Chapter 496: The Upcoming Auction of MGM

[Chapter 496: The Upcoming Auction of MGM]

The $20 million club had yet to be established, and $15 million was currently the peak salary for Hollywood stars. Only a few stars managed to earn that much, and generally, it was the wealthy overseas investors blindly offering such salaries. For instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone's paychecks were significantly boosted by European film investors, led by those from Germany, due to their immense popularity in Europe and box office power. Furthermore, a Japanese consortium, holding sway over Columbia and Universal, began making increasingly bold offers for actor salaries. Hollywood's local powers utterly detested this kind of "blind price-raising," but they were powerless to stop the trend.

"$15 million is a bit too high; he isn't worth that much. Although The Mask had a decent box office, it should be considered an exception. Jim Carrey's other films still have overseas box office appeal, but they definitely won't each match double their domestic takings. So it's better to wait until Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is released before negotiating again. You can't put all your energy into just Jim Carrey."

Drew nodded in agreement and added, "Yeah, that's what I thought too. He's signed an option contract; no one will redeem him. Besides, we've treated him fairly. If he doesn't appreciate it, let him be."

The option contract Jim Carrey signed was quite intriguing, with a $100 million penalty clause. For other major studios, that amount wasn't a major issue. Given Jim's demonstrated box office appeal, his first two films had generated over $100 million in profits for the company.

However, there was a complicated issue here. If other studios targeted Jim Carrey for his box office power and wanted to redeem him, that would mean offering up $100 million. Jim would have little choice but to sign another option contract with his new backers. Moreover, in order to recover that $100 million penalty, the terms of the new deal would hardly be more favorable than those given by his current studio, otherwise, the shareholders would never agree. As long as Jim wasn't out of his mind, he wouldn't choose that path.

Drew talked a bit about matters on her side before curiously inquiring about Eric in France. After dinner, they chatted late into the night before finally heading to bed.

...

The next morning, just before dawn, Eric woke up. He quietly dressed and went downstairs. After being away from Los Angeles for a few months and traveling around the world, his biological clock had become a bit off-kilter. He glanced at the clock; it was 5:40 AM, which was earlier than he usually rose.

After jogging for half an hour around the estate, Eric returned to the villa, slowly made breakfast, saved a portion for his little lady, and began eating while reading the newspaper.

Many entertainment pages continued to focus on the latest developments in the battle between Viacom and QVC for Paramount. Martin Davis probably sensed that he might not be able to keep Paramount and didn't want it to fall into the hands of his former subordinate. So at the beginning of September, he signed a priority share transfer agreement with Viacom. However, QVC quickly submitted documents to the Federal Trade Commission, suing Paramount and Viacom for violating federal trading laws. Both parties spent the entire month haggling over the matter.

After flipping through some newspapers, Eric quickly came across another interesting story. It was about MGM, one of the seven major studios. Casino tycoon Kirk Kerkorian, after offloading MGM's real estate assets, began using MGM's intangible assets as leverage in capital games. Two years prior, Kerkorian sold MGM to an Italian consortium headed by Giancarlo Paretti, making another hefty sum. Recently, however, Giancarlo faced allegations of fraud, accused of deceiving investors to take control of MGM. The analysis suggested that Giancarlo Paretti had a high chance of losing the case.

If Giancarlo were to lose, MGM would be auctioned off by the banks to repay the deceived creditors.

Eric stared at the article for a moment, deciding to sit back and watch. Though MGM had poor performance this year, it was still a big name in the industry, and swallowing such an established company wouldn't be easy. Acquiring MGM would certainly double Firefly Films' library, but fully taking over the company would likely drain all available liquidity, which seemed unwise considering that there were more valuable opportunities waiting for him.

...

After breakfast, Eric didn't rush to the office; he leisurely continued reading the newspaper.

He heard the doorbell ring and got up to head to the living room.

Tina Fey stood outside with a stack of documents, dressed in a smart black office outfit, her signature black-frame glasses perched on her nose, and wearing small heels that made her stand tall.

"Morning, Tina," Eric said with a hint of surprise. "What brings you here so early?"

Tina looked at Eric, a bit shyly lowering her gaze and gesturing with the documents in her hand. "Drew mentioned yesterday that she wouldn't be in the office for a while, so she asked me to bring over some materials to review here."

Eric stepped aside to let her in. "You didn't have to come this early; it's only just past 8."

"I... I didn't have anything else to do," Tina replied awkwardly.

Noticing her discomfort, Eric dropped the subject and led her to the dining room. "Have you had breakfast yet? I made some."

"Not yet," Tina answered softly, placing her files on the dining table. She gazed blankly at Eric as he headed to the kitchen and then abruptly recalled something, quickly following him. "I'll get it myself."

"Alright, there's milk and juice in the fridge, so just help yourself," Eric instructed as he returned to the dining area.

Tina brought her breakfast over and sat down across from Eric, taking small bites like a cat and chatting with him intermittently. After Eric finished reading the newspaper, he casually noticed the documents Tina had set aside and asked, "What are these? Can I take a look?"

