On a sunny September day in Los Angeles, Robert Iger got out of his Cadillac and entered the floor where Embassy Pictures was located, where he was immediately led into the conference room by a front desk staff member who met a group of Embassy Pictures executives.

"Good morning, Garcia. Robert Iger shook hands with the Embassy Pictures executives one by one: "Good morning, Allen......"

These people also responded to Robert Iger, who made a very good impression on them during their work contacts, with an easy-going, capable and experienced personality.

Ronan undoubtedly found a very good big butler for the Relativity Entertainment Group.

Garcia presided over the meeting, looked at Robert Iger, who had always had a smile on his face, and said, "Start now?"

Robert Iger said with humility: "I'm here today to learn about the distribution business, you are professionals, leave me alone." ”

Today is the pre-screening publicity and distribution plan of "Hurricane Rescue".

For example, Robert Iger rarely asks about the promotion and distribution business of a certain movie, and the specific business is naturally carried out by specific people, but asking does not mean that he does not need to understand, he came to learn more about the company's distribution business.

Robert Iger took a look at the meeting room, and the heads of various departments of Embassy Pictures in Los Angeles and the executives directly responsible for the promotion of "Hurricane Rescue" were all in the conference room.

Although Ronan did not come, it can be seen from the specifications of the meeting that Embassy Pictures takes "Hurricane Rescue" very seriously.

By the way, Ronan once said that if "Hurricane Rescue" is successful, it will be centered on Liam Neeson and build a series of themed rescue movies around him.

Robert Iger knows that Ronan is serious, and that's where Relativistic Entertainment excels.

At present, Relativity Entertainment has a large number of serialized movies, although the revenue of these films may not be as good as that of first-tier big production projects, but they can be profitable in the long run.

Serialized films have increasingly become the key capital for the survival and development of film companies.

"Human Removal Plan", "Death is Coming", "Fatal Bend", "Resident Evil", "Tales of the Night" and many more.

These films don't seem to have a lot of investment, but the profit margins on each one are quite staggering.

If nothing else, if Ronan is not enterprising, these series of movies will be enough for him to eat for the rest of his life.

"How's the theater line contact?" Garcia's voice came: "Thomas, tell me about the situation. ”

"The three films we've released this year are all big hits, especially 'Dead Come 2,' which has grossed more than $100 million in North America, and the three major cinema chains are willing to invest enough resources in Ronan's films, and the premiere theaters will not be less than 3,000,000," Thomas said. ”

Garcia asked again, "Allen, what about overseas distribution?"

Alan Albert said: "We have already contacted 75 countries and regions for distribution, and some overseas distribution companies are more cautious and are still in the wait-and-see stage to see how the film reacts in North America. ”

He thought for a moment and said: "A week after its release in North America, "Hurricane Rescue" began to be released overseas, and it has been temporarily confirmed that 28 countries and regions will start screening in North America the following weekend. ”

Garcia nodded first, then asked, "What about offline distribution?"

Terry, Director of Offline Distribution, replied: "All preparations have already begun, but DVD suppression will not start until mid-to-late in North American screening. "Hurricane Rescue" will also be released in the East, and we can't send copies to DVD manufacturers first, because the cost of suppressing DVDs is very low, but piracy is rampant, and if you send copies too early, it will very likely lead to piracy outflow. ”

"Yes. Garcia said: "You can control this aspect. ”

Hearing this, Robert Iger jotted down what Terry said in his notebook.

This is actually a problem faced by Relativistic Entertainment, which he has noticed before.

Because of Netflix's relationship, Robert Iger has a detailed understanding of Embassy Pictures' DVD suppression business in the East, Oriental's cheap labor, strict export quality control, more mature technology, etc., have effectively reduced the cost of DVD, but problems have also arisen, and Relativity Entertainment's films have also become victims of piracy in the process of suppressing DVDs.

Thankfully, these pirated copies can only stay in the Eastern market.

Robert Iger and Ronan discussed this issue carefully, and even Ronan, who knew the East very well, could not do anything about it, but to ask the Oriental branch of Embassy Pictures and DVD distributors to strengthen copy management.

Fortunately, genuine DVDs did not sell well in the Oriental market at all, and had no significant impact on the business of Embassy Pictures.

There are really pros and cons to this.

In the absence of relevant legislation and enforcement, even foreign investors have no good solution.

