Chapter 698： Business is business

Glendale, DreamWorks Industrial Park, animation studio office area.

Ted Elliott, the production manager of the "Shrek" series, strode across the hallway to the front of Jeff Katzenberg's office and knocked gently on the door.

"Come in." Jeff Katzenberg's voice sounded, and Ted Elliott pushed in.

Katzenberg put on his glasses and asked, "Ted, what's the matter?"

Ted Elliott handed over the report to Katzenberg and said: "Three good news. The box office of "Shark Gang" exceeded 100 million US dollars in North America, and the overseas response was also good; "Shrek 2" was released in North America. The North American box office ended up at US$458.97 million; Embassy Pictures paid the third box office and peripheral revenue share of US$59 million."

This is indeed good news. In the first two transactions, DreamWorks Animation Studio has recovered all its investment in "Shrek 2", this time it is almost pure profit.

There will be a share in the follow-up.

"Good." Katzenberg was generally satisfied: "Ted, your project team did a great job."

Ted Elliott smiled, the bonus can be expected.

The phone on the desk rang, and Katzenberg picked it up to connect, and the secretary informed: "Mr. Spielberg is here."

Katzenberg said, "Go to the reception room."

He hung up the intercom and looked at Ted Elliott: "Continue to work on the sequel."

Ted Elliott responded quickly, and then left.

Katzenberg went to the next reception room, where Spielberg was already waiting.

"Morning, Steven." Katzenberg greeted casually, sat on the sofa next to Spielberg, and asked, "Why do you have time to come over today?"

Spielberg said: "I heard that "Shrek 2" is down."

After David Geffen led the music and game departments to exit DreamWorks, although DreamWorks Film Production and DreamWorks Animation Studios became more independent, they still belonged to the same company. In terms of shares and investment, Katzenberg and Spielberg has me in you and you in me.

In addition, David Geffen's voluntary withdrawal and clear division of powers also reduced the conflict between Spielberg and Katzenberg.

The two currently manage one piece each, rarely directly reaching out to each other's domain.

Katzenberg said: "The box office is very good, the profit is very impressive."

Spielberg said: "Nearly half of the film's revenue goes to the Embassy Pictures under Relativity Entertainment."

The reception room fell silent for an instant.

"How much is this income?" Spielberg's question broke the silence.

Katzenberg slowly said: “With the box office and the surrounding area, Embassy Pictures’ current revenue is close to 250 million U.S. dollars, and over time, the sales and licensing of DVD and TV copyright markets and other peripheral products will increase. Continued to increase."

Spielberg is a good old man, but also a businessman: "The Embassy Pictures took too much."

Katzenberg is quite calm: "The overseas ticket share and peripheral income accounted for by the Embassy Pictures is relatively high, and the share of offline peripheral products accounts for half. This is also the practice in the industry." He is not dissatisfied with the Embassy Pictures. : "Compared to the big six companies, the conditions of Embassy Pictures are fairly favorable."

Spielberg shook his head: "This part of the income should belong to DreamWorks." There is no need to go in circles between him and Katzenberg: "Jerry Fu, the distribution channel of DreamWorks has been established."

Whether it is an animation studio or a live-action film department, it is a DreamWorks after all, both of which are invested by two people.

Katzenberg said: "Steven, I understand what you mean. So, when I negotiated, I insisted on signing only a short-term distribution contract with Embassy Pictures."

It’s not like it used to be. DreamWorks has gradually improved its distribution channels, and the production company’s value has instantly increased, and it is no longer a dispensable taste in Katzenberg’s eyes.

The great success of the two "Shrek" has also allowed Spielberg to fully realize the strength of DreamWorks Animation Studio. He does not want to lose the animation studio after losing the music company. He said very earnestly: "Jerry Fu, when the contract expires, return to DreamWorks."

This is in the interests of both parties. Jeff Katzenberg has long been psychologically prepared and said: "Yes, DreamWorks Animation Studios belong to DreamWorks."

Because of his interaction with Ronan, he inspected the Embassy Pictures and chose Embassy Pictures as the distributor.

But what ultimately determines the future direction of DreamWorks Animation Studio is not friendship, but profit.

Spielberg has been in business for many years, and his commercial methods are equally proficient: "Jerifer, can you extend the production time of "Shrek 3" until the release contract with Embassy Pictures ends."

