Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1459 The crucial call came
"Mr. Li, this is my film plan... This will be the first documentary that reflects the front and back scenes of the four major fashion weeks..." A man sat opposite Ronald and handed him a document.

"Hmm..." Ronald gestured for him to put it on the table, his eyes fixed on an orange telephone.

"Mr. Li, I dare say that there has never been a Hollywood director who can unzip a fashion model's clothes and put his hand inside to take a look."

"Ok?"

Ronald turned away from the phone after hearing these very strange words, and for the first time he really saw the documentary director in front of him. The man's cheekbones had very tense muscles, and although he looked big and strong, Ronald always felt that he was a little weird, and his biological radar seemed to warn him that he was a person of a different orientation.

The idea of ​​finding him to discuss the documentary project came from when Richard and Ronald were talking about Christy Turlington and the idea of ​​supermodels making a movie. After leaving Ronald's house, Richard went back and made a few phone calls. After a lot of searching, he found a director who was capable of filming the story of catwalk models.

Although this director named Douglas Keefe had never made any movies before, nor worked in any crew, at best he had only used Super 8 and Super 16 cameras to shoot some films before and after shows.

But he has one advantage that no other Hollywood director has: his male partner, Chanel designer Isaac Mizrahi.

It just so happened that Isaac Mizrahi was preparing new styles for this spring and summer, and during the major fashion shows, his boyfriend Douglas Keefe was shooting black and white film with his Super series camera.

At this time, he received a call from Richard. Hearing that there was an opportunity to become a theater director, Keef immediately came with his own materials and plans, ready to sell this movie, which he named "Unzipped", to Ronald for distribution in American theaters.

That's why, as soon as he and Ronald met, he used such unconventional metaphors as unzipping a model.

Seeing Ronald staring at him for a few seconds, then tilting his head to look down at the orange telephone, Douglas Keefe became anxious and began to desperately promote himself. He also said that if Ronald agreed, he would introduce him to supermodels who would walk the runway for Chanel. It would be difficult to get a big name like Cindy Crawford, but he dared to guarantee that he could invite those less famous ones, as long as Ronald was willing to spend a lot of money to invite the models to the dinner...

"Kiff..." Richard next to him couldn't stand it anymore and quickly spoke up to stop this reckless man. This guy relied on his Chanel designer boyfriend, but he actually knew nothing about the world outside of modeling. He thought that people like Ronald needed to act like those fake rich people in New York, Milan, Paris and Tokyo to date supermodels.

"Guess what?" Ronald also had a bad impression of this guy, but since it could film the models' backstage situations during the fashion show, there would definitely be people who would watch such a documentary. After it was released, it could be sold to TV stations and videotapes, which would guarantee a payback for this small production.

"Hmm..." Ronald, who had wanted to ridicule him, felt that there was no need to argue with such a person, so he changed the subject, "I plan to let Daydream be responsible for the distribution of your film. We have rich experience in many European and Japanese film festivals, and we can send it to participate in the documentary section review."

"You won't be disappointed, Mr. Lee. I definitely won't let you down. I'm a movie fan myself. I've been operating those cameras for a long time. Isaac Mizrahi saw the images I shot and said that I'm very good at capturing the charming demeanor of people at a certain moment."

"Two conditions..." Ronald raised two fingers...

Keef immediately shut up and stared at Ronald's mouth. If this guy wants to spend the night with a model, I will definitely let Isaac take care of it. I'm afraid he's not interested in the model, but Isaac? Oh my... For the sake of artistic dreams, it's not impossible.

"First, you have to use a good handheld camera to shoot, and it's best to use color if possible. Finally, the catwalks at major fashion weeks must be shot by professionals."

"But I like my Super..." Keef reacted, then immediately covered his mouth with his hands and nodded quickly, indicating that he was willing to accept such conditions.

"Second, why is Christie not on your list of models?" Ronald opened his plan. There were many names of supermodels on it, including Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Kate Moss, and even Bruni from the UK and Naomi Campbell from the black community, but there was no Christie Turlington.

"Turlington? She's a little too... um..." Keefe looked at Ronald's mouth, expecting him to change a name, but it never happened. Keefe had no choice but to say, "I actually like Turlington's performance, but compared to Cindy and Linda, she is less well-known to the public, so I didn't list her... I will put her in the list of starring roles..."

"You will..." Ronald's eyes wandered again. He looked at the orange telephone on the table and then at Richard, who shook his head. The man had not contacted him yet.

"But Christie is an outlier. Whether she accepts the date is entirely up to her own decision... I can't guarantee it..." This is where Keef is in a dilemma. Unlike models like Linda Evangelista who often attend dinner parties, Turlington can be said to be picky about this kind of thing.

"You can not……"

"I..." Keef was about to speak.

"I think now is the time for you to thank Ronald..." Richard came over and pulled Keef away, who didn't understand the situation yet. Ronald had already agreed to distribute the film. Now all you have to do is go out, sign a contract with the daydreamer, and then open some champagne to celebrate your entry into Hollywood as an outsider.

