章 882: Chapter 883: The Curse
[Chapter 883: The Curse]
Kris Jenner paused, confused. "Eric, shouldn't the TV station be responsible for the promotional stuff?"
Eric started to explain patiently, "If this were a TV drama, the network could certainly take full responsibility for promotion. But for a reality show, to achieve better ratings, the production team needs to actively create more buzz around the program. Just like Lifetime's America's Next Top Model, Cindy Crawford, who serves as the producer and host, also participates in the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and continuously attends various fashion events, occasionally appearing in movies or TV dramas. The contestants on the reality show also utilize personal homepages on the Internet to showcase themselves as much as possible. These seemingly unrelated details can actually bring more attention to America's Next Top Model, keeping its ratings consistently strong."
"Eric, if I need to personally step in for promotion, I won't hesitate," Kris Jenner began to grasp some of the concepts. "But the girls we're inviting for this reality show definitely can't be any celebrities. In that case, there wouldn't be much to dig up in terms of topics, and neither would I be one."
As Kris Jenner spoke, she looked hopefully at Eric.
Eric understood Kris Jenner's thoughts well; she wanted him to help lift the reality show's profile. However, he wasn't inclined to do that. If he frequently appeared to promote Firefly's internal TV shows, it would soon lose its effectiveness.
"I definitely won't be appearing," he shook his head. "You'll have to do it yourself. Just like with Project Runway and America's Next Top Model; I also didn't make many appearances in the beginning, and Linda and Cindy still did great."
Kris Jenner felt a bit disappointed. "In that case, it seems promoting it won't be so easy after all."
"Of course it won't be easy; there's never an abundance of easy opportunities in this world."
Kris Jenner sensed that her words about lacking confidence displeased Eric, so she quickly salvaged the situation. "No, Eric, that's not what I meant."
Eric waved his hand, laughing. "Starting from scratch to build a reality show, especially with no recognizable main creators or actors, definitely isn't going to be easy. But this is a very important opportunity for you and those girls who will join the show. You need to understand that if it were easy, this opportunity wouldn't come your way."
"I get it, Eric," Kris Jenner nodded. "So, specifically, what kind of support can I get from Firefly Group?"
"Oh, I seem to have forgotten to mention that," Eric replied. "This reality show is produced by MGM, and Firefly won't be directly involved; the distribution platform is still undecided. But when the time comes, as long as it's needed, Firefly will provide ample resources."
Kris Jenner quickly organized the information Eric provided, considered for a moment, and probed further. "Eric, in the planning, one of the girls participating wants to develop her career in Hollywood. For the sake of the story progression, can Firefly or MGM offer some audition opportunities and allow the crew to film the process?"
"Of course, if she has the acting chops, not just auditions, providing performance opportunities would be easy."
Eric understood that Kris Jenner was testing his level of support for the reality show program, and without hesitation, he readily agreed. Firefly and MGM, along with Fox, produced and released over a hundred films each year, making such opportunities truly straightforward. The purpose of media group resource integration was to maximize synergistic effects, so this collaboration was naturally appropriate.
With Eric's assurance, Kris Jenner felt relieved, and they began to discuss the details of the reality show production in more depth.
The first matter was naturally the title. According to Kris Jenner's vision, it was named Beverly Girls. The production team would select five girls from Beverly Hills, each with different personalities, ages, careers, and family backgrounds, recording their lives with cameras. Of course, the production team would communicate with the girls in advance, planning out a general "storyline" for each girl, and aim to dig up as many appealing elements as possible for the audience.
On the other hand, while Eric had a lot of confidence in Kris Jenner, he also didn't want to be overly naive.
To mitigate risks, the first season of Beverly Girls would consist of only eight episodes, each lasting forty-five minutes, to test the waters.
The show was expected to begin production in the latter half of the year, with a spring release planned for the following year. Eric didn't intend to get involved in the detailed production process, so he kept his expectations for the reality show managed. Given that producing lifestyle reality shows was generally much cheaper than competitive reality shows, as long as the ratings reached renewal standards, MGM could continue producing. Moreover, at that time, such types of reality shows hadn't appeared on major networks yet, and audiences generally favored fresh content, making the chances of failure relatively low.
...
The discussions continued until evening when all the details were finalized, and Eric said, "For now, let's leave it at that. The MGM television production department head will reach out to you for further work. Of course, if any issues come up that you can't resolve, you can contact me or Drew."
It wasn't yet time for dinner, and Kris Jenner realized Eric wasn't planning to have them stay for dinner, so she gracefully stood up, "Well then, we'll take our leave. By the way, Eric, do you have time soon? Bruce and I are planning to throw a party."
Eric shook his head, saying, "No need for that; I'll be heading to the UK next week and might not have the time."
Seeing Eric's direct refusal, Kris Jenner didn't press any further but felt a pang of regret that he hadn't looked at her daughter once throughout the entire afternoon. Nevertheless, she was very content with securing the producer role for Beverly Girls. Eric's explanation of reality show marketing strategies during the afternoon had made her see a faintly opened door. At that moment, she didn't have much else on her mind. After all, since she had landed the job, more opportunities for contact would surely come her way, so there was no need to rush.
...
After a busy week, it was a new Monday, and Eric focused all his energy on the final promotional phase for Casino Royale.
Over in Southeast Asia, with the weekend over, international currency traders had mercilessly continued their assault on the Thai baht. After two days of preparations over the weekend, the Thai government began to strike back.
