Chapter 76 76. The problems of the times can only be left to the times (please subscribe, please reward)

Ashley Olsen seemed to have made a great decision and asked: "Do you have a script? Can you let us take a look first? Don't worry, I promise that there will be no leaks."

Eric sneered in his heart, thinking, am I afraid that you will leak the secret? I am worried that with your vision, you two can't tell the good from the bad.

But he still called Chen Xing in: "Notify Judy and ask her to bring the script of "Blue Is the Warmest Color" and find a makeup artist to come over."

"Okay, boss!"

As for the script, Eric found time to write it while filming Transformers. Since it is an art film, the dialogues are of paramount importance.

The film is based on the comic book "Blue is a Warm Color" by French writer Julie Marlot, but it was not released in 2003.

Without the original work as a basis, he was worried about writing an outline and giving it to the screenwriter to fill in, because different people have different abilities to understand, especially for art films, and it's just an outline.

Unable to trust others with the film, Eric could only rack his brains to recall the plot. Fortunately, this film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film that year and the Palme d'Or, and their small circle had studied it carefully and watched it many times.

Therefore, I can recall all the classic scenes and lines, and as for the details, it is not a problem to ask the screenwriter to fill them in.

After a while, Judy walked into the office with the script. The Olsen sisters had their backs to her, and she didn't recognize them from their backs.

"My boss, you've come back for this script three times, and each time you just added or deleted some dialogues. I knew it was not the time to find a screenwriter yet, and you would definitely come back for a fourth time. Facts have proved that my judgment was correct."

As she said this, she put the script on the table, turned around and saw the Olsen sisters. She felt that the twins in front of her looked familiar.

"Oh, let me think about it, I will definitely remember it."

The Olsen sisters smiled at the woman in front of them, who seemed to be a few years older than them, but they had encountered this situation many times.

Trying hard to recall, Judy patted her head and said doubtfully, "It's the Olsen sisters. You are the Olsen sisters. Yes, it's you."

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you apart. You're Mary Olsen and you're Ashley, right?"

The two sisters pointed at each other and said, "It seems like you made a mistake."

"Oh sorry sorry, I differentiated you in this way in my mind, Mary's chin should be more pointed, look at my eyes, it seems that it needs to see a doctor."

Judy said this as she looked back and forth at the Olsen sisters. She felt something sensitive fluttering in her heart. This was the feeling she always had when she saw a beautiful woman.

Although her relationship with Bar Refaeli has made a breakthrough, it does not prevent her from liking other beauties.

No, this should be called appreciation.

After looking for a while, she turned to look at Eric, a light flashed through her mind, and she suddenly screamed.

"OMG! You guys are not going to be in this show, Eric, Ashley and Mary are going to be in Blue Is the Warmest Color, right?"

Eric understood the excitement of being a lesbian, but being startled was really embarrassing. He waved his hand and said, "Judy, you've said enough. You can go out now."

Judy stepped back a few steps and stood in the corner, whispering an apology like a minion: "I'll just stand here and won't disturb you. Please don't kick me out. I like this scene."

Mary Olsen looked at her helplessly: "We just want to take a look at the script. We haven't confirmed that we will act in it."

"Okay, you can take a look at the script first. Although it's not perfect yet, the general plot is as follows. I drew those storyboards, so it's easy to understand."

The two sisters thanked him and looked through the film carefully. According to Eric, this play could help them win the highest award in the film and television industry, so the Olsen sisters looked at the film very carefully.

Feeling that it would take a while, Eric walked out of the office directly.

Seeing the boss coming out, Chen Xing followed him directly. As a secretary, he had to stay by the boss' side at all times.

Looking at the young Chinese man in front of him who was several years older than him, Eric shook his head slightly.

Although Chen Xing is very diligent and has a good understanding, he has been with me for too short a time and has only done some basic work before. It is still too early for him to be able to take charge of his own affairs. It will take at least two years.

"You stay here and watch. Call me after the Olsen sisters have read the script."

"Okay, boss."

Eric went directly to the upper floor and arrived outside his father's office a moment later.

