Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1513: Working overtime on weekends?
The premiere of "Pulp Fiction" did not attract many celebrities. However, the movie itself invited many celebrities to join the performance...

Such as Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel Jackson, Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette, etc.

Coupled with Demi Moore and Kelly Preston, who have become a celebrity couple, the premiere scene was still a bit star-studded.

Ronald did not go to the Miramax premiere. Harvey knew he couldn't invite him, so he didn't come, and Ronald didn't want to lower his status and go by himself.

He watched two celebrity couples dress up on TV. Both celebrity wives chose black dresses at the same time. Demi Moore's was a low-cut one, while Kelly Preston might not have as much money as the former, so she chose a see-through one. They were equally eye-catching, and the camera of the live broadcast kept turning to them.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

Suddenly, Diane beside her said something.

"Ah? Yeah, they're pretty. Which of them do you think looks like the bitch in 'Jerry Maguire'?"

Diane is still waiting for Tom Cruise's schedule and is feeling a bit depressed. Ronald asked her to comment on which female star is suitable to play Tom Cruise's role, Jerry Maguire's fiancée who broke up with him after hearing that he resigned...

"Well, it seems that Kelly Preston is more like her..."

Sure enough, Diane's attention was diverted... Kelly Preston married John Travolta in 1991, and their wedding caused a big incident.

The two couples are a bit like Tom Cruise and his ex-wife Mimi Rogers, both of whom are believers of Scientology. To be precise, Kelly Preston dragged John Travolta into this strange religion.

They flew to Paris together on Concorde and got married, which was pretty much the old-fashioned Hollywood way, but the Scientology brass were unhappy because both were believers and it would be better to have the wedding at their church.

Six months later, the two of them went to Daytona Beach, Florida, to hold another Scientology wedding. It was the second center of Scientology outside of Los Angeles, where there were many wealthy elderly people.

By putting romance, publicity, and media coverage, factors that were crucial to their careers, ahead of the interests of Scientology, Ronald realized that the two men were not as devout in their faith as they appeared.

"What do you think?" Diane looked at the two of them repeatedly.

"Yes, Kelly Preston is more of a Hollywood-style wife and mother than Demi, which makes it more interesting for the audience to reveal her true nature later..."

"Yeah, that makes sense. I'll have someone contact her agent..." Diane's mind was now easily drawn to this movie that she had been looking forward to for a long time.

"Ring ring ring ring..."

Ronald's work hotline rang again. He was hugging Diane and talking to her when he picked up the phone impatiently.

"Hey?"

"It's me, Ed..."

It was Ed Bastian, CEO of DDH Media. He wouldn't normally call Ronald on weekend evenings. Maybe there was something particularly urgent today?

"what's up?"

"Big news, big event, Katzenberg resigned..."

"What kind of big news is this? Can't you handle it? I paid you such a high salary..." Ronald joked. He was interested in business, and for some major decisions, he would personally study them before making a decision.

But in essence, Ronald's work ethic is to devote himself to artistic creation. If you ask him to sacrifice some of his family life for the sake of movies, he can still stick with it for a while. But if you ask him to give up time with his family for the sake of business, he will not be interested.

Anyway, he has a very professional team running DDH Media, and his personal assets are mainly in a few stocks with high returns, so he doesn't need to spend too much energy on them.

"Didn't you hear me? It was Katzenberg from Disney who resigned... Don't you want someone who can manage the film production?"

"Oh, God, I didn't hear that. How could he quit?"

"I don't know. He just announced his resignation. Rumor has it that it's because Eisner was dissatisfied with him for refusing to take over the position of Frank Wells who died in a helicopter accident..."

"Then he should be dissatisfied..." Ronald felt that this was right.

Before and after the Oscars, he saw Katzenberg, Spielberg, and David Geffen talking about something. Now, it seems that Katzenberg has second thoughts because he has led all the hit movies of Disney in recent years, whether they are live-action or animated, but has not been promoted for a long time.