The term "currency war" might sound high-end, but in reality, the confrontation between the two sides resembled a brutal, cold weapon era bow fight -- crude and savage. On one side to undermine the baht's value, international currency traders heavily sold off their baht holdings; on the other, the Thai government utilized foreign reserves to absorb the baht being sold to stabilize its currency.
International currency traders typically bought high and sold low, or engaged in high-interest borrowings. With each sale of the baht, they would incur corresponding losses. Similarly, the Thai government's foreign reserves were finite. Coupled with the nation's staggering $90 billion international debt, borrowing dollars from abroad posed significant challenges. Once their foreign reserves ran dry, it would mean a failure in upholding the local currency's value. Ultimately, this battle hinged on who could endure the longest.
However, the outcome had been apparent since the start of this contest.
Thailand's total foreign reserves were only $36 billion, of which the government could utilize a maximum of $10 billion. Yet the international currency traders eyeing the baht controlled funds far exceeding that amount, with George Soros holding two large funds that surpassed the $10 billion threshold. Even if the Thai government exhausted the $10 billion, it could only inflict a $1-2 billion loss on the international currency traders, who could easily absorb that loss. But if the baht fell, a 50% depreciation would yield several times returns for the international traders holding several hundred billion dollars in short positions on the baht. If a financial crisis erupted, currencies across Southeast Asia would depreciate, leading to a greater feast for international currency traders.
...
The premiere of Casino Royale was scheduled for Thursday night, local time, in London, while Southeast Asia was engulfed in turmoil. Entering the workweek, Eric was also kept busy; as early as Monday morning, he spent half the day recording an episode for ABC's Late Night with David Letterman to promote Casino Royale.
At the same time, discussions between MGM and Time Warner regarding the sale of E! Entertainment shares reached a conclusion. Time Warner firmly stuck to their $670 million asking price for the 39.5% they held in E! Entertainment, showing no willingness to budge. Consequently, after communicating with Eric, Amy Pascal agreed to the deal.
Thanks to MGM's substantial profits from film business over the last two years, the initial $1 billion cash gained through stock issuance had been reduced to about $500 million due to consumption over these years. MGM could cover the $670 million deal without any financing.
However, matters didn't end there. Initially intended as a cover, MGM reached out to Cablevision to propose acquiring their Rainbow Media assets, only to receive a surprisingly positive response. Although the company stated they would only sell 20% of Rainbow Media, similar to the stances of Comcast and Tele-Communications regarding E! Entertainment, Cablevision also indicated that if the transaction was successful, they could hand over the operational rights of Bravo TV under Rainbow Media to MGM.
Having been in decline for twenty years, MGM was cautious. After regaining control of this company, Eric had rejected many development plans from MGM's high management, such as rebuilding studio facilities, and even after partnering with Fox on Blue Sky Studios, he hadn't extended MGM's animation film business. This was the reason why the initial $1 billion financing still had half remaining.
Now, facing Cablevision's proposition, Eric felt conflicted.
On one hand, the past few years represented MGM's last chance to develop a cable business. Once the media consolidation tide passed, the cost to enter this field would escalate significantly. Eric sincerely hoped to acquire a part of Rainbow Media alongside E! Entertainment.
On the other hand, acquiring two TV stations at once would substantially heighten operational risks. Additionally, Rainbow Media was much larger in scale than just E! Entertainment. The 20% equity price was approximately equivalent to MGM's acquisition value of E! Entertainment. If formal negotiations began, MGM would naturally seek a larger stake. At that point, in order to finalize the deal without affecting company operations, MGM would have to resort to issuing bonds for financing. But if the operation of Rainbow Media fared poorly post-acquisition, it would inevitably drag the entire MGM Group down. With rising debt ratios and declining profitability, falling into a vicious cycle could lead MGM back down the old path.
Nevertheless, before leaving Los Angeles, Eric had a detailed discussion with Amy Pascal and ultimately decided to initiate negotiations with Cablevision.
...
Fortunately, purchasing a private jet and establishing a private airport wasn't something that could be accomplished overnight. Eric only took the time to briefly communicate with Chris, Katzenberg, and other Firefly senior executives, instructing his assistant's office to draft a detailed plan, with specifics to be addressed later when this busy period subsided.
Additionally, after the past weekend, Firefly's Finding Nemo saw only a 33% drop in box office revenue the following weekend. Coupled with its impressive $70.25 million opening weekend, Finding Nemo grossed $46.58 million over its second weekend, firmly maintaining its top position in the box office charts, accumulating a total of $140 million. In just ten days of release, it had already surpassed Lion King 2's total of $137 million during its fourth week, temporarily becoming the box office champion of 1997 in North America.
In contrast, Batman & Robin, which had opened the previous week, suffered an even worse reception than Godzilla, as its box office revenues dwindled over three consecutive days, starting with $16.11 million on the first day, $15.09 million the following day, and dropping again on Sunday to $11.66 million. Ultimately, Batman & Robin only garnered $42.87 million over its opening weekend. Compared to Godzilla's decline curve, whether Batman & Robin could surpass the $100 million mark would depend solely on whether Time Warner would be willing to buy its own tickets.
With the fourth blockbuster of the summer failing again, many media outlets began to echo doubts regarding the upcoming Casino Royale. It seemed that most people didn't have high expectations for whether Eric's new film could escape the "curse" of summer blockbusters which had been flopping this year.
*****
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