America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 577 The Knife Hidden Behind the Sweet Words
Without going through the account books of the six major companies, how could you feel that Martin and Louise were reliable?
It was only after Wu Maoting suffered a setback at Warner Bros. that he realized how good his former partners were.

At this time, Martin pointed out all the risks in advance and emphasized that the project's profit prospects were unclear. Wu Maoting, on the contrary, believed that Martin was sincere and trustworthy.

Martin added: "It's a romantic comedy project. I haven't seen the script yet, but the producer is very reliable. I'll contact you after I see the script."

"No problem." Wu Maoting left his contact information in Los Angeles and said goodbye at the appropriate time.

Martin escorted him to the studio lobby.

Before leaving, Wu Maoting shook hands with Martin and said, "I'll wait for your good news."

Martin responded.

These people went out and left. Before Martin went upstairs, Louise came in from outside.

She pointed behind her and said, "Is that the Burmese investor?"

Martin said directly: "He invested in Terminator 2018 and was cheated by Warner Bros.'s accounting."

Louise understood immediately: "Are you planning to return to me?"

"Gavin Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel, who was harmed by Harvey, has a romance film project." Martin roughly recounted what happened at the party yesterday: "She is still determined to get Hollywood and wants me to invest. I originally wanted to deduct some money from "Lone Survivor", and he happened to come over."

Louise said: "Whether the project succeeds or fails, we can earn management fees and commissions from it. The Newsoms are still worth investing in. My father said that after Gavin's term as mayor of San Francisco ends, he may run for governor. Of course, he will partner with someone, and if he succeeds, he will become deputy governor."

Martin laughed. “It feels good to do someone else’s favor with their money.”

Louise looked at her watch and said, "It's almost time, shall we go to Warner?"

The two of them went out together without having to take a car. They could just walk across the street and the Warner Building was diagonally across the street.

Today's meeting attracted a large number of participants, involving many subsidiaries and partner companies of Warner Bros.

When going upstairs, Martin met Dee Dee Gardner from Plan B. Because of Aniston, the two chatted for a while in the elevator.

When I got out of the elevator, I saw Robert Reiner of Castle Rock. Since the 1990s, all the films produced by this company have been distributed by Warner Bros.

The group came to the conference center and sat at the long conference table.

Soon, there were more than twenty people sitting here, and many of them were communicating privately, discussing what Warner's new management planned to do.

Dee Dee Gardner said to Martin, "I heard that the new person in charge is planning to increase the percentage of online and offline movie distribution."

Martin was not surprised by this: "Distribution companies are at the upper end of the industry chain. North American distribution is easy, but only the six major Hollywood companies can achieve global distribution."

Louise said: "It's best to maintain the status quo."

Not long after, Kevin Tsujihara entered the conference center accompanied by Daniel and two other Warner executives.

The meeting begins.

Kevin Tsujihara got straight to the point: "Today I invite all Warner partners to come here mainly to discuss the next steps of cooperation so that we can continue to work closely together for mutual benefit and win-win results in the future."

Martin and Louise sat relatively at the back, quietly waiting for the next words.

Kevin Tsujihara's words were still very polite: "Over the past five years, with our close cooperation and joint efforts, Warner Bros.' performance has always ranked first in Hollywood. I hope we can still maintain our lead over other companies in the future!"

There was applause at the scene.

"But since the 2008 economic crisis, Warner Bros.' profits have declined and global industry channels have narrowed." The turning point came as expected, and Kevin Tsujihara began to emphasize the difficulties: "Warner has also faced huge difficulties and tests. We have been persisting. In the past two years, Warner has independently withstood the damage and negative impact brought by the economic crisis and avoided affecting various downstream partners. This has also led to the situation today where Warner bears the pressure and partners share the benefits."

Kevin Tsujihara's remarks were very nice.

Martin and Louise looked at each other and knew that the knife was often hidden behind sweet words.

Kevin Tsujihara said: "Warner Bros. has been bearing this situation alone for two years and is no longer able to bear the huge pressure. The normal development of industry cooperation requires the joint maintenance of all of us. We share profits and risks together. This is the way to a healthy, stable and long-term cooperation."

"I couldn't agree more," said an executive from New Line Cinema.

Someone from Legendary Pictures nearby responded, “Without Warner’s strong distribution capabilities and channels, we would not have been successful. Since we have enjoyed the profits brought by Warner, we naturally have to share the risks with Warner.”

Kevin Tsujihara pressed his hand down and said, "Warner Bros. will bear the main risk. All you need to do is follow Warner."

He would not be the bad guy who rushed to the front, and said, "I have other work to deal with. The meeting will be chaired by your old friend Daniel."

