novelraw Chapter 169
Chapter 169
"Josie Horton's production company wants to buy our project? Oh, what the hell! Why would she want this? Does she have the money—I mean, can she handle a production of this level?"
Harvey Weinstein is an obese middle-aged white man with an unfriendly paranoid face. He was blocked by his brother in the restaurant of the Four Seasons Hotel. With temporary avoidance.
Judging from appearance alone, Bob Weinstein is much more approachable than his brother. Although they are still very similar, at least when people in the city talk about Bob, they don't have such a one-sided hatred.
But Harvey was a genius, a genius of film and trade.
——At least he and the people around him think so.
"I don't fucking care about this—" Bob said with a sullen face, pointing at the table and lowering his voice, "what I care about is that this project is burning money every day it is running, our money! We must make it as soon as possible." Someone take it over!"
Harvey lowered his eyebrows and raised his eyes, his eyes were gloomy, and he remained silent.
Bob continued: "Harvey, we have to sell it. As soon as it is sold, we have netted 500 million, it is time to stop and stop wasting energy on this bloody project, we can do something else .”
"Five million? That's a lot." Harvey twitched the corner of his mouth nervously, "Ha, you're always like this, Bob, you just like to stay in your comfort zone—ah, to be exact, what I created comfort zone—do those small-time literary and artistic films, worrying that the investment in this project is too large, and worrying that the project will not be able to recover the cost... Do you know that people like you have no qualifications without me? success."
Bob's dark complexion was still grim, as if he had long been accustomed to the suppression of him by the arrogant producer in front of him, and he seemed to be more accustomed to engraving all this in his heart, and only needed a chance to finally erupt.
But for now, at least, the Weinstein brothers' shared interests remain aligned and inseparable, so he can put up with it all.
"Harvey, let's get down to business, okay?" Bob tapped on the table with his fingers, and said after Harvey restrained himself: "That girl needs a special effects project to show off, she is really a big fan of PJ or Tolkien Well, the most important thing is that Tianji Films is willing to pay 2000 million US dollars in cash to buy out the ownership of the Lord of the Rings project."
"You think it's a good business?" Harvey sneered.
"Why not?" Bob asked calmly, and pushed the temples of his glasses, "at least it's fucking money."
"Ha! I'm telling you: never!" Harvey leaned forward, his face turned cold, "No one should fucking try to kick me out of this project! 500 million? Oh, it's ridiculous. She thought she won once To run amok in Hollywood? I bet Geffen got a probation or even acquittal! And guess what? She's fucking fucked!"
"Harvey..." Bob called Harvey's name helplessly.
"Bob!" Harvey yelled, "Listen, this project is going to make a lot of money, and you've got to trust me, don't forget how we got here—we gotta pull it together, bro."
"I know, Harvey, but..." Bob said bluntly, "a business is a business. If you insist on opposing this deal, I will report directly to Mr. Eisner."
Harvey froze, looking at the other Weinstein in front of him like he couldn't believe it.
After a while, he suddenly sneered and said, "Okay. I agree. But the current price is not enough, let them increase the money, or I want the 5% share of the global box office."
At the same time, Stanley Horton returned to his mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and his mother, Ms. Dina Merrill, was waiting in the restaurant.
Stanley Horton is the owner of the current Horton family and the chairman of the board of directors of this investment bank, but compared to Dina Merrill's terrifying net worth of up to 50 billion US dollars, most of his money comes from family businesses and trusts— — This already speaks volumes about his ability.
He loosened his tie knot, stuffed a napkin into his neckline under Dina Merrill's disapproving eyes, and began to cut his own steak.
"So, how did your talk with that girl go?" Dina Merrill asked lightly.
"According to what you said, Michael agreed in principle to issue a [-] million dollar loan from Tianji Films, and asked her to use the shares of Tianyan Network as a pledge, but she refused without any leeway." Stanley Horton replied while eating, " Look, she also knows that Tianyan Network is a good piece of fat, as long as it goes public, those shares will skyrocket tens of thousands of times."
Dina Merrill glanced at her son, "Then what? I don't believe that our professional manager didn't continue to try to convince her that doing business is a process of coming and going. Get things settled."
Stanley Horton swallowed a mouthful of steak, and said to himself: "Ah, today's steak is a bit overcooked. Well, Dini, it's like this. Although Josie Horton did not accept the equity pledge, she did Offered Michael an equity mortgage agreement."
"Oh?" Dina Merrill raised her eyebrows and sat up straight. "I noticed that this is not for a single financing party."
"You are right." Stanley Horton replied.
