I’m in Hollywood - Chapter 228
[Chapter 223 The trend is on]
On the second day of the “Friends” viewing celebration party, Murdoch couldn’t wait to use News Corporation’s media to release the news that Firefly would take a stake in Fox Television Network, and also said that not only “Friends” will Continue to broadcast on Fox, and the two sides will work more closely together.
As soon as the news came out, most of the media who were originally pessimistic about whether Fox could keep “Friends” under the covetousness of the three major TV stations immediately had a 180-degree change in their attitudes, and they began to express their optimism about Fox. The future of television networks.
Not to mention that the Firefly revealed by Murdoch will cooperate more closely with the Fox Television Network, only by virtue of the Fox Television Network keeping the hit series of “Friends”, As long as Fox can seize the opportunity to produce more sophisticated TV programs to cultivate a loyal audience, then its fourth position in the North American TV industry will be unbreakable, and even after several years of concentrated development, it is not impossible to surpass the original three TV stations. .
Affected by this good news, the market value of Fox Television Network, which was originally less than one billion US dollars, rose rapidly.
The share transfer of the TV network cannot be completed overnight. After the Fox TV network released the news, not only did the three major TV stations not give up the scramble for “Friends”, but contact with Eric became more frequent.
Among them, because of the merger with the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation in 1985, the most eager to turn over after several consecutive years of losses even offered the conditions for a shareholding, however, the TV station’s Tom.
Murphy was only authorized by the board of directors to transfer 3% of the shares. Although the value of the 3% shares was more than twice that of the 10% shares of Fox Television, Eric was not at all tempted, because he got the 3% shares. According to the history of losing money until it was acquired by Disney, it is impossible to receive any dividends in the next few years.
Instead, it will consume a large amount of Firefly’s funds.
Moreover, this 3% stake is unlikely to bring much say to Eric.
So between the booming and the mud-footed, just have a slightly normal IQ.
Everyone knows what choices to make.
On the evening of September 10th, with the laughter of Friends from the audience and the scrutiny of other TV companies.
“Friends” ushered in its second week of airing.
Two hours later, Nielsen released the viewership statistics for the first time. The average viewership of the third and fourth episodes of “Friends” was 24.6 million, and the highest viewership still reached 29 million.
After seeing this data, the three major TV stations also began to analyze the success factors of “Friends”, and finally found that this TV series can get the first broadcast in addition to the humorous plot and lines The reason for the high ratings.
The most important thing is that the first two episodes were directed by Eric himself.
Of course, there may have been film directors who switched to TV production in the past, but it must have been those film directors whose careers were underestimated, and when there was absolutely nothing to do, no film director would ‘come down’ when his fame was so high. Therefore, Eric, who had achieved great success in the first few films, directed the TV series himself. This stunt aroused the strong curiosity of the audience, and they were eager to see Eric, who achieved a series of box office miracles. What kind of TV show will the director produce?
The quality of “Friends” itself has also met the expectations of the audience.
So combined, this sitcom is now popular.
Understand this, the three major TV stations began to shoot almost at the same time.
For a time, Steven Spielberg, Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton and many other Hollywood directors received high-priced invitations, and the three major TV stations even offered offers as long as they can Some dramas are willing to pay millions of dollars if they have a name on them.
Under the powerful money offensive, although most directors refused due to various scruples, it is not that no one tried it, and the results were very good.
The ratings of some American dramas with the titles of Hollywood directors exceeded their ratings expectations.
Therefore, in the next few years, well-known film directors will be invited to direct the first one or two episodes of American dramas.
A trend quickly formed.
If an American drama is launched, if there is no well-known Hollywood director sitting in the name when it is promoted.
The audience will subconsciously feel that the quality of this TV series is not high, and the ratings will not be as good.
Of course, these are all things that happened later.
After the broadcast of “Friends” in the second week, people with a heart have found that news about “Friends” has almost completely disappeared on TV programs other than Fox TV, and even those who like to make fun of current affairs hotspots On the entertainment talk show, the host seems to have never heard of “Friends”.
