Chapter 81 81. I will do my best to protect you from the wind and rain outside
After leaving the crew of "The Walking Dead", Eric went to the crew of "Legally Blonde 2" nearby.
This project started in mid-January, but since it is a sequel, we have experience in filming.
And the final decision was not made after Eric came, so he never paid much attention to it. The producer reported the progress twice, but he didn't pay much attention to it.
Today I suddenly remembered that the heroine of this movie is Reese Witherspoon, the famous Hollywood sweetheart.
What established her sweetheart status was the 2001 "Legally Blonde", which also made Witherspoon a famous movie star.
In 1999, she also guest-starred as Rachel's sister in "Friends". At that time, Jennifer Aniston was America's sweetheart.
By 2001, both were sweethearts, but unfortunately, development had already highlighted the gap, and this gap will widen further in the future.
While Aniston still can’t get out of the small screen, Witherspoon has spread her wings on the big screen.
On the set, Eric and Witherspoon shook hands, with the latter extending her hand first. This was also the first time the two met.
"Reese Witherspoon, just call me Reese."
The blonde beauty smiled sweetly, and her little face had a naughty baby fat.
"Eric Cooper, it's the first time we meet, but I'm sure we'll get to know each other better in the future."
Releasing his hand, Eric asked, "Where's the director? Where's Charles Winfield?"
The assistant director next to him quickly replied: "He went to the bathroom. It seems that he had a stomachache last night."
"Is it serious? If it's not serious, you should go see a doctor. There's no rush to film for a day."
Eric showed care at the right time, and with his handsome appearance, there was no trace of the exploitative capitalist temperament.
Several people around couldn't help but sigh in their hearts, what a good man he is. Other companies are desperately trying to push for payment, and one day's delay means one day's money is wasted. Mr. Cooper is too kind.
However, the old employees of MGM disagreed. They knew very well that the guy in front of them fired more than half of the senior executives on the first day he took over the company.
He would rather pay money than let those people go, which shows how cruel he is.
After chatting for a few words, Witherspoon suddenly said with some gratitude: "Eric, I've always wanted to thank you."
"What! Why? This should be the first time we meet, are we childhood sweethearts? Have I helped you before?" Eric asked curiously.
Witherspoon laughed and said, "Of course not. I heard that you killed a lot of scripts when you took office. Of course I have to thank you for keeping Legally Blonde."
Eric suddenly realized that Witherspoon's masterpiece now is "Legally Blonde" and her position is not yet consolidated.
If I cancel the sequel, she will probably cry her heart out. If she is unlucky and doesn't get a good script, it will take her years to recover and she may gradually become a nobody.
"Reese, this is what you deserve. The ones I rejected only mean they are terrible, and you are excellent. I admire you very much and am optimistic about your future development."
Hearing this, Witherspoon's pupils shrank sharply, and Eric noticed that her hands also trembled suddenly.
Realizing he had said the wrong thing, Eric hastily added: "Of course, I'm talking about acting."
Witherspoon smiled somewhat stiffly. Seeing the other party like this, Eric didn't want to stay any longer.
At this time, director Charles Winfield came out of the bathroom holding his stomach. Just as he was about to come over to say hello, he saw Eric turn around and leave, and touched his head in confusion.
In the car, Eric suddenly remembered the "me too" movement before the time travel, which was a storm of female boxing.
Many Hollywood female stars have used this movement to speak out about their experiences of persecution, and this movement has also directly and indirectly sent Harvey Weinstein to prison.
Reese Witherspoon had already transformed into a producer and boss at the time, and she also talked about her own shameful past.
She is an example of what will happen to a beautiful girl without any background if she enters the entertainment industry.
When Witherspoon was 16 years old, she received a call from the director and went for the audition with high spirits. Unfortunately, she was sexually assaulted when she arrived.
When she told her agent about it, the agent didn't care at all and just told her that if she wanted to survive in this circle, she had to learn to accept the unspoken rules.
In the following years, she did not produce any good works. It was said that it was because she did not want to accept the unspoken rules, so she could not get good resources.
