章節 215: Chapter 215 - The Roar of the Lion
Another Hollywood-style "accidental" ending, after a whole year, rumors of a number of acquisition targets, the near-bankrupt MGM studios finally accepted Lin Mingyang's $2 billion cash offer. With the acquisition taking effect, the new MGM will complete its reorganization within thirty days. One of the first decisions Lin Mingyang made after taking over MGM was to appoint his former agent, Eckles, as president of MGM.
Along with this news on the front page of every major media newspaper was the news that Lin Ming Yang had dropped out of Harvard. At first, everyone focused on the news of Lin Mingyang's joining MGM, but the news of his withdrawal from Harvard seemed to be unnoticeable. But then the media dug out the inside story that Lin had defaulted on several course credits during his time at Harvard, accusing the Harvard administration of pressuring Lin to make the decision to drop out.
The story spread like wildfire among Harvard students, but the Harvard administration refused to make any response to the matter, except for the gossip that Harvard's then-president, after receiving the news of Lin Mingyang's withdrawal, shook his head and sighed for a while in his office, and then bitterly laughed and told his secretary that Harvard's third notorious dropout had been born.
This principal apparently put Lin Mingyang together with Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook; the only difference was that both Gates and Zuckerberg had submitted applications to the school for a leave of absence, and at that time, neither of them expected future success, and both of them were playing with the idea of returning to Harvard to study again in case of failure; while Lin Mingyang had submitted an application for a leave of absence to Harvard, and he He was not prepared to leave himself a way out at all.
Compared with his own two predecessors, Lin Mingyang is undoubtedly much more fortunate, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg at his age, the hands of the MGM movie such a "behemoth" as a foundation.
Lin Mingyang has always been the "Spielberg" of the new era in the eyes of the Hollywood media. They believe that Lin Mingyang's growth trajectory in Hollywood will follow the "Spielberg" style of success, from director to producer, and finally set up his own movie company.
Success is the cradle of ambition, Lin Mingyang is not a willing to "live under" guy, this is the basic consensus of the majority of Hollywood's insightful people, in the issue of self-establishment, he has the conditions at this time than the year of Spielberg more mature.
Harvard quit school, give up the equity of Facebook, into the owner of MGM, Lin Mingyang with this series of actions to tell all the people, he is in Hollywood is a unique existence forever, no one can be accurately defined to him.
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This is the first time that Eckles has gone to work at the company after being appointed by Lin Ming Yang as the president of MGM, now that the entire MGM's finances are in the midst of liquidation and the business is nearly at a standstill, Eckles is here today to come out and participate in the board of directors' meeting aside from the fact that he is also responsible for setting up the management team for this transition period.
Eckes's car just parked in front of the headquarters of the MGM company, a large group of reporters in order to come up, MGM acquisition although the dust has settled, but the media coverage of this event is still in hot pursuit, we are eager to know, Lin Mingyang will be how to save the disease into the disease of the lion.
According to yesterday's analysis by the Wall Street Journal, MGM under Lin Mingyang's control will release four to six films a year, each with an average budget of about $50 million. But occasionally, it will make a big-budget movie that will require less than $500 million for the entire year. But the question is, will this turn MGM, once known for making the period blockbuster Gone With the Wind, into a mid-sized studio? Can this low-budget route earn high profits in today's Hollywood?
"Mr. Eccles, after MGM is acquired and restructured, will those backlogged and suspended projects, including the next James Bond movie, be restarted?"
"After Mr. Felix acquires MGM, will he focus most of his energy on the management of the company, and will he still appear on the screen as an actor in the future?"
...
Ecks enjoyed being frantically surrounded by reporters for the first time since he started his career, and he realized that the feeling of being surrounded by the crowd and being surrounded by countless cameras and microphones was not as scenic as he had imagined, and even to say that he was made a little bit of a mess for the first time he encountered such a situation.
The reporters' questions gave Eckles a bit of a headache, before he was just Lin Mingyang's agent, he could pretend to be confused when he encountered questions he didn't want to answer, but now he is the president of MGM, and his every move represents the company's image. Even though he hated these reporters in his heart, on the surface he still had to make a kind gesture and deal with them carefully.
Waiting for the reporters' questions to end, Eckles cleared his throat and said, "As we all know, the debt problem in the eyes has always been an important factor plaguing MGM's development, and in this acquisition, Felix has already helped MGM clear most of its debts. Starting today, MGM will be a stronger, more competitive company, and we are in with a solid financial foundation and a bright future."
Immediately after he spoke, a reporter asked, "Will the reorganized MGM look to grow in television?"