Dina Merrill frowned subconsciously, and looked at Stanley Horton who was sitting at the other end of the long dining table.
However, her son put down the knife and fork, wiped his mouth with a napkin slowly, and said: "She used the equity of Skynet Media under her name as collateral, and asked for a loan of 24 million U.S. dollars within [-] hours after the agreement took effect." , to invest in the trilogy film of the unknown director. If she fails to repay the entire loan within one year, the employer will get the ownership of Skynet Media, otherwise she will pay the principal and the interest that increases year by year."
There is money to be made, and capitalists are always extraordinarily quick to act.
In addition to EF Horton and Tianmu Capital, several investment banks have offered an olive branch to Josie, such as Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs... Even Berkshire Hathaway, which is controlled by Buffett, also got involved .
It can be seen that Skynet Media, which has changed to a new owner, is developing steadily, and the value of the equity in Qiao Qian's hands has been recognized in Wall Street's evaluation.
After that, the private lawyer hired by Josie was in charge of negotiating with a group of Wall Street hungry wolves in turn, and EF Horton won in the end, fighting for money—it can be said that this can be regarded as a bank robbery in a certain sense.
The cost of production and distribution of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy is about 90 million U.S. dollars, but since the 80s, Hollywood movies can get as much as 60% of the budget through overseas pre-sales, and the current situation has declined slightly. , and this ratio is over [-]%, especially for action blockbusters like "The Trap" starring big stars.
Then there's Germany's tax loophole, which can be called cheating.
Due to tax regulations, the German government allows investors in the German film industry to receive tax deductions from their film investments, even if the film they invest in has not yet started shooting, and German law does not require films to be shot in Germany or employ Germans.
So the Hollywood production company first sold the film rights to a German company through a written plan, and then immediately "rented" the film at a price lower than 10% of the selling price-and then bought it back with the right of first refusal.
Once back and forth, the production company gets a 10% instant profit.
Therefore, the funding gap for the Lord of the Rings project is not as big as people imagined, and it will only be around 5000 million at most.
But just to be on the safe side, Josie thought that a one-time loan of [-] million dollars would be an ideal choice, because she was going to use the money for other things.
After vetoing David Fincher's live-action shooting, Josie's shots were running out, and the remaining two scenes were filmed overtime for a week, and her work on the "Fight Club" crew was basically over. Busy playing her real version of the stock market situation.
1998 9 Month 24 Day.
This day is the day when eBay is officially listed. The IPO price of 350 million shares is 18 US dollars per share. The closing price of the day soared to 47.18 US dollars per share, an increase of 166.3%.
This is a moment that makes countless people crazy.
The name of eBay, which has been flying all the way, ranks at the top of all listed companies on the display board of the Nasdaq stock market, with a transaction volume of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Among them, Josie conducted stock transactions directly through the Internet and computer, and finally made a profit of nearly 60 million US dollars on 400 shares of eBay stock, which felt a bit... a loss.
Ignoring the time difference between the East and West of the United States, Josie not only taught herself how to use the current online stock trading software a few days in advance, opened an outdoor account and bound online banking, but also spent nearly two days keeping an eye on the stock market trend.
And she was worried from the beginning to the end that her 1000 million investment might affect the trend of eBay's stock, so that the timing of selling was not the best-but fortunately, she ended the transaction before [-] pm on Friday.
Sure enough, it is safer to buy oil well...
Josie turned off the computer, had a quick dinner, and asked Dorota to call a masseuse.
"When you're done shooting "The Trap," you need to find time to do the voice-over for that Marla-Tyler sex scene."
David Finch, who was still on the set, made a special call to remind Josie that he knew that Josie's schedule at the end of the year might be very busy.
"I know, I know, I'll let the assistant arrange it properly." Josie nodded, and talked to the other party about the samples, and then she lay back on the massage table again, "Go ahead——"
The soothing music in the room played again, and the hands belonging to the masseur pinched the tendons on Josie's shoulders, and performed a relaxing massage skillfully.
And Kelly put down the juice in her hand and started her own work.
"There is an invitation letter from a country club that only allows Hollywood A-listers to join." As Josie's assistant, Kelly reminded Martha Miller on the phone: "If you have the intention to join, Martha suggests that you can go according to the address recently."
"Country Club? What's that?" Josie asked.
Kelly explained according to the content of her memo: "There are many such clubs in Hollywood. They give members all kinds of unknown privileges, just like the kind of nightclubs that only allow celebrities to enter, and even Martha can't know the specific circumstances." learned."
"So, this is another form of secret society." Josie's voice was muffled, because she was wearing a mask on her face, the color was strange and expensive, "This PASS. The next item."