Burbank, Universal Studios.

When Grace Nichols, CEO and president of the Victoria's Secret brand, was led to a fairytale town-like set community by a staff member, Simon had just finished a production meeting for "Desperate Housewives."

This 'fairy tale town' is naturally the set of Wisteria Street built by Simon from memory.

After saying goodbye to the creators of "Desperate Housewives", Simon greeted the small black-haired woman with glasses in front of him, and the two walked together along the neat asphalt road.

Leslie Wexnay's main focus is still on the transformation of LTD's fashion business to a 'fast fashion' operating model, and Simon is unlikely to spend too much time staring at this. Therefore, the preparation and implementation of the Victoria's Secret show are still in charge of Grace Nichols.

Grace Nichols, a marketing executive, was promoted to Victoria's Secret by Leslie Dexnell last year.

From this point, we can also see the management style of Wexner.

As a result, Simon is not 100 percent confident that Wexnay will be able to shift LTD's fashion business from a marketing-focused style to a 'fast fashion' model. However, as long as the Victoria's Secret brand is built, Cersei Capital's acquisition of LTD will be considered a success.

I've been in contact with it a few times before, so it's familiar.

Simon and Grace Nichols just chatted casually, and the conversation quickly turned to the point.

Grace Nichols still has scruples about some of the media feedback on the Victoria's Secret show: "Recently, there have been media accusations that the fashion show we are preparing is to sell sexy and objectify women, and I think maybe we should be more conservative this time." ”

Simon didn't have Grace Nichols' concerns, saying, "Leslie and I have discussed this issue, and controversy is inevitable. No matter what the outside world says, we should first confirm a positioning for this catwalk: Victoria's Secret fashion show, hoping to convey a fashionable, charming, healthy and romantic underwear consumption concept to consumers. ”

"I know that," Grace Nichols continued, "though, the media often doesn't think so. ”

"Some things, even if they are lies, you repeat them to the public a hundred times, and most people will believe them," Simon said, suddenly realizing something, turning his head to look at the woman next to him, and smiled: "Okay, about the media, I'll help say hello." ”

The freedom flaunted by the Western media is more of a freedom without interest.

If because you make a certain statement, it may cause some big financiers to withdraw advertising on media platforms, then this freedom is suddenly not free.

Daenerys Entertainment, or the entire Westeros system, is undoubtedly an advertiser that no mainstream media can ignore. Whether it is a mainstream newspaper or magazine, a professional film, technology or fashion newspaper and periodical, whether it is a cable television network or a wireless radio station, there are advertisements placed by various companies in the Westeros system.

Moreover, the media platforms in North America basically belong to some large integrated media companies.

For example, the Hearst Group, which owns countless newspapers and magazines, and the Metropolis/ABC Group, which owns the ABC television network and cable networks such as ESPN and AE, so even if one newspaper or television station has no interest in the Westeros system, it is difficult to guarantee that other media under the same parent company will be the same.

Many things in this world, in the end, there will only be two words left, interests.

Grace Nichols mentioned some of the encounters of the Victoria's Secret show in the media, and also hoped that Simon would use the connections of the Westeros system to turn around some public opinion.

Simon noticed this, or readily agreed, mainly because of this, the current LTD company is also part of the Westeros system of interest community, in terms of media, LTD company, is also a large advertising funder.

In order to make it more convenient to prepare for the Victoria's Secret show nearby, Simon specially allocated a studio in Universal Studios to the Victoria's Secret team.

In fact, it seems better to choose this studio directly in Malibu Daenerys Studios. However, Malibu's studios are now mostly used for filming, and more than half of them are professional virtual studios for shooting in front of the camera. Only the old studios at Universal Studios are still available.

After the acquisition of MCA was completed last year, many of the buildings on the Universal Studios side will be demolished to make use of new attractions, and the functional sound stage and post-production center will be used primarily for TV productions.

Hollywood's filmmaking is increasingly geared towards live-action shooting, and TV dramas are still widely used in studio filming until many years later.

