America is in control

Chapter 285 The Distribution Company and the Dawn of the Script

After Meg Whitman officially took office as eBay's CEO, she immediately began drastic reforms.

She re-established a management team, optimized the financial system, proposed new marketing strategies, and established a streamlined email system.

eBay's operating business was divided by Meg Whitman into 23 large business categories, including approximately 35000 small categories.

She assigned these 23 business categories to each company executive for operation, requiring that each job must be implemented by a specific individual.

The drastic reform naturally brought about a series of pains, but eBay's development has not been greatly affected.

In January 1997, eBay's monthly transaction count exceeded 1 million.

In 1996, the number of transactions on the website was only .

The number of transactions has soared, eBay's handling fees have naturally been reduced, and the cash flow in the company's account has greatly improved compared to before.

It seems that eBay does not need its own financial support for the time being, and the new CEO is doing a pretty good job.

General Liu nodded with satisfaction and put down the report sent by Meg Whitman.

Fatbrain, an online professional bookstore, and Hotmail, which provides free email, are currently developing well.

These two companies have no financing plans recently, and I can't put in my own money for the time being. Forget it, let's invest in Internet start-ups!

After thinking for a moment, Liu Jiang dialed Chris's number, and the two communicated about the recent situation.

During this time, Chris had been looking for potential Internet startups, but he had not found much.

It’s not that the Internet start-ups he found have no investment value. The main reason is that Liu Jiang didn’t find the long-lost sense of familiarity in these companies.

Later, General Liu also figured out that he was not an Internet giant in his previous life. The Internet companies he was familiar with were industry giants.

But it's not that easy to find industry giants. It's better to let the other party do whatever they want. As long as the company you invest in can eventually go public, you will always make money.

After ending the call with Chris, Liu Jiang asked Li Chengxiong to transfer US$200 million to New Caesar Investment Company.

As for the three companies or organizations related to his boxing career, New Caesar Boxing Club, New Caesar Boxing Promotion Company, and New Caesar Boxing Fans Association of America.

Liu Jiang each allocated 100 million US dollars to fund the company's early operations.

As for subsequent financial support, it depends on how much money is left in his personal account after buying the villa in Beverly Hills.

The next step was to deal with the affairs of the new Caesars Entertainment Company. Liu Jiang picked up a thick document on the desk and started to read it.

"Landman Publishing Company, founded in"

General Liu's eyes lit up. Last time he asked Jonathan to collect information on small distribution companies with relatively complete distribution channels in Beimi, and the latter found a lot of them.

After careful screening and consultation with relevant experts, he targeted a small distribution company called Landman.

What Liu will now look through is the detailed information about Landman Publishing Company collected by a third-party professional investigation agency.

"Jonathan, you and Ronald come to the Irvine Villa. I have some questions that I would like to consult with you."

"By the way, by the way, I'll bring along the scripts the company has recently received. Forget about the ones that are too mediocre. I only want the distinctive or excellent scripts!"

After calling Jonathan and waiting for the other party's arrival, Liu Jiang roughly looked through the information in his hand.

He closed the information in his hand, held his chin with one hand, and fell into deep thought.

If the new Caesars Entertainment wants to truly rise, it must have its own distribution channels.

Overseas distribution channels require too much capital, and the cost of maintaining operations is also terrifying. I can't afford it yet.

In addition, once the new Caesars Entertainment enters the overseas distribution field, it will inevitably face the encirclement and suppression of the seven major Hollywood companies.

With his current strength, there is simply no way to resist the enemy's invasion, so overseas distribution channels are not considered for the time being.

But you can still get the distribution channel of BeiMi by yourself if you think of a way.

In the previous life, DreamWorks, co-founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen, rose so rapidly.

In addition to the outstanding abilities and huge influence of the three founders in Hollywood, it is also crucial to have their own distribution channels in North America.

If you want to transform from a small film company to a medium-sized film company, a complete distribution channel in North America is a necessary condition.

As for challenging the status of the Hollywood Seven in the traditional distribution field, it requires even more things.

