'Batman' had already entered the final stages of editing. Simon remained busy with post-production in the morning, while the afternoon was taken up by back-to-back distribution meetings.
Today was Monday, August 7th, 1989.
After the release of the final new film of the week, 'Uncle Buck', this Friday, Daenerys Entertainment's summer season distribution work for this year would officially come to a close.
As of now, Daenerys Entertainment had released a total of 7 films this year: 'Blue Steel', 'Metropolitan', 'Some Girls', 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II', 'Heathers', 'The Bodyguard', and 'The Sixth Sense'. Among them, just 'The Bodyguard' and 'The Sixth Sense' were enough to support Daenerys Entertainment's performance for the entire year, and the other released films were not without their highlights.
Next, including 'Uncle Buck', there were still 10 films related to Daenerys Entertainment waiting to be released in the second half of the year.
Among them, 'Look Who's Talking' and 'Batman' would be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, with release dates set for November 17th and December 22nd, respectively.
The other 8 films, 'Uncle Buck', 'Sweetie', 'The Woman On The Roof', 'Brenda Starr', 'Scream 2', 'My Left Foot', 'The Gucci Documentary', and 'Driving Miss Daisy', would be operated by the three labels under Daenerys Entertainment, with release dates covering all five months of the second half of the year.
At the same time, because Daenerys Entertainment had already established branches in major overseas box office countries such as the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Australia, starting from the four films including scream at the end of last year, Daenerys Entertainment's overseas distribution work had been proceeding continuously without interruption.
The focus of overseas distribution in the second half of the year would be the three films from the summer season.
Burbank.
At the Daenerys Entertainment branch, at five o'clock in the afternoon, the four-hour meeting ended.
Most people began to leave work. Simon and Ira Deutchman had an appointment to watch the dailies for 'Driving Miss Daisy', so they would stay for another two hours.
Inside the conference room.
Amy noticed that Simon had been in a visibly excellent mood since breakfast today. As the crowd dispersed, she called out to Simon, signalled for Ira to leave first, and pulled up a chair to sit by the conference table.
Simon knew Amy had something to discuss, so he sat back down and asked with a smile, "What's wrong?"
"It's like this", Amy said, choosing her words carefully. "Simon, Rehme came to see me this morning".
Simon roughly realized what it was about and simply signalled Amy to continue.
Amy continued, "From the news I've heard recently, Sony originally intended to invite Bob to head TriStar Pictures after the acquisition was completed. Because of these recent 10 films, Sony has likely abandoned that idea. Bob's point is that he no longer requests a raise. However, he hopes the company will help pay for a property he has his eye on in Manhattan's Upper East Side, priced at $3 million".
Robert Rem's contract had just reached one year at the end of July, and he had already received the full $3 million bonus stipulated in the original contract last week.
Simon had actually been paying attention to Rehme's movements.
If Sony hadn't been trying to secure the slots for Daenerys Entertainment's 10 films, perhaps Rehme would have already submitted his resignation to Simon by now.
Seeing Simon's fingers lightly tapping on the tabletop without giving an immediate response, Amy had to continue, "Simon, compared to the $15 million total extra bonus plan for the main creators of 'The Sixth Sense', Rehme's request isn't excessive. His work results over the past year are obvious to everyone".
The release of 'The Sixth Sense' had entered its sixth week.
Last Friday, according to the sliding scale split agreement between the company and the theatres, Daenerys Entertainment had recovered the first instalment of $106.13 million in box office share from the total $150.02 million box office of the first four weeks. According to the $600 million global box office expectation for 'The Sixth Sense', this film would likely bring in no less than an additional $150 million in share revenue for Daenerys Entertainment from the box office alone.
After deducting all costs, the net profit Daenerys Entertainment would obtain over the next year just through the theatrical release of 'The Sixth Sense' would not be less than $220 million. The subsequent home video and television broadcast revenues would be equally lucrative.
Calculated comprehensively, over the entire profit cycle, 'The Sixth Sense' would contribute a net profit of no less than $500 million to Daenerys Entertainment.
On the other hand, many things that had happened recently were changing some of Simon's perspectives.
