Returning to Building One in the administrative district, Amy Pascal was already waiting for him in the lounge area next to Simon's office on the fifth floor.
Simon had lunch with Spielberg at noon, and Amy hadn't been idle either. She had invited Robert Rehme to discuss matters.
After the acquisition of New World Entertainment, its CEO Robert Rehme had been retained by Simon as President in charge of Daenerys Entertainment's film distribution operations. His contract, which ran from August 1988 to July 1991, a total of three years, would expire next month.
Due to some unpleasantness surrounding salary raises and job changes, combined with the fact that Simon didn't particularly rate Rehme's abilities and felt he was getting on in years, there were no plans to renew his contract this time.
What Amy had discussed with Rehme over lunch were the details regarding his departure next month.
Once Robert Rem left, his position would be taken over by Mark Belford, the executive Simon had been carefully grooming over the past few years.
Motioning for Amy not to stand, Simon sat down across from her and asked, "How did the talk with Robert go?"
Amy placed the newspaper she had been casually flipping through onto the round table in front of her. "Robert officially signed with Paramount yesterday. Once he finishes handing over his duties here next month, he'll formally depart."
Ever since Daenerys Entertainment acquired MCA, Robert Rehme had actually started looking for his next opportunity.
Simon was aware of this. Paramount Communications chairman Martin Davis had even personally reached out to him about it.
Although there had been some friction, Robert had been generally diligent and responsible over these three years. Therefore, Daenerys Entertainment's official line was simply that this was a normal position adjustment.
With no negative rumors leaking out and Daenerys Entertainment's strong performance in film production and distribution over recent years obvious to everyone, Robert Rehme, who had personally witnessed the company's rise, naturally became a target that other studios wanted to recruit.
The position at Paramount that Sherry Lansing had originally been expected to take had been snatched away by Simon for MGM. To revitalize Paramount's declining film business in recent years, Martin Davis had invited Robert to become the new President of Paramount Pictures.
"That's fine too," Simon said. After thinking for a moment, he added, "Also, make time to arrange a farewell party for Robert in the company's name. He should receive all the proper courtesies."
Amy nodded. "You're heading to the UK next week, so should we schedule it for mid-next month?"
Wonder Woman had already been filming in the UK for two weeks. After the initial run-in period, some key scenes would begin shooting next week.
As an in-house Daenerys project, Simon couldn't monitor it remotely like he had with The Flash. He planned to fly over personally for a week to keep a close eye on things.
"Better to schedule it for the end of July. Besides the Wonder Woman matters, I also plan to visit Finland, and possibly Italy. I might need to stay on the East Coast for a few days afterward as well. AOL's IPO is confirmed for July 12."
Amy agreed, then said, "I'm really worried that one day you'll completely stop managing the Daenerys side of things."
"I can't let go," Simon said with a self-deprecating smile. "Truth is, I'm the type with a very strong desire for control."
Amy shook her head slightly and looked at Simon. "I don't think that's a bad thing. Daenerys Entertainment, and all the other companies in the Westeros system, would be hard to imagine reaching their current state without you personally holding the reins."
Simon took a sip of the coffee his assistant had brought and smiled. "That's a very nice compliment. You should say things like that more often."
Amy laughed. After some small talk, she moved on to business. "I've completed the planned layoffs of 1,000 people during this period. However, there are still quite serious redundancy issues in the production and distribution departments. Many former MCA employees are quite unhappy that we haven't raised their salaries to match Daenerys Entertainment's standards. Some are even trying to get the unions involved."
After acquiring MCA, Simon had initially planned to cut 3,000 positions, reducing the combined workforce of 15,000 down to 12,000.
However, as soon as word leaked, it attracted intense attention from the media, unions, and federal agencies.
To avoid complications with the two major acquisitions that had just been finalized, Daenerys Entertainment had to quickly announce publicly that the layoffs would total only 1,000 people.
Before the merger, Daenerys Entertainment employees enjoyed significantly higher salaries than those at MCA and other studios in the industry. Since the full layoff plan couldn't be carried out, Simon had also refrained from raising the salaries of the integrated MCA staff to the same level.
