Top of the Great Era

Chapter 1559 Who is fooling who?

The financing of Chaowan Commune was quite troublesome, but Zhou was not in a hurry. After making a few phone calls overnight, Softbank and Temasek expressed their willingness to follow up.

With a leader, there is a bidding relationship, which is relatively safe.Next, just ask them to send a team to do due diligence.

In addition, Zhou Buqi has another matter to solve.

The current business of Ziweixing Global has basically stabilized. At least the market-oriented behaviors of project establishment, financing, launch, distribution, and screening of film and television works have not been affected by corporate mergers and acquisitions.

There are probably three things that really require Zhou Buqi to personally participate.

First, the acquisition of Lucasfilm has made no progress;
Second, dig Hulu's entrepreneurial team, the current situation is very good. Unsurprisingly, Hulu's management had a fierce conflict of ideas with the new boss Comcast.

There is no need for Ziwei Star Global to poach people, and they will resign collectively on their own initiative in a short time.

It's better to resign, if you poach people, Ziwei Star Global will have to pay more human resource costs.They leave Hulu by themselves, which means that they don't need to pay "transfer fees" and are exempt from visas.

The third thing is the prospect of streaming media in the future.

Streaming, though, is farther away.

You can lay the groundwork first.

It is necessary to create an exclusive super masterpiece that shocks the world and can only be watched on its own streaming media platform!
What Zhou Buqi focused on was the TV series copyright of the two novels "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" held by MGM.The complete copyright of the TV series is in the hands of MGM, and it only needs to pay 7.5% of the profit dividend to the Tolkien Foundation.

Warner wants to shoot the "Hobbit" series of movies, Zhou Buqi put forward a series of harsh conditions, and the other party's enthusiasm is not so strong.

Moreover, because of the uneven distribution of profits from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Warner has had conflicts with producer Harvey Weinstein, director Peter Jackson, and the Tolkien Foundation for several years. lawsuit.

After several evaluations, Warners decisively abandoned the "Hobbit" movie plan.

However, Warner is only a subsidiary of Time Warner, which owns HBO, the most popular professional paid cable TV station in the United States.

Here is a paradise for watching blockbuster TV dramas.

Warner withdrew from the "Hobbit" project, and his brother-in-law HBO heard the news, but took the initiative to find him.

It is not a routine way to shoot TV dramas and make big productions. In the United States, that is, HBO plays the best.Ziweixing Global has the ambition to present the entire series of "The Lord of the Rings" in the form of TV series. If it doesn't cooperate with HBO, who else can it go to?

HBO is headquartered in New York.

On this day, Senior Sister Zhen Yu and Brett Herrington, the president of Ziwei Star's global TV department, came to New York, and together with Zhou Buqi, they visited the headquarters of HBO.

The other party warmly invited.

This is Zhou Buqi's first visit to HBO, so the first thing is to visit and experience the work culture and historical heritage of this well-known TV station.

This is really different from the domestic tradition.

Not surprising though.

Domestic enterprises basically started slowly after the reform and opening up, and there is no history to show.Companies in the United States are different. Large companies generally have a long history, ranging from decades to hundreds of years.They seem to be very proud of their "long" history.

Zhou Buqi always finds it very ridiculous. Out of respect, he is really embarrassed to talk about history with these Americans, and he is suspected of humiliating them.

However, he personally came to visit HBO this time, and he has other purposes, so it is not a bad idea to visit.

Although this is New York, the company culture is similar to Hollywood, and the walls are covered with posters, all of which are classic TV series produced by HBO, such as "Band of Brothers", "The Prison", "The Wire", "Entourage"...

Then, I finally saw the passionate and magnificent "Rome" poster.

"I love this TV show!"

Zhou Buqi stopped in front of the poster of "Roma" and turned his head to look at HBO President Richard Breller.

Richard said proudly: "Yes, this is a great work, and it is also the most expensive TV series that HBO has ever invested in."

"The biggest cost?" Zhou Buqi was curious, "Is it higher than the investment in "Band of Brothers"?"

Richard explained: "The cost of a single season is still higher in "Band of Brothers". But "Band of Brothers" is a cooperation between HBO and DreamWorks, and the copyright belongs to DreamWorks. HBO is only the TV broadcaster in North America. "Roma" is different. It's a big production that HBO has invested in."

Zhou Buqi nodded, and said with admiration: "I like this kind of medieval historical theme very much. War, death, pride, blood, conspiracy, tricks, this is a great epic work."

Richard was very proud, and said with a smile: "Yes, this TV series has received countless praises for HBO."

Zhou Buqi asked: "Why only two seasons were filmed? I thought I could film ten seasons and eight seasons, but I didn't expect it to end in a hurry. This story is not finished at all."

