The plane arrived in the island country smoothly, and Ronan and his entourage got off the plane, walked out of Tokyo International Airport, and saw Hamont, the head of the embassy pictures in the island country, who came to greet him.

The middle-aged man in his forties from Washington, D.C., was part of Polygram Pictures until 1999 and was in charge of its film business in Japan, and after Alan Albert and Danny Donald joined Embassy Pictures, he also moved to Embassy Pictures and continued to head the island country's branch.

Hamon has been in the island country for nearly ten years, and he can be called a person at the level of the island country, and he also provided a list of prospective investment customers in the island country, and then made initial contacts.

But he can only play the role of an intermediary, and the specific matters have to be discussed by the film foundation.

When the group arrived at the Peninsula Tokyo, Ronan did not take any rest, and immediately asked Hamon to report the situation on the island country in person, although the two have been in close contact by phone, some things are more clear and convenient to say in person.

In addition, Scott and other staff members need to know first-hand information.

Everyone gathered in the conference room of the presidential suite where Ronan was staying, and Hammond had two thick stacks of materials moved in, and Ronan asked Connie to help Hamon distribute them to everyone in the meeting.

This information about potential partners was collected by the Embassy Pictures office in the island country and carefully compiled by Hammont.

Ronan looked through the information and said, "Hamont, you can introduce the specific situation first." ”

"In the beginning, we had a list of five prospective clients who were not only interested in investing in the U.S., but had invested in the U.S. more than three times in the last decade," said Hamont, standing at the long conference table. However, after more than three months of contact and screening, four of them wanted to invest in the financial or securities market, and only one really wanted to invest in Hollywood. ”

Ronan nodded slightly, the island country has invested a huge amount of money in North America, even involving all civilian industries, even the Chrysler Building has been bought by the island people, you can imagine the island country's interest in investing in the United States.

But there are many industries in the United States, and Hollywood is just one of them.

Hammont's introduction continues: "The real interest in Hollywood's film funds is the island nation's long-term credit banks. ”

Speaking of this, he came to the back of the projector, turned on the projector, pointed to a picture of a company on a white screen with a laser pointer and a text introduction, and said: "This credit bank was established in 1952 by inheriting the long-term credit business of Quanye Bank and Hokkaido Takushoku Bank. The main source of funds is to absorb deposits and issue interest-paying financial bonds, the initial stage of the business mainly to provide long-term loans to electricity, machinery, steel, chemical and other industries, from the 70s to gradually develop the investment business, the 80s investment business has entered a stage of rapid development, the investment scope involves more than 10 countries and regions around the world, including finance, securities, insurance and funds and many other aspects. ”

After reading the projection text, Scott asked, "What is the strength of this institution?"

It would be disappointing to be able to invest only a few million dollars.

Harmon replied, "They have more than 10 billion-dollar investments a year, and even more interest-bearing loans." ”

Scot's head was fixed, and the potential partner had a pretty good financial position, and he asked, "Have they ever worked with a foundation in the United States?"

"I've worked not only with foundations in the U.S., but also with Hollywood. "Long-term Credit Bank invested in the Silver Screen Film and Television Special Investment Fund, which was launched in 1983, and provided $82 million for the second phase of the fund, which at that time was primarily raising funds for Disney Pictures. ”

He added: "In 1987, the Silver Screen Foundation launched the third phase of the film special investment fund, and the investment object was still Disney, and the long-term credit bank raised $93 million to participate in the third phase of the fund. ”

Scott continued: "Since we have invested in Hollywood, we have a certain basis for cooperation, and it will be easier for us to talk." ”

Hammont looked serious and explained: "In these two investments, the long-term credit bank did not achieve the expected returns. When the silver screen invested in Disney, Disney adopted the method of investors directly sharing the income from the profits of the movie, and the two investments of the long-term credit bank were just profitable. ”

Scott looked at Ronan, Ronan understood what he meant, and said simply: "Hollywood has independent and systematic financial calculation rules, and within the scope of the rules, even if it is a big hit, the net profit is sometimes not high. ”

"It's a disadvantage. Scott made an important note in his notebook.

