Simon glanced down at some notes he had taken during Nancy Brill's report and looked at the woman at the front, saying, "Nancy, your presentation was very comprehensive: toys, apparel, accessories, books, video games, image licensing, and the release of original soundtracks, which will temporarily be handled by the consumer products department. But these are all very broad, long-term plans. Tell me about your immediate priorities for the next month".
"For the next month, I plan to recruit staff to form product design and sales teams. I will leverage my professional network from previous jobs to poach talent from other companies, ensuring that employees can immediately begin working on derivative product development and promotion for the company's existing film and television projects", Nancy Brill replied fluently without hesitation. "Additionally, I believe that film derivative planning should be proactive. The company cannot wait for a film to become truly popular before considering developing related products. Therefore, I also hope to receive approval to assess the derivative potential of all projects currently under development by Daenerys Entertainment".
Simon nodded slightly and asked again, "'Survivor', 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills', 'Scream', and so on, the types of merchandise for these projects will be very diverse. How do you plan to handle this problem?"
Nancy Brill immediately replied, "In the short term, I will selectively develop and promote the most commercially valuable merchandise categories from these projects. This will ensure that the team's limited resources and manpower are not spread thin. Once the company develops and accumulates enough intellectual property resources to achieve economies of scale, we will then expand the merchandise categories further, maximizing the value of derivatives".
"So, what about the retail channels?"
"We'll seek a nationwide retail chain as a partner, and if possible, set up dedicated counters for easier marketing and promotion. We own a number of very popular film and TV show copyrights, so retailers will be very happy to cooperate with us. This is a comprehensive approach that can be applied to all types of film and television project merchandise. We can also use traditional channels like cinema stores and toy stores for distribution.
The main goal here is to familiarize ourselves with the market and cultivate channels. The company also needs to wait until it has accumulated enough diverse copyrights before it can start pursuing profits," Nancy Brill said, then paused and added, "Also, I've noticed that the company will generate substantial profits in the coming years. I suggest investing in video rental chain companies, which have been developing rapidly in recent years.
Compared to the fiercely competitive cinema system, the video rental market is far from saturated. If we can own hundreds or even thousands of video rental and sales stores nationwide and even globally, the company can not only share in the emerging video market but also simultaneously possess a complete derivative product retail network".
Even if Daenerys Entertainment were to cease striving for progress from now on, with several popular reality show copyrights in hand, the company could still consistently generate substantial profits in the coming years.
Although he had always planned to accumulate cash for certain matters two years later, Simon had never given up the idea of continuously expanding Daenerys Entertainment. He could always take out more loans; the company's debt ratio was still far from Simon's tolerance limit.
Nancy Brill's sudden suggestion was indeed very tempting. A video rental chain could not only provide Daenerys Entertainment with a complete retail network, but this type of company, like supermarkets, also had a strong cash flow advantage. In his memory, Viacom had used the cash support provided by the Blockbuster chain to acquire Paramount.
However, venturing into the video rental chain business would certainly also face some potential problems. Daenerys Entertainment's biggest weakness right now was its insufficient content accumulation. Currently, the major Hollywood studios could only watch as Daenerys Entertainment rapidly developed in the film and television business, but if it ventured into the video rental chain business, it was hard to guarantee that the Seven Majors wouldn't use their content advantage to create obstacles for Daenerys Entertainment.
"That's an excellent suggestion. I'll give it serious consideration".
Simon pondered for a moment, responded, and then redirected the conversation back to the main topic of the meeting.
Nancy Brill continued to answer questions from Simon and several other executives before leaving the conference room. Everyone then continued to discuss other company matters. By the time the meeting concluded, it was already past six o'clock.
Amy, organizing her documents, stayed until the end as usual and asked Simon, who was still sitting at the conference table, "So, what do you think of Nancy?"
"She's a very outstanding woman", Simon acknowledged. "I'm really looking forward to her turning all of her written plans into reality".
