Daenerys Pictures Headquarters.

Jennifer Raybould knocked lightly on the door of the editing room, and after receiving a response, she pushed the door open and said to Simon, who was busy in front of the editing desk, "Boss, it's already four o'clock." ”

Simon just nodded slightly, his eyes still fell on the monitor screen of the editing table, and his subordinates kept moving, "Wait a minute, it'll be fine right away." ”

Jennifer didn't say anything more, walked in with a light step, closed the studio door behind her, and watched Simon work quietly with the slight click of the equipment. "Vulgar" has a good budget, and Simon doesn't need to do everything. The film's previous rough cut was done by a professional editor, but during the fine editing stage, Simon decided to do it himself.

Back in Los Angeles, Simon spends most of these days in the company's editing room.

After a while, Simon archived the footage and began to organize the tape notes and other items on the editing table. Jennifer also stepped forward, skillfully helping Simon put the tapes and other items into the safe in the corner of the editing room.

After secretly spending a quiet time with him in this way, and leaving the editing room, Jennifer talked about today's work: "I have collected the information of some mainstream record companies and second- and third-tier labels in North America, and put them on your office desk; Mr. Steve Jobs's secretary responded in the morning, and the other party said that Jobs had no intention of selling Pixar; Mr. Ed McCracken, CEO of Silicon Chart, invited you to visit the headquarters of Silicon Chart in San Francisco recently; Mr. Gates' assistant called, and Gates was coming to Los Angeles next Monday to have lunch with you, and, well, an invitation to speak at Stanford. ”

Simon took Jennifer through the corridor, took the invitation from Stanford University from her hand, looked at it, handed it back, and said, "If there is another invitation like this, just push it down, I will give them a speech is simply spreading negative energy: Look, that guy is the same age as us, God is really unfair." ”

Jennifer chuckled, put the invitation in the folder, hugged it to her chest, looked up, and asked, "What about Mr. McCracken's and Mr. Gates' invitations?"

"I'm definitely going to San Francisco once, but I don't have time lately, so I need to push it back. As for Gates, you book a restaurant, we are the hosts, always be welcoming. Also, it occurred to me today that now that all those stocks have been exposed, I already have the right to claim a seat on the board of directors of Westeros companies based on their shareholdings. Ask your dad if he would be interested in serving as a director for me in these companies. I don't have that much time myself. So, my idea is, George is in charge of the West Coast businesses in these companies, and your dad is in charge of the East Coast. ”

Westeros' 4.9 percent stake in 26 tech companies would essentially allow Simon to become the majority shareholder of these companies.

If these holdings are not exposed, Simon also intends to be a quiet individual shareholder, hiding in the dark and watching the development of these companies. Now, now that these holdings are well known, Simon has decided to claim his rights as a shareholder.

In theory, the board of directors is usually the most direct body for shareholders of a listed company to exercise their powers, and the company's management is also appointed by the board of directors in most cases. As long as Simon has a seat on the board of directors of the respective companies, he will be able to exert his influence on the future development of these companies.

Jennifer followed Simon, jot down the restaurant reservations in her memo as she went. Hearing Simon's last words, her expression suddenly became a little surprised, as well as a little inexplicably shy. Just as they were about to say something, the two had already arrived in a conference room of the company, and Jennifer had to give up the idea of asking questions for a while and sat down at the conference table with Simon.

But it was hard to calm down in my heart.

The most direct manifestation of the power of the American consortium is that it controls hundreds of board seats in a large number of corporate giants around the world.

Simon's current wealth is certainly not comparable to any of the top 10 conglomerates in the United States, but if he can win board seats in all 26 companies, it is definitely a strength that should not be underestimated.

If Simon did let his father and uncle serve as directors of these companies, with Simon Westeros's status as the spokesman for his vast wealth and the influence represented by his board seats, the Raybould and Norman families would have been able to step from the humble family of lawyers to the most influential class in the country.

After all, billions of dollars of wealth are definitely more than a simple series of numbers on the surface.

Simon and Jennifer sat down at the conference table, there were actually only four people in the room, the other two were Amy and her assistant named Vanessa Lind, when Amy was just poached, Daenerys Films had to pay Vanessa's salary out of her own pocket due to lack of funds.

Naturally, this will not happen again.

However, the meeting room with only four people still shows the essence of Daenerys Films, which is still a small workshop. On a day-to-day basis, including Simon, there are only fifteen permanent employees in the two-story office building of Daenerys Films, who are responsible for all the work such as finance, sending and receiving, and logistics. As for the filmmaking, it was completely done by Simon, the boss, and Amy Pascal.

Today is Wednesday, December 16th.

Daenerys Pictures' planned 1987 film project, "The Grim Reaper," is nearing its end.

From the opening of the painting on October 23 to the present, in seven and a half weeks, the cumulative box office of "The Grim Reaper" has reached $67.53 million. With news of Simon's sudden emergence as a billionaire in November inevitably boosted the film's box office, "Here Comes the Grim Reaper" easily beat expectations of $60 million.