Additionally, to redistribute personnel, Simon had strengthened the development of Daenerys Entertainment's overseas branches during this period, continuously sending many employees to markets in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
Hearing Amy bring up the matter again, Simon's expression turned serious. He thought for a moment before saying, "Try to send more staff from production and distribution overseas. We can also select people to transfer into departments under Nancy's control, such as music and games. These businesses overlap considerably. As for compensation, we can issue them an official notice that any adjustments will have to wait at least one year. The company needs time to properly evaluate their performance."
Amy replied, "The biggest issue is that many people simply don't want to be sent overseas, especially to Eastern Europe, Latin America, and certain Asian countries. You know how it is."
"Those markets are critical priorities for Daenerys Entertainment's next phase of overseas expansion. Even if we don't make money immediately, we need to cultivate them early and get local audiences familiar with the Daenerys brand. The returns will come eventually. For the next round of overseas assignments... I'll speak with Mark personally tomorrow. We don't need to accommodate the employees' preferences too much. Since they're drawing salaries and hoping to earn more in the future, they should accept being reassigned."
After saying this, Simon paused briefly before adding, "We'll wait until early next year. If there are still redundancy issues then, we'll carry out a second round of layoffs. At that point, it won't matter what anyone says."
The two then discussed the preparation progress for Universal Studios Osaka in Japan. Amy would also need to fly to Japan next week.
As they were speaking, a greeting came from behind them.
Simon turned to see his female assistant leading a middle-aged man over, so he and Amy both stood up.
The visitor was Tom Pollock, former President of Universal Pictures under MCA.
Tom Pollock was in his forties, not particularly tall, with the typical large Jewish nose, a receding hairline, and a pair of distinctive drooping eyes.
After the deal closed, MCA chairman Lew Wasserman and president Sid Sheinberg had officially stepped down, retaining only ceremonial advisory titles that everyone understood were meaningless.
Following the merger, since Amy needed to oversee the entire Daenerys Entertainment operation and could no longer directly manage Daenerys Pictures, Simon had kept Tom Pollock on board.
After a period of adjustments, Tom Pollock's current title was President of Daenerys Pictures. He was also responsible for the separation and integration work between Universal Pictures and Daenerys Entertainment's three production labels.
As the core film label under Daenerys Entertainment, assigning the president position to Tom Pollock might seem unfair to the veterans Ira Deutchman, President of Highgate Pictures, and Danny Morris, President of New World Pictures. In reality, however, Tom Pollock's actual authority was much smaller than either of theirs.
Highgate Pictures and New World Pictures would now operate even more independently as two dedicated production and distribution systems focused on their respective genres.
Therefore, Deutchman and Danny Morris were essentially autonomous regional powers.
At Daenerys Pictures, true power remained firmly in Simon's hands. Tom Pollock mainly handled administrative tasks such as contract negotiations, personnel matters, and budget planning.
The studio's core creative authority was completely beyond Tom Pollock's reach. Distribution of the label's films would also be managed by Mark Belford, who would soon replace Robert Rehme.
Moreover, Tom Pollock's previous concurrent board position at MCA's Cineplex-Odeon theater chain had been taken over by Nancy Brill.
Even so, while Tom Pollock was not entirely satisfied with his current situation, he didn't harbor too many complaints.
In fact, he felt somewhat fortunate.
Because of Simon's firm insistence on control during the MCA acquisition, Tom Pollock had originally expected to be forced out like Wasserman and Sheinberg. He hadn't anticipated being allowed to stay.
After all, in today's Hollywood, every good position was already taken.
The major studios had recently shrunk back from eight to seven. Equivalent positions were occupied by Terry Semel at Warner Bros., Peter Guber and Jon Peters at Columbia, Joe Roth at Fox, Sherry Lansing at MGM, and Jeffrey Katzenberg at Disney.
The final one, Paramount, had essentially been secured by Robert Rehme, who was about to leave Daenerys.