The billions of dollars in funds stockpiled overseas and the vast array of continuously appreciating assets under the Westeros Company made Simon realize that although some things could not be implemented yet, the wealth he now possessed could probably not be spent in a lifetime.
Following that, the plan for 10 collaborative films from Daenerys Entertainment triggered a frantic pursuit in Hollywood, making Simon understand that sometimes sharing interests out of the company not only protected oneself but also allowed one to obtain unexpected power and greater returns.
The announcement of the 10-film plan instantly dissolved the WGA investigation, prompted Orion to settle the backlogged shares for 'Pulp Fiction', caused MGM to stop mentioning the 'Rain Man' lawsuit, and led Sony, which was about to complete its acquisition of Columbia, to voluntarily give up its plan to poach people from Daenerys Entertainment. Additionally, the even more enthusiastic reception Simon received at the party last night meant that Daenerys Entertainment and Simon personally had suddenly gained immense influence over Hollywood.
Clearly, these were undoubtedly a form of invisible power.
At the same time, for the 10 films, although Daenerys Entertainment only held half of the investment and voluntarily gave up the distribution revenue, because of Simon's advantage of foresight, the projects he selected should have been very successful to begin with. Now, it was equivalent to Daenerys Entertainment taking away nearly half of the profits that should have belonged entirely to other Hollywood studios.
Furthermore, hearing yesterday about Steve Ross rewarding the 'Lethal Weapon 2' crew with sports cars also made Simon realize another truth: spending money is not just about buying physical objects. Spending money on people is also a form of 'consumption,' and it often yields unexpected returns.
Therefore, at breakfast today, Simon had discussed with Amy an extra bonus plan for the main creators of the sixth sense, totalling $15 million.
Of this, De Niro would receive $5 million, a bonus that would bring his total compensation from the project to the current top-tier Hollywood level of $10 million. Additionally, the producer would get $2 million, the director $2 million, the young actor playing Cole $1 million, and the remaining supporting cast and main crew would share the final $5 million.
Such a bonus was not much compared to the massive expected profits of 'The Sixth Sense', but it was rare for a production company to actively distribute extra bonuses after a box office hit. In Simon's memories from two lifetimes, there were many cases of film companies finding ways to embezzle the shares that the creators deserved after a box office success.
The salaries of current A-list stars in Hollywood had already begun to reach the $10 million level.
To control budget costs and prevent film companies from being relegated to supporting roles 'working' for stars, Simon would still try his best to suppress star salaries, but he also planned to set up more reasonable profit-sharing schemes so that the creators could obtain more benefits after a box office hit.
As for the matter at hand.
Although some of Simon's perspectives had begun to change, one thing remained the same: he still very much disliked people who violated contracts.
The smooth expansion of Daenerys Entertainment's distribution network over the past year was fundamentally due to the support of a series of hit films. Without these bargaining chips, it would have been impossible for Daenerys Entertainment to have major North American theatre chains flocking to them, let alone quickly open up the situation overseas.
Simon actually held a positive view of Robert Rehme's work results, and furthermore, he was a person who valued old ties, adhering to the concept that clothes are better when new but people are better when they are old friends. If Rehme could diligently finish his three-year contract term, Simon would certainly have provided a contract renewal salary package sufficient to satisfy him.
Now however…
Stopping his fingers from lightly tapping the table, Simon nodded and said, "Since he wants it, give it to him. Additionally, I plan to integrate the various overseas branches into a single unified subsidiary responsible for the operation of the overseas distribution network and investment in overseas film projects. As for the name, let's call it Daenerys International. You look for a management candidate recently. Also, the theatrical window for several films from last year like 'Scream' has ended, and the company's subsequent home video business will see an explosion. Daenerys Home Entertainment also needs a dedicated person in charge".
Hearing Simon say this, Amy knew he was truly a bit annoyed. She thought for a moment and said, "Can these two things be spaced out a bit?"
"If Sony hadn't voluntarily given up, I should have received a resignation letter by now". Simon shook his head and looked at Amy seriously. "I am actually someone who is very afraid of owing others; it makes me feel very uncomfortable. So, as long as I can, I will give you more. However, I also very much dislike it when someone overestimates their own importance and uses it to demand things they shouldn't get".