"According to my observations, the long-term credit bank's investment intentions are quite strong, but the previous collaboration with Hollywood is where they have the most concerns. ”

Ronan has already responded to this, saying: "We will provide a more secure way to benefit. ”

When he was in Los Angeles, Ronan specialized in the cooperation between the long-term credit bank of the island country and the Silver Screen Special Film and Television Investment Fund in that year.

Silver Screen's film and television special investment fund has launched four phases, which are managed and operated by Silver Screen Management Company, which George W. Bush was a member of the board of directors of the fund management company for ten years from 1983 to 1993.

The fund was originally prepared in 1982 by New York film investor Roland Bates to finance the HBO film project.

By 1983, it had an initial phase of about $75 million, mainly for films shown on television platforms.

From the second phase in 1985, under the efforts of Michael Eisner, the head of Disney at that time, the silver screen began to raise funds for Disney, and the second phase of the silver screen fund of 195 million US dollars was all invested in Disney's film projects, and the third phase of investment in 1987 was still Disney, with an amount of up to 300 million US dollars.

These funds were mainly used to support Disney's film production at that time, especially the project investment in live-action films.

In the 80s, the island country developed rapidly and seemed to be unprecedentedly prosperous, claiming that the land price of one place in Tokyo could buy the whole of the United States, and the hot money from the island country was raging all over the world.

In the late '80s and early '90s, Hollywood was a dream destination for island investors, much like the nature of the indescribable nation's rapid influx of capital into the United States.

Many fund providers and managers are on a pilgrimage, hoping to learn from Hollywood's market experience through investment relationships.

Therefore, the low interest rates of the island country and the aura of Hollywood have made the hot money of the island country quickly enter Hollywood, and the people of the island country have almost no return requirements for the Disney movies they participate in, as long as they are allowed to invest.

But the early operation of the Silver Screen Foundation was very "failed".

The first phase of Silver Screen was a not-so-good start, with a 30 percent loss, and in the fund's management plan, 50 percent of the revenue from the first phase of the fund's investment in low- and medium-low budget films will come from HBO's exclusive TV royalties, and another 40 percent of the return will be provided by a British company from overseas distribution, overseas TV and overseas home theater markets.

The rest comes from the home theater market in the United States, and from the perspective of revenue channels, it seems to be particularly "guaranteed".

But the failure of this phase of the fund is not because of the recovery channel, but because the release took much longer than planned, and the rate of return was seriously affected.

Investors paid in 1983, and the last film was not released until the spring of 1986, and it took eight years to recoup all the proceeds in 1991, which made the cost of using the money far outweigh the returns.

The situation in the next three phases is better, but the return on investment is actually not high, which also leads to the Silver Screen Foundation turning to other industries after raising four special funds for film and television.

Because of the less-than-expected returns and the bursting of the economic bubble in the late eighties, the long-term credit bank of the island nation did not reinvest in American films or special Hollywood-related foundations.

If you want people to pay for investment, you must see the prospect of profitability.

The island country is not the country of local tyrants in the United Arab Emirates who can't even make movies, there is an extremely developed entertainment and cultural industry here, and there are also enough shrewd businessmen and professional managers.

Therefore, since Ronan had the idea of this Oriental financing plan, he has never thought of playing those tricks that cannot be put on the table.

The plan he formulated must rely on hard power and real capital to speak, so that investors can see the possibility of stable returns.

The silver screen's method of sharing profits according to the profits of the movie is just a plan, and Ronan feels that it may not work well for the islanders, especially long-term credit banks, so he has prepared another stable income plan.

Like in the 80s, for many island investors, many industries in the United States were just allowed to invest, and money was not a problem.

But now it is different from that era, and the fanatical islanders are more practical.

After a discussion at the meeting, Ronan asked, "Hamont, you have been in contact with the island countries for a long time, have they made any requests?"

"Not really. Hammond thought carefully for a moment, and then said, "By the way, I heard one of their vice presidents in charge of investment business say in private that Hollywood A-class movies now have a higher success rate and more influence. ”

Ronan smiled: "Class A movies, that is, first-line productions." He tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of the chair, went through many thoughts in his mind, and said: "Other Hollywood companies may not make it easy for future funds to invest in first-line productions, but we don't have this problem." ”

Hamont looked at Ronan, who said unhurriedly, "You go and contact the island country to arrange a meeting between the two sides." ”

When Hammond came down, the meeting continued, and the discussion began on what might happen and how to deal with it.