At DreamWorks headquarters in Glendale, California, Steven Spielberg welcomed a heavyweight visitor.

Shirley Lansing, CEO of Paramount Pictures and Hollywood's most famous female powerhouse, personally came to the DreamWorks headquarters to visit her old friend Spielberg.

But the atmosphere in the office is anything but friendly, even a little tense.

Shirley Lansing kept a smile on her face: "Steven, how are you thinking about it?"

Spielberg muttered, "I haven't thought about it yet." ”

Shirley Lansing seems to be relaxed, but in fact there is a lot of pressure, last year's Paramount Pictures performance ranked last among the six Hollywood majors, and even Sony Columbia, which has always been the tail of the crane, has steadily overtaken Paramount Pictures, which makes the parent company Viacom very dissatisfied.

This really embarrassed her, the head of Paramount Pictures.

Shirley Lansing is not the kind of woman who can be easily defeated, and quickly analyzed the business situation of Paramount Pictures in 2003, online and offline distribution and peripheral operations are not bad, and the biggest problem is content production.

Without excellent film and television works, there is not much room for operation in distribution and peripherals.

Paramount Pictures' heavily invested production of "Tomb Raider 2" and "Memory Rift" both failed miserably, and the most successful film was "Stealing the Day," which did not even make it into the top 10 of the 2003 North American box office charts.

Looking back, Shirley Lansing was thrilled to find that Paramount Pictures does not have any commercial series of films that can cause a strong response in the market today, except for the "Mission Impossible" series.

And the copyright of the "Mission Impossible" series is shared with Tom Cruise......

The problem is clear, Paramount Pictures lacks marketable works in film and television production.

Shirley Lansing has been working on it since last year, and there are problems in content production, and Paramount Pictures has stepped up its efforts to find new projects, but the lack of good producers and collaborators makes it difficult to solve it in the short term.

On the other hand, it is solved from the outside, and the solution is very simple, find the right production company and let them provide the content.

The six major companies of the same grade don't have to think about it, they can't hand over their films to Paramount for distribution, and those medium-sized production companies controlled by the six major companies naturally don't have to think about it.

Shirley Lansing's eyes were naturally on two companies – DreamWorks and Relativity Entertainment.

The latter has a concentrated stake and is not easy to talk about, and Shirley Lansing knows Ronan at best, not very well about him.

Therefore, it is most convenient to kill ripe.

The six major companies also have a silent tacit understanding, and it is in their own interests to suppress DreamWorks.

"Steven, we've been friends for twenty years, and I'm here to help you. Shirley Lansing smiled and said, "How much money and personnel does DreamWorks invest in overseas distribution channels, and as a result, it not only affects your distribution channels in North America, but even starts to drag down the film and television production business." ”

These are the realities of DreamWorks, and Spielberg doesn't refute them.

Shirley Lansing added: "By leaving the distribution to Paramount, DreamWorks can save a lot of resources and invest in the film and television production that you do best, and bring more great films to the world." ”

Spielberg lifted his glasses and looked into the depths of Shirley Lansing's eyes, which had never been cold.

It's been an old friend for 20 years, so I chose to come over at this time.

Spielberg would not have had such an idea just by proposing that DreamWorks' film distribution be handed over to Paramount Pictures, but after the New Year, as soon as a group of people from the DreamWorks distribution department resigned to join Universal Pictures, Shirley Lansing came to the door again.

It's as if there's a wordless tacit understanding between them.

But the reality is here, and Spielberg can't turn a blind eye to it, saying, "Shirley, I've been thinking about it for a while. ”

For the time being, it can only be delayed.

After all, it was Spielberg, and Shirley Lansing didn't want to push too much, saying, "Steven, Paramount Pictures and I are looking forward to working with you again." ”

Spielberg smiled: "I believe that there will be a time when Paramount and I will work together again." ”

His emphasis is on the individual as a director, not on the owner of DreamWorks.

Shirley Lansing understood the meaning and said: "Steven, I understand the situation at DreamWorks, and I will say a few words as a friend, and fight for some more conditions while DreamWorks still has enough value." ”

Spielberg's attitude suddenly hardened: "Shirley, DreamWorks won't go bankrupt. ”

Shirley Lansing smiled and said, "Of course not, as long as you are here, there will always be hope for DreamWorks." She suddenly mentioned something else: "Steven, I'm going to send a team over and talk to you about the release of War of the Worlds." ”

The sci-fi masterpiece "War of the Worlds" starring Tom Cruise, as early as the beginning of the project, Spielberg was forced to commit to some pressure to be distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Spielberg wanted to go back, and after thinking about it, he decided to keep his promise, but determined to get the best release terms for DreamWorks, saying, "I'll be personally involved in this release negotiation." ”

Shirley Lansing nodded and said, "I won't bother you." Goodbye, Steven. ”

The last time he met with Tom Hanks to talk about "The Da Vinci Code", he told his old friend that DreamWorks' distribution dilemma was more serious than he said, especially after some publishers were poached, which has affected DreamWorks' distribution in North America.

