hunt hollywood

My mother didn't allow my father to smoke at home with me at all, and would throw a tantrum every time I found out.Looking at the middle-aged man with a cigar in his mouth, Noah Scott could only frowned slightly, walked over and took out a pocket recorder from his suit pocket, and respectfully pushed it to the other party: " Mr Giuliani, he said no."

Rudy Giuliani picked up the recorder slowly and pressed the play button directly.

However, when he heard Simon's last words, the tough middle-aged prosecutor's face suddenly became a little ugly.

The Scotts and their sons just sat beside them obediently. James Robinson looked at the opposite star politician who had gotten carried away because of the "big killings" in recent years. Rudy, I'm afraid we can't help you. If you insist, Lehman Brothers will pay a fine for previous violations. Or, after you leave office, whether it is a law firm or a consulting firm, American Express will Happy to be your client."

Rudy Giuliani didn't look at James Robinson, holding the recorder with a cloudy expression for a moment before standing up.Still holding the recorder tightly in his hand, he glanced at the other three, and finally landed on James Robinson, and said coldly, "Jim, don't make an exception."

The three of James Robinson hurriedly got up, and when the other party walked to the door, Robinson asked again: "Rudy, in this case, can we settle this case with the Quantum Fund?"

Rudy Giuliani took the coat handed over by Noah Scott, nodded slightly, but then said: "Tell that kid, I will definitely keep an eye on him, don't let me get caught."

After saying this, Rudy Giuliani pushed the door and left.

The three people standing in the living room were relieved when Rudy Giuliani left.Due to some manipulations in advance, although that transaction will not bring too much trouble to a few people, it is trouble after all, and it is best to be able to gently uncover it now.

After closing the door, Noah Scott ran to open the window again, then looked at the two elders who had sat down again, and said in a mocking tone: "Didn't he think that he would be more likely to be targeted? Being targeted by a billionaire who once broke five legs."

Nelson Scott listened to his son's words, turned his head and scolded: "Noah, this matter has nothing to do with us, you'd better not get involved."

Noah Scott said with a little resentment in his tone, "I don't think it's possible to get involved. You just heard that Simon Westeros has broken up with me."

"Okay, although it's a pity to lose this client, there's nothing I can do about it," James Robinson said at this time: "Noah, next you can fill the vacancy of Will Green, don't let me down."

Will Green was the senior vice president who was in charge of the Quantum Fund but made a big mistake.

The previous dispute between Lehman Brothers and Quantum Fund was destined to be settled out of court. However, although he had made some preparations in advance, Rudy Giuliani still found out that American Express followed up with Westeros in September. That deal, and in doing so, required Noah Scott to involve Simon Westeros.

I didn't expect to be seen through at a glance.

James Robinson and Scott and his son were actually relieved. If Simon Westeros really agreed, even if Giuliani’s main target was Westeros, the reputation of Lehman Brothers would definitely be damaged. affected.

just now.

The last trick failed. Giuliani exposed the September transaction of American Express, and acquiesced in the settlement between Lehman Brothers and Quantum Fund.Whether Simon Westeros and Rudy Giuliani will confront each other next is not something they need to care about.

Chapter 128 Celebration

Through James Raybould's contacts, Simon quickly learned that Lehman Brothers was about to settle with the Quantum Fund.

In Westeros' stock index futures operation for more than five months, the only "flaw" was the sharp drop of the S&P 10 on October 22.

Lehman Brothers accidentally leaked the news that it was about to sell a large amount of contracts of Quantum Fund, which caused the newly stabilized S&P 500 index to crash again, and Westeros just happened to liquidate the last batch of short contracts in the next few hours. This coincidence is indeed full of traces of human manipulation.

just now.

The media exerted pressure, conducted secret investigations, used eavesdropping methods, increased psychological pressure through questioning, and finally forced Lehman Brothers to cooperate with phishing law enforcement. After repeated tossing for more than half a month, as the news of the settlement between Lehman Brothers and Quantum Fund came out , everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as Lehman Brothers and Quantum Fund reach a settlement, it is impossible for institutions such as the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York to drag Westeros into the water through the investigation of this case.As for the others, if the authorities are still relentless, Simon doesn't mind spending tens of millions of dollars in a vigorous lawsuit.

In order to avoid complications, all parties obviously do not want to delay this matter for too long.

then.

On November 11, Lehman Brothers and Quantum Fund quickly signed a settlement agreement.

Exactly the same day.

Madonna officially released her latest remix album "you can dance".

Unlike studio and live albums, a mixtape is usually a re-arranged version of songs from an artist's previous albums.Of course, if you want the album to sell well, it is impossible for all of them to be old songs.Madonna originally planned a new song called "Spotlight" for the album.However, after Simon came up with another song, Queen McQueen decisively cut off the very mediocre "Spotlight" and replaced it with a song provided by Simon.

