The traditional Hollywood Industrial District is a suburb south of Los Angeles.

With the increasing influence of Hollywood and the increasing number of film companies settled in, Hollywood is no longer a corner of the world, but the center of the American film industry composed of Hollywood and its surrounding cities such as Burbank.

For example, Disney and Time Warner's new headquarters are located in Burbank, and Universal Pictures is headquartered in Universal City Plaza between Los Angeles and Burbank.

The headquarters of Down Pictures is also located in a wasteland between Los Angeles and Burbank, 50 kilometers from Universal Studios, covering an area of 200,000 square meters.

Bill McNick contacted Schreich Engineering, a well-known German architectural firm, to design the headquarters building of Down Pictures.

Although this company is not as large as well-known construction companies such as Richal and AECOM, it is more sophisticated and versatile.

They provided the first phase of the drawings, the headquarters building has a total of 4 floors, 80,000 square meters of construction land, presenting the shape of the fourth-order magic method, presenting the connotation of magic and magic, with a construction budget of 200 million US dollars and a construction period of 2 years.

Don didn't understand architectural design, so he only put forward three requirements for Bill McNick, "The future development direction of the company is an international multinational media group, and the design of the headquarters building must be high-end and high-grade!"

"The design of the building should be a landmark, and the plaza in front of the building may have well-known movie images such as Spider-Man, Jedi Knight, and Transformers in the future. ”

"My office should be equipped with an assistant's office, a secretary's office, a lady's office, a subordinate office, an annex conference room, a private study, a bedroom, a bathroom, a living room, a dining room, a piano room, a gym, a mini screening room, an honor exhibition hall, an art exhibition hall, and so on. ”

Bill McNick's face changed, blocking out his personal needs, but he keenly grasped an important message in his words, "Transformers? Donn, you're going to make Transformers into a movie?"

Tang En said as a matter of course: "I have this idea! But with the current special effects technology, it is still a little difficult to do this, and it will be possible in another five or six years." ”

Bill McNick nodded, "Transformers are a fond memory of many people's childhood, and they do have the potential to be adapted into movies." When I got back, I told the production department to buy the copyright first. ”

"By the way, what's going on with the TV station?" Don was concerned about the job.

Bill McNick said: "AMC TV is the most strategic part of the company, and Starz TV is the most likely acquisition. ”

&nbC TV?Isn't this a basic cable TV station?" Tang En raised his eyebrows and shook his head repeatedly, "This is absolutely not good, we are promoting high-quality dramas, and such a TV station cannot broadcast it." ”

Bill McNick frowned, "But AMC has 42 million subscribers, which is 30 million more than HBO!"

"So what?" Donn pouted, "There are a lot of users, but can it be high?Is the total subscription revenue of the TV station as high as HBO?"

"Yes, twice as much as HBO!"

"Ahem......"

Donn was so embarrassed that he forgot that it was the year 2000, and HBO was still in the stage of confusion and direction, "I'm talking about the future! There are too many bad TV shows on the market right now, and when the boutique drama channel comes out and has a brand influence, it will completely reverse this situation." ”

Bill McNick was clearly unconvinced, "Donne, I know your ambitions, but ...... Boutique dramas are harder to come out than classic movies. ”

"That's because the investment is not enough! How much does a TV series cost now? $1 million, $2 million? The cost is high, but the salary of the starring actor in each episode alone is $5 million, and how much money is there to create the beauty and enjoyment of the picture?"

"Donn, this is a TV series. "Bill McNick couldn't keep up with Donn's train of thought.

The corners of Donn's mouth hooked slightly, "Bill, invest $120 million, what do you think is the difference between this and filming a movie?

Bill McNick frowned, "I'm afraid I won't be able to recover the cost." ”

Donn laughed, "Can't recoup the cost?" Bill, your vision is really outdated, believe me, it will impress you! The method of reducing subscription fees to attract users like AMC TV is not the concept I want to implement. I want quality, not quantity! Just imagine, if you pay $10 a month for a subscription, even if you only have 10 million family subscriptions, what is the income in a year? That's a whole $1.2 billion!"

"$10 a month subscription?Donn, you're crazy!" Bill McNick's eyes widened and he exclaimed.

Don En looked straight and shook his head, "Bill, you have to understand that Hermes's sales volume is much lower than that of Lotika, but the profit is more than ten times. That's the power of branding, Bill, I'm going to buy a TV station and I want to create a brand!"

Bill McNick was clearly stunned by Donn's astonishing thoughts.

Most of the current TV drama market is shoddy, and the DVD income is basically zero, and it all depends on advertising fees to survive. Even HBO is a bunch of bad movies, relying on and struggling to support 7 million subscribers.

"Starz TV has not been created for a long time, only 6 years, mainly broadcasting some popular movies and series, because there are no original series, and they are all reruns, there are not many subscribers, and now there are only more than 2 million subscribers, and the annual subscription fee is only 30 US dollars. ”

"Oh, there's such a big gap with HBO?" Don couldn't help but frown.

"yes, the only professional cable TV station that can compete with HBO is SHO. But this TV station is Viacom's ace TV network, and it is impossible to buy it, and we can't afford it. Bill McNick said slowly.

Tang En pondered for a long time and sighed, "This is making my challenge more difficult!"

"Huh?"

"Ahem...... I mean, we have a long way to go to lead Starz to beat HBO and SHO!"

Bill McNick stared at Donn, "Have you really decided?"

"Is there any other choice?" Don rolled his eyes angrily, "If I had a choice, I'd rather spend a little more than put that much effort into it." Forget it, just Starz TV, what is the price?"

"Between $200 million and $300 million. ”

"Huh, so expensive?"

Tang En couldn't help but exclaim, with only 2 million subscribers, dare to ask for such a high price?

Bill McNick explains: "That's it, $100 for a subscriber. Counting Starz's sister channel, MoviePlex, the price must be over $200 million. ”

Don waved his hand weakly, "That's it, let's buy it!" Damn, no wonder Viacom spent more than $37 billion to buy CBS, and the TV station is so expensive!"

Bill McNick laughed: "That's CBS's good performance and high revenue, Disney's acquisition of ABC was very cheap, and NBC's value was even lower." ”

"How much?"

"$18 billion is enough! What, you want to buy it?"

Looking at Bill McNick's playful expression, Don almost vomited blood.

……

Jerry Bruckheimer is a gold medal producer in Hollywood, he has his own production company, and he has enough strength and confidence to share the dividends of big production companies.

This project aroused Jerry Bruckheimer's interest, and he asked for two things: first, the project should be based on his opinion, and second, the film will receive a 5% profit share in the future.

Not just the box office, but everything around!

Down Pictures gladly accepted the offer, and Down quit the crew out of respect for the ace producer.

At the same time, Don Pictures also reached an agreement with DreamWorks and Tom Hanks' Preton Productions to cooperate with a 5:5:2 investment distribution and profit sharing, and jointly funded $120 million to prepare for the production of a World War II-themed TV series that recorded the Normandy landing.

In an instant, the entertainment media throughout the United States exploded.