Chapter 165

According to the operation process of American TV industry, in March and April every year, TV program manufacturers of all sizes will start to find projects and make trial episodes, and then sell them to several major TV networks and cable TV stations in the annual TV program promotion season in May.

Due to the strike of the writers, not to mention the trial episodes, many film dealers now don't even have a few scripts in their hands.

Originally, if we could reach a settlement this month and rush the construction period, we would not delay the promotion season next month. The negotiation broke down again, and naturally there was no way to talk about it. If we miss this most important time node, the TV business of several major TV networks will be affected throughout the year.

Amy nodded when Simon said this, but said, "Simon, I heard that WGA is trying to reach an agreement with second - and third tier production companies recently. What should we do?"

Simon thought about it. In 1988, during the strike, a large number of second - and third tier production companies signed agreements with WGA ahead of big studios and television networks. However, the Hollywood giant's anti-monopoly action was also very decisive. The four major TV networks directly announced that they would no longer purchase programs from the production companies that signed contracts with WGA in advance. Then WGA sued the four major TV networks with an anti-monopoly lawsuit.

As the information flashed through his mind, Simon shook his head and said, "no matter what other people do, we don't participate."

Even if WGA can win the antitrust lawsuit, it will be easy for the TV network to give small shoes to the second - and third tier production companies who are going against the water ahead of time. What's more, going to WGA ahead of time won't bring any benefits to Denise pictures. Simon doesn't want to get involved in this mess.

Simon and Amy are chatting. The senior executives of various departments and relevant project leaders arrive one after another, and the meeting starts soon.

A large number of projects need a lot of manpower. After several months of continuous recruitment and expansion, danilisi film now has film, television, distribution, personnel, finance and other departments. Even if it does not count the temporary employees of a single project, the number of fixed employees of danilisi film has exceeded 50.

Simon has been looking for new office space for the company recently.

However, this is not an easy thing.

If all goes well, Simon plans to upgrade danilisi film industry to danilisi entertainment next year, and all major departments such as film, television and distribution will also be subsidiaries, which will surely lead to another large-scale expansion of the company.

Denise pictures has moved once, and Simon doesn't want to make such a fuss in a year or two.

The meeting lasted more than two hours, and it was near noon when everyone dispersed.

On the whole, all the projects of Denise pictures are progressing steadily.

"Instinct" and "Rain Man" have been filmed.

Scream will also be filmed in a small town in Northern California at the end of the month.

The negotiation between the producers' Union and the writers' Union broke down, and Simon was determined to make "dead Poetry Society" and "steel magnolia flower" the two hottest schedules at the end of the year. Therefore, the preparation of these two projects will also be accelerated, and it is expected that shooting will start in the next one to two months.

The two low-cost films "sisters" and "metropolises" were selected from Sundance, and Simon gave them to the following producers.

As for the movie "Thunderbolt Blue Angel", Simon just holds a kind of "men make money, women spend money" mind, and let it go more thoroughly. Katherine can toss about as much as she wants, and if she loses it, she will lose it. Who let her be her own woman.

Finally, in addition to the four reality shows still in the pipeline, only Batman, which Simon himself controls, is left.

After the regular meeting in the morning and that afternoon, Denise pictures opened the first round of casting for Batman.Simon has released the tough conditions for playing Bruce Wayne ahead of time.

With a five-part contract and a 15-year contract term, danelis pictures fully controls the terms of the contract.

It's no surprise that all the first-line stars in Hollywood who are trying to get Batman's role have backed out, and most of the second-line stars have made the same choice.

However, the biggest advantage of Hollywood is that it never lacks actors.

Even though danilisi film has put forward many other restrictions under several strict contract conditions, the company still received more than 1200 resumes before the first round of casting. Simon naturally does not have enough time to participate in such a large-scale audition. The casting work in the afternoon is entirely in the charge of several casting directors.

In the first round, there will be no face-to-face audition, but most of them will be wiped out by looking up resumes and performance videos. In the end, only about 200 people will enter the second round.

Simon also knows that this kind of operation will certainly cause many actors with good qualifications to lose the election, and even be carried by several casting directors. But the world is like this. If you meet the conditions and are eliminated, it can only be said that they are not lucky. If you do not meet the conditions but can enter the second round audition through the network, it is also strength.

Just think about it in your dreams.

Meanwhile, Simon and Amy come to Culver City in the afternoon.

Calver city is located to the east of Beverly city and to the north of Santa Monica city. Compared with Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Burbank and other cities, Carver city is not very conspicuous in Greater Los Angeles. Simon arrived here mainly because the MGM studio was in the center of Carver city.

In the process of transforming MGM into a hotel company, gambling tycoon Kirk cochrian, the owner of MGM, sold the MGM studio, which has a history of more than half a century, to a TV program production company called lorimar Telepictures.

In the previous few years, lorimar was also expanding vigorously, supported by the influx of hot money capital into the entertainment industry.

With the outbreak of the stock market crash and the current Hollywood strike, lorimar, which has a more single business field than new world entertainment, is inevitably in trouble. If it is not for some information from other people in his memory, Simon has never heard of lorimar in his previous life.

Now lorimar is looking to sell its assets to avoid bankruptcy.

MGM Studios, with a long history, is undoubtedly the most valuable property owned by lorimar. It took half a day to walk around the 20 hectare MGM studio. Simon and Amy left together. In the face of Amy's questioning eyes, Simon just shook his head regretfully.

Lorimar's offer for MGM Studios is not expensive. It's $100 million.

However, Simon found that most of the studios and buildings on the set were dilapidated. If danielis pictures bought them, they would have to spend at least another 100 million dollars to repair them. Moreover, although it has a long history, the location of MGM studio is not satisfactory to Simon.

MGM studio is relatively close to Beverly Hills, but it is far away from Malibu, which is 30 to 40 kilometers. Simon plans to live in Malibu. If he buys MGM Studios, he will spend at least two or three hours on his way to work every day.