The news that Simon would be composing songs for Madonna's new album had spread a few months ago. During this period, due to the news that Simon suddenly became a billionaire, the promotion of Madonna's new album was almost completely in the face of this explosive news. How many waves are created.

Confirming that Lehman Brothers is about to settle with Quantum Fund, Simon's public relations team also began to cool down the heated media discussion that lasted for more than half a month.

immediately.

When Madonna's new album was released, many people's eyes were instantly attracted, because the song Simon put out was called "Celebration".

Celebration: Celebration.

Some guy made more than one billion dollars in just over five months, and now dodged federal agencies, and celebrating with a song called "Celebration" was so fitting.

Most importantly, both ordinary fans and the North American media quickly recognized a point of view that "Celebration" completely blew up all the other songs on Madonna's remix album.

Speaking of which, "Celebration" is actually a pop dance song with a nostalgic style released in 2009 by the original Spacetime McQueen.Simon isn't a big fan of Madonna's music, but "Celebration" is one of the few Madonna songs he really likes.

Although it is a song from 2009, this pop dance song with a strong sense of percussion completely fits the album style of "you can dance" in terms of style, rhythm and song content.Moreover, the song quality of "Celebration" is far superior to Madonna's early best-selling singles such as "holiday".

Relying on the strong popularity brought by "Celebration", in the following week, "you can dance" directly entered the No.51 best-selling album on the North American Billboard with a first-week album sales of 1 copies, and "Celebration" also became the Billboard without any suspense. Hot Singles Champion.

As a remix album of refractory food, the industry originally estimated that this album would be very successful if it could sell around 500 million copies worldwide.But now, according to the sales data of the first week of this album, the sales volume of "You Can Dance" in North America alone may reach 500 million copies, and the total global sales volume is almost destined to exceed the [-] million mark.

As soon as the sales figures for the first week came out, Madonna eagerly called Simon and invited him to a party at her home on Manhattan's Upper West Side to celebrate the big sale of her new album.However, after spending Thanksgiving in New York, Simon returned to Los Angeles with the crew of "When Harry Met Sally" which was successfully completed recently, so he could only refuse Queen McQueen's invitation.

Amidst the myriad of thoughts, the time is already the last month of 1987 before I know it.

Simon returned to Los Angeles and devoted most of his energy to post-production of Pulp Fiction.

but.

Although it escaped the investigation of federal agencies, the series of chain reactions caused by the huge wealth of more than one billion dollars did not end there.Simon's biggest feeling during this time is that he has really become a 'fat sheep'.

Since the news came out in early November, Simon has been receiving many donation invitations from charities, non-profit organizations, and university funds.

Immediately afterwards, what made Simon feel helpless the most was that in just one month, many men and women who claimed to be his parents jumped out across North America to recognize their relatives, and most of them looked serious.

The federal media also seems to be very enthusiastic about helping Simon find his relatives, adding fuel to the situation and making the situation even more lively.

As for Los Angeles.

After the stock market crash broke out, the prosperity of Hollywood in the past few years due to the economic boom came to an abrupt end. Many second- and third-tier film companies that had already fallen into business difficulties due to their aggressive expansion will be completely unsustainable in the next few years.Even the seven major film companies will start to change hands in the next few years.

then.

Simon, who suddenly has a net worth of more than one billion US dollars, is a super fat sheep in the eyes of most people in Hollywood.

From the first day Simon returned to Los Angeles, those who handed in the script, those who sought investment, and even those who wanted to sell the film company to him, all kinds of things, Daenerys Pictures' headquarters in Santa Monica was completely It's crowded, and Simon himself receives a lot of party invitations every day.

of course.

Although it is a bit annoying, the current state is not without benefits.

When Simon was searching for copyrights, he only got the expected rights to adapt the two novels "Forrest Gump" and "Dances with Wolves", mainly because his strength in Hollywood is too weak, although he has "Run Lola Run" And the success of "The Butterfly Effect", but most novel authors and screenwriters will not easily hand over the copyright to Daenerys Pictures.

just now.

Simon suddenly had a net worth of more than one billion dollars, and the situation was completely different immediately.

In this era when the average production cost of a movie is only more than 1000 million U.S. dollars, Simon's net worth of more than one billion U.S. dollars is completely enough to make any movie that can interest him.

Chapter 129 Spokesperson

Daenerys Films headquarters.

Jennifer Raybould knocked lightly on the door of the editing room, and opened the door after getting a response, and said to Simon who was busy in front of the editing stage: "Boss, it's already four o'clock."

Simon just nodded slightly, his eyes were still on the monitor screen of the editing table, his hands kept moving, and he said, "Wait a minute, it will be ready soon."

