It should have been during a chat with a friend in his past life. At that time, the movie"Finding Mr. Right"just started screening. The two chatted about the movie at random, and finally began to trace back what they had said. And they realised that many movies such as "Grey Gardens", «Sleepless in Seattle»,"Love Story"and so on were all inspired by Cary Grant and Deborah Kerrs famous «An Affair to Remember».
Of course, this was not the point. Eric remembered that the friend had accidentally mentioned one sentence. It seemed that because of the popularity of «Sleepless in Seattle», the video tapes of «An Affair to Remember» became hot and sold out in a short time. It had sold 2 million boxes, which was an unexpected windfall for the film studio with the copyrighted.
«An Affair to Remember» is already a 40 year old movie. Although the two leads were Hollywood stars at the time, their time had passed long ago, and this movie was not as infinite as movies like 007. There was no commercial value in shooting a sequel, so maybe one or two million can buy out all the copyright of this movie. Moreover, Eric knew that when he filmed «Sleepless in Seattle» he would definitely need authorization from the copyright property holder of «Sleepless in Seattle». After the other party knew about this, it is difficult to guarantee that he would be able to get a good starting price, but it is better now, so he should buy all the copyrights.
Seeing Eric thinking of something with a slightly excited expression, Drew who couldn't endure her temper, scratched Eric's chest and hurriedly asked: "Eric, is there any good movie for me, let's talk about it."
"There is no movie, but if you want to make a fortune, there is a good chance," Eric picked up a pen and wrote the movie title of «An Affair to Remember» on paper: "Do you know this movie?"
Drew glanced with her eyes and shook her head very earnestly: "I don't know."
Eric could only patiently explain; "Do you remember what I told you about my next movie?"
Drew looked outside the stud to the location of Nicole's room with puckered lips: "Of course."
"In the setting of the movie, the heroine Annie is very fond of watching «An Affair to Remember». I think that after «Sleepless in Seattle» is released, the sales volume of «An Affair to Remember» will definitely increase, so you if want to make money, you can take advantage of your vacation time, trying to buy this film's copyright, as it is a forty years old movie, and for old movies, as long as the price is right, the film studio will be very willing to sell. "
Drew had blind trust in Eric. If Eric said this to other people, one could guess that the other party will doubt it, but Drew has no doubts in this regard, but she asked: "But, after I have bought it. How do I sell the videotapes?"
"Fireflies have recently begun to build their own distribution channels, including video tape channels," Eric said, remembering «Home Alone» and the three movie contracts signed with Fox with a hint of helplessness and regret.
At the beginning, he was so isolated and hadn't made his debut, so he hadn't considered and understood everything. Therefore, when signing the agreement, the film and videotape rights of the movie and the TV broadcast rights were handed over to the Fox agent. Fireflies could only get their dividends. It looked good, after all, many of the films produced by the independent film studios had no rights for their movie at all. They are usually bought at a price, but he could still enjoy a split. But compared to distributing it themselves, giving Fox power of attorney and losing a big income was still a loss. After all, after the release process, the film's fame and reputation have been determined. If you can have your own video distribution channel, then even if it is not as comprehensive as a big company, you can still get a profit by taking the biggest slice of the cake.
Moreover, through this period of time, he learned that small companies with publishing capabilities, even if they hand over the distribution rights of their films to those movie giants, usually do not transfer the surrounding copyrights such as videotapes and other peripheral copyrights. The proportion that these made of the total movie revenue was getting bigger and bigger. The income of these peripheral copyrights is likely to be an important source of funds for the second- and third-tier movie studios. If those second- and third-tier movie studios have obtained good industry connections, every year the peripheral benefits can support the day-to-day operations of the film company, without the need to repeatedly draw money from box office receipts or investors, so as long as there is no huge investment losses, these film companies can survive.
Therefore, Eric was also eager to establish its own distribution channel as soon as possible. For his next the three films «The Others»,"Scent of a Woman"and"Steel Magnolias"as well as "Friends", he would definitely not let the copyright go again.
"But, Eric, I have no money." Drew's eyes glared at Eric.
