Glendale, DreamWorks Industrial Park, Animation Studio Office Area.

Ted Elliott, the production manager of the Shrek series, strode down the hallway to Jerev Katzenberg's office and knocked lightly on the door.

"Please come in. Jared Katzenberg's voice rang out, and Ted Elliott pushed the door in.

Katzenberg put on his glasses and asked, "Ted, is there something wrong?"

Ted Elliott handed the report to Katzenberg and said, "Three pieces of good news. "Shark Gang" exceeded $100 million at the North American box office and received a good response overseas, "Shrek 2" was released in North America, and the North American box office ended up at $458.97 million, and Embassy Pictures paid a third box office and peripheral revenue share, $59 million. ”

This is indeed some good news, the first two shares, DreamWorks Animation Studios has recouped all of its investment in Shrek 2, this time almost pure profit.

There will be a share in the future.

"Not bad. Katzenberg was generally satisfied: "Ted, your project team did a great job. ”

Ted Elliott smiled, the prize money was expected.

The intercom on the desk rang, and Katzenberg picked it up, and the secretary announced, "Mr. Spielberg is here." ”

Katzenberg said, "Go to the reception room. ”

He hung up the phone and looked at Ted Elliott, "Keep moving forward with the sequel." ”

Ted Elliott hurriedly agreed, and then took his leave and left.

Katzenberg went to the next meeting room, where Spielberg was already waiting.

"Morning, Steven. Katzenberg casually said hello, sat down on the couch next to Spielberg, and asked, "How do you have time to come over today?"

Spielberg said: "I heard that "Shrek 2" is down. ”

After David Geffen led the music and games division out of DreamWorks, although DreamWorks Filmmaking and DreamWorks Animation Studios became more and more independent, they still belonged to the same company, in terms of shares and investments, Katzenberg and Spielberg have me and I have you.

In addition, David Geffen's voluntary withdrawal and clear division of authority also reduced the conflict between Spielberg and Katzenberg.

The two of them are currently in charge of each other, and rarely reach out directly to each other's realm.

"The box office was outstanding, and the profits were very good," Katzenberg said. ”

Spielberg said: "Nearly half of the revenue from this film went to Embassy Pictures, a subsidiary of Relativity Entertainment. ”

There was an instant silence in the reception room.

"How much is this income?" Spielberg's question broke the silence.

"Embassy Pictures currently earns nearly $250 million at the box office and peripherals, and that number will continue to increase over time as the DVD and TV rights market and other merchandise sales and licensing increases," Katzenberg said slowly. ”

Spielberg is a good old man, but also a businessman: "Embassy Pictures took too much. ”

Katzenberg is quite calm: "The embassy film industry accounts for a relatively high share of overseas ticket and peripheral income, and the share of offline peripheral products accounts for half, which is also a common practice in the industry." In fact, he is not dissatisfied with Embassy Pictures: "Compared with the six major companies, the conditions of Embassy Pictures are quite good. ”

Spielberg shook his head: "This part of the income should go to DreamWorks." There was no need to go around in circles between him and Katzenberg: "Jerryfer, DreamWorks' distribution channel has been established. ”

Whether it's an animation studio or a live-action film department, it's all DreamWorks, and both of them have two investments.

Katzenberg said, "Steven, I see what you mean. So, when I first negotiated, I insisted on only signing a short-term distribution contract with Embassy Pictures. ”

Now, unlike in the past, DreamWorks has gradually perfected its distribution channels, and the value of the production company has increased instantly, and it is no longer a dispensable chicken rib in Katzenberg's eyes.

The great success of the two "Shrek" also made Spielberg fully realize the strength of DreamWorks Animation Studio, he didn't want to lose the animation studio after losing the music company, and said very earnestly: "Jerryver, wait for the contract to expire and return to DreamWorks." ”

This is in the interests of both parties, and Jared Katzenberg has long been mentally prepared and said: "Yes, DreamWorks Animation Studios belongs to DreamWorks. ”

At the beginning, because of his association with Ronan, he chose Embassy Pictures as the distributor after inspecting Embassy Pictures.

But in the end, what determines the future direction of DreamWorks Animation Studio is not friendship, but interests.

Spielberg has been in business for many years, and he is equally proficient in business methods: "Jerryvor, can we extend the production time of "Shrek 3" until the end of the distribution contract with Embassy Pictures. ”

"These little tricks, useless. Katzenberg remembered the relevant terms of the contract, and could only show a wry smile: "In the contract with Embassy Pictures, there are relevant clauses, during the contract period, not counting the "Shrek" series, including the just-released "Shark Gang", Embassy Pictures will also release "Madagascar" and another animated feature film in production, and all three films will be released, and the contract will be over." ”

Spielberg instantly grasped the point: "Not counting the "Shrek" series?"

