I’m in Hollywood - Chapter 538

[Chapter 533 Will it be listed?]

?? Eric tapped the table lightly in his hand and thought for a moment, then asked: “Among these people, what is the ratio of model special effects to CG special effects artists?”

Stan Winston was stunned, and said: “This , I haven’t asked anyone to count it yet.”

“Then count it immediately,” Eric said, watching Stan Winston turn his head and instruct his assistant to do it immediately, before looking at Ed Carmore : “What about your side?”

Ed Carmore said: “I’m doing okay here, our opponents are not too interested in the team’s ordinary programmers, they are mainly in contact with the team’s middle and senior project leaders, Although some of them have signed non-compete agreements, and if they leave their jobs forcibly, they will no longer be able to engage in related jobs within a year, but I think the commercial prospects shown by “Jurassic Park” are enough for our opponents to challenge legal risks. .”

After Eric heard this, he looked at John Lasseter again.

John Lasseter shrugged: “I think everyone in the room has seen the full “A Bug’s Life” movie, and this 3D animated film is not inferior to “Toy Story” two years ago, so I think , with the experience in the digital field ahead, Pixar should take some precautionary measures to avoid a large number of employees leaving.” After the

three people finished speaking, Eric looked at the executives present: “Is there anything else to add?”

Michael Lynn said: “Eric, Rhett has collected some intelligence, let him talk about it.”

Eric nodded to a slightly fat white man in his forties, the man said, “Mr. Williams, according to some information we have collected, a week ago, Michael Ace of Universal Pictures. Naruto, George Lucas of Lucasfilm, and Carol Bartz, chairman of the board of directors of Autodesk, a well-known graphics software company, met in San Rafael, where Autodesk is headquartered, and then European Turk issued an announcement that Autodesk will cooperate with Industrial Light and Magic and Universal Pictures to enter the film and television special effects software market, but the announcement did not mention specific details. In addition, several medium-sized special effects companies in Hollywood have also recently We

have received a large amount of capital injection and are recruiting troops.”

After the executive named Reiter finished speaking, the assistant who had just received the order of Stan Winston pushed the door again and walked into the conference room, and put a compiled data Put it in front of Stan Winston.

“Eric. According to statistics, among the 169 people who submitted resignation applications, 112 were model special effects artists, and 57 were CG special effects artists,” said the data.

Stan Winston breathed a sigh of relief. Although he started out by making model special effects, Stan Winston is definitely not a conventionalist. He has heard Eric say more than once that CG special effects are the future. The mainstream special effects trend in Hollywood, the success of CG special effects blockbusters such as “Terminator 2”, “Tornado” and “Jurassic Park” also proves this point.

Among the employees who have left, model special effects engineers account for nearly one-third The second, and the CG special effects artist is only one third, and so on.

Things weren’t as bad as he thought.

Everyone present seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Eric had already guessed this possibility. Now that the guess has been proved, the last trace of worry in his heart has also dissipated a lot.

The reason why CG special effects artists in the digital field have not had a large outflow is mainly because CG special effects artists use a combination of special effects software developed by themselves in the digital field. At present, these software are not sold in the digital field, leaving the tool software in the digital field. These original skilled CG special effects artists can only re-learn those immature third-rate special effects software on the market. If it is not for the salary package that the poaching company offers that is hard to refuse, these people will never take the risk to leave.

Putting aside the ideas that were conceived in London and on the plane yesterday.

Eric clapped his hands, arousing everyone’s attention, and said: “Okay, now let’s talk about how to solve this kind of thing. First of all. We thought about cooperating with Autodesk to develop Maya, but that cooperation didn’t work out. It didn’t work. Since he was unwilling to join at the beginning, Autodesk has taken a fancy to the special effect software cake and wanted to come in and step in, but it was too late. How did he jump in? We kicked it out.” The

conference room There were a few chuckles, but no one meant to despise Autodesk. At present, Autodesk has basically monopolized the industrial drawing software market by relying on its main industrial design series software. There are many film and television special effects software and industrial drawing software. Similarities, it is not too difficult for Autodesk to develop corresponding special effects software for film and television, and the cycle is much shorter than that of Maya and other tool software developed in the digital field. In the field, Autodesk basically monopolized the special effects software for film and television.