Robert Iger is well aware that the huge population base in the East means that there are considerable potential consumers, and the market cannot be chaotic forever, and Relativity Entertainment has to find a way to open up the market there.

Piracy is a problem that cannot be avoided.

Garcia's questioning voice sounded again: "David, the propaganda theme has been determined." ”

Robert Iger immediately looked at David Villa, the promotion of Embassy Pictures has always been very distinctive, starting with "Blair the Witch", many films have been promoted to play tricks, and some films are not so much of excellent quality as propaganda.

David Villa glanced at his notebook and said, "Ronan sent a suggestion, which I think is very good, and it also made people do some relevant preliminary research. ”

Everyone in the conference room looked at David Villa, Ronan's propaganda suggestions have always created a storm of public opinion.

Robert Iger is also interested, from the viral marketing of "Blair the Witch", to the emotional hype of Robert Ludren in "Spy", to the use of Paris Hilton in "House of the Dead" to create a topic, Ronan's suggestions are every stroke of genius.

David Villa said: "Ronan suggested that when we advertised, we focused on the cases of missing girls and their families, and I did some research, and in North America and Europe, there are a large number of cases of missing girls, most of whom are like the heroines in the film, who have gone to sound groups and drug cartels, and some of them are auctioned off on the black market, becoming veritable slave girls, and some of them are even tortured and killed for fun." ”

"I think there could be a lot of concern about that. Alan Albert continued: "When I was working in Europe, I heard about it. It is said that some young girls in Eastern Europe were tortured to death after being abducted and auctioned, and some paid for it. ”

There are well-informed people here who know that the world is far from being as rosy as it seems, and who have heard more or less about the tragic plight of missing girls.

Thomas, who has long been a father, said: "It should attract the attention of many people, what family has no children?"

Seeing that the atmosphere was a little heavy, Terry deliberately said, "Not every dad can be like Brian. ”

David Villa added: "The vast majority of missing girls can never be recovered, according to my previous investigation. Last year alone, there were thousands of cases of disappearances of teenage girls across the United States. ”

"This is a promising communication strategy. Garcia decided: "Find some real-life cases, mobilize media coverage, call for the attention of the whole society, and then make the film's propaganda theme move closer to that." ”

David Villa nodded and said, "After the release, we can hype up the educational value of this film, since the film is released on Thanksgiving, its theme is also suitable for the family atmosphere." ”

Thomas answered at this time: "I now understand why Ronan suggested that "Hurricane Rescue" premiere on Thanksgiving, and from the perspective just now, this film is really very suitable for family audiences." ”

Garcia reminded: "David, pay attention to the scale. ”

David Villa said: "Rest assured, this is not the first time we've operated this kind of propaganda. ”

Garcia added: "I also have a proposal that the company set up a special foundation to help the families of missing girls, and donate one percent or a small percentage of the income from the film, and can also raise donations from the whole society." ”

Others agreed: "Yes, it's an effective way to attract media attention." ”

"Good. Garcia said, "We'll get a resolution as soon as possible." ”

The meeting went on very quickly, Robert Iger did not speak from beginning to end, and played the role of a bystander, specializing in the arts, and these professionals at Embassy Pictures were much better than him in the promotion and distribution of films.

After the meeting was dismissed, Robert Iger came to Garcia's office and talked with him for a long time until it was close to noon, when he took his leave and returned to Relativity Entertainment.

Robert Iger has carefully examined three subsidiaries and found that Ronan has left an extremely deep imprint on each of them, and the people in the company have a kind of blind trust in Ronan because of his continuous success.

This can be said to be a good thing in the company's development stage.

All the people in the company can unite around Ronan to form a huge centripetal force, get rid of some unnecessary objections, and promote the rapid development of the entire group company.

But there are pitfalls.

If Ronan's decision-making and judgment of the project are seriously wrong, the company will inevitably fall into a huge vortex.

Robert Iger has carefully considered this issue, and at present, from the company to Ronan personally, it is obviously in the ascending stage, and it is inferred from the usual situation of successful Hollywood producers that Ronan should not make major mistakes in recent years, and there is no need to be too anxious in this regard, after all, the cohesive centripetal force is more conducive to the company's rapid development.

However, after the company has reached a plateau, Ronan must be advised to form an effective decision-making mechanism.

Robert Iger returned to the office and immediately got the good news that Ronan's new Batman movie project, which he had been promoting some time ago, had received the green light from Warner Bros.