The car stopped outside the Hilton Hotel, and Eric and Elizabeth walked into the hotel quickly under the dense spotlight, escorted by bodyguards and hotel security. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

As soon as he arrived at the hotel lobby, Eric heard a warm greeting in his ears: "Eric, I really didn't expect you to come over tonight." ”

Following the prestige, it was Nicolas Cage who spoke, and Cage was accompanied by Hollywood actress Meg Ryan, and another tall black man, and it seemed that the three of them were just chatting.

As the black man turned, Eric recognized him as Richard Parsons, one of Hollywood's few African-American executives, who is currently vice president of Time Warner Inc. and CEO of Warner Bros. Productions.

Seeing the three of them walking towards this side together, Eric also took Elizabeth to greet them and greeted them one by one: "Good evening, Nick, Richard, oh, and Ms. Ryan, you are so beautiful tonight." ”

In addition to Cage, who has a good personal relationship, the other two can only be regarded as acquaintances, and Elizabeth also greeted the three of them, and Eric asked, "So, what were you talking about just now?"

"We've just arrived," Cage said, pausing in his tone, smiling and not speaking again, just glancing at Richard Parsons without a trace.

In fact, Cage, Meg Ryan and the head of Warner Bros. got together at this time, and the topic was obvious, it must be the "City of Angels" on the Easter schedule.

Richard Parsons didn't shy away from it at all, and smiled heartily: "We were just talking about the company's "City of Angels". Eric, it's a shame we didn't get to work with Firefly on the promotion of the film, but you know, inside Warner, I'm not alone. ”

"It's okay, there will always be opportunities for cooperation in the future," Eric also showed a regretful expression and shook his head.

After a few more casual conversations, Eric led Elizabeth towards the elevator.

Richard Parsons, who had left the hall under the pretext of something else, took a deep look at the figure of Eric and the two leaving, and then smiled and chatted with Cage and Meg Ryan again.

As soon as the elevator door closed, Elizabeth said with some gossip: "Eric, do you think Terry Semel will be able to continue to hold the position of CEO of Time Warner after his contract expires next year?"

Eric was also a little distracted, listening to Elizabeth's words, he shook his head and said, "It's not very likely." ”

In recent years, within Time Warner, the old ministers led by Terry Semel, who was left by Steve Ross, the founder of Time Warner, Gerald Levine, the helmsman of Early Times, and Ted Turner, the founder of Turner Broadcasting, are in the family, plus a series of heavyweight shareholders introduced in the process of group expansion and mergers and acquisitions, the entire Time Warner can be described as a mountain.

As one of Steve Ross's designated heirs, Terry Semel still went through a power struggle to become the chairman and CEO of Time Warner Inc. However, Time Warner's performance has been tepid over the years, and Steve Rose's legacy has become less and less influential, and it is basically unlikely that Terry Semel will continue to take charge of Time Warner after this term.

Just seeing Richard Parsons, Eric vaguely remembered that in his previous life, during the merger between Time Warner and AOL, which shocked the world, this name appeared in news reports very often. Based on Eric's knowledge of Time Warner now, Richard Parsons should be the backbone of Gerald Levin's lineage.

Although Eric has spoken to Steve Keys a few times in person, he has never given up on his ambition to build AOL into an Internet media conglomerate, and Chris has now begun to plan to seize control of AOL.

On the other hand, AOL wants to acquire Time Warner, and a slap in the face will definitely not make a sound, and there will definitely be people within Time Warner who will take the initiative to facilitate this merger. Then, seeing Richard Parsons, combined with the information in his memory, Eric can roughly determine which side of the forces within Time Warner support this merger and acquisition.

Once Terry Semel steps down, Steve Rose's influence on Time Warner will completely dissipate.

Then, the Ted Turner family, which controls Time Warner's most lucrative cable business, will become the most powerful force within Time Warner. Although Ted Turner has been semi-retired in recent years and will not personally hold a position of real power within Time Warner, he will certainly be able to prop up the chairman and CEO of the company who tend to him if he wants to.

In contrast, the odds of Gerald Levine's family wanting to gain control of Time Warner are low, so if they are not willing to be subservient, they will have to find another way. Facilitating the merger of AOL and Time Warner will undoubtedly expand its influence within Time Warner in a short period of time, thereby gaining the support of a large number of minority shareholders with voting rights.

Of course, Steve Keys should still be privately looking for a merger target, and perhaps, he can create some obstacles in this regard.

The sound of the elevator door opening pulled Eric back from his musings and smiled at the girl next to him, who raised his arm for Elizabeth to hold him and walk towards the ballroom.

This matter definitely needs to be considered in detail.

However, the upcoming Easter may be a good opportunity to crack down on the Levine family within Time Warner.

After all, although it failed to cooperate with Firefly, the root cause was the result of Time Warner's internal struggle. But the hat of decision-making failure must still be buckled on the person with the biggest head, and Richard Parsons, as the direct head of Warner Bros., is undoubtedly the best person to carry the blame.

Of course, to achieve this goal, a very important premise is also needed, that is, the Firefly system's 'Easter Movie Package' box office performance can significantly exceed Time Warner's "City of Angels".

Thinking of this, Eric couldn't help but shake his head regretfully, although the three companies spared no effort to promote the three films, but whether it was "Ace Cheap Spy 2", or "Xenogene" or "Wedding Singer", although Eric didn't remember the box office data of the three movies, they obviously didn't have the potential to be a big hit.

It seems that there is only other way to do it.

Refusing to go to the media area for photos and interviews, Eric took Elizabeth straight into the ballroom. Eric and the others came relatively late, so the banquet hall was already overcrowded, so it was inevitable that there would be a party.