After saying this, without waiting for Amy to respond further, Simon stood up and walked out.
Arriving at the branch's screening room, it was already seven o'clock by the time he finished watching the dailies for 'Driving Miss Daisy' with Deutchman. They had dinner together afterward. Simon did not return to his residence in the Trousdale Estates of Beverly Hills nearby, but instead went back to the villa on the west side of Point Dume in Malibu.
On this Monday night in Los Angeles, it was already Tuesday afternoon in Melbourne, and the major stock exchanges in Asia had basically closed.
Calling over, Janette told Simon that the Nikkei 225 index had officially broken through 38,000 points when it closed on Tuesday afternoon local time.
Out of caution, the two of them only touched upon this topic briefly.
Simon's target was too obvious, and the Americans' history in eavesdropping was long-standing; it was hard to say if his home phone would be tapped. During this period, some important information was transmitted through the most primitive manual methods, with staff members traveling between Melbourne, Los Angeles, and New York every day.
Simon and Janette spent over two hours on the phone, mainly discussing the vacation schedule starting next month.
He hung up the phone at eleven o'clock and looked through a script for an hour before going to rest.
The next morning, he saw more detailed information.
The Japanese stock market's main board froze at 38,076 points when it closed on August 8th local time. During this period, the Cersei Capital Funds 1 through 5, which Janette and Anthony were ostensibly managing as proxies, had not liquidated and left according to Simon's plan but instead continued to maintain a net long position. The current net asset value had reached $3.29 billion.
Due to strict confidentiality measures by all parties, the news that Funds 1 through 5 had changed hands had not leaked out at all.
With the current growth momentum of the Japanese stock market, Simon felt that the Nikkei 225 index's push for the 40,000-point mark this time would be no problem at all. Of course, none of this had anything to do with him anymore.
According to the established plan, Cersei Capital Funds 6 through 10 had recently begun establishing short contracts against companies related to junk bonds in the North American stock and bond markets.
Unlike stock index futures, the operation of shorting stocks and bonds was much more complicated and easily detected by target companies, which could lead to countermeasures. However, the total $200 billion junk bond market in North America, as well as the equally hundreds of billions of dollars in total scale of related company stocks, was enough for Cersei Capital, with only $5 billion in funds, to complete its layout without alerting too many people.
This was actually the reason why Simon had restricted the scale of Cersei Capital in the first place.
With Simon's current appeal, if he opened up to investment, Cersei Capital could easily gather a huge sum of tens of billions of dollars. But if he really did that, Cersei Capital, whose massive scale would be enough to stir the market itself, would no longer be able to achieve much.
During his last trip to Melbourne, combining his own memory and the data collected by Janette, Cersei Capital had confirmed the operational plan for the North American side. Simon was now only roughly following it and did not interfere in the specific operations.
Regarding the investigation by the Writers Guild of America.
After several negotiations over two weeks, Daenerys Entertainment finally reached an agreement with the Writers Guild of America. Daenerys Entertainment admitted to violating WGA regulations on the two scripts for 'Scream' and 'The Sixth Sense', paying a total of $200,000 in fines, at a cost of $100,000 per script, to obtain the WGA's understanding.
Everyone knew that this was just Daenerys Entertainment giving the WGA a way out.
As for the compensation Bruce Joel Rubin tried to seek, because both parties were completely voluntary when signing the agreement, the WGA ruled that Bruce Joel Rubin also had active violations, and therefore did not support Bruce Joel Rubin's claim.
The agreement signed by both parties at the beginning did not violate relevant federal laws; the key to this dispute lay in the union's attitude.
Now, lacking union support, even if both sides went to court, it would be completely impossible for Bruce Joel Rubin to get any compensation. Moreover, it is well known that fighting a lawsuit in the United States costs money, and Bruce Joel Rubin clearly did not have enough capital to file a lawsuit against Daenerys Entertainment; he could only fall silent after the WGA made its ruling.
Many people understood the origin of Daenerys Entertainment's 10-film collaboration plan. With the dispute with the union over, the attention of all Hollywood turned to this matter, and the media also devoted more attention to it. Because Simon had been slow to announce the selected script projects, some people had even begun to worry if he would go back on his word.