After ten years of hard work, DreamWorks has not only not developed into a top entertainment group as expected, but has become more and more difficult.

Spielberg stood in front of his office window and looked down at the car in which Shirley Lanxi was heading towards the DreamWorks campus gate.

Does DreamWorks really want to give the film to Paramount for distribution?

Thinking of this, Spielberg shook his head slowly but firmly.

Tom Hanks is right when he says that once it loses its ability to distribute, DreamWorks will soon become the plaything of the Big Six.

The distribution channel is stuck in the throat of DreamWorks!

Spielberg was even more determined to find a way to solve the distribution problem.

A black business sedan drove out of the door of DreamWorks, and Shirley Lansing glanced back, DreamWorks is not doing well lately, as long as it doesn't solve the distribution problems, it won't be long before it will become a production company.

Paramount Pictures needs production companies, especially those with a strong track record.

Thinking of this, Shirley Lansing asked the assistant in the co-pilot, "I asked you to follow Ronan Anderson and Relativity Entertainment, do they have anything special over there lately?"

The assistant hurriedly said: "Recently, there has been a stir in Relativity Entertainment, and they are competing with Lionsgate to acquire Artisan Pictures. ”

Shirley Lansing raised her eyebrows: "Acquisition of Artisan Pictures?"

"Yes, it's been a few days since the news was made public. The assistant hurriedly introduced: "Last year, there was relevant news, saying that the shareholders of Artisan Pictures were ready to package the company for sale, and Relativity Entertainment secretly contacted them some time ago and wanted to acquire it as a wholly-owned company, but Artisan Pictures made the news public, and Lionsgate also joined in, and now the two companies are bidding for Artisan Pictures." ”

Shirley Lansing seems to be saying to herself: "What did Relativity Entertainment do when it acquired Artisan Pictures? Shahai Entertainment's production ability is extremely strong, and the distribution capacity of Embassy Pictures is not much worse than Paramount......"

The assistant replied in a low voice: "Relativity Entertainment does not have a film library. ”

Shirley Lansing got it: "Ronan Anderson is very ambitious. ”

The assistant added: "Relativity Entertainment has developed rapidly in recent years, much faster than DreamWorks. ”

"It's a very good company. Shirley Lansing thought of something: "It's a pity that the background is much worse." ”

The assistant answered: "With the film library, the gap in the background is smaller. ”

Shirley Lansing, of course, understood this, and sat here with a blank face, as if thinking about things.

Relativity Entertainment has risen too fast, and even now, more eyes have been focused on DreamWorks, and when they paid attention to Relativity Entertainment, they found that it was a behemoth no less than DreamWorks.

If there is a film library, Relativity Entertainment will be more confident.

Shirley Lansing thought of Paramount's weakest production link today, and recalled the blockbuster movie produced by Relativity Entertainment last year, and suddenly had an idea.

If Paramount Pictures could swallow DreamWorks and Relativity Entertainment, would it become Hollywood's top company?

Shirley Lansing didn't think about the problem of not being able to eat, because there were only two new companies that appeared in Hollywood in the past, going bankrupt or becoming part of the Big Six.

Relativity Entertainment is expanding too fast, and winning the film library means having a stable source of copyright income, which is definitely not conducive to acquisition.

Shirley Lansing quickly had an idea that he couldn't let Relativity Entertainment swallow Artisan Pictures smoothly.

This is also in the interests of the group company Viacom, which is in full swing in the rental market with Netflix and Bescar, a subsidiary of Relativity Entertainment.

But then there is a headache, the equity concentration of Relativity Entertainment, and the acquisition and differentiation are not used at all.

Then find something troublesome for Relativity Entertainment as soon as possible, so that they can't concentrate on acquiring Artisan Pictures.

Making the decision, Shirley Lansing thought for a moment and said to the driver, "Go to Viacom headquarters." She said to her assistant again: "Call Mr. Lei Shidong's assistant, I want to see Mr. Lei Shidong today." ”

After the assistant finished the call and agreed on a meeting time, Shirley Lansing said, "Call Relativity Entertainment, I'm going to see Ronan Anderson tomorrow." ”

Arriving at Viacom's headquarters, Shirley Lansing went directly to Somer Ray Shidong and explained her thoughts.

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