"Sure, they are some scripts and other materials," Tina nodded.

Opening the folder, Eric raised an eyebrow in surprise upon seeing a familiar name: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Upon examining it more closely, Eric realized it was a development plan for a television series. However, the file only contained a brief outline of about five to six pages. Since Eric had never followed Buffy the Vampire Slayer much, he wasn't familiar with how this outline compared to the original series. Still, he was surprised that Tina could come up with this just from his casual mention to Elisabeth, and that they managed to acquire the television adaptation rights from Fox.

Thinking it over, the development of a film's surrounding value, besides remaking or developing sequels, typically included adapting it into a TV series. Given that Buffy the Vampire Slayer's box office earnings weren't particularly strong, there seemed little need for sequels or remakes. Thus, the focus would logically turn to developing a TV version.

The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer series wouldn't premiere until 1997, so they were starting five years early. Plus, with little original material for guidance, Eric had no idea if this TV show would be successful. Still, given the classics he remembered from his youth, Eric felt indifferent about the girls wanting to tackle Buffy.

Waving the documents he held, Eric asked, "Are you all planning on making a TV series?"

Tina nodded but asked back, surprised, "Isn't this your suggestion?"

"Not really; I just mentioned it in passing, and I didn't expect Liz to run with it. How do you plan to approach it?"

Pausing her meal, Tina gathered her thoughts and replied, "We discussed it and plan to adapt it into a fantasy adventure series aimed at teenagers."

Recalling the original Buffy, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, Eric agreed that their approach made sense since the version centered on the teen market. "That sounds good, but it might be best to take your time with the script. Audiences ultimately want to see a great story. I just read that outline, and I didn't feel particularly impressed."

Tina suddenly blushed and lowered her gaze because that outline was her work. Hearing Eric's comment stung a bit.

Noticing her expression, Eric immediately understood. "You wrote this story outline?"

"Yeah, I just tried to draft something."

"Hey, it's okay. For a novice like you, that's already pretty good. Just practice more. I have a feeling you will become a great screenwriter," Eric smiled encouragingly.

"Thank you, Eric," Tina replied, grateful for his encouragement.

After quickly skimming through more of the other materials Tina brought and offering some small suggestions, Eric stood up. "I've got to head into work now. Drew will be getting up soon; you should stay here. There's a fax machine on the east side of the partition; if any documents come in, could you help receive and organize them?"

Tina nodded eagerly. "Sure!"

After Eric exited the dining room, Tina instinctively put down her utensils and followed him out.

Eric returned to the study to grab some files, changed his clothes, and as he left the villa, he noticed Tina trailing behind ike a housewife, he couldn't help but hug the woman and kissed her on the corner of her lips, "I'm going to work; are you planning to leave today?"

Not hearing him, Tina shook her head. "No, no, I won't."

"Oh, that's good. Then stay tonight."

"Okay... okay," the woman replied in a small voice.

...

As October rolled in, there were less than two months until the year-end holiday release schedule. Firefly was gearing up for key releases like Speed, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and Disney's animated Aladdin, which were all nearly completed and shifting into the promotional phase. The partnership with Columbia on Mr. & Mrs. Smith was also in its final stages of post-production.

After returning to Los Angeles in recent days, Eric had been busy attending several high-level meetings at Firefly Entertainment concerning these films. Though the direct box office profits of films were becoming a smaller share of the film industry chain, movies still held a crucial role as the locomotive of the industry. If that locomotive lacked power, then the entire operation would experience complications. Hence, every film company remained focused on ensuring that movies retained their paramount importance.

After handing the script for Speed to Jan de Bont, Eric had largely stepped back from that project. He had written the script himself and passed it to the director from the original timeline. Moreover, the significance of this project for Jan's transition from cinematographer to director ensured the film was treated with exceptional care.

Following a test screening of Speed, Eric found no concerns. Compared to his memories, the film's essence remained largely unchanged, with a tight narrative pace. Keanu Reeves still starred as the lead, and aside from a change in the female lead, there were not many significant alterations. After the higher-ups at Firefly viewed the rough cut, they unanimously gave it a positive review, proposing the most extravagant promotional scale they could.

In contrast, Mr. & Mrs. Smith encountered a few small issues. John Woo, while experienced in directing many films, hailed from Hong Kong and had a shooting style that significantly differed from Hollywood's. Additionally, John began his career with action comedies, frequently infusing excessive humor into many of his classic gunfight films. While Eric juggled post-production for Jurassic Park, he had to personally get involved in editing Mr. & Mrs. Smith to cut unnecessary comedic scenes. Although the film contained comedic elements, its theme remained that of an action film exploring marital relationships.

One aspect that pleased Eric was that John Woo's Hong Kong action team designed the action sequences for Mr. & Mrs. Smith to embody a distinctly Eastern Kung Fu film style. Eric believed that the action design surpassed that of the original version. 

*****

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