America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 129. The Grand Show of Preparations for Lionheart Network

They spent the entire day together, cuddling and spending time like a real married couple.

Eric was somewhat captivated by the other person's gentleness. If he were a 20-year-old, he probably wouldn't feel this sense of home, nor would he cherish it.

After all, young people are active and their temperament has not yet been tempered. The pursuit of excitement and pleasure is their instinct and nature.

But inside Eric's young body is actually the soul of someone in their thirties, a soul that has been struggling in the entertainment industry for over a decade.

In the entertainment industry, a place so realistic, he has witnessed far too much of the coldness and indifference of human relationships.

The more you see and experience, the stronger your longing for a warm home becomes. After wearing a mask for so long, you naturally need a safe haven to rest in.

Nicole is an excellent candidate in terms of personality, ability, and other aspects.

Unfortunately, when Eric saw the clothes he was wearing, his idea of ​​settling down vanished, because the clothes were bought for him by Gadot.

Wearing clothes bought for you by one woman, then dating another woman, while secretly having a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or even countless other women around, unbeknownst to either of them.

Among them are twins, who will eventually become triplets, and may even become triplets plus an aunt.

What's even more outrageous is that there might be a mother, daughter, and cousin involved.

Sometimes Eric even felt that he was a scumbag and evil, a complete and utter scumbag.

But what can you do? Being too outstanding is also a kind of trouble.

Eric even envisioned a scenario where all the women were gathered in one room, and then told the truth, leaving them to choose whether to stay or leave.

I imagine most people will choose to stay.

Even if it hadn't come to that, Eric felt they weren't stupid; they all knew, to some extent, that their men were definitely seeing other women.

However, if there is no concrete evidence of them being caught in the act, then it can be selectively ignored.

Even if there's solid evidence, people might still choose to ignore it. There are too many cases like this in the entertainment industry, such as those involving Little S, Jin Qiaoqiao, Xu Fan, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

So, to make up for them, all Eric could do was work twice as hard on the ship and offer help in their careers.

Last night, he worked for several hours until he was exhausted, and then the two of them called it a day.

In the office, Eric called Billy over.

"Billy, do you remember what I told you at the last party?"

Billy recalled for a moment: "You mean the Michael Dobbs thing?"

"Yes, I plan to send you to England again, partly to talk to him about the adaptation of 'House of Cards,' but that's just an excuse. The real purpose is to seek his help."

"Boss, what's going on? I'm completely confused."

Eric pointed to the sofa, and Billy sat down.

Are you familiar with Michael Jackson's child molestation case?

Billy nodded. "I know a little, but not in detail. Are you referring to the one in 1993, or this year?"

"This year's controversy stems from a BBC journalist named Martin Barshere. It was his documentary that led to this incident."

"But I don't believe this was just his personal act. From what I understand, Sony Music is likely involved."

"Sony Records? Isn't that Michael Jackson's label? Why is that?" Billy asked, puzzled.

To make things easier, Eric simply brought up the feud between Mike and Sony Music.

After discussing the inside story, Billy exclaimed, "So that's how it is. If it really was Sony who did it, those guys deserve to die."

"Don't you feel that two atomic bombs were too easy on them?"

"That's right, we should bomb Japan into oblivion and make them hibernate in the Pacific forever."

Eric laughed heartily; he was genuinely pleased to hear the insults directed at the Japanese.

"Billy, you have to get this done no matter what, even if you have to throw money at it, you have to get it done."

"Don't worry, even if Michael Dobbs is a wall, I can still make a hole in him. His wife Evelyn is not a politician, she's much easier to deal with."

"I don't care what methods you use, just give me a result as soon as possible."

"I guarantee I'll complete the task. But regarding the 'House of Cards' adaptation you mentioned, are you really planning to make a film based on that novel?"

Eric nodded: "Yes, it will start within the next month or two. You can use that as an excuse to get closer to them."

After Billy left, Eric wrote down a few numbers on a piece of paper.