"Nancy was highly valued in Hasbro's marketing department. When I poached her, Hasbro almost sued us", Amy said with a smile. "She resolved the issue herself".
With an increasing number of male executives in the company, Simon actually knew that Amy had hired a female executive this time to strengthen her own position, which was why he didn't hesitate to praise her.
Simon just smiled, turned a page of the unfinished documents in front of him, and didn't respond further.
Amy also realized that Simon had probably seen through her thoughts. She awkwardly changed the subject and said, "Simon, what do you think of Nancy's suggestion regarding the video rental chain company?"
Simon nodded and said, "It's very good. You can work with her to prepare a proposal for me. You can also look for some suitable companies to invest in; we don't need to start from scratch".
The two continued to chat about a few things. Simon finished reading the documents in his hand and stood up to leave, but Amy remembered something else. Walking out of the conference room with Simon, she said, "Also, Simon, the company's office space is insufficient again. This time, Nancy's consumer products department will have to lease offices nearby. I think we need to seriously consider this matter".
Daenerys Entertainment currently seemed a bit 'scattered.' New York was fine, as the company had successfully purchased the building in Greenwich Village, but in Los Angeles, there were a total of four office locations: Daenerys Entertainment headquarters on 4th Street in Santa Monica, Daenerys Special Effects and Pixar Animation Studios on 2nd Street, Daenerys Entertainment's branch in Burbank, and even Marvel's studio near Burbank. This dispersed state was indeed detrimental to the company's development.
Returning to Malibu by car, Simon, uncharacteristically, didn't take the opportunity to look through documents or scripts, but instead leaned by the window, contemplating this issue.
In recent months, Simon had indeed considered the idea of building a Daenerys Entertainment Studio, but the various sites he had looked at all had different problems: either the area wasn't large enough, the land price was too high, or they were too remote.
As the Land Rover Range Rover turned from Santa Monica onto the coastal highway and entered the Malibu area, Simon, deep in thought, inadvertently noticed a fork in the road. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he instructed Neil Bennett in the front seat, "Stop the car, Neil, stop quickly".
Neil Bennett was puzzled but quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road, looked up through the rearview mirror, and asked, "Boss, what's wrong?"
Simon pointed backward and said, "Reverse, back up to that intersection".
It was rush hour, and there was a lot of traffic on the coastal highway. Neil Bennett carefully steered the Land Rover Range Rover back to a fork in the road a few dozen meters away and, at Simon's signal, turned directly into it.
This was a gently sloping incline, clearly newly opened, with only the road surface flattened but not yet paved with asphalt. The car drove in for about two hundred meters, and then a U-turn appeared.
When the car stopped, Simon pushed the door open and got out. Before him was a large, relatively flat open space. Aside from a temporarily constructed wooden shack and construction materials and props piled in the open, the rest of the area was still overgrown with bushes.
A scruffy old man heard the car, pushed open the door of the wooden shack, and came out. Realizing it wasn't the usual hooligans trying to steal things, he grinned at the two men and, looking at Simon, who seemed somewhat familiar, asked, "Fellas, can I help you?"
Simon returned a smile and said, "I'm just looking around, is that alright?"
"Of course".
The old man nodded, subconsciously wanting to remind them of something, but glanced at the expensive Land Rover Range Rover and said no more, turning back into the wooden shack.
Simon walked further through the bushes for a while, soon reaching the edge of a cliff over ten meters high, with the coastal highway directly below. Nearing seven o'clock, the winter sun had already sunk below the horizon, leaving only some dark red afterglow scattered across the distant, dark, and vast sea. Within sight, he could also see the coastal landscape of western Malibu and the gradually lighting up city of Santa Monica to the east.
After pausing for a moment, Simon showed no intention of getting back in the car and leaving. Instead, he turned and continued walking north up the gentle slope, guided by some fragmented information from his memory.
This triangular area was surrounded by ridges on both sides, with a cliff to the south bordering the coastal highway. In the dim light, Simon walked obliquely uphill along the rugged path for over a kilometre before reaching the very top.
