"Citibank has offered a 7-year loan package with an annual interest rate of 4.25%, which is 0.5% lower than Lyon Credit's annual interest rate. However, they require Daenerys Entertainment to pledge 10% of the company's shares as collateral, and Citibank will have priority if Daenerys Entertainment seeks further loan financing within the next three years.
I believe this plan is feasible. The company's operations are excellent, and pledging 10% of the shares will not lead to a risk of control transfer. As for the priority, there is actually a lot of room for negotiation regarding the specific terms and conditions".
At the end of the year before last, Daenerys Films secured a $100 million loan from Wells Fargo with a high 5-year annual interest rate of 6.5%.
As the North American economic situation improved and Daenerys Entertainment's own strength continued to grow, the interest rate at which the company obtained loans from banks also steadily decreased, now on par with many large companies with AAA credit ratings.
In the office at Daenerys Entertainment headquarters, Nancy Brill was presenting the results of her trip to New York.
Amy appeared to be listening attentively, but her thoughts had drifted.
Capable, energetic, ambitious.
The petite woman across from her, only a few years older than herself, had been with the company for just two months, yet Amy felt a strong, instinctive threat from her.
Although Nancy's integration and operation of the consumer products division had not yet shown results in the short term, her business acumen and negotiation skills demonstrated during the company's investment in Blockbuster had already won Simon's approval.
Logically, the board seat promised by Blockbuster should have gone to Amy, as CEO, but Simon had given it to Nancy. This inevitably caused some resentment in Amy; she truly regretted personally poaching Nancy from Hasbro.
Perhaps, if Simon were to look for someone to replace her in the future, Nancy would likely be the best candidate. Because of this subconscious anxiety, Amy had been working much harder recently.
Moreover, she dared not use her authority to create obstacles for Nancy. The forced inter-departmental collaboration that Simon pushed before the year-end was precisely to prevent internal strife within Daenerys Entertainment.
If she dared to deliberately ostracize Nancy and Simon found out, she would be the only one to suffer. Daenerys Entertainment was not like a publicly traded company with widespread shareholding; as the owner, Simon could make decisions unilaterally.
As she thought this, Janette's smiling face from lunchtime involuntarily reappeared in Amy's mind. It was actually very common for Hollywood studio executives to engage in borderline consumption of company interests.
In the late 1970s, the scandal of David Begelman, head of Columbia Pictures, misappropriating $61,000 of company funds for personal travel expenses, became the biggest scandal in Hollywood that year.
The media sensationalized the incident, and Begelman resigned in disgrace. However, within the industry, few criticized Begelman; instead, they overwhelmingly condemned the whistleblower, deeming it an overreaction and that taking the matter to the media was tarnishing the entire Hollywood industry.
The final outcome was that David Begelman left Columbia and continued to thrive, while the whistleblower, Cliff Robertson, was ostracized by the entire industry, his career ruined.
Ron McMillan's actions were no different from David Begelman's, and indeed, like many Hollywood studio executives.
Having been in this circle for over two years, it was clear that neither Simon nor Janette could have been unaware of these practices.
However, Simon's tacit approval of Janette expelling Ron McMillan from the company was essentially a warning shot, cautioning other company executives not to emulate the behaviour of other studio brass.
Whether it was the forced internal collaboration to prevent infighting or this instance of making an example to regulate executive behaviour, both sufficiently demonstrated Simon's ambition to continuously develop and expand Daenerys Entertainment.
Evidently, if she couldn't keep up with his ambition, she would simply be out.
"Amy?"
The voice from across the desk interrupted Amy's reverie. Snapping back to attention, Amy collected her thoughts and said, "Nancy, a 4.25% annual interest rate is indeed good, and the priority can be negotiated. However, you don't know Simon very well; he probably won't agree to pledge Daenerys Entertainment's shares. Moreover, 10% is too high".
Nancy raised an eyebrow at this, quickly understanding something, and said, "Only little boys cling to their toys and won't let anyone else touch them; he's an adult now. And, as I just explained, there's no risk involved with this pledge".
"Alright", Amy said with a slight smile, glancing at a clock on her desk, "Simon should have started work in Melbourne by now. I'll call him tonight to discuss this".
