Chapter 9 Group
"Then it's time for us to add some news to them. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info "Sid laughed evilly.
"You mean ......?" asked Ali (Emmanuel).
"You said that "Harry Potter" is such a good children's literature, shouldn't everyone know about it, and let the whole Hollywood snap up the IP rights. Sid laughed.
"HoHo~~, you want to muddy the waters?" Ali (Emmanuel) immediately understood.
"Fishing in troubled waters, my favorite. Sid laughed.
"Okay, I'll arrange it when I get back. I can't wait to see the faces of those Warner guys. "As a Hollywood gold agent, Ali [Emmanuel] has absolutely no knack for spreading this kind of gossip.
"Okay, what's left?" asked Sid, clapping his hands.
"Those foreign TV shows. Ali (Emmanuel) said as he looked through the information.
"Yes, how's it going?"
""Comrades Are Mortals" has been won. Ali (Emmanuel) said, "In terms of TV shows, "Big Brother" from Endemol and "Who Can Be a Millionaire" from British TV have all been bought. ”
"Yes, that's good. Sid didn't expect the TV show to be done so quickly, "Well, what about Survivor?" Sid found that Ali (Emmanuel) had missed one.
"I bought it, but ......," Ali (Emmanuel) looked embarrassed, "and the purchase price was $800,000 more than it would have been." ”
"What?" The total budget for these IP copyrights is only 10 million US dollars, and on average, the budget for each one is only hundreds of thousands of US dollars, and it costs 800,000 more? What are you kidding, this is almost more than the original budget. You must know that the buyout fee for the entire series of "Historical" Harry Potter is only $900,000.
"Why?" said Sid's face sank.
"Because we have a bidder. Ali (Emmanuel) said.
"Bidder?" Sid furrowed.
"Mark Burnett. Ali (Emmanuel) flipped through the information and said: "According to the information we have gathered, he is a British television producer, and it was he who first came up with the full idea of 'Survivor' in 1995. ”
"Then why did he buy it?" asked Sid curiously.
Because the original ideaner was not him, but the British company Planet 24, they couldn't sell the idea, so they had to sell it to Sweden's Strix. Last year, the Swedish version of Robinson's Adventure was a local sensation, and we negotiated with Strix to buy the rights to the American version. ”
"En~~~!" Sid remembered that this Mark Burnett was the producer of the American version of "Survivor", this guy was quite talented, not only single-handedly created an American reality show, but also "left his hometown and entered the city", and later the famous Trump Children's Shoes (Donald Trump) cooperated to produce the extremely popular workplace reality show "The Apprentice".
With an average viewership of more than 20 million people, Trump's "You'erFired!" not only made the show a big hit, but also made Trump a real household name in the United States.
This also created an important "mass base" for his later presidential campaign, which is quite interesting to think about now.
"What are you thinking? Sid. Ali (Emmanuel) saw Sid's evil smile and knew he had some "bad idea" again.
"If this Mark Burnett wants to do this show so much, why don't we hire him as an executive producer and make 'Survivor' and give him a little cut. Sid said with a nod of his chin.
"Well, about that. Ali (Emmanuel) suddenly vomited.
"What? Ali, is there something you haven't told me? As soon as Sid saw Ali's (Emmanuel's) expression, he knew there was something unexpected.
"Wait a minute. Ali (Emmanuel) ran out of the room, and soon led a man back to the office, a young brown-haired man.
Sid looked at Ali (Emmanuel) with an inexplicable smile, and although he already had a guess in his heart, Sid still looked at the two with an inquiring look.
"Sid, this is ...... Mark Burnett. Ali (Emmanuel) had a headache when he saw Sid's playful smile, but he could only bite the bullet and explain.
When Mark Burnett saw that Sid was really as young as Ali (Emmanuel) said, he couldn't help but be amazed, but after seeing Ali's (Emmanuel) expression, he didn't dare to show any unusual expression on his face.
After a few people sat down, Sid looked at Mark Burnett opposite: "So, you're the one who wants to steal my show?"
