An open-air restaurant halfway up Beverly Hills.
In the rising sun, two Hollywood moguls, Barry Diller and Michael Eisner, sat leisurely on a terrace overlooking all of Los Angeles.
After ordering, Michael Eisner said to Barry Diller, "You probably haven't seen last week's box office report yet, have you? $13.88 million, with a cumulative total of $53.85 million over three weeks. Ronald Goldberg finally won't be so embarrassed this year".
Today is May 1st, Friday.
Michael Eisner didn't mention the film's name, but Barry Diller knew that the only film currently showing under Fox that could achieve a single-week box office exceeding $10 million in such an off-season slot was The Butterfly Effect.
Due to his focus on operating the Fox television network, Barry Diller hadn't paid much attention to the film business, and he pressed, "What about 'Run Lola Run'?"
Michael Eisner's expression became even more emotional. Shaking his head slightly, he said, "$7.59 million, with a cumulative total of $175.6 million. Orion might earn over $80 million just from the box office. Plus 'Platoon', Orion's stock price has tripled from February until now, and its market value is now close to $1 billion. I heard that Sumner Redstone and John Kluge are both planning to seize control of Orion".
Barry Diller also found it somewhat incredible. Thinking of a certain young man everyone had been talking about recently, he couldn't help but say, "What a miraculous Little fellow. Perhaps I should make time to meet him".
Michael Eisner smiled, "If you want to see him, you can come with me to Burbank later".
Barry Diller gave a puzzled look.
The waiter brought their breakfast at this moment, and the conversation paused for a moment. After the waiter left, Michael Eisner picked up his cutlery, ate his breakfast, and continued, "That Little fellow opened a production company, have you heard?"
Barry Diller smiled and nodded, "Of course, Daenerys Pictures. They even poached one of our vice presidents of production from Fox".
Michael Eisner showed a gloating smile and continued, "Daenerys Pictures is seeking distribution cooperation for a film, and Disney should be one of their choices. In addition, Simon Westeros also submitted an animated script to us, hoping to entrust Disney with its production. Amy Pascal and I have an appointment to discuss it formally today. I'll have someone make a call later and have Westeros come over".
Barry Diller nodded, paused, and then gently shook his head again.
The two had been colleagues since their ABC days, and Michael Eisner knew Barry Diller very well. Noticing his small action, he understood that his subsequent head shake was actually directed at Ronald Goldberg.
Simon Westeros has already collaborated with Fox Pictures on two films. While 'Final Destination' may still need verification, 'The Butterfly Effect' has been very successful. In this situation, Fox should have been Daenerys Pictures' best partner.
Now, Ronald Goldberg has clearly given up another opportunity.
Michael Eisner actually didn't think much of Ronald Goldberg either. However, he also understood the deep friendship between Ronald Goldberg and Barry Diller, so he said "This isn't Ronald's fault, actually. For that film, neither the director nor the screenwriter was Westeros himself, and the script was rather anti-mainstream. Daenerys Pictures was only willing to give up the domestic theatrical distribution rights and also wanted the Easter slot next year".
Barry Diller listened in silence and asked, "What about your side?"
"Next Easter, we originally planned to re-release Bambi, and adding a live-action film wouldn't create distribution pressure. Moreover, you must have seen 'Run Lola Run'. Although the success of this film had many accidental factors, Westeros's filmmaking skills are absolutely impeccable. I plan to take this opportunity to sign him for several film contracts". Michael Eisner finished, then smiled and said, "So, Barry, want to meet that Little fellow?"
...While Barry Diller and Michael Eisner were having breakfast, Simon woke up earlier in his Century City apartment.
The location, however, was the study.
Sighing that a bachelor's life was truly bleak, Simon tidied up the pile of financial books next to the sofa and stood up, walking to the whiteboard embedded in the study wall.
On the large whiteboard were two rough trend charts for the Dow Jones index and S&P 500 index for the next few months, surrounded by dense annotations in various languages including Chinese, French, Spanish, and Hebrew.
It was not easy to gather this information from over a dozen memories in his mind; sometimes it was just a fleeting thought. Therefore, Simon accumulated these over a week.
To be safe, Simon did not use English for the annotations, and the other languages were all suggestive phrases that only he could understand. Aside from the two index trend charts, even if others discovered them, it would likely be impossible to understand.
After observing for a while, he carefully wiped clean the two trend charts that had been drawn many times and were completely etched into his mind, leaving only the scattered text annotations, before Simon left the study.
