Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1443: Battle for News Headlines

"Ronald."

"Michael."

A day later, the anger of Ronald, Tom Cruise, David Geffen... and others was conveyed through various agents. The whole Hollywood knew about the ban on these stars and producers who had suffered huge losses at the hands of River Phoenix and his group of "friends".

This made several of River's friends who signed with CAA very embarrassed. Not only did they get criticized by the public for killing River Phoenix, but they were also blacklisted by a small number of Hollywood producers, and there will be no good opportunities in the next few years.

Michael Ovitz lowered his status and personally invited Ronald to come over for a chat. After drinking Japanese matcha and appreciating the dry landscape garden, Ovitz asked Ronald if he could let Johnny Depp and several other actors who had agents at CAA go.

"Ronald, I know you. You won't hate these young people because of this, right?" Ovitz knew that Ronald was deliberately using this incident to embarrass him in person and humiliate him. However, being an agent is a flexible job. Although Ovitz hasn't been treated like this for a long time, it is completely okay for him to lower his posture for the future of the young stars he has tried his best to cultivate.

"God damn, you're right, I just hate those little bastards. This isn't personal, Michael. This is about money, money... It's easy for me to let them go. I can apologize for my behavior in the newspaper, promise not to have anything to do with those bastards in the future, and then turn over a new leaf and go to a rehabilitation center for six months..."

Ronald's reason was very true. Everyone lost at least millions of dollars in budget due to this unexpected incident. The worst hit was "Interview with the Vampire" directed by David Geffen, which was due to start shooting in two weeks. The film had to re-cast and revise the script, plus the losses caused by the delayed shooting schedule and the adjustment of the release schedule next year, which cost at least four or five million dollars.

Ovitz had no way to refute this extremely legitimate reason. Ronald was the main candidate for the ban alliance, and it was he who proposed it, but his Keanu Reeves issue had been resolved, and the crew had fully resumed work. David Geffen, who suffered the most, was actually a person who didn't know much about Hollywood, and joined the alliance when he was angry.

In order to solve the problems of these rising stars, Ronald had to give in. But this guy had justice and public opinion in his hands, and Hollywood's biggest sin - paying money, so he was unwilling to let these guys off.

The final result of the discussion was that Ronald and a group of big stars and producers had to follow their approach. Most people had to express their opinions to pass the test. If River's brother Joaquin did not leave the cult of God's Child, he would not be able to act anywhere in Hollywood. If he was not satisfied, he could go back to Venezuela with his stupid mother to make a movie.

……

During this unlucky time, Hollywood and the entertainment industry were plagued by incidents one after another. Just when the heat of the Viper House incident had just died down, Michael Jackson's case had a new big gossip.

The victim, a boy named Jordan Chandler, was interviewed by psychiatrist Richard Gardner in New York. It is said that Jordan Chandler told Richard Gardner what happened between him and Michael Jackson in May.

According to an insider who wishes to remain anonymous, if this recording is true, MJ would be at risk of being convicted of a criminal offense.

Jordan Chandler likely suffered from a condition called Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS), which causes children to behave like mildly depressed children and make them more likely to be noticed by predators and become victims of abuse.

As an agent working in Hollywood, Richard understood the severity of this disease, so he explained to Ronald that Parental Alienation Syndrome was a "disease" invented by Dr. Gardner himself, and that it was most commonly seen not in children's hospitals, but in courts where parents were divorcing and fighting for child custody.

In other words, this disease does not actually exist, or it is a combination of many children's emotional management problems and some mental symptoms, with a fancy name used to deceive jurors in court so that the child can be awarded to the other parent. By the way, it also supports a large group of "experts" who make money by testifying in court that the child must have this disease.

But Los Angeles is the entertainment capital after all, and the plot did not develop in the direction that the public expected. A few days later, LPAD really went to search MJ's old house, hoping to find some old photos and videos of MJ there, whether there was any evidence of him being too close to his children.

Afterwards, the LAPD did not release any results of the search, and it seemed that the anonymous person who had previously "leaked" information to the media did not reveal any results this time. So the public could only guess, and the media invited many "experts" to talk about the consequences of this incident.