The questioner should be a professional economic news reporter, and Eckles nodded at him and said, "In the TV field, MGM's future target position is to become a strong content provider, we will strengthen our cooperation with other TV organizations, but we will not easily get involved in the expansion of channels, which is the consensus that Felix and I had reached before the acquisition. "
While the others were still recalling this answer of Eckels, the reporter just now asked again right after, "Although Mr. Felix has quit Facebook this time, he still has such a global video-sharing site as YouTube in his hands, and MGM is not ready to enter the TV industry, will it make a bigger move in the expansion of online distribution channels? "
Ecks felt that this reporter was indeed not simple, Lin Mingyang's general intentions had basically been insighted by him. The U.S. television industry market cake has been divided up by several major television networks, in recent years MGM also realized the problem, began to try to develop in other areas, seeking cooperation with television organizations, such as the formation of a joint venture with CNBC Asia-Pacific, to open a movie satellite channel. But it was too late to enter the market, and the business was too decentralized, and the company was already on the verge of bankruptcy before it had a chance to make its mark.
After the acquisition of MGM, Lin Mingyang decisively decided to give up on the development in the TV field, he now does not have the financial strength to compete with those TV networks controlled by multinational conglomerates, and he is not optimistic about the future of the TV industry, because the emergence of the Internet is slowly changing people's way of life.
Lin Mingyang has always believed that the impact of the emergence of the network on the television industry is no less than the impact of the emergence of television on the movie industry in the middle of the last century, and now the network's role as a substitute for television has slowly begun to appear, the popular hit dramas popular among young people have low ratings, while the network hit rate continues to climb high, which is the most obvious example.
Gossip Girl" invested and filmed by Lin Ming Yang has set a precedent of synchronized broadcasting between TV and the Internet, and the hot clicks on YouTube and the lukewarm ratings of CW TV are now in sharp contrast, and the brand-new advertisement cooperation mode relying on Internet clicks has been gradually accepted by advertisers, and the increase in the first half of the year's performance of YouTube is sufficient to illustrate everything.
The benefits of seizing the online distribution channel are self-evident, but at this time MGM can't disclose this strategic intent, so Eckles can only slightly apologize to the reporter shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he can't answer this question yet.
"In terms of strategic choices, goal-setting regarding MGM's future development, I can't give you a clear answer right now, other than that do you have any questions?"
"Did Mr. Felix choose you to be the president of MGM out of trust in your talent, or because of the good personal relationship between you?"
Suddenly, someone in the crowd came up with this sentence, roughly meaning that Mr. Felix was able to become the president of MGM because of Lin Ming Yang's "backdoor".
Eckles glanced at the other party with a flat expression and then asked, "Do you know Meyer?"
"Of course, he is the founder of MGM's splendor, the proprietor of the most successful film company in history." That reporter was a bit puzzled in his mind, but still answered truthfully.
"Then you must know why he eventually left MGM!" Ecks turned his words around, "His experience can at least tell us one thing, sometimes it's not necessarily a bad thing to maintain a good personal relationship with the actual controller of the company... As for my personal abilities, the future performance of the company will give the most objective evaluation!"
MGM's security personnel had already separated the reporters and opened a passage for Ecks to enter the company's building, and just as Ecks was about to end this interview, one of the last reporters suddenly asked aloud:
"Mr. Ecks, is the rumor that Felix was forced to drop out by Harvard true? What is your opinion on this matter?"
The footsteps that Ecks was about to take stopped again, "Unfortunately, after I took over the presidency of MGM, I will no longer continue to serve as Felix's agent...This is the last time I answer your questions as Felix's agent...Regarding the matter of dropping out, the situation is not as complicated as everyone imagines...Felix is just tired of staying at Harvard. Felix just got tired of staying at Harvard, so he chose to drop out, the reason is that simple!"
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"I'm about to be annoyed to death by business executives and media reporters from various departments, and you're actually in the mood to play games, and in my office at that!" In the midst of Ecks' high-decibel "roar", a thick stack of statements was thrown on the desk in front of Lin Ming Yang.
Accurately speaking, the owner of this desk should be Ecks, but Lin Mingyang had not only occupied the other party's seat, but also downloaded the latest version of the game on the other party's computer. Fingers flying on the keyboard and mouse, Lin Mingyang's attention was completely focused on the computer screen, and he simply ignored the statement dropped by Eckles.
Seeing that he was about to beat the level, the computer screen in front of Lin Ming Yang suddenly went black and ran out of power!
He angrily slapped the keyboard and cursed "Damn it!"
Ecks shook the power plug in his hand, and said in a bad mood, "This should allow us to have a serious talk between us!"
Lin Ming Yang pushed the keyboard back into place, then spread his hands out, "Alright, what are you trying to say?"
"Look at these figures, this is the company you bought over for 5 billion dollars!" Ecks knocked on the stack of statements on the desk, "Poor operation leads to losses year after year, a huge company, in the most embarrassing time actually can't even take out $20 million in cash for short-term capital turnover...the average movie output is less than 20 movies per year, and they're all the kind of movies that have high inputs and low returns, I don't know how the previous gang ran the company. How did the previous guys run the business, actually getting MGM to this point today."
