The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority did not cause much trouble to Ronan, and on the third day after Ronan's clear refusal, Saleh returned to the UAE with Aziz, and before leaving, Ronan met with Saleh again to discuss in detail to make sure that there would not be much trouble on the Investment Board's side.

Ronan also imagined that if the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority persecuted too much, it would take the initiative to expose the acquisition and then appear as a victim, and North American public opinion has always been unfavorable to the Arabs, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority would definitely face great pressure at that time.

But in doing so, it is bound to become hostile to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Fortunately, the final result turned out that Ronan was thinking too much.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which claims to control trillions of dollars in assets, attaches great importance to Hollywood's propaganda role and influence, but does not take Ronan and Relativity Entertainment too seriously.

Ronan has received information from Saleh that His Excellency Sheikh Mansour has left Abu Dhabi for Manchester, England, to ask for Manchester United and face a formidable rival, News Corp's Rupert Murdoch.

It is estimated that Chief Mansour has no mind to care about relativity entertainment for the time being.

Ronan knows that the entanglement between the theory of relativity and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has not yet been broken.

The film "Ace Agent" has not yet been settled.

Embassy Pictures' overseas copyright licensing negotiations for "Ace Agent" and "Death is Coming" are in the final stage, and the partner is still Sony Entertainment.

Gramercy Films' conditions were similar to those of Sony Entertainment, but at Ronan's behest, Embassy Pictures gave preference to Sony Entertainment as its partner.

For nothing else, it is still Chris who negotiates on behalf of Sony Entertainment.

Chris helped a lot to win the distribution department of Polygram Pictures, Ronan can be regarded as reciprocating, and Sony Entertainment is also one of the two companies with the highest offer.

In the conference room of Embassy Pictures, Chris and Garcia signed contracts and reached a licensing agreement on behalf of the companies on both sides.

Instead of leaving immediately, Chris found Ronan.

"We're old friends now. Chris came up and complained: "I've worked together so many times, and the price on your side is still so high." ”

Ronan beckoned someone to serve Chris a cup of coffee and said: ""Ace Agent" is only 10 million US dollars, which is not expensive at all, such a wonderful action movie, and the overseas market is vast. ”

Chris said thank you to the person who brought the coffee, and then said to Ronan: "The North American box office of this film is only $10.6 million, and I don't know what the situation is overseas, if it messes up, I can't stay at Sony Entertainment." ”

Ronan said with a smile: "My people have done market research, and the Arab region alone can have a revenue of 10 million US dollars, and this film is definitely more popular overseas than in North America." ”

Having said that, if you don't do a good job of market estimates, will Sony Entertainment shell out $10 million?

Chris sighed, "I hope so." ”

Ronan said again, "Okay, stop complaining. Didn't I sell you the overseas rights to "The Grim Reaper?"

"yes, 'Death Is Coming' is really good. Chris raised two fingers at Ronan: "But that's not a film, it's a film package, and the two videotape movies in it have been filmed for a few years?"

The contracts were signed, and Ronan told the truth: "It was filmed four years ago when my father was still alive. He went on to emphasize: "Chris, although these two films have been made for a long time, I can assure you that the chances of piracy overseas are extremely low. ”

Chris is more certain than Ronan: "There is absolutely no piracy of these two films overseas, I am sure of this, because these two films have never even heard of me, a person who specializes in finding films in the industry!"

Ronan has been tempered a lot, how can this little thing be embarrassing, and said: "The total price of the three films is only 50 million US dollars, and the overseas box office of "Death is Coming" alone can make you pay back. ”

After the theater company counts the box office, the distributor settles with it, and in most cases, it is about 55% in North America and about one-third overseas.

As for discs, videotapes and television broadcasts, revenues were mainly concentrated in countries with better copyright protection.

Chris took a sip of coffee and said, "I have no opinion on "Death is Coming", those two films are ......"

Speaking of this, he shook his head, thinking about the film to Sony Colombia, with "The Grim Reaper" as the core of the film package, plus two bad movies shot in Colombia, one good film with four bad movies, is there a sales overseas?

A total of four bad movies seems to be a lot, so it's better to have three.

After a cup of coffee, Chris said goodbye and left: "I won't bother you." ”

Ronan personally sent him out of Embassy Pictures.

In the future, it may not cooperate with Sony Entertainment again, after all, the overseas distribution channels of Embassy Pictures are being integrated, and when the next film is filmed, it will be able to distribute the film overseas through its own channels.