He chose a vantage point and looked down again. The view was even more expansive, though the city scenery was largely obscured by the ridges on either side.
In his memory, this place would become a residential community more than twenty years later. Besides some luxury homes built on the prime land where Simon now stood at the very top, the other areas were only considered mid-range. But currently, it was an entire desolate area awaiting development.
Because of the information in his memory, Simon scanned his surroundings and quickly formed a simple development plan in his mind.
Stretching from the highest point down to the coastal cliff, this entire triangular area, enclosed by ridges on both sides, totalled over 50 hectares. It could be terraced into three sections of open land from top to bottom, each exceeding 10 hectares.
In Hollywood, besides Universal Studios, which covers 200 hectares, other studios like Warner Bros. Studios, Fox Studios, Paramount Studios, and MGM Studios are only around 20 to 30 hectares in size. The estimated construction area here, conservatively over 30 hectares, is sufficient to build a brand new film and television base.
Moreover, the geographical location of this plot was also just right.
To the west, it was directly the city of Malibu. From here to Point Dume was less than 20 kilometres, making it convenient for Simon to commute.
To the east, five kilometres away were Pacific Palisades and the adjacent city of Santa Monica. Furthermore, the coastal California State Route 1 could connect with the western end of Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades. Connecting to Sunset Boulevard meant connecting to a large area of wealthy neighbourhoods where Hollywood filmmakers gathered, such as Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Bel Air, and Beverly Hills, from west to east. The easternmost part of Sunset Boulevard even cut through the city of Hollywood.
Overall, compared to the flat terrain of the city, the biggest challenge in building a film studio in this area at his feet would be the cost. However, for Simon, as long as he was satisfied, this problem was precisely the least of his concerns.
Returning home in the dark, Simon ate dinner and then began to design the general plan for Daenerys Studios.
With a three-tiered layout from top to bottom, the uppermost level would serve as the administrative area. The middle level would house the workspaces for subsidiaries like Daenerys Special Effects, Pixar Animation, and Marvel Comics. The lowest level, being the largest, could be used to build large sound stages and post-production centres.
In its future development, Daenerys Entertainment was bound to pursue a path of rapid expansion by acquiring other major Hollywood film companies, and at that time, it would certainly acquire other film and television bases. However, this did not in the slightest affect Simon's desire to build a separate Daenerys Studios.
As long as the company became powerful enough, any number of film and television bases would be sufficient to support it.
The next day, Simon showed Amy and several other core executives the preliminary design for Daenerys Studios that he had drafted overnight. After a brief discussion with everyone, he quickly began the process of acquiring the land.
Meanwhile, as the small-scale preview screenings began, various North American self-media outlets also published their reviews of 'Steel Magnolias' the following day.
Due to CAA's previous attempts to raise their fees, the director of 'Steel Magnolias' was no longer Herbert Ross, and Sally Field's role was replaced by another Oscar-winning actress, Jessica Lange. The other lead actresses, Julia Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Dolly Parton, and others, remained unchanged.
Moreover, under Simon's personal control, the quality of the new version was no less than the original. WMA's recommended director was Mark Rydell, who directed the moving 'On Golden Pond' that year. Compared to Herbert Ross, Mark Rydell more accurately captured the essence of 'Steel Magnolias', a story that moves audiences through seemingly ordinary plotlines.
Furthermore, in contrast to the precise target audience of 'Scream' (teenagers) and its less deliberate pursuit of critical acclaim, 'Steel Magnolias' was positioned as a heartwarming drama suitable for family holiday viewing, while also pursuing a word-of-mouth marketing strategy.
Compared to other film markets, North American media and critics are relatively less influenced by film companies when evaluating a movie, but this is only relative. When Daenerys Entertainment spared no effort in pouring large advertising budgets into various print media, coupled with the inherent excellent quality of 'Steel Magnolias' itself, the film immediately received almost overwhelmingly positive and comprehensive praise in the media.