[Chapter 712: The New Wave of Technology]
Ultimately, the discussion surrounding the potential hosts for Arica's Next Top Model focused on Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, and Tyra Banks.
The title of supermodel had initially risen to prominence with Linda Evangelista, making her the most persuasive choice to host the show. Prior to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Cindy Crawford frequently appeared on television programs. Though, after the show, all five models held similar public recognition, Cindy still had the advantage of experience in hosting TV programs.
Tyra Banks brought a lively personality to the table, and it was evident that she would easily connect with the contestants, making her quite approachable. However, a glaring flaw stood out; Tyra was born in 1973, which made her just 22 years old at the ti. While she gained significant fa from the Victoria's Secret Shows, her youth could be a challenge for the role. If not for this, Eric wouldn't even have to think about the host for Arica's Next Top Model in this tiline.
After quite the discussion, the final decision rested with Eric.
Honestly, despite what happened in the previous days, Eric didn't have a deep understanding of these five won. His mories from the past mostly ca from various dia outlets. Now that he found himself here, it would be foolish for Eric to take dia information at face value.
The reforms for Lifeti Television and the plans for Arica's Next Top Model were just beginning, so Eric wasn't in a hurry; he intended to have a detailed discussion with the ladies before reaching a decision.
...
Before they knew it, night fell softly, and as Eric listened to Luc Besson share ideas for a sci-fi film, he heard Kathryn's voice beside him: "Eric, it's late. I think I should head ho."
Noticing Kathryn approaching, Luc Besson raised his glass and smiled, subtly excusing himself.
Kathryn looked a bit embarrassed at the mont. "I didn't interrupt your conversation, did I?"
"Of course not," Eric shook his head.
Checking his watch, it was just past eleven. The party was still quite lively, with not many guests leaving. However, for Kathryn, who was known for her strict routine, it was undoubtedly quite late already.
Eric looked at Kathryn, who held her little golden trophy tightly in front of her, a hint of tension and panic crossing her face. He smiled and said, "Shall I give you a ride ho?"
"No, no need," Kathryn instinctively shook her head, the hint of tension and panic spilling over her pretty face.
"You've had a drink; driving yourself isn't safe. I wouldn't feel right about that," Eric said, gesturing toward the exit.
Kathryn shifted a bit, suddenly saying, "You've been drinking too."
"I have a driver, co on," Eric replied.
As Kathryn followed Eric towards the door, she murmured, "I can take a cab ho."
"Do you think you can just wave down a cab like a heroine in a movie? It's the middle of the night; there aren't any cabs around," Eric joked, waving over to Katzenberg to signal him to handle the next arrangents.
...
When they reached the parking lot, Eric personally opened the car door for Kathryn and sat next to her after confirming her address with the driver.
The streets near Sunset Boulevard were still bright with lights, though the traffic and pedestrians had thinned out considerably.
As they drove through Sunset Boulevard, seeing Kathryn clutching her trophy, Eric couldn't shake the feeling that he was sitting next to a naive little girl. He smiled and said, "How's the script for The Thin Red Line coming along with Terrence Malick?"
"It's... going okay. There are so minor disagreents on details, but nothing major. Next month, we're planning a trip to Guadalcanal for a field study; Terrence wants to shoot on location."
Eric nodded. "Oh, have you thought about when you might start shooting?"
Although the film would be backed by Firefly, it didn't fall under Firefly's comrcial film category, which allowed Eric to take a relaxed approach, enabling Kathryn and Terrence Malick to make their own decisions.
"Next year, I think I'd like to have more ti to prepare," Kathryn said after a brief hesitation.
The two chatted casually, unaware until the car ca to a stop outside a residence in Coldwater Canyon.
They stepped out, greeted by old street lamps, their yellow light illuminating a power pole covered in dark moss, looking quite weathered and about to collapse.
"Well then, good night," Eric said, opening his arms to Kathryn.
Kathryn cautiously moved closer, embraced him briefly, and then released him, saying, "Good night."
After she turned to walk toward the door, Eric recalled sothing and called out, "Kathryn?"
She froze, turning back, "W-what?"
Eric pointed at the trophy in her hand. "In the coming days, we might need you to participate in a few interviews. I hope you'll be prepared."
"Oh, I understand." She said, glancing at him. After locking eyes for just a couple of seconds and realizing he had nothing more to say, she hurriedly retreated into the yard.
Eric chuckled, returned to the car, and as Carter Moen started the vehicle, he couldn't help but tease, "Boss, this isn't quite your style."
"Just drive, I already feel like I'm imposing on a little girl here."
Carter Moen efficiently turned the car around, "Ms. Bigelow definitely feels sothing for you; otherwise, she wouldn't be acting so flustered."
"Always feels like sothing is still lacking," Eric quasi-answered.
...
The next day, the news of the first-ever female Best Director winner at the Oscars dominated major dia outlets worldwide, triggering jubilation everywhere.
At the sa ti, Firefly took the opportunity to launch a new round of promotional efforts for Saving Private Ryan's videotape. Riding the waves of Kathryn winning Best Director, the following week, the North Arican sales of Saving Private Ryan's video quickly surpassed 1 million copies.