"Hey……"

Ronald also took advantage of the fact that the market was not open yet to meet with business people. His main focus was still on watching the market, which was really a hard job and was completely different from the previous concept of buying stocks and investing in them.

At that time, you could just buy a bottle of Coca-Cola or Microsoft and wait for them to rise in value with good performance. You wouldn't have to worry about it when you go to bed at night, or be awakened by nightmares about large fluctuations in stock prices.

During the day, I can also work on my favorite film career without having to stare at the stock price all day. A little up or down will make me worried. Even if I do other things, I will be restless. I often read the script for five minutes and then run to the Bloomberg terminal involuntarily to continue checking the stock price.

At the opening of today's market, Viacom's stock price rose slightly again, while Blockbuster's stock price was falling. Although the decline was not large, it still made Ronald take out a Casio scientific calculator and kept pressing buttons to calculate how much money he was going to lose.

Don't be afraid of a one-time plunge, as it will rebound quickly, but be afraid of continuous declines day after day. Think about how much loss will be caused if you make a mistake.

Ronald looked at the confidential line again; the long-awaited call had not come yet.

"Pa pa pa..." The numbers on the Bloomberg terminal kept jumping, and Ronald's calculator was pressing loudly. Finally, when he couldn't bear it anymore, Ronald grabbed the calculator and threw it to the ground.

The thin Japanese product soon broke into pieces. Ronald apologized to his assistant Yang Yanzi who came in to check, then took out a Texas Instruments calculator and continued to press. Things made in Texas are thick and strong...

"Boss, I see you are not in the mood. Since going public is a very important matter, why don't you go to New York? When I was an assistant to Oliver Stone, he would sometimes get upset. At that time, he would take out his notes from the Vietnam War and read them, and he would soon calm down."

Yang Yanzi couldn't stand it anymore and expressed her opinion to Ronald that when you are upset, don't escape, but get close to the root of the person or thing that makes you upset, and go there to solve the root cause, so as to regain calm.

"You're right, pack up and come with me to New York?" Ronald decided to stay at the scene of the short sale. No matter how good the opportunity is in the future, he will not short sell again. He is a movie director, not a stock market trader.

"I'm happy to..." Yang Yanzi picked up the travel bag in the office and came to meet Ronald, "I heard that New York is very cold..."

"I've asked someone to buy you a coat and wait for you at the airport..." Ronald picked up the phone and asked Richard for help. He gave a lot of clothes to the assistant who was accompanying him on the business trip.

On the private plane, Ronald was still looking at the analysis of Viacom and QVC's latest bids for Paramount sent by Goldman Sachs.

The exact details are still unclear, but the price revisions for both are significant. Information pieced together from various channels gradually revealed the puzzle pieces.

Barry Diller is still trying to lower the price. Not only has the acquisition price been slightly reduced, but the terms of the acquisition are even worse than before. Paramount executives are no longer entitled to the price compensation promised by Redstone for the price drop after the acquisition. Moreover, after the acquisition, their positions are no longer secure.

Such news is certainly frustrating. Barry Diller is a cunning man in the industry. He certainly knows that most of these executives are more likely to cause trouble than accomplish anything. Their main goal is to produce a few hit movies during their tenure in order to protect the stock price and their own option rewards.

They were inclined to choose Lei Shidong because Lei Shidong promised that the current executives could maintain their current positions. In addition, he proposed that if the current options and stocks of the executives suffered a drop in the stock price, they could be compensated according to the price at the time of acquisition.

Barry Diller's lowering of the price clearly shows that he has determined that Redstone will not enter this game again.

After Viacom announced its merger with Blockbuster, the deal still needed to be reviewed by many agencies, and it was estimated that the merger would be completed in the second half of the year. However, the more than 1.2 billion in cash in Blockbuster's account that Redstone needed most had already been exchanged for Viacom's equity and entered his pocket.

Now that Lei Shidong no longer has the board seat and senior position that he had originally promised to Martin Davis, he can only use these 1.2 billion bullets to win people's hearts.

I just don't know which one Martin Davis can tolerate more, the money or the feeling of betrayal?

"Hey, what's the price now?" On the plane, Ronald was still in contact with Bannon via satellite phone.

"The increase has widened a bit, but we can still hold on to the losses, Ronald. When will the final word you mentioned come..." As expected, Bannon also invested his own money in the great short-selling business. His experience in stocks with Ronald told him that he could still make a lot of money by following Ronald.

However, such a continuous small increase still made him enter a manic mood. He was able to restrain himself when talking to Ronald on the phone, but he had already smashed two chairs in private.

"I'm on a plane to New York, and when I get there the news will be confirmed."

"I don't understand about IPO, but is the pressure so great?" Yang Yanzi had no idea what Ronald was doing and thought he was worried about the listing of DDH. This was not a good sign. How much she could earn from her options depended on this.

"Go to sleep for a while. I'm waiting for an important call..." Ronald pointed to the empty seat and told her to go to sleep while he stayed by the satellite phone. No one could tell this. He didn't even tell Diane and Donna.

