Chapter 268: Financial Summary

[Chapter 268: Financial Summary]

In a conference room, the heads of several major companies, all of whom had climbed the ranks from the bottom of Hollywood, were intimately familiar with the tricks and treachery of the industry. After several hours of discussion, a series of strategies targeting Firefly Films and Eric had been devised. The six CEOs even laid out the benefits that each company would receive once Eric was softened up.

After Thanksgiving, Eric jumped into his last busy stretch of the year. According to the plan, as long as he wrapped up this final month, he could take a long break starting in late December. Drew had even begun to ponder whether they should go on vacation together for Christmas.

...

Eric had spent the entire morning at Fox participating in auditions for the leads of The X-Files. Since the show's significance far exceeded that of its previous life, the selection of the male and female leads to support the entire series was being handled with great care.

Thanks to the success of Friends, the competition for the leads of The X-Files was incredibly fierce. Several well-known actors whose careers had faltered in recent years joined the auditions. Although the auditions had already advanced to the second round, they hadn't even finished with the male lead's selection by noon, and none of the candidates had impressed Eric.

He hadn't even considered the two actors from his previous life. This was because, regardless of the emotion depicted, David Duchovny's subtle smirk always felt out of place and disrupted the scene, which was why Eric had no intention of casting him. The only reason the producer had chosen Duchovny was because of his low salary.

As for the female lead, Gillian Anderson didn't meet Eric's expectations either and, on top of that, she hadn't debuted yet.

The character of Dana Scully in The X-Files was supposed to be a highly intelligent woman with degrees in physics and law, who worked as an instructor at the FBI. However, the petite Gillian Anderson didn't portray the aura of a brilliant woman but instead seemed more like the male lead Fox Mulder's secretary. Eric envisioned the actress playing Dana Scully as tall and sharp, with an air of cold elegance. This role should be able to create a balance of power with the male lead rather than merely serving as his sidekick.

...

After lunch in Century City, Eric had to leave the auditions in the hands of two producers and return to the Firefly headquarters for the first annual meeting following the merger with New Line.

"Sorry, Carolyn, I hit some traffic on the way," Eric said as he hurriedly opened the door to his office, apologizing to a woman in her forties with brown hair sitting inside. This woman, Carolyn Elliott, ran a well-known accounting firm, which had been managing the finances for both Firefly and Eric's personal accounts.

Noticing Eric's rushed demeanor, Carolyn, who had been waiting for a while and was feeling somewhat put out, couldn't help but smile lightly. "It's no problem, Eric, I just got here myself."

Instead of heading to his desk, Eric sat down on the sofa opposite Carolyn. "Carolyn, have you organized the documents regarding my personal finances?"

Carolyn retrieved the prepared documents from her bag, placing them on her lap, and asked, "Eric, should we go over them now?"

Eric glanced at his watch, noting that the meeting was still over twenty minutes away, and thought that reviewing his financial situation would certainly be sufficient time, so he nodded.

Carolyn opened the documents and began her report. "Eric, your main income this year came from several films. Home Alone domestic distribution brought in $120 million, while Fox bought the overseas distribution rights, bringing in $24 million. Additionally, there's total revenue from Home Alone's later video and television license fees amounting to $32 million, making the current total for Home Alone $176 million."

Even though Carolyn had gone over these figures many times, reciting them again in front of the almost twenty-year-old Eric gave her a strange feeling, as if she had wasted her entire life. After a brief moment of introspection, Carolyn quickly refocused on the documents and continued, "Because Firefly and New Line won't merge financially until next year, all box office revenue from films released this year still belongs to you personally.

Pretty Woman's total global box office share is $102 million, with video and television rights bringing in $19 million so far, totaling $121 million.

Moreover, the total box office share for Running Out of Time is $88 million, and it has not yet seen video revenue.

Friends ad revenue accounted for $29 million, which hasn't been received yet; according to the contract, Columbia and Fox are expected to complete payment by December 31.