Jennifer didn't say anything else, walked in with light steps, closed the editing room door from behind, and watched Simon's work quietly amidst the slight clicking sound of the equipment. Pulp Fiction had a big budget, and Simon didn't have to do everything himself.The previous rough cuts of the film were done by professional editors, but during the fine cut stage, Simon decided to do it himself.

Back in Los Angeles, Simon spends most of these days in the company's editing room.

After a while, Simon archived the images and began to organize the tape notes and other items on the editing table.Jennifer also stepped forward and skillfully helped Simon put everything into the safe in the corner of the editing room.

After spending a short quiet time with him in this way, after leaving the editing room, Jennifer talked about today's work: "I have collected information on some mainstream record companies and second- and third-tier labels in North America, which have been placed on your office desk. Yes; Mr. Steve Jobs’ secretary gave a response in the morning, and the other party said that Jobs had no intention of selling Pixar; Mr. Ed McCracken, CEO of Silicon Graphics, invited you to visit the headquarters of Silicon Graphics in San Francisco recently; Bill Mr. Gates' assistant called, and Gates is coming to Los Angeles next Monday, hoping to have lunch with you; and, um, an invitation to speak at Stanford University."

Simon took Jennifer through the corridor, took a look at the invitation letter from Stanford University from her hand, and handed it back, saying: "If you have this kind of invitation again, just reject it, I will give them a speech. Energy: Look, that guy is our age, God's not fair."

Jennifer smiled lightly, put the invitation letter into the folder, held it on her chest, looked up, and asked, "Where are the invitations from Mr. McCracken and Mr. Gates?"

"I will definitely go to San Francisco once, but I don't have time recently, so I need to push it back. As for Gates, you can book a restaurant. We are the hosts, so we must be more enthusiastic. In addition, I suddenly thought of something today. Now that all those stocks have been exposed, I already have the right to request a board seat from these companies according to the shareholding ratio of Westeros. You can ask your father if he is interested in serving as a director of these companies for me. I don’t have that much time myself. So, my thinking is, George is in charge of the west coast of these companies, and your dad is in charge of the east coast.”

Westeros' 26% shareholding in 4.9 technology companies can basically make Simon squeeze into the ranks of major shareholders of these companies.

If these holdings are not exposed, Simon also intends to be a silent individual shareholder, hiding in the dark and watching the development of these companies.Now that those holdings are well known, Simon has decided to claim his rights as a shareholder.

Theoretically, the board of directors is usually the most direct institution for the shareholders of a listed company to exercise their power, and the management of the company is also appointed by the board of directors in most cases.As long as Simon gets a seat on the board of directors of the corresponding company, it is enough to exert his own influence on the future development of these companies.

Jennifer followed Simon, writing down restaurant reservations in her memo as she walked.Hearing Simon's last words, her expression was a little surprised and a little inexplicably shy.Just as they were about to say something, the two had arrived in a meeting room of the company. Jennifer had to temporarily give up the idea of ​​asking questions, and sat down at the meeting table with Simon.

It is difficult to calm down in my heart.

The most direct manifestation of the power of the American consortium is the control of hundreds of board seats of a large number of corporate giants around the world.

Naturally, Simon's current wealth cannot be compared with any of the top ten consortiums in the United States, but if he can win the board seats of all 26 companies, this is definitely a strength that cannot be underestimated.

If Simon really asks his father and uncle to serve as directors of these companies, with Simon Westeros' status as the spokesman for the huge wealth and the influence represented by the seats on the board of directors of these companies, the Raybould family and the Norman family will be able to get rid of it immediately. The originally well-known family of lawyers stepped into the most influential class in the country in one step.

After all, a wealth of billions of dollars is definitely not just a string of simple numbers on the surface.

Simon and Jennifer sat down at the conference table. There were actually only four people in the room. The other two were Amy and her assistant named Vanessa Lind. When Amy was just poached, Dani Liz Films also once had to pay Vanessa's salary out of her own pocket due to lack of funds.

Naturally, this embarrassment will no longer occur now.

However, the meeting room with only four people still shows the essence of Daenerys Pictures is still a small workshop.Under normal circumstances, including Simon and others, there are actually only fifteen permanent employees in the two-story office building of Daenerys Films who are responsible for all tasks such as finance, sending and receiving, and logistics.As for the production of the film, Simon, the boss, and Amy Pascal did it all by themselves.

Today is January 12th, Wednesday.

Daenerys Pictures' three film projects in 1987, the release of "Death Comes" is drawing to a close.

From the start of painting on October 10 to the present, in seven and a half weeks, the cumulative box office of "Death Comes" has reached 23 million US dollars.As news of Simon's sudden billionaire status in November inevitably served to boost the film's box office, "Reaper" handily topped $6753 million estimates.