The Victoria's Secret team chose a small studio with a length of 45 meters and a width of about 25 meters.

As soon as Simon and Grace turned into the corridor where the studio was located, they saw a lot of slim figures waiting at the entrance of the studio. Those figures apparently saw Simon for the first time, and there was obviously a commotion.

Today is the last round of interviews for Victoria's Secret Angels.

The 40-person Victoria's Secret Angel team, of which about 10 places are basically reserved, including 5 planned Victoria's Secret Angel spokespersons, and several other famous models who will participate in the Victoria's Secret catwalk but do not serve as spokespersons. The remaining 30 places will be selected from various modeling agencies.

In order to select a batch of complete **ODY, Simon also put forward very high requirements.

THE ELIMINATION OF THOSE WITH A HEIGHT OF LESS THAN 175CM, THE ELIMINATION OF NOT HAVING A BEAUTIFUL FACE, THE ELIMINATION OF NOT BEING GOOD ENOUGH IN STEPS, AND THE ELIMINATION OF A COMPLETE SET OF HARSH CONTRACTS OF VICTORI'S SECRET ANGEL CANNOT BE ACCEPTED.

The first three conditions are actually very easy to choose.

There is only one last one, to participate in this catwalk, for non-famous models, the Victoria's Secret team only gave a salary of 5,000 US dollars, which is basically only equivalent to a month's salary of a salaryman.

However, from the time the contract is finalized, the selected models will have to start preparing for the November catwalk, further body exercises, control their diet, participate in the catwalk rehearsal, participate in media activities according to the schedule of the Victoria's Secret show, and so on. In addition, the subsequent TV broadcasts and video sales of this catwalk have nothing to do with this group of models.

Of course, in the next four months, additional expenses such as the models' fitness and transportation will still be borne by Victoria's Secret.

The modeling industry eats the rice of youth.

Focusing on one thing for up to four months, with little to no end and a pitifully low pay, is a prohibitive requirement for many models who have already opened up their careers and are looking to take it to the next level.

The Victoria's Secret team responsible for casting did not make any concessions or demands on this.

Just like Hollywood actors, the fashion industry is also the most important thing to do is beautiful women.

Moreover, this show is a grand promotion for the Victoria's Secret brand, and for the models who participated in this show, it is a rare promotion of the fashion circle to the general public. Because the Victoria's Secret brand and Victoria's Secret Angel are a mutually beneficial relationship, Victoria's Secret has also designed a set of promotion plans for the Victoria's Secret Angel team.

is still the same sentence, the modeling circle is trying to rub the upper mode of celebrities and singers, in the final analysis, it is just for popularity.

The Victoria's Secret show is tantamount to giving a group of models a dazzling platform to stand directly in front of the public.

The two walked to the gate of the studio, and a series of active greetings suddenly sounded in their ears, and many girls looked at Simon with a bit of burning eagerness in their eyes. It's just that there are probably too many people, and until Simon passes through a group of big goblins, none of them dare to step forward.

Simon also saw a lot of familiar figures in his memory, but this kind of thing is difficult to cause any waves in his heart now.

After several rounds of selection in advance, the final 30 places, a total of 100 candidates.

The waiting area inside the studio couldn't fit in, so it was lined up all the way to the outside gate.

Entering the studio, the thousands of square meters of space have been separated into several work areas, and there are all kinds of space for the design and production of dressing rooms, dressing rooms and angel suits. The innermost part of the studio is the most spacious space, and there is a 20-meter-long catwalk where the auditions will take place.

The audition process has been designed for a long time.

Change your outfit, log in to the catwalk to show your body steps, communicate simply, and then the next one.

So, in just one afternoon, 100 people passed quickly, and many of the models who were expecting to 'interact' with Westeros didn't find any opportunities.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, in the brightly lit studio, the audition ended, and Simon continued to discuss with the Victoria's Secret preparatory team the issue of the reserved 10 places.