Moreover, Embassy Pictures has recently recruited relatively suitable personnel, divided into two teams, and went to the Middle East and Africa respectively to prepare for the establishment of offices and market channels.

Since there will be no overseas distribution for the time being, the experienced Alan Albert has also gone there and will personally lead people to open the market.

Robert Lee and Danny Donald, who were patrolling around the world, reported that due to the availability of funds for Embassy Pictures, offices in most areas were successfully established, and some important personnel who originally belonged to various branches of PolyGram Pictures were also transferred to Embassy Pictures.

Ronan is also asking Mary to train people, and each region has to send a financial director.

It can be said that the structure of the entire company is also being built, and Ronan will delegate power appropriately, but will not let a certain person or department have too much power.

In addition, Ronan has a relatively sober understanding, in dealing with the company's daily affairs, he is lacking, this is a normal thing, a person has limited energy, it is impossible to do everything.

He discussed it with Mary, Robert, and George, who were also the patriarchs of Relativity Entertainment and his absolute henchmen, but the three were also self-aware, capable of managing a certain department, and lacking in the ability to manage the overall situation.

Mary made a suggestion to Ronan to hire a professional manager or other suitable person to serve as the CEO of Relativity in the future.

Ronan has seriously considered that this is also a way, and when the company is large enough, it can hire an external CEO, with the chief financial officer, the president and him himself as the chairman, which is enough to form a more balanced supreme power structure.

And Ronan has also considered his future role, can not be separated from the company's actual work, so he must serve as the chairman, want to maximize the advantages of foresight, the position of chief creative officer can be concurrent, once the company is a little larger, must establish a project review committee, he must be a member of it.

Medium and large Hollywood companies basically have a review committee, and if this review committee does not give the green light, a film project cannot be prepared at all.

There are drawbacks to the existence of an audit committee, but it can filter out a lot of junk items, and in general the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

Of course, these are the next steps, Relativity Entertainment is now an independent production company and belongs to the independent film industry, which has always been chaotic and has not had so many rules.

The overseas copyrights of "Ace Agent" and "Death is Coming" were sold, and the early income basically came to an end.

Ronan also asked Mary's finance department to hurry up and improve the accounts, and asked George Clint to inform the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and private investors that they were ready to settle the investment income with them.

But the notice is that it can be settled through an international accounting firm, and they can also send someone to Los Angeles.

Anyway, it won't settle in Abu Dhabi.

Due to the massive energy and import and export business between North America and the Middle East, international settlement is easy.

The settlement time is in April, and Ronan's side needs time.

With the arrival of the overseas copyright income of "Ace Agent" and "The Grim Reaper", all the projects of Relativity Entertainment and its two companies, Shahai Entertainment and Embassy Pictures, in 1999 have been completed, and the three companies need to count the specific revenue and net profit, and also need to prepare for the tax return in April.

In a country that has risen out of resistance to taxes, taxes are more eternal than death.

Fortunately, Embassy Pictures and Shahai Entertainment will soon invest in the operation of new films, and there is room for investment tax deductions.

Like a sequel to a successful movie, especially one with a low investment, Ronan doesn't plan to refinance the filming, except for the $1.5 million investment promised to Tom Cruise, the investment in the sequel to "Human Erasure Project" will be raised in-house.

Compared to the original film and the first pioneering film of the series, the sequel to the already successful film is much less risky.

For the first film with a large investment, the budget funds still have to be shot in the form of financing to pass on the risk.

In addition, the film viewing department of Embassy Pictures has also been re-established, and there are currently only five professional film buyers, but they are all veterans of Embassy Pictures who have been picking and watching films around the world for many years.

The types of films these people buy inherit the tradition of Embassy Pictures for more than ten years, mainly independent films with an investment of less than $200,000.

According to the current form of the North American film market, especially the home entertainment market, as long as one of the four small productions purchased can make money, it can basically guarantee a return on investment.

This was also the source of income that Embassy Pictures relied on before it was acquired by Ronan.

Ronan also asked people to prepare materials for the Cannes Film Festival, which is the most commercial of the three major film festivals in Europe every May, and in his eyes, the essence of the festival is not in the competition section, but in the film deal.

The biggest role of the film festival is to provide a trading platform for buyers and sellers.

It's all written into the itinerary, and Ronan's itinerary for the next few months is almost full.