Hearing Eric's words, Tina Brown lowered her head slightly, and casually took the coffee in front of her to hide her expression, Tyra Banks and Diane Kruger gloated almost at the same time, but both girls were very shrewd and noticed Tina Brown's movements, and immediately took the coffee in the same way.

Embarrassed, Cindy Crawford just wanted to pour all the coffee in front of her in the face of some hateful guy.

"Wait, you bastard, someday, someday, I'll make you pay......"

Cindy Crawford thought a little frantically in her heart, but it did not prevent the innocent and resentful expression on her delicate face, and she looked at Eric like a wounded Persian cat.

This is a 'weakness' of Eric that Cindy Crawford accidentally discovered a few days ago, the first time I checked the training results of the models that day, there was a girl who always looked at her feet involuntarily when she walked the catwalk, and was scolded by Eric several times in a row, when the girl cried and walked on the runway again, Eric immediately stopped scolding, but specifically asked the trainer to patiently guide the girl how to get rid of the shortcomings of always bowing her head.

Eric didn't know that he had become the target of this stunner's 'calculation', and when he saw that Cindy Crawford not only did not fight back or defend himself, but instead had an expression of 'you hurt me and laughed it off', he was a little sneered.

Cindy Crawford and O'Neill's one-night night of devastating time and soul should have happened during this time, but now that the timeline has been messed up with Eric, Cindy Crawford has been living in Los Angeles for the last few months for physical training, and Eric has not heard the news of the two contacting each other.

However, Eric didn't bother to take it back. Cindy Crawford wasn't innocent before, anyway.

Tina Brown felt that the scene was a little embarrassing, and seeing that Eric no longer continued to say anything, she took the initiative to play a round and said, "Eric, I made an appointment with Mr. Katzenberg at half past two in the afternoon to talk about some details of Yahoo's cooperation with Firefly. Before that, can I interview you with some questions as the editor-in-chief of Yahoo News? ”

Eric realized that Tina Brown was not saying this on a whim. However, this kind of work behavior is very much appreciated by Eric, and as the owner of Yahoo, Eric does not mind providing some scoops to his online media, so he nods briskly: "Of course, just ask any questions." ”

Tina Brown was ready, and after Eric nodded in agreement, she quickly pulled her notepad out of her briefcase. Without superfluous nonsense, the first question was immediately raised: "Eric, after "The Lion King", Firefly still insists on reforming the Disney animation department, in addition to those previously announced reasons, does Firefly have deeper strategic considerations?" ”

Eric didn't expect Tina Brown's first question to be so accurate, and now the outside world is almost speculating about the real reason why Firefly insists on selling the hand-drawn animation department, and there are countless insider analyses of all kinds. But no one got to the point.

Tina Brown, who has been a media queen for many years, is acutely aware of this topical issue. Not surprisingly.

Eric said honestly, "Yes, but it involves the internal secrets of the Firefly Group, so I can't say. ”

Tina Brown smiled and nodded, drew a cross in front of the first question, thought about it, and changed the cross to a question mark. He looked up and said, "In that case, Eric, can Yahoo invite a professional analyst to make a comment based on your answer?" After a pause, Tina Brown added, "I mean. After the auction in the animation department. ”

"No problem," Eric nodded, both sides understanding that this was just a gimmick to earn clicks, and the real reason for Firefly's cut-off of the hand-drawn animation department could only be inferred backwards through the decline of 2D animation a few years later, so Eric wasn't worried that the analysts hired by Yahoo would be able to analyze what the inside story would be based on his positive answer.

"So, the second question," Tina Brown asked, "Now that many people want to know the news of the sequel to Men in Black, it is rumored in the industry that Firefly refuses to restart the sequel to Men in Black in the short term, is it really to monopolize the copyright of Men in Black?" ”

Eric laughed, "Tina, you're bold enough of that. ”

"Boss, I didn't bring an interview recorder," Tina Brown explained with a smile, a deliberate change of title.

Eric knew that Tina Brown was saying this to indicate that his answer would not appear on the site as it was. Moreover, he sensed that Tina Brown was testing whether she could accept the negative news about the Firefly Group on Yahoo Information.

Yahoo is a mass media platform with a very broad development prospect, and if all the news about the Firefly Group is positive, then its credibility will definitely be affected.

"Here's the real inside story of this," Eric thought for a while and said: "After the success of the first part of "Men in Black", including Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and other leading actors, as well as directors and producers, asked for a significant increase in salary and share, if Firefly and Columbia agreed, then we will have to pay a total of $35 million in fixed remuneration and 30% profit share for the creators of the sequel, and the production cost of the sequel will reach 1." $200 million, including the huge launch and marketing expenses in the later stages, the total project expenditure could be close to $200 million. ”

At this point, Eric paused, patiently waiting for Tina Brown to write down the data, and continued: "Although the total global box office of the first part of "Men in Black" is close to $600 million, according to the law that sequels often cannot surpass the first part, Firefly's box office estimate for the sequel to "Men in Black" is 200 million in North America and 200 million overseas. In this case, the company would only recoup $140 million at the box office in terms of the average share in North America and internationally. Hollywood currently typically makes a third of total box office revenue, which means that Firefly and Columbia will recoup another few more years on videotape and peripheral distributions2. 800 million or so. Not to mention the long time cost during this period, the total profit of the entire sequel after mining all the profit points is 2. $200 million, this 2. Another 30% of the $200 million will be distributed to the creators, which is another $66 million. So. In this whole movie, a few creators who just participated in the filming of the film will take more than $100 million in revenue, and the two major film companies Firefly and Columbia, which have invested countless manpower and material resources in the production, marketing and distribution of the film, can only reap 1. $500 million, which has to be split between the two families, Tina, what do you think of this situation? Is it necessary for Firefly to develop a sequel? ”

Tina Brown smiled and shook her head, according to Eric's analysis, if the sequel is filmed, Firefly and Columbia will basically work for several creators, which is obviously very cost-effective.