Needless to say, strong economic strength and deep personal connections, complete overseas distribution channels, mature and stable blockbuster film production capabilities, large media groups as backing, MPAA seats (Movie Review and Rating Board of America), a large number of high-quality movies Film library.
Any one of these conditions is not easy to achieve, let alone all added together.

Not to mention the invisible ceiling that stretches across the sky of America’s so-called freedom.

If you want to complete this great undertaking, it can only be said that it is too difficult!

However, just because it is not possible in the traditional distribution field does not mean that there are no opportunities in emerging fields.

Wasn’t there a streaming media platform that successfully squeezed into the top six Hollywood platforms in the previous life?

Maybe you can learn from the successful experience of this streaming media platform.
Of course, traditional distribution channels cannot be given up if there are no independent and complete film distribution channels.

The new Caesars Entertainment Company can only stay at the lower reaches of the Hollywood film industry chain forever, and is exploited by the seven major companies upstream.

At this moment, a knock on the door suddenly rang, interrupting General Liu's thoughts.

"John, Jonathan and Ronald from New Caesars Entertainment are here."

Connery's sweet voice came through the wooden door.

"Honey, invite them to the study"

General Liu responded, and soon Jonathan and Ronald pushed in the door, holding several scripts in their hands.

"Boss, this is a script we carefully selected. Do you have any orders when you come to us?"

Jonathan and Ronald put the scripts in their hands on the desk, and then asked respectfully.

"Please sit down. You have all read the information from Randleman Publishing Company! Can anyone tell me the general situation?"

After inviting the two of them to sit down, Liu Jiang picked up the thick piece of information and motioned to them.

"Landman Distribution was once a film company with both production and distribution capabilities."

"But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, several of the films produced by this company performed very poorly at the box office and suffered huge losses!"

"Later, in order to avoid risks, Landman Distribution Company voluntarily gave up the production business and specialized in the distribution business."

"This company's distribution capabilities are very good among small distribution companies, and Beimi's distribution channels are also relatively complete."

Jonathan thought for a while and gave a general introduction to what he learned.

"Landman Distribution Company is located in Burbank. It was founded in 1970. It was originally called Landman Film Company. It changed its name after the business change." "After the failure of self-made films at the box office, this company focused on the production of small-cost independent films. Released in North America.”

"Landman Distribution is very fond of buying cheap, low-budget movies from overseas and then running them to North America for release."

"The performance of this company can only be said to be so-so. By the way, Randleman Distribution also has the ability to distribute video tapes and DVDs."

After Jonathan finished his introduction, Ronald added a few more words.

Combining the information he had obtained after briefly browsing the information, General Liu had a rough understanding of the basic situation of Landman Publishing Company.

The boss of this company is very smart! Knowing that the risk of the film production business was too great, he decisively gave it up.

Instead, focus on the distribution of low-cost movies. Although there is no chance of making huge profits, you can still make some money.

The other party's method of selecting film sources is also very clever. They scoured overseas markets and bought films that American audiences might like.

Then it will be released in North America. No matter how the box office performance is, it will not lose too much money.

After all, movies are cheap! Even if it's a buyout, it doesn't cost much.

Not to mention that after the movie is released, it can also enter the video tape market. All in all, there is basically no loss.

If the movie fails at the box office, Landman Distribution can still make a small profit.

The company's operating model is very similar to Miramax's.

Perhaps the only difference is that the Weinstein brothers, the owners of Miramax, are stronger, more discerning, and better at winning prizes.

Hollywood film distribution is basically the same as film distribution elsewhere. To put it bluntly, it is just a distribution channel, and movies are just a commodity.

With a complete distribution channel, you can take advantage of the information gap, buy low and sell high, and earn the price difference.

Unlike real objects, movies have their own cultural attributes. To judge the quality of a movie, vision is extremely important.

However, what General Liu lacks the most is vision (experience in his previous life). Since the Weinstein brothers can use this to make a prosperous life, there is no reason why he can't do it himself!

Thinking of this, Liu Jiang raised his head, looked at Jonathan, and asked.