"This one……"

Richard immediately felt embarrassed.

Zhou Buqi pretended not to know, "Is there any problem?"

"It's a matter of budget," Richard sighed, "Mr. Zhou, you can definitely see that the scenes of "Rome" are too big and the production cost is too high. The production cost of the second season has reached 1.2 million U.S. dollars. According to the requirements of the production team, if the third season starts shooting, the production cost will reach 1.5 million U.S. dollars."

Zhou Buqi said like a stunned youth: "I think, for a great work, even if it costs a little more money, it's still worth it!"

Richard almost died of anger.

I said in my heart that you don't have back pain when you stand and talk, great works have a fart, HBO is a commercial company, and making money is the first.If he doesn't make money, he, the president, will be fired!

You are the boss, you are not afraid.

I'm a manager, and making money for shareholders is the number one priority.

However, this cannot be said, Richard explained very euphemistically, "We encountered a lot of difficulties in filming a large-scale production of the level of "Roma". When filming the second season, we made many mistakes. The actors There was also a huge mistake in the selection. All the reasons added up, and the project was abandoned.”

Zhou Buqi sighed, "It's a pity, I am very interested in this kind of TV series that is biased towards history, with tricky plots and magnificent scenes."

Richard followed immediately, "Yes! Yes!"

"Ok?"

"HBO has launched a new project. The historical background is similar to that of "Rome". They are all medieval, with a little fantasy color. It is an adaptation of the Peacock Dynasty."

"Fantasy is good, I like fantasy more! Otherwise, I can't think of making the "Lord of the Rings" series into a TV series, because in my opinion, the length of the movie is too small to carry the rich details of such a large volume. It also contains a profound philosophical legend."

Zhou said solemnly.

Richard said: "It is a contemporary fantasy novel "A Song of Ice and Fire."

Zhou Buqi smiled, "Oh, I seem to have heard of this novel. Many friends recommended it to me, but I haven't read it yet. How is it? Is the filming finished? If it is finished, I am willing to be the first audience !"

"This..." Richard looked embarrassed, "Mr. Zhou, to be honest, there has been a big change in this project."

Zhou Buqi frowned, "What's going on?"

Richard said: "We have to raise the funds for HBO ourselves. When the project was first established, our production budget was 1 million US dollars. But then... you know, the economic crisis broke out, and our cash flow experienced a huge increase. Difficulty. Now, we can only cut the budget to 6000 million US dollars. The production team is very disappointed. I am afraid that all the big scenes that have been designed will be cancelled, and even the special effects shots must be used with restraint."

Zhou Buqi said in a deep voice: "If it's a good work or a good project, even if you take more risks, you still have to present the idea of ​​the production team as perfectly as possible. A great work can last forever, it's not a profit Or losses can be measured, and this is a record for an era."

……

In front, the two are talking.

There were many people following behind, including Senior Sister Zhen Yu and Brett Herrington.

Bright was the former vice president of Universal Pictures, in charge of TV series, classic films and focus features.After the establishment of Ziwei Star Global, he was promoted in position and became the vice president of Ziwei Star Global and also served as the president of the TV department.

However, he only met Boss Zhou three times in total, and there was no communication.

Let alone understanding.

At this moment, listening to such a conversation between Boss Zhou and Richard, the president of HBO, he collapsed.

God!

Boss Zhou is an idealist!
What kind of good work should be famous forever, not to make money or to leave a name... Please, there is no such thing as playing!Only making money is the most beneficial to the entire industry and a single company.

Feelings can't be eaten!
In Bright's view, this young Boss Zhou, just like a college student who has not left school, has a pseudo-literary temperament that rejects capital.

This can't be done!
That kid Richard is a bastard, he is the best at fooling people, don't be fooled by him!
Brett said "Excuseme" to the HBO person next to him, and then called Zhen Yu to the side to talk alone, "Jenny, hurry up and remind me!"

Zhen Yu was puzzled, "What's wrong?"

Bright said: "This is not the right sign, it seems to be a trap."

"You see it?"

Zhen Yu was shocked and opened her eyes wide.

This can't be done!
Bright is an American. If he could see it, wouldn't the people at HBO see it?If they can see this, the effect of Boss Zhou's deception will be greatly reduced!

Bright said nervously: "Richard has a lot of experience in the workplace. He is the co-president of HBO. He is mainly responsible for the financing business. He is very experienced in making money. I'm afraid he will take advantage of Boss Zhou's... feelings." and idealism to stimulate his investment. Go and remind the boss, don't be fooled!"

"You mean them..."

Zhen Yu breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't laugh or cry.

Who is fooling who?
(End of this chapter)