Chapter 182: Golden Globes

The 2006 Golden Globe Awards took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, USA, on the evening of January 15th.

Even though Capet Pictures' No Country for Old Men had nominations for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director, it did not win any of those awards. No Country for Old Men only received the Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay awards.

Walk the Line was a big winner, taking home the Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical award, and Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon both won Golden Globes for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical, respectively!

The Golden Globe Awards are said to pursue artistry, but there was no less drama behind the scenes compared to the Oscars. The commendable aspect is that the Golden Globes do not chase after those in power and provide significant support to independent films.

However, Charles did not bother with it and still handled company affairs as usual after spending another wonderful night at home.

Entertainment magazines and newspapers like The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, Variety, the Los Angeles Times, and Empire all extensively reported on the gala of the Golden Globe Awards.

"No Country for Old Men actually lost the Best Motion Picture - Drama to Capote, which is based on a true story biographical film and is an independent film," Charles curled his lips while sitting in his office.

"Boss, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association loves to pull these unexpected moves," Phyllis Jones quietly explained from the side.

No Country for Old Men had the majority of media support, so winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama should not have been difficult.

Still, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association did not give it to them, and even the Best Director award did not go to the Coen brothers.

"Forget it, I don't care about that," Charles put down the newspaper, seeming unbothered by it. Though Walk the Line won in the Comedy or Musical category, Golden Globe's most anticipated awards are undoubtedly the Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Actor and Actress in a Drama.

The Golden Globe Awards are hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, produced by Dick Clark Productions, and long-term broadcasting rights belong to NBC!

If Charles remembered correctly, Dick Clark Productions also produced American Idol, the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music Awards, and even So You Think You Can Dance.

"How's Transformers coming along?"

Other than the movies about to be released, Charles was most concerned with the two big special-effect films, Iron Man and Transformers.

"Preparation is going smoothly. Director J.J. Abrams is leading the script refinement, and our special effects partners, Industrial Light & Magic and Digital Domain, have completed the effects for the Autobots," Phyllis Jones knew these details clearly. The special effects for Transformers Autobots started right after acquiring the rights last year.

"Notify Donna that J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions seems good. I want to sign a long-term production agreement with his company," said Charles, knowing the significant contributions of J.J. Abrams' company in both movies and television.

Phyllis Jones nodded. The boss seemed to value J.J. Abrams more highly than Judd Apatow in the past.

"Capet Entertainment needs to grow, and we still need to find more partners. We can't develop many movies on our own in a year," Charles intended on handling distribution, so he definitely needed outside film production companies to cooperate.

He then pulled out a script, "This series called Mad Men about the advertising industry in America during the 60s and 70s, written by Matthew Weiner; let's get our television company to buy it and start prepping!"

"Mad Men? Its story seems quite bland, and it's not a comedy. Many TV networks and production companies don't want to develop it. Its writer, Matthew Weiner, unsuccessfully pitched it to HBO and FX," said Phyllis Jones, who knew since she organized these things for Charles. Writer Matthew Weiner was one of the writers for The Sopranos.

Charles shook his head with a smile, "Buy it, AMC TV network will want it. Didn't AMC Television Network show interest in our Prison Break last year? We can recommend this Mad Men to them."

"AMC Network? They've never done original production before, and they don't have high ratings or much funding," Phyllis Jones explained, which was why Capet Television chose USA Network last year.

"Hey, didn't they produce an original series The Contender before?" Charles laughed.

Sure enough, if they didn't buy the script for Mad Men, Lionsgate Television would discover it and get AMC Network, which had started original production, to develop it.

AMC Network would usher in a wave of high-quality original series.

"Alright then, I'll notify Capet Television to prepare for the development of Mad Men," Phyllis Jones, of course, wouldn't oppose the boss's decision.

"Go ahead, then get Dona over here; I have something to ask her!"

Soon after Phyllis Jones left, another assistant, Dona Williams, came in.

"Boss, you were looking for me?"

"How much do you know about Rainbow Media?" Charles suddenly asked.

"Rainbow Media is a subsidiary of American Cable Group. It owns assets like AMC Network, IFC, and SundanceTV along with five other channels. Last year, there was talk of American Cable Group splitting off Rainbow Media for privatization, but they gave up!" Dona frequently kept up with Wall Street news and was familiar with such large entertainment organizations' privatization information.

American Cable Group is the second-largest cable operator, controlled by the Dolan family, who also owns the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden.

Charles indeed had the idea of holding shares in a cable network. AMC Network was a good target, but since the Dolan family was deeply rooted in cable operations, owning several TV channels was normal, so they probably wouldn't sell.

Just like the largest cable operator, Donkastr, holding shares in several cable TV channels.

"Forget it," Charles was truly interested in premium cable networks like Showtime, Starz, HBO, Bravo, and similar ones. They don't rely on advertising but on subscription fees, so at least they wouldn't be choked by cable operators.

Besides, a couple of cable networks alone were not enough to negotiate with cable operators. One could see that the major broadcasting groups owned many cable TV channels.

*****

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