Sid's rather unceremonious tone made the atmosphere tense immediately, and Mark Burnett wanted to explain something, but Sid didn't give him a chance to speak, and said aggressively: "Do you know what it means to grab something from me?"
Mark Burnett swallowed, "What?"
Sid stared at him for a long time, then suddenly laughed, "It means that you have good taste, Mr. Burnett." ”
Sid's joke immediately made everyone laugh, and Ali (Emmanuel) laughed first, "Yes, yes, we all have good tastes." ”
Mark Burnett hurriedly said, "Just call me Mark, please." ”
After the joke, Sid said, "Well, I don't think you're just here to greet us, Mark." ”
"Yes, I don't think there's anyone better suited for 'Survivor,' he says...... "Mark Burnett saw the opportunity and immediately began to talk about his thoughts.
Sid originally wanted to borrow his hand to create a high-quality "Survivor", so he also took the opportunity to discuss with him the production concept of the show, and the contradiction and unity of the "real person" and "show" of the reality show. It is necessary not only to maintain the authenticity of the simulation, but also to create a "show" of contradictions and conflicts between the characters and help, and combine the two to allow the audience to get an unprecedented immersive experience.
"Reality TV!? Mark Burnett exclaimed, after a long conversation, he admired Sid's forward-thinking ideas, thinking that his design was already very novel, but Sid's ideas were simply ahead of the times, but they could firmly grasp the mentality of the mass audience.
"So, are you interested in being a producer on 'Survivor'? Sid asked.
"Of course. Mark Burnett replied confidently.
"The basic cost of the show is the bonus of $1 million and the cost of shooting, and your remuneration is 5% of the advertising revenue after the show airs?"
"OK, no problem. "Although it seems that the proportion of 5% is low, judging from the sensational effect of "Survivor" in Sweden, the advertising revenue will definitely not be less than 100 million, and then it will be at least 10 million yuan of sharing income.
As a seasoned television producer, Mark Burnett certainly knows how profitable it is to make a successful show, and he was immediately excited to try it out after a little calculation.
"Then you get the project plan out as soon as possible, determine the budget, and then form the program production team. Sid said quickly.
"OK, no problem. Mark Burnet nodded, and then he said, "I've actually decided on the location for the first season." ”
"Oh, where?"
"Indonesia, the small island of Borneo. Mark Burnett's eyes lit up.
After Mark Burnett left in a hurry, Sid turned around and saw Ali (Emmanuel) with a strange look on his face and said, "Sid, you have been discussing the program for a long time, but you should not forget one thing, we haven't sold the TV program yet? If there is no TV station to buy our program, then where will the sales revenue and advertising revenue come from?"
Hear Ali Emmanuel. Sid couldn't help but laugh, "Who said we're going to sell Survivor?"
"What do you mean?" asked Ali Emmanuel, a little confused.
"I mean, it's time for us to buy a TV station, Ali [Emmanuel]. Sid smiled confidently.
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In the field of television before the mid-90s, the so-called national television network was a general term for television stations that transmitted through radio signals.
As we all know, no matter what kind of radio signal, its transmission is limited by distance. Therefore, if you want to build a television network covering a country, then you need to build signal relay stations all over the country, just like a telecommunications company builds base stations. It's like a relay, spreading the signal all over the country.
Therefore, the three largest public stations ABC, NBC, CBS, are all derived from the earliest wireless signal stations.
In the early 90s, in order to form the Fox TV network, News Corp. spent $2 billion to acquire local television stations in seven cities across the United States (New York, Los Angeles, Houston, HSD Dallas, Boston, and Chicago).
In those days, forming a television network was definitely an expensive and high-profile affair.
However, things changed with the coming of the Clinton administration, and in addition to rectifying the economy, one of Clinton's most famous policies was the "information superhighway plan."
In many later evaluations, Clinton's plan was regarded as an important sign that the United States was ahead of the curve in entering the information age. It was on this basis that the Internet companies in Silicon Valley had the subsequent collective eruption.
However, what many people fail to notice is that in Clinton's "information superhighway plan," cable television operators have received a large amount of subsidies through a wide range of tax deductions and subsidies, which has greatly accelerated the laying of cable television networks. This has made cable TV stations in North America extremely popular in terms of hardware.
