Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 281: It's a Cool Autumn

"Is Aaron not here yet?"

"Maybe something happened and delayed you on the road. Link, I saw in the newspaper that Guess What? Pictures' second round of financing, you offered $16 billion and you won't give up a penny. Is this true?"

Jerome Preston laughed in the Grove Mall cafe.

"it is true."

Link replied calmly.

"16 billion! You're so brave to ask for it."

Jerome raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?" Link smiled and said firmly, "Not only do I dare to ask for it, I will also ask for it with confidence. Guess what? The box office and peripheral revenue of the film industry last year was close to 20 billion, and the profit exceeded 10 billion US dollars, which is higher than many Fortune 20 companies. In other industries, companies with annual turnover exceeding 100 billion have a market value of at least 16 billion US dollars. My offer of billion is already modest."

Jerome laughed. "You said it too. That's another industry. The film industry is high-risk, high-cost, and has a long payback period. Plus, guess what, there are too few physical assets. I'm afraid Wall Street investment companies won't meet your requirements. You have to be prepared for financing failure in advance."

"It's ok."

Link shrugged. "My agreement to conduct the second round of financing in advance is an attitude in itself, indicating that I am willing to share the dividends of Guess What Pictures' development with investors. If they are optimistic about me and the future of Guess What Pictures, they can accept this offer; if they are not optimistic, then they can't blame me for eating alone.

Next, it’s time to test the vision and courage of those investors.”

"You are too confident."

Jerome shook his head and laughed, "Just like the time when you came to my office to promote Buried, you told me that it would be a big hit and would increase the attendance of the theaters. I didn't believe you at the time, but you were right. Buried created a box office miracle.

You still have this expression now, which means you are full of confidence in the development of Guess What Pictures. If I had hundreds of millions of capital, I would definitely take this share and make a lot of money with you. "

Link smiled and recalled the time when he brought Buried Alive to the Grove Shopping Center to promote the movie.

Almost three years have passed in the blink of an eye, and a lot of things have changed, but as for him, everything is moving in a good direction.

The fact that Guess What Pictures was suppressed by Wall Street capital was actually expected.

This is the United States, where politics is managed by the White House and the economy is controlled by Wall Street capital.

Guess What Pictures made a ton of money in the North American film market this year, with an independent film company earning more money than the seven major studios.

The investors on Wall Street will naturally not remain indifferent to this popular item.

It is inevitable to put pressure on Guess Pictures through the seven major film studios.

However, Link is not worried about being targeted by the seven major film studios and the capital behind them.

In the film industry, no matter how strong a company's production capabilities are or how abundant its publicity and promotion resources are, whether it can ultimately make a profit always depends on the quality of the film or television work itself.

Even if a movie is produced by one of the seven major Hollywood studios, if the quality of the movie is poor, it may suffer a box office failure or even face the risk of bankruptcy due to huge losses.

If the quality of a movie is good enough, even if it faces competitive pressure or scheduling restrictions in the North American market, it still has the opportunity to make a profit through overseas markets, thus turning the situation around.

Therefore, whether a film company can survive in Hollywood ultimately depends on whether the products it produces can win the recognition of the audience, rather than simply relying on the scale of production or the strength of publicity and promotion.

Link has a box office subsidy system and does not worry about losses due to poor film quality. This is also the main reason why he dares to take on the seven major film studios.

On the other hand, the current situation of the film industry also gave him enough confidence

First of all, the seven major Hollywood film studios belong to different interest groups, and there is far more competition than cooperation between them.

It would undoubtedly be a huge challenge to get them to put aside their long-standing competition and unite to fight against Guess What Pictures.

Secondly, although the media groups behind the seven major film studios are powerful, they only control about 45% of the media resources in North America, and the remaining 55% of the resources are controlled by other independent media groups.

For example, CNN and TNT channels under Turner Media, ABC TV under Metropolitan Communications, The New York Times owned by the Salzberg family, and Hearst Newspaper Group and Tribune Newspaper Group are all important players in the North American media market. These media groups are in direct competition with News Corporation behind Fox Film and Comcast behind Universal Pictures, so it is difficult to form a unified public opinion front against Guess What?

This fragmented media landscape and complex competitive relationship further weakened the feasibility of joint action by the seven major film studios, and also provided more market space and strategic opportunities for Guess Pictures.

As long as you guess the studio is willing to spend the money, you can get ample publicity resources.

There is no need to worry about the publicity channels being monopolized by a few major media groups.

Finally, thanks to the 'Paramount Act' of 1948, American film companies and theater companies implemented a business separation system.

In order to make a profit, movie theater chains have to actively fight for the rights to screen movies.

Movies under Guess What Pictures often become box office dark horses, achieving both box office success and good reputation.

As a result, theaters also attach more importance to cooperation with Guess the Show.

Link doesn't have to worry about the movie not being able to be released.

This is also one of the reasons why he is not worried about being attacked by the seven major film studios.

Taking the above points into consideration, when facing the suppression from the seven major film studios and entertainment capital, we only need to withstand the pressure, stay prepared, continue to make competitive movies, and earn more box office revenue, and the suppression from the seven major film studios will collapse on its own.

"Link, Jerome, I'm sorry I'm late."

Link and Jerome chatted for a while before Aaron Kuch, deputy editor of The Hollywood Reporter, came in from outside and apologized to the two for being late.

The reason for his late arrival was that he received a call on the way that rapper Tupac Shakur and 2Pac were shot and injured in a recording studio in New York.

Tupac is the most famous black rapper in the music industry today and also an actor. Last year, he starred in "Justins Who Write Poetry" with Janet Jackson, which achieved good box office results.

At the same time, Tupac is also a hot figure in the news recently. In 92, a 6-year-old boy was killed due to an accidental discharge of his pistol, but he was eventually exempted from prosecution due to insufficient evidence.

Last November, he sexually assaulted a woman in a hotel and was investigated by the police. The case is still under trial. Now he was shot again, which made Tupac even more popular and all news about him are of high value.

Aaron Kutcher just made a phone call and arranged for his reporters to go to New York to interview Tupac.

"I heard that group of rappers had an internal conflict and split into two groups, the East Coast and the West Coast, and they often cursed at each other. Tupac is a West Coast rapper. Was he shot this time because the East Coast group wanted to kill him?"

Jerome asked curiously.

"Not sure. There are rumors that this incident is related to P. Diddy and singer BIG, but there is no evidence to confirm this news."

"Puff Daddy? Link, I remember you had conflicts with him too. You should be careful."

Jerome looked at Link.

"Minor conflicts, all from the past."

Link shook his head. Last year, when he was filming in New York, he was harassed by P. Diddy's men. Link used his connections with the New York police to beat up P. Diddy and put him in jail for two weeks.

P. Diddy comes from a drug dealer gang and has a criminal record with the police and the FBI, so he dares not disobey.

In addition, after becoming a billionaire, Link also became a person that politicians wanted to make friends with. With his current status and financial resources, it would be easier for him to control P. Diddy than to deal with Robert Downey Jr. and others.

"Link, we won't waste your time anymore. Let's start the interview now, okay?"

Aaron Kutcher pulled out his laptop.

Link nodded. He came here to drink coffee today at the invitation of Aaron Kutcher. The other party wanted to interview him in person with a few questions, which were about the rumors that the seven major film studios were suppressing Guess What Pictures, and the second round of financing of Guess What Pictures.

Link also wanted to express his attitude through the media and build momentum for the second round of financing for Guess What Pictures, so he accepted Aaron Kutcher's invitation.

(End of this chapter)