At this time, the desire to prevent Autodesk from entering the film and television special effects software is not only for the benefit of the software sales, but more importantly, to ensure the leading position of the digital field in the film and television special effects industry.

If any company only invests and does not generate profits, it cannot escape the road of closing down sooner or later. This is the case with the technical team led by Ed Carmore. In the case of the rapid development of the digital field, no drawbacks can be seen. In the future, the film and television special effects company will enter the era of group strangulation, and this huge unprofitable technical team will become a drag on the company.

After Eric finished speaking, everyone in the conference room began to make their own suggestions.

After three days of intensive meetings, Digital Domain held a press conference at the headquarters of Firefly Studios.

At this time, the second-week box office data of “Jurassic Park” was released, and it received more than 71 million US dollars at the box office, and the total box office reached 185 million US dollars.

Although it was a press conference in the digital field, after learning that Eric would be attending the conference, many reporters who received the invitation were gearing up to prepare a lot of “Jurassic Park” sequels.

However, the information revealed at the press conference did not disappoint the reporters present.

Ed Carmore, who was originally the chief technical officer of Pixar Animation, announced to the outside world that Firefly will integrate the technical support teams of Pixar and the digital field to establish a separate Firefly software company. Firefly Software mainly provides special effects software and related related services for target customers. Video effects solutions.

After Ed Carmore finished speaking, more than a hundred reporters in the press conference hall immediately began to discuss.

Some reporters who are not well-informed do not understand why the digital field is in full swing. A counterattack to the poaching experienced by Time Digital.

At first glance, this does not seem logical, but even if the news of Autodesk’s cooperation with Industrial Light and Magic and Universal is not revealed, some smart people can understand that doing so is actually equivalent to a disguised expansion of the digital field.

Although the special effects software in the digital field has not yet flowed out, the technical level shown in movies such as “Jurassic Park” has left the small and medium-sized special effects companies in Hollywood a few streets away.

Therefore, once the tool software in the digital field starts to be sold, not only special effects artists who have left the digital field will be given priority to use, but other special effects companies will also join the camp of software tool users in the digital field.

Moreover, there is another very important sentence in Ed Carmore’s speech. In addition to special effects software, Firefly Software will also provide customers with specific film and television special effects solutions. This measure not only increases the profitability of Firefly Software, but also disguised It has limited the development of convenience-seeking special effects companies themselves through solution licensing.

After all, if you can buy a set of special effects lens production plans at a lower price, most people will not waste time and money on technical research and development and accumulation.

The solution provided by Firefly Software must rely on Firefly’s own software, which again limits the use of other special effects software by small and medium-sized special effects companies.

After Ed Carmore announced the news, the press conference entered the free question time, and the audience raised a large arm in unison.

The host looked under the observation deck and randomly ordered a very temperamental female reporter.

Unexpectedly, after the female reporter got the microphone, she turned directly to Eric, who had not spoken just now: “Mr. Williams, I am a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, and the North American box office of “Jurassic Park” has accumulated 185 million US dollars. , movie fans are very concerned about the follow-up story of Dinosaur Island, but your original novel did not reveal relevant information, will Firefly develop a sequel?”

“First of all, I want to say, lady, your question is related to This press conference is irrelevant. If someone asks similar questions next, I will not answer. But now I can tell you that there will definitely be a sequel.”

Eric just put the

Handing out the microphone, the female reporter immediately said, “Then, Mr. Williams, will Firefly treat special effects companies outside the digital domain differently?”

“I don’t know what kind of difference you mean, Firefly Software and the digital field are inherently one. If it is technical support, Firefly Software will definitely spare no effort in the digital field. All are treated equally. However, after the spin-off, even if the digital field wants to use the latest software from Firefly Software, they still need to pay according to the procedure.”

The microphone from the audience quickly reached another reporter, and the other party The question is still directed at Eric: “Mr. Williams, I’m a reporter for the “San Francisco Chronicle”, will Firefly Software be listed?”

“There is no listing plan yet, but it will definitely be in the future. Yes

.”

The reporter immediately followed the stick and asked a question that the entire Wall Street was very concerned about: “Will Firefly Pictures go public?” (To be continued.)

[End of this Chapter]