Chapter 714: Split in Two

[Chapter 714: Split in Two]

"Eric, I think if you stand firm, it wouldn't be a problem for Firefly to acquire 70% of the shares from A&E Network. The Hearst Group doesn't have any leverage in this matter," Jeffrey Katzenberg said with a hint of regret during their lunch after the meeting.

Holding his plate, Eric was at the buffet table with Katzenberg, picking out food. He turned to glance at William Hearst not far away, who was chatting and laughing with Tom Murphy. He said, "For Lifetime Television to develop, it definitely requires significant initial investment. The Hearst Group's involvement not only helps share the investment risk but their media channels worldwide are also crucial. Plus, we already have absolute control now, so the Hearst Group won't have any leverage going forward, right?"

Eric's tone hinted at some lingering thoughts. Katzenberg immediately caught on, grinning slyly, revealing a row of prominent teeth. Once Lifetime Television took off, as the majority shareholder, Firefly could easily dilute the Hearst Group's shares.

After they finished choosing their food, they found a table to sit at. Katzenberg asked, "I missed the kids' birthdays the other day and had Peter deliver gifts for me. Did you receive them?"

"Of course, they all loved them," Eric nodded, then added, "What about you? Are you planning to go back to Los Angeles for Easter?"

"Marilyn and the kids all came to New York this year to celebrate with my parents, so I'm luckily not running around," Katzenberg replied. He married early, and his wife's name was Marilyn Siegel; they had a pair of twins.

...

After a moment of casual conversation, the two men naturally drifted back to work. The higher-ups at the group had been focusing their energy on discussing the overall development plan for Lifetime Television lately, somewhat neglecting the specific production of programs.

During the morning meeting, after discussions with the Hearst Group, the final plan took shape. Now, Katzenberg started to worry about the host for America's Next Top Model. This had been a topic of discussion since the Oscars, yet it remained unresolved. Eric found himself vacillating between Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista, while Tyra Banks, the "original host," was excluded due to age concerns.

"Eric, there's less than half a year until the fall lineup in September. Reality shows need to be produced all at once; we don't have much time to waste. Have you decided which of Linda Evangelista or Cindy Crawford to go with?" Katzenberg pressed.

Eric hesitated, saying, "I've been thinking about this too. Both of them are incredible, so Jeffrey, what do you think about splitting them?"

Katzenberg frowned slightly. "Eric, you mean having them alternate as hosts? That's not a good idea. Switching hosts could easily distract the audience."

"No, what I mean is, since we now have a $100 million project budget, why not kick off two reality shows at the same time, with them as hosts?"

Katzenberg became interested. "Eric, do you have a good idea?"

"That's what I've been struggling with recently. I have some thoughts, but I'm not too familiar with this area."

Katzenberg wore a puzzled expression, not fully understanding what Eric meant.

"I'm saying," Eric continued, "this idea relates to last year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. During the preparation period for that project, designers brought forth dozens of angel costume designs every week, but in the end, only about forty were selected. The elimination process was incredibly fierce, and several designers didn't even have any of their designs used. I've been thinking, since we can host a model competition, why can't we create a reality show that focuses on fashion design? The only problem is, I don't know enough about fashion design to know if this is a good plan."

What Eric was referring to was the competing show, Project Runway. The two programs were launched around the same time and were considered rivals with nearly equal ratings. Furthermore, as the hosts of these programs, Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum had both, at one point, topped Forbes' list of highest-paid TV actresses.

Unfortunately, Eric had never been particularly interested in fashion design in his former life; while he had skimmed a few episodes of America's Next Top Model just to see the models, he hadn't watched a single episode of Project Runway.

In contrast to Eric's hesitation, Katzenberg was quite optimistic. "Eric, often a successful project starts with a single thought. Walt Disney got the idea for Disneyland by watching his daughter play. He probably had no idea how to create a theme park back then, but now Disneyland exists all over the world. Plus, I think your idea might be even better than America's Next Top Model.

There are countless individuals in America who are very interested in design. Many slightly well-known celebrities love to launch their personal brands, but many lesser-known designers struggle to gain recognition. If we can provide a platform for a fashion design reality show, not only will it attract talented designers, but the audience, who cherish their design dreams, would love to watch it too.

As for the fashion design aspects, we can let professionals handle that. The Hearst Group has so many world-class fashion magazines; they could easily bring in an editor-in-chief to serve as the artistic consultant for this reality show, and Cindy and Linda, being supermodels for so many years, would surely have better taste in fashion than most ordinary designers -- they'd be excellent hosts."

"Well, they're in New York right now too. Since Easter is coming up, I'll take some time to think it over and discuss it with them," Eric conceded, reassured by Katzenberg's words. His initial hesitation stemmed from wanting to play it safe; after all, just as they began reforms at Lifetime Television, if they encountered failure with an original program, which could heavily impact future plans for the network.

Thinking it over, it made sense to start production and see how it went. If the show's quality didn't meet his expectations, they could shelve the project. Besides, the potential loss would only amount to a few million dollars.

...

Easter falls on the first Sunday after the spring equinox, and students usually had a week off for spring break, though it wasn't a national holiday.

Yet, it was still the weekend. Eric returned early to East Hampton on Long Island, planning to spend time with his women and kids. This year, Easter came much later than usual; it typically fell in March, but this year it was April 16.