A day later, the Viper House news was forgotten. Hot time talk shows, tabloids, local TV and local radio programs were all discussing the news that Michael Jackson might be criminally prosecuted.

In the whole of Los Angeles, except for a few fans of River Phoenix who went to the Viper House to lay flowers and light candles to commemorate him, a rising star was quickly forgotten. This is the biggest characteristic of Los Angeles people, forgetfulness.

While the public was still discussing MJ's fall from the throne due to the scandal, a piece of news that was only noticed by a few Hollywood insiders and Wall Street bankers spread quickly in a small circle.

There is a new bidder for the acquisition of Paramount Pictures.

The owner of the TV shopping channel, former president and second largest shareholder of 20th Century Fox, and an old face in Hollywood, Barry Diller.

Barry Diller's bid was several hundred million dollars more than Viacom's Redstone. Their offer was $8.2 billion, slightly more than Redstone's price, and came with some more favorable conditions, such as giving shareholders more cash instead of company stock.

“Is this TV shopping channel so profitable?”

Ronald was also quite surprised when he saw Barry Diller's offer. He could understand that Redstone's Viacom was a media group with considerable wealth. But when Barry Diller was the head of 20th Century Fox, his wealth was only in the hundreds of millions, not much more than his own.

How come after not seeing him for a few years, his wealth has increased by orders of magnitude in such a short period of time after he took the helm of QVC, a shopping channel that broadcasts 24 hours a day?

"No, it was only after the company went public that Barry Diller's company gained a market value of more than 1 billion. Then, by mortgaging these assets to banks, it obtained financing from many banks and funds and used a lot of leverage to have the strength to acquire Paramount..."

Ed Bastian explained to Ronald how capital works.

"With such a high leverage, if the acquisition fails, won't we have to pay a lot of interest?" Ronald asked again.

"If the acquisition fails, there is actually no problem. But for the one that is successful, the interest may be the least of his worries," Ed Bastian replied.

“Is success more terrible than failure?”

"That's right. When a small company swallows an elephant, the result is that you are burdened with a high debt, and you need the company's continuous cash flow to repay the heavy interest. And now there are two companies competing for it, which is bound to result in higher leverage financing, higher interest, and better acquisition conditions for current shareholders and employees."

Ed Bastian introduced the pros and cons of this kind of acquisition. Unless the acquirer is very good at running the acquired company (much better than the original owner), it will often end up going bankrupt a few years later, or the stock price will plummet and be bought by other Wall Street tycoons at junk prices.

By then, because the purchase price will be very low, there will be no need for any management ability. Just splitting up and selling some of the company's assets will bring considerable profits.

In fact, the biggest fear of such leveraged buyouts is multiple buyers bidding. If everyone can reach an agreement and not bid against each other, the purchase price can be lowered, greatly reducing the interest and operating burden.

But these two are not easy to deal with. Barry Diller is a veteran in Hollywood's big studios. If he were to take over Paramount, it is certain that Wall Street would be more optimistic about such a successful operator at 20th Century Fox.

However, the senior executives in Paramount may not like their boss to know too much. Perhaps the rich family-born Redstone is the nobleman they like. It will be much easier for them to fool such a boss who does not understand the film business.

On the other hand, Wall Street may lower Paramount's valuation when it sees Redstone taking over Hollywood.

"What kind of money can we make from this acquisition?"

"Generally speaking, such an acquisition would increase the share prices of Viacom and QVC, the companies proposing the acquisition, and Paramount's share price would also increase. However, if the two companies continue to bid and no one gives up, the price they offer will exceed Paramount's true value. By then, I'm afraid the market's punishment for the winner will be a sharp drop in the share price."

"Okay, continue to help me watch over it, and notify me immediately if anything happens. We also need to speed up our own financing plan. If this acquisition goes wrong, all the money and attention will be focused on Paramount. Then maybe we can pick up some cheap assets somewhere else."

Ronald still didn't find the opportunity for the first wave of stock rise. As for the second wave of opportunity that Ed mentioned, he would have to see if there is a chance to enter the market and get some fat meat.

