At No. 100 Universal City Plaza Avenue north of Hollywood, Chu Xiangqian sat in the car of Coopers Accounting Firm, and as soon as he got out of the car, he saw five or six middle-aged people in suits and leather shoes, standing next to the steel globe fountain in the center of the film and television city, waiting for him.

Chu Xiangqian looked at the globe's unique globe trademark, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, this is the second oldest film company in Hollywood.

Seeing that he is about to become a shareholder of this company, it would be false to say that he is not excited.

And as long as you let yourself in, there will be time in the future to eat away at the company's shares and power little by little.

In terms of the speed of making money, Chu Xiangqian didn't believe that someone was better than him.

After some politeness, Chu Xiangqian knew that Universal and Decca Records executives would take him to visit this film and television city first.

Universal Pictures' film project is losing money so badly that the only thing the company can do is Universal City, which was built in 1914.

Since the 60s, Universal has set its sights on the cinema because of too much uncertainty in the film industry.

Compared with the first Disneyland that only opened in 55 years, Universal can be said to have a great advantage in the amusement park project.

It's a pity that I don't know what this company is like, and the management will make some decisions, which makes people wonder if the management is collectively demented.

Not to mention rides like roller coasters, this Universal City is more of a soundstage than an amusement city.

But it's okay to do this, after you get the power and host the operation of the cinema to make a profit, then your power and influence in the world can continue to expand.

Think of the future of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman.

Jurassic Park and Dinosaurs, Harry Potter, Kung Fu Panda and Minions.

It's not hard to create an amusement park that's even more popular than Disney.

The more Chu Xiangqian thought about it, the more interesting he felt.

But he shook his head with a look of disappointment, looked at Mike Heilman, the general manager of Universal, and said, "Mr. Heilman, take me to the studio." ”

The people of Universal and Decca Records can obviously feel Chu Xiangqian's disappointment in the studio, and they are muttering in their hearts that Asians don't know the goods.

But I heard Chu Qianqian walking towards the nearest studio, and said in his mouth, "There are no roller coasters, Ferris wheels, bumper cars, pirate ships, big balance wheels, haunted houses, water parks, bungee jumping, and not even a merry-go-round."

This can be regarded as an amusement city, just say that it is on the set. ”

Mike Heilman was stunned for a moment, and then reacted that what Chu Xiangqian said must be a playground amusement project.

It's just a literal meaning, but except for the roller coaster, the merry-go-round and the water park, you can't imagine how to play it at all.

And since Universal lost in the movie, it is not that he has not thought about expanding the studio into an amusement city at this time.

If the cinema can make more profits, for the company, maybe the revenue will not be less than the money made by making movies at the peak of the year.

Chu Xiangqian has naturally done a lot of homework in the past few days, and before the 50s, Universal can be said to be a typical example of specializing in small-budget movies.

Comedy, horror, westerns, musicals were what they were best at, but by the mid-to-late '50s, the company was looking for a transformation and started making a lot of high-budget films.

Unfortunately, although the high cost does make a lot of money, but after the success, the investment will be bigger and bigger, once a super high investment project fails, it means that the company's cash is drained, and it will also affect the implementation of future film projects.

Spartacus' investment of $12 million in the first half of the year set a new investment record for the entire Hollywood.

Although the box office of more than 14 million yuan, many people say that it was successful, but it was all to deceive laymen and fool filmmakers outside the United States.

Without the $36 million domestic box office in the United States, this movie would have to lose.

And foreign film companies are not stupid, the long and dull Spartacus, not only people in their country may not understand.

At least most viewers in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe don't know the history of the small city-state of Sparta.

Also because the length of the film is close to 3 hours, the number of screenings will be reduced.

So it's inevitable that this movie will lose a lot.

——

After that, Chu Qianqian took a look around the studio, and even went to another studio to take a look at the crew that was filming.

I soon found that it didn't seem to be much better than that on Hong Kong Island.

However, there are really not many advantages in technology, but in other aspects, they are regular soldiers, and Hong Kong Island looks like a grass platform.

It doesn't seem like anything special to me, but there's a lot to learn.

In the future, if you call the director of the company and become an assistant director with the group, you will definitely learn a lot.

