"This is a very clear question, the seat of the MPAA cannot be inherited through acquisitions, and since MGM Pictures has been acquired, it shows that it no longer has influence in the industry, in other words, it should no longer get the position of MPAA." Brad was rarely as aggressive as he is now, and he always seemed confident, as is the usual behavior of every big studio leader. In Hollywood, they are the most powerful, and as long as he is in his position, he is the central figure who plays a pivotal role. Therefore, this time Brad's anomaly clearly shows that he is now taking this issue very seriously.

He's in and Mike. Linton, Robert. Iger meets.

One is the CEO of Sony, the other is the CEO of Disney, and it is well known that Daniel's two rivals.

Brad's choice to come out on his own is to pull Sony Columbia and Disney into his camp, as long as the three of them are in the same air, then Universal, which has a good relationship with Daniel, and Fox, which is cooperating, including Warner, which has just reached an agreement with MGM, only need to win one more. The MPAA adopts a majority mechanism when deciding matters, and as long as four voters are in favor, the agenda item will be passed. In other words, as long as the three of Brad agree, it is basically enough to achieve the goal, and Brad believes that if the three of them are consistent, there will definitely be a fourth company to suppress MGM to join, not to mention, if today's meeting goes well, he will also liaise with other studios.

The MPAA is a relatively liberal environment, and it is not given a lot of coercive power per se, and it is generally used as a high-level coordination forum, where the big studios often have a unified interest, most directly, such as curbing independent studios and lobbying for congressional policy. Friendship with parliamentarians, dealing with industry scandals, etc., these things need to be in unison. But it's hard to argue that this mechanism can require a company to follow certain hard and fast rules, and everyone has big consortia behind them, and the MPAA, those consortia that go beyond the limits of the industry, are the forces that determine the direction of these studios.

But the core seat of the MPAA has been the difference between a studio going retail and big for many years - although it has hardly changed, so generally speaking, Hollywood's big players have never changed.

So. Even without considering the practical significance, the MPAA seat is a right that MGM cannot give up.

Basically, it can be said that with this seat, MGM is the top seven, and without this seat, MGM becomes a subsidiary of DD Pictures - a subsidiary of an independent studio. From the perspective of many intangible important interests such as the company's reputation and industry status, there will be significant losses.

That's why Brad went under the knife from here.

Mike. Linton didn't speak, just furrowed his brow and stared at the pen in front of him.

As CEO of Sony Pictures. He understands that the failure of the acquisition of MGM is a very big blow to Sony's entertainment affairs department, which is of course a giant in the field of consumer electronics, but it has always been. The company's top management is also trying to get the entertainment division to occupy more of the copyright share, not just a supplement. Acquire MGM and get its library. In order to make the entertainment division control the film source to reach about half of the total Hollywood film source, this is an important initiative of Sony, Sony hopes to pass this action. In one fell swoop, revitalize the entire entertainment sector, and increase the company's profitability and market share through scale effect. Viacom has even reached an agreement with Sony before, once Sony's acquisition is successful, it will open a special pay movie channel for Sony and MGM movies, which is almost groundbreaking for Sony.

It's a pity that DD Pictures' sideways intervention ultimately made Sony fall short.

Apparently Brad. Gray knew a little bit, otherwise he wouldn't have been so sure about inviting Mike, who he didn't know. Linton.

However, as far as Mike is concerned, the loss of the acquisition does not mean that Sony will declare war with MGM or DD Pictures.

Sony has been foray into Hollywood for more than 15 years, and for 15 years, the strategy they have pursued is not to drive the tiger and the wolf in Hollywood, but to follow the ecological balance that Hollywood has achieved for decades. They think that, overall, it's better for Sony, and in fact, they're doing well.

As a result, MGM's acquisition by DD Pictures did not fundamentally upset this balance, which meant that Sony didn't need to do more action. After all, there is cooperation between these companies themselves, not to mention Daniel's status in Hollywood at this time, which is extraordinary, Sony may not necessarily invite him to cooperate, but offending him may bring trouble is also unnecessary.

Everyone should try to keep the situation as professional as possible.

Whether it is the competition for the box office of the movie, the acquisition of companies, the struggle for excellent scripts, etc., all belong to the competition in the professional field. Gray's meaning, this competition has completely changed its flavor and extends from the professional field to other parts.

Mike. Linton, and Sony as a whole, clearly needs to think about it.

"Even if you have a point, why do we need to ask MGM to play by the rules?" Robert asked unceremoniously, "We're not a federal courthouse, we're not a police force, MGM has a seat in the MPAA, and now you're saying it should give up that seat now." Yes, maybe you're right, but what's in the interest of us urging this? I can't see it, I don't know if Disney's movies will get a higher box office after MGM leaves the MPAA, and if they can win more Oscars. I don't see a clear relationship between the two. ”

Robert was apparently very direct.

Yes, where are the benefits?

The disadvantages of doing this are very obvious, and the deterioration of healthy competition will completely offend MGM, DD Pictures, and Daniel. Sandler. But where are the benefits?

The symbolism of the MPAA is significant to MGM, but the loss of this meaning by MGM is not of the same significant interest to Disney and Sony.

Brad, of course, knows that his proposal will not go very well to be approved, and if it is replaced by pressure on market regulators to bankrupt MGM's plan to buy MGM, he believes that there are more people who will. But at that time, no one wanted to do that, because there were too many interested parties involved in the acquisition.

But even so, the attitude towards Mike and Robert. Brad was still surprised.

