In Los Angeles, inside the mansion halfway up the hills in Pacific Palisades, Simon had just gotten out of the car when Amy Pascal ca over to greet him.
The two of them went together to a sitting room on the second floor of the villa. Seeing them enter, both people on the sofa in the sitting room stood up. In addition to Simon's female assistant Jennifer Rebould, the other person was sowhat unexpected: g Ryan.
With just a slight nod in greeting, Simon sat down in the single armchair beside him and looked at g Ryan. His tone was calm as he said, "Tell the details. What exactly is going on?"
g Ryan carefully observed the young man on the opposite sofa. The first ti they t, he had not given off an approachable vibe at all. After more than a year of ups and downs under this young man's shadow, seeing him again now, she felt an even stronger sense of distant aloofness from him.
Noticing his gaze sweeping over her once more, g Ryan quickly gathered herself and began recounting recent events.
Having shot to A-list status with When Harry t Sally, only to suddenly find herself without a single film role for a full year after being inexplicably dragged into last year's incident, g Ryan had nearly broken down at one point. She had also harbored extre resentnt toward a certain young man whose power in Hollywood was growing ever stronger.
So when Michael Ovitz approached her, hoping she would publicly file a lawsuit against Daenerys Entertainnt, g Ryan had agreed imdiately.
After all, she had been left with no other options.
However, as the matter drew closer, g Ryan had grown increasingly uneasy.
Because she gradually realized that Michael Ovitz simply wanted to use this lawsuit to block Daenerys Entertainnt's acquisition of MCA.
Moreover, the more she thought about it, the more she felt she was nothing but a pawn in the whole affair.
Michael Ovitz had promised to help her demand huge compensation from Daenerys Entertainnt and to revive her career afterward. In g Ryan's view, neither of those things seed very likely to happen.
g Ryan had secretly consulted her lawyer more than once, and the response had always been that the grounds and evidence Ovitz had found for the lawsuit were insufficient. The best outco would be Daenerys Entertainnt, under public pressure, seeking a private settlent to resolve the matter quickly and paying so compensation.
Yet this lawsuit could very well derail a multi-billion-dollar deal.
That detestable young man had already blacklisted her simply because she terminated her contract early after becoming famous. If she caused a multi-billion-dollar acquisition to fall through because of her involvent, she had no idea what would happen to her. [TL/N: Car accident]
As for CAA, the talent agency that had failed to protect her last year, g Ryan did not believe Michael Ovitz would truly go all out to help her afterward, facing the pressure of an entire Daenerys Entertainnt and a super-rich man worth 21 billion dollars.
Or even if Ovitz was willing to do so, with most of Hollywood closely tied to Daenerys Entertainnt, and after she had ruined a multi-billion-dollar deal for them, causing the conflict to escalate completely, g Ryan did not think any major studio would risk offending Westeros by working with her.
When Michael Ovitz notified her yesterday that he would formally file the lawsuit against Daenerys Entertainnt in the near future, g Ryan, who had still been hesitating, finally made up her mind. She decided to turn around and seek cooperation with Simon Westeros instead.
Although doing so would definitely offend CAA, between Michael Ovitz and Simon Westeros, choosing the one with greater power could not be wrong. If Westeros still refused to lift the blacklist afterward, well, she had nothing left to lose anyway. She could always file the lawsuit later.
Simon listened to g Ryan's account while flipping through a prepared draft complaint. When she finished, he looked up and asked, "Besides the Screen Actors Guild cooperating with your lawsuit this ti, is there anything else?"
g Ryan thought for a mont and said, "There should be more, but when Mike... Ovitz talked to , he only ntioned things related to ."
Simon withdrew his direct gaze from g Ryan, leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes, and pondered.
In normal tis, a lawsuit like this would an nothing to Daenerys Entertainnt. Almost every large company faced all kinds of lawsuits, big and small, year-round.
However, at the critical mont when Daenerys Entertainnt was launching its bid for MCA, the sudden appearance of a lawsuit accusing Daenerys Entertainnt of using its industry dominance to suppress an actor in the circle would very easily trigger dia and public concern and condemnation regarding the company's continued expansion.