Then a helicopter accident occurred, causing the sudden death of Disney's second-in-command Frank Wells. This gave Katzenberg a position to be promoted, so he might be psychologically inclined towards Disney, after all, he had already laid a good foundation there.

But no one knew that Eisner actually refused to give the vacancy left by Frank Wells to Katzenberg, the undisputed and natural candidate, and instead passed on his promotion.

Ronald and Ed Bastian both sighed. They both thought at the same time that Eisner had the same experience. At the critical moment when everyone thought he was promoted to the general manager of Paramount, Eisner himself was ignored. The parent company only wanted an obedient person, not a capable manager like him who was responsible for most of Paramount's best-selling movies in the past decade.

Today, Eisner himself has become the man who doesn't trust his most capable subordinates...

"You have to hurry. There must be a lot of people pursuing Katzenberg right now. There are not many people in Hollywood who can be successful in both animation and live-action movies..." Ed Bastian is much luckier than Katzenberg.

Ronald was the first generation of the company's founder and controlled most of the shares. Such a boss was not afraid of the ability of his subordinates. Eisner was a nominal chairman, and his own shares in Disney were not the largest within the company, not to mention the numerous external investors of Disney.

Therefore, the most important thing for him is absolute control over the company. If Katzenberg is promoted to a position that reports directly to the board of directors (like the unfortunately deceased Frank Wells), then his opponents within Disney will definitely support Katzenberg as an important force to contain Eisner.

After Wells' death, Eisner, who had finally obtained the greatest power without Disney involvement, would not watch Katzenberg grow into another Wells.

But from Katzenberg's perspective, it is impossible for him to continue to stand still after working hard for the company for ten years. In addition to career advancement and greater power, he can get more Disney options after promotion, which is estimated to greatly improve Katzenberg's financial situation.

Having been rejected for this well-deserved position, as Eisner's good subordinate and disciple, it was impossible for him to stay in the original position. Eisner did not stay in Paramount either, but ran away to create his own world.

"Ed, can't you go for me? I can just call Katzenberg. Today is the weekend, and I promised Diane and my son Roger that I would stay home with him."

"Ronald, I rarely bother you when you are enjoying your family life unless it is really necessary... and today is that time when it is really necessary."

Ed Bastian is very familiar with Katzenberg's abilities, and his ability to judge film projects is well-known in Hollywood.

As a medium-sized company among the seven majors, Disney cannot have too many stars to shoot the top-level Hollywood productions. But he can understand that those movies have good box office potential and which directors, actors, and behind-the-scenes personnel are needed to tell the story well.

The Katzenberg Report, which Katzenberg issued internally at Disney, also elaborated on his ideas and code of conduct for producing projects at Disney, pointing out that the key to a successful film is to present a good story.

Ed Bastian himself has read it many times and recommended it to many people in the company. If Katzenberg can be poached, it will be a very important addition to DDH. Disney's situation back then was similar to DDH's current situation.

He is not capable of shooting big stars and making big productions. The production of small and medium-sized films also depends entirely on the chairman. Without him, there would be no talent who can continuously produce profitable film projects.

If Katzenberg comes, it will be possible to establish another profitable production line besides Ronald. This is exactly the type of talent that DDH needs most during its rapid development period.

For such a person, it would be no problem at all to condescend to DDH and give him a title with the highest administrative level, the first letter of which is C and the last letter of which is O.

"Ed, you are also a man who loves your family and your wife. Although work takes up most of your time, you always have enough reasons to sacrifice your family. I never asked you to give up the time with your wife and children in order to attend a film festival, right?
Those boring film festivals for you, that's how this job feels to me. I'm willing to be away from my family for a short period of time to shoot a movie and visit important film sets, but I don't want to leave my favorite weekend time with my family for a business meeting."

Ronald saw Katzenberg's previous discussions with Spielberg, David Geffen and others. He had no evidence and it was not convenient for him to tell Edbastian about these speculations.

