"For decades, all studios have been occupied by a group of lawyers and accountants, and DreamWorks may be different." Tom Hanks

In 1994, Jeffrey Carsonberg, who was kicked out of Disney by Michael Esner, was united music tycoon David Geffen, and film master Steven Spielberg. He then received huge investment from Paul Allenna, one of the founders of Microsoft, and founded DreamWorks.

The three giants were determined to build an "21st century, high-tech-driven, unstoppable multimedia entertainment independent empire that is comparable to Disney, Sony and others" outside of Hollywood. At that time, people had two views, one believed that this was a great plan, and the other believed that it was just a daydream and that it would go bankrupt sooner or later.

Hanks's view represents the expectations of most filmmakers, hoping that DreamWorks will bring a new scene to this industry, and that everything is no longer money, money, money.

They have reason to expect that DreamWorks has a start-up capital of up to $2.6 billion, and Paul Allen also said, "How much do they want, how much do I give?" Financial pressure? What is that?

Three ambitions of dream-chasing middle-aged people are like getting infinite building blocks, just let go of their hands and feet to pile up the kingdom they want.

Film, music, games, the Internet...you want everything!

In 1995, Spielberg personally designed the blueprint for "Dreamworks Cinema", which was in an abandoned airport southwest of Los Angeles, where there were studios, recording studios, theaters, and amusement facilities... The budget for the early construction was $200 million.

In 2005, DreamWorks Cinema was just a blueprint, and in ten years, the Internet, games, TV, and music, went bankrupt or reselled one after another. They were not without strategic vision, talent, and money, but because of this, DreamWorks died of big money, dreams and conceits.

Games, if you want to do it, you need to do it the best, and there are more! Working with Microsoft, we develop 10-12 games every year, including virtual reality games that have not yet been implemented with technology. From the beginning, we were 10-12 games a year? Soon, this number was reduced by half. Spielberg was a master in making movies, and he was a rookie in developing games. He was even more annoyed when he had no results. In 2003, the game department sold it to ea.

Video websites, this will be a trend! In 1999, DreamWorks announced that it would set up a pop website that specializes in live short films and cartoons. In the same year, the bubble of Ke.com stocks exploded, and the pop died before it was launched. However, the old-fashioned Ifilm and emerging tubes are becoming more and more valuable.

The style of TV and DreamWorks is still expensive, exquisite and artistic. As a result, except for "Rotation City" and "Brothers", nothing else can be recovered, and the TV department is over.

How could the music fail with David Geffen? People can't figure it out, maybe even he doesn't understand it himself. But sometimes it doesn't work. DreamWorks' record department has been operating in a bleak manner and was sold to Universal in 2003. Since then, David Geffen has been away from DreamWorks' affairs and has focused on charity.

What does it look like if the Big Three holds a meeting together?

Tom Hanks, who witnessed many times, said: "David Geffen's words are usually short and have a gentle tone. Katsenberg is a 'substantive issue', and he will strictly control the meeting time to within 22 minutes. Spielberg is like a cartoonist, he can draw everything on paper and then become reality.

For example, if you invite someone, Geffen will say, ‘We think you are great, if you can join us, it will be perfect, if you can’t, we still think you are great,’ Katzenberg will say, ‘You are great, there are 17 reasons why you should work with us, the first is…’

Spielberg would say, ‘I like how you performed in that film five years ago, the part where you let the platypus dance at the table, and you can do that means you can do anything’. That’s how they have a meeting, and it will definitely end in 22 minutes.”

For Spielberg, 22 minutes is a lot. He has almost never attended a financial meeting and hopes that "any meeting I attended can end in two minutes" and don't get in the way of making a movie. Many people have commented that Spielberg is a child of big or small.

This was the case when he was young and in middle age. Not to mention a tycoon, he couldn't even be a successful businessman, but the film department of DreamWorks all counts on him.

"The reason why DreamWorks are done is because Spielbergs are living too comfortable." When the news that DreamWorks were acquired by Paramount recently confirmed that "Business Telegraph" commented. The previous successful Hollywood tycoons had only one dream for movies, money. The same is true for media groups such as Murdoch and Redstone. The three DreamWorks? They were spoiled. Their pursuit of art and their attitude towards spending money doomed the demise of DreamWorks.

