Chapter 1,172 This is Hollywood

What is the most profitable business in the world? Arms, oil? No, monopoly business is the most profitable. If you are in a monopoly position in any industry, then just wait and count your money at home, right?

In a sense, Ye Ming has a monopoly in Hollywood, a video monopoly. He is still in litigation with the US government about this. But what’s funny is that the US government’s video website is also technically supported by Ye Ming’s Huihuang.com. The United States is such a strange place. It will litigate with you on the one hand, but it will not delay cooperating with you on the other.

Of course, another area where Ye Ming has a monopoly in Hollywood is Harry Potter. Few people will notice this. Everyone pays more attention to Huihuang.com. Many scientists are working hard to break through Ye Ming. patent, but few people pay attention to another thing, that is, Ye Ming is the copyright owner of Harry Potter, which means that if Warner Bros. wants to continue filming Harry Potter, it must be It only requires Ye Ming’s consent.

The production cost of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was 130 million US dollars, and the box office was 970 million US dollars. The box office was close to 1 billion. It suddenly entered the top ten in history. This is like a big deal for Warner Brothers and Hollywood. It was like a shot in the arm, and Hollywood capital suddenly discovered a glittering gold mine. Even if the Federal Reserve prints money at full capacity, it may not be able to make more money than Harry Potter.

Therefore, at this time, Warner Bros. began to pay attention to the Harry Potter series of movies. The box office is close to one billion, and this is not even a product of peripheral extension. Of course, all of this has to be divided into half by Ye Ming. This is due to the signing of a good contract.

Things were so unhappy for the people at Warner Bros. How could they bypass Ye Ming? At this time, they contacted Rowling, hoping to sign a contract directly with Rowling. In fact, this is what they did. Give Rowling a certain favor and let Rowling personally authorize them to film the second Harry Potter episode, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This result was something Ye Ming didn't expect at all, and he didn't really care about it.

After all, Ye Ming and Rowling have a contract. Therefore, Warner Brothers' approach is problematic at this time. They should not bypass Ye Ming at this time.

Therefore, filming of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets began. Just when filming was about to be completed, the Writers Guild of America had already issued a lawyer's letter, directly warning Warner Bros. not to play with fire. The copyright owner of Harry Potter is Ye Ming, not Rowling, so without Ye Ming’s signature and authorization, the filming activities and even commercial activities related to Harry Potter are illegal, and illegal not only cannot It will be released in theaters, and peripherals cannot be developed anywhere. This time, Warner Bros. was suddenly stuck.

Originally, they thought that if they said they would not live together with Ye Ming, then they could cooperate with the author, which would also be able to bypass Ye Ming's authorization.

But I didn't expect that Ye Ming is also a member of the Screenwriters Guild. Now Warner Bros. is trying to get nothing.

The only way now is to get Ye Ming's authorization to legalize their filming. Otherwise, the Screenwriters Guild will sanction them and apply to the court for compensation for Ye Ming. The amount of compensation is the same as that of Harry Potter and Harry Potter. Philosopher's Stone's box office is tied to its peripherals.

After all, under such a situation, the filming of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was not completed. Therefore, under such a situation, Warner Bros. was directly asked to compensate Ye Ming according to the amount of the previous movie. This This is a method commonly used by judges in the United States to solve problems.

Therefore, in such a situation, no matter what it is, Warner Bros. must give Ye Ming permission, otherwise, fines and lawsuits are inevitable. What is the box office of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets? If Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets can be released, then let’s talk about the box office.

Anyway, if it is said that a fine must be imposed, it will depend on the box office and peripheral results of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

This is a very helpless result. Warner Bros. has asked many lawyers. At this time, there is only one way to solve the problem, which is to reach a settlement only with Ye Ming's authorization.

Ye Ming glanced at Columbus with interest and said: "You are not a very good lobbyist. However, I have thought about this issue. What Warner Brothers did is indeed a bit unreasonable. In such a situation, You don’t dare to act and film without my authorization. This is simply a violation of copyright.”

At this time, Columbus said helplessly: "It's not just the high-level idiots at Warner Bros., this movie has already brought hundreds of millions of profits to Warner Bros., but they are still not satisfied, and they actually signed a contract with Rowling. After signing the contract, I thought that was the end of the matter.

What's the result? It's obvious. The people in the trade union won't agree, right? By the way, Ye Ming, when did you join the Screenwriters Guild? "

After all, this identity is not the same for all stars. The Screenwriters Guild is quite protective of shortcomings. Ye Ming is a member of them and has paid his dues on time. The Writers Union will naturally pay attention to such things. of.

Under such a problem, in fact, the Screenwriters Guild wants to show its sense of existence. But the key is, do Chinese people know how to join a trade union to protect themselves?

This is very different from Columbus's understanding of the Chinese people. But it turned out that Ye Ming had joined the Screenwriters Guild early.

Ye Ming smiled and said very low-key: "Some time ago, a friend suggested that I join. I thought it was okay and very interesting, so I wrote an application form to the union. But I didn't expect that it would be passed quickly. So I became a member of the Writers Guild.

The people from the Screenwriters Guild also really protected my interests. Otherwise, if I was not in the United States and the movie shot by Warner Bros. was released later, I might not have known that something like this was happening.

At this point, I think I have a very bad impression of Warner Bros. "

This is natural. Under such a good situation, what Warner Brothers did was indeed a bit unreasonable, but it was also slapped in the face by the people from the Writers Guild.

If you dare to disobey, you will be fined directly. Such a matter is still decided by the Screenwriters Guild.