It's currently the end of the second quarter, and a new copyright fee will soon be coming in. In addition, The Walking Dead has performed exceptionally well, and after being persuaded by his father, HBO has unusually agreed to settle the payment early. The total revenue from these two sources is expected to be around $3.5 million.

After deducting the subsequent investments in projects that have already started bidding, as well as interest and principal payments to banks, the current working capital on hand is enough to start several new projects.

Big-budget productions like Transformers are out of the question for Eric; he's left with low-budget movies, TV series, and variety shows.

For the upcoming Lionheart website, Eric must provide more and better works, as TV dramas and variety shows have significantly higher viewership than movies.

So it would be good to make films like "House of Cards," "Hannibal," "Supernatural," "American Horror Story," and "Breaking Bad" first.

Of these, the highest production cost is for "House of Cards," but it should be able to be done with around $200 million per episode, assuming the majority of the budget goes towards hiring actors.

The original "House of Cards" reportedly cost an average of $450 million per episode.

That's because he spends most of his money on hiring actors, directors, and screenwriters.

These three key roles account for more than 50% of the film's cost, somewhat similar to the Chinese film and television dramas of the traffic era.

The difference is that he truly has acting skills and talent, so Eric still wants to invite Kevin Spacey to play the role this time.

His performance in "American Beauty" a couple of years ago earned him an Oscar for Best Actor.

For Kevin Spacey, his acting skills have reached their peak. There is not much difference between 10 years ago and 10 years later. He has no pressure in playing Francis Underwood, the male lead in "House of Cards". He doesn't even need to change the makeup. He can just change the character's age in the script.

Kevin Spacey is 44 years old now, and there are countless 40-year-old members of Congress in reality. Obama was 47 when he became president. There is no age limit in the political rules here.

If Eric Carle himself were to direct and write "House of Cards," it would not only be more efficient but also significantly reduce costs.

As for Hannibal, Supernatural, American Horror Story, and Breaking Bad, in 2003 Hollywood, the average production cost per episode of a TV series was $55.

More money could be allocated to "Hannibal" and "American Horror Story," while $55 would be enough for "Supernatural" and "Breaking Bad," and could even be reduced further.

Eric plans to make these five shows a driving force for Lionheart.com's traffic from the second half of this year to the first half of next year.

The Walking Dead was brought up first to attract a group of new users who hadn't seen it before and old users who wanted to rewatch it, and then House of Cards fired the real first shot.

Supernatural doesn't need to be too sophisticated, and its filming schedule is relatively fast. It can take over the time slot, but it can only serve as a transition and cannot be expected to attract too many viewers.

The reason why "Supernatural" has been so long and has been able to run for 15 seasons is that the CW didn't have any other good shows to offer, and renewing it was a last resort.

What makes this drama truly unique is that it successfully draws the audience's attention away from the plot and towards the actors, somewhat similar to the fan economy.

The two brothers often held meet-and-greets in private, and their merchandise sold well. Ultimately, "Supernatural" successfully transformed from a teen idol thriller into a long-running series.

Then there's Breaking Bad. Walter White's story wasn't engaging in the first season. The best approach was to combine the first two seasons into one, speed up the pace, and cut out unnecessary elements.

Next up will be either Hannibal or American Horror Story; whichever is filmed first will be broadcast.

Then, we can supplement it with variety shows, such as creating "The Voice of China" and inviting MJ to be a judge. The specifics will depend on the progress of Michael Jackson's lawsuit.

If it's released next year, it would be great to compete with Fox's "American Idol". In addition to MJ, we could invite a few more big-name superstars, even if it costs more money.

Eric refused to believe he couldn't beat "American Idol." He hoped to crush this veteran within one or two seasons, become the number one music variety show, and monopolize the market share.

In addition, there are all sorts of popular variety shows such as "China's Got Talent," "Man vs. Wild," "Ninja Tournament," and "Take Me Out." They can use whichever one they want and then sell the copyrights all over the world to make money.

The only problem is that the production cost of the variety show is relatively high. Eric also wants to make initial contact with Marvel in the second half of the year, so the production schedule is expected to be delayed a bit.

Only after the films we have completed their box office returns will it be time to launch variety shows on a large scale.