Eric couldn't help but pinch the white and tender face of the girl: "You might not have a card but you should still have some for..." Eric spoke up to here, but then remembering that Westerners have no dowry, his argument can only be changed: "some pocket money I owe you."
"Then I will do it," Drew clawed at his face and licked it. She was going to smash into Eric's lips, but whist she found a big hand waiting for her, she still didn't mind sticking out her small tongue and licking Eric's palm.
"You must have been a cat in your past life, licking with such little control." Eric took the girl off his lap: "Okay, now that something has to be done, and you have money to do it, you can go to sleep."
"Eric, you haven't slept with me for a long time," said Drew with a look of resentment.
"I am a law-abiding citizen," Eric said with a look of 'disgust' and nodded his head toward the door. "And there are outsiders here."
Drew heard the word 'outsider' and seemed to become very happy, so she was willing to leave after kissing Eric's face forcibly.
Eric looked at the closed study door and smiled and shook his head. He turned his attention to the display and began finishing off the"Friends"script. Barry Diller had called Eric to urge him to attend to the"Friends" filming process personally, although US dramas are broadcast while shooting and"Friends"is no exception, it was now almost August, and the TV series starts in September, so Eric only had one month left.
"Eric, this is today's newspaper," the next morning, Eric routinely took a shower and returned to the living room. Nicole thoughtfully placed the newspaper on the coffee table in front of Eric.
"Thank you, Nicole." Eric relished with interest the girl's new pink maid costume, and then took the newspaper and looked down. Nicole returned to the kitchen again.
A moment later, Eric saw the name of a movie in the newspaper. The film was also released by Colombia. He didn't expect the result to be good. Moreover, it was called"When Harry Met Sally" the starring role was taken by Oscar winner Billy Chris and Meg Ryan, the original female lead of «Sleepless in Seattle».
Eric still liked this actress who was very sweet, but it seemed that her route to stardom was very tough. When it come down to it, it could be considered that this sweetheart's selections were very bad, doing very poorly compared to her two successful films. The films were both in cooperation with Tom Hanks, one was «Sleepless in Seattle» and the other was"You've Got Mail"a few years later. Nothing else was outstanding.
The reason why it was said that her eyes were not very good was because she had passed by a couple big movies, it seems very magical, since the 1990s, she had refused "Pretty Woman", «Ghost», and «Basic Instinct» one by one. She even let Sharon Stone, a nameless nobody, kickstart her career, but going into the new century, in order to transform her image, but also wanting to imitate the success of «Basic Instinct», she participated in a similar movie "In the Cut", but unfortunately this movie did not have luck as good as «Basic Instinct» that year, and the movie was written off.
Looking at the box office data of"When Harry Met Sally"in the newspaper, it could be estimated that this sweetheart would be a little bit hot. Because of Eric's actions, the history of Hollywood had already experienced a great deviation. He hoped that this sweetheart would not be as unlucky in this time and space.
"Nicole, can you come over?" Eric looked at"When Harry Met Sally"on the newspaper and he remembered an image of the person from «Sleepless in Seattle» and shouted to the busy girl in the kitchen.
"Is there anything I can do?" Nicole walked out quickly, holding a small shovel in her hand.
"That... forget it, you are busy right now, we'll have breakfast and talk."
"Oh," the girl turned around confused and walked back.
At the dining table, Drew snorted and ate the breakfast quickly, took a paper towel and wiped her mouth, then hurriedly got up and wanted to go outside.
"Come back, sit down and, drink the milk," Eric pointed at the milk that she had left most of in the cup and glanced at the girl: "You aren't rushing rushing back to Mars, so there's no hurry." TN: Idiom probably
She reluctantly sat back in the chair and explained: "I am going to find someone to buy the copyright of the movie."
"Wait and finish your breakfast," Eric ignored Drew's explanation and repeated.
"Snort," Drew took her fingers and pinched her nose, took the milk, and then poured it down her throat. "
"Was it that good!? You drank it quickly."
"Hateful," Drew took a paper towel. She wiped her mouth and went out of the dining room door. She suddenly turned around and glanced at Nicole. Then she turned her eyes to Eric. "When I am not at home, you two are not allowed to mess around."