However, Eric and Elizabeth were not the hosts, but just greeted a group of guests who took the initiative to come forward to take pictures, and the two walked towards the Weinstein brothers, who greeted them.

"Eric, introduce you to a few people," said hello, and Harvey Weinstein did not forget to see the stitches, and introduced Eric to a few people around him one by one.

is mainly the creator of the two films "The English Patient" and "The Soul Catcher", the director of "The English Patient" Anthony Minghella, the male protagonist Ralph Fiennes, the two heroines Kristen Scott Thomas and Juliette Binoche, and the motor friend of "The Soul Catcher".

Naturally, Eric was very familiar with these people, but most of them were only meeting for the first time.

After a while, they all knew how to do things, and realized that Eric and Harvey might have something to talk about, and they quickly dispersed.

After everyone left, Elizabeth also ran to greet a girlfriend who was present, Eric took a sip of the red wine in his hand, and did not rush to talk about FFM TV, and asked casually: "Harvey, how are the preparations for "The Horse Whisperer"?"

Hearing Eric bring up this topic, Harvey's expression was somewhat strange.

Elizabeth had spoken to him about Fox's strategy for Miramax to develop an art film with a budget of no more than $50 million.

As a businessman in his bones, although he agrees with this line of thinking, Harvey is inevitably resistant to this decision, after all, Miramax's profit contribution to Fox in recent years accounts for almost half of its film business, and he naturally has the idea of continuing to develop Miramax in his heart.

Robert himself acted as the director and the leading actor, and the heroine has been decided, which is Christine just now. Other roles are currently in auditions, and filming is expected to start in May. ”

The hero and heroine have not changed, remembering the chance encounter a few days ago, Eric smiled at the corner of his mouth, but he didn't know if his daughter's role would be Scarlett Johansson. He didn't plan to get involved in it, so he chatted with Harvey about the next steps for FFM.

However, although Eric does not plan to get involved in the casting of "The Horse Whisperer", he will always take the initiative to find things when he can't stop them.

The next afternoon, Firefly Studios.

Although filming "Iron Man", Eric has never stopped preparing for "Gravity", and he has been communicating with the two protagonists of "Gravity" Jodie Foster and George Clooney during this time.

In the evening, they were going to attend the Oscars, and it just so happened that the academy asked Jodie Foster and Eric to be the guests of honor for the best screenplay, and the two met once in advance, and in the afternoon they went to the "Gravity" studio of Firefly Studios to discuss the details of the film.

Last year's "Batman and Robin" failed miserably at the box office, and George Clooney took the opportunity to participate in "Gravity" very seriously, and he also rushed over when he heard the news.

The trio are in the studio studying the opening long shot, when Eric sees Melanie come in and say that Miranda Kerr has come to the studio with a friend.

After saying hello to Judy and George, Eric left the studio, looking at Miranda Kerr and Scarlett Johansson who were following her, Eric reached out against the little body of Nizi, and said with a serious expression: "Now, explain to me first, what day of the week is today, don't you need to go to school?"

"Scarlett auditioned for a movie today, and I'll take a leave of absence with her," Miranda didn't fear Eric's serious expression, wrapped her arms around him, and grinned: "And, don't think I don't know, Drew often skipped school in the first place, and you didn't care." ”

Eric shook his head helplessly, he was really not a qualified 'parent', and he didn't have any deep feelings about such a thing as a child's truancy.

Without taking the two girls into the "Gravity" studio, Eric pointed in the direction of the borough, walked towards his office in the studio, and said, "Come with me, tell me first, what are you doing here at this time?"

Miranda Kerr glanced at Scarlett Johansson, who was pretending to be a good girl with a restrained expression, put her arms around Eric and shook it, and said, "Eric, that's the case, can you say hello to Scarlett and Mr. Weinstein, she really wants the character in "The Horse Whisperer". ”

Eric frowned and looked at Scarlett Johansson, not knowing who brought it up: "Who helped you audition, and how was the result?"

"Today was an audition hosted by Mr. Weinstein and Mr. Redford, and they, well, said I did a great job. ”

Eric asked, "What about the others, who else auditioned?"

"Also, I don't know much about the others," Scarlett Johansson shook her head and said, "But there's Kirsten Dunst, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for Supporting Actress a few years ago." ”

Eric nodded, taking a general idea of the situation.

According to Harvey's production ideas, he will obviously prefer Kirsten Dunst, who has better acting skills, so the probability of Scarlett Johansson wanting to get this role again is very low.

Eric didn't say anything more, took the two girls to his office, asked the secretary to make a few cups of coffee, and then leaned back in the leather chair behind the desk, staring playfully at the two girls opposite who were gradually becoming more restrained under his scrutiny.

Eric has always been very indulgent to the women around him, but this kind of indulgence is definitely not without a bottom line.

Among women, Eric's favorite is naturally Drew, although it sounds a little inappropriate, but he basically treats this girl as a daughter, fortunately, the girl is also smart enough to know what to do and what not to do, but Miranda in front of him is obviously not smart enough to be like this. He can afford to give this Nizi everything she wants, but that doesn't mean that he will put up with this Nizi's unbridled giving.

If it weren't for the fact that he already knew Scarlett Johansson, Miranda would have brought a complete stranger to him this time, and Eric didn't bother to investigate whether he was being used or not, but he didn't intend to let these things continue to develop.

With a few taps of his fingers on the table, Eric looked up at Miranda Kerr, "So, you probably don't have much interest in going to school now, have you thought about what to do in the future?"

Scarlett Johansson had been paying attention to Eric's expression, and when he asked, she stole a glance at Miranda beside her.

Miranda Kerr also felt the strange emotions on Eric's body, and this time she was very smart and said, "Eric, I will do whatever you ask me to do." ”