Chapter 240 Movie Hegemony in Hand
The purpose of actively looking for Kodak was, of course, to monopolize, monopolize, and monopolize again. No business is more profitable than monopoly. Sheffield Film Patent Company has a large number of patents in the film industry. But it is not impeccable. This is best illustrated by the example of Rockefeller Jr. telling about the steel dispute between Rockefeller and Carnegie.
Carnegie believed that iron ore was not as precious as coke, so he valued coke more than the other two important raw materials, thinking that iron ore would not be considered a weakness. However, this weakness was discovered by Rockefeller Sr., and eventually became the trump card to break Carnegie's steel empire.
Eventually, the two men reconciled, and Carnegie also secretly resolved his hatred with the Rockefeller family. Otherwise, the steel king might have been replaced a few years earlier, and he would not have waited for Morgan to launch this offensive.
Sheffield Motion Picture Patent Company was impeccable in terms of film patents, but film was needed for film shooting, and the most suitable film was in the hands of Kodak. In 1884, Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company was established, and the company changed from a partnership to a joint-stock company with $200,000 in assets and 14 shareholders. Eastman negative film was launched. Mr. Eastman and his colleague William H. Walker invented the negative paper roll.
In 1885, Eastman Film, the first transparent photographic "film" in the United States, was launched. This film was used until the 21st century. Kodak also opened a wholesale office in London, England.
If he wanted to establish a dominant position in the film industry, the only place where he could be constrained was in film. After learning that Carnegie had almost failed, Sheffield became even more cautious and examined any omissions in his own industry.
"That Olympic champion movie also owes a lot to Kodak." Sheffield spoke slowly, looking at George Eastman. "Although it seems that the relationship between movies and film manufacturers is not direct, as a very successful businessman, George Eastman should understand that the development of related industries will drive the development of the original industry. For example, in the steel industry, if there is only iron ore but no coke technology, the steel produced may not be accepted."
George Eastman nodded, acknowledging that Sheffield's words made sense, and praised, "If Harry knew that his son had such a vision, he would definitely be very happy."
"Well, let's not talk about my father. If he was willing to work harder, I wouldn't have to bear all the responsibilities that are not my age so early, and carry the burden forward!" When Sheffield heard the other party mention the old man, there was a trace of embarrassment on his face, and he continued, "So my purpose is very simple. The Film Patent Company and Kodak Film will cooperate to jointly dominate everything in the film market. I wonder what George Eastman thinks of this suggestion?"
The difference between the first monopolist and the new entrant is the difficulty of entry. If Coca-Cola raises its price significantly, resulting in a huge increase in gross profit, investors from other industries can enter and share a piece of the pie. In fact, if Coca-Cola has some ideas in its pricing strategy: selling at a price that causes a slight loss to small and medium-sized beverage companies, few competitors will be able to compete with it.
This is the current position of Kodak in the film industry. As it is already a leading company in the film industry, it is natural that partners will come to it. It is very normal that the first person is Sheffield, because his film patent company is related to the film industry.
For Sheffield, the film industry is a very fulfilling career. After all, the sense of accomplishment of being the only one who feeds shit is extraordinary. Once hegemony is achieved in the film industry, many things can be changed imperceptibly, and the citizens can be brainwashed. If that doesn't work, you can learn from your Korean counterparts. Can you find a Korean movie where the chaebol is the biggest villain, and in the end the chaebol is thrown into jail and the group collapses?
On the contrary, most of the chaebols are positive characters, and even the negative characters are individual cases. They are chaebols in the eyes of ordinary people and ordinary people in the eyes of real chaebols.
The benefit to Kodak is that it can extract some extra benefits from the film industry.
Sure enough, George Eastman was very interested in this. It can be said that he now had a sense of happiness as if a pie was hit by a pie. Someone took the initiative to invite him and give him money. Is there anything happier than this?
Surrounded by a huge sense of happiness, George Eastman even felt that as long as there were patent fees, all of this would not be a problem. He said, "It is surprising that Mr. William took the initiative to mention patent fees. If our country is full of honest businessmen like Mr. William, the country will definitely develop better."