This is the benefit of joining the Screenwriters Guild. Most of the membership fees paid are actually used to deal with members' copyright lawsuits.

Warner Brothers didn't expect this. Ye Ming's copyrights are so complete. Not only the movies, but also the surrounding copyrights are in Ye Ming's hands. This is not something that an ordinary young artist can do. It's hard to say whether there is such a master among the old fried dough sticks.

Columbus was stunned for a moment and said curiously: "Didn't Ai Qiuhua tell you about this? It seems that the higher-ups have asked Ai Qiuhua to contact you."

Ai Qiuhua is the president of Warner Bros. Asia. Under normal circumstances, Ai Qiuhua and Ye Ming will contact him if there is any problem. This is a common practice in Warner Brothers.

This time, Ye Ming didn't even think about it and wanted to say: "I met Ai Qiuhua once, but she didn't mention this matter, as if she was deliberately hiding something from me. This is a bit unkind. No matter how you say it, I don't do it either. Copyright holders of Harry Potter, you used Roland to do it to me last time, and you still do it like this this time. Who is paying attention? Don’t say that Mayer doesn’t know about such a thing. I I dare say that if Mayer hadn’t nodded, no one would have had the guts to play this trick.”

Hearing this, Columbus relaxed. He said with a smile: "This is the intrigue among the top management. Maybe there is a communication problem. In fact, Ai Qiuhua should contact you directly to tell you about such a matter." Got it done, I didn't expect she wouldn't do it like this.

It is estimated that there are some problems with the higher-ups above. I will report this to the company when I get back, but don't worry, the suspicion should be resolved smoothly. Now the board of directors is worried. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is almost finished filming, and more than half of the post-production is underway. Special effects are being produced while filming. This requires your authorization, so the company people asked me to see what you mean. "

Ye Ming thought for a while, why did he feel that Warner Bros. has been very quiet during this period? Normally, the second Harry Potter film would have to be in touch with him. His relationship was with Rowling who wanted to bypass me. . But if this is a direct rejection, it would be inappropriate. After all, everyone can make money together.

If you want to offend Warner Brothers, that's not good either. Therefore, Ye Ming thought for a while and said: "Follow the contract. In fact, when I signed the first authorized contract with you, there was a clause about breach of contract. If you want to continue to cooperate with me, no As for invalidating the movie where you filmed it, then follow the contract, and the breach of contract will be in accordance with the provisions of the contract, and I can authorize you to distribute the movie."

Columbus was stunned for a moment. He didn't know the news very well, so he hesitated before saying, "Then I'll communicate with the people in the company first. It seems that Ai Qiuhua should know about this." As He Ye Ai Qiuhua is the direct contact person for Ming cooperation. Under such a situation, Ai Qiuhua actually has enough reason to know the contents of the contract.

As a director, Columbus didn't care about the contract at all. When Ye Ming went to England to audition actors, Columbus only cared about it. As for after Ye Ming left, Columbus couldn't think of this person.

It was even said that when Rowling signed the licensing contract for the second part with Warner Bros., Columbus didn't know whether he should ask Ye Ming.

Ai Qiuhua quickly gave the answer. There was indeed a penalty clause in the contract. If either party breached the contract, they would be punished to a certain extent.

If it is said that Ye Ming breaches the contract, Time Warner will automatically own the filming rights for the second Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. And if it is said that Warner Bros. breaches the contract, then on such an issue, at this time, Ye Ming will own The copyright of Harry Potter in the Chinese region. Please note that this Chinese region includes Hong Kong City and Treasure Island. At this point, Ye Ming is definitely a Han nationalist.

Columbus said with some regret at this time: "Mr. Ye, in fact, Ai Qiuhua has no way to decide such a question. She has to report such a situation to the board of directors and see what kind of answer the board of directors will give. It is estimated that it will take two or three days to get the results.”

The board of directors coordinates everyone's interests. If you go along with your wrangling, big brother, then it is normal for a week to be involved in such a matter. The last big wrangling was during the filming of The Matrix, and we almost didn't let this person go. A movie in a classic science fiction series died midway.

Anyway, the more critical time Warner Bros. reaches, the more serious the wrangling may be. After all, the interests of all parties must be taken into consideration. Being able to give two or three days this time is quite good.

Ye Ming did not pursue anything on this issue, but waved his hand and said: "I'm not anxious about this. In fact, if you don't agree, then this may be better for me. Paramount, Fox, Disney, etc. are all I have been in contact with them, and if it comes to cooperating with them and purchasing the films that your company is about to shoot, I think Rothman and the others will definitely be interested."

Rothman, the CEO and boss of Fox, is also a very decisive and insidious guy. He is definitely a smiling tiger type of person in Hollywood. If the matter had something to do with him, then no one was sure what the outcome would be.

Columbus immediately started sweating on his forehead. He wiped the sweat and said, "This matter is no longer something I can care about. I am just a director. They really think I am Greenspan. Stop talking nonsense. I am just a director." Just make a good movie safely, no matter whose movie it is or what it does. Emmerich, you bastard, you were waiting to see if my joke was on you, now you are satisfied."

At this time, Emmerich said thoughtfully: "It's not about your jokes, it's about Warner Brothers' jokes, or even Hollywood's jokes. How many people in Warner Brothers and even Hollywood can really like yellow people?" Yes, how are Xianza and the others? They are dumbfounded. If your company doesn't bleed a lot this time, then I think it's impossible to end this matter."

It seems, it seems, that is indeed the case. Columbus was quite frustrated with this result. (To be continued)