Chapter 94: So It Was a Cocoon He Made Himself
Chapter 94: So It Was a Cocoon He Made Himself
The entire way there, Eric racked his brains trying to figure out how to explain the matter to Barry Diller.
At the Pretty Woman celebration party, the two of them had already discussed the issue of his next film. It had practically been treated as a tacit understanding that Fox would distribute his next movie during the summer season.
Now that he was suddenly changing his mind, it was difficult to predict how Fox would react.
If possible, Eric did not want to become enemies with any of the major studios. His current strength was still insufficient. If he faced suppression, there was no telling whether it would seriously damage him. More importantly, Fox still held the distribution rights to three of his films, involving profits worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Because he kept falling into conflicted thoughts, Eric even accidentally ran a red light once. Fortunately, nothing happened.
He finally arrived at Fox headquarters. After reporting his identity, he made his way unimpeded to outside Barry Diller’s office.
“Mr. Williams, please wait a few minutes. The president is meeting with a guest right now.”
Barry Diller’s secretary led Eric into the outer reception room and thoughtfully brought him a cup of coffee.
Eric curiously glanced toward Barry Diller’s office door. The office had excellent soundproofing, and not a single sound could be heard from inside.
The young and beautiful secretary noticed Eric’s curious expression. After hesitating for a moment, she softly said, “Fox Television manager.”
Eric raised an eyebrow, then could only toss the woman a grateful look as she had already resumed an expression as though she had said nothing at all.
That woman really was clever.
With that simple sentence, she had practically revealed nothing, yet had still handed Eric a small favor. Moreover, when she leaned forward earlier, whether intentionally or unintentionally, her nameplate had happened to appear directly in front of Eric. It was impossible not to remember her name.
After patiently waiting seven or eight minutes, a middle-aged man opened the office door and walked out looking utterly dejected.
When he noticed Eric sitting on the reception room sofa watching him through the glass, the middle-aged man quickly suppressed his frustration and politely nodded at Eric before hurrying away.
“Mr. Williams, you may go in now.”
Eric entered the office. A faint smell of cigarette smoke lingered in the air, and several cigarette butts had already piled up inside the ashtray in front of Barry Diller.
“Eric, sorry to keep you waiting.”
By the time Eric entered, Barry Diller had already concealed most of his earlier emotions, though Eric could still see traces of anger lingering on his face.
“It was only a few minutes.”
As he spoke, Eric walked over and sat on the sofa opposite under Barry Diller’s gesture.
Although Barry Diller did not explain anything, combined with the identity of the man who had just left, Eric could still guess why he had been furious. Most likely, Fox Television’s performance had failed to meet expectations.
ABC, NBC, and CBS had dominated North America’s broadcast television market for so many years that they were never going to let a newcomer grow strong enough to threaten their position.
From this perspective, Barry Diller truly was a media genius. In Eric’s previous life, under pressure from the three major television networks, Diller had still managed to build the Fox Broadcasting Company into North America’s fourth major television network.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Barry Diller finally asked Eric the reason for his visit.
Eric still had not come up with any tactful wording during the drive over, so he could only be direct.
“Mr. Diller, I’m afraid my next film can’t be distributed by Fox.”
Barry Diller confirmed he had not misheard. His brows instantly furrowed and his eyes narrowed slightly.
He had just received bad news from the Fox Television manager. Before his mood had fully recovered, another piece of bad news had arrived.
“Eric, are you planning to breach the contract? Have you thought about the consequences of doing that?”
Since the matter was already out in the open, Eric no longer hesitated. Meeting Barry Diller’s gaze directly, he said:
“Mr. Diller, I have no intention of breaching the contract. The agreement does not prohibit me from working with other studios, nor does it specify release windows for the three films. So as long as I deliver three movies to Fox before the end of the year, that fulfills the agreement.”
Barry Diller froze slightly, and a faint sense of regret surfaced.
He had personally overseen the signing of that contract.