Eckles cursed the previous managers and those losing directors, Lin Mingyang did not say anything, MGM is indeed ruined in the poor experience and lack of funds, which, and Lin Mingyang familiar with director John Woo is also considered to be "out of the force" - he made the "Wind Whisperer The investment amounted to 115 million dollars, but only got 77 million dollars in the global box office, so that MGM lost at least 50 million dollars.
When Eckles had cursed enough and his emotions had calmed down, Lin Mingyang then spoke, "If MGM didn't have such and such problems, it wouldn't be our turn to sit here and judge it today. It's useless to complain about this now, I spent this much money to buy this company, it should always have something valuable left, right?"
Lin Ming Yang asked about this, Ecks' face finally looked better, "MGM has the largest film library in Hollywood, the 4100 movies in it are its most valuable asset, currently this library has been reduced after several changes of hands, but it can still bring MGM around 500 million dollars in revenue every year."
"And what about the value of MGM's brand right now?"
Lin Mingyang asked this because MGM produced a large number of lavish productions during its golden period from the 1920s to the 1940s, leaving a deep impression on people all over the world, especially the iconic lion's roar. Even though MGM is currently unable to keep up with this era, the value of the brand should still be there.
Eckles sighed helplessly, "There is no MGM name at all in the six major studios that Hollywood now recognizes, I have to say that MGM has really declined over the years!"
Lin Ming Yang was prepared for this, he didn't have any loss on his face, instead he laughed: "Then you are the first captain of this big ship of MGM sailing on the voyage of revival, maybe in the future you will really be able to surpass Meyer and become the best manager in the history of MGM and even Hollywood."
"So you've found a way to make our lions roar again?"
Ecks looked at Lin Ming Yang with anticipation, but Lin Ming Yang shrugged his shoulders, "Not yet, but I like your analogy, to make the roar of the lion resonate around the world, that's my goal... I heard that there's also a special saying about this MGM label, the lion's roar stands for independent productions, and MGM is only responsible for distribution, and will definitely carry an independent production studio label behind it. will carry the independent studio label; two roars is MGM's own title movie; three roars is the annual masterpiece."
"I've asked the people in charge and that's complete nonsense!" Ecks he was a little dissatisfied just like that to digress from his own topic, and continued, "I can try to improve on the management of the company, but the most important thing that MGM needs right now is still excellent movies, and good works are the way for a movie company to survive... The company is yours, and I'm only responsible for helping you to manage it. Making movies is your forte, so things about production still need to be done by you personally!"
Despite always harboring idealistic fantasies, at this time Lin Ming Yang had to face reality, "How many titles does the company have left that it can use now?"
Ecks shook his head, "MGM's two best selling titles over the years, one is the James Bond series, and the other is Sister Agent starring you and Julie. Both of these titles could have sequels, but neither is the best choice at this point in time!"
Lin Mingyang proposed, "I only signed a contract with Disney for the first episode of Twilight, we can make the later ones ourselves!"
Ecks still shook his head, "Unless the second episode can start filming right away, distant water can't put out a fire!"
Now Lin Ming Yang was also in a bit of a dilemma, in this clueless situation, it was impossible for him to come up with a script right away. Just as the two of them were at a loss, there was suddenly a knock on the door outside the office.
"Kode, didn't I tell you? Don't bother me without something important!" Ecks was in an irritable mood, and when he saw that it was his assistant, Cord, who pushed the door in, he chopped his head off and reprimanded him.
Cord explained with an aggrieved face, "There's an old man in the company, saying he wants to see Mr. Felix!"
"Looking for me?" Lin Mingyang froze there with a face full of dismay.
Ecks frowned at the side and asked, "Are you sure that person isn't a fan who came to get his autograph?"
Cord honestly returned, "He called himself Stan and said he knew Mr. Felix before!"
Ecks grunted in dismay, "There aren't many people in America who don't know Felix these days!"
"So I'll send him away?" Cord asked in a small voice.
"Wait!" Lin Ming Yang suddenly stood up and called out to Cord who was just about to leave, "You just said his name was Stan, so what does he look like?"
Cord described the man's appearance.
Lin Ming Yang clapped his hands in excitement, this sudden move startled both Ecks and Cord in the office.
Ecks looked at Lin Ming Yang with a puzzled face, "You really know that person?"
Lin Ming Yang explained, "That one is a funny old man, the old man who saved a little girl when Spider-Man and the Green Monster fought in New Spider-Man I and the pedestrian who ran across the road in New Spider-Man II were all played by that old man!"
"A crowd pleaser?" Exxon lost interest.
"It's true that in the movie he's just a drag queen, but in reality he's Spider-Man's 'dad', and he has quite a few other kids, like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Nightcrawler, the X-Men..."
As that one loud comic book character was reported in turn, Ecks' expression began to change from disdain to surprise, and finally the whole thing froze, "You mean... that old man is the famous comic book artist Stan Lee?"
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