Aside from those main film revenues, Firefly's advertising department earned a total of $18 million from product placements in Pretty Woman, Running Out of Time, Home Alone 2, and Sleepless in Seattle.

Additionally, your other two companies, Pixar's profits stand at zero, and UTA's share brings in $9.3 million."

At this point, Carolyn paused and looked at Eric seriously. "Eric, compared to your films, I feel that UTA isn't generating much profit for you. Personally, I recommend you expedite the sale of your shares in that agency; otherwise, it may lead to trouble down the road."

Eric nodded. He had gradually noticed the issue over the past six months. Although he owned a ninety percent stake in UTA, it didn't mean that he retained ninety percent of the earnings from the artists. The company could only receive a small fraction of the ten percent from artists' commissions; most went to the agents. So even though Kepler only held a ten percent stake in UTA, managing A-listers like Al Pacino and Julia Roberts' contracts, he was probably making as much profit as Eric. Agents earned commissions not just from film salaries but also from actors' earnings through endorsements and other channels. Furthermore, Eric couldn't meddle in UTA's affairs to avoid any potential conflicts of interest, making his ownership stake somewhat disposable, capable of being transferred at any time.

"I'll consider it, Carolyn. Please, go on."

Carolyn Elliott resumed, "In total, your income to date this year is $441 million, with $117 million of that not yet received. Next, let's go over the expenditure situation. Firefly produced seven films this year; Running Out of Time had no expenditures, while the other six had total personnel distributions amounting to $84 million, along with the acquisition costs of Pixar totaling $30 million, the New Line acquisition of $60 million, and the Fox shares acquisition of $80 million. Additionally, the construction costs of your Malibu estate total $27 million, and there are several large expenditures on your personal credit card, totaling $7.14 million, and...."

Carolyn Elliott looked at Eric curiously. "And there's also Miss Barrymore's credit card expenditure of $21.56 million. The total expenditure sums up to $309 million. Eric, before Columbia and Fox pay the other two amounts, your available funds would only be $15 million. Even if that money comes in, you cannot spend with ease because, after some reasonable tax avoidance strategies, the tax you owe this year still reaches $140 million."

Eric had specifically asked Carolyn to organize his financial situation in preparation for the upcoming investment company that Chris Hansen had finally agreed to after some days of thought. According to Chris's research, Cisco's stock was expected to be around $18 at its IPO, with a total market cap of only $224 million. Eric knew this was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to snag Cisco shares at such a low price; once Cisco went public and the stock price soared, even if he wanted to buy more, those investment firms would be reluctant to sell their shares. Therefore, Eric, of course, wanted to acquire as many shares as possible. But now, he realized his remaining funds were barely enough to cover taxes.

"Carolyn, is it possible to apply for a tax extension?" Eric inquired cautiously, knowing of a method that could extend the payment deadline for six months. If he could defer until the second half of next year, most of the revenue from the films would have been received, and his financial situation would have become much more comfortable.

Carolyn shook her head. "Eric, whether it's Firefly or your personal finances, the situation is quite straightforward; there is no way to obtain an extension from the IRS with financial maneuvers. If you had planned to request an extension, you should have informed me at least six months ago. It's already too late now."

Eric smiled wryly. "Looks like I'll have to take out a loan. By the way, Carolyn, what do you think of Firefly?"

Carolyn looked puzzled. "Do you mean in what context?"

"You should know that after merging with New Line, we won't be able to outsource our finances to your firm anymore after this year."

Carolyn Elliott felt a chill run down her spine. Firefly was her biggest client; losing this one could cut her firm's income by more than half. However, it suddenly dawned on Carolyn that Eric's statement had implications. "Eric, are you saying you want..."

"Yes," Eric nodded, smiling. "I want to invite you to join Firefly as the CFO. Although you would have to close your firm, I believe you can see that Firefly is worth it."

*****

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