Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 371 MGM's Ambition
"Aaron, the movies produced by Dawn are really frustrating!"

Edgar Bronfman Jr. and Aaron sat on a sofa in the banquet hall lounge area, their expressions filled with undisguised envy.

Aaron's lips curled up slightly. "With Seagram's investment, MGM has no shortage of film projects and has a promising future."

MGM under Frank Marcuso and Ronald Meyer is enjoying a honeymoon period. With Seagram as a supporter, MGM has set a plan to develop at least 12 to 15 films per year.

This marked a true revival for MGM after its acquisition by Kirk Kochrian!
Edgar Bronfman Jr. shook his head. "Not as good as Dawn. You guys have an average of 30 titles to release this year and next, right?"

Aaron smiled. "There's no way around it; these are projects accumulated by both film companies. Besides, some of them are independent films, handled by the company's independent labels."

"After next year, Dawn's annual releases should be around 15 titles per year!"

Of course, this refers to the number of works that Dawn invests in and produces herself; as for distributing works by other companies, that's irrelevant.

For example, the movie "Scream," which was just released this month, was distributed by Twilight Pictures;

The following films, including "Love Weaves Dreams," "The Blood and Tears of Chinese Laborers," "Sense and Sensibility" produced by Phantom Films, and "Dead Man's Walk" co-produced with PolyGram, were all handled by Crescent Pictures.

The distribution network in North America and overseas markets requires a large number of distribution staff, which poses a significant challenge to the distribution network!

Edgar Bronfman Jr. picked up his glass and took a sip. "The cost of making movies is getting higher and higher these days."

"Moreover, the average marketing cost for a film reaches 20% to 30% of the total film budget;"

"And the marketing costs for big-budget films can reach 30% to 50% of the total budget."

Blockbuster movies—who doesn't know that since Carlock, backed by European capital, and Sony and Panasonic, backed by Japanese capital, entered Hollywood, they have broken the traditional Hollywood system.
Now, Sony, Panasonic, and Carlock are all suffering heavy losses. One has gone bankrupt, one has been sold, and one is still desperately holding on!
Aaron laughed. "Hollywood has its own rules. If you want to break those rules, you'll have to have overwhelming power."

As he spoke, Aaron glanced at Edgar Bronfman Jr. in front of him. Both Dawn and Scraglan were rising stars in Hollywood.
Despite having similarly strong financial backing, Dawn doesn't want to change Hollywood's salary system, but what Seagram is thinking remains to be seen.

After all, as an outsider, Seagram wanted to develop as quickly as possible, and enticing people with incentives was the fastest way; Sony and Panasonic also used this method.

However, there are differences. As representatives of Japanese capital, Sony and Panasonic can only operate remotely. Seagram is different. As a long-established Jewish family in Canada, the Bronfman family will not be as restrained as Sony and Panasonic.

“Ha,” Edgar Bronfman Jr. downed his drink in one gulp, “One good thing about Hollywood is that the system is so well-established.”

"Such a complete film industry has indeed solved a lot of problems!"

After acquiring MGM, Seagram not only wanted to improve MGM's distribution network in North America, which was the former United Media distribution system;
Next, Segrain plans to rebuild MGM's overseas distribution system, and Edgar Bronfman Jr. aims to develop MGM into one of the true seven major Hollywood film studios.

After selling his DuPont shares, Seagram had a large amount of cash flow, which gave him confidence!
Aaron neither agreed nor disagreed, raising his glass and taking a sip of wine with a smile.

Today, all seven major Hollywood film studios have become part of large conglomerates. Apart from Sony, which is an electronics company, and Seagram, which is a liquor company, the rest are all large media conglomerates!

After Aaron Anderson left, MGM President Ronald Meyer approached Edgar Bronfman Jr.

"Ronald, you used to work at CAA and have a wealth of connections. Next, Seagram will invest $5 million in MGM;" "To recreate the glory days of MGM!"

Ronald Meyer nodded. "I know many writers, screenwriters, directors, and actors."

“MGM will sign some cooperation agreements with them as soon as possible. CAA also has a number of package projects, which MGM can also consider.”

Edgar Bronfman Jr. chuckled. "You have to remember one thing: the MGM of today is not the MGM of yesterday."

"The days when CAA could yell at MGM are over. Michael Ovitz couldn't get anywhere at Disney, and you've seen what happened to him."

Ronald Meyer said sternly, "I now represent MGM; CAA is a thing of the past."

"Michael Ovitz is far too arrogant, making too many enemies not only in the talent agency field but also offending many people throughout Hollywood."

"Moreover, his ambitions were too great, and he lacked experience in managing and operating a film studio. A behemoth like Disney has complex internal relationships."

"This is far beyond what little CAA can compare to. It's almost impossible for him to replicate the CAA miracle at Disney!"

Michael Ovitz certainly played a crucial role in CAA's dominance in the talent agency industry, but could he enable Disney to dominate Hollywood?

Live-action movies aside, Disney is at the bottom of the pack; animated movies are Disney's main market.
But Michael Ovitz has no idea where to start in the animation market; he'd be lucky if he could increase Disney's share of live-action films!

Edgar Bronfman Jr. sat up from the sofa. "Now, we need to rebuild MGM's international distribution system. MGM is the only one of the seven major Hollywood studios that doesn't have overseas distribution capabilities."

"Don't worry, it's already in preparation. MGM has plenty of resources, we don't lack funds, and building an international distribution network won't be difficult!"

At least compared to Dawn, MGM had a huge advantage. It took Aaron Anderson several years to perfect the North American distribution system and establish a distribution network in Western Europe.

Now that it has acquired Universal, Dawn's global distribution system is finally complete.

"Universal withdrew from United International Pictures, and Paramount is interested in having us rejoin."

United International Pictures (UIP) was originally a joint venture between MGM, Paramount, and Universal, but MGM withdrew from it a long time ago.

After Kirk Kocorian acquired United Artists through MGM, he immediately sold off all of MGM's distribution network, and the domestic market has been using United Artists' distribution network ever since.

"No, MGM needs its own independent overseas distribution system. It's more convenient and better in our interests!"

Edgar Bronfman Jr. has big ambitions; how could he allow MGM to be without its own international distribution system?

It's not impossible to collaborate with other film companies to establish overseas distribution channels, but only in specific countries and regions;

In general, it is essential to have our own independent distribution network.

Didn't you see that after Dawn acquired Universal, the first thing they did was to split UIP with Paramount?
(End of this chapter)