Barry Diller's tone was flat, but Eric realized that the topic was destined to come of nowhere.

Although Eric feels a little regretful, but more than that, it is a pity that with Barry Diller's talent, running QVC, a TV shopping company with a scale of less than $1 billion, will definitely not be able to give full play to his talent, not to mention that Eric knows that in a few years, with the advent of e-commerce, the TV shopping method will soon be abandoned.

Barry Diller has passed up this opportunity, so there is little hope of returning to Hollywood.

The purpose was not achieved, and Eric was not in a hurry to leave, and the two chatted casually about some other things, until it was three o'clock in the afternoon, when Eric's mobile phone rang.

After connecting, Eric listened to something said from the other side and quickly hung up the phone.

Eric didn't avoid Barry Diller when he answered the phone, so when he hung up, Barry Diller said, "Jeffrey called, right?"

Eric smiled and nodded, Barry Diller has received a lot of attention during this time, although the dust has settled on the Paramount acquisition, but the attention on Barry Diller has not disappeared immediately. In just a few hours of the meeting between the two, the news has already reached many people.

Although both sides knew that Jeffrey Katzenberg must have called to test Eric's intention to contact Barry Diller, Eric explained: "Jeffrey said that one of the company's films had just finished its final cut and asked me if I wanted to see the finished film?"

"Then you go to Burbank. The rest of the time is just enough to finish watching a movie. Barry Diller laughs, then adds: "Jeffrey's personality is still a bit impatient, similar to Michael's." You know, during the years when Michael was in charge of Disney, Frank was always a buffer between Michael and Disney management, and whenever those managers were scolded by Michael, Frank would come forward to calm those people's emotions. I don't know much about Mr. Hansen, so if I let Jeffrey be the CEO. I'd suggest you'd better let Frank continue to be Jeffrey's deputy. ”

Eric got up and put on his coat and reached out to shake Barry Diller's hand, "Thank you for the advice, Barry. I'll think about it carefully. ”

Barry Diller personally escorted Eric out of the hotel, and as soon as the two walked out of the hotel gate, they were surrounded by a group of reporters who had heard the news, asking them about their intention to meet.

Since Barry Diller did not accept his invitation. Eric wasn't going to make a fuss, either. Without saying anything, he got into his car under the escort of his bodyguards.

Arriving at the Firefly headquarters, Eric found that Katzenberg himself and his party were waiting for him in the lobby. On the phone, Katzenberg's excuse was to invite Eric to come over to watch the finished film of "A Brief Interview with a Vampire," at which time the director of "A Brief Interview with the Vampire" Neil Jordan, the original creator Annie Rice, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst and other stars appeared, as well as David Geffen of David Geffen Productions, who co-developed the film.

He greeted everyone one by one, although Katzenberg did a good job of concealing it. Eric could still see the doubt and probing in his expression.

After a brief greeting, the group hugged Eric in the middle and walked towards the elevator. Because there were so many people, the crowd consciously split into two groups and gave up an elevator to Eric, Katzenberg and David Geffen.

Walking into the elevator, Eric chatted with David Geffen before asking Katzenberg why he didn't see Michael Lynn and the others.

"They're all in Playa Vista," Katzenberg replied, nonchalantly, "Eric, why did you suddenly come back today?"

Eric explained, "Barry and I are good friends, and he couldn't snatch Paramount from Lei Shidong, so I came back early to comfort him. ”

Katzenberg nodded, and the whole person seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, as Barry Diller's old subordinate, after Barry Diller's failed acquisition of Paramount, Katzenberg also called to greet him. But he didn't believe that Eric had just returned from New York for this purpose, and that Eric had a much weaker relationship with Barry Diller than he did, and that a phone call was all it took to comfort him.

Katzenberg was also able to guess the reason for Eric's meeting with Barry Diller, and since Eric said this, instead of acknowledging the purpose of the meeting, it meant that the two had not agreed on certain things, and there was no need to talk about them anymore, so he was relieved.

To be honest, Katzenberg didn't think Michael Eisner was much better than himself, and many of Disney's successful films in the late '80s were made under his leadership. But if compared with Barry Diller, Katzenberg is willingly ashamed of himself, so it is difficult for Katzenberg to imagine how Barry Diller will also join Firefly Pictures How the two should get along, let him give up the upcoming position of CEO of Firefly Pictures, Katzenberg is definitely unwilling, he has struggled for so many years to reach the top of the position of head of a big film company, how can he give up easily. But with Barry Diller as his subordinate, Katzenberg found the situation even more unimaginable.

Letting go of his worries, Katzenberg became talkative, chatting about some of the things that had happened recently. David Geffen, who was also bald on Eric's side, also keenly sensed that the atmosphere had suddenly become very relaxed, and he echoed the voice.

The three of them laughed and talked all the way to the screening room, and while the projectionist was ready to play, Eric leaned into Katzenberg, who was sitting on his left, and whispered in his ear, "Jeffrey, David seems to be too enthusiastic, is something going on?"

David Geffen sat to Eric's right, and Katzenberg lowered his voice: "Geffen Records is about to leave Time Warner." ”

The screening room is not the place to talk about things, Katzenberg said. He sat up straight again, believing that the words were enough for Eric to understand the information he wanted.

Eric, of course, understood the intent of Katzenberg's words, and it was 1993. In the light of the history of the original plane, next year David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Katzenberg will co-found DreamWorks Films.

