Santa Monica Airport.

The time is Monday afternoon, September 18th.

Nancy Brill was standing on the runway with two other bodyguards who drove over to pick them up.

As Gulfstream IV landed and stopped, the cabin door opened, and Nancy saw Simon and two other beautiful women who were too tall for her to reach out of the dust, laughing and walking off the plane, one of the women in a crop top T-shirt and denim hot pants was also affectionately holding Simon's arm, and the two long legs that were exposed were dazzling.

When the three approached, Simon was a little surprised by Nancy's appearance, but he still smiled and introduced the woman next to him: "Nancy, this is Ella, and this is Jerry." ”

Ella McPherson was a little curious about the petite woman in front of her, and didn't quite understand Nancy's identity, so she let go of Simon's arm and politely shook hands with her, and Jerry Hall also stepped forward to greet her. After the three girls had chatted a few words, Simon said to Ella McPherson and Jerry Hall: "There is still work, how about someone send you back first?"

"Okay," Ella McPherson replied with a smile, leaned over and kissed Simon, "Great weekend, Simon, and hopefully there will be a chance next time." ”

"Definitely. ”

Simon patted the woman's delicate waist, hugged Jerry Hall, and ordered Neil Bennett to drive the two girls away.

Seeing off the two women, Simon and Nancy get into another car.

The black limousine drove out of the airport, and Simon asked Nancy, who was still looking at him with strange eyes, "What the hell is going on with Alista Records in such a hurry to get me back?"

Nancy didn't rush to answer, but asked, "You, with those two women?"

Simon smiled and raised his hand to the top of Nancy's head to his chest, and smiled, "Envy, right?"

Seeing Simon joking about his height, Nancy was obviously changing the subject, and unceremoniously criticized: "The man with a heart of flowers." ”

As he spoke, he glanced at the man threateningly.

Simon immediately 'retreated' and said in a low voice: "Help me keep it secret and give you a salary increase." ”

Nancy said disdainfully: "This is your private matter, so I won't gossip." Well, though, Ella McPherson is okay, that, that Jerry Hall, like...... Who does it look like?"

Simon interrupted Nancy's thoughts, smiled and increased the stakes, "Double the salary." ”

Nancy rolled her eyes, no longer dwelling on the matter, but did not forget to add: "Ridiculous man." ”

Simon put away his expression and said, "Okay, let's get down to business, I originally planned to come back tomorrow morning." ”

Attending a party at Jonathan's house the night before, Simon left with two women afterwards.

Simon never intended to treat himself badly in this kind of thing, and he didn't care what others would think. The woman you fancy will not miss as long as you have the opportunity to eat it.

Recently, the paparazzi around me chased too closely and didn't want to be bothered by some messy things, so after some inquiry, I borrowed a vacation home with a private beach on Lanai, Hawaii, from Steve Ross, and then flew over with two women for a day and a night.

I have to say that the entanglement of four long legs is really evocative.

Ben was a little reluctant to come back tomorrow, but there were several phone calls from Los Angeles and he had to return early.

Simon felt that if it was just a matter of the company, no matter how urgent he was, he would not be so angry.

There is likely to be a 'mastermind' behind the matter.

Well.

For example, a female assistant who likes to be jealous.

Simon, of course, won't tell Jennifer about this, but women probably have instinctive instincts when it comes to this kind of thing.

Nancy no longer paid attention to Simon's private affairs, took out a stack of documents from her satchel and handed them over, and said: "According to the contract we signed with Alista Records, the revenue of the original soundtrack of "Bodyguard" is settled every three months, the record will be released on June 5, and the first revenue settlement should be closed on September 3, which is Sunday, and the record sales are exactly 14 weeks, and they have not been released overseas, and the total local sales are 12.16 million copies. ”

Simon flipped through the information Nancy handed over and asked, "And then?"

"When the person in charge of our side asked for the settlement, Clive Davis, president of Alista Records, had been trying to pass the buck and wanted to change the terms of the contract to be settled on a quarterly basis for each calendar year, saying that it would facilitate the financial audit of Alista Records. Although it was three months, it was obvious that Alista Records was only delaying the payment by doing so, and I personally communicated with Clive Davis for two weeks, and it was not until last Friday when the end of work that Alista Records sent over the statistical account distribution statement, saying that it would take another week for the funds to be disbursed. ”

Nancy said, reaching over and flipping through the document in front of Simon a few times, and said, "This is it." With 12.16 million records sold, according to the original agreement, we should have received more than $30 million in shares, but Alista Records only gave us $23.19 million. That's just too much, and Clive Davis probably counted all of their company's spending over the past few months into the cost of the "Bodyguard" soundtrack. ”

Simon had some knowledge of the record industry early on.