My dad's secretary is a woman, nearly 40 years old, named Susan. She has rich work experience and used to work in the Finance Department. Later she was transferred here to be a secretary.

As far as Eric knows, Susan has been with her father for more than five years.

Generally speaking, it is impossible for a person to work as a secretary for five years. Three years is a long time. He or she will either be demoted to a more important position or be fired for lack of ability or assigned to a sinecure.

It was rare for someone like Susan to do this for five years, and Eric suspected that his father had some improper relationship with her.

After all, although this woman is almost forty years old, she is still beautiful and has a nice figure, a big breast, and wears glasses without prescription all day long.

Many people like girls wearing glasses, as it adds a touch of intellectual beauty to themselves and is said to increase attack speed.

Seeing Eric coming, Susan hurriedly opened the door and saw her father reading a document.

He looked up and saw his son coming. He signed his name on the document and handed it to Susan: "Ask Xiu Lun to revise this agreement again."

Susan closed the door and left, and Charlie Cooper asked, "Eric, what's going on?"

He found a seat and sat down: "Dad, do you remember what I told you about the Huaxia branch before?"

Dad nodded: "Remember, what do you want to do?"

"These past few days, a company called Xinghui from Hong Kong has come to us to solicit investment. It's the document I showed you yesterday."

"Well, that Stephen Chow, right? A $22 million investment. Since you think highly of him, I feel relieved."

"Yes, I asked him to act as a matchmaker in the Chinese mainland. Stephen has connections with the top executives of Huaying Group. I think this is a good opportunity."

"Huaying Group? It's the company that controls imported movies, right? I've heard of it, but I've never dealt with it. Huaxia's market share is too low, and it's far from being developed."

"Yes, if you only think about the box office, there is not much money to be made in the Chinese mainland, but I want to expand other businesses there."

"What?"

"Obtain land and build a factory, establish our own factory, and develop DVD business and peripheral businesses."

At this point, my dad immediately understood: "You want to sell Transformers peripherals over there?"

"It's not just Transformers, there are also peripheral products that have emerged from various subsequent movies."

Hearing this, my father hesitated: "I know what you think, including what you said about Double Star Entertainment not long ago, but piracy is too serious in China, so this may not be a good choice."

"No matter how serious it is, it's not as serious as in the United States, right? We are the world's number one pirated country." Eric laughed.

The issue of piracy has always been the biggest enemy of the film and television industry.

To be more precise, it's not just movies and TV shows. Songs, games, books, toys, everything can be pirated.

For film and television companies, the most hated are undoubtedly the producers of pirated discs.

A genuine disc costs more than ten dollars, while a pirated disc only costs five dollars. For most people, the question of which one to choose is clear.

Even though the clarity of pirated discs may not be high, and even the plot may be incomplete, with the beginning or some of the middle plot cut out, cheapness is the most winning magic weapon.

Before the time travel, when Eric was a child, pirated discs were very common in roadside mobile stalls or street-side audio-visual stores.

In big cities, you can buy a more expensive ticket for 5 yuan, and in small counties, 2 yuan per ticket is the standard price.

Often, a movie is just released and can be circulated in the market within no more than two days.

This problem exists not only in China, but all over the world. The piracy problem in the United States is also very serious.

Even though the law imposes strict penalties on pirates, the huge profits cannot be stopped, and the market cannot be destroyed. After being eliminated openly, they will go underground.

What can truly kill pirated discs is the development of the Internet. The rise of video websites has gradually made discs become a thing of the past.

Although discs are still in circulation since then, most of them are commemorative editions released by major manufacturers, and people usually buy them home to collect them.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

All the major Hollywood companies are having a headache over how to crack down on pirates.

"Dad, I just don't understand. Since piracy is so harmful, why doesn't Hollywood unite to resist piracy?"

Hearing this question, Charlie Cooper said helplessly: "Of course we have thought about it. Everyone is looking for effective methods, but the results are still limited."

"I once had this idea, which is to unite all the companies in Hollywood and jointly support a large factory to license genuine products at low prices, and drive those pirates out of the market by offering lower prices than pirated products."

