Daenerys Pictures Headquarters.
Jennifer Rebould gently knocked on the editing room door. After receiving a response, she pushed it open and said to Simon, who was busy at the editing console, "Boss, it's already four o'clock."
Simon merely nodded slightly, his gaze still fixed on the monitor screen of the editing console, his hands not stopping. "Wait a moment, it'll be done soon."
Jennifer didn't say anything more. She walked in quietly, closing the editing room door behind her, and watched Simon work in the soft whirring of the equipment. Pulp Fiction had a sufficient budget, so Simon didn't need to handle everything personally. The initial rough cut of the film was done by a professional editor, but for the fine-cutting stage, Simon decided to do it himself.
Since returning to Los Angeles, Simon had spent most of his days holed up in the company's editing room.
After a while, Simon archived the footage and began organizing the tapes, notes, and other items on the editing console. Jennifer stepped forward and, with practiced ease, helped Simon put everything into the safe in the corner of the editing room.
After stealing this quiet moment alone with him, they left the editing room. Jennifer began discussing today's work: "I've collected information on some mainstream record companies and second/third-tier labels in North America; it's already on your office desk. Mr. Steve Jobs' secretary responded this morning, stating that Jobs has no intention of selling Pixar. Mr. Edward McCracken, CEO of Silicon Graphics, invited you to visit SGI headquarters in San Francisco soon. Mr. Bill Gates' assistant called; Gates plans to come to Los Angeles next Monday and hopes to have lunch with you. And, well, a speaking invitation from Stanford University."
Simon led Jennifer down the hallway, took the Stanford invitation from her, glanced at it, handed it back, and said, "Just decline any future invitations like this. Me giving them a speech would just spread negative energy: 'Look, that guy is our age. God is so unfair.'"
Jennifer chuckled lightly, tucked the invitation back into her folder, held it against her chest, looked up at him, and asked, "What about the invitations from Mr. McCracken and Mr. Gates?"
"I'll definitely go to San Francisco sometime, but I don't have time recently; it needs to be postponed. As for Gates, book a restaurant. We're the hosts, we should be hospitable. Also, it occurred to me today, since those stock holdings are all exposed, based on Westeros Corporation's shareholding ratio, I already have the right to request board seats in these companies. Ask your dad if he'd be interested in serving as a director for me in these companies. I certainly don't have that much time myself. So, my idea is, George handles the companies on the West Coast, and your dad handles the East Coast."
Westeros Corporation's 4.9% stake in 26 tech companies basically placed Simon among the major shareholders of these firms.
If these holdings hadn't been exposed, Simon planned to remain a quiet individual shareholder, watching these companies develop from the shadows. Now that these holdings were public knowledge, Simon decided to claim the rights due to him as a shareholder.
In theory, the board of directors is usually the most direct mechanism for shareholders of a public company to exercise their power. Company management is, in most cases, appointed by board vote. As long as Simon secured board seats in the respective companies, he could exert influence on their future development.
Jennifer followed beside Simon, noting the restaurant reservation in her memo as they walked. Hearing Simon's final words, her expression instantly showed surprise, along with a hint of inexplicable shyness. Just as she was about to say something, they had already entered a company conference room. Jennifer had to temporarily abandon her line of questioning and sat down at the conference table with Simon.
But her mind was far from calm.
The most direct manifestation of power for American financial groups is controlling hundreds of board seats across global corporate giants.
Simon's current wealth naturally couldn't compare to any of the top ten US financial groups. But if he could secure board seats in all 26 companies, it would undoubtedly represent a force not to be underestimated.
If Simon really had her father and uncle serve as directors of these companies, with the status as proxies for Simon Westeros massive wealth and the influence represented by these board seats, the Rebould and Norman families could immediately leap from being relatively well-known legal families directly into the nation's most influential stratum.
After all, wealth of over a billion dollars was definitely not just a simple string of numbers on the surface.
Simon and Jennifer sat down at the conference table. There were only four people in the room. The other two were Amy and her assistant, Vanessa Lind. When Amy was first poached, Daenerys Pictures was once so short on funds that Amy had to pay Vanessa's salary out of her own pocket.
Such embarrassments naturally wouldn't happen now.
However, a conference room with only four people still highlighted the fact that Daenerys Pictures was essentially a small workshop. Under normal circumstances, including Simon and the others, the fixed staff handling finance, mail, logistics, and all other tasks in the company's two-story office building numbered only fifteen. As for film production, it was entirely handled personally by Simon, the boss, and Amy Pascal.
Today was already Wednesday, December 16th.
Of the three film projects planned by Daenerys Pictures for 1987, Final Destination was nearing the end of its theatrical run.