Obviously, this is a statement of the three major TV stations for Eric’s continuous refusal to win over them.
But this kind of ‘blocking’ has done no harm to “Friends”. Don’t forget, Fox TV station is standing behind News Corporation, from print media to TV media. Promotion of this TV show.
Although the three major TV stations control most of the TV media in North America, they are still pure TV networks and have not been merged by media groups, so they have little involvement in newspapers and magazines.
Newspapers and magazines also played a major role in the word-of-mouth spread of a TV drama in this era.
Although Fox’s competitors have not forgotten to publish some attacks on “Friends” in the newspapers they can influence, such as the criticism that “Friends” has too many adult topics to be broadcast on public television, they have not. What a big impact.
Because the more heavyweight newspapers have maintained a praiseworthy attitude towards “Friends”.
Eric is now sitting in his office reading a story about Friends from the Los Angeles Times.
There is no doubt that it will become the king of TV ratings this year. It is reported that the average advertising revenue of “Friends” per episode has reached 3 million US dollars, so this TV series will bring The revenue of more than 70 million US dollars. Although we do not know the specific sharing plan between Firefly and Fox TV, but with Eric Williams’ always strong style, the advertising share of “Friends” will definitely reach the highest level in the industry. , based on this calculation, the show could bring in nearly $30 million for Firefly just from its first run on Fox. Even more surprising, the rights to “Friends” are Firefly Exclusivity, then, the follow-up broadcast rights transfer and video release of this sitcom will bring in more than three times the revenue of the first round of advertising, but the total investment of this sitcom is less than 5 million US dollars, Eric .Williams, the ‘bad boy’ in Hollywood, proved to the world that he can not only shine in movies, but also in TV dramas.
When I was thinking about this article, the author kept thinking about whether Eric Williams would extend his tentacles to the music field next, because in several of the films he directed, Eric was clearly hung in the soundtrack column. The name of K. Williams, the “Wordless Love” in “Dark War” where the bus meets, I don’t know how many fans are fascinated, the picture of Tom Cruise and Brooke Shields hugging each other Also because of the background of this soundtrack, it was called the most beautiful movie scene by the media this year.
Everyone from the major record companies, look at the three major TV stations that are in a state of embarrassment now, a lesson from the past, why not take the lead in sending an invitation to Eric Williams before others take action?
After reading the article in the Los Angeles Times, Eric thought for a moment. When he was shooting “Pretty Moon”, he remembered a song composed by the famous pop band Roxette. Eric had a plan to train singers to join the record industry. The 1990s was the last glorious era of the world’s record industry. As long as a record company had a few leading singers, its profit was no less than that of a film company or a TV station. With the rise of the Internet age, the record industry has completely declined, but the copyrights of songs owned by record companies are also a huge asset that can bring long-term income in the West, where intellectual property protection is very strict. After writing and drawing a few strokes, Eric was about to flip through the next newspaper when there was a knock on the office door: “Mr. Williams, Miss Murdoch is here.
Eric responded casually, wearing a blue and white light plaid shirt and dark jeans, Elizabeth Murdoch, who was wearing a dark blue lady’s satchel, rushed in, very She sat down opposite Eric rudely, still looking so carefree, as if Eric’s strong kiss that night did not affect her at all. Take off the satchel and put it on her knees , UU reading www.sonicmtl.
com Elizabeth glanced at the title of the “Los Angeles Times” in front of Eric, and curled her lips in disdain: “I didn’t expect you to be so narcissistic that you secretly hid in the office to read articles that others flattered you.” ; Eric didn’t care about the sarcasm in the girl’s tone. If he was just a film director, of course he could turn his ears and make the film well.
But he is also the chairman of a film company, and it is necessary to keep enough attention to industry news.
Because he was too busy during this time, Eric could only ask his assistant to sort out some more important news for him, and read some hurriedly before he came to the company every day to deal with affairs.
(To be continued)
[End of this Chapter]
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