"You should be able to see how damaging MGM from DD Pictures is in the long run. And our competitive relationship with MGM is consistent, and if they are weakened, then we will be strengthened, isn't that obvious? ”

Now, Robert. Egger was silent.

This meeting obviously did not achieve Brad's intentions.

But that didn't stop him from raising the issue at the MPAA's caucus.

On December 14, 2005, there were only 10 days left before the Christmas holidays. The MPAA held its last Caucus of the year in Los Angeles.

All seven CEOs attended the meeting.

Although some of them were dismissive of Brad's actions, they were interested in observing the turmoil.

Chairman Christopher. Dodd, a former California senator, has a deep political background. There are a lot of topics on the agenda for this annual conference. For example, the MPAA has made a big effort to shut down two large websites that provide torrent servers, lokitorrents and elitetorrents, through litigation and behind-the-scenes operations - the debate over copyright protection and Internet freedom has not ended, so it has been done. It's not easy for the MPAA.

After a lot of annual work.

The CEOs of the seven major studios held a closed-door meeting, which is also a regular arrangement every year. Generally speaking. The bigwigs will chat, pass the time for two or three hours, and then submit their will to the management through the MPAA staff to get a biased result. After all. Let the bigwigs hang their sleeves on their own, many times the effect is not good, they understand the strategy and development of the whole company. But you don't necessarily know the edges and corners.

But this time, there is clearly something special.

Even before the meeting began, news broke that some wanted to remove MGM's core seat in the MPAA because it was acquired.

Chair Christopher, and Vice-Chair Michael Brown. O'Leary, the two top executives of the MPAA, of course, knows this, but even if they are important within the MPAA, they lack a voice in this matter, and only the seven major studios, including MGM itself, will decide whether MGM can remain in the core seat of the MPAA.

"Do you think Brad will be able to succeed?"

Michael and Christopher were discussing the agenda, as well as some of the previous consensus, when Michael asked suddenly.

Christopher's hand paused, but his tone was very calm, "Impossible. ”

"Why?" Michael frowned, "To be honest, Brad is not wrong, the core seat cannot be passed through an acquisition. ”

"It's not something we can decide."

Michael shrugged his shoulders, "I know, we're just managers, and the real decision-makers are in that." ”

"It's all in there?" Christopher smiled disapplausively, "Not necessarily, the most important person in the decision is not among them." ”

"Huh?" Michael was stunned for a moment, but quickly reflected, "You mean Daniel. Sandler? ”

Christopher simply put down what he was holding and looked at Michael. O'Leary, "Yes, the most critical person is Daniel. Sandler, if the boss of DD Pictures was not him, then MGM might not be able to keep his position today, but now that MGM is the new boss, then nothing will happen. You know, the most important purpose of the MPAA is not to classify films, but to target the outside world, including Congress, but also for foreign markets, which is the most important mission of the MPAA, and that's why I am the chairman. ”

Speaking of which, of course, Michael quickly understood.

Daniel. Sandler's international influence and political background are crucial to the MPAA. To take a very simple example, if the MPAA finds a pirated film and television website in a certain country that can illegally provide Hollywood movies, then they need to defend their interests. Going to the country concerned to sue directly was a solution at the time, but it was extremely stupid and basically useless. The most effective way to do this is to use the U.S. trade department to put pressure on the countries concerned to negotiate for their help in these matters.

Although these negotiations may not be immediate in the face of some major countries, there will always be a day when things change.

In this process, the MPAA needs to fully mobilize its own political resources. The MPAA requires the government to exert pressure in the field of film and television intellectual property, the retail industry may demand that the other side open up the market, the manufacturing industry protests against the other party's tariff subsidies, and the demands of security departments and NGOs. Even the United States can't make a long list and say to other countries, you do this one by one.

Between countries, interests also come first. If the United States wants to gain something, it must pay for it, and if it demands improvement in some areas, it will have to pay the price in others.

The MPAA must strive to be the former, not part of the "price", which of course needs to be pushed by influential figures.

Daniel. Sandler is such an influential figure, although he is not in harmony with the ruling Republican Party, but he has many friends in Congress, Daniel in the fields of technology, entertainment, and social issues, and has a wide range of friends, which is unmatched among Hollywood CEOs.

For that alone, the MPAA couldn't have kicked MGM out. Christopher even suspects that if MGM is acquired by Sony, some people will take the initiative to mention that the vacant spots will be handed over to DD Pictures - although it is very difficult, after all, DD Pictures, which does not have MGM joining, even if it is even better than Paramount in terms of box office and profitability, is still much lacking in seniority and influence, and although Daniel's power is very coveted, these CEOs are unlikely to give up the representative significance of the MPAA's core seat.

But after DD acquired MGM, everything was no longer a problem.

Paramount asked this question, apparently lacking in brains.

Brad. Gray may be a business master, but he still lacks a lot of vision, if it is Sheri who has not been promoted. Lansing, he would never have made such a motion. It is even more unlikely to contact other parties as you can imagine in Mike. Underneath Linton and Robert's silence, there was a sense of contempt for Brad.

……

Daniel was not in Los Angeles on the day of the core meeting, although he was back in Los Angeles for this matter, but after a little communication with all parties. He went back to school and rushed to get a few reports. Thanks to his name, although Berkeley's teachers and students are quite individual, his classmates and teachers still give him a lot of preferential treatment in the face of such a superrich and superstar.

He completed the team course through email, MSN, and communicated with the teacher, which of course required more tolerance from the other party.

Otherwise, it will be a bit of a headache for him to finish this semester. (To be continued......)

PS: Correction: In the MPAA, Sony has only one seat, Colombia does not exist