Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1583 Submission to the Board of Directors for Approval

Reeve's operation was successful. The doctor drilled a hole in his head and fixed his neck. In this way, he can rest at home with the help of a ventilator in the future, without worrying about breaking his neck when no one is taking care of him...

Robin Williams and Ronald flew back to Los Angeles together. They were both very sad on the plane. The handsome guy who played Superman back then, now had his head shaved off and could only lie down, unable to even breathe.

When they returned to Los Angeles, the media came to interview him again. Ronald didn't want to be in the spotlight, so he asked Robin Williams to speak for his good friend.

During this period, many Hollywood stars have spoken out and raised funds for Reeve's follow-up treatment and rehabilitation. Including Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and others, they have also publicly encouraged Reeve and actively hosted several fundraising galas for him.

Christopher Reeve actually didn't have such a good reputation in Hollywood, but the image of Superman he played was the most familiar superhero image to the young people who had just reached adulthood. So it caused a very big response, which is understandable. After all, they are the largest audience group for Hollywood's current commercial blockbusters.

Among these fundraising galas, the most outrageous and the one most talked about by the gossip media was the fundraising event held by Menahem Golan, the former chairman of Cannonball who had worked with Reeve on "Superman IV".

His long-lost giggle made entertainment reporters feel as if they had returned to the days when he was at his peak and often appeared in entertainment news.

"Ha ha ha, this time I'm not only going to raise funds for Reeve to heal his body, but also his spirit. I'm going to raise funds to find the copyright owner of Hitchcock's film - his daughter, to buy the remake rights of the film Rear Window, and then let Reeve play the leading actor, the photojournalist played by Jimmy Stewart back then, so that he can complete the filming while sitting in a wheelchair.

An actor’s purpose in life is to make movies. I believe that as long as Reeve can participate in the new version of Rear Window, he will definitely find the joy of being an actor again…”

Reporters kept pressing the shutter to take pictures, and reporters at the scene wrote quickly, then rushed out to fax to the newspaper. Menahan Golan really can bring endless fun to people.

The hero played by Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window was based on the famous war correspondent Robert Capa. In the movie, he was hit and broke his bones while taking photos of a car crossing the finish line, so he was lying in a wheelchair throughout the movie... So theoretically, when Reeve's condition stabilizes, he can indeed play the hero.

"Oh my God, Minahan is doing it again." Ronald, who saw the news at home, could only shake his head and smile bitterly.

However, things are unpredictable, and this crazy idea was actually thanked by Reeve after the operation. Through his wife, he expressed his gratitude that there were still people in Hollywood who wanted to invite him to make a movie, which was a personal encouragement to him.

Now he wants to rehabilitate himself, and once his physical condition has improved and stabilized, he can discuss with Menahan Golan the vision they failed to achieve in "Superman IV".

"This is really unexpected." Ronald said to Richard who came to his house. Since everyone is so interested, Ronald really plans to find Patricia Hitchcock and ask if he can obtain the copyright.

Hitchcock was very caring towards his daughter. At that time, he didn't know how much inheritance he could leave to his only daughter, so he reached a special agreement with Paramount and other production companies. After the movie was released for several years, the copyright would automatically return to Hitchcock.

The copyrights of the five films he shot during his heyday, which had the biggest stars, the best production and the best audience reputation: Rope, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, and North by Northwest, are now in the hands of Patricia Hitchcock.

There was a time when, because of Patricia Hitchcock, Hitchcock fans all over the world had no chance to see these five films re-screened. They were called Hitchcock's five lost classics.

But now, with the growth of the home video market, these five films have also been released on videotape and are playing in some late-night theaters.

Ronald felt that all of Hollywood was very supportive of Reeve’s case, and if Patricia Hitchcock had any common sense, she would not have refused to remake Rear Window.

"I'll help you contact Patricia Hitchcock first. It would be great if she's interested." Richard closed his notebook. He had better handle this kind of thing personally just to have a good relationship with Ronald.

"How's the situation at CAA?" Ronald asked Richard again after he had finished dealing with today's affairs. He also had multiple channels to learn about the internal news of CAA, but Richard was undoubtedly the most trustworthy.

"He's still negotiating with Bronfman Jr. today. I haven't seen him for several days. The negotiations between the two don't seem to be going well." Richard was talking about the current situation.

There was no obvious progress in the negotiations. Bronfman Jr. had no decision-making power, so he often had to call his father to confirm a certain clause. This back-and-forth, intermittent negotiation had lasted for several weeks.

This complemented the information Ronald got from Ron Meyer. By cross-verifying the two sides, Ronald was able to get a rough idea of ​​the overall picture of the negotiations.

It seems that Bronfman is not in a hurry to negotiate with Ovitz in person. In fact, if he can meet Ovitz in person, with his experience, it will probably take only one day to complete the negotiation. Whether to come or not, and how much money to pay, these are not very troublesome matters.

But old Bronfman seemed to have an idea of ​​training his son. He would rather take things slowly and let his son Edgar Jr. fully experience the feeling of competing face to face with some of the most cunning people in Hollywood.

Now there is a board of directors headed by Bronfman Sr. to help him correct his mistakes, so it is a great opportunity for Bronfman Jr. to gain more experience.

Of course, these are all Ronald's guesses, and he has no conclusive evidence. But if he were in Bronfman's position, he would probably make a similar decision.

"Hello, it's me, Levitt, Mary, what's up...Okay, okay...I'll be there tomorrow."

As he was talking, Richard received a call from Mary, one of Ovitz's secretaries. She announced that Ovitz would return to the CAA building tomorrow and hold a staff meeting to formally explain some recent rumors to the employees.

