New York 2006

Chapter 103 The game between old and new
Jingle, Jingle, Jingle.

At five o'clock in the morning, Luo Ji was still asleep. The noisy phone rang, disturbing his peaceful dream.Luo Ji drowsily picked up the cell phone beside the bed, and Taylor's excited voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Fili, I succeeded. Big Machine Records compromised. They agreed to all the conditions I proposed. Unexpectedly, my agent's commission was also reduced to [-]%."

Luo Ji suddenly came to his senses: "I knew you could succeed."

Taylor smiled happily and said, "Haha, I didn't expect Big Machine Records to compromise so easily. In five days, I didn't even show my face once, and the lawyer took care of everything."

"congratulations."

Taylor said sincerely: "Thank you Feili, without your support, I might still be squeezed by them."

"You're welcome, how were you these two days in Nashville?"

"It's all good, but the weather is a bit cold, not as good as the weather in California. How is the filming of your MV going?"

Luo Ji smiled and said, "The filming of "We are young" and "Secrets" has come to an end, and there are only a few shots left."

"Yeah." Taylor said softly: "Feli, I miss you."

"I missed you too. Tyler."

The two were silent for a while, and Taylor said: "You have to take care of yourself, don't stay up late, and don't work too late."

"Well, you have to take care of yourself too."

The two chatted for more than 20 minutes. After Luo Ji hung up the phone, he glanced at the empty bed and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

Taylor has been with her during this period, and now that she has gone home, she is still a little uncomfortable with it.

Luo Ji couldn't help but ponder whether it would be a good thing or a bad thing for their relationship to have her pursue her career so much.

Now that he couldn't sleep anymore, Luo Ji simply got up, washed himself briefly, and then ran to the gym downstairs to exercise.After three 10 minutes of high-intensity exercise, Luo Ji immediately forgot all his worries and his whole body was full of energy.

After returning to the room, taking a shower and changing clothes, Fiona came over.

"Phili, MTV has called again, urging you and Britney to go to the station for an exclusive interview to promote your new single "Marvin Gaye."

The top performers in the American music circle during this period are undoubtedly Britney Spears and Luo Ji.

Britney's news has exploded, Luo Ji's album "16" has hit new highs, and their relationship has completely dominated the headlines in the music industry recently, and even social news has begun to discuss it.

Luo Ji spoke irritably: "Why do MTV keep urging me so much? Do they also want to ride on the popularity?"

"It's possible."

If in normal times, MTV asked Luo Ji to participate in a show, Luo Ji would agree without saying a word.

But last week, Viacom finally filed a $10 billion lawsuit against Google and YouTube, and the District Court for the Southern District of New York also accepted the case.

One is a traditional media giant, and the other is an Internet giant. The two parties have launched an all-round game in TV stations, radio, and the Internet.In this moment of competition between the old and the new, Luo Ji's identity seemed particularly embarrassing.

He became famous from YouTube, and he has Internet attributes. Wherever he goes, he promotes YouTube.As for his music career, the influence of traditional media is still very large at this stage.

The invitation from Viacom MTV allowed Luo Ji to take a stand in this game to some extent.Damn media dominance.

Luo Ji spoke irritably: "Fiona, first let the publicity department send the MV of the song to MTV. After it is broadcast on MTV, let the publicity department upload the MV to YouTube."

Fiona said: "What about the invitation? Do you want Britney to refuse it?"

"I'll think it over."

Fiona said anxiously: "What's there to think about, you damn machismo. What's wrong with asking her to help you? Are you looking down on women?"

Luo Ji said, "It's not like I haven't asked for her help before. My first single was able to reach No. [-] on the Billboard. It was because of her help. But this time it's different."

Fiona said angrily: "What's the difference?"

"If she refuses, she will offend MTV. All the pressure will be on her."

Fiona yelled: "You have helped her so much, it's time for her to repay the favor. Are you really planning to offend Viacom, a media giant? Rejecting them will most likely make them think that you are on Gugou's side." side."

Luo Ji said calmly: "It's not that serious. Maybe the media giants won't notice me at all. Just say that my latest schedule is quite busy, so let's postpone it for a while."

Fiona was a little angry: "You..."

Luo Ji stepped forward and patted Fiona on the shoulder: "Aunt Fiona, don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Fiona was stunned at first, then her eyes turned red, and she hugged Luo Ji: "This is the first time you call me Aunt."

During this time together, Fiona did her duty and considered Luo Ji in all aspects. The relationship between the two became more and more familiar, which also allowed Luo Ji to slowly accept this new family member.

Luo Ji patted Fiona on the back: "Okay, stop crying."

It took Fiona a long time to calm down, and she looked at Luo Ji sincerely: "Thank you, Feili." Luo Ji smiled and said, "We are family."