Finally, at around 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, when the plane was already descending, the call Ronald was waiting for, from Richard's office, came through the satellite phone on the plane.

"Good news! Ronald..."

"Really?" Ronald stood up when he heard Shirley Lansing's voice.

"Yes, I have held meetings with the board of directors for three days. It was so boring. Fortunately, the final result is good. Redstone will give Martin Davis a 10% premium on the shares. I will still be the head of Paramount Production, and we will continue to cooperate, hahahaha. The publicity budget for Forrest Gump remains unchanged... No, I may be able to transfer some to you..."

"Hahaha, great, great, I just want to kiss you, Shirley. It is really a pleasure to cooperate with a CEO who understands the film industry."

Ronald praised Shirley Lansing, but his mind was not on his cooperation with Paramount. Lansing didn't know about her "history" with Redstone, so she might not be able to laugh when the time comes.

But this news revealed a key piece of information. In order to get Martin Davis to agree to his acquisition and compensate Martin Davis for the position he had originally promised to give to Blockbuster, Redstone actually took out part of the 1.2 billion and bought him out directly.

Barry Diller is still immersed in his own shrewdness as a businessman. He has not understood the "demeanor" of the rich second-generation Redstone at all. I don't count such small bills. I want her and I will get her at any price.

This is what happened when Redstone put his ancestral movie theater chain on the line to acquire Viacom. This is what happened when he concentrated resources on launching MTV and turned around Viacom's business decline. This is also what happened with today's acquisition of more than 10 billion, no, two acquisitions of more than 8 billion.

If they can acquire Blockbuster, they can immediately acquire Paramount. Barry Diller really doesn't understand the "grace" of abandoning security and investing all his assets in a gamble.

If Ronald and Shirley Lansing had not had a tacit cooperation, with Lansing providing him with superb publicity and distribution, and Ronald providing him with films of exceptional quality and influence on top stars like Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise, Lansing would never have come to Richard's office specifically to tell him this top secret.

If Barry Diller makes a wrong move, he will probably be very surprised when the victory is announced.

"Ronald!"

At the airport, as soon as Ronald walked down the gangway, Bannon came over and asked.

Ronald nodded to indicate that the news had been confirmed.

"Hahaha," Bannon turned around and went back to his office to keep the peace.

Everyone calmed down. After knowing the bottom line, Ronald's two short-selling teams were no longer afraid. They began to quietly buy large amounts of put options with the target points for when the merger winner would be announced in the future.

"What a weird guy..." Yang Yanzi didn't understand what Bannon meant, holding her luggage with both hands, "Boss, where is my coat?"

"Isn't that right?" Ronald pointed to an assistant behind him holding a fashionable coat. "But you don't have to wear it. Come with me tonight to the pre-show of New York Fashion Week. I'll have someone send you a dress."

"Oh yeah..." It seemed that Ronald's mood had improved. Yang Yanzi was very happy that she could get a dress for free.

……

"Honey, I got a contract with Ronald Lee. My...our documentary will be distributed by his company." Keef took a commercial flight and left at about the same time as Ronald, but arrived much later.

When he arrived in New York, the men's fashion week, which was a warm-up for the fashion week, had already started. When he saw his boyfriend Isaac Mizrahi, he immediately gave him a passionate kiss.

"Ronald Lee? He seems to be coming too. I haven't seen him yet. The girls really want to meet a big Hollywood director." Designer Isaac Mizrahi also came. In the midst of busy preparations, he still took time to communicate with the supermodels who were about to walk the runway for him and observe their conditions.

"Are all the girls here? Great, great. By the way, is Christie here? I need to talk to her about something."

"Oh, she's in much better shape than she has been in the past two weeks. She's not at all bothered by the fact that her boyfriend dumped her, that bitch."

Keefe immediately started looking for someone. Ronald thought so highly of Turlington that finding and convincing Turlington was tantamount to a guarantee for his project.

"Hi, Cindy... You are here too. Listen, I have a friend who wants to meet you and has come all the way from Los Angeles..." Turlington didn't find her, but Cindy Crawford appeared in front of him radiantly, and her annoying husband Richard Gere was not there to interfere.

"No, Keef, not today... not tomorrow..."

"Kara, Kara..." Keefe turned to the model from the country. She was so exotic. Hey? If we can't find Turlington, she can do it, right?
"Pah..." The female model with Chinese hair ignored him. The one in Cindy's place was of a much higher level than what her designer boyfriend Keef could reach.

"Christie..."

Finally, he spotted Turlington. Her simple outfit made her look outstanding. She was walking towards the steps outside the door, and Keefe quickly caught up with her.

"Christie, you can't do this. I have a very powerful guest coming tonight. Don't you want to enter Hollywood? That person can..." Keef started shouting from a distance.

"Uh..." He suddenly stopped, with a look of astonishment on his face. Turlington got into a luxury car, and when the door opened, the voice that came out seemed to be Cindy Crawford's.

Another tall man came out of the door. Keefe wiped his eyes and took a closer look. Who else could it be but Ronald, who was chatting and laughing with him in Los Angeles this morning?

(End of this chapter)