At present, "The Grim Reaper" temporarily ranks 7th in the annual box office list in North America with a box office of $67.43 million, following "Iron Mask Selfless" starring Sean Connery in the summer. The film had previously grossed $1.06 million over the weekend of Dec. 11 to Dec. 13, and in the next few weeks, the film's total box office before the end of the season was enough to easily break the $70 million mark.

Simonte has paid attention to the two major films at the end of the year.

According to the information in memory, the Thanksgiving file and Christmas file, as well as "Three Daddy and One Baby" released on November 25, and the following "Moonlight Sultry" on December 18, and "Good Morning Vietnam" on December 25 are expected to squeeze into the top ten of the annual list, and the others are not enough to pose a threat to "Death is Coming".

As a result, "The Grim Reaper" unexpectedly stepped into the top 10 from the expected top 15 of the North American box office charts, and not surprisingly, the film will be ranked 10th on the annual box office list.

Counting "Lola Run", which firmly holds the No. 1 position, and "The Butterfly Effect", which temporarily ranks No. 4, the three films related to Simon in 1987 all squeezed into the top 10 of the North American box office charts.

Even though Simon's operation in the financial markets has shocked the whole world, in recent weeks, with "The Grim Reaper" surpassing films such as "The Witch of Easttown", "Lethal Weapon" and "The Road to Prosperity" to take No. 7 on the annual list, Simon's personal innovation of squeezing all three films a year into the top 10 of the annual box office list still makes the whole Hollywood look sideways.

Therefore, although "Vulgar" and "When Harry Met Sally" are still in post-production, with the blessing of more than a billion dollars of personal wealth and the halo of three consecutive top 10 films at the annual box office, the capital market has finally completely opened its doors to Simon.

Simon is actually very much in favor of the principle of not investing in movies with your own money.

In this world, no matter what industry, using other people's money to make your own profits is absolutely king. It's just that even before the revelation of that fortune in November, Simon hadn't reached the point where he had someone else pay for himself.

Right now.

Daenerys Films, like the Big Seven and Orion Pictures, has finally been granted the ability to obtain loans from banks simply through brand guarantees. Obviously, Daenerys Films' brand guarantee is Simon himself.

Inside the conference room.

Amy Pascal waited for Simon and Jennifer to sit down, then handed over a folder and said, "Simon, it's been negotiated, this is the draft contract." Wells Fargo is willing to lend Daenerys Pictures $100 million for a five-year loan at an annual interest rate of 6.5%. ”

Simon took the document and flipped through it, and couldn't help but say, "6.5%, it's still a bit high." ”

"If it had been before the crash, we might have been able to get 5 percent," Amy said, looking at Simon, explaining, "and banks are generally tightening lending right now." The 6.5% is the result of a long discussion between me and Wells Fargo. As you know, Paul Olson's initial interest rate was 8%. In addition, the $10 million loan of "Instinct" is not included in this money, and it is still collateralized through the "Death Comes" sharing contract, with an annual interest rate of 5% and a term of 3 years. ”

Paul Olson is the same senior vice president of Wells Fargo that Simon approached when he got the $20 million loan last time, and he has the connection to the last loan, and this cooperation can be said to be the result of the two sides hitting it off after contacting each other.

Simon smiled and nodded, continuing to look through the draft contract in his hand.

With less than an hour to go, Amy didn't wait for Simon to finish watching it before she continued, "Simon, I've already spoken to Wes Craven and he's happy to continue working with us on the next film." However, he also wanted to be able to see the script first. ”

"The Grim Reaper" squeezed into the top 10 of the North American box office, although everyone knows that this is largely due to Simon's personal script and popularity, but as a director, like Brian De Palma, who returned to the peak of his career, Wes Craven has also been promoted to a first-line director.

"I've got a good idea, probably a campus thriller, and I'm going to find time to write a synopsis for the next two days. However, I don't have that much time to polish the script right now, so you can discuss it with Wes and hire another screenwriter to write it. ”

Amy heard Simon say this, and subconsciously said, "What about the signature?"

Simon smiled and said, "Three movies this year is enough, Amy, how much do you think the audience can maintain interest in Hollywood with seven or eight films written by Simon Westeros a year?"

Amy captured another layer of meaning in Simon's words, propped her arms on the conference table and gently raised her hand to gesticulate: "Simon, you mean, we are going to make seven or eight movies next year?"

"Not just movies, of course, but TV shows," Simon flicked off the draft contract in front of him, "otherwise, where would we need so much money." So, then, you can go ahead and hire people, and next year we're not only going to get into the TV space, but we're going to try to distribute the film on our own. ”

Although she had expected it, Amy couldn't help but feel that Simon was a little too eager. However, thinking about the series of miracles created by the young man in front of her in the past year, Amy nodded quickly.