Jingle bell, jingle bell.Luo Ji looked at his phone and saw it was his manager Braun calling.

"Logic, I found the information you asked me to check. The rights to adapt "The Twilight Saga" are currently owned by MTV Movies, a company owned by Viacom, and a Philippine film company called Maverick."

Luo Ji asked in confusion: "Why is there a Philippine film company?"

Braun said: "This situation is very common now. In order to share risks, Hollywood production companies will raise funds globally, so that they can make movies without risk, and they can also get 20%-30% of the share. income."

Luo Ji thought of a blind spot: "Investing in movies itself is gambling. If the movie is a box office hit, will these Hollywood companies see huge profits flowing into the hands of these financing companies?"

"If it's a box office hit, the Hollywood studios will also make a lot of financial moves, keeping most of the profits within their respective companies," Braun explained.

Luo Ji said, "Aren't these companies stupid? Aren't they going to make trouble?"

"So Hollywood production companies generally don't raise funds domestically, but go to foreign companies. And many of these foreign companies are used to launder money. Even if they know that the money has been hacked, they don't dare to make a fuss. And even if they make a fuss Come on, this process in Hollywood has been running for more than ten years, and it is absolutely seamless, and they can't find any evidence."

Luo Ji had another question: "No, this kind of deception can spread easily. Who would be willing to finance Hollywood?"

Braun smiled and said: "Don't you understand this? Many companies invest money in Hollywood. On the one hand, it is for money laundering and tax avoidance. On the other hand, it is to gild the company. With your company opening on Broadway Similarly, they can also tell others that their company is cooperating with Hollywood film companies, which is a credit endorsement to some extent, and they can raise funds, trade, etc. locally."

"I see." Luo Ji continued to ask, "So, the "Twilight" project is under the control of MTV Movies, a subsidiary of Viacom?"

"Yes."

"So what is the relationship between this company and MTV?"

Braun said: "They are all subsidiaries of Viacom."

"What about the project?"

Braun did not answer directly, but asked: "Are you serious? I also read the novel and I didn't think it was very good."

In the past few days, Luo Ji also took advantage of his free time to read the novel "The Twilight Saga" and the novel's sequel "The Twilight Saga: New Moon". After reading it, the overall impression was really not good.The novel is completely complete and is the heroine of Mary Suven.

The heroine seems to be a protagonist that does not exist in real life, and the plot is perfect beyond logic.The heroine is entangled with popular characters in the novel and has constant ambiguities.As long as the heroine is in danger, these boys will risk everything, even abandoning the safety of the group to protect her.

Don’t these boys do anything serious?He just hangs around the heroine all day long.

However, these shortcomings and flaws are not important. Luo Ji is a fragment of the "Twilight" movie, which is enough to overwhelm all disadvantages.

So far, no Apocalypse has ever caused Luo Ji to lose money.

"Braun, I'm serious. I really want to invest in this movie adaptation."

Braun knew Luo Ji's character and did not try to dissuade him. He said directly: "Okay, here's the project. MTV Films approved the deal in 2003 before the first "Twilight" novel was released. Through Viacom’s internal channels, we obtained the rights to adapt the novel and the rights to adapt subsequent novels.”

Luo Ji was surprised: "This novel has been selling well in the past two years. It has been in the top [-] of the New York Times bestseller list. Why haven't they adapted it yet, or even announced the launch of the project?"

"This involves Viacom's internal operating rules. They are a comprehensive media company with many novel publishing companies. If they are optimistic about a certain novel, they will get the adaptation rights before the novel is published. . Then they randomly find a few people to adapt the novel into a script, and then they eventually hoard the project."

Luo Ji said, "Well, you continue."

"After two or three years, the novel has almost sold out and started to improve. They will take the project out and review it again. If they think the project is good, they will start filming. If they think the project is not good, they will give up the adaptation rights. Sell ​​it and make a profit on the difference.”

"As expected, these big media companies have their own business operations. Isn't this a sure-fire business?"

"Yes, MTV Films Production Company is not very optimistic about the "Twilight" project, so they want to sell the adaptation rights?"

Luo Ji said, "Why are they not optimistic about it?"

"It's impossible to find out. Anyway, in September 2006, MTV Movies sold the rights to adapt the novel to the market."

"What about the price?"

"They quoted a price of US$600 million, but I think there should be room for counter-offering. After all, it has been more than half a year and no one is interested."

Luo Ji thought for a moment: "Leave it to you. Make sure you get the rights to adapt it."

"be sure?"

“When the price is right, whatever it takes.”

Braun said, "I understand."

After hanging up the phone, Fiona came over and said, "Feili, how should I reply to MTV?"

Luo Ji was lost in thought, tapping his fingers back and forth on the table. After a while, he said, "Go and tell them that I'm in a business negotiation with MTV Films Production Company and don't have time for the moment."

(End of this chapter)