目前，《死神来了》以6743万美元的票房暂时位列北美票房年度排行榜第7名，紧随暑期档肖恩·康纳利主演的《铁面无私》之后。影片此前12月11日到12月13日周末三天依旧收获106万美元票房，接下来几周，这部电影在下档前的总票房足以轻松突破7000万美元大关。

Simon pays attention to the films of the two major schedules at the end of the year.

根据记忆中的信息，感恩档和圣诞档还有11月25日已上映的《三个奶爸一个娃》以及接下来12月18日的《月色撩人》、12月25日的《早安越南》有望挤入年度榜单前十，其他都不足以对《死神来了》造成威胁。

As a result, "Death is Coming" unexpectedly entered the top 15 from the expected top 10 in the North American box office rankings. If there are no other dark horses in the box office, this movie will just happen to be ranked in the North American annual box office ranking. Ranked 10th.

Including "Run Lola Run", which firmly holds the No. 1 throne, and "Butterfly Effect", which temporarily ranks No. 4, the three films related to Simon in 1987 all squeezed into the top of the North American box office list. 10.

Even if Simon shocked the world by making more than one billion dollars in financial markets, in recent weeks, as "Death Comes" has continuously surpassed films such as "Witches of East Town", "Lethal Weapon" and "Prosperous Road" Strongly won the seventh place in the annual list, Simon's three films a year all squeezed into the top ten of the annual box office list still attracted the attention of the whole Hollywood.

Therefore, although "Pulp Fiction" and "When Harry Met Sally" are still in the post-production stage, with the blessing of more than one billion US dollars of personal wealth and three consecutive top ten films in the annual box office list, the capital market Finally, the door was completely opened to Simon.

In fact, Simon also very much agrees with the principle of not investing your own money in movies.

In this world, no matter in any industry, using other people's money to make one's own profit is absolutely king.It's just that, even before the revelation of the wealth in November, Simon hadn't reached the point where he let others pay for himself.

just now.

Daenerys Films has finally obtained the qualifications to obtain loans from banks just through brand guarantees, just like the top second-tier film companies such as the Big Seven and Orion Films.

Obviously, Daenerys Films' brand guarantee is Simon himself.

conference room.

Amy Pascal waited for Simon and Jennifer to sit down, then handed over a folder and said: "Simon, it has been negotiated, this is the draft contract. Wells Fargo is willing to provide Daenerys Films with 1 million USD loan with a term of 5 years and an annual interest rate of 6.5%.”

Simon took the document and opened it, couldn't help but said: "6.5%, it's still a bit high."

"If it was before the stock market crash, we might be able to get 5%," Amy looked at Simon and explained: "Banks are generally tightening their loans now. 6.5% is the result of my long-term discussion with Wells Fargo. You know Yes, Paul Olsen initially offered an annual interest rate of 8%. In addition, the $1000 million loan for "Basic Instinct" is not included in this amount, and it is still mortgaged through the sharing contract of "Death Comes". The interest rate is 5%, and the term is 3 years."

Paul Olson is the senior vice president of Wells Fargo Bank who contacted here when Simon obtained the 2000 million dollar loan last time. He has the connection with the last loan. This cooperation can be said to be the result of the two parties' mutual contact. .

Simon nodded with a smile, and continued to look at the draft contract in his hand.

It was less than an hour before getting off work, and Amy didn't wait for Simon to finish watching it all, so she continued: "Simon, I have already talked to Wes Craven, and he is happy to continue working with us on the next movie. But , he also hopes to see the script first."

"Death Comes" squeezed into the top ten box office in North America. Although everyone knows that this is largely due to Simon's personal script and popularity, as a director, it is like Brian De Palma who has returned to the peak of his career. Similarly, Wes Craven was also promoted to the first-line director smoothly.

"I already have a good idea, probably a school thriller, and I will find time to write a story outline in the past two days. However, I don't have so much time to perfect the script now, and you and Wes will discuss it at that time. , Hire other screenwriters to write."

Hearing what Simon said, Amy subconsciously said, "What about the signature?"

Simon smiled and said, "Three movies this year are enough, Amy, do you think there are seven or eight movies written by Simon Westero in Hollywood a year, how much interest can the audience maintain?"

However, Amy caught another layer of meaning in Simon's words, propping her arm on the conference table and gently raising her hand: "Simon, what do you mean, we will make seven or eight films next year?"

"Of course, not only movies, but also TV shows," Simon flicked on the draft contract in front of him, and said, "Otherwise, we wouldn't need so much money. So, next, you can continue to hire people, we Next year, we will not only set foot in the field of TV programs, but also try to independently distribute films."

Although it had been expected, Amy couldn't help but feel that Simon was a little too eager.However, thinking about the series of miracles created by the young man in front of him this year, Amy nodded quickly.

Chapter 130 The Record Company