Nancy then glanced at the row of mini electronic clocks on Amy's desk, three clocks displaying the times in Los Angeles, New York, and Melbourne respectively.
She immediately decided to have her assistant buy a few clocks to put on her own desk later, but she said, "I'll call him instead. And Amy, I think you should be more assertive with him, don't always be so submissive".
Amy nodded, not arguing with Nancy over the phone call, and simply smiled, "He is our boss, after all".
Melbourne.
Today was the second day of filming for 'Batman'.
Filming a movie can never be considered a thoroughly enjoyable job; the more explosive a blockbuster appears on screen, the more intricate and tedious the filming process often is.
Moreover, mobilizing a massive crew, with daily expenses easily running into hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, also puts immense pressure on the key creatives.
'Batman' had a generous budget, but Simon still had to deal with all sorts of unexpected situations.
Just two days into filming, the crew encountered a thorny problem: leaks.
Disney ultimately did not manage to push 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' to the top of the year's box office by artificially inflating ticket sales, and 'Rain Man's box office was just starting to gain momentum.
Consequently, 'Pulp Fiction', with a total box office of $156.93 million last year, remained the top-grossing film of 1988.
With two consecutive films, 'Run Lola Run' and 'Pulp Fiction', both topping the annual box office, even without the halo of billions of dollars in personal wealth and other accolades, Simon's new film was undoubtedly one of the most anticipated events for the media.
The information exposed about 'Batman' in the early stages was pitifully scarce.
As filming began, almost all mainstream media worldwide dispatched reporters to Melbourne, including a large number of paparazzi and die-hard fans of the 'Batman' comics.
Under the relentless siege of omnipresent paparazzi, just on the first day of filming, many set photos had already appeared in various gossip tabloids.
The crew continued filming as usual today, but producer Jon Peters was busy issuing 'copyright statements' to major mainstream media outlets, while also implementing stricter confidentiality measures.
If it were just ordinary set photos, their exposure wouldn't be a big deal.
However, if details concerning the Batmobile, the Batpod, the actors' costumes, or even the film's script were to be revealed, it would undoubtedly have a serious impact on the movie.
Daenerys Entertainment had previously released the official costume photos of Batman, while the designs for Catwoman, Black Mask, the Batmobile, and the Batpod were still under wraps.
The company would release them at appropriate times according to a pre-planned publicity strategy.
Audiences crave a sense of mystery and novelty; if relevant information were to appear in newspapers ahead of time, the film's promotional rhythm would be disrupted.
Fortunately, the film's props and main character costumes are copyrighted.
The crew solemnly issued a 'copyright statement' through the media, and most legitimate media outlets, unless they wanted to face a lawsuit, would not rashly publish any related set photos they obtained.
Of course, some unscrupulous tabloids that didn't care about being sued were an exception.
The crew could only take a two-pronged approach, implementing stricter confidentiality measures to prevent further leaks.
To help the crew gel, the main focus of filming over the past two weeks has been the dramatic scenes of the film.
If one disregards the surrounding disturbances, everything has been proceeding in an orderly fashion.
Australia does not have the strict working hour limitations supported by powerful unions as in the United States, but the 'Batman' crew still operates on an eight-hour workday, starting at 9 AM and finishing at 5 PM.
Today's filming involved several scenes at the headquarters of Janus Cosmetics, the family business of 'Black Mask' Roman Sionis, located in a thirty-story building in downtown Melbourne, adjacent to the Yarra River.
Five o'clock in the afternoon.
The day's work concluded on schedule, and the crew began to pack up.
The assistant director Simon had hired after arriving in Melbourne proactively brought over the director's script.
Simon took the script, paused his conversation with Jon Peters, and while flipping through it, asked the young man with a round face and messy hair next to him, "Peter, how do you feel?"
The young man's name was Peter Jackson.
That's right, it was Peter Jackson, who later directed 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy.
At this time, Peter Jackson was only twenty-eight years old; although his face was a bit round, he wasn't the big fat man he would later become.
In the years prior, Peter Jackson had just completed his first film, 'Bad Taste', with a group of friends in his spare time, but it hadn't garnered much attention.
