Hollywood (我就是好莱坞) Part I

Chapter 127 - Unfavorable Situation

"So, you still refused?" in a car in the parking lot, Kapoor who was sitting in the driver's seat, helplessly looked at Eric who was sitting beside him.

Thinking about what just happened, Eric sighed and nodded his head.

Although Spielberg didn't show any displeasure when he left, he still regretted saying he will contact him if he changed his mind. And from the looks Spielberg a.s.sistant was giving Eric know that he had offended the famous Jewish director, it was as if he was looking at someone who can't appreciate favors.

If Spielberg had previously expressed his intention to buy the copyrights through other people, and Eric refused then no one will say anything. But him refusing this time is much worse, after all, Spielberg personally came forward, this can be considered a sincere gesture, It's like Spielberg has asked him for a favor. If they reach a deal, Eric will not only gain lots of money, but he will also get Spielberg's favor, this connection may be of great help to him in the future.

But he can not transfer an essential piece of his future career layout to Spielberg just for a favor.

After all, selling 《Jura.s.sic Park》 copyrights, mean losing a huge industry chain worth tens of billions of dollars. Although Eric has never thought of swallowing this big cake alone, at least he wants to get the most delicious part. Once he sells the copyrights, then he will completely lose the initiative to lead this project, and at maximum, he will only be able to get some residual leftovers after everyone takes their shares.

"Eric, would you like to hear my advice?"" Kapoor asked.

"I know what you're going to say. Contact Spielberg right away and sell the movie rights to him, right? Kapoor, there is no room for discussion, I will not sell."

Kapoor scratched his bald head in agony and said: "Eric, have you ever thought about your situation? You are an independent player, those big film company executives act familiar towards you now, only for their interests. They act nice to you now because all of your previous films have achieved great success, bringing great benefits to them. But no one will succeed forever, and once you fail, they will turn against you."

"I think for a long period of time, I won't experience failure, I have confidence in my film. "

"There are many factors that can result in failure, and some of them are man-made." Kapoor went on: "Eric, think it over. Only two of your works have been released, and even if the now they only see you as a lucky little guy. But if your films succeed all the time, those giants will try to suppress you at all costs, they will even try to destroy you. Like lions on the prairie, they will allow hyenas to nibble at the food they eat, but they will never allow a small hyena to take the lion share."

Eric opened his mouth, but he couldn't think of any thing to refute him, He knew that what Kapoor said is the truth, In fact, he still hopes he can find some strong allies, so that in the future when those giants start suppressing him, he won't be completely isolated.

This was a good opportunity to befriend him, Once Eric sells the copyright, Spielberg wouldn't be able to easily get rid of Eric because he is the film screenwriter, Spielberg also promised that Firefly Studios can partic.i.p.ate in the investment. All these conditions can allow Firefly to establish a good relationship with Spielberg, but Eric still wouldn't willingly let go of the copyrights,

Seeing the struggle and hesitation on Eric's face, Kapoor continued: "Eric, do you know that Firefly closely resembles another movie studio in Hollywood?"

Eric looked up curiously, as Kapoor continued his preaching: "The studio Firefly resemble the most is United Artists, in the beginning, Charlie Chaplin joined several other famous directors like Douglas Fairbanks, D. W. Griffith, and actress Mary Pickford, and founded United Artists².
The company was a pure production company specializing in providing excellent film to the other giant film studios because like Firefly they didn't have a distribution channel. As a result, the Film giants who had distribution channels at the time, all survived, except for RKO Pictures who was one of the big five studios at the time, that company was dismantled after a series of expensive film failures made by Howard Hughes. Which lead to him selling RKO Pictures to another company called 'General Tire' who was interested mainly in exploiting the value of RKO's film library for television programming. But now the company that was compared to the other giants had become a subsidiary of MGM. The reason United Artists has fallen this low is that they put too much emphasis on producing films, and ignore the expansion of their own distribution channels."