Returning from Cannes, the media discussion and controversy surrounding Pulp Fiction winning the Palme d'Or grew increasingly intense as the film's release date approached, even overshadowing Ronald Reagan's upcoming state visit to the Soviet Union at the end of the month.
Two weeks away had piled up too much work. Before Simon could fully adjust to the jet lag, he quickly dove back into his hectic company affairs.
Besides Pulp Fiction, Basic Instinct, scheduled for release on July 15th, had entered its final editing stage since filming began in February. As the investor, screenwriter, and the person most familiar with the project's selling points, Simon naturally had to be inqqqqqvolved.
Fox Pictures, responsible for distributing Basic Instinct, had released the film's first TV trailer while Simon was at Cannes. The film would be submitted to the MPAA for rating in early June.
During this period, Dustin Hoffman, on a whim, had made some further revisions to the Rain Man script, inevitably extending the filming schedule again. It was now expected to wrap up by late June.
Hearing this news in Cannes, Simon could only hope the project wouldn't exceed its $25 million production budget. He also realized where Tom Cruise's bad habit of bringing his own writing team to turn every film he starred in into a 'Tom Cruise movie'—for better or worse—originated.
Apart from Rain Man, projects like Scream, Steel Magnolias, and Dead Poets Society were progressing much more smoothly. The selection process for the male lead in Batman had entered its third round, and Simon had begun participating personally.
After attending back-to-back screenings, production meetings, and casting sessions for a slew of projects, on May 30th, Simon flew to New York again to appear on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to promote Pulp Fiction. Amy Pascal also traveled to the East Coast with Simon to handle matters related to several reality TV shows.
Meanwhile, the summer box office competition was heating up.
Due to the weak critical and commercial performance of Lucasfilm and MGM's joint visual effects blockbuster Willow, Paramount and TriStar unanimously chose to move up the release dates of Crocodile Dundee II and Rambo III to Wednesday, May 25th.
As the sequel to 1986's second-highest-grossing film after Top Gun, Crocodile Dundee II ultimately opened on 2,837 screens. Sylvester Stallone's Rambo III debuted on 2,562 screens.
From May 20th to May 26th, Willow earned $11.05 million over seven days, taking the top spot on the weekly box office chart.
Crocodile Dundee II, ranked second, earned $4.75 million in just two days.
Coming in third, Rambo III earned $4.46 million in two days.
It's worth noting that Rambo III's production budget had spiraled completely out of control to a staggering $63 million. In comparison, Crocodile Dundee II, whose first installment had earned $174 million in North America alone just two years prior, still kept its production costs well under control at $14 million.
Furthermore, another film with a severely blown budget was slated for this summer: Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Disney had initially budgeted $45 million for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, already a rare big-budget level for the 80s. However, Robert Zemeckis had ultimately pushed the project's cost to $70 million.
Current-day Disney couldn't afford the failure of a $70 million project. Although Simon knew Who Framed Roger Rabbit would eventually perform very well at the box office, internally, Disney was in a state of anxiety over it. Several executives were already subtly or openly distancing themselves, deflecting blame in advance.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit was scheduled for June 24th. That could wait.
Squeezed by the three new releases, When Harry Met Sally..., which had maintained a very bright box office curve, saw a 33% drop this week, far exceeding its previous weekly declines of only 10-20%.
In its 11th week, When Harry Met Sally... earned another $4.11 million, bringing its cumulative total to $94.23 million, inching closer to the $100 million mark.
Arriving in New York, while taping The Tonight Show, Simon also needed to attend to Westeros Company business.
Jennifer's father, James Rebould, had finalized the loan matters during this period. Many contracts, documents, and memoranda related to Westeros Company's investments in Cisco and other firms, as well as important affairs of the numerous tech companies in which the company held stakes, required Simon to discuss, review, and sign in person with James.
On another front.
Amy's negotiations with the television networks continued.
All four major networks had expressed interest in the four reality show concepts proposed by Danielis Pictures. However, because Daenerys Pictures wanted to retain as much control as possible to share in future profits, progress wasn't exactly smooth.
The networks generally categorized these reality shows as traditional variety programming. This type of program was typically proposed by production companies or producers, with the networks buying the concept, funding it themselves, and owning the rights. Even if outsourced, the production company often only earned a simple service fee. If the ratings were high, they might receive an additional bonus. That was it.
Simon would never accept such terms under any circumstances.
Phenomenal reality shows like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Survivor, which in the original timeline could single-handedly support a network's ratings, generated hundreds of millions in net profit annually from advertising revenue alone in his memory. Their impact on boosting a network's overall ratings was immeasurable.
Moreover, once successful, future international licensing fees for such reality shows would also be a significant source of income. Take Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: at its peak, localized versions aired in dozens of countries worldwide, all requiring licensing fees.