Moreover, if you introduce kung fu movies from Hong Kong Island to Hollywood, at least for many years to come, Universal action movies will definitely look better than other film companies.

Thinking about Uncle Xiaolong's movie, with a global box office of 230 million, Chu Xiangqian felt that it was cool to open the hanging.

This can't win against other film companies, so I just go home and become a rich man in the future.

After that, the negotiations went much smoother, Chu Xiangqian did not bother with the market value of Universal, and finally won 20% of Universal's shares for 7.4 million US dollars.

However, although the contract was signed, it was signed by the English issuing company.

Universal and Decca Records have no opinion here, and even wish he took the initiative to hide behind the scenes, lest someone jump out and make irresponsible remarks.

And it has something to do with the English royal family, and to a certain extent, it is quite attractive to ordinary people all over the world.

This is one of the reasons why Universal and Decca Records agreed to take a stake so quickly.

The people of the United States said on the one hand that they looked down on the decline of the English aristocracy, but in their actions, they ran over from time to time.

To put it bluntly, the English aristocratic system at this time was quite popular all over the world.

Moreover, among the people in power in the United States, many ancestors are English.

There is even an unwritten rule in the election of the president, which is that the ancestors are either Irish or English.

And the money for this stake is naturally in pounds. $7.4 million equals £1.85 million.

Plus $3 million for filming the Roman holiday, which is £750,000.

Chu Xiangqian silently calculated, and the pounds in his hand were now only 2.38 million.

And this is still after adding two times of trade with India, counting the difference in the price earned from it.

So Chu went forward for a week and the Universal, Decca Company, after determining his own shares.

Immediately confess to the people of Coopers and help you find wine estates and ranches in California.

Coopers just took a commission of 370,000 US dollars, which is called a positive for Chu Xiangqian's matter.

In just one day, I found Chu Xiangqian, who was at the headquarters of Universal Pictures, discussing the affairs of the Roman Holiday crew with general manager Mike Heilman.

The director is actually easy to find, and he is obedient, and he has the best experience and achievements.

It's really not good, and it's not impossible for a new director, anyway, the director is a tool man, just shoot the sub-shots drawn by Chu Xiangqian.

And he himself will definitely be staring at the group, after all, this is the first movie, and the box office determines his future power within Universal.

The actor is not a big problem, the whole movie is in Chu Xiangqian's mind, about 30 years old, tall, handsome, elegant in appearance, and good acting skills.

It's better to find it with other actors, the soul of the whole movie, to put it bluntly, is the heroine.

For this reason, Mike collected all the photos of beautiful actresses under the age of 25 in Hollywood and handed them to Chu Xiangqian for preliminary selection.

It can be said that Chu Qianqian looked at the photos just one morning, and his eyes were dazzled.

There are too many girls who are really beautiful, but they aspire to be famous.

When he saw Elizabeth Taylor's photo, Chu Xiangqian decided to use her without even thinking about it.

In addition to her extravagant appearance, which is a bit similar to Audrey Hepburn, this woman's acting skills are famously good.

However, she is also notoriously difficult and troublesome, which is probably a common problem of all famous women.

Mike couldn't help scratching his head when he saw that Chu had chosen Taylor, "SIR, Taylor's acting skills are no problem, she was the Oscar for Best Actress last year, and she was nominated for Best Actress this year, the only trouble is that the salary is very expensive." ”

Chu Xiangqian didn't care at all, the Hollywood salary in this year was just like that in his eyes.

A better Oscar actor earns $350,000, and a woman's salary is even lower.

"Can you please touch her for $200,000?"

Mike was stunned for a moment, then frowned and thought for more than ten seconds before shaking his head, "Although after winning the Best Actress, Taylor, like most Best Actors and Actresses, has to go through several years of film panic.

But this woman has been nominated twice and won an award once, and now is the time period when she is most famous. 200,000 really can't invite her. ”

Chu Xiangqian thought about it and nodded, took out the checkbook, wrote a check for $250,000, handed it to Mike and said, "Give her the check and the script."

How the ending will look at her and she is not interested. If it really doesn't work, then replace it. ”

Mike was relieved, $250,000 is not high, and it seems that the new boss is not a person who can't walk when he sees a beautiful woman, which is a good thing for the company.