But even so, she still suffered some sexual assaults during that period until she starred in "Legally Blonde" and became famous.
At this point, ordinary directors and producers no longer have the ability to take advantage of her.
But Eric is different. He has enough power to make Witherspoon obey.
So hearing the words "I admire you" should have awakened the unbearable memories deep in my heart.
Two days later, Frank Darabont came to the MGM building with a rough cut of the first episode of The Walking Dead. Dad had some rare time today, so he also attended the internal preview.
The rough cut of the first episode is only 45 minutes long, and although the rendering of the apocalyptic feeling is a bit lacking, this can be supplemented in post-production.
And this flaw doesn't matter, the zombies rushing over don't give the audience any time to think.
After watching it, everyone applauded Darabont.
Volvo, the marketing director who had been skeptical about the project, also expressed his excitement and praise.
Eric gave Darabont a thumbs up: "Frank, like I said, I have full confidence in your ability!"
Darabont grinned: "Hahaha, this is all thanks to the excellent script and financial support provided by MGM. A TV series invested 40 million US dollars. I know what that means. Many movies starring big-name stars can't get this kind of funding."
“And I have a feeling that The Walking Dead will be my most satisfying work after The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.”
Eric looked at everyone and said, "Does anyone have any other opinions? You can raise them now."
Everyone looked at each other, but no one said anything.
"In that case, contact HBO, Shoutime, Starz, Amc, FX, in short, contact all the cable stations."
"Contact was made within a week, and with the quality of The Walking Dead, I guess they're not fools."
"Volvo, today is Tuesday, and I need to get quotes and offers from all cable stations by next Friday."
Volvo nodded: "No problem, I will give you the results as soon as possible."
"By the way, don't forget to tell them that MGM is planning to use this drama to compete for the Emmy Awards, so the broadcast time is also an important factor for us to consider."
"clear!"
Everyone dispersed, leaving only Cooper and his son.
"Dad, how is the Double Star Entertainment going?"
"It's being pushed forward. I have contacted a private equity fund. They are very professional in doing this kind of thing. There will be results soon."
"Also, I have something to ask you, Eric. I heard from Kenny that you asked him to contact someone in Silicon Valley. Do you have any plans? What do you want to do? Do technological research and development?"
Even if his father didn't ask about this matter, Eric would find time to talk to him. There was nothing to hide between the father and son.
"Dad, I plan to enter the Internet field, but it's just a preliminary idea. I think I will report to you when it matures."
Dad frowned. "Internet! This is not a good time. The stock market crash just ended. It's like a restricted area. And it's expanding too fast. I'm worried that MGM's funds will be tight."
"The company needs money for many reasons. We have loans to repay and we need to acquire shares of Double Star Entertainment. In addition, we are discussing cooperation with DreamWorks."
"If you want to buy stocks, I have no objection. Microsoft, Oracle, and Google are all high-quality resources that the market generally favors. Forget about Yahoo, as it is in trouble right now."
Eric shook his head slightly: "Dad, you misunderstood. I don't mean to buy stocks. Of course, you can buy stocks, but that's not the point."
"What do you want to do?"
"What I want is to truly enter the Internet field, build my own Internet company, and develop a social network and network platform that belongs only to us."
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Dad hesitated for a moment, as if thinking carefully about his words, but still looked at Eric in confusion: "I don't understand what you are talking about. We also have an online platform. We have our own official website, isn't that it?"
As a middle-aged man in his fifties, or someone who is about to enter old age, Charlie Cooper is naturally slow in accepting new things.
This is a common problem among people. They live in their own life experiences and don't want to accept new things from the bottom of their hearts.
Because those new things are likely to destroy their cognition and even the empire they have built.
A good example of this is media tycoon Murdoch.
In another five or six years, the development of online media will reach a new height, and traditional paper media will face the danger of being eliminated.
But for Murdoch, who started his career with print media, abandoning the newspapers and newspaper industries that he is proud of would definitely be cutting his flesh, even if the profits of these industries are already low or they are losing money.