Upon hearing that 'Batman' was about to be filmed in Melbourne and would be hiring some local filmmakers, Peter Jackson, despite being a New Zealander, excitedly rushed over to apply.
The crew initially didn't think much of this young man who had only made an obscure cult film, but after Peter Jackson expressed his willingness to even take on odd jobs, he successfully landed a position as a production assistant.
Upon Simon's arrival in Melbourne, he chanced upon Jackson, and after a conversation, he promoted him from production assistant to his own assistant director.
Although seven years older than the young man in front of him, Peter Jackson was still somewhat reserved when facing Simon.
To be honest, he felt that Hollywood crews were far too wasteful; the expenses of just these two days would be enough for him to shoot several more 'Bad Taste' films.
However, he certainly wouldn't speak his mind, merely saying, "It's very good, Simon".
Simon smiled, not minding Peter Jackson's restraint and caution.
In his memory, Peter Jackson had always been a very smooth operator, lacking the sharp edges typically found in Hollywood filmmakers.
This was actually quite understandable; to break into Hollywood from tiny New Zealand, it would be impossible without shedding the filmmaker's self-importance and pride.
Since Simon had already brought Peter Jackson under his wing, he naturally intended to help him along, but he also had no intention of rushing his growth.
Opportunities would be given to the other party, but ultimately, it would depend on Jackson's own efforts.
Chatting casually, Simon checked the day's work records, confirmed they were accurate, then called the film's key creatives over to discuss tomorrow's schedule before everyone dispersed.
The 'Batman' crew was staying at a three-star hotel called Kendal in the Collingwood district, northeast of the city centre.
Although Janette's father had hoped Simon would stay at the Johnston family estate, Simon didn't want to commute long distances every day.
The hotel had already been booked out, so he chose to stay with the crew.
Returning to the Kendal Hotel, Simon had just walked into the lobby when Jennifer approached with Sophia Fessey, followed by several other people.
Simon greeted Sophia, and after the woman introduced the others one by one, he temporarily led the two women away.
The three took the elevator to Simon's suite on the sixth floor.
Jennifer proactively went to the bedroom to help Simon find suitable clothes; he couldn't dress too casually for dinner with those people tonight.
To prevent a repeat of what happened at the Plaza Hotel, Simon's every need, food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, was now personally managed by Jennifer, and even the servants responsible for cleaning his room were dispatched by the Johnston family.
After a busy day, Simon sat on the sofa, leaning back wearily against the soft cushion.
Sophia proactively made coffee for Simon, brought it to him, and then sat on the single sofa nearby, saying, "Regarding Gucci, I think this is a very good opportunity. After Rodolfo Gucci, the second-generation head of Gucci, passed away in 1983, the Gucci family has been in a state of internal turmoil. Rodolfo Gucci's son, Maurizio Gucci, in order to seize control of the company from his uncle Aldo Gucci, reported tax evasion and sent Aldo Gucci to prison.
Although Maurizio gained control of the company, he lacked business acumen, and Gucci's performance declined as a result. After Aldo Gucci was released from prison last year, he in turn sued Maurizio Gucci, wanting to split the Gucci brand, and even requested an Italian court to freeze Maurizio's shares for this purpose. Now, Gucci has been severely weakened, and many Gucci family members are interested in selling their shares. If we make a move now, we could even gain absolute controlling interest in Gucci".
Simon, holding his coffee, listened to the woman finish, then directly asked, "How much money is needed?"
"Around $135 million," Sophia said, then immediately added, "Gucci has over a hundred boutiques in Europe and North America, and their product line is very comprehensive. What's even rarer is the value of the Gucci brand itself. If not for the recent years of turmoil affecting the company's operations, such a price would certainly be impossible".
Simon looked at the woman and said, "$135 million, let's put that aside for now. Sophia, you originally told me you wanted to start with the wine business. Now, if I take over Gucci, do you think you can manage this company well?"
Sophia nodded without hesitation, saying, "I want to try."
Simon rolled his eyes and responded, "It's not something you can just 'try' with a simple statement".
Simon put down his coffee cup and sat upright, "$135 million may not be much to me, but you have to understand how many people in this world cry and beg and still can't get even a tenth of that amount".