For singers who want to make a name for themselves, the cost of producing and distributing records is indeed a big expense, and some unknown singers will do almost anything to get the record company to help them release their records.

However, once the record was a big hit, it was also very profitable.

For best-selling records, the gross profit that a record label can get from each record will not be less than 50% of the selling price, as in the case of a phenomenal hit like the "Bodyguard" soundtrack, because the huge sales dilute the cost, and the profit margin is higher.

The original contract signed between Daenerys Entertainment and Alista Records was that both parties would each receive 50% of the gross profit of the original soundtrack of "The Bodyguard", to be precise, after deducting the expenses on production, marketing, distribution and singer sharing, the two parties will divide the remaining pre-tax profits fifty-fifty.

In just three months after it hit the shelves, the local sales of the soundtrack record reached 12.16 million copies, with sales exceeding $120 million. As is industry practice, Daenerys Entertainment's expected share revenue really shouldn't be less than $30 million.

Simon wasn't surprised that Alista Records was doing this.

Hollywood, a low-cost film with a production cost of 5 million, sold 300 million worldwide, but it was still calculated as a loss by the film company, and refusing to pay the main creator's share abounded.

After only a few pages, Simon closed the report and asked Nancy, "Have you talked to Clive Davis?"

"I went to Burbank in the morning and Clive Davis insisted that there was nothing wrong with this statement. I asked for a financial review, and he said that if we had to do this, it could affect the subsequent release of the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard." Simon, he's threatening us. ”

The expected global sales of the soundtrack record of "Bodyguard" are between 40 million and 50 million copies, and according to the current sales data, there is still at least 10 million copies of sales potential in North America alone.

The success of the "Bodyguard" movie was largely spurred by the success of the soundtrack, and this is well known. Clive Davis's words were indeed a clear threat. Daenerys Entertainment does not yet have the ability to release a blockbuster album on its own, let alone worldwide. In contrast, Alista Records is backed by the German Bertelsmann Music Group and has a complete global distribution network.

If the two sides have a stalemate, as long as Alista Records 'passively slackens' on the follow-up release of this record, not only the record sales, but also the overseas box office of the "Bodyguard" movie will also be seriously impacted.

Clive Davies' daring to blatantly engulf Daenerys Entertainment's share of the record is to rely on the distribution channels of Alista Records and the entire Bertelsmann Music Group around the world for the release of the soundtrack of The Bodyguard.

It's just that Clive Davis may think that Daenerys Entertainment can only swallow this dumb loss in order to ensure the overseas release of the "Bodyguard" movie and the subsequent sales of the film's soundtrack record, but he ignores one thing, Daenerys Entertainment is indeed very interested in all aspects of the income of "The Bodyguard", however, for Alista Records, this soundtrack record is also very important.

After all, there is only one singer under Alista Records who can get hold of Whitney Houston, and although Alista Records only accounts for half of the revenue, it is enough to support most of the record company's performance in the next year or two.

However, for Daenerys Entertainment, even without the revenue of "Bodyguard", a large number of other blockbuster projects can still bring huge profits to the company.

On top of that, Daenerys Entertainment now has a lot of projects with other Hollywood studios, and if Simon chooses to tolerate this matter, other studios will only do the same in the future.

Santa Monica Airport wasn't far from Daenerys Entertainment headquarters, and the two arrived quickly.

Outside Simon's office, the female assistant was busy sitting behind the desk outside, and saw Simon and Nancy appear, greeting each other casually, but there was still some caution in her eyes.

Simon also pretended to be casual and instructed Jennifer to prepare two cups of coffee, so he entered the office with Nancy and sat down, asking, "What are you going to do?"

