I’m in Hollywood

Chapter 293: Eisner's Decisiveness

 

 

After a while, Eric picked up his hand-held phone and returned to the conference room.
Robert Shay also put down his coffee cup and looked at Eric curiously.

“It's Michael Eisner,” Eric explained with a hint of cheer in his tone.

“He wants to invite you to talk?” Robert raised an eyebrow, he knew that Michael Isner was behind the recent trouble.

Eric nodded and sat back down in his chair.
“Yes.”

“Did you agree?” Robert asked curiously.

“I'll go listen to what he has to say.
It doesn't hurt.
I don't have anything planned for tonight,” Eric said, placing his hand-held phone on the table.
“Robert, since you don't want to take on 'Instinct', then we need to find a script soon.
It's already March, if we don't finalize the project soon, it will be hard to make the summer release.”

After a while, Eric picked up his hand-held phone and returned to the conference room.
Robert Shay also put down his coffee cup and looked at Eric curiously.

“It's Michael Eisner,” Eric explained with a hint of cheer in his tone.

“He wants to invite you to talk?” Robert raised an eyebrow, he knew that Michael Eisner was behind the recent trouble.

Eric nodded and sat back down in his chair.
“Yes.”

“Did you agree?” Robert asked curiously.

“I'll go listen to what he has to say.
It doesn't hurt.
I don't have anything planned for tonight,” Eric said, placing his hand-held phone on the table.
“Robert, since you don't want to take on 'Basic Instinct', then we need to find a script soon.
It's already March, if we don't finalize the project soon, it will be hard to make the summer release.”

Robert felt a sense of relief that Eric was no longer pushing the script for “Basic Instinct” on him, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment.
After all, it was a script that Eric had personally written.

However, he quickly adjusted his emotions and said, “I understand.
I've collected six more scripts these past few days, I'll have my assistant give them to you, and you can help me take a look.”

Eric shook his head.
“No need.
I think it's better for you to personally choose.
I can't guarantee that the movie will be successful.
Just pick a script and bring it to me for signing.”

Robert hesitated for a moment and then understood that Eric was preparing to completely let go.
From now on, the success or failure of the film would have nothing to do with Eric, and he himself would have to bear full responsibility.
But Robert was not a completely irresponsible person.
After a moment of hesitation, he nodded, “Okay, I'll choose the script as soon as possible.”

….
….

After work, Eric drove back to Malibu, but his destination was not his own mansion.
Instead, it was a luxurious house belonging to Michael Eisner.

“Eric, I'm glad you could come.
Please come in,” The butler led Eric just as he walked into the door, Michael Eisner greeted him with a big smile.

“Hello, Mr.
Eisner,” Eric gave a polite smile and shook hands with Michael Eisner.

Michael Eisner paid no attention to Eric's coldness.
He still said with a smile on his face, “Eric, I specially invited a famous French chef to prepare tonight's dinner.
Let's go inside.”

Eric nodded and followed Michael Eisner to the dining room.
During the entire dinner, except for the occasional appearance of butlers, there were only two people in the dining room, Michael Eisner and Eric.
Michael Eisner skillfully introduced the delicacies of each French dish to Eric.
After the meal, he even specially invited the French chef with a certain high chef hat to take a photo with them.

While admiring Michael Eisner's patience in his heart, Eric also enjoyed the dinner without making a sound.
After all, the initiative was in his hands now.

After dinner, Michael Eisner took Eric to his study.
After the butler finished serving coffee and left, Michael Eisner said, “Eric, now that things have passed, I think we should talk about cooperation.”

Eric's mouth finally hung a hint of a mocking smile, “Cooperation?”

Michael Eisner still smiled and said, “Yes, cooperation.
Eric, there are no eternal enemies in this world, only eternal interests.
Although this is the diplomatic strategy of the United Kingdom, I think it's also applicable to companies.”

“There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.” Eric shook his head and laughed a few times, then continued, “Mr.
Eisner, if you have a choice to cooperate with your friends or neutral parties, would you still cooperate with your enemies?”

“Of course not,” Michael Eisner said, “However, Eric, do you think there are friends in Hollywood? Although you cooperated with Fox very happily, believe me, as long as there is an opportunity, Murdoch will definitely stab a knife in the back of Firefly.
“

“I know that too, so I will try not to give Mr.
Murdoch this opportunity.
At the same time, for enemies who have already stabbed me in the back, I will be even less likely to give them a chance,” Eric said casually while sipping his coffee.