……

This week's news headlines are really one after another. The news about Michael Jackson has just cooled down a bit, and Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's first daughter was born. Photos of the couple and their child were hyped up to a very high price.

Jonathan Demme finally managed to weave Bruce Springsteen's theme song into the beginning of the film. Ronald was invited to watch the first internal screening.

"Ronald, what do you think of the final edit?"

"It's really great. I was very excited while watching it. I cried so hard at the last scene... cough cough cough..." Ronald actually went to watch the movie with the identity of a director and producer, but after watching it for more than ten minutes, he was deeply attracted by the plot and became like an ordinary audience member. He watched the movie until the end without going to the bathroom.

"Do you think there's any problem with the editing? Is the length slightly exceeded? Ahem... " asked Jonathan Demme.

This is also a critical moment for directors and producers. Many famous directors and production partners have become enemies and never communicate with each other again because of different opinions on editing at this stage.

This is because producers usually have a limit on the total length of the film, which in turn restricts the director's editing choices. At this time, the director will definitely be dissatisfied with this forced deletion, and there is no standard answer to artistic issues, so it is easy to get angry and quarrel.

"I have to go pee first... I can't hold it anymore, this movie is so good..." Ronald ran away first.

"Ahem..." Jonathan Demme was proud and a little nervous. If Ronald could accept the length of the overtime, he would feel like he was creating The Silence of the Lambs again.

"Sorry... cough cough cough... cough cough cough... sneeze..."

Ronald came back to the screening room and just sat down, he started coughing for a long time, which caused Jonathan Demme and Michael Gray, who was in charge of marketing, to start coughing.

The wildfire that started in Malibu a few weeks ago has not been put out, but has grown larger, fueled by the dry and fierce Santa Ana winds that blow from Southern California at this time of year.

In the past two days, the news headlines have turned to whether the wildfire will burn near Beverly Hills and whether the resources mobilized by the state government can put out the wildfire.

Although Ronald lives in Beverly Park, far from the wildfires, he is not afraid of them (and the property taxes are high, so the fire department is well-funded), the fire has already spread to 15,000 acres, hundreds of houses have been burned, and many refugees have been displaced.

The most troublesome thing is that the air pollution caused by the wildfires, including large amounts of smoke and harmful particulate matter, has enveloped the entire city of Los Angeles and spread to other parts of California.

Ronald and Jonathan Demme both had some nasal allergies, and they were all in pain from coughing and sneezing.

"Ahem, I don't have any artistic opinions on the movie edited by Jonathan." Ronald finally made a comment.

Jonathan Demme is a little nervous. He has no artistic opinions, but does he have any commercial opinions?
"But I have some ideas about marketing..."

This movie is actually quite bold and controversial. There are intimate scenes between the male protagonist Andy played by Tom Hanks and his lover, the Latin American handsome Antonio Banderas played Miguel. There are kissing and sex scenes between the two. It is rare that Jonathan Demme filmed him so artistically that there is no disgust.

And the speech that Joe, played by Denzel Washington, gave to his colleagues against discrimination against... patients was powerful and vivid, just like the... patient version of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream".

However, these are very shocking shots for the mass film market and are likely to cause great controversy.

Perhaps the market in the east and west coasts will be understood by the audience, but the box office in states such as the Deep South and the Midwest will likely be hit hard.

Therefore, Ronald proposed some revisions to weaken the controversial scenes in these places. Don't mention the relationship between Andy played by Tom Hanks and Miguel played by Antonio Banderas by name, as long as the audience can understand it.

Similarly, this kind of treatment can also be applied to plots of racial discrimination, etc.

"OK, cough cough cough... I know what you mean. In fact, I also made a version that meets the required length." Jonathan Demme knew that he didn't get away with it, so he took out another version that was less controversial.

"Okay, okay, I don't want to cut any of this version, cough cough cough, ah-choo," Ronald agreed after reading it. This time, you can still see a lot of Demy's ingenuity in filming and editing.

"Okay, that's great, this is the highest praise for me, cough cough cough..." Demi coughed again.

Ronald walked out of the screening room. The PM value outside was off the charts. He felt terrible. "Ahem... That's terrible. If this continues, Diane, the child and I will have to run away."

(End of this chapter)