DreamWorks Headquarters, Glendale, Los Angeles.

Spielberg has been busy these days, and DreamWorks' projects have been in trouble one after another.

"How's the investigation?" Spielberg asked the assistant.

Robert Rayford had already verbally agreed to be the director of the "Back to Glory" project. The assistant said quickly: "This sudden reversal is after Disney's people have contacted him, and it is not known what Disney talked about with Robert Rayford, but Disney should have sent him an invitation." ”

Spielberg took off his disc glasses, wiped them, and said, "Why is the MPAA stuck in the rating review of our two films?"

The assistant replied, "The MPAA said that some of the shots and lines were too large to meet the requirements of PG-13. ”

The MPAA is controlled by the Big Six, and DreamWorks has no right to speak, and Spielberg is also helpless, saying: "Withdraw it and quickly revise it according to the requirements of the MPAA." ”

Things have been going wrong for DreamWorks lately, and it seems that someone is targeting DreamWorks.

Spielberg, who is a director when he picks up a camera and is a standard businessman when he puts down a camera, can feel this.

Spielberg asked, "What's the bad news?"

The assistant said cautiously: "The theater side said that the test screening of "Gladiator" was not good, and the opening scale of the film should be reduced......"

"I see. Spielberg had an urge to curse.

But the old man's good cultivation over the years made him endure it.

Spielberg put on his disc glasses and asked, "David, what do you think of all this happening lately?"

The assistant thought for a moment and replied, "Someone is specifically targeting DreamWorks. ”

"Big six. Spielberg gave the answer: "They don't like a powerful dream factory. ”

In fact, since two or three years ago, the Big Six companies have often caused some trouble for DreamWorks, but this time, the trouble is too concentrated.

It's as if the Big Six companies can't stand DreamWorks anymore.

Spielberg couldn't understand why for a while, DreamWorks had already made a lot of compromises in front of the Big Six, such as the overseas distribution of live-action films and animated films all handed over to the Big Six distribution labels in exchange for the necessary development space.

Could it be that DreamWorks is growing so fast that the Big Six companies feel threatened?

No, DreamWorks is just getting on track at best.

"I'll take care of these things myself. Spielberg took it very seriously and said, "You can call me first and ask director Robert Rayford to make an appointment." ”

The assistant was just about to leave, and Spielberg asked again, "Is there any news from Albert?"

"Not ...... yet"

Before the assistant finished speaking, the phone on the desk rang, Spielberg answered the phone, and after saying a few words, his face became more and more serious, hung up the phone, and said to the assistant: "Book me a ticket to Japan tomorrow, these Japanese are too untrustworthy!"

"I'll go. "The assistant didn't understand what was going on, but the boss didn't say it, and it was hard to ask.

Spielberg said again: "You also come with me to prepare some information, related to "Midnight Bell". ”

The assistant didn't ask much and said, "Yes." ”

Spielberg first called director Robert Rayford, made an appointment to meet in the afternoon, and then told the production department to deal with the trouble on the MPAA side, and the distribution department went to negotiate with several major theater chains, and then thought about the Japanese.

Originally, Japan's ACE company had reached an agreement with DreamWorks to sell the remake rights of "Midnight Bell" to DreamWorks, but recently Sony Entertainment suddenly intervened, and ACE seemed to want to change its mind.

This is a project that Spielberg is very optimistic about and will not give up easily.

It was a busy day that was late into the night, Spielberg was all dealing with the troubles of DreamWorks, and the next morning he rushed to the airport and flew to Japan.

Not only Spielberg, but most of the management of DreamWorks' live-action film department were busy fighting fires and had no time to worry about anything else for a while.

Ronan, who is far away in Manchester, England, also got a lot of relevant information from Chris.

It is very obvious that the Big Three of DreamWorks have been operating in the North American entertainment industry for many years, and the Big Six companies can't stop them from establishing North American distribution channels, but they don't want DreamWorks to jump out of the channels of the Big Six companies and have independent overseas distribution channels.

Compared with DreamWorks, a small company like Relativity Entertainment is not in the eyes of the Big Six at all.

Ronan has also heard some news about DreamWorks and the Big Six, and it is said that two or three years ago, the executives of the Big Six met and agreed on certain things, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney, Sony Columbia, and Twentieth Century Fox cooperated and competed at the same time, but no new companies outside the traditional forces were allowed to join them in sharing the biggest piece of the pie.

In this regard, the big six companies, including the declining MGM, naturally stand together.