The fact that it did not prohibit Eric from collaborating with other studios was indeed Fox’s oversight. The staff drafting the contract had focused most of their attention on the detailed clauses regarding Home Alone.
Besides, Eric had signed on for three films in one go. In Hollywood, there were very few directors capable of directing three films in a single year. Most directors who managed to maintain a pace of one film per year were already considered highly productive.
Who could have imagined this young man possessed such astonishing energy?
However, the lack of specified release windows had actually been intentional on Barry Diller’s part.
When the contract was drafted, Fox had not been especially optimistic about the other two films Eric wanted bundled into the deal. Although Eric had specifically brought up scheduling issues and hoped all three films could be placed in major holiday seasons, even arguing briefly with Barry Diller over it, Fox ultimately rejected the request for various reasons.
Fox had its own calculations.
If Eric’s first two films failed to impress, Fox could calmly place them into slower spring or autumn release windows. That way, the films would not consume too many of Fox’s resources, while the company could still smoothly fulfill the contract.
But who could have predicted that Eric’s next film, Pretty Woman, would become another massive success?
As a result, no one could any longer dismiss the boy’s achievements as mere luck. Audiences had also begun eagerly anticipating his next movie.
And now, inside the office where the atmosphere had grown tense, after hearing Eric’s words, Barry Diller finally realized something:
What he had once smugly regarded as a clever rejection of Eric’s scheduling demands had now become a giant cocoon wrapping himself inside it.
“Eric, isn’t a thirty-five percent split enough to satisfy you? Pretty Woman only cost seven million dollars to make. If you subtract Lamborghini’s one million dollar advertising sponsorship, the actual production cost was only six million. Meanwhile, Fox’s marketing and distribution expenses have already exceeded fifteen million dollars—two and a half times your production cost. Two and a half times! Yet we only take twenty percent. With a profit split like that, what exactly are you dissatisfied with?”
By the end, Barry Diller’s tone had practically turned into a roar, and an oppressive aura radiated from his entire body.
He had only returned from Europe the previous night. After days of exhausting travel, he had not even had a proper night’s sleep before hearing early this morning that a new Fox television program had been jointly crushed by the three major networks, resulting in disastrous ratings.
He had just finished berating the Fox Television manager and throwing him out of the office, only to be hit with another piece of bad news. The anger he had barely suppressed erupted again.
Eric, however, was not intimidated by Barry Diller’s pressure. Calmly, he countered:
“Mr. Diller, although Fox spent fifteen million dollars, it will receive more than eighty million in profits in return. So I don’t owe Fox anything. Honestly, I was nervous the entire way here because I truly don’t want things to sour between us. I only wanted to have a proper discussion.”
Seeing that the boy opposite him was neither intimidated nor impulsively shouting back in youthful arrogance, but instead calmly and methodically refuting him, Barry Diller quickly regained control.
He suddenly realized that his ability to manage his emotions was actually inferior to that of a young man not even twenty years old.
After silently reflecting on himself, Barry Diller sat back down in his executive chair and slowly took several deep breaths. Still staring at Eric, he finally said:
“Alright, Eric. You… can first tell me what new terms you want.”
Eric realized Barry Diller had not fully understood what he meant, so he explained:
“Mr. Diller, I have no intention of revising the contract. What I said earlier wasn’t an attempt to pressure Fox into giving me more benefits. It’s simply that someone offered conditions I cannot refuse in exchange for the distribution rights to my next film.”
Having navigated Hollywood for many years, once Barry Diller calmed down, he quickly thought of a possibility.
“Columbia?”
Eric nodded.
Barry Diller silently lowered his head, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. He took a deep drag.
Since Columbia had already persuaded Eric, it meant the conditions they offered were something Fox simply could not match.
At present, everything Columbia was doing revolved around inflating its stock price to extract greater profits from the Japanese.
Under circumstances like these, it would not be surprising at all if Columbia offered utterly insane terms just to secure Eric’s next film.