"It seems like he wants to confront you..." Ronald nodded to show that he understood.

"Shall we proceed as planned?"

"Hey, that's it. Now it's your turn, young Turks, to take over the Hollywood agent business."

Ronald encouraged Richard. They had already discussed a series of action plans for Ovitz. If he announced his resignation and went to work for Universal MCA, what would happen? If he did not resign and remained at CAA, what would happen? They had made full plans.

……

"I think everyone has heard a lot of rumors about me recently. I want to clarify this..."

As expected, Ovitz called a meeting of all employees above the junior partner level, and at the beginning of the meeting, he admitted the truth of the rumor that he had been invited to manage a large listed media company.

"I have indeed been in contact with them, and they also want me, but I haven't decided yet... That's it..."

In just a few words, Ovitz confirmed the rumor that almost everyone in Hollywood knew. But he did not tell all the junior partners whether he would accept or not accept the offer.

As soon as the general meeting was over, those who held the position of partners, including Richard and Niceta, closed the doors of their offices and began to discuss matters with their closest people.

Everyone understood that since Orvis had confirmed the truth of the rumor, he would most likely sell the company to people like him who were partners, and then leave to become CEO of Universal MCA.

On the one hand, Ovitz is a Jew, and secondly, he is the most savvy agent in Hollywood. He certainly doesn't want to suffer any loss.

He has repeatedly told employees and other clients that CAA is now worth at least $3 million. Although according to some rumors, Seagram will give him roughly equivalent value in new company options as compensation, the 5000% of his shares will definitely be bought out by his partners.

If Ovitz wanted to take Ron Meyer and several other of his direct subordinates with him, the shares held by these people would have to be bought out by Ovitz himself and paid to CAA before he could take these people away.

This is the usual way of handling equity in a partnership-based enterprise. CAA now has 18 formal partners, including Richard Levitt and Rick Niceta. Kevin Hooven, who Ronald is more familiar with, is also one of them.

Based on this price, it is estimated that if all partners share the cost of purchasing Ovitz's equity, each person may have to pay an average of 1500 million to 2000 million US dollars.

This amount of money is definitely not something these young Turks can afford. If they want to pay this amount, they can only raise funds through several methods.

The first method was that Ovitz agreed to let them pay in installments, first paying a down payment of about 10%, and then repaying Ovitz year by year through the share after becoming partners.

The good thing about this method is that it can solve the equity issue after Ovitz's departure relatively smoothly, without introducing external personnel, and CAA's operation remains stable. The bad thing is that Ovitz can't get all the cash at once. No one can predict the future operation of CAA. Then the fulfillment of this repayment agreement will become a question. With Ovitz's penny-pinching personality, he is probably unwilling to agree.

The second way is to use the CAA shares they got as collateral to borrow money from a willing bank, and then slowly repay the bank in installments. This method allows Ovitz to take cash immediately, but in this case, these partners will have to pay expensive bank interest.

The third option is to only sign the agreement and pay the down payment, and the remaining amount will be paid by CAA's profits in the next few years. Because at that time, these 15 partners will be the real shareholders of CAA. The dividends they receive can be paid to Ovitz, the former major shareholder, according to the agreement.

This third option is similar to the first option. The only difference is that the total amount Ovitz receives is not fixed, but will fluctuate depending on CAA's operating conditions in the next few years.

There is no doubt that Ovitz definitely prefers the second option among the three options, which is to take the money and leave. But the partners definitely prefer the third option because it will minimize their risks.

Only Richard and Niceta, as well as one or two other partners, would prefer the first option, because they were confident in the future business performance of CAA and were unwilling to pay Ovitz more cash in the form of profit sharing.

What's more convenient is that they have a big client like Ronald behind them. Ronald has promised them that when they need financial help, he will help them solve the loan problem at a relatively low interest rate.

In this case, they may not have to pay the expensive interest of commercial banks at all, and they can reach a cheaper loan agreement. Therefore, the second option and the first option are combined, which may be the final solution for buying out the equity.

As for the partners who don't have big money like Ronald to help them, they either have to borrow expensive bank loans or give up part of their equity and transfer it to wealthy partners like Richard and Niceta to buy.

For a while, everyone tried their best to borrow cheap money and get as many shares as possible.

"Young Bronfman will pay for your part of the money. In addition, I want to take three partners who are easy to use with me to go to Universal. I like this guy Brian Lude very much. What do you think?"

Ovitz also went to his own small conference room to meet with Ron Mayer, and the two of them decided to go together, either go to Universal together or stay at CAA together.

"That's a question for the future CEO of Universal MCA to consider, not for me." When Ron Meyer heard Ovitz talking about personnel arrangements, he immediately pushed the question back.

I have known Ovitz for decades and I know his character very well. He would never share key power with anyone.

"Hahaha, you..." Ovitz was very satisfied with the answer and pointed at Mayer a few times to show his affection.

"Edgar Bronfman Jr. has gone back to report our negotiation progress to the board of directors. I think he will continue to procrastinate like he did during the negotiation. It is not convenient for me to urge him, so I will have to trouble you to fly a few more times..."

Bronfman Jr.'s invitation to Ovitz still needed to be approved by the board of directors. If Ovitz went to urge him personally at this time, it would seem that he was impatient. It was most convenient to let Ron Mayer come forward at this time.

"Of course, leave this matter to me. It's the best person to do it." Ron Mayer agreed. This was exactly in his interest. He could be the first to understand the attitude of Seagram's board of directors, which was very important at a critical moment.

"Hahahaha..." The two "good friends", each with their own ulterior motives, ended this brief but important meeting.