"Who would have thought that Shrek would be such a success?" Katzenberg regretted: "The animation studio signed the distribution rights to the entire series, as well as the distribution rights of related spin-offs, to Embassy Pictures. ”

He accentuated: "Now that I think about it, Ronan Anderson's vision and scheming are indeed extraordinary!"

Spielberg was depressed for a while, and suddenly had a feeling that from the beginning of buying the distribution channel of Artisan Pictures, what he got was Ronan Anderson's leftovers.

Similarly, Spielberg was depressed.

Two top bigwigs in the Hollywood industry sat in the reception room, relatively speechless for a while.

But in their minds, a character appeared at the same time - Ronan Anderson.

DreamWorks, both the animation studio and the live-action filmmaker, was it easy to create a blockbuster film series? Finally, a "Shrek" series was released, and Ronan Anderson forcibly took nearly half of the cake.

In the past, DreamWorks was limited by distribution, and there was no way around it.

As a result, the distribution channel was perfected, and Ronan Anderson also set up insurmountable obstacles in advance.

Although DreamWorks and Relativity Entertainment are on the same side in the general direction, they are also competitors.

Spielberg asked a few words about the contract, and found it extremely difficult to solve, so he simply brought up the second main purpose of today's visit: "DreamWorks is now in full development, and the distribution channel is becoming more and more perfect, and there is only one key factor remaining that restricts the development of DreamWorks." ”

Katzenberg could vaguely guess what Spielberg was going to say, and remained silent for the time being.

Spielberg said, "Jerryfer, we run DreamWorks to go public and raise money!"

This DreamWorks is not only Spielberg's live-action film production company, but also DreamWorks Animation Studios!

Katzenberg also had the idea of running DreamWorks Animation Studios to go public, Pixar Studios to get critical funding in the IPO financing, and Steve Jobs to step into the billionaire category for the first time.

If DreamWorks still does not have a complete distribution channel of DreamWorks, Katzenberg will only find a way to make DreamWorks Animation Studio independent, and take the opportunity to clean up the power and investment between him and Spielberg, so as to completely get rid of the burden of DreamWorks Productions and achieve the goal of independence.

To this end, he even made a plan to do so.

But everything changed after DreamWorks got the distribution channel of Artisan Pictures.

The Dream Factory of today is not the Dream Factory of the past.

"I agree to go public. "But we'll have to talk about how it works," Katzenberg said. ”

The two chatted all morning, and had a rare working meal together, and in the afternoon Spielberg had just said goodbye, and Sanford Pandridge of Sony Columbia Pictures came to visit.

Katzenberg is well aware that this is all recruited by the "Shrek" series.

Sandford Pandridge is here for the film and does not hide it: "Mr. Katzenberg, I am here this time on behalf of Sony Entertainment, which is very interested in DreamWorks Animation Studios, especially the Shrek series. ”

In order to avoid a war of words, Katzenberg directly dragged Embassy Pictures out: "I'm sorry, the distribution rights of the entire series of "Shrek" have been signed to Embassy Pictures. ”

Sandford Pandridge certainly knows this, but Sony Entertainment also has an idea: "You can change the distribution rights of this series to ......"

Katzenberg raised his hand to stop him from continuing: "Mr. Pandaric, you should talk to Embassy Pictures, talk to Ronan Anderson, not come to DreamWorks, and we'll talk about anything else if they want." ”

Sandford-Pandridge frowned slightly.

Instead, Katzenberg said, "I remember Sony Entertainment had a good relationship with Ronan Anderson and Relativity Entertainment. ”

Sandford-Padridge smiled and said, "But business is business after all. ”

Katzenberg nodded unconsciously, in fact, thinking about what he did with Ronan Anderson, business is always business.

Sandford-Pandridge suddenly said, "Mr. Katzenberg, Sony Entertainment has another idea. His voice seemed to be lowered: "I wonder if Mr. Katzenberg is interested in bringing DreamWorks Animation Studios to Sony Entertainment?"

"Join Sony Entertainment?" Katzenberg never had a similar idea.

"Yes, join Sony Entertainment. Sandford-Padridge said: "Sony Entertainment does not have a professional animation production company, and is willing to leave this business to Mr. Katzenberg. ”

A little later, Ronan and Mark Randolph walked into Sony's Columbia Pictures headquarters.