Steven Spielberg is one of Hollywood's most popular directors, but DreamWorks is not just Spielberg's Dream Factory, and even Spielberg's Dream Factory, major companies will be ruthlessly suppressed.

This time, led by Sony Entertainment, even Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures, which have worked most closely with Spielberg, have joined in.

The big six would rather PolyGram's overseas distribution channels fall into the hands of Relativity Entertainment, which is not a threat at all, than let DreamWorks take it.

Even, Chris told Ronan on the phone that Universal Pictures has considered not laying off some of Polygram's employees in the short term.

Fortunately, this is the last choice of Universal Pictures, and Universal Pictures does not want to bear too much labor cost.

Polygram Pictures has a huge number of employees, and any company that takes over will have a headache, but fortunately, Ronan only needs the distribution department.

DreamWorks has not been in contact for a long time, and the people from Red Bus Pictures in the United Kingdom have been to Manchester, but the scale of Red Bus Pictures is not even comparable to Polygram Pictures, and the psychology of people going to high places is widespread, plus Ronan is lobbying, Alan Albert and Danny Donald have not considered Red Bus at all.

On Christmas Day, Ronan and the two finally came to an agreement.

After Christmas, the group returned to London, where Alan Albert and Danny Donald quickly completed the formalities from PolyCrystal Pictures, which were preparing to dismiss the personnel, and Ronan signed a formal employment contract with them on behalf of Embassy Pictures, witnessed by lawyers from both sides.

After more than ten days of hard work, these two people were finally found.

"Welcome to Embassy Pictures. Ronan shook hands with Alan Albert and Danny Donald one by one: "From now on, we are family." ”

Alan Albert made the choice and no longer wavered, saying: "It's an honor to join Embassy Pictures. ”

Danny Donald said politely: "I believe this is the beginning of success." ”

In the face of high-end talents with capital, recruitment is a two-way choice, and Ronan is also very satisfied that these two people finally entered the embassy film industry.

In this contract, the salary conditions are the same as what Ronan said before, and like the executives of many film companies in the circle, the non-compete clause is also remarked.

In addition, the overseas distribution department of Embassy Pictures will be listed separately and will not be merged into Thomas's theatrical distribution department.

This is also the promise that Ronan gave them.

Of course, as long as the timing is right, Ronan will definitely transfer a large number of new people to the overseas distribution channel, so that the embassy film industry can truly grasp the overseas distribution channel.

After signing the contract, the work was just beginning, and after Ronan had in-depth conversations with Alan Albert and Danny Donald, Alan Albert began to contact the previous distribution team members one by one, and Danny Donald went to the scattered PolyJack Pictures to handle the follow-up.

A group of employees who were about to be laid off heard from the department leaders say that they had better options, and most of them chose to follow, and 45 of the nearly 50 key members of the overseas distribution channel stationed around the world chose to join Embassy Pictures.

The group soon returned to London, went through various formalities with PolyGram Pictures, and then signed a contract with Embassy Pictures.

Ronan is also accompanied by Alan Albert and Danny Donald, interviewing these people one by one to calm people's hearts.

Generous salary, perfect benefits, friendly bosses, and the world-famous "Blair the Witch" and "Death is Coming", plus the prestige of Alan Albert and Danny Donald, not to mention can dispel these people's doubts, at least let them settle down to work temporarily.

It wasn't until after the New Year that Ronan simply finished dealing with these things.

Alan Albert and Danny Donald need to travel to Los Angeles for work, and both are bachelors who come and go more freely.

Most of the others are stationed in various branches overseas, and the impact is not very large.

These people left Polygram Pictures, and naturally needed a new office location to prepare for the establishment of overseas offices of Embassy Pictures.

Ronan has set aside nearly $30 million for the establishment of overseas offices.

At present, the scale of Embassy Pictures and Relativity Entertainment is limited, and after the development and growth in the future, it will be easier to establish overseas branches based on these overseas offices.

Borrowing a conference room from the Hilton for an overseas distribution meeting, Ronan gave the men a few days off and asked them all to rush to the embassy film headquarters in Burbank, Los Angeles a week later, and then go to various places.

For things like this kind of channel, it is necessary to properly delegate power to the person in charge of the channel, and to do a good job of monitoring, and it also needs to improve the rules and regulations, and the six major Hollywood companies and some distribution companies have long formed a successful general model, basically there is not much difference, as long as appropriate modifications are made according to the actual situation of the embassy film, it can be used.

This trip to London, although there were many twists and turns, completely achieved the goal.