At the same time, DreamWorks officially released Resident Evil, distributed by MGM, a week before Easter in 2,500 theaters.

The movie, which cost $30 million to make, was considered moderately budgeted.

Eric chose not to use the version he remembered from the movies, opting instead for a storyline based on the game. Compared to Milla's live-action role, he preferred the two 3D animated films produced by Capcom based on the game's narrative, especially the battle scenes featuring Jill Valentine and the president of Eastern Europe in Resident Evil: Vendetta. Those scenes were simply outstanding. Although it wasn't possible to start with Resident Evil: Vendetta, he could always change the villain, and since the script included Ada Wong, he could definitely work those action sequences into the film. So, during the scriptwriting process, Eric had even sketched out some storyboard scenes to share with the writers and invited action coordinators from Hong Kong for those fight scenes during production.

Undoubtedly, the results were excellent.

Once the film released, audiences most enjoyed the epic showdown of Leroy Washington against the Tyrant and the close combat between Ada Wong, portrayed by a rising star, and the main antagonist. Kelly Hu's performance propelled her into fame, making her a beloved action star among fans.

Although media reviews generally weren't high, the film's solid plot, well-developed setting, and sufficient highlights led to a strong $23 million opening weekend. Industry estimates predicted the film's North American gross could reach around $60 million, which would nearly recoup production costs. Eric knew well that Resident Evil's key market wasn't North America but overseas. In his previous life, none of the Resident Evil movies had exceeded $100 million in North America, yet the series became the first to break the $1 billion mark in global box office revenue for video game adaptations.

Despite some media personalities mocking the film as Eric's worst-performing Hollywood debut, when the opening weekend numbers came in, executives at MGM and DreamWorks quickly reached out to Eric, eager to start plans for a sequel.

...

At his villa in East Hampton, Eric hung up the phone with MGM CEO Frank Mancuso and stood up to head outside.

It was April 15, a Saturday.

On Friday, the box office for Resident Evil's second week was published, showing a 30% drop from the previous week's opening, which adjusted the total revenue back to $70 million. Hence, Frank Mancuso called once again, excited to share good news while discussing sequel plans. Eric had no objections.

April in New York saw the weather just warming up, and today was sunny and lovely with moderate temperatures.

In the backyard of the villa, Joanna and Virginia were seated at a table with the kids, decorating Easter eggs.

Eric walked out of the villa, bypassed the swimming pool, and approached the lawn. He picked up Emma, who was dashing over to show off her little colored egg, and came to the table, catching sight of Ewa Pacula, who had quickly appeared after just a brief phone call. He smiled and said, "What brought you here?"

Ewa, not pleased, poked him with a paintbrush. "Did my sister complain about me, and now you're doing it too?"

"Me? How could I complain about you?" Eric laughed as he dodged her poke and set Emma down on a small chair. The little one immediately reached for the paintbrush on the table, forgetting all about Eric.

Eric looked around; Virginia was holding Kevin's hand and carefully drawing patterns on an egg, clearly enjoying herself. When she saw Eric approaching, she raised the egg toward him as if to show off how great her son was, while Hawaii, sitting on Joanna's lap, held a marker with a bored expression on her face.

Eric leaned in to kiss his little son's cheek, pulled a chair over, and took Hawaii into his arms. "Come here, sweetheart. Did Mom paint badly? Let Daddy show you how to do it."

Joanna smiled as she watched Eric take their daughter, passing her the egg and paintbrush. "Hawaii's not interested in this, maybe I'm just too terrible at it, haha."

"Well then, let's start with a silly face," Eric said, holding onto Hawaii's little hand in the same way Virginia did.

Hawaii squirmed slightly in Eric's grasp, feeling the roughness of her father's big hand. Eventually, she relaxed with a sigh.

Ugh, why do I have to paint these silly things on a hard-boiled egg? So dumb.

The little girl mentally complained, glancing sideways at the small boy sitting in Vicki's lap, pouting. Wow, he got paint all over his face; how clumsy.

Her gaze drifted back to her mother, who rested her chin on one hand, wearing a warm smile as she looked at them.

Hawaii sighed again in her heart.

Oh.

However, seeing the look of happiness on Mommy's face as she watched Daddy teach her how to paint, she figured she'd pretend to be clumsy like Kevin for now.

But boy, this was so hard!

Geez, Daddy, how could you hold my little hand and still mess it up? Seriously?

The little girl couldn't help but remark, "Daddy, why are we drawing this stuff?"

"To celebrate Easter!" Eric explained.

"Then what's Easter?"

"Because people say Jesus will rise again on this day, and that's why it's called Easter."

"Who's Jesus?"

"The Son of God."

"Who's God?"

"I can't quite explain that."

"Then why do we celebrate the day Jesus rose from the dead?"

"Because Jesus is many people's faith."

"What's faith?"

"Faith is something a person needs to hold onto in their heart."

"Hold onto what?"

"Hold onto what you think is right."

"Daddy, what's your faith?"

"Oh, sweetheart, you caught me off guard there. But you could ask your mom."

"Mommy, what's your faith?"

"God."

"..."

The little girl blinked her large, pretty eyes, just like her mother's, and mentally sorted through this information, finding a loop.

Then, she realized that Daddy and Mommy were just brushing her off again.

Sigh. How could these grown-ups treat a little kid like this? I'm only two years old!

*****

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