“Would the owner of Randleman Publishing be willing to sell his company?”

Jonathan pondered for a moment and replied.

"My trustee had preliminary contact with the owner of this company, and his intention to sell the company was not very clear!"

"But I heard a rumor that the son of the owner of Landman Publishing Company just graduated from college and studied finance."

"The stock market in the United States has been so hot recently. The other party once revealed to his subordinates that if he wanted to transform, he would just lie about it."

Liu Jiang nodded, and after thinking for a while, he made a decision.

"Continue to maintain contact, form a professional negotiation team, and at the same time investigate the specific situation of the owner of Landman Publishing Company and his son."

"Okay, Boss!" "No problem! Boss!"

Jonathan and Ronald replied at the same time.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Jiang picked up the script on the table and started reading it.

After going through all the scripts brought by the two people, he found no script that stood out.

Liu Jiang frowned and asked.

"Is this all there is? Why do I feel that the quality of these scripts is not outstanding?"

Jonathan and Ronald looked at each other quietly, their faces a little embarrassed, and they didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Boss, we have preliminarily screened these scripts from the company's script library. How about we go back and look for them again?"

Bracing himself, Jonathan asked tentatively.

"Jonathan, do you have any scripts in the company's script library that highlight the heroine? It would be better to have three heroines, or one heroine paired with two outstanding supporting actresses."

Liu Jiang thought for a while and asked a question that even he found embarrassing.

No way, since the success of "Looking for the Midnight Kiss", Connery, Catherine and Theron have all been eyeing him.

Three top beauties with whom he had close relationships all wanted to star in the next movie of the new Caesars Entertainment Company, which made Liu Jiang very anxious.

No matter which beauty she is, he doesn't want to let her go.

The main reason is that the consequences are a bit scary. If any beauty is dissatisfied and something happens, General Liu will most likely be injured in the end (the family is restless).

Divide them into pieces and defeat them one by one?

Not easy to fix! If the new Caesars Entertainment Company projects three movies at once, there will be no problem in terms of funding, but there will be no way to control personnel and quality.

They did it reluctantly and made three bad movies. Not to mention the total loss, the three beauties would probably not be satisfied.

But if you want to get all three beauties to participate in a movie, there shouldn't be a big gap in the roles. At the same time, the movie must be successful. This is really difficult to do!
Anyway, General Liu hasn't come up with a proper solution after thinking for so long.

He wanted to delay the time before. If one or all of the three beauties took on new roles during this period, wouldn't the matter be solved?
It is a pity that the development of things often does not depend on human will!
Three top beauties are determined to wait for the release of the next movie from the new Caesars Entertainment.

General Liu had no choice but to ask Jonathan to help him come up with ideas. The other party had been managing the script library of the new Caesars Entertainment Company.

After listening to General Liu's question, Jonathan's eyes widened and he was a little confused.

One movie, three heroines?
Most of the Hollywood movies of this era feature male protagonists. Movies with leading female protagonists are not unheard of, but they are extremely rare, let alone those with three female protagonists!

Even a script with one heroine and two supporting heroines is hard to find!

"Boss, as far as I know, there are very few scripts in the company's script library that highlight the heroine, and they are not very good!"

"As for scripts with three heroines or one heroine with two supporting heroines, the company does not have them in the script library."

"But don't worry, I can go to the Writers Guild of America to help you look for it, and maybe I can find something."

Jonathan replied rather tactfully.

"Boss, I haven't seen the script of the three heroines, but I have seen a TV series from the 70s, "Charlie's Angels."

"This TV series tells the story of three beautiful and intelligent women who serve Mr. Charlie to fight crime and uphold justice."

"As far as I know, the rights to adapt the TV series are in the hands of Sony Colombia."

Ronald on the side was thoughtful and suddenly said.

Liu Jiang's eyes lit up, yes! Why didn't I think of the blockbuster movie "Charlie's Angels"?

　don’t worry! Definitely a modified version! I’ll think about the idea of ​​magic reform!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)