New York 2006

Chapter 185 Favors and Film and Television Planning

No matter what method Beth Dutton used, Luo Ji refused.But Jamie was dissatisfied. He didn't know what Beth said, but he persuaded Luo Ji in turn.

Jamie said: "Just promise her!"

"As a brother, you are actually being manipulated by your own sister. What's going on with you? This will make me very embarrassed, as if everything I said before was bullshit!"

Jamie said embarrassedly: "I owe her, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"what happened?"

Jamie did not answer directly, only said: "I owe her."

Luo Ji looked at him dissatisfied: "Do you know that this will also put you in an embarrassing situation?"

"I know."

Jamie sighed: "But that's it. I can be considered successful in my career now. My law firm is growing and I don't need to rely too much on the strength of my family."

"Okay, okay, let her find someone from the company to sign a contract."

"Thank you, Logic."

Luo Ji looked at lawyer Jamie's leaving figure and sighed.She was a very energetic young man before, but when she saw her sister, she seemed to be a completely different person.The whole person was listless.

Half an hour later, Xu Youyu came over with several documents.

"Boss, this is the person who recently applied to buy a fund. Since private equity funds cannot advertise, most of the people who invest in us learned about us through word of mouth. I originally thought it would be slow, but it turned out that it took less than ten days. , the number of applicants now exceeds 2000.”

Luo Ji smiled and said, "This isn't enough to build your reputation as an investment genius."

"Haha."

Xu Youyu continued: "We have eliminated unqualified investors, but there are still more than 1000 people left. During this period, people have continued to submit application materials."

Private equity funds also have requirements for investor qualifications, and their income and assets in the past two years must reach a certain level.Like Fiona before, she was not qualified. She was considered a back door to the family fund.

Luo Ji checked the list and amount. The largest investors were Ms. Clinton and members of the Dutton family, as well as five fund companies.

"What's going on with these five fund companies?"

Xu Youyu said: "They are several small fund companies on Wall Street."

"do you know?"

"do not know."

Luo Ji said, "Then eliminate it. We don't accept investment from other funds. I don't want to be a tool for others to make money."

Xu Youyu thought for a moment: "Okay, we'd better make the initial investment more steadily."

Then looking at the densely packed names below, Luo Ji had a headache, so he asked, "What are your thoughts on the candidates?"

Xu Youyu said: "I think we should start with the amount of investment. After all, our goal is to make money. Secondly, the executives of several companies and some people around us. After all, they are our own people."

Luo Ji then looked at the list carefully. The next ones with the highest investments were some singers in the entertainment industry, basically around a few million, such as Avril Lavigne and Carrie Underwood.

Luo Ji said, "Singers are more profitable. You see, they invest more. On the other hand, stars in film and television invest less."

"Yes. After all, singers can hold concerts."

Luo Ji continued to look at the list and could see some relatively famous people in it, but Luo Ji was not familiar with them and had never met them, such as Will Smith.

"What about him?"

Xu Youyu said: "He was recommended by Director Francis. The two of them filmed "I Am Legend" together."

"Then count him alone."

After Luo Ji browsed through the top five hundred people, there were many people whom Luo Ji didn't recognize and didn't know where they heard the news.

Whenever he met people he didn't know or were not famous, Luo Ji would circle them.Be prepared to give your spot to a familiar person at the back.

Then he looked at the people behind him who didn't invest much. When he met someone he was familiar with, Luo Ji would put a check mark.Although they didn't invest much, who knew they were related to Luo Ji?

For example, Bianca Samson, a doctor in Chicago, took care of her mother when she was injured. She also came to support Luo Ji's concert in Chicago.As well as the employees and friends of several big machines recommended by Taylor, Luo Ji still wanted to give Taylor some face.

After two hours of busy work, Luo Ji and Xu Youyu discussed and finally determined the list of 500 people.

"There's nothing missing."

"No, I have specially marked all the people who have been entrusted to you before."

Luo Ji looked at it, then found Catherine Hardwick's phone number and called her: "Catherine, I was listening to my report today and saw the Evan Rachel Wood investment letter of intent that you recommended to me. But investment The quota is already full.”

"She and I once filmed the movie "Thirteen" together. She is a pretty good girl. For my sake, how about including her?"

Luo Ji thought for a while and said, "Okay, I'll give you this face, and I'll explain it to my subordinates."

"Thank you then, Logic."

Catherine smiled and said: "The promotion will start in early June, don't forget it then."

"OK."

Luo Ji hung up the phone and looked at Xu Youyu with a smile: "I've earned the favor."

"Haha, now you still owe us a favor if you give me money."

Luo Ji complimented, "Isn't it because of your investment genius?"

"Don't dare, don't dare."

"Okay, so be it."

Luo Ji continued: "Notify everyone else who refuses one by one. If someone makes trouble, you add them to the blacklist. Tell them that no investment company will accept their funds in the future."

"Don't worry, there should be fewer people stalking me."

Luo Ji asked: "So what is the approximate size of the fund?"

Xu Youyu looked at the list and made a rough estimate: "About 2.5 million U.S. dollars. The average investment by a single person is 50 U.S. dollars. If we only accept people with high investments and people from institutions, the funds may be even higher. ." "Forget it, that's it." Luo Ji then said, "You should close the fund as soon as possible."

"Ah."

Luo Ji asked: "What about the investment direction?"