As for Daenerys itself, the bench was exceptionally deep.
Tom Pollock didn't have the kind of fortune that allowed Wasserman and Sheinberg to retire comfortably. At only forty-something, he wasn't ready to retire. Yet if he left, there were no top-tier studio positions available for him, and smaller studios couldn't accommodate someone of his stature. He wouldn't find a suitable role anytime soon.
Securing the President of Daenerys Pictures position, even with limited power, was still an excellent opportunity. Any Hollywood executive with experience understood that this was a highly valuable role for career advancement.
Studio executive positions in Hollywood changed frequently. Spending a few years in this seat, even if he couldn't rise further, would allow him to easily land a position with real authority at another studio when he eventually left, just like Robert Rehme. It was even possible for him to reach the level of heading an entire media group.
After exchanging greetings, Amy left to handle her own affairs.
Simon didn't return to his adjacent office either. He remained seated in the bright lounge area by the floor-to-ceiling windows and began discussing work with Pollock.
"I met separately with the agents for Robert Redford and Adrian Lyne this morning. They seem to have communicated privately. They've both made some concessions compared to their initial demands of $5 million base salary plus 15% of domestic box office gross. I managed to negotiate the profit participation down to 10%, and Adrian's base pay down to $3 million."
What Tom Pollock was referring to was the Indecent Proposal project that Daenerys Entertainment was co-producing with Paramount.
After Brian De Palma withdrew due to concerns that he couldn't handle the material, Simon had invited the film's original director, Adrian Lyne, to take over.
Adrian Lyne might not be a household name, but mention 9½ Weeks and most people would immediately recall Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger's various erotic entanglements.
Adrian Lyne was the director of 9½ Weeks.
However, although the film became famous for its controversy, it was not Lyne's highest-grossing work. In fact, its box office performance had been quite poor. Lyne's biggest commercial success was Fatal Attraction four years earlier, which had starred Michael Douglas and grossed $300 million worldwide.
Before that, he had also directed Flashdance in 1983, which cracked the top ten at the box office that year. That dance film, which rode the wave of Grease, had also stirred up significant controversy but earned over $90 million in North America alone on a $4 million budget, ranking third on the annual chart.
Despite successes like Flashdance and Fatal Attraction, Adrian Lyne's box office track record had been inconsistent over the years.
After Fatal Attraction, his collaboration last year with Bruce Joel Rubin (who rose to fame with Ghost) on Jacob's Ladder had a $25 million budget but earned only slightly over $26 million in North America.
Combined with his low output of roughly one film every three years, Lyne found it difficult to command top-tier salaries.
Simon listened as Tom Pollock gave a summary and was very satisfied with the results.
Since the two wanted backend participation, Robert Redford's $5 million base salary and Adrian Lyne's $3 million base were exactly what Simon had in mind.
As for the 10% of domestic box office gross, this referred to 10% of the studio's share after splitting with theaters. For a hypothetical $100 million domestic gross with the typical 55% studio share, that would amount to roughly $5.5 million.
As long as they could help Indecent Proposal break $100 million domestically, the additional $5.5 million each would be well earned.
After confirming that Simon had no objections to the compensation packages, Tom Pollock continued, "In that case, I'll move forward with signing contracts with Bob and Lyne as soon as possible. Additionally, Demi Moore's agent is demanding $5 million. I've negotiated several times with ICM, but they haven't given any ground. They say Moore currently has plenty of offers."
Demi Moore was the original female lead in Indecent Proposal.
Simon had been somewhat hesitant lately about whether to cast Demi Moore in the role again. After reading the original novel and script, he felt the female protagonist Diana should be more of a sweet, girl-next-door type.
As for Demi Moore...
Probably because of too many messy scandals associated with her in his memories, Simon found it difficult to picture her as the character.
Hearing Tom Pollock's report, Simon thought for a moment and said, "In that case, let's pass on Demi. Try reaching out to Valeria instead."
"Valeria Golino?"
Simon nodded. "Yes. Her performance in Rain Man fits Diana's temperament very well."