The morning was originally scheduled for supporting actor auditions for 'Pulp Fiction', but Simon received a call from Amy during breakfast. Michael Eisner hoped he could personally participate in today's meeting, so he had to temporarily change his schedule.
At eight o'clock, Simon first met with Amy, then they rushed together to the Disney Company headquarters in Burbank.
The secretary led them to a conference room. Upon entering, Simon found that besides Michael Eisner, another middle-aged Man was also sitting at the conference table. Moreover, he immediately recognized the other's identity: Chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox, Barry Diller.
Everyone greeted each other. Simon shook hands with Michael Eisner, then extended his hand to Barry Diller, smiling, "Mr. Diller, it's a pleasure to meet you. Your high-concept film model has greatly benefited all of us filmmakers".
Barry Diller shook hands with Simon. Hearing this, he pointed to the script of when harry met sally he had just been flipping through and asked, slightly testing, "But, Simon, I found that several projects related to you are not high-concept films?"
Simon noticed that Amy and Eisner were both looking at him with interest, awaiting his answer. He replied with a relaxed smile, "Daenerys Pictures is still a little fellow, and little fellows can be more creative. Once it grows up, it will definitely have to conform to the rules".
Seeing Simon give a prompt answer that was both appropriate and ambitious, Barry Diller raised an eyebrow and said, "I look forward to seeing what Daenerys Pictures looks like when it 'grows up'".
As they spoke, everyone sat down at the conference table. Simon saw that Michael Eisner had no immediate intention of discussing business, and understood that the two bigwigs had specifically called him here just to meet him.
Since that was the case, Simon didn't miss the opportunity before him and continued to Barry Diller, "Mr. Diller, I heard you are helping Mr. Murdoch improve the Fox television network. Perhaps we can collaborate next year".
Barry Diller looked at the young man sitting opposite him and asked, "Why not this year, Simon? This month is the upfront season. If you have good ideas, you can go to New York soon".
North American television networks determine their new year's programming every May. Thus, every year this month, program producers from North America and around the world gather in New York to pitch their television programs to the networks through various presentations.
Simon, however, shook his head and said, "Daenerys Pictures definitely won't have a chance this year; our strength is still too weak. But next year, that might not be the case".
Barry Diller said, "Simon, do you mean Daenerys Pictures only needs one year to 'grow up'?"
"Of course not" Simon shook his head, "I mean, next year the WGA might go on strike. At that time, Daenerys Pictures might be able to get some opportunities".
If Daenerys Pictures wanted to collaborate with a TV network now, even with excellent ideas, the best outcome would be to have its creative concepts bought, and then the TV network would commission Daenerys Pictures to produce it. The most important copyright would definitely belong to the TV network.
What Simon hoped for was to be like powerful program producers such as Warner and Universal, selling only the first-run broadcasting rights to the TV network while retaining distribution rights for other channels. Only in this way could Daenerys Pictures maximize its profits.
However, to achieve this goal in the short term, Daenerys Pictures could only seize the opportunity next year when major TV networks, affected by the writers' strike, would be unable to produce enough television programs.
Barry Diller heard the young man's explanation and said, "Simon, you should also be a member of the Writers Guild, right? If the WGA announces a strike next year, do you not plan to participate?"
Simon shook his head and said, "Barry, I am not a WGA member, nor do I intend to join the WGA".
Upon hearing this, Barry Diller looked at Simon again for a moment, then smiled, took a business card from his suit pocket, and handed it over, saying, "It's truly a pleasure to meet you, Simon. If anything comes up, you can call me".
"Of course".
Simon agreed, took Barry Diller's business card, and also took out a business card to hand over.
Barry Diller put away Simon's business card, then stood up and bid farewell to everyone.
After seeing Barry Diller off, the three returned to the conference room and sat down.
Michael Eisner opened the memo in front of him, almost subconsciously no longer focusing on Amy Pascal, who he had met with several times, and directly addressed Simon, "Regarding the collaboration for when 'Harry Met Sally', Simon, Disney can give you the Easter slot, with a guaranteed minimum of 1,000 screens. However, our condition is that you need to sign two directing contracts with Disney. You can write the scripts yourself, or Disney can provide them, and the remuneration will be determined based on the specific circumstances when the project is confirmed. As for The Lion King, Disney's animation department does not outsource projects. So, we hope to buy this script for $300,000. How does that sound?"
Before this meeting, Michael Eisner had originally intended to stick firmly to the above conditions.
However, with the recent conversation between Simon and Barry Diller lingering in his mind, and recalling the young man's various achievements over the past year, Michael Eisner instinctively felt that Disney should secure this collaboration, which led to the negotiable closing remark.