If you can talk, talk more! Sheffield accepted all the compliments from George Eastman, and even thought it was not enough, boasting, "Everyone knows that United has always been a model of law-abidingness in the business field. We have great respect for knowledge, and we know that every patent is the result of the hard work of many researchers. How can we turn a blind eye to it? Besides, United is a large company that plays a leading role in social trends, and we dare not make mistakes on this issue."
Everyone can say this truth, and even the people of the Soviet system can speak up for themselves. Sheffield is certainly an expert in self-praise. It was obvious that he was attracted by Edith Rockefeller's body curves, but he insisted on saying that she was moving forward with a heavy burden.
"I plan to use 1% of the box office revenue of profitable movies as royalties. I hope Kodak can support the newly emerging film industry and exclude other competitors." Sheffield said righteously, "The film industry is a new industry. The current profits are not high and need some protection. The current royalties may not be much, but considering the bright prospects, Kodak will not suffer any loss."
What was the total box office of Hollywood last year? It was 4 million US dollars. That means Kodak could get 40,000 US dollars in royalties based on last year's box office. In fact, it is impossible because many movies don't make money. Sheffield said that most movies lose money, which means Kodak can only collect less than 20,000 US dollars in royalties.
Considering Kodak's current position in the film industry, this number is really not that much, and compared with the cameras sold, it is even more like a drop in the bucket.
Sure enough, when George Eastman heard this number, his joy was diluted a lot. He was no longer in the period when he started his business with only 3,000 US dollars after saving up several years of salary. 10,000 or 20,000 US dollars was a huge sum of money for ordinary people, but for Kodak, it was not a particularly big profit. It would be better to have some, but it was nothing if he didn't.
"I am reasonable about supporting emerging industries. This is not off the table." George Eastman groaned, and when he looked up, he suddenly remembered that this was the Rockefeller estate. He was so focused on the royalties that he forgot who it belonged to. He changed the subject and said, "Okay, let's finalize the contract based on what Mr. William said. This is also my optimism about the development of the film industry."
"Mr. George Eastman, thank you very much. I must say that the prospects of the film industry are very good." Sheffield said without caring what George Eastman thought, "With the support of Kodak film, this small tree will surely grow into a towering tree one day and give you rich rewards."
Although he does not think highly of Hollywood's hegemony, the United States has the best national strength and economy in the world, and offers the best treatment, which will certainly attract talents from many countries to come to this country for development.
Everything is about money. A big reward will attract a brave man. With such a country as its backing, Hollywood should certainly become the hegemon of world cinema. In Sheffield's eyes, the various Hollywood comic adaptations in the 21st century are relatively declining compared to the era of various classic movies back then.
This is also closely related to the economic problems of the United States. But now, it is the rising period of the United States, and Hollywood will only become more and more prosperous, attracting handsome men and beautiful women from the whole country, and even the whole world, to come and become famous overnight.
In the Rockefeller estate, Sheffield and George Eastman, on behalf of Sheffield Film Patent Company and Kodak, signed a contract on exclusive film usage fees. While using Kodak film, they provided additional usage fees, and the condition was that Kodak could not give the same treatment to other filmmakers and Hollywood films.
The contract was signed and both parties were very satisfied with it. This was another contract that formed an alliance between consumers and users.
Now Sheffield can say that the film industry will become the industry over which he has the strongest control, but he will not exhaust all the resources. Making money from movies is the best, but not having any is also fine. The greatest benefit of movies is that they have a subtle guiding effect on citizens, and his understanding of this point has never changed.
"You seem very happy!" Edith Rockefeller saw Sheffield return with a smile and guessed that the negotiation must have gone very smoothly. "So, are you planning to go to Arlington or Los Angeles now?"
"Let's see! I can still send you back to Chicago, that's not impossible!" Sheffield said with a smile, "I'm actually much more interested in emerging industries than traditional industries. The film industry is one example. Now I have finally reached an unparalleled position in an industry. Although this industry is still small, I believe the future is in my hands."
After the contract with Kodak, the film hegemony was in Sheffield's hands. This was the first industry in which he had achieved impeccable success. If there was any weakness, it was the weakness that any capitalist should avoid: greed! Don't rely on monopoly to drain the pond for fish.
(End of this chapter)
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