Michael Eisner heard Eric say this and still kept a smile on his face.
“Eric, I'm sure you know some things too and I don't deny it.
So, I think we should reconcile.”

“Reconcile?” Eric raised his head and asked.
“How can we reconcile?”

Michael Eisner said confidently, “What do you think about the script for 'Ghost'?”

Eric shook his head without hesitation.
“Mr.
Eisner, I don't need a script and I'm not interested in collaborating with Disney.
Without 'Ghost', I'll choose something else.
And I can guarantee that Disney won't be able to produce the version of the film that I have in mind.
Maybe you'll make a small profit, but it's impossible for it to be a classic and even more impossible for it to be a big hit.”

“No, no, no, Eric, I don't think you understood me fully.
I mean, Disney will transfer the script of 'Ghost' to you, and then we reconcile, how about that?”

Eric finally raised his head in surprise and saw Michael Eisner's confident gaze.
He then thought of another question: “Mr.
Eisner, I think Disney must have spent a lot of money to buy the script of 'Ghost', maybe even promised Bruce Joel Rubin a portion of the profit, right?”

“Yes,” Michael Eisner nodded, “One million dollars in cash and 3% of North American profits.”

Eric calculated, if it followed the performance of the previous life, then that money would add up to more than three million dollars, maybe for future profits it's not much, but for Disney, who doesn't know the outcome, the price is quite unreasonable.

Seeing that Eric was silent, Michael Eisner said, “Eric, Disney is very sincere, so as long as we reconcile, I'll transfer the script to Firefly for free.”

“Then what about your contract? “Eric asked unconsciously, “I think Bruce Joel Rubin won't be willing.”

“That's actually easy to solve.
Disney will transfer the script to Firefly and after the movie is produced, Disney will handle distribution.
That way, Bruce Joel Rubin's share can be allocated from Disney's portion of the profits.
How does that sound?”

“Firefly and Disney will jointly distribute, and the movie rights belong to Firefly,” Eric quickly thought and said, since Michael Eisner could make such a bold choice, he himself should not be petty.

On the other hand, if the movie is completely handed over to Disney for distribution, although it would maximize profits, it would mean that Firefly's own channels would not be expanded.
And if this situation continues, Firefly will definitely become like the Dream Factory in the past, able to produce good movies but without enough strength to distribute them, struggling to survive among the major movie companies.

Furthermore, these years are the best and last opportunity to expand Firefly's distribution channels because the cost of movie production in the early 1990s is not too high.
Therefore, Eric decided that even if he earns less in these years, he will expand Firefly's distribution channels.
Otherwise, in the late 1990s, when special effects blockbusters rise, the production cost that easily reaches hundreds of millions of dollars, if there is no own distribution channel, the situation will be very tragic.
Most of the profits will be stripped away by the major movie companies that control the distribution channels, and at the end, the production company will even find that they can't even recover the production cost.

Hearing Eric's tone loosen, Michael Eisner nodded without hesitation: “No problem.”

With Michael Eisner's words, the atmosphere between the two suddenly became a bit silent.
Michael Eisner's own goal was achieved and Eric, who originally wanted to make Michael Eisner difficult, also gave up.

Finishing the coffee in front of him, Eric stood up and said, “So, Mr.
Eisner, there's nothing else, I'll go back now.”

“I'll see you off,” Michael Eisner stood up as well.

As Michael Eisner walked Eric out of his mansion, he finally let out a sigh and returned to his study in silence.
He picked up a few unassuming folders that were sitting in the corner of his desk.
Inside, were several movie project proposals for “Ghost” made by Disney directors.

Michael Eisner was one of the few studio heads who knew Eric best and had the most insight into his personal potential.
That's why he had tried to join forces with other studios to suppress Eric's company, Firefly, earlier in the year.
Unfortunately, the plan had failed due to some oversights.
But when he heard the news that Rupert Murdoch had reached out to Eric, Michael Eisner quickly made the decision to reconcile with him.
After all, as he had said before, there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.

Eisner had not originally planned to use “Ghost” as a bargaining chip for reconciliation, but after having several well-known directors at Disney study the script, none of the project proposals they had come up with were satisfactory to Eisner.