However, history has now deviated greatly, Katzenberg did not leave Disney because of the conflict with Michael Eisner, Spielberg did not have the intention of going solo because of the success of "Jurassic Park", only David Geffen's record label broke away from Time Warner Group because of the death of Steve Roth and some conflicts with Time Warner.

Although Geffen Records is not comparable to the world-class record giants such as Columbia Records and Universal Records. But when DreamWorks was founded in the original plane, David Geffen, who joined with his own music company, was the richest of the three.

Now that there are no DreamWorks, David Geffen clearly wants to find a close collaborator for his label again. Among the seven at this time, in addition to the old club Time Warner, which has just left, Firefly Pictures is undoubtedly the best choice.

After the step-by-step success from Home Alone, Eric also had a moment to think. We want to develop Firefly into a media giant involving all media and entertainment industries. The record label was certainly in his plans.

However, after several years of experience and precipitation, Eric has gradually calmed down.

Just as Eric had told Elizabeth about Yahoo that he wouldn't get involved in print media, Eric found it not a good idea to expand the Firefly's footprint into music. Like the rapidly declining print media after the new millennium, the record industry had already experienced a decline under the threat of piracy due to the advent of cassette tapes, which were much cheaper than vinyl records in the eighties, and the advent of online music downloads in the coming years after the advent of the Internet age. It will completely drive the record industry into the abyss.

Now, although there are still a few years before the record industry declines further, if Firefly is going to get into the music field with great fanfare. In that case, under the competition of several traditional record giants, Firefly has just gained a foothold by taking advantage of several years of development, and the cold winter of the record industry is coming, which is more than worth the loss.

Eric's mood of watching "Interview with the Vampire" may be similar to that of Westerners watching "Journey to the West", without the precipitation of cultural foundation, it is difficult to resonate too much with this type of film. Throughout the movie, Eric was absentmindedly thinking about the record company that Katzenberg had just mentioned.

After the movie was played, Eric applauded with the rest of the people in the screening room somewhat mechanically, but the last thought in his heart was that instead of entering the field of music distribution, it was better to use the network and hardware to build a charging platform like Apple in the original time and space, which is the way to make profits in the music industry in the Internet era.

The lights in the screening room came on, and everyone in the screening room whispered to each other, and Eric was pondering the idea that had just come to him, when a female voice sounded in his ears.

"Mr. Williams, what do you think of the movie?"

Eric looked up and saw Anne Rice, who was about fifty years old dressed in black and wearing a bob similar to Anna Wintour, whom he had met some time ago.

Eric could see from Anne Rice's expression that she was very satisfied with the finished film, but Eric didn't pay attention to the finished film just now, and could only echo according to his memory: "It's great, especially Kirsten's performance, it feels like her twelve-year-old body hides a thirty-five-year-old soul." ”

Anne Rice originally saw Eric sitting here in a daze, and was still a little dissatisfied, but when she heard Eric's words, the emotions just now disappeared immediately, and then she showed a feeling of finding a confidant, and waved her hand to beckon Kirsten Dunst, who was sitting not far away, hugged her affectionately, and said: "Mr. Williams, what a coincidence, I feel this way too." ”

Could it be a coincidence, this sentence was originally said by you.

Eric secretly underestimated it, but said quietly on the surface: "So, Ms. Rice, you are also satisfied with this movie, right?"

"Yes, I was worried that Mr. Cruise wouldn't be up to the job, but his performance was far beyond my expectations. ”

"In that case, Ms. Rice, why don't you write a movie review yourself," Eric said in the woman's tone, "This is very helpful for the promotion of the movie, and it can also make the movie available to more of your fans." ”

Anne Rice's status in the world of vampire fiction is almost the same as romance novels and Aunt Joan, and as long as the well-known author personally speaks out in the media, it can be as effective as a million-dollar advertisement.

Anne Rice didn't promise it right away, but said ambiguously: "I'll give my honest opinion on this film." ”

After Anne Rice said this, she took Kirsten Dunst's little hand and walked out of the screening room, whispering something to Lolita from time to time.

The crowd quickly moved to a conference room, and several of the film's main creators, the producer of Firefly, the head of the publicity and distribution department, and several specially invited film critics began to express their opinions to revise some details of the film.

Although most people looked forward to it, Eric never expressed his opinion, and it was still the same sentence, he, a guy with a soul from the West, didn't have much feeling about vampire movies at all, and rashly proposing changes might be counterproductive.

Half an hour into the meeting, David Geffen received a phone call and said goodbye to the group, and Eric and Katzenberg took the opportunity to see David Geffen off in the room.

The parking lot of the Firefly Park is open-air, and when the three of them walked out of the office building and walked towards the parking lot together, David Geffen asked seemingly casually, "Mr. Williams, does Firefly Pictures have any intention of developing into the record industry?"

"I'm sorry, David, I haven't thought about that yet, but Firefly will focus on the TV network in the next phase, and even if it wants to enter the record industry, it will be a few years away. ”

David Geffen sighed, his expression did not change much, although he wanted to be on the vibrant and towering tree of Firefly Pictures, but David Geffen was not without other ways to go, Eric was not eager, so he didn't say anything.

After David Geffen left, Katzenberg said regretfully, "Eric, actually, I think it's a good opportunity. (To be continued.) )