If the rights were handed over to the networks, Daenerys Pictures' share of future profits would certainly shrink drastically, and the ongoing revenue from international licensing would also be lost to the company.
Upper East Side, the Rebould apartment.
It was already June 1st. Last night, The Tonight Show aired the Pulp Fiction cast interview special, bringing the film one step closer to release. All pre-release marketing was complete; now it was up to the film's market performance.
Tonight was the Rebould family dinner invitation. Besides Simon and Amy, the Rebould' friends, Robert Iger and his wife, also joined.
After weeks of back-and-forth, Daenerys Pictures finally signed its first contract with ABC yesterday for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
ABC would obtain the North American rights to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Daenerys Pictures retained the rights outside North America and would be fully responsible for producing the show. According to the contract terms, ABC could not produce the show independently without Daenerys Pictures, nor could Daenerys Pictures transfer the show to another US network.
Essentially, it was a contract where neither party could cut the other out.
Additionally, Daenerys Pictures would bear the production budget and contestant prize money. ABC would pay a licensing fee per season based on ratings. Daenerys Pictures would first produce a week's worth of pilot episodes to test audience response, scheduled to air during the week starting June 20th.
If the show met the rating standards, the two parties would then negotiate the licensing fee for the first season.
This year's fall season had been severely impacted by the writers' strike. Once the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire pilot passed, ABC planned to order 69 episodes in one go, airing three per week, perfectly filling the network's traditional 23-week schedule from fall to spring.
As a studio-based quiz show, the production cost per episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire wasn't actually very high. Basic studio and recording expenses were around $200,000. The $1 million prize wasn't easy to win either; an average of $100,000 total prize money per episode was more than sufficient.
However, even calculating at $300,000 per episode, the total production cost for the full 69-episode season would exceed $20 million, a substantial sum.
ABC's break-even point was set at 10 million viewers for the fall season.
If viewership fell below 10 million, the licensing fee ABC could offer would also be below $20 million. Within the network's acceptable rating range, for Daenerys Pictures to keep the show, they would have to rely on securing their own in-show sponsorships to cover the budget shortfall.
In this era before cable television truly dominated, a 10 million viewer threshold wasn't low, but it certainly couldn't be considered high either. This showed ABC didn't have particularly high expectations for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Furthermore, because the pilot was scheduled during the summer—the network's most unpopular season—ABC set the pilot's viewership standard at 6.5 million.
In the dining room, over dinner, conversation naturally turned to the reality shows.
Robert Iger happened to be seated opposite Simon. After discussing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, the ABC executive shifted the topic to Survivor. "Simon, actually, I think Survivor is more interesting than Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. However, this show carries much greater risk. Due to its continuous storyline, an entire season must be produced at once; it can't have a traditional pilot. If ratings are poor, it can't be immediately canceled. So, I believe it's best scheduled for a summer broadcast. If successful, it can move to the fall schedule; if it fails, it won't significantly impact the network's regular season."
Simon nodded in agreement, then shook his head. "Unfortunately, Bob, although we've done a lot of preliminary work, time-wise, it's definitely too late now."
Many popular reality shows in his memory were first tested in the summer before moving to prime slots. Given that reality TV wasn't mainstream yet, Robert Iger's insight demonstrated his sharp professional instincts.
"Actually, now is precisely an opportunity. Everyone has no programming to air this year, so they have to take more risks," Robert Iger continued with a smile. "So, Simon, if you could make some concessions on the cooperation terms, I could call Daniel right now and finalize this deal."
Now that Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was signed, Simon wasn't as anxious about the other three reality shows. If next month's pilot succeeded, these projects wouldn't lack buyers, and Daenerys Pictures would gain more leverage.
Of course, if it failed, that was that.
"Bob, the cooperation terms I can accept for Survivor are similar to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It's a win-win proposal; I don't think I have room for further concessions," Simon declined, then changed the subject. "Speaking of which, Bob, if Daenerys Pictures' television business develops well, would you be willing to jump ship and come work for me?"
Simon had only probed through James Rebould before. Bringing it up openly now made everyone at the table look at Robert Iger.
Robert Iger seemed surprised but quickly responded, "Simon, if there's a better professional development platform, I'd be happy to change jobs. But right now, I don't see that potential at Daenerys Pictures."
Simon smiled. "Can I take that as a promise?"
"You're a remarkable young man, and I'm curious what working for you would be like. So, why not?" Robert Iger shrugged, then, to everyone's surprise, asked Simon, "I recall you tried to acquire New World Entertainment earlier this year?"
Unexpectedly receiving such a response from Robert Iger, Simon saw no need to hide this. "Yes, I still haven't given up on that effort."
"New World Entertainment is quite strong in television production," Robert Iger commented. "It's just a shame they expanded too aggressively and hit both the stock market crash and the strike. They're destined not to escape this crisis."
Simon nodded and looked at James Rebould. "Jim, what's New World Entertainment's recent stock price?"