Having roughly outlined MGM's development path for the next six months, Eric called Chen Xing in.

"Is the CEO in?"

"exist!"

"Okay, I'll go over there. I'll contact the other party now using the phone number I gave you last time and ask them to come over."

"Okay, boss!"

I took the elevator to my dad's office floor. Julio from the production department and a cute girl who looked to be in her early twenties also came up with me.

Upon seeing Eric enter, the two quickly moved aside and greeted him simultaneously.

Eric nodded slightly, then glanced at the unfamiliar, cute girl: "New here?"

"Yes, boss, my name is Jenny, Jenny White."

The girl immediately extended her hand, and Eric felt embarrassed to refuse her directly, as he had always had a good reputation within the company. The two briefly touched palms together and then parted ways.

"What are you all going to do?"

"The president wants to hear about the overall situation of the production department in the second quarter, so I'm here to report."

Eric gave a soft "oh," feeling a pang of self-reproach. He realized he'd gotten a bit too arrogant lately, failing to discuss many new projects or plans with his father.

Although there's nothing to hold a grudge between father and son, at least they should have been informed. Otherwise, regardless of respect, as the CEO, having a comprehensive understanding of the company's operations is essential.

"Let's go together then, I happen to have something to do too," Eric said.

"No, please go ahead."

"Then you may have to wait a while; this conversation won't end anytime soon."

The elevator doors opened, and Eric walked toward Charlie Cooper's office, where his wavy-haired secretary hurriedly opened the door for him.

After watching the boss walk away, Julio said in a somewhat reproachful tone, "Jenny, what you did just now was very inconsiderate. You shouldn't have reached out to him. It might put Eric in a difficult position. Ignoring him would hurt your pride, but responding to him might lead to gossip."

"This is a company, not a party or restaurant. You're facing our boss, not friends or clients. You need to show respect and reverence, understand?"

As a newbie in the workplace, Jenny nodded in agreement, like a chicken pecking at rice.

But what I was really thinking was that he was just as handsome as in the photos. I actually shook hands with Eric Cooper! I was so excited, hahaha.

In Charlie Cooper's office, the secretary closed the door and left.

"Eric, is something the matter?"

No one knows a son better than his father. Seeing his son, the seasoned businessman Charlie Cooper could tell at a glance that he definitely wanted something from him.

Eric nodded. "Dad, I might need to use your connections."

"What's the matter? Is it that you can't get any actors or directors to come and you need me to step in?"

"That's not the case. It might be true, but I'm thinking that Lionheart.net will be launched in a few months, and I'm planning to make a 'House of Cards' movie to showcase it. I'd like to ask Kevin Spacey to play the male lead."

"However, now that he has won the Oscar for Best Actor, he is at the peak of his career. It would be best if the script could move him, but if the salary cannot be negotiated, you may need to step in."

Dad thought for a moment and said, "Kevin Spacey's current asking price for a movie is $1000 million, but we can lower it for a friend's sake. However, movie and TV series salaries are two different tracks. How many episodes do you plan to make for this series?"

"It won't exceed 15 episodes, probably around 12 or 13."

"How much are you willing to pay Kevin Spacey per episode?"

"$35, less would be better."

Upon hearing this, the father shook his head: "It's too little. Even if the script is of high quality, the price is too low. I suggest raising the price to $40 per episode."

"If we film 15 episodes, Kevin Spacey can get $600 million in salary. I can negotiate this friendly price."

"After all, the filming time for a TV series is much shorter than that for a movie, so he can use it as a break between two movies."

"Add a good notebook, and they probably won't refuse."

"Dad, is this the lowest possible price?"

Eric still felt it was a bit expensive; he remembered that Kevin Spacey only received $50 per episode for his role in "House of Cards" in 2013.

I booked 10 years in advance, hoping to lower the price.

"There's nothing we can do. He's an Oscar-winning actor. The big screen has always discriminated against the small screen. You know that."

"Okay, once our streaming service is up and running, I'm going to make sure all these big names in film and television are scrambling to star in it."

(End of this chapter)