[TL/N: I'm changing the name of Westeros Company to Westeros Cooperation.]
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Since the two were already living together, Janet was completely up to speed on the distribution progress of Run Lola Run. Thus, the next day, the woman took over everything with virtually no obstacles.
Simon had originally planned to stick around and help her transition for a few days, but she flatly refused.
Janet's reasoning was compelling: with Simon by her side, she was prone to softening, unable to perform at her full potential.
Simon didn't know how Janet worked her magic. But on the following Thursday afternoon, after the first formal negotiation on the subsequent distribution rights, Mike Medavoy called in a rush, his tone carrying a hint of aggrieved complaint about how Janet was being utterly unreasonable and so on, hoping Simon would step in personally again and not let a woman run amok.
Though somewhat skeptical, Simon wasn't about to rashly take Mike Medavoy's word for it.
However, after work that day, before Simon could even ask about Janet's morning negotiations, the woman had already brought back another contract: Mattel had bought out the doll distribution rights for the series of characters from Run Lola Run for $2.3 million.
Even with the film's box office explosion, the peripheral rights for Run Lola Run were nowhere near comparable to a super IP like Star Wars.
Moreover, as a toy company primarily producing Barbie dolls, Mattel was clearly only interested in Lola's character image; figures like Manni obviously wouldn't appeal to consumers. Therefore, Janet had essentially sold the rights to a single Lola doll for $2.3 million, far exceeding Simon's expectations.
Based on some industry data, Simon's highest prior estimate for this deal had been around $1.5 million.
Given that, Simon naturally no longer doubted Janet's abilities and handed everything over to her with complete confidence.
In addition, Simon subsequently made appropriate adjustments to the two companies under his control.
Through a series of left-hand-to-right-hand maneuvers, revenues from box office shares, buyouts, and peripherals related to Run Lola Run were all transferred from Daenerys Films to Westeros Corporation.
This separation was to accommodate Amy's contract; the two had agreed on this before signing, and Amy's 5% company net profit share did not include revenues from Run Lola Run.
Immediately following, to avoid further financial entanglements with Janet, Simon drafted a formal supplemental contract under Westeros Corporation's name: as the investor holding 61.5% of the shares, Janet's profit share from Run Lola Run only needed to be settled by December 31 of this year.
This supplemental contract meant that until the settlement of the funds, Westeros Corporation could freely use the money for reinvestment, and any additional profits generated would not need to be shared with Janet.
Simon also planned to engage in stock index futures operations under Westeros Corporation's name in the second half of the year, along with even more investment moves thereafter.
With these two aspects sorted, the potential interest conflicts lurking around Simon due to Run Lola Run's unexpected massive success were thoroughly resolved.
Deep down, Simon was ultimately someone who lacked a sense of security.
If he didn't handle these matters, he even worried he might end up in the scenario described by the male lead in When Harry Met Sally: one day the two fall out of love, turn against each other, and then hysterically waste $1,000 in phone bills arguing over who gets an $8 dinner plate.
Janet clearly saw this aspect of Simon's personality, which was why she tirelessly wrote out IOUs for him to fingerprint. She knew that doing so wouldn't make Simon resist; instead, it would put him at ease.
While Simon was adjusting the two companies under his control, with Janet taking on the distribution work for Run Lola Run, many other matters began advancing with greater efficiency.
Mattel was extremely eager to launch the Lola dolls quickly, which was entirely understandable.
Thus, after signing the contract, they transferred the $2.3 million to Westeros Corporation's account within three days. Simon then injected $1 million into Daenerys Films in the form of a loan, allowing Amy Pascal to finally stop paying for an assistant out of her own pocket, and the company began formally hiring more staff.
With funds in hand, Amy quickly secured the script for When Harry Met Sally. The final price was $150,000—not cheap, but certainly not expensive for Simon.
However, to acquire the script, Daenerys Films promised Nora Ephron that the project would launch within a year, with a production budget of no less than $10 million.
If breached, the script rights would automatically revert to her.