"As we have discussed, short the real estate industry, banking industry, buy Internet stocks and buy safe-haven assets, gold and U.S. Treasury bonds, etc."

"Okay." Luo Ji said, "There are many investments in this fund from people around us. You must control the risks."

"Don't worry." Xu Youyu said confidently: "Our investments are very diversified and hedging, so we will never lose money."

"Then go get busy."

After Luo Ji finished speaking, he called Fiona and prepared to take the car to the new headquarters of Holi Game Company.The bustling high-rise buildings in New York pass by the car, and the cars on the road stop and go.Many drivers honked their horns impatiently.

Fiona complained: "Why are there always traffic jams! I don't see this in the South Side of Chicago."

Luo Ji said, "This is New York. Which major city in the world doesn't have traffic jams."

"I know, I'll just complain."

Luo Ji then asked, "Has HBO, the adaptor of "A Song of Ice and Fire," contacted me?"

"They turned us down."

Fiona continued: "They say they are HBO and they are not short of money. George Martin told me that they are all senior managers. If the project is successful and you share the profits, as senior managers, their consequences will be It’s miserable. They would rather the project fail than cooperate with you.”

"I've spent the past six months bothering them." Luo Ji sighed.

Fiona comforted her: "Don't be disappointed. Failure in competition for projects in Hollywood is common."

Apocalypse, apocalypse, it seems that not all apocalypses can be obtained by him.

Luo Ji quickly recovered from his disappointment and continued to ask, "What about the novel "World War of the Dead: An Oral History of the Zombie Wars"? Do you still have the rights to adapt it?"

Luo Ji's zombie clip from the last apocalypse. The zombies in it were different from the past. They mutated in a very short time and ran very fast.The movie scenes are also very spectacular. At first glance, it is different from previous B-level zombie movies. It is a top-notch Hollywood production.

So after consulting netizens online, I easily found this novel.

"No more. After investigation, the copyright now belongs to Plan B Entertainment."

"What's going on with this company?"

Fiona said: "This company was founded by Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. However, after the two divorced, the company became Brad Pitt's alone."

"No wonder!"

Luo Ji said in surprise that in his apocalyptic clip, the protagonist of the movie was Brad Pitt, and he didn't expect it to be a project developed by his own company.

"Why?"

"fine."

Feo didn't pay attention, but said with a smile: "Maybe you don't know, but at that time, Leonardo DiCaprio was also competing for the rights to adapt this novel, and his production company Appian Way also launched The bid was made, but ultimately failed.”

"Leonardo?"

"Yeah." Fiona snickered and said, "It's the middle-aged uncle who looks very much like you."

Leonardo has indeed become disabled in the past two years and is aging very quickly.I don’t know if it’s because of too much indulgence, but I often see scandals between him and those models.

Luo Ji ignored Fiona's bad taste and said seriously: "You mean this novel is still very popular?"

"Yes, the sales are quite good."

Luo Ji fell into thinking. Hollywood's current industry chain is already very complete, with a successful IP.Novels, scripts, and movies basically all exist, and they are a process of mutual transformation.The script was changed into a novel, and the novel was adapted into a film and television.

There are only slightly popular novels or screenplays in recent years.They will all be bought by other companies and either stored or planned to be adapted into movies or TV series.

The rights to adapt these three different film and television clips of Luo Ji Tianqi have actually been sold. "Twilight" was also obtained after fierce competition.

The current failure of "Song of Ice and Fire" is an example. No matter how rich you are, there is nothing that HBO can do if it doesn't sell it.

"Do you think we should also purchase the rights to adapt some novels and store them?"

Fiona thought for a while: "You'd better consult an expert on this kind of thing."

Luo Ji thought for a while, then picked up the phone and called Zhu Haowei of Logic Pictures and explained to him what happened.

"I agree to acquire the copyright, but..."

Zhu Haowei pondered for a moment: "The Hollywood market is already very mature. As long as the novels and scripts are slightly famous, they have the price corresponding to the fame at that time. It is rare to miss this statement. Therefore, acquiring copyright requires real money. Our company There’s not much money left.”

Luo Ji thought for a while: "I will transfer 500 million to the company first, but what kind of novel scripts do you think we should acquire first?"

Zhu Haowei said directly without thinking: "Horror films and romance films, these two investments are not big. As long as the quality is not bad, they can basically guarantee stable income. For example, Shimen Pictures started with small-cost horror films. . This type of movie also sells well in the DVD market."

"Okay, you can figure it out. I will inject capital into the company in the next two days. Please pay attention to the projects on the market."

Zhu Haowei smiled and replied: "Okay."

Luo Ji thought about his three film genres: teenage fantasy romance, ancient fantasy realism, and zombie films.Luo Ji then thought about the zombie movie "I Am Legend" directed by Francis, which was also selling well.So he spoke and warned.

"At the same time, you should also pay attention to teenage fantasy romance and zombie genre films."

"Okay, including TV series?"

"of course."

Luo Ji said, "Doesn't Hollywood also have a TV production team? We can also get involved."

Zhu Haowei wondered: "But which TV station should we find to broadcast it after we produce it? The competition here is also fierce."

Luo Ji said, "I have some relationship with CBS. If it doesn't work, I'll go to the market and look for it. As long as the quality is good, someone will buy it."

"Ok."

(End of this chapter)