But he knew in his heart that someone like Katzenberg, who came from Disney, must have been well prepared. Talking to him now would only be giving others a second-rate choice so that they could negotiate terms with the other two partners.

Wouldn't it be better to let Bastian do this kind of thing?
"Ronald, go ahead. What Ed said is very important. He is also a man who loves his family. Such a man would not bother you without a reason. Don't let Ed down... Ronnie."

Diane listened for a long time. She didn't understand the details, but she was very moved by Ronald's words.

After Ronnie married me, apart from other things, he really spent a lot of time on his family. Some movies would rather be shot in Los Angeles, where the cost is much higher, just to be with me every day.

Now DDH's industry still needs capable people like Ed to help it manage it. People have finally asked you to work overtime for the company's future. If you refuse like this, it will make others feel very disappointed.

After all, when DDH Media makes money, our family gets the most dividends.

"Ed, how did you spread the company's corporate culture education to my home? Diane is also persuading me to accept your assignment and work overtime. Okay, okay, I'll call Katzenberg right now."

……

"Jeffrey... you're really hard to date now..."

"Hahaha, it's a special situation. Normally, I will make time for you as soon as you call me, Ronald."

Over the past decade, Ronald and Katzenberg's positions have changed several times. At the beginning, Ronald was just a young director waiting for him to give the green light to the project. Then he became a mid-level director that he had to interview and compete for.

Once DDH goes public, it will become my potential future employer.

Ronald called personally today to arrange a meeting. Katzenberg turned down many offers and waited for Ronald to come.

"Let's not talk about that anymore. I came to you as soon as I heard about Michael (Eisner)'s decision. I sincerely offer you to serve as DDH's COO and be responsible for the production of the entire group's film and television projects.

In addition, you will be able to report directly to me. Although I believe that after you come, we will have to have many meetings with Ed. Ed has sent your memo on the film industry to every executive in the company, and has discussed with me many times your philosophy of selecting film projects.

I can guarantee that you will feel as comfortable here as you would at Disney Studios, our philosophies are exactly the same. And you will have greater responsibilities..."

"I never imagined that you would say this, but I have to admit that this is a competitive offer..."

Ronald's smiling face faded slightly. The adjective "competitive" indicated that his guess was correct. Katzenberg must have already thought of a plan.

"DDH is not a big studio, but I can guarantee that as long as you come here, you will have hundreds of millions of dollars a year to make movies, and you don't have to worry about not being able to shoot big stars and big productions like you did at Disney."

Ronald wanted to give it another try and try to find out indirectly what conditions Katzenberg had obtained.

Although the three of them are all well-known in the industry, it is unlikely that they would risk their wealth, right? DDH has good financing capabilities on Wall Street, and there are many funds willing to invest in the film projects that Ronald is optimistic about.

As long as Katzenberg is included, it will not be a problem to get a budget enough to shoot two or three big productions every year. Such a commitment is not easy to get in several other major production companies.

"Like I said, very attractive..."

Ronald and Katzenberg chatted for a few more rounds, and he stood up decisively to say goodbye. He felt more and more that Katzenberg not only had a way out, but also got a lot of money, so much money that his conditions could not exceed.

"By the way, Ronald, I have another question. If I work for your company, will I be sent out to work overtime and interview an interesting person like today?"

Katzenberg stood up to see Ronald off, and when he reached the door he suddenly asked a question.

"I don't think so. Today, it was because of you that I gave up time with my family. But as a COO who manages the operations of a listed company, I don't think I can predict that he won't have a situation like today. However, I can guarantee that if there is such a time, it must be very necessary."

"Thank you, I will think about it carefully and get back to you then..."

Ronald felt like an actor who had been politely rejected by the director after an audition. On the way back, he kept wondering where Katzenberg could get so much money to start.
"I still have to work overtime..." After Ronald left, Katzenberg drank some fine brandy. He picked up the phone and called his assistant, "Make an appointment with Steven and David for me..."