In the original tiline, under the influence of the phone-hacking scandal, News Corp had been forced to abandon its long-prepared full acquisition of British Sky Broadcasting. Because the timing of the two events had coincided so perfectly, it was hard to say whether there was any causal connection.
Daenerys Entertainnt was clearly about to face a similar situation.
Of course, the circumstances here were different.
In his mory, if the phone-hacking scandal truly had so connection, it was probably because the entire British establishnt did not want News Corp to expand further. Murdoch's manipulation of British public opinion had left everyone feeling on edge.
Now, Simon knew that many people in Hollywood definitely harbored doubts about Daenerys Entertainnt acquiring MCA, but not many would actually step forward to oppose it. Michael Ovitz's actions were clearly just to ensure his client Panasonic could complete the acquisition smoothly, after which he could collect tens of millions of dollars in M&A advisory fees.
After carefully sorting through everything in his mind, Simon opened his eyes, glanced at the uneasy-looking g Ryan, took out his checkbook from his pocket, rested it on his knee to write for a mont, tore off the check, and placed it on the coffee table in front of him. He said to g Ryan, "Later let Jennifer help you contact WMA, or ICM if you prefer, to sign a new representation contract. If you're willing, Daenerys Entertainnt can also sign a film deal with you. In addition, this is for you. Take this money and go abroad for a few months to relax. Co back after the New Year." [TL/N: FINALLY!]
After hearing Simon finish, g Ryan finally breathed a sigh of relief. She even felt as if her hardships had co to an end and good tis were beginning.
Simon's assistant personally recomnding her to an agency was already enough to show Daenerys Entertainnt's attitude. Signing another film contract with Daenerys Entertainnt would an she was completely unbanned.
Then, glancing at the check on the coffee table, g Ryan wondered if she should stand up to take it.
Simon, however, did not wait for her action. He turned to his female assistant and said, "Jennifer, take Miss Ryan out first. Amy and I still have so things to discuss."
Jennifer nodded, stood up, stepped forward to pick up the check and hand it to g Ryan, who had also risen, and said, "Miss Ryan, co with ."
g Ryan took the check and followed Jennifer out the door, through the hallway. Only when she stepped onto the stairs did she dare to carefully glance at the check in her hand. Then she nearly stumbled.
Five million dollars.
Far beyond what she had expected.
Co to think of it, not only had g Ryan been unable to land any film roles this past year, but her finances had also been stretched thin.
After becoming famous with When Harry t Sally, the second film contract she signed, The Rocketeer, had seen all her pay used to cover the termination fees for exiting Daenerys Entertainnt's option agreent. Several endorsent deals that had been in contact with her had also fallen through because of rumors in the circle that she had been blacklisted.
When the young man had just said he would send her abroad, she had thought he would at most write a check for a few hundred thousand dollars. She had not expected the actual amount to exceed her expectations by ten tis.
Although she felt she was being rather spineless, deep down g Ryan discovered that the resentnt she had accumulated toward the young man for over a year had mysteriously almost completely vanished, leaving only so complicated, indefinable emotions.
At least, he was far better than Michael Ovitz.
Both were Hollywood big shots, yet Michael Ovitz had only given her so empty promises that were hard to fulfill. Westeros, on the other hand, could directly write a five-million-dollar check and completely lift every restriction on her.
After Jennifer took g Ryan away, Amy could not help asking, "Simon, are you still planning to go to Japan right away?"
Simon nodded. "Of course. Now more than ever."
"Then what about things here?"
Simon's expression grew serious. "I may have underestimated the situation a bit, but there is still ti to salvage it."
Amy did not respond, simply waiting for Simon to continue.
Simon organized his thoughts once more and said, "The key to this matter lies in one thing: conflicts of interest. Whichever side our acquisition of MCA affects will be the one that might jump out to stop it. Here in Hollywood, our relationships with several major unions are not great, so it is not surprising that they would step forward. However, resistance from the unions is actually not significant. We have already joined the Producers Alliance and signed proper agreents on all aspects with the major unions. Even if they want to stop us, they can only express so general concerns or provide concrete evidence proving that Daenerys Entertainnt has infringed on union mbers' interests. Now that g Ryan has backed down, I do not think they can find any other evidence. The other resistance may co from our Hollywood peers."
