I am Hollywood

Chapter 28: Strategy



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Lester Reed lamented inwardly as the anger clearly turned toward himself. In such a situation, he did not dare to argue back; after all, he knew he would be kicked out for sure.

"Mr. Blount, perhaps we can try... try negotiating with Eric Williams to re-sign the revenue- sharing agreement," he suggested hesitantly.

"Is that the best you could come up with?" Cohen Blount scoffed, "If you were Eric Williams, would you agree to re-sign the agreement?"

Lester Reed pressed on, despite the weight of Cohen's gaze: "Eric Williams should realize that based on current box office trends, it is unfair to Columbia, which has invested far more than he has, so..."

Before Lester could finish, Cohen Blount slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Enough! Fairness? When have you ever seen fairness in this world? What I want is a strategy, a strategy that can secure more benefits for Columbia, not a pipe dream."

Lester Reed fell silent, lowering his head. Cohen Blount glanced around the room, his gaze settling on Amy Pascal, who was seated at the end of the conference table. She had been the only one in the room opposing Eric Williams' betting agreement, which gave him a flicker of hope.

Shifting his tone, Cohen Blount said to Amy Pascal, "Amy, do you have any good ideas?"

Even though Cohen had been fiercely assertive in the meeting, Amy Pascal seemed somewhat distracted. She felt thoroughly disappointed in him -- conservative, lacking boldness, full of suspicion, never calm in the face of issues, and certainly not exhibiting the demeanor of someone in charge. She couldn't understand how Coca-Cola had chosen this mediocre CEO. Amy even thought it might be time for her to look for another job.

However, when Cohen Blount asked her opinion, Amy Pascal gathered her thoughts and replied, "Mr. Blount, I have no solution regarding that betting agreement. Even if we were to force the film out of theaters right now, we wouldn't be able to get the rights for Home Alone for free; instead, we would face a claim from Eric Williams for over a hundred million dollars."

Here, Amy Pascal paused to allow everyone to think. Before Cohen Blount could speak again, she continued, "So, what we should do now is try to win over Eric Williams and sincerely execute that betting agreement to show Columbia's good faith. There's no doubt that Home Alone would surpass 50 million dollars in box office, meaning that the overseas and other peripheral rights would go back to Eric. Moreover, a sequel to Home Alone is sure to be made, and by maintaining a good cooperating stance this time, I believe, with Eric's shrewdness, he would continue to work with us. I think that's the only way for Columbia to secure more benefits."

After Amy finished speaking, several executives couldn't help but nod in agreement, though Cohen Blount, while somewhat in agreement with her views, was once again reminded of Amy's potential friendship with Jeffrey Hansen and Eric Williams. His suspicious nature made him doubt that Amy's advice was impartial.

Thus, Cohen Blount couldn't help but interject again, "Amy, you are an employee of Columbia and should think of the company first, not just outsiders. If you can come up with a way to overturn that betting agreement to secure more benefits for us, I would promote you on the spot."

It felt just like a few weeks ago when she worked hard, doing her utmost to bring quality film projects to the company and diligently offering strategies. And what happened? She was first kicked off the Home Alone project team. She felt she needed to keep a distance and bore no ill will. Then she was demanded to speak again as the only opposing voice to a poor decision and offered her reasonable advice, only to be questioned once more.

This left Amy Pascal feeling cold, a surge of intense grievance rising; her nose felt a bit tender, and tears threatened to spill.

Suddenly standing up, her chair fell backward with a loud crash.

"Mr. Blount, I resign!"

The cold voice rang out in the conference room. Having said that, Amy Pascal did not linger to organize the documents in front of her but turned and left the office immediately.

"This is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous! Who does she think she is?" Cohen Blount fumed, This tempers flaring after already being on edge due to the Home Alone situation. Without a moment's pause, he slammed the table again and turned to his assistant saying, "Notify security to immediately throw that bitch out of here; I don't want to see her at Columbia HQ again."

"Understood, Mr. Blount," the assistant replied in a tight voice, cautiously rising to leave the meeting room.

Taking a sip of coffee to steady himself, Cohen Blount coldly stated, "Alright, let's continue. Everyone better stay sharp, or I won't hesitate to sign more termination papers today." Although many executives felt that Amy Pascal's recent suggestion was the most valid -- after all, everyone in that meeting room was a competent professional -- Cohen Blount had fallen into a hysterical state. No one wanted to risk their job to back Amy's proposal.

Therefore, the executives reluctantly began to discuss. After several hours of discussions, they finally came up with a strategy.

As the meeting ended, Cohen Blount eagerly told his assistant, "Get in touch with Disney's Michael Eisner for me. I want to invite him to dinner tonight; tell him we have important matters to discuss regarding Home Alone."

"Yes, Mr. Blount," the assistant felt relieved as the tension from Cohen seemed to have evaporated after the meeting and stood a little less nervously.

...

The next morning, the $27.55 million opening weekend box office for Home Alone made headlines, thrusting Eric back into the spotlight as a topic of public interest. If before the film's release, much of the news regarding Eric came from the two major studios promoting their film, now the media had taken it up independently.

With Eric having just returned to Los Angeles in the middle of the night, he woke up to find his home -- previously free of paparazzi -- now swarming with reporters. There was no other word to describe the crowd; they were indeed piled up in front of his door, mics and cameras in hand.

Due to Columbia's intentional omittance of information, Eric did not receive any immediate news about Home Alone's box office. But upon seeing the reporters, he knew that Home Alone

had hit big.

Even though he appreciated the press for 'informing' him in their way, Eric still had no interest in engaging with them. After breakfast, he headed straight to the garage, planning to drive through the throng of reporters to the Columbia headquarters to get the scoop on the

situation.

However, Eric clearly had never encountered such 'glamorous' moments before. Thus, when he pulled out of the driveway, he miscalculated how to handle it; he was instantly surrounded by a horde of reporters as the car barely left the house. Some journalists even climbed onto the hood of his car, loudly demanding answers and indiscreetly banging on the window at him. Questions flew from every direction: "Mr. Williams, what do you think about Home Alone's $27.55 million opening weekend?"

"Mr. Williams, do you think Home Alone will surpass E.T.?"

"Eric, according to the bet agreement, you are about to become Hollywood's youngest multi- millionaire; what will you do once you have that money?"

"Mr. Williams, I'm a reporter from the Los Angeles Times; can I interview you?"

"Eric..."

"....."

It felt like thousands of geese were quacking in his ear. Though Eric found the $27.55 million opening weekend somewhat thrilling, he was mostly consumed with anxiety and nervousness. There were simply too many reporters surrounding his car, and he hesitated to press the gas pedal hard. A chunky white reporter in front of the car seemed eager for a collision, his expression one of desperate anticipation.

*****

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