Eric nodded: "That's a great suggestion. I've had this thought before. What then?"

"Then? Of course, that's impossible to achieve because there are too many obstacles. First of all, all the major companies need to speak with one voice, but this step is already difficult to achieve."

"Why?"

"Because of the interests, although everyone is affected by piracy, the extent of the losses suffered is not the same. For companies with less losses, the cost of doing this is greater than being pirated."

"Then there are internal issues. Do you really think that all pirates are enemies? Of course not. Many pirates are actually backed by senior executives of major companies."

“Remember Gosling Ferrer?”

"The former head of marketing at MGM?"

"Yes, that's him. As far as I know, he runs a pirated copyright factory behind the scenes. It damages the interests of MGM, but the money goes into his own pocket."

"These parasites, they were let off easily, and we even gave them compensation!" Eric cursed.

Dad sighed and said, "This is just my guess. I don't have any concrete evidence. However, this phenomenon exists in many companies."

"I just mentioned the internal reasons of the company. Then there are external reasons. That is, if you spend a lot of money to drive those pirates out of the market, then what do you want to do? Will you still sell at a low price?"

"Of course not, at least restore the original price, otherwise why do all this?"

Dad smiled and said, "Then the problem arises again. When we restore the price, the market will return to its previous state. Many low-income people cannot afford genuine products."

"Someone has to meet the needs of this group of people, so it won't be long before the pirates reappear and everything goes back to zero."

"In this process, we have to spend a lot of time and money, but the result is likely to keep everything the same. People who can afford to buy genuine products will still buy genuine products, and people who can't afford to buy pirated products will still find ways to buy them. So what is the point of doing this?"

"So the consensus of all the major companies is to make genuine products better and more sophisticated in order to secure our core customers. For those users who don't belong to us, no matter how hard you try, they still don't belong to you."

What his father said opened Eric's eyes. When he thought about it carefully, it was true. The target groups of genuine and pirated products are inherently different. If it is not yours, it will not be yours no matter how hard you try.

"Dad, how about we make pirated copies too? I mean the same quality as those pirated discs, with the beginning and the end cut out and the plot incomplete."

Dad sighed and said, "I've thought about this idea, but first of all, piracy is illegal, you have to understand this."

"Of course, pirating your own company's works is not illegal, but if you only target your own company, you will have no market competitiveness in the face of Hollywood's hundreds of years of film library."

"So you need to unite the major companies, but then the problem is back to square one. The losses suffered by everyone are not the same, and it is impossible to achieve unity. This is a dead end."

"So piracy is allowed, it is a product of market rules and no one can stop it. What we can do is to crack down on it as much as possible and try to reduce some losses."

After hearing his father's analysis, Eric became desperate.

Maybe it’s just as he said, the problems of the times can only be left to the times, and the problems of development can only be left to development.

When the times enter a new era, there will be no need to crack down on it, and the piracy problem will disappear on its own.

"By the way, how's the Transformers filming going?"

"Everything is going well. We are currently filming the campus part in Santa Rosa. Patty Jenkins is there. It's fine."

At this time , the phone rang. It was Chen Xing calling.

"Boss, the Olsen sisters have finished reading the script."

"Got it. Let them wait for a moment. I'll be back soon."

After hanging up the phone, Eric talked about the core issue.

"Dad, the business in China will be launched sooner or later. After all, Disney, Paramount, New Line, Universal, etc. all have offices or branches. We can't fall behind."

"But the person in charge of the branch company still needs you to make the decision."

"It's a difficult question. Who do you think is the right person? For most people, they don't think it's a good job."

"I don't know either. Although Billy likes to fly around, he is too young to afford a company. I need your support."

After hesitating for a while, Dad looked through the glass and looked out the door: "How is Susan?"

"Can she?" Eric frowned.

"You can rest assured about her abilities. Do you know why I have kept her by my side?"

"It's not because she's too bad, but because she's so useful. Susan is the most capable of all my secretaries, and I can't bear to let her go."

"Really? She's so amazing! Is she good at her job or is she good in other areas?"

"You stinky boy! Get out of here!"

(End of this chapter)