As for Pulp Fiction, with no need to juggle the distribution of Run Lola Run, Simon produced the first draft of the script within the following week.
Though Orion Pictures was highly skeptical of the project, Jonathan Friedman still negotiated a deal for Simon comparable to that of Final Destination.
It was also a $20 million guarantee.
For box office above $20 million, Simon would receive 10% of North American box office share and 5% of North American video sales share.
Though Run Lola Run's box office success had many flukes, it was ultimately poised to be this year's North American box office champion. Thus, Simon securing a top-tier director's salary was more than justified.
Orion signed Simon for his next film with a base salary of $500,000, but since no profit-sharing terms had been set initially, they could only offer a sharing agreement matching his current stature.
Of course, this contract differed markedly from Final Destination: Simon's video sales share was limited to North America only. Because Orion, unlike Fox, lacked global distribution capabilities.
Additionally, Orion required the project budget to be controlled within $8 million.
If exceeded, for every $1 million over, Simon's shares in both aspects would decrease by 1% and 0.5% respectively, calculated by rounding up. However, Orion also promised to provide certain sharing terms for big-name stars willing to take pay cuts to participate.
Finally, Final Destination progressed the most smoothly.
The company quickly selected a director: Wes Craven, who had helped New Line Cinema produce A Nightmare on Elm Street a few years back, and whose personal style was a perfect fit for Final Destination.
Moreover, Wes Craven was also a WMA client. Despite the success of A Nightmare on Elm Street, the film he directed for Warner last year, Deadly Friend, had been tepid, with box office just reaching the break-even line.
With introductions from both agents, Simon and Wes Craven had dinner together, discussed the project in detail, and the matter was settled.
Speaking of which, Simon naturally remembered clearly that Wes Craven was also the director of the famous Scream series in the nineties.
Simon hadn't immediately brought out Scream for reasons similar to choosing Pulp Fiction as his second film. Projects with higher box office potential should be saved for himself as much as possible. In recent years, lacking funds and channels, Simon could only collaborate with other film companies for now, with the lion's share of profits going to them.
On Janet's side, after securing the first peripheral buyout contract, the woman subsequently negotiated deals for the soundtrack album, video game, and other peripheral product licenses for Run Lola Run, bringing in over $8 million more for Westeros Corporation.
On April 6, Orion Pictures finally compromised, buying the North American video and TV distribution rights for Run Lola Run at a high price of $35 million. On April 9, the film's overseas rights were bought by Warner Bros. for the same $35 million.
Though these two buyout payments would take a month to arrive in installments, the total $70 million income exceeded Simon's initial expectations by a full $10 million.
Adding the $20 million loan already deposited into Simon's personal account by Wells Fargo, and the expected $30 million box office share when Run Lola Run finishes its North American theatrical run in a few months, even after necessary expenses, Simon could amass over $120 million for the stock index futures operations in October.
During this period when Simon and Janet were dividing tasks and busily working, the 59th Academy Awards ceremony concluded smoothly.
Orion Pictures' Platoon unsurprisingly won major awards like Best Picture and Best Director, and the film's box office had just crossed the $100 million mark recently.
Meanwhile, after $23.36 million in the sixth week's seven days, Run Lola Run added $21.22 million and $16.34 million in the seventh and eighth weeks respectively. As of April 9, the film's North American cumulative box office had reached $146.79 million.
Though the weekly drop was starting to widen, the total box office surpassing $200 million was all but certain. What everyone was curious about was just how high the final cumulative would go.
And so it continued until April 10.
The first week of the Easter season, Simon's second film since arriving in this era, The Butterfly Effect, finally hit theaters.
Though internal test screenings had consistently received poor word-of-mouth from critics, considering the popularity boost from Run Lola Run, Fox still arranged 1,263 opening screens for The Butterfly Effect.
As a reasonably hot season, The Butterfly Effect naturally wasn't alone.
Opening alongside it was The Secret of My Success, starring Back to the Future's Michael J. Fox, a comedy produced by Universal Pictures with 1,336 opening screens and a production cost of $12 million—slightly superior in all aspects to The Butterfly Effect.
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