But what is the result?
Murdoch was forced to step down by his son and many senior executives, and was determined to cut the print media business out of the group.
In the end, even this man who holds the key to public opinion and can influence the presidential election had to make compromises.
He left a reserve of $2.6 billion for his print media empire, hoping to be able to rise from the ashes.
Other print media groups, on the other hand, all suffered the fate of being abandoned, with the worst being Newsweek, which was sold for $1.
Yes, it is 1 US dollar, because the foreign debt is too much.
Pulling my thoughts back to the point, if I want my father to support me, I still have to explain the reason to him. He may not understand if you tell him the development trend of the Internet, so I have to say something more practical.
"Dad, the reason why I want to enter the Internet field is actually for the development of MGM."
"Especially through the production of The Walking Dead, this feeling is particularly strong. I ask you, the TV series has been produced, why can't we broadcast it ourselves? Why sell it to those TV stations?"
"Because we don't have a broadcasting channel, if we don't sell it to TV stations, wouldn't the investment be wasted? Everyone does this."
Dad answered without hesitation that the pattern had been fixed in his mind for decades and it felt reasonable.
But Eric, the time traveler, definitely felt that it was unreasonable. He continued to ask: "So why don't we build our own channel?"
Dad laughed: "Eric, that's impossible. Do you know how difficult it is to set up a TV station? Do you know how much capital reserves are needed?"
“Even if we have enough funds, you still have to communicate with major local TV stations and then build your own TV network.”
"Then you will have to face the siege from the existing TV stations. They will not allow a newcomer to cut the cake. It is absolutely impossible."
"Under the pressure from these established TV stations, I'm afraid no local TV station will sign a contract with us."
Eric nodded: "Yes, I understand, and we all know that these TV stations are backed by major groups."
"Behind FX is Fox, and behind Fox is Murdoch, who also has our rival 20th Century Fox under him; behind AMC is Rainbow Media, and behind Rainbow Media is CVC Group;"
"NBC is backed by General Electric; HBO belongs to Time Warner, which also owns our rival Warner Pictures; Starz is backed by Liberty Media; Shoutime is backed by Viacom."
"In short, behind every TV station you can think of is a powerful capital group. We can't compete with them, at least not at the moment."
"But I am unwilling to accept this. I don't want to sell the TV series and movies I worked so hard to make to them. This is equivalent to making money for our competitors."
"So I want to build an online platform, or more precisely, an online on-demand platform, to broadcast our works on our platform. This is my idea, and it is also based on the general trend of the development of the Internet."
"Dad, in the near future, the Internet will be the only way out and one of the few opportunities we can seize."
Looking at his son's excited tone, Charlie Cooper suddenly felt that he couldn't understand this child. He always felt that he was not like the child he had watched for more than 20 years.
It seemed that he had become a stranger since the balcony incident, as if he had become a different person, a different soul.
Suddenly he understood movies, and suddenly even the director and screenwriter knew how to do it. Everything was very strange.
How could Charlie Cooper not have doubts?
But when he heard Eric call him father, those doubts were dispelled.
But at this moment, he was still shocked. Having worked in the circle for decades, he could understand what Eric meant, but he did not expect that his son's ambition would be so big.
When he was satisfied with making MGM better, Eric's benchmark in his mind were those truly big groups.
He thought the idea was ridiculous and impossible to achieve.
But looking at his excited son, he felt that maybe it was not that his son was too arrogant, but that he was really old and no longer had the ambition he had when he was young.
Finally, Charlie Cooper sighed and said, "Eric, although I don't know much about the Internet, at least I know one thing. If you really want to set up an online viewing platform, we will definitely face a violent attack."
"Because this is subverting the foundation of all current film and television companies and TV stations. You are digging at their roots!"
"Deep down, I feel this is a wrong decision that could very well lead MGM to ruin."
"But as a father, I knew I had to support my son."
"So go ahead and do it. I'll do my best to keep you out of this storm until you drop."
(End of this chapter)