In other words, since the end of the 90s, the way to watch TV without having to receive radio signals through an antenna has passed. Nowadays, the vast majority of families, as long as they pull a cable into the TV through the TV operator, they can watch stable TV programs.
And this laid a solid foundation for Sid's plan.
"So, we don't need to build any more base stations, and we don't need to go all over the country to buy TV stations. We just need to acquire a TV station that provides content and connect it to a national audience through a cable operator, and then we can enter the TV space. Sid swore to Ali Emmanuel.
"Compared to Fox a few years ago, the cost of entry is negligible now. Sid didn't forget to make a joke at the end.
"And what type of TV service are we going to join?" Ali Emmanuel gave full play to the spirit of a movie veteran, and he didn't know anything about TV.
"I've asked Goffman to collect the data, and I've taken a fancy to Comcast's basic cable service. Sid smiled slightly.
Unlike the other side of the ocean, North American TV operators are also a free and competitive market under the rules of the market-oriented game, and each operator has its own unique coverage of the region and service characteristics.
All TV networks and TV stations will sign retransmission agreements with operators and charge them for rebroadcasting.
At the same time, the services of these cable operators are divided into basic cable (channel) and paid cable (channel). Among them, the basic cable (channel) refers to the channel that you can directly watch after you have the basic annual fee of the cable operator.
Like what Sid is ready to join, it's this kind of basic cable (channel). The characteristics of this basic cable (channel) are that there are advertisements and a wide range of viewership, so it is absolutely necessary to be able to watch TV content for all ages.
On the other hand, there is a paid cable (channel). As the name suggests, it is a channel that can only be watched on the basis of the basic cable (channel) and after paying an additional fee.
This type of toll desk is characterized by being well-made, without advertising, and on a larger scale. No, the scale is large, it's not the meaning of the small H film you think. Rather, it refers to the language, the scene, and the ...... Well, Luo Ludu on the bigger show.
The most famous premium cable (channel) is, of course, HBO, the king of the later pay station.
Compared with the low annual fee of basic cable (channel), paid cable (channel) is generally divided into monthly, semi-annual and annual charging methods, and the cost is much more expensive than basic cable (channel).
Therefore, the people who will generally subscribe to this kind of channel are the real middle class, and because of the nature of this charge, the revenue and profit of the paid cable (channel) are much better than that of the ordinary basic cable (channel).
For comparison, the average cost of an episode of American dramas broadcast on the basic channel is between 40~500,000 US dollars, which is still the cost after the ratings of the basic cable station increased.
Later, it became popular to say that million-dollar American dramas mostly refer to high-quality American dramas with large productions and large scenes on paid cable (channels). For example, the famous "Band of Brothers" and "Game of Thrones", which are famous in the history of American dramas.
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KCEF Television in California is a local television station that only covers the south-central part of California, and many residents of Los Angeles can watch it.
As a local basic cable television station, it mainly relies on the advertising fees of some local advertisers as its income, but in fact, its ratings have not been good, so the annual budget of 8 million US dollars, and more than 60% need to be supported by audience donations.
So when the management of the TV station heard that someone actually wanted to buy their TV station, they thought it was a joke. But it wasn't until the legal team at the merger and Wells Fargo sent out a formal letter that they realized it wasn't a joke.
Although the local TV station's programming capacity is miserable, because it is a basic cable TV station and is part of Comcast, the second largest cable network in the United States, it can expand its broadcast area to the whole country at any time as long as it can invest money.
Therefore, before the official production of "Survivor" is completed, what the purchased TV station needs to do is to adjust and reorganize into Fire Lion TV and make full preparations for the national screening in the second half of the year.
And this requires a reliable and capable person to carry out this work, but in terms of Fire Lion Pictures, Sean is busy every day for the promotion of "Ghost Shadow", and Henry, as Sid's deputy, has to prepare for the next film, and Fire Lion Pictures obviously has no suitable candidate.
After much investigation and careful consideration, Sid finally selected an excellent candidate.