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Helming Hollywood

Levin, who had experienced ups and downs in the entertainment industry in his previous life came to Hollywood in 1996 from 2014. It's a slow-paced novel. Unofficial translation of the novel by heracross. Raw version can be found at https://www.uukanshu.com/b/24330/. You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.

Sayonara816 · Realista
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342 Chs

Future of the TV series

Although Alexander kindly asked Hansen to meet Leslie Moonves before leaving, Hansen didn't have enough nerves to bear all this. He left Enigma Company quickly and made several friends of Enigma laugh behind his back.

"A guy like this should be punished." Clark has been swearing at him since he left. "Alexander, you did a good job; you should let him know what pain is."

"God witness, I didn't mean to annoy him on purpose. Who made him rush to talk?" Alexander shrugged, "I just fulfilled his wish for compensation. Is it my fault?" Several people laughed. Clark also patted Levi, "Did you see the face when he left? You are right; as long as we have money, they will be obedient again!"

"That is for sure. Don't laugh at him; he is just a poor guy with little knowledge and confidence. Alex, tell us what's going on with ABC and CBS." The good news that followed has not made Levi smile. He initially thought that the popularity of the TV show at the screening would allow ABC to admit that its TV series was a success. Although ABC has now given him a written notice, asking him to contact the next company to see if he can purchase the premiere rights of the TV series, Levi still prefers ABC to buy the premiere rights—ABC is now a relatively bad TV network, but Disney is a big company. Investing in downturn stocks is a wise choice backed by a big tree. Levi has long had a plan, not to mention that Adam's friends are in it after all. He hopes Disney will correct its mistakes and buy the premiere rights.

But things are different from what he thought.

"I contacted ABC. Disney's attitude is very tough. They have no intention of buying the copyright of our TV series." Following Levi's words, Alexander's smile was slightly restrained: "Disney just bought ABC. Soon, they wanted to launch their marketing strategy at ABC to make a difference and establish their authority as the parent company, which they felt was more important."

"But now that they have received so many good reviews if they don't take it back, they will suffer a lot, right?" Bob asked with some doubts.

"It's just a TV series; the income is tens of millions at most, and one hundred million will be the end. What is it compared with Disney's marketing strategy? Michael Eisner doesn't care. His loss to Pixar has already dissatisfied the board of directors. The decision to buy ABC has been questioned by many inside Disney, and now he needs to show a strong hand to maintain his authority to face the pressure of Disney's board of directors." Alexander replied.

Alexander's words made several people look at each other in blank dismay. In the eyes of these few people, a TV series that could earn tens of millions in the past can be considered a substantial profit, but Disney didn't care at all. Michael shrugged and was the first to speak, "The income of 10 million dollars seems to us to be sky-high, but they still don't care... As expected of Disney's tyrant, a strong man with a personal income of millions every week. Don't they care if they missed our TV series? Michael Eisner has a knack for cartoons, but for movies..." Clark snorted coldly and didn't speak anymore.

Levi didn't object to Clark's words but didn't support them either. Michael Eisner was also a producer. He would have failed before if he didn't understand film and television. However, his thinking has been fixed after ten years of animation, and it is difficult to make more changes. A person used to watching Mickey Mouse suddenly sees such things as human anatomy; it will be strange if he can adapt. On the one hand, he cannot adapt, and on the other hand, he is self-willed. This is also self-inflicted.

"After ABC rejected, you found CBS?" The entertainment president of CBS was coming to visit. Levi was not surprised because he had already learned that the TV series had been favored by many advertisers and knew that the ratings of the TV series were predicted very well.

When Levi was speaking, Alexander also had more confidence. "You can never imagine what happened." Alexander's words made several friends raise their heads and look expectantly at him. Alexander sat down with a bit of smug, did not speak, and directly picked up the beer and drank it.

"Can you say something first!" Beside him, Clark was already impatient. Alexander put down the beer, glanced at them, and then spoke, "I didn't find them; they found me. Lesleigh Moonves took the initiative to find me. After watching our TV series, he immediately took the initiative to find me and said they are willing to cooperate with us, not as simple as buying the first broadcast rights."

