Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 316 Guarding Against Poaching
Villas in the Oak River neighborhood of Houston.

In the study, Aaron and Jack Wells were on the phone.

"It's all settled. However, the main reason for this was Hearst's desire to monopolize the newspaper industry in the Houston area."

"Their desire for the Houston Chronicle to have a monopoly has never changed!"

Aaron tapped the table. "It's obvious that as the Houston Post's circulation increases, advertising costs also rise."

"The one most affected was definitely the Houston Chronicle."

Soon, Jack Wells' voice came through the phone again, "Aaron, Ms. Karen McKee met with the head of the Houston Chronicle and agreed to proceed with fair competition."

"We're just going to let it go like this?"

Aaron smiled, "Don't underestimate the Hearst Corporation; their newspapers, magazines, and television stations are quite impressive."

"Currently, we have a greater advantage than them in Texas; the Houston Post can completely squeeze out the Houston Chronicle's space."

"Take it slow. When the opportunity arises, we can directly acquire the Houston Chronicle. Many of Hearst's newspapers are currently losing money!"

After hanging up the phone, Aaron sat in his chair and looked through Hakeem Olajuwon's contract, a four-year, $2131 million contract signed last year, which expired in the summer of 1997.
Hakeem Olajuwon is already 31 years old this year, and he will be 36 years old in 1997.

"We'll have to find a way to bring O'Neal to Houston!"

Aaron muttered to himself...

As Hollywood enters awards season, Los Angeles also welcomes its hottest season, and Aaron returned to Los Angeles in early December;

The much-discussed dream factory SKG has announced that Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has become one of its investors!
In Burbank, at Dawn Studios, in the dubbing studio for Toy Story, voice actors led by Tom Hanks are dubbing the film.

It was director John Lasseter's first animated feature film, and also Pixar's first 3D computer-animated feature film;

Not only Pixar, but Dawn also attaches great importance to this Toy Story!
"Jeffrey Katzenberg and PDI (Pacific Digital Imaging Studio) have partnered to produce DreamWorks' first animated feature film."

"Not only that, Jeffrey Katzenberg also poached a lot of people from Disney's animation department, using high salaries and his personal charm to win over many people."

John Lasseter stood next to Aaron, explaining the landscape of the animation industry.

"Disney's animated feature film 'The Lion King,' released this year, is incredibly popular!"

"All of this is thanks to Jeffrey Katzenberg."

Aaron smiled. Now, Jeffrey Katzenberg's DreamWorks SKG was making no attempt to hide its hostility toward Disney!

"The release date for 'Toy Story' is next April, so there absolutely must be no problems."

John Russell nodded. "Don't worry, it will definitely be released in theaters as scheduled."

Aaron thought for a moment and then reminded them, "Our Pixar animators also need to be careful about DreamWorks poaching them. Jeffrey Katzenberg isn't Michael Eisner; he's also optimistic about 3D computer animation."

"Even if DreamWorks doesn't produce 3D computer animation in the next few years, it will still attract his attention after Toy Story is released."

Back then, it was Jeffrey Katzenberg who spearheaded the idea for Disney Animation to sign an animation production deal with Pixar. John Lasseter responded, "I understand, and we'll develop a sequel as soon as Toy Story is released!"

Aaron glanced at Tom Hanks in the recording studio again; this year's Forrest Gump has practically secured him an Oscar for Best Actor.

Moreover, his role in Ron Howard's documentary film "Apollo 13" this year, coupled with last year's "Philadelphia," has propelled Tom Hanks' fame to new heights!

Evening, at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood.

Aaron ran into Kevin Costner, who seemed to be in a bad mood, perhaps because of the Waterworld incident.

"What's wrong? Did the post-production of 'Waterworld' run into problems?"

Aaron asked.

Kevin Costner shook his head and gave a wry smile. "I'm not satisfied with Kevin Reynolds's cut, and we had another argument."

Kevin Reynolds was the director of Waterworld. Towards the end of filming, his conflict with Kevin Costner became irreconcilable.

He withdrew from filming, and the rest of the film was directed by Kevin Costner himself. After filming wrapped, Universal had Kevin Reynolds edit the film, but Kevin Costner was still not satisfied.

Aaron paused for a moment, then smiled, stood up, and patted the other person on the shoulder. "It'll be alright!"

The loss of Waterworld was almost inevitable. With an investment of $1.75 million and subsequent marketing and distribution costs, the total cost would never be less than $2 million.

Global's investment will certainly incur huge losses, but now Dawn is acquiring MCA Global!
Subsequently, Aaron met Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, and the two collaborated again this year on the black-and-white biopic "Ed Wood";
This marks the second collaboration between the two after "Edward Scissorhands." While "Ed Wood" has some flaws in its details and character development, it possesses a unique charm.

Overall, it's a highly artistic work, but a commercial failure. After all, even the investor, Columbia Pictures, chose to withdraw its investment, and it was Disney's Touchstone Pictures that took over.

"Aaron."

Just as Aaron was about to leave the hotel, he was stopped by Winona Ryder, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

“It’s you, Winona,” Aaron hugged her. “I just ran into Johnny Depp inside!”

Winona Ryder shrugged. "I ran into her too. Shall we grab a drink?"

"We haven't seen each other for a long time."

Aaron smiled and nodded, and then the two arrived at an upscale bar on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.

In a private room on the second floor of the bar, Aaron held a disheveled Winona Ryder in his arms. "Are you promoting 'Little Women'?"

Winona Ryder, panting, kissed Aaron on the cheek. "Yeah, it was released at Christmas, and the reviews were pretty good!"

Aaron nodded, looked at Winona Reed, whose face was flushed, and whispered in her ear, "Let's go back. I'll spend the weekend with you."

"Okay, let's go to my place then..."

(End of this chapter)