From its October 23rd opening until now, seven and a half weeks, Final Destination had accumulated a box office of $67.53 million. Since the news of Simon suddenly becoming a billionaire in November inevitably boosted the film's box office, Final Destination's performance easily exceeded the projected $60 million.
Currently, with $67.43 million, Final Destination temporarily ranked 7th on the annual North American box office chart, right behind the summer release The Untouchables starring Sean Connery. The film still earned $1.06 million over the weekend of December 11th-13th. In the coming weeks, its total box office before leaving theaters should easily surpass the $70 million mark.
Simon had specifically paid attention to the films in the two major year-end release windows.
Based on his memory, from the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, only Three Men and a Baby (released November 25th), the upcoming Moonstruck (December 18th), and Good Morning, Vietnam (December 25th) were expected to break into the annual top ten. None of the others posed a threat to Final Destination.
Thus, Final Destination unexpectedly jumped from its originally projected position outside the top 15 into the top 10 of the North American box office chart. If no other dark horses emerged, the film would secure the 10th spot on the annual North American box office chart.
Including Run Lola Run, firmly holding the number 1 spot, and The Butterfly Effect, temporarily ranked 4th, all three films associated with Simon in 1987 had made it into the top 10 of the North American box office chart.
Even though Simon's maneuver of making over a billion dollars in the financial markets shocked the whole world, in recent weeks, as Final Destination successively surpassed films like The Witches of Eastwick, Lethal Weapon, and The Secret of My Success to strongly claim the 7th spot on the annual chart, Simon's personal achievement of having all three of his films in the annual top ten still made Hollywood take serious notice.
Therefore, even though Pulp Fiction and When Harry Met Sally... were still in post-production, bolstered by over a billion dollars in personal wealth and three consecutive top-ten annual box office films, the capital markets had finally opened their doors wide to Simon.
Simon actually also very much agreed with the principle of not using one's own money to invest in films.
In any industry in this world, using other people's money to make a profit for yourself is the absolute kingly way. It's just that, even before the exposure of his wealth in November, Simon hadn't reached the point where others would open their wallets for him.
Now.
Daenerys Pictures had finally, like the major studios and top-tier second-line companies like Orion Pictures, obtained the qualification to secure bank loans based solely on brand guarantee.
Obviously, the brand guarantee for Daenerys Pictures was Simon himself.
In the conference room.
Amy Pascal waited for Simon and Jennifer to sit down, then handed over a folder, saying, "Simon, it's settled. This is the draft contract. Wells Fargo is willing to provide Daenerys Pictures with a $100 million loan, term of 5 years, annual interest rate 6.5%." [TL/N: $6,5m annual interest.]
Simon took the file and opened it, unable to resist commenting, "6.5%, still a bit high."
"If it were before the stock market crash, we might have gotten 5%," Amy explained, looking at Simon. "Banks are generally tightening lending now. 6.5% is the result of my long negotiations with Wells Fargo. You know, Paul Olson initially offered 8%. Also, the $10 million loan for Basic Instinct isn't included in this amount; it's still secured against the Final Destination participation agreement, annual rate 5%, term 3 years."
Paul Olson was the Senior Vice President of Wells Fargo who had dealt with them during Simon's previous $20 million loan. With the connection from that last loan, this collaboration was a result of mutual contact and immediate agreement.
Simon smiled and nodded, continuing to review the draft contract in his hand.
With less than an hour until the end of the workday, Amy didn't wait for Simon to finish reading everything and continued, "Simon, I've spoken with Wes Craven. He's very willing to collaborate with us on the next film. However, he'd like to see the script first."
Final Destination breaking into the North American top ten, while everyone understood it was largely due to Simon's personal script and popularity, still elevated Wes Craven, as the director, to A-list status, similar to Brian De Palma, who had recently returned to the peak of his career.
"I have a good idea, probably a campus horror film. I'll find time to write a story outline in the next couple of days. But I really don't have much time to perfect the script now. You and Wes can discuss it then and hire other writers to write it."
Hearing this, Amy instinctively asked, "What about the credit?"
Simon smiled. "Three films this year are enough, Amy. Don't you think if Hollywood saw seven or eight films written by Simon West in a year, how much interest would the audience retain?"
Amy, however, caught another layer of meaning in Simon's words. She raised her hand slightly, gesturing as she leaned on the conference table. "Simon, are you saying we're going to produce seven or eight films next year?"
"Of course. Not just films, but TV programs too," Simon tapped the draft contract in front of him. "Otherwise, why would we need so much money? So, from now on, you can continue hiring. Next year, we'll not only enter the TV programming field but also try our hand at independent film distribution."
Although she had anticipated something like this, Amy couldn't help feeling Simon was being a bit too impatient. However, thinking of the series of miracles the young man before her had created in just one year, Amy quickly nodded.
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