"Cooperation?" Hearing these words, several people all stood up. They initially thought that after failing to negotiate with ABC, even if they wanted to find another place to broadcast their TV series, they would be discriminated against. Who would have thought that CBS would take the initiative to ask for cooperation?

CBS, like ABC, is one of the four major television networks. Their coverage and ratings are generally better than ABC. Although not as good as NBC, they are unquestionably one of the best big TV stations. Such a big TV station must have its channels to buy TV series. Buying obsolete products from other TV stations is more risky than producing them directly, but CBS can consider cooperation without hesitation, which is unimaginable.

"The people at CBS are indeed very perceptive." Thinking of the name Leslie Moonves, Levi exclaimed. Leslie Moonves was promoted from CBS's entertainment president to CBS's president; who said there was no reason for this? Whereas Eisner got worse and worse in his memory, and he resigned and left Disney.

"Stop boasting in disguise. One of CBS's styles in the past few years is to collect those TV series that are better and worth watching from other TV series that other TV stations have eliminated, buy the copyright, and reproduce them, distribute them on their TV stations. Because of this policy, they will pay a lot of attention to the TV series that various TV stations have eliminated. Our TV series is also one of the things they watched this year. Unlike ABC, they don't think Our TV series is too obscure. On the contrary, they think our TV series has great potential and even want to cooperate with us."

Obscure for ABC, right for CBS? Levi thought about it, but it was normal. The four major television networks in the United States each have their characteristics and targets. It is often said that NBC is a sports station, ABC is a women's station, CBS is a senior citizen station, and FOX is an animation station. When these TV stations produce their programs and choose modules, they have already selected different consumer groups. Not surprisingly, relatively obscure TV dramas for children and women are just suitable for TV stations for adults.

CBS is focused on appealing to older audiences, and their episodes, lacking glitz and exaggerated entertainment, are primarily geared toward seniors, earning them the nickname Seniors.com. Older people are more accepting of TV dramas that are closer to reality and closer to life. This is why CBS dared to buy CSI.

CBS is also gambling; they want to rise to the top of the US network in the 1990s. Most notably, with ER, Law and Order, and Friends, NBC has an absolute top position in their respective genres. Having these TV series simultaneously, coupled with the giant killer of the Super Bowl, makes NBC a big subject to success. NBC is the most popular TV station in the United States; there is no dispute. But other TV networks are unwilling to lag, so they naturally work hard to find new dramas. ABC has its ideas, and so does CBS, and their ideas are more suitable for Enigma.

"CBS is willing to invest in us. They have venues, equipment, and staff. We can use theirs as production costs. In this way, our loan amount can be greatly reduced, and we can save a lot of money—and CBS is also willing to negotiate this issue with the entertainment company. Moreover, not only that, but they are also willing to increase the production fee for us," Alexander's face was smug, "The production fee for each episode will be 4 million—they increased the price by 1 million. We can make the TV series better."

Four million episodes of a TV series is definitely high for the 90s. Let alone the 90s; even in the 21st century, this is still a reasonable price. After the TV show was shown, it immediately won the favor of advertisers, and now it has begun to attract the attention of TV stations.

"As far as I know, they estimate that after this TV show is broadcast, the advertisement can reach 80,000 US dollars, maybe even higher." Alexander estimated, "Even if this is the case, they will not lose money; maybe it is even possible to make money."

"Alex, TV networks can't lose money, and we don't care how much they make. What we care about is how much they are willing to pay us. They are willing to give us 4 million; CBS values ​​our TV series more than ABC; that's the point!" Bob didn't care about how much CBS made. He cared more about the status of his TV series.

Four million dollars per episode. It proves that they are optimistic that the ratings of TV dramas can become the top 20. This is very important for a newly produced TV drama: TV dramas need to get the favor and support of TV stations. For example, the TV series Friends was almost cut off in the first season. In the second season, with the help of NBC, Julia Roberts, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Brooke Shields, Charlie Sheen, and a group of stars were invited for a guest appearance to make it more popular, and the show was able to continue. The production company couldn't do this kind of support by simply pulling up the ratings.

In the past, ABC gave them money to make TV series, but what CBS is doing now is a bit of favor.

So what if ABC refused? There are people who know the good from the bad.

*****

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