Burbank, a satellite town and industrial center north of Los Angeles with a population of less than 100,000, is home to The Walt Disney Company.

In addition, many of the world's leading media and entertainment companies, such as Warner Bros., DreamWorks, NBC, Viacom, and PBS, have branches in Burbank, which is why Burbank is also known as the "Media Capital of the World".

Compared to these behemoths in the media and entertainment industry, the Dunn Film Company, which Jerry Towne wholly acquired and reorganized, is as insignificant as a small sparrow.

The company's location is somewhat remote, three kilometers away from the central block, fortunately, the transportation is convenient, and the office environment is good in the suburbs, without industrial noise and the hustle and bustle of the bustling block.

The office space continues to use the previous leased five-storey office building, with the reception hall on the first floor, the production team office on the second floor, the distribution department and the external relations department on the third floor, the finance department and the general manager's office on the fourth floor, the small screening room and special effects studio on the fifth floor, and Jerry's office on the top floor.

It seems that the scale is not small, but in fact, the office area of the whole building is less than 2,000 square meters, at first this building was a rental apartment, and the whole building was rented by the old Chris, and renovated and converted into an office building.

Although the sparrow is small, it is good to acquire someone else's company, the company's departments are sound, the film production equipment and office facilities are complete, and it can operate normally after taking over.

Sitting in an office of less than 50 square meters, Jerry Towne had a lot of thoughts and a lot of emotion.

Five months ago, he withdrew $30 million from his family business fund account, of which 25 million was used to make his first film, and the remaining 5 million was given to the housekeeper Paul Don to set up a shell film company to avoid taxes legally.

Unexpectedly, Paul Sr. spent $3.8 million to acquire the Kslee Film Company, which had been in operation for three years and four months, and also took over the salaries and insurance of more than 50 employees, and promised Chris Sr. on behalf of Jerry that all employees would receive a 10% salary increase after the completion of the handover, and no employee would be fired within a year.

It didn't matter if Paul smacked his chest, anyway, as soon as his upper and lower lips touched, the words were spoken.

But Jerry Donn's flesh hurt, and in the blink of an eye, he not only had to support the 17 employees of the Sini 5 apartment, but also had to pay the salaries of 53 employees for a year.

The monthly salary of the company's 53 employees ranges from 2000~8000 US dollars, with an average of about 4000 US dollars, including ten senior management, whose salaries are not calculated according to monthly salaries, but paid according to annual salaries, each with an annual salary of more than 50,000 US dollars, and the annual salary of general manager Brad Gray is 300,000 US dollars, plus 10% of the company's performance commission.

Jerry Towne roughly estimated that according to Paul Sr.'s promise, he would spend $3 million a year on paying employees alone, and if you add the fixed expenses of Signey Five, he would need at least $5 million a year in basic expenses, and if he wanted to keep the company running, the cost would be even greater, at least double.

On the first day of the company's opening, Jerry was sitting on the chair of the big boss, but he was sitting on pins and needles, and from this moment on, he owed a lot of debt, and he was destined to move forward with a heavy burden in the future.

Make hay!

In the past, it was only lip service, but now that making money is imminent, it has become the primary problem in front of Jerry Donn, and it is also the source of many of his troubles.

……

The banquet lasted until the evening, and under the introduction of Paul Sr., Jerry and Brad Gray officially met.

At the previous opening ceremony, the two met in a hurry and did not have time to talk in depth, but now they finally sat together, got to know each other better, exchanged views on the company's current situation and development plans, and expressed their opinions.

Paul Sr. privately told Jerry about Brad Gray's profile and work history.

The 38-year-old Brad Gray is currently mainly engaged in film and television production and screenwriting, and has served as the producer of two seasons and five films.

In fact, when Paul Sr. mentioned that the general manager was Brad Gray, Jerry was both surprised and delighted, because he knew that Gray was a very talented film and television producer.

Gray's career is still in its infancy, and it won't be long before he will usher in a period of rapid career growth, and ten years later, Brad Gray will become the man of the year in power in Hollywood.

So Jerry has no objection to Gray being the general manager of his own company.

So at the end of the conversation, he gave Gray a great deal of discretion, entrusted him with full responsibility for the company, and made it clear that he would be allowed to continue his previous career as a film and television producer without delaying the company's work, that is, allowing him to take on private work.

It is not difficult to see that Jerry Towne does not change his original intention, and does not have much ambition for his film company, and the reason why he established the company is to make his acting career smoother and not be hindered by external interference and other film companies.

…………

After the company opened, Jerry Towne stayed in his office for three days, eating and living here, and never left the room.

Three days later, he called Paul Sr., the deputy general manager who handled the company's day-to-day affairs, into the office alone and handed him a very detailed catalogue of acquisitions.