Daniel stood up and nodded to his old friends on both sides of the conference table. Kevin Tsujihara left the conference room.

Daniel turned to the main seat and said, "Everyone, I believe you all know that Hollywood's distribution costs have been getting higher and higher in recent years, and the distribution commission between Warner and its partners has never changed..."

He was somewhat embarrassed when facing these partners, but the strategy formulated by Kevin Tsujihara would not change and must be implemented.

Warner Bros.' film business is now number one in the industry both online and offline. It is not unreasonable for Kevin Tsujihara to use Warner's extensive global distribution channels as capital to increase the distribution commission rate.

Daniel agreed in his heart and said directly: "From now on, for films that sign distribution contracts, the North American distribution commission will be increased by 2%, the overseas distribution commission will be increased by 3%, and the commission for all offline channels will be increased by 5%!"

"can!"

"I think that's fair!"

Those who actively voiced their approval were all Warner-controlled companies like New Line and Legendary Pictures.

No one else, including Martin and Louise, spoke for a while.

Robert Reiner of Castle Rock suddenly said, "I agree. Without Warner's distribution channels, our film would not have such high returns."

What he said is indeed true. The distribution companies occupy the upstream of the industrial chain by relying on direct channels to the global market.

But when such huge interests are involved, who would be willing to give in easily?

Everyone outside of Warner Holdings looked at Robert Reiner, wondering why the traitor had appeared so quickly.

Daniel smiled and said, "Everyone, our cooperation will achieve greater success."

No one spoke for a while, and the conference room fell into silence.

Martin looked at Robert Reiner again. He could understand why an old company like Castle Rock would make such a choice.

Castle Rock has been cooperating with Warner Bros. for many years, and its offline channels for films are highly dependent on Warner. It can even be said that the profits of the offline channels of the film library are closely tied to Warner. If it falls out with Warner Bros., it is not impossible, but the sunk costs are somewhat high.

It can be said that the longer a company cooperates with Warner Bros., the more difficult it is to break away from its dependence on Warner.

Newly established companies are relatively better.

The meeting ended, and when Martin was about to leave, Daniel stopped him and said, "Do you have time to talk to me privately?"

Martin was no different from before: "If you have something to do, I will definitely have time."

The two went to the reception room on the other side.

Daniel said: "I want to apologize to you for the three old films in the Warner film library."

Martin waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. It was just an intention. The initiative has always been in the hands of Warner Bros."

Daniel further explained: "I greeted the people at Warner Bros. at the time, but I didn't expect that after the change of the helm of Warner Bros., there were many changes in the management, which led to the situation developing in a direction I didn't expect."

He acted very helpless and put all the blame on others: "The people at Warner Bros. are too rude. They clearly promised me, but they pushed the three films into the project discussion process. Exodus even got the green light from the review committee."

Martin didn't believe a word of these words, but he didn't show it at all. He sighed and said, "It's lost. Although I think the market prospects are good, it's difficult for me to raise funds for large-scale productions. It's just..."

He said he didn't care, but his face was full of regret: "Originally, I was thinking that when the film is successful, I would give you a separate agency fee and consulting fee."

Daniel was stunned for a moment, thinking, why didn't you tell me earlier? I've already reported the situation to you! If you had told me earlier, I would have left one for you!
Martin added: "I am still watching other old films, hoping to find another project suitable for remake. Then we can do it quietly and not alert those bad guys with bad intentions."

Daniel quickly responded, "Sure. If you're interested in other projects, remember to find me and we can plan them separately."

"By the way, what's the situation with Exodus?" Martin looked particularly concerned. "I heard that the project has made great progress?"

Daniel saw this and naturally thought that Martin was unwilling to give up. He briefly introduced: "The project is officially named "Pharaohs and Gods". The production budget may exceed 1.5 million US dollars. It is adapted from the Bible and will involve magical elements. Warner Pictures and Christian Bale have basically reached an agreement. The latter will shoot this film after filming Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises". It is expected to be released in 2012."

Martin asked, "Where's the director?"

Daniel said: "We are still talking with Ridley Scott, there is no big problem."

Martin remembered that Ray's "Robin Hood" would be released at the beginning of this summer. With Ray's super thick health bar, he should be able to withstand another epic film.

Having said that, according to the rules of memory from previous lives, the bigger the failure Lao Lei suffers in epic films, the greater his recovery will be when he returns to science fiction films!
The novel of "The Martian" has not been completed yet and is still undergoing the final finishing touches. It's okay for Martin to wait for Ridley Scott for a while.

(End of this chapter)