Chapter 161 Peak Studio

At the end of 2001, China had joined the WTO and was about to take off and become the world's factory. Barron was also preparing to start its layout there.

Just like Puma Electronics, which was previously acquired by Digital UK, it was an attempt to establish a production factory in Shenzhen City, China.

The last time I went to China, because Barron's funds were not abundant, he only invested in the three BAT giants that are the most important and will have the largest future profits, and did not involve entities.

But this time when he went to China, Barron had just made a large amount of money in crude oil futures - his strategy was to use the money earned in the financial market to develop entities - therefore, this time he was able to make money in the entity The layout has been carried out.

And this time his destination will not only be China, but also several Asian countries.

Just like what Barron said to Yulia, he wanted to take her to China with him, not only because of her physical condition, but also because Yulia usually devotes almost all her time to work, so she can be called a Since I am a "workaholic", I can take this opportunity to take her out for some fun.

In addition, it is also possible to take advantage of this opportunity to promote the industries under the family trust fund in Asia.

The most important one is the Cultural Tourism Group. In addition, the Cavendish Hotel Group can also start to enter the Asian market.

As for ecological agriculture companies, there is no rush.

After all, even in Europe and the United States at this time, organic food can only be said to have just begun to rise. At present, it is only the choice of the rich. It will take until 2005 for ordinary people to start accepting the purchase of organic food.

China's acceptance of organic food took several years, seven or eight years to come.

This night, Barron and Yulia stayed in the Belu Castle. Although it has not been renovated on a large scale, it has been maintained. There are also servants here to look after it on weekdays, and When the old Duke was still alive, members of the family would come to stay for a while every summer, so there was no problem in entertaining them.

"Yuliya, you are of Russian descent, can you speak Russian?"

After dinner, when he saw Yulia taking out a pile of documents from her briefcase, as if she was ready to start work, Barron asked specifically.

Yulia's ancestors come from Russian aristocrats, who have been breeding in England for three generations - as far as Barron knows, Yulia's great-grandmother was just a little girl less than ten years old when she came to England.

That's why Barron asked this question.

"I know a little bit, but I haven't spoken it for many years. When my mother was still here, we usually communicated in Russian at home."

Saying this, a look of reminiscence appeared on Yulia's face.

"You know, I'm also very interested in learning languages. Please teach me how to speak Russian."

After hearing Barron's words, Yulia looked at him for a moment and said:

"If you are not afraid that after learning from me, the Russians you speak will not be understood by Russians..."

"If that's the case, I'm afraid I'll have to wonder if you did it on purpose..."

Of course, Barron said this entirely as a joke.

But he really hopes to learn a few more languages. After all, if he can master a few more languages, it will be very convenient in many cases.

Just like when other people are present, his personal assistant Wang Wanting talks to Barron about some company secrets. She always communicates in Chinese, which sounds like code words to others.

Moreover, Barron also found that after his rebirth, both his thinking ability and memory were very good, even superior. He also wanted to know if he would be faster in learning languages.

Speaking of which, it seems that there has rarely been such a relaxed and harmonious atmosphere between Barron and Yulia before.

This should also be related to the fact that Yulia's attitude towards Barron has changed dramatically without realizing it.

Before that, Barron always called Yulia "Ms. Moore" in conversations, but this time, he called her directly by her first name. These were subtle changes in this atmosphere.

…

As the time came to mid-to-late April, Bonnie Stuart became busy again.

Bonnie is now the person in charge of Summit Studio, a subsidiary of Summit Media, producing film and television variety show content.

Previously, Summit Studio had just acquired Ealing Studios, an independent production company, and merged its personnel into Summit Studio - this company was the independent production company that originally produced "Downton Abbey".

The acquisition of Ealing Studios is just the beginning. After that, Barron is also preparing for Summit Studio to acquire more independent production companies.

The reason is that in July this year, the British Parliament will approve a very important bill - the "Communications Act 2003".

This bill is very important to independent production companies. It is no exaggeration to say that this bill will play a major role in the future of British film and television variety show content production. It also clears the way for independent production companies to conduct commercial operations and global expansion.

Because the Communications Act 2003 changed the transactional status of broadcasters (TV stations) and suppliers (production companies), production companies have gained unprecedented rights.

Previously, once a program was sold to a television station, all rights attached to the program belonged to the television station.

The Act authorizes producers to retain these rights, including all distribution rights (including broadcast rights on terrestrial television, cable TV, network television and international television), and all ancillary rights - such as development through commercial operations and licensing Supporting books, CDs, mobile applications, Internet downloads, etc.

The producer becomes the owner of the content and owns the intellectual property rights attached to the television program.

This new intellectual property regime allowed small, once hand-to-mouth production companies to grow into rapidly expanding companies, triggering a wave of consolidation in the independent television production industry.

Barron's plan is to enhance Summit Studio's production capabilities through mergers and acquisitions before the bill is officially launched, while the value of those relatively powerful and potential production companies is not that great.

After all, Barron himself can only remember so many popular variety shows and film and television works from the original time and space. It is impossible to say that Summit Studio will only rely on his memories to produce programs in the future.

The best path is to directly acquire production companies with potential in the future, network with creative talents, and join Summit Studio.

The reason why ITV's profits increased significantly after the original time and space was because it changed its thinking in a timely manner and continuously acquired independent production companies, so as to have strong strength in content production.

Now, after acquiring Ealing Studios, Summit Studio is starting to produce new projects as the weather gets warmer.

This includes the second season of the reality show The Traitors, which will be filmed at Callan Castle, and the third season of the Downton Abbey series.

The first season of "Downton Abbey" has already been broadcast on SDTV, and it is expected to start broadcasting the second season in the second half of the year - the first two seasons of this TV series were filmed together.

After "Downton Abbey" was completed on SDTV, ITV purchased the second round of broadcasting rights in the UK, Sinclair Group purchased the broadcasting rights in North America, and TV stations in many countries including Europe and Australia. , is also in contact with Summit Media to introduce the broadcasting rights of this TV series.

The increase in broadcast scope has also led to an explosive growth in the global viewership of "Downton Abbey". In addition to receiving unanimous praise, the actors who starred in this series have also become well-known.

Their remuneration...of course is also rising rapidly.

Fortunately, after Barron's reminder, Summit Media directly signed a contract with these actors for six seasons of TV series plus one movie. Otherwise, the actors' remuneration for the third season of "Downton Abbey" alone would probably not have increased. how much.