At this point, Simon suddenly paused.
Amy waited a mont, then ventured, "Paramount?"
Simon nodded. "Paramount."
Among the current Big Eight in Hollywood, Daenerys Entertainnt had varying degrees of cooperation with the other six. Moreover, among the six cooperating studios, Fox, Warner Bros., and MGM would definitely not jump out. The chances of Columbia and Disney stepping forward were also low. Universal was the party involved and could not oppose its own acquisition.
That left only Paramount, which Simon had deliberately set aside from the beginning.
The wave of consolidation in the Arican dia industry had already begun with the rger of Ti Inc. and Warner Bros. Over the next few years, as legal restrictions on horizontal expansion in the film and television sectors of the dia industry were further relaxed, this consolidation would accelerate even more.
Although missing out on Universal ant Daenerys Entertainnt was not without other options, it would also be extrely difficult to find another company at the right price that could form such strong complentarity with Daenerys Entertainnt.
Even Disney, which would beco one of Hollywood's dominant forces many years later, would not work.
Although Disney also operated the parks, it currently had little accumulation in records, television, or theater chains. As for its strength in animation, that would overlap with Daenerys Entertainnt. Moreover, Disney's current focus on 2D animated films was destined to be replaced by 3D animated films, so acquiring it would instead bring the trouble of having to prune and restructure.
The even less viable option was Ti Warner, with which Daenerys Entertainnt had close cooperation but which was internally rife with factions and constant infighting.
Simon was not particularly interested in the other studios either.
Having clarified all this, Simon no longer hesitated. To successfully complete the two acquisitions at hand, so minor entanglents had to be abandoned. After all, the two scripts Paramount had stolen from Simon back then had not brought them any benefits either.
Having made up his mind, Simon said to Amy, "Contact Martin Davis at Paramount right away. Ask if he is interested in film contracts for the two movies. In addition, once Daenerys Entertainnt completes the acquisition of MCA, I can guarantee that the USA Network, with MCA and Paramount each holding 50% equity, will maintain its current ownership structure. Unless Paramount actively sells, Daenerys Entertainnt will only seek operating rights for the USA Network. With the foundation we have already built in the television industry, I believe Martin Davis will not remain unmoved."
Amy nodded, inwardly admiring her boss's decisive, no-nonsense style. After thinking for a mont, she added, "I recall you previously wanted to buy the film and television adaptation rights for 'Mission: Impossible' from Paramount. Perhaps we can include that in the two film contracts."
Simon looked puzzled. "Hasn't 'Mission: Impossible' already been greenlit?"
"It should still be in developnt. At any rate, I have not heard any news of filming starting. As long as it has not begun shooting, there will be no problem if we take over the project."
"As long as Paramount is willing to share the project, I can personally participate in the scripting and production."
Amy smiled. "That should make things even smoother."
Simon added, "Besides Paramount, have the company's public relations team closely monitor the movents of various dia outlets recently. The year-end schedule is about to begin, right? For our several films this ti, allocate an additional 20 million dollars in marketing budget. Just do not rush to sign contracts yet. Negotiate slowly with the dia outlets and let them know how substantial this advertising order is."
Amy hesitated slightly. "Twenty million seems a bit much?"
The films Daenerys Entertainnt was personally distributing at year-end were mainly only Dances with Wolves and Ho Alone. The others either had no high box-office expectations or were handled by other studios.
Simon insisted, "It is settled. The money that needs to be spent must be spent. Moreover, this money will not be wasted in the end. It will definitely benefit our film box office. Even if it does not, it will let those dia know that Daenerys Entertainnt is a very generous advertising client. Giving up such a major client for a few reports would be completely not worth it."
"All right. I will discuss it with Bob and the others tomorrow."
"Also, try to find out what other arrangents Ovitz has made."
"I will."
After giving these instructions, Simon considered for another mont and asked Amy, "Do you have anything to add?"
Amy smiled. "You have covered everything for now. I cannot think of anything else at the mont, but as soon as I do, I will act on it imdiately."
Simon nodded. "In that case, I will head to Japan later. Contact anyti if anything cos up on your end."
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