Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 647 French Media Giants
On March 26, the 72nd Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Temple Auditorium in Los Angeles, but Aaron was playing golf with Sophie Marceau and the head of Vivendi at the Los Angeles Country Club!
Since its transformation, Vivendi has acquired media and publishing company Havas and game company Sierra in the past two years.

Now, Vivendi has set its sights on the seven major Hollywood film studios, with its primary target being the heavily indebted Seagram Group.

In the sauna at the Los Angeles Country Club, Aaron and Sophie Marceau were enjoying the sauna together. After wiping away their sweat, Aaron couldn't help but laugh and say, "Vivendi's ambitions are really quite large, aren't they?"

The Seagram Group has two major assets: MGM Studios and PolyGram Music Group.
Seagram was already in a state of continuous losses after acquiring MGM, and the merger with PolyGram at the beginning of last year, coupled with the shrinking record market, made things even worse!
Sophie Marceau, draped in a towel, looked at Aaron and asked, "What, you don't think Vivendi can acquire the Seagram Group?"

Aaron shook his head. "Of course, right now in Hollywood, only MGM is easy to acquire."

"Vivendi can't afford to acquire the other companies, nor will it sell them."

Viacom or Sony, although their film and television businesses are also sluggish, have the support of their parent companies, which is incomparable to Seagram. Would they really sell their Paramount or Columbia subsidiaries?

"Vivendi now owns television stations, film studios, publishing businesses, gaming operations, and advertising companies in Europe."

"Now, they've set their sights on the United States; they want to become the French Bertelsmann!"

If Aaron remembers correctly, Vivendi acquired Blizzard Entertainment in his previous life. After closing the Sierra game development department and focusing solely on publishing, they merged Sierra and Blizzard.

Sophie Marceau thought for a moment, "Do you think Vivendi will really acquire MGM?"

Aaron nodded. "Possibly. The situation at the Seagram Group is very bad right now; Edgar Bronfman Jr. has already lost the board's confidence."

“His father, Edgar Bronfman Sr., has regained power, and Scragran simply cannot solve the debts of MGM and PolyGram.”

Ha, are they going to try to plug this hole with Seagram's brewing business? That won't work either. Seagram has been laying off employees, reducing production, and selling off its brewing brands in recent years, and has already invested a lot of money in MGM!
Sophie Marceau's understanding of Vivendi is, of course, much deeper, having already acquired the Canal+ pay-TV channel and EMI Films in France.

Canal+ has subsidiaries in Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, and Scandinavia.

“Okay,” Sophie Marceau was just introducing Aaron to the other party; she wasn’t really concerned about whether Vivendi would acquire MGM.

Then something else occurred to him, "Oh right, today is the Oscars, aren't you going to join the fun?"

Aaron shook his head. "After this is over, we can just go to the Vanity Fair Oscar celebration dinner at the Sunset Tower Hotel."

Aaron isn't a celebrity, and he basically doesn't participate in front-line production work anymore, so why waste a few hours to suffer for him?
Looking at Sophie Marceau, she said, "As for you, you should participate more in these kinds of events!" "I didn't have any films nominated last year, so I couldn't be bothered to go..."

That evening, while the Oscars ceremony was being held at the Temple Auditorium in Los Angeles, Aaron and Sophie Marceau had already returned to their villa in Beverly Hills!

Several Asian actors were among the guests at this year's Oscars ceremony, including Jack Cheng, Chow Yun-fat, and Michelle Yeoh.
Jett Lee is currently promoting his new film, Romeo Must Die, in the United States.

However, the biggest winner at this year's Oscars was "American Beauty," which beat "Shakespeare in Love" and "The Sixth Sense" to win the Best Picture award.
Director Edward Zwick won the Best Director award for "Shakespeare in Love," while Mark Norman won other technical awards, including Best Original Screenplay.
Kevin Spacey won Best Actor for American Beauty, Tom Cruise won Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia, and Liv Tyler won Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted.
The relatively unknown Hilary Swank won Best Actress for her role in the film "Boys Don't Cry," beating Winona Ryder in "Shakespeare in Love," Annette Bening in "American Beauty," and Meryl Streep in "Music of My Heart."

Pedro Almodóvar's "All About My Mother" also lived up to expectations, winning Best Foreign Language Film!

After the Oscars ceremony, many A-list celebrities went to the Sunset Tower Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard to attend the Vanity Fair after-party.
Of course, Oscar winners and nominees also receive invitations, but most ordinary people who attend the Oscars ceremony do not.

"Congratulations, Edward! It's a bit of a shame about 'Shakespeare in Love'!"

Aaron clinked glasses with director Edward Zwick. Although he won Best Director, Best Picture went to American Beauty.

DreamWorks lost to Universal's "Chicago" last year with "Saving Private Ryan," but this year they've managed to turn the tables.

Edward Zwick shook his head. "American Beauty is indeed good, and perhaps it will be more likely to impress the judges!"

Aaron patted the other man on the shoulder, then went to director Anthony Minghella. "The Talented Mr. Ripley" received five nominations but won none.
We should at least offer some consolation to Anthony Minghella, and Aaron also has high hopes for him; films like "The English Patient" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" are truly exceptional.

Finally, Aaron and Winona Ryder sat down on the sofa. "Hilary Swank definitely deserves the Best Actress award. It's such a shame you didn't win this time!"

Winona Ryder's performance in the film "Shakespeare in Love" is perfect.
It's better than the previous "Little Women" and she fully deserves the Best Actress award.

"It's alright, but Annette Bening and Meryl Streep also lost to her, so I'm not too upset!"

There was really no way around it; the subject matter of "Boys Don't Cry" was too controversial, and Hilary Swank's performance in the film was also soul-stirring.

Winona Ryder didn't win an award this year; it can only be said that she was just a bit unlucky...

(End of this chapter)