Let’s see what Spielberg has done. Apart from the animation department that has been split out, in 11 years, DreamWorks’s library has only 61 movies, which does have a large number of fine works, such as “Save Private Ryan”, “The Rest of the Desert Island”, “American Beauty”, “Gladiator”, “American Mind”, “The Penting Age”…

These films not only won box office, but also received a large number of Oscar nominations and awards. The 72nd to the 74th Oscars, the best films for three consecutive years were produced by DreamWorks.

But, you can't make money.

If you know that Save Private Ryan (70 million production fee) with a global box office of 481 million yuan only earned 30 million yuan for DreamWorks, it is not difficult to understand why. Without distribution channels, the new distribution system that was agreed to be established with Microsoft has never been seen. In many aspects, DreamWorks had to use the help of Global and Paramount to jointly release it, so that the profit would not be much.

Moreover, since the 1990s, movie games have become increasingly difficult to play. "Everything in the survey is correct, and in the end it is known that it is a big mistake." Independent companies are increasingly unable to bear the consequences of one failure. Playing such games is like gambling, with only two endings: success or failure to lose everything.

But DreamWorks likes to spend a lot of money. In fact, it has been bankrupted several times by the failure of a movie. In 2003, "Sinbad" lost 125 million, which is equivalent to losing 4 "Save Private Ryan" in one go, and it can still hold on. This year, a series of failures led by the disastrous defeat of "Escape from the Cloned Island" happened, and it couldn't hold on.

Since its inception, DreamWorks has been the film company that is most willing to spend money in the film industry, and sometimes even suckers. This is Spielberg's responsibility.

But Katzenberg couldn't go much better. When it comes to diligence, few people can compare to Katzenberg. There are no holidays. They get up at 5 o'clock every day and go to the office, office, plane and workplace at 6 o'clock. They are just conceited and are very happy to be successful. They have to compete with Disney all day long. They are arrogant if they have some achievements. These are also Katzenberg.

No one likes to keep losing money, especially businessmen. When DreamWorks only have movies and animations, both high-risk and low-yield things, things start to go wrong, and Paul Allen no longer has the patience and goes public! He finally got some rewards, and the Big Three, who have not received any salary in 10 years, have also received some dividends. But Wall Street and the majority of investors were cheated.

"If it were today, I would never have been in the entertainment industry," David Geffen said early this year.

He knew something, and he could just let go of it, maybe he was discouraged.

On December 5, this incident that shocked Hollywood and the world's film industry was announced. Paramount's parent company Viacom Group will acquire DreamWorks for US$1.6 billion! About 400 million of them will be used to assume debt.

The media reported crazy for a moment, why DreamWorks failed, what happened to DreamWorks, where DreamWorks went, why dramatic changes from Universal to Paramount, and their impact on independent films... have all become the most passionate topics of professional film media.

Facing the media, the Big Three avoided talking about their feelings, only Katzenberg sighed: "Even the most outstanding talents, it is too difficult to survive in the film industry today." He was the only one who was separated and the only profitable department, DreamWorks Animation Department, was still independent, and he has not lost all the battle with Disney.

Spielberg was very silent, no one knew his specific mood. Sadness? Liberation? Wake up from the dream?

In any case, Spielberg is still the movie giant. Why is Paramount willing to buy DreamWorks without an animation department for 1.6 billion? This is not worth it at all. But with Spielberg's priority cooperation rights, it becomes worth it. However, he no longer has the years of spending money. He bought the adaptation rights of the French novel "If-only-it-were-t" for a high price of 2 million, and then made "Like Heaven" for 58 million. Because he liked that novel, things would not be so easy anymore.

"I don't make movies to make money," Spielberg once said, although he is the most profitable director.

Looking at the 11 years of DreamWorks Film and Television Department, he is qualified to say this.

DreamWorks is like a TV series "Freaks and Nerds" (1999-2000) it has produced. This campus comedy with only 18 episodes in one season and has a very good reputation. It has imdb-9 points. It has now formed a cult culture with wide influence, and has even published novels with countless fans.

But when NBC was broadcast, there were only 6.77 million viewers on average, and they could only rank 93rd.

Then, there is no season 2.

The longer the time passed, the more people scolded NBC for cutting it in half too early. This was a generation of magical dramas and a dream.

Dreamworks, born from money, died from money.

The collapse of DreamWorks is an idealistic collapse. It is different, but money, still the master of