Of the five spokespersons, Cindy Crawford is the first, and this supermodel, who is already biased towards commercialization, also accepted the invitation to Victoria's Secret three-year endorsement contract for the first time, of course, the endorsement fee is also expensive, $5 million for three years. Of course, this part of the expenditure is the responsibility of Victoria's Secret itself, and it is not included in the budget of the Victoria's Secret show.

Subsequently, Yasmin Gary, who Simon accidentally became popular last year, was the second.

This 'waist spirit' was one of the spokespersons of Victoria's Secret in the original timeline, and Jasmine Gary is a very suitable candidate in terms of appearance and figure or the racial diversity of the spokesperson.

Although there is already Yasmin Gary, an Asian-American mixed-race, the five spokespersons, if there are no blacks, it would definitely not be possible, and 19-year-old Tyra Banks was selected. The black model made her debut at the age of 15, and for a model, 19 years old is already considered an old age, and the other party's fame is enough.

In fact, Naomi Campbell is also recommended.

Although the black supermodel was fired from the Elite agency last year because of various bad deeds, because of his solid foundation, he is still active in the fashion circle after changing agencies.

It's just that, as we all know, this black supermodel is really difficult to do, and short-term cooperation is no problem, if it is a long-term endorsement, it can be imagined that it is definitely troublesome.

After Cindy Crawford, Jasmin Gary and Tyra Banks, Simon chose Helena Christensen and Stephanie Seymour with two spots remaining.

Compared with Cindy Crawford's three-year endorsement fee of $5 million, the endorsement fee of the last four angel spokespersons is exactly flipped, $3 million in five years.

In addition to the five spokespersons, the remaining five supermodels who will attend the event are also basically confirmed, and they are also Linda Ivan Golinsta, Claudia Schiffer and other most well-known supermodels of this era.

The next day was another Friday.

It's July 3rd, and this year's Solitaire Day holiday happens to be Saturday.

As one of the hottest schedules in July, on July 3, a total of three heavyweight films were released in North American theaters, namely Daenerys and Warner Bros.'s collaboration project "The Last Mohican", Disney's sci-fi family comedy "Honey, I Grew My Kids Up" and Paramount Pictures' "Patriot Game".

"Killing Hour," which opened the week before, ended up grossing $23.73 million in its first week.

Limited to the subject matter, such a opening result is not high, but it has also met expectations, the key is to see the follow-up box office trend of the film.

Although this solitary day holiday is on Saturday, salarymen in the United States generally arrange their annual leave during this time, so this period is still popular.

Yesterday spent an afternoon preparing for the Victoria's Secret show, and Simon flew to San Francisco again this morning.

After half a year of preparation, Blockbuster's online platform was launched just in time for the Solo Day holiday, and Nancy Brill hopes that Simon will be able to attend the launch today.

As the largest videotape chain in North America and even in the world, the press conference of 'Blockbuster Online' naturally attracted a lot of media attention. The event was also held in the conference hall of the Marriott Hotel in downtown San Francisco.

Simon arrives at the Marriott Hotel, and the launch is about to begin.

Just said hello to today's guests, and everyone began to enter the venue and take their seats.

At 10 o'clock, the press conference officially began.

Blockbuster's executives gave a detailed introduction to the development process of Blockbuster Online, the application process of the website, and the outlook for the future of the online business, while Nancy Brill discussed with Simon the problems faced by Blockbuster at this time.

A few years after taking over Blockbuster, the current video cassette chain has more than 4,300 chain stores worldwide, and Nancy's ultimate goal is to have 5,000 chain stores worldwide, including 3,500 in North America and 1,500 overseas.

This goal will probably be achieved by next year at the latest.

Compared with the scale of more than 9,000 chain stores in the world in the heyday of Blockbuster in memory, the 5,000 chain stores seem to have shrunk by half, but now Blockbuster, under the operation of Nancy Brill and the Blockbuster team, through the continuous optimization of the operation model and warehousing and logistics system, is more powerful than Blockbuster, which is just a pursuit of scale in the original time and space.

However, in Nancy Brill's view, the current BesTV still faces many problems that need to be changed.