Nancy sat across from Simon's desk and said, "We share the rights to the soundtrack of 'The Bodyguard' with Alista Records. If I had to decide, I would immediately suspend all publicity and sales of this record until the dispute between the two parties is resolved. However, this will have a great impact on the subsequent release of this record, including the overseas release of the film, the last two months happen to be the time of intensive overseas release of "Bodyguard", the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and other major overseas box office countries have already opened the film, France, East Germany and Japan will also be released next month, all of which need to be matched by the sales of the original soundtrack. So, Simon, it's up to you to decide what to do. ”

"Then pause," Simon said without hesitation, "Moreover, this matter can't just be a matter of getting back the share of the Alista Records, how much they swallow, they will double and spit out, which is considered punishment." The cost of making a mistake is too low, and if you don't learn a lesson, some people will easily forget, and they will do so next time. ”

Nancy looked at her boss uncertainly, she originally just wanted Alista to spit out the swallowed shares as soon as possible, and the means of suspending record sales were already very tough, but I didn't expect Simon to do it even better.

Alista swallowed at least $7 million this time, and now he has to not only return it all, but also give another $7 million in compensation, which will definitely make Clive Davis distressed to death. You must know that if it weren't for the explosion of "Bodyguard", the net profit of the small family Alista Records in the past year might have been only two or three hundred million US dollars. 7 million, which is definitely a lot of money for Alista Records.

After a pause, Nancy asked, "Simon, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Of course, we have so many projects with the Big Seven right now, and if we don't be tough enough this time, you can imagine how many similar troubles we will face in the future. It's also a warning to the other collaborators that I wouldn't mind flipping the table if they think they have some leverage and want to threaten Daenerys Entertainment. ”

Nancy is also a strong woman in her bones, and since the boss has made up her mind, she no longer persuades and hurriedly says goodbye and leaves.

As soon as Nancy left, Jennifer sent a few documents: "This is the publicity plan for "Batman", Mr. Rem passed it in the morning, with a preliminary budget of 25 million US dollars; also, this is the list of candidates for several important supporting roles in "Sleeping with the Enemy"; Mr. Deutchman returned from Venice yesterday afternoon, and he selected three films at this year's Venice Film Festival, this is the information ......"

Simon watched the female assistant introduce him to a stack of documents one by one, smiled and picked up the publicity plan of "Batman" and opened it, and said, "I'm such a lucky guy, if it weren't for Jenny, Westeros' life would definitely be a mess." ”

When Jennifer heard this, she relaxed her businesslike expression, looked at the man opposite with bright eyes, and said with a shallow little entanglement in her tone: "Which Jenny are you talking about?"

Simon said decisively: "Of course, it's Jenny who is standing opposite me." ”

The female assistant snorted, stopped squeezing Simon, put away the coffee cup he and Nancy had just drunk, and turned to leave the office with a ponytail.

Burbank.

Sending Nancy Brill away in the morning, Clive Davis, president of Alista Records, was still thinking about how to capture more profits from the "Bodyguard" soundtrack in overseas releases, but unexpectedly, a few hours later, the little woman came to the door again.

Now that the share of the original soundtrack of "The Bodyguard" has been confirmed, Clive Davis is no longer looking forward to the next collaboration with Daenerys Entertainment.

Although Daenerys Entertainment has repeatedly created miracles in the film industry, in the field of records, a phenomenal hit that is enough to squeeze into the top 10 of the best-selling album list of all time is definitely not something that can appear casually.

The record industry is like a movie, the variables are very large, even if it is a top singer, the global sales of the last record exceeded 20 million, and the sales of the next record may only be four or five million, Clive Davis is not lacking in long-term vision, but he is sure that "Bodyguard" A blockbuster album like an acoustic record may not appear in ten or eight years, and the expected sales of more than 40 million copies worldwide represent too much interest, even if he gives up the possibility of a potential future cooperation with Daenerys Entertainment, he still decided to get his hands on the benefits first.

Having made up his mind in his heart, Clive Davis was still polite on the surface, and welcomed Nancy Brill into the office with a smile.

However, Nancy Brill did not sit down this time, and the words she spoke almost made Clive Davis jump out of her office chair.

"Mr. Davis, due to the default of Alista Records, Daenerys Entertainment has decided to suspend the worldwide distribution and sales of the soundtrack of The Bodyguard. We have informed the record filling factory to temporarily suspend shipments, and the overseas promotion and sales of this record will be completely suspended until our differences are resolved. As the copyright holder of the soundtrack record of "Bodyguard", Daenerys Entertainment has the above rights. If Alista Records continues to force any work on the record, Daenerys Entertainment will file an application with the Recording Association of America and the federal court in Los Angeles to enforce it. In addition, Daenerys Entertainment will also make a claim for this breach of contract by Alista Records. ”