In Europe, since the release of this video ca after North Arica, there was significant market demand; thus, with Firefly's promotional support, the weekly sales figures there easily surpassed North Arica, reaching nearly 1.5 million copies. In just a week, the videotape sales for Saving Private Ryan generated $75 million in revenue for Firefly. Internal forecasts suggested that the final videotape sales would exceed $500 million, possibly even surpassing the film's global box office receipts.
Since movie companies typically don't disclose videotape sales figures, most people remained focused on Kathryn's Oscar win.
However, inside Hollywood, the astonishing videotape sales of Saving Private Ryan stirred excitent. Major film companies promptly began seeking excellent war film scripts, leading to significant attention on Kathryn's upcoming project, The Thin Red Line, which even sparked a bit of a legal dispute.
It turned out that before Terrence Malick approached Eric, he had already engaged various production companies to make this film, including all six major studios. This wasn't the issue. The critical elent was that during discussions with a small independent studio nad Phoenix, Terrence had signed a letter of intent, authorizing Phoenix to raise production funds for The Thin Red Line back in 1988.
Given the film's high budget and significant risks, Phoenix hadn't managed to secure a single cent. According to industry practices, such a letter of intent would generally be considered null and void in such circumstances.
Ideally, the situation would simply pass on, and the project would smoothly transition to Firefly.
Yet after Kathryn won the Oscar for Best Director and Saving Private Ryan saw phenonal success in the tape market, perhaps due to instigations from so, Robert Geisler, the producer from Phoenix, resurfaced, claiming that according to their original agreent, Phoenix had gathered sufficient funds for The Thin Red Line and demanded Firefly return the rights for the film's production and distribution.
Such ridiculous situations were common in Hollywood. Eric didn't overly concern himself, leaving the matter to Firefly's legal departnt.
He had read the script for The Thin Red Line and retained several details about it, knowing it was not destined to be a blockbuster.
Furthermore, he was aware that Phoenix might simply be trying to involve themselves in the investnt. As long as it didn't interfere with the film's production, Eric was anable to relinquishing a portion of the investnt rights. However, if they didn't know their place, Eric wouldn't hesitate to let them experience Firefly's wrath.
...
Post-Oscars, Eric focused primarily on reforming Lifeti Television and preparing for Arica's Next Top Model.
Lifeti Television was established in the early 1980s following the rger of two small TV stations owned by ABC and Hearst, becoming part of the A&E Network.
For the first several years, Lifeti consistently ran at a loss, only managing to break even by the late '80s.
At this ti, Lifeti reportedly had 30 million users, including all theoretical users across various cable TV packages.
However, just like in Eric's mories of the under-watched law, educational, or foreign language channels, Lifeti had beco a neglected channel, with even its more popular programs usually garnering fewer than 2 million viewers. Due to the consistently diocre ratings, major cable providers often threatened to drop the channel because, much like with the internet, cable signal transmission also consud bandwidth.
Before Katzenberg brought up Lifeti, Eric had nearly forgotten the channel was still part of Firefly's holdings.
Once plans comnced, Eric began learning more about Lifeti Television.
In the '80s, Lifeti reran programs produced by ABC Network, occasionally picking up a few inexpensive low-cost won's films. The programming could only be described as bland and unexciting.
It wasn't until the early '90s, with ABC's renewed performance buoyed by parent company support, that Lifeti began attempting to produce its own TV movies or mini-series. However, their annual output averages barely reached two films, which was minuscule compared to ABC's need to air dozens of new shows each year.
Thus, reforming such an obscure channel was no easy task.
Fortunately, the executives at Firefly were filled with confidence, drawing inspiration from ESPN's transformation from fewer than 300,000 local users to the nation's leading sports network. They quickly crafted detailed developnt plans.
On another front, while cable television erged in the '80s, it didn't truly flourish until the latter half of the '90s. The rise of high-tech industries stimulated not only the growth of the internet but also led to significant expansions in the cable TV network.
Many classic cable dramas began surfacing prominently in the latter half of the '90s. Among these, the most renowned productions from HBO under Ti Warner stood out. From Eric's perspective, the U.S. cable TV market was on an upward trajectory.
With the new wave of technology just beginning, while the major focus remained on internet companies, substantial investnts also flowed into the television sector. Firefly boasted a solid internal funding chain, eliminating the need to constantly seek financing from external investnt banks or foreign film funds. Still, the large investnt influx into television indirectly provided Firefly with an expanded platform.
Concurrently, the regulations governing the U.S. cable television industry began to loosen rapidly; large-scale consolidations had already started the previous year. The reason Barry Diller and Sumner Redstone lost the battle for Viacom was primarily that the parent company, QVC, rged with AT&T, which was a major cable operator.
In this context of the industry's resurgence, it was a pri opportunity to position themselves within the cable television sector. After all, according to Eric's mories, while public television might not entirely fade away, it would gradually be overshadowed by the more premium content offered on cable stations. Moreover, many cable channels hadn't yet taken stock of the opportunities about to arise, which ant if Lifeti Television could establish itself ahead of ti, it could potentially replace so of those channels that might have otherwise thrived.
*****
/Sayonara816.
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