"These little tricks are useless." Kasenberg remembered the relevant clauses in the contract, and could only show a wry smile: "In the contract with Embassy Pictures, there are relevant clauses. During the contract period, they are not counted as "Monster For the Shrek series, including the newly released "Shark Gang", Embassy Pictures will also release "Madagascar" and another animated feature film in production. All three films are released before the contract is concluded."

Spielberg instantly grasped the point: "Not the "Shrek" series?"

"Who could have expected "Shrek" to be so successful?" Katzenberg regretted: "The animation studio signed the distribution rights of the entire series and related derivative films to Embassy Pictures. ."

He emphasized his tone: "Think about it now, Ronan Anderson's vision and scheming are really extraordinary!"

Spielberg felt depressed for a while, and suddenly felt that, starting from buying the distribution channel of Artisan Pictures, what he got was Ronan Anderson's leftovers.

Similarly, Spielberg was also depressed.

Two top Hollywood industry leaders sat in the reception room, relatively speechless for a while.

But in their minds, Ronan Anderson appeared at the same time.

DreamWorks includes both animation studios and live-action film production. Is it easy to create a popular series of movies? Finally, a "Shrek" series came out, and Ronan Anderson abruptly divided the cake by nearly half.

DreamWorks was limited to distribution before, but there was no way back then.

As a result, the distribution channels have been improved, and Ronan Anderson also set up insurmountable obstacles in advance.

Although DreamWorks and Relativity Entertainment are on the same front in the general direction, they are also competitors.

Spielberg asked a few things about the contract, and found it extremely difficult to solve, so he simply mentioned the second main purpose of coming today: "DreamWorks is now fully developed, and the distribution channels are becoming more and more perfect. This is the most critical constraint on the development of DreamWorks. There is only one factor left."

Katzenberg could faintly guess what Spielberg was going to say, and temporarily remained silent.

Spielberg said: "Jerifer, we run DreamWorks to go public and raise money!"

This DreamWorks is not only Spielberg’s live-action film production company, but also DreamWorks Animation Studio!

Katzenberg also has the idea of ​​operating DreamWorks Animation Studios to go public. Pixar Studios received key funds from the listing and financing, and Steve Jobs also entered the ranks of billionaires for the first time.

If DreamWorks still does not have a complete distribution channel of DreamWorks, Katzenberg will only find a way to make DreamWorks Animation Studio independent, and take the opportunity to clean up his and Spielberg's power and investment on both sides, so as to completely get rid of the dream. The burden of the factory production company achieves the goal of independence.

For this, he even made relevant plans.

But after DreamWorks got the distribution channel of Artisan Pictures, everything changed.

The DreamWorks now is not the DreamWorks it used to be.

"I agree to go public." Katzenberg said: "But we have to talk about the specific operation."

The two chatted all morning, and rarely had a work meal together. In the afternoon, Spielberg had just left, and Sanford Pandridge from Sony Columbia Pictures came to visit.

Katzenberg is very clear that this is all from the "Shrek" series.

Sandford Pandridge is here for the movie, and he does not hide this: "Mr. Katzenberg, I am here on behalf of Sony Entertainment this time. Sony Entertainment is very interested in DreamWorks Animation Studios, especially "Shrek" series."

In order to avoid the war of words, Katzenberg directly dragged Embassy Pictures out: "Sorry, the copyright of the entire series of "Shrek" has been signed to Embassy Pictures."

Sandford-Pandridge knows this of course, but Sony Entertainment also has an idea: "You can change the distribution rights of this series to..."

Katzenberg raised his hand to stop him from continuing: "Mr. Pandridge, you should talk to Embassy Pictures, Ronan Anderson, not DreamWorks. If they want, we will talk about other things. "

Sandford Pandridge frowned slightly.

Kasenberg said instead: "I remember that Sony Entertainment has a good relationship with Ronan Anderson and Relativity EntertainmentSanford Pandridge smiled and said: "But business is business after all. "

Katzenberg nodded unconsciously. In fact, thinking about his and Ronan Anderson's approach, business is always business.

Sandford-Pandridge said suddenly: "Mr. Katzenberg, Sony Entertainment has another idea." His voice seems to be lowered: "I wonder if Mr. Katzenberg is interested in leading the DreamWorks Animation Studios. Join Sony Entertainment?"

"Join Sony Entertainment?" Katzenberg never had similar thoughts.

"Yes, join Sony Entertainment." Sandford-Pandridge said: "Sony Entertainment does not have a professional animation production company, and is willing to delegate all of this business to Mr. Katzenberg."

A little later, Ronan and Mark Randolph walked into the headquarters of Sony Columbia Pictures.