This catalogue brings together more than 30 novels and biographies, and what Paul Sr. has to do is to wholly acquire the film and television adaptation rights of the published novels and biographies, and then keep an eye on the works that have not yet been published in the catalogue and acquire their film and television rights as soon as possible.

In order to facilitate the smooth work of Paul Sr., Jerry Towne recorded in detail the general situation of the author of the relevant novel and the biography of the real person according to his memory, which is also the result of his three days of work without sleep and food.

Paul Sr. has always carried out the tasks assigned to him without compromise, but at present, there is only one million dollars of liquidity left in the company's account, which can only temporarily keep the company running for two months, and there is no money left to buy the rights to the novel.

As an uncle who watched Jerry grow up, Paul Sr. was definitely Jerry's most trusted person, so he spoke out about his current predicament to his face.

"Don't worry, Uncle Tang, you will carry out the acquisition work in the order of this directory now, and I will solve the money matter. Jerry seemed very confident, as if he didn't take the difficulties in front of him to heart.

Old Paul was surprised: "How do you solve it? Up to now, we need to use money in many places, but the benefits are far away, to be honest, I am worried about you, often in the middle of the night can not sleep." ”

When he was alone with Jerry, Paul Sr. generally spoke Mandarin, and although he and Jerry could barely see the shadow of the Orientals, the Oriental complex had long been deeply integrated into the bones of all members of the Don family.

Jerry smiled indifferently: "The solution in front of us is just two words - borrow money!"

"Who does it matter?" said old Paul, who was not surprised to hear this, and asked, "Lady Sally or the old man?"

Jerry smiled and shook his head, "You can't borrow money from the old man this time, otherwise it will cause disputes within the family, and it will not be cost-effective because of small losses." My mother doesn't have to go there for a while, she is my last support.

I was going to borrow money from my two uncles and aunts, and borrow their personal savings in the bank, without using their company's liquidity. If I don't have enough to make up the amount I expected, then I will have to speak to my mother. ”

Old Paul's voice changed: "How much do you want to scrape together?" His voice trembled a little as he spoke, obviously Old Paul had expected that Jerry would definitely make a big move this time, otherwise he would not easily borrow money from others.

Jerry stretched out his index finger and said, "A hundred million dollars." This is still the most conservative number, if possible, I want to make up enough 150 million, only to reach this amount, can I rest assured and bold to realize the money-making plan that I have been planning for half a year. ”

"Sizzle!" Old Paul suddenly took a breath of cool air, his sparse eyebrows frowned together, forming a winding horizontal arc, and his eyes flickered, indicating that his heart was extremely uncalm, but he was not flustered, and he was thinking quickly.

After pondering for a while, Old Paul no longer asked, but directly stated his opinion: "If you want to raise this money to invest in movies, my opinion is that it is too rash and there is a huge risk, so I suggest you give up, maintain the current situation, work steadily, and move backward."

If you have other plans for this money, my opinion is to consider carefully, act cautiously, and not rashly invest all the funds into it, in case the investment fails, it means that your business plan is all in vain, and it is your only choice to go back and obey the old man's dispatch.

When you return to the family, the huge debts you owe will naturally be paid off by the family, and what you pay will be lifelong freedom.

At that time, I hope you don't have resistance, how much convenience you want to get, how much it costs to pay, it's fair, no matter who has to pay for their impulses, the existence of the family is not a cash machine for you to squander, but a safe haven when you are cornered. ”

After speaking, old Paul meticulously sorted out the thick pile of documents that Jerry had carefully prepared according to the page numbers, and when he went out, he turned back and said, "Whatever you want to do, I will spare no effort to support you, although I fear that you will fail." ”

Jerry took old Paul's advice to heart, and instead of being angry, he trusted him more, so Jerry smiled and said to him: "Don't worry, freedom is the most precious, I won't bet on it, I'm confident in my investment plan!" Paul Sr. nodded and walked out with the papers.

Just do what you say.

For the next week, Jerry spent the day at Brooks Studios to observe post-production, and in the evening he brought gifts to visit his uncle and aunts.

Since their company had just opened, they had recently stopped in Los Angeles, which saved Jerry the pain of flying around.

Just as Paul Sr. expected, Jerry Towne had a high status in the family because he was loved by the old man, and this time he rarely asked for help, and several uncles and aunts naturally did not refuse, and they donated generously, and within a week, five huge sums of money were remitted to Jerry's private account, totaling $100 million.

After the loan was received, Jerry went to his mother, Lady Sally, to take half of her savings, and the fundraising ended with the expected goal.

At the same time, he assembled his team and assembled a 15-member venture capital team with lead attorney Jim Ramovich, financial manager and accountant Steven Richards, stockbroker Anil Williams and Paul Sr.

Everything was ready, and on March 17, Jerry took his venture capital team and six accompanying bodyguards to a chartered flight to New York.

………… (To be continued)