Then I talked about the script of "Cat and Mouse" that Chu Xiangqian took the initiative to take out when he negotiated before.

Now that TV has begun to steal the audience of movies, as long as the Hollywood Big 8 are not stupid, they must hate the TV industry while taking the initiative to embrace TV.

Universal has also started to produce some TV series in recent years, but unfortunately the results are not very good.

Seeing the comic of "Cat and Mouse" drawn by Chu Xiangqian, not only the global executives were attracted at a glance, but the people of Decca Records also felt that it should be very marketable to make it into an animated film.

And Universal used to be famous for making comedies, and its vision and strength in this area are still very strong.

According to Chu Xiangqian's plan, the TV series will be filmed first. If the results are made and then made into animated films, maybe many sequels can be made.

This kind of project with excellent prospects and stable box office is a box office guarantee for a film company.

Once the company's other projects fail, it is easy to stabilize people's hearts by announcing the filming of a sequel.

Nadika Records has more chips to negotiate with the United States Music Company.

At that time, even if it merges with the United States Music Company, it will gain more shares and the right to speak in the new company.

And Chu Xiangqian said that he could pay to make 10 episodes of cartoons to test the water, and Decca Records naturally had no opinion.

As for the copyright in the hands of the distribution company in England, although Mike and other senior executives of Universal did not agree, they could let Decca Records sell 20% of the shares to Chu Xiangqian, and still hold 59% of the shares of Universal.

Chu Xiangqian and Decca signed an agreement to act in concert, which is equivalent to the agreement of the two families, and no one within Universal can object.

If there are shareholders who still disagree, then the shares are sold.

Chu Xiangqian publicly said on the board of directors that he would acquire it at a premium of 15%.

chatted with Mike about the filming of "Cat and Mouse", and after chatting about the same, when the people from Coopers came to the door, it was just noon.

Chu Xiangqian got up and asked Mike, "Do you want to go to lunch together?" ”

Mike hurriedly shook his head, Chu Xiangqian obviously had something, and it would be too eyeless to follow at this time.

At noon, in an Italian restaurant on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Chu Xiangqian listened to the senior partners of Coopers while eating lunch, talking about the wine and ranch information they had collected.

Chu Xiangqian doesn't have to buy a wine estate, but if the winery is not expensive, buying it can be regarded as an investment.

Although the four major French wineries are the most famous wine brands in this era, it is not these luxury brands that really make money.

When he heard that there was a 10,000-acre ranch in the Central Valley, Chu Xiangqian immediately became interested.

"If I'm not mistaken, the Central Valley is also a major wine region?"

The people of Coopers nodded hurriedly and said with a smile, "SIR, this is also the ranch we want to promote to you." The ranch is located north of Santa Barbara, in what Los Angeles often refer to as the Central Valley.

It is indeed one of the four major wine producing regions in California.

And it's only a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Los Angeles and 45 minutes from Santa Barbara Airport.

The traffic around the ranch is also good, and the main road in and out of the town of Solvan is just outside the door.

It's not far from the town, about half an hour by car.

There are also two rivers in the ranch, so you don't have to worry about irrigation. If you're willing to pay an extra $10,000 a year to the town of Solvan, the town is willing to let the ranch start digging two canals.

For irrigation, the pasture can develop about 1,500 acres of farmland.

Even in years when there is plenty of water, these two canals are enough to create a lake in the lower depression of the pasture.

In a dry year, don't worry about water. ”

Chu Qianqian nodded, central and southern California are semi-arid regions, and water sources have always been the top priority.

Otherwise, there will be no capital consortium in the future that will treat water resources as petroleum resources.

It's not that the capitalists are stupid, but that many states in the western part of the country are indeed facing more and more water shortages as the population, agriculture and animal husbandry, and industrial water use increase.

"How much?"

The people of Coopers looked happy, "The other party quoted 9 million US dollars the year before last." In the past two years, rice and Canada have had bumper grain harvests, although the demand for meat has increased because of the lower price of meat.

However, for ranchers, although the cost of raising cattle on the ranch has decreased, the corresponding price of meat has decreased, and the ranch income has decreased.

We estimate that it is likely to be won for $6 million. However, it is not known whether the ranch has any foreign debts. ”

(End of chapter)