Diane Kruger and Tyra Banks listened to Eric casually tell the inside story of these Hollywood blockbusters, and their curiosity was satisfied and some doubts inevitably arose, but both girls were very intrigued and did not comment on it.

Cindy Crawford, who found that her trick just now really worked, asked 'fearlessly': "Why don't you develop a sequel, although the leading actors get more profits, but Fireflies still make money." Isn't it? ”

Eric just rolled his eyes at the woman, without the slightest explanation, and took a sip of his coffee.

Tina Brown jotted down some of the stats that Eric had said, and said to Cindy Crawford with a smile: "Cindy, for example, if you open a company in the future and hire a CEO to help you take care of it, this company can make $10 million a year." But you find that the annual salary of the CEO who helps you manage the company is almost 10 million, in this case. Would you still be willing to hire him? ”

Cindy Crawford opened her mouth to argue, only to find that if it were herself, she would definitely kick out the CEO and replace him with a manager with an annual salary of 1 million or even less.

"Surely I don't want to," Tina Brown watched Cindy Crawford's expression change. "The current situation of "Men in Black" is similar to the CEO I just mentioned, this CEO can only bring in $10 million in profits for the company, but take away 10 million in annual salary, and no company will allow this to happen." Of course, specific to the reality of Hollywood studios. It's definitely different, if it's MGM or Columbia, they can only pay the creators a lot of money if they don't start the "Men in Black" sequel project. But Fireflies with more choices don't need this, because it also involves the issue of time cost, the annual movie schedule is limited, and Fireflies will definitely choose projects with higher profit margins, such as this year's "The Lion King", this animation will bring Firefly a profit of $1 billion in the next few years, but if the schedule of "The Lion King" is changed to the sequel to "Men in Black", Firefly may end up with a profit of less than $100 million. Eric, do I understand? ”

Tina Brown's last sentence was to look at Eric.

Eric nodded, "I have to say, Tina, your understanding is amazing. ”

Tina Brown smiled politely and said, "Thank you for the affirmation, Eric. However, without the data you just had, I would not have been able to analyze this. Still, do you think I should publish the data on Yahoo News, a topic that is likely to cause hostility among Hollywood stars towards Fireflies. ”

"The problem of inflated remuneration of Hollywood stars needs to be solved after all, otherwise it will affect the sustainable development of Hollywood in the future, and when you go to the Firefly headquarters, you can also ask Katzenberg to provide you with some information, he wanted Hollywood stars to return to rationality a few years ago, so take the opportunity to make a special feature on this topic. None of Firefly's major films in recent years have relied on superstars, and they won't be, so," Eric shrugged, "and I'm not worried about their hostility at all." ”

Tina Brown nodded slightly excitedly, realizing that the topic was sure to cause a lot of buzz. The corresponding section of Yahoo News will also be raised by the buzz, which will bring the same sense of accomplishment as the sales of her previous magazine.

With this in mind, Tina Brown hurriedly finished the remaining questions, left business cards for Cindy Crawford, and agreed to discuss the hype of online topics for them in the evening, and hurriedly left Firefly Studios.

Although Tina Brown is in Los Angeles, the next day, the topic of discussing the inflated remuneration of Hollywood stars landed on the homepage of Yahoo Portal, and the entire topic section was introduced by the stranding of the sequel to "Men in Black", and discussed in detail the reasons for the inflated remuneration of Hollywood stars and the various impacts on Hollywood in recent years through a number of highly professional articles.

Although since Michael Ovitz founded CAA, there has been no end to the discussion of high salaries for Hollywood stars due to various bundling strategies, but with the full support of Firefly and the effective operation of Tina Brown, the topic has become much hotter than any before, and the Yahoo portal article has been picked up by more than 300 newspapers and media in North America and Europe in just a few days.

Subsequently, the four major film companies of Firefly, Fox, Columbia and MGM issued a statement as soon as possible, saying that they would gradually adjust the company's production strategy and improve the current situation of excessive remuneration for film starring. Warner, Paramount, and Universal, though not members of the Firefly Alliance, were quick to make similar announcements when their interests were aligned.

The unified statement of the seven major film companies immediately caused a huge shock in the industry, and the Screen Actors Guild jumped out for the first time, saying that if the seven major film companies compressed the actors' salaries, the Actors Guild would resist with a boycott.

In the face of this situation, Yahoo Information immediately published a rebuttal article, saying that the strategy of the seven major film companies to reduce costs is only aimed at a small number of stars with inflated salaries, not for most ordinary actors, and the actor association is obviously controlled by a part of the interest class, misleading the public in this way of confusing the public.

In Hollywood, which has just experienced a bumper summer box office, no one wants to see a strike.

Firefly and several other major film companies were quick to clarify that they would not reduce the salaries of ordinary actors, and not only that, but with the overall expansion of the Hollywood film industry, the income of ordinary actors will not only not decline, but will gradually increase.

As a result, the ordinary actor class was pacified, and the superstars at the top of the Hollywood pyramid were immediately reluctant. (To be continued.) )