up 3.5 percent on Monday, at least no one will throw eggs at Buffett at next month's 1996 annual meeting.

New York.

Simon flew here yesterday afternoon and was at ABC's headquarters on the Upper West Side all day Monday.

The first season of "American Idol" ended its last episode on March 28, with a cumulative average viewership of 33.6 million, because of the high attention of the official event in the second half of the season, the average of 32 episodes was nearly 2 million viewers higher than the 31.7 million in the first half of last year, and the last episode, the peak ratings rushed to 51.3 million, which is a miracle.

Such a hot result, of course, can't stop there.

While directly establishing the second season, it also added 4 special programs after the end of the season, mainly behind-the-scenes footage, award-winning interviews, etc., which was just broadcast last Thursday, and the average ratings of the 4 episodes also reached 23.9 million.

Counting the extra 4 episodes of some undisciplined leftovers, the entire first season of "American Idol", just the interstitial advertising revenue in the middle of the program, has reached 690 million US dollars, and the 32 feature films, just the interstitial advertising revenue has reached 650 million US dollars, and the income from title sponsorship in other programs and the purchase of production rights by overseas TV stations has also reached 170 million.

The entire "American Idol" project, so far, has earned a total of $860 million. Excluding the $230 million spent on production and distribution of the project, the reality show, with a staggering $630 million in gross profit in its first quarter alone, is expected to contribute more than one-third of the profits of Daenerys' Entertainment TV division in fiscal 1996.

It's just against the sky.

Therefore, Simon did not dare to despise such a hen that lays golden eggs, and personally participated in the summary of the first season and the planning meeting of the second season in the morning.

Immediately after that, the afternoon schedule is equally important.

It was also a conference in which the Daenerys Television Division and the Eagle Portal teams participated on the topic of the upcoming Atlanta Olympics, which will open on July 19.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Olympic Games, and it is of great significance.

Speaking of Simon, he is also depressed, the broadcast rights of this Olympic Games have been won by NBC in 1993 with a price of 456 million US dollars, at that time Simon could not interfere with ABC's decision, and Tom Murphy and Warren Buffett were conservative and stingy in sports spending, so naturally they failed to compete with NBC.

Daenerys Entertainment will definitely miss out on this year, and under the premise that Daenerys Entertainment joins the spending on sports events and supports ESPN in a big way, it will definitely not be able to sit idly by in the future.

That's an afterword.

Although there is no broadcasting rights, Daenerys cannot remain indifferent.

The Olympics could not be broadcast, so news interviews and the like could still be done in a big way, and in order to reduce costs, Daenerys and Igrete will team up to cover both TV and online.

As soon as the meeting began, Jeff Bezos, who flew in person to attend the meeting, first mentioned a bad news: "Regarding the negotiation of the online broadcast rights of the Olympic events, NBC has very strong resistance, the other side initially asked for a six-month window, several negotiations, and now it is still 45 days, that is, 45 days after the closing of the Olympics, we can only play the video of the event on YouTube." If it's a movie or a TV series, it's okay, but the timeliness of the sporting event is too strong, 45 days, by then the heat of the Olympics has completely disappeared, and the Olympic Committee's offer is stuck at $120 million, I don't think there is any need to continue. ”

Jeff Bezos is talking about the negotiation between Igrett and the International Olympic Committee on the purchase of the online broadcast rights of the Olympic events, not live broadcasts, large-scale races like the Olympic Games, the current network conditions live broadcast is not realistic, but the YouTube platform broadcast rights of the videos of major events.

In this large-scale sporting event, the core is the game after all.

Because of the huge commercial interests of the sports industry in Western society, copyright is also very important. The rights to the Olympic Games belong to the International Olympic Committee, and both NBC and other national television stations have purchased the rights to broadcast them.

Now that the broadcast rights have been missed, the Westeros system is considering trying to make the videos of the major events available on YouTube as soon as possible.

Now, it's clear that things aren't going as planned.

Igrett wants to get the online broadcast rights of the game video, and the biggest resistance is obviously to spend a huge amount of money to buy the broadcast rights, so he proposed a window period similar to the concept of film distribution, 45 days, which seems to be much more broken than the 3-month window around the movie theater chain distribution and video, but for sports events that focus on effectiveness, this is basically worthless.

After all, sports events are a heartbeat, and the focus is often on the result.

When the dust settles, except for a few particularly exciting games, most of the games will no longer be of interest to the public.

Igrett also did not have the luxury of getting the right to play the game video in real time, and also considered the window period, however, the reasonable window period that can be accepted here is 3 days, and the longest can not exceed 7 days, but NBC insists on 45 days, the difference is too big, and the offer of the Olympic Organizing Committee is obviously with a tendency to slaughter fat sheep, so there is really no need to talk about it.

Simon, who personally presided over the meeting, waited for Bezos to finish speaking, and wanted to express his position directly, no longer wasting time, but after a slight pause, he still looked at everyone: "Do you have any opinions, tell me." ”