James Rebeld thought for a moment. "Not sure about the last few days. Last Friday's close was $8.50, with a total market cap around $210 million."
When attempting the acquisition earlier in the year, New World's stock price had briefly approached $17. After Simon appeared to completely abandon the effort, coupled with financial deterioration and the strike impact, the stock price had fallen back to low levels over recent months.
After speaking, James Rebould gave Simon a meaningful glance.
During this period, following Simon's instructions, Westeros Company had secretly purchased an additional 1.23 million shares of New World Entertainment, still staying under the 5% ownership threshold requiring public disclosure. If needed, Westeros could aggressively buy more from the open market at any time.
No need to be quite that transparent with Robert Iger.
Robert Iger didn't seem to dwell on it, instead saying, "Simon, if you want to acquire New World Entertainment, perhaps you should contact General Electric."
Before Simon could react, James Rebould seemed to have an epiphany, unconsciously saying, "Great idea. I should have thought of that sooner."
Everyone looked questioningly at James Rebould .
Realizing his slip, James Rebould offered an awkward smile and explained to Simon, "General Electric is a major creditor of New World Entertainment. The company is now insolvent. If we launch a public takeover, we'd inevitably have to assume massive debts nearly equivalent to New World's market value. However, if we could purchase the debt GE holds and then pressure New World for a debt-for-equity swap... Given the scale of GE's debt, we could likely secure at least 90% of New World's shares, and save about half the cost."
Hearing James explanation, Simon quickly understood.
Of course, doing this would make retail investors in the public market, and even Westeros Company itself with its secretly held shares, the biggest losers. A 90% debt-for-equity ratio would effectively devalue existing shareholders' stock to one-tenth of its original price.
However.
If New World Entertainment ultimately declared bankruptcy, shareholders' stock would become worthless anyway. Investment carries risk. Simon had no spirit of self-sacrifice for the greater good. He quickly made up his mind.
After dinner, it was already 10 PM when they left the Rebould'. Simon arranged with James to discuss the New World matter in detail at the company the next morning. He opened the car door for Amy Pascal.
Simon was heading back to his Lexington Avenue apartment in Midtown and would drop Amy off at her hotel on the way.
Neil Bennett started the car in the front seat. As Simon chatted casually with Amy, he suddenly remembered something. "Amy, starting tomorrow, halt all negotiations with NBC regarding our reality shows."
Amy Pascal looked puzzled. "Hmm?"
Simon thought for a moment. "Stop everything. Not just NBC; don't contact the other networks either. You can return to Los Angeles tomorrow."
Amy Pascal felt she understood something but couldn't completely grasp the connections. However, she was gradually getting used to not questioning Simon's decisions too deeply. She just asked, "What about the preparatory work?"
Simon said, "That, of course, continues."
Given New World Entertainment's precarious state, Westeros Company buying GE's debt would certainly help the giant avoid significant losses. However, compared to a behemoth like General Electric, Simon's power was still too small. Who knew what other ideas GE might have?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire would have its pilot next month. If the reality show succeeded as it had in the original timeline, the other three reality show projects in Daenerys Pictures' hands would also become bargaining chips for Simon.
General Electric was the parent company of NBC. This corporate aircraft carrier's initial investment in New World Entertainment was also to provide more content resources for NBC. At that point, Simon could leverage the potentially hit reality shows to secure GE's cooperation in the debt-for-equity swap plan.
After dropping Amy at her hotel, Simon headed back to the penthouse apartment on Lexington Avenue.
Opening the door, the living room was quiet but lights were on.
Simon took off his shoes and walked through the foyer. Katherine was sitting sideways on the sofa, dressed in a fitted light-blue wide-checked shirt and crisp white trousers, intently reading a magazine.
Quietly moving behind her, Simon leaned down before Katherine noticed he was back. She shyly tilted her head slightly, allowing him to kiss her cheek before he nuzzled her neck. She asked softly, "Did you have some wine?"
Simon inhaled her pleasant scent. "Just some red wine."
Katherine felt Simon's hands reaching around from behind. She dropped the magazine in her lap and reached up to stop him, her voice carrying a slight tremble. "I, I just made some coffee."
Simon simply acknowledged, "Mm."
His hands continued their mischief, seemingly very interested in her shirt buttons, actually popping one off. How annoying, it's a new shirt. She already knew she couldn't stop this strong little rascal. Sure enough, she couldn't, but she kept her hands on his to show her stance.
She wasn't willing.
After letting him fumble for a moment, feeling powerless, she felt herself being lifted—no, hoisted up, like a bandit would! She gave him a few dissatisfied thumps on the back.
Little rascal.
How could he!
[GodOfReader: Jerome is busy wrting R18 chapters on my other translation works, soooooooo. NO R18 CHAPTER FOR TODAAAAY!]