[Chapter 28: Strategy]
Lester Reed lanted inwardly as the anger clearly turned toward himself. In such a situation, he did not dare to argue back; after all, he knew he would be kicked out for sure.
"Mr. Blount, perhaps we can try... try negotiating with Eric Williams to re-sign the revenue- sharing agreent," he suggested hesitantly.
"Is that the best you could co up with?" Cohen Blount scoffed, "If you were Eric Williams, would you agree to re-sign the agreent?"
Lester Reed pressed on, despite the weight of Cohen's gaze: "Eric Williams should realize that based on current box office trends, it is unfair to Columbia, which has invested far more than he has, so..."
Before Lester could finish, Cohen Blount slamd his hand on the table and shouted, "Enough! Fairness? When have you ever seen fairness in this world? What I want is a strategy, a strategy that can secure more benefits for Columbia, not a pipe dream."
Lester Reed fell silent, lowering his head. Cohen Blount glanced around the room, his gaze settling on Amy Pascal, who was seated at the end of the conference table. She had been the only one in the room opposing Eric Williams' betting agreent, which gave him a flicker of hope.
Shifting his tone, Cohen Blount said to Amy Pascal, "Amy, do you have any good ideas?"
Even though Cohen had been fiercely assertive in the eting, Amy Pascal seed sowhat distracted. She felt thoroughly disappointed in him -- conservative, lacking boldness, full of suspicion, never calm in the face of issues, and certainly not exhibiting the deanor of soone in charge. She couldn't understand how Coca-Cola had chosen this diocre CEO. Amy even thought it might be ti for her to look for another job.
However, when Cohen Blount asked her opinion, Amy Pascal gathered her thoughts and replied, "Mr. Blount, I have no solution regarding that betting agreent. Even if we were to force the film out of theaters right now, we wouldn't be able to get the rights for Ho Alone for free; instead, we would face a claim from Eric Williams for over a hundred million dollars."
Here, Amy Pascal paused to allow everyone to think. Before Cohen Blount could speak again, she continued, "So, what we should do now is try to win over Eric Williams and sincerely execute that betting agreent to show Columbia's good faith. There's no doubt that Ho Alone would surpass 50 million dollars in box office, aning that the overseas and other peripheral rights would go back to Eric. Moreover, a sequel to Ho Alone is sure to be made, and by maintaining a good cooperating stance this ti, I believe, with Eric's shrewdness, he would continue to work with us. I think that's the only way for Columbia to secure more benefits."
After Amy finished speaking, several executives couldn't help but nod in agreent, though Cohen Blount, while sowhat in agreent with her views, was once again reminded of Amy's potential friendship with Jeffrey Hansen and Eric Williams. His suspicious nature made him doubt that Amy's advice was impartial.
Thus, Cohen Blount couldn't help but interject again, "Amy, you are an employee of Columbia and should think of the company first, not just outsiders. If you can co up with a way to overturn that betting agreent to secure more benefits for us, I would promote you on the spot."
It felt just like a few weeks ago when she worked hard, doing her utmost to bring quality film projects to the company and diligently offering strategies. And what happened? She was first kicked off the Ho Alone project team. She felt she needed to keep a distance and bore no ill will. Then she was demanded to speak again as the only opposing voice to a poor decision and offered her reasonable advice, only to be questioned once more.
This left Amy Pascal feeling cold, a surge of intense grievance rising; her nose felt a bit tender, and tears threatened to spill.
Suddenly standing up, her chair fell backward with a loud crash.
"Mr. Blount, I resign!"
The cold voice rang out in the conference room. Having said that, Amy Pascal did not linger to organize the docunts in front of her but turned and left the office imdiately.
"This is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous! Who does she think she is?" Cohen Blount fud, This tempers flaring after already being on edge due to the Ho Alone situation. Without a mont's pause, he slamd the table again and turned to his assistant saying, "Notify security to imdiately throw that bitch out of here; I don't want to see her at Columbia HQ again."
"Understood, Mr. Blount," the assistant replied in a tight voice, cautiously rising to leave the eting room.
Taking a sip of coffee to steady himself, Cohen Blount coldly stated, "Alright, let's continue. Everyone better stay sharp, or I won't hesitate to sign more termination papers today." Although many executives felt that Amy Pascal's recent suggestion was the most valid -- after all, everyone in that eting room was a competent professional -- Cohen Blount had fallen into a hysterical state. No one wanted to risk their job to back Amy's proposal.
Therefore, the executives reluctantly began to discuss. After several hours of discussions, they finally ca up with a strategy.
As the eting ended, Cohen Blount eagerly told his assistant, "Get in touch with Disney's Michael Eisner for . I want to invite him to dinner tonight; tell him we have important matters to discuss regarding Ho Alone."
"Yes, Mr. Blount," the assistant felt relieved as the tension from Cohen seed to have evaporated after the eting and stood a little less nervously.
...
The next morning, the $27.55 million opening weekend box office for Ho Alone made headlines, thrusting Eric back into the spotlight as a topic of public interest. If before the film's release, much of the news regarding Eric ca from the two major studios promoting their film, now the dia had taken it up independently.
With Eric having just returned to Los Angeles in the middle of the night, he woke up to find his ho -- previously free of paparazzi -- now swarming with reporters. There was no other word to describe the crowd; they were indeed piled up in front of his door, mics and caras in hand.
Due to Columbia's intentional omittance of information, Eric did not receive any imdiate news about Ho Alone's box office. But upon seeing the reporters, he knew that Ho Alone
had hit big.
Even though he appreciated the press for 'informing' him in their way, Eric still had no interest in engaging with them. After breakfast, he headed straight to the garage, planning to drive through the throng of reporters to the Columbia headquarters to get the scoop on the
situation.
However, Eric clearly had never encountered such 'glamorous' monts before. Thus, when he pulled out of the driveway, he miscalculated how to handle it; he was instantly surrounded by a horde of reporters as the car barely left the house. So journalists even climbed onto the hood of his car, loudly demanding answers and indiscreetly banging on the window at him. Questions flew from every direction: "Mr. Williams, what do you think about Ho Alone's $27.55 million opening weekend?"
"Mr. Williams, do you think Ho Alone will surpass E.T.?"
"Eric, according to the bet agreent, you are about to beco Hollywood's youngest multi- millionaire; what will you do once you have that money?"
"Mr. Williams, I'm a reporter from the Los Angeles Tis; can I interview you?"
"Eric..."
"....."
It felt like thousands of geese were quacking in his ear. Though Eric found the $27.55 million opening weekend sowhat thrilling, he was mostly consud with anxiety and nervousness. There were simply too many reporters surrounding his car, and he hesitated to press the gas pedal hard. A chunky white reporter in front of the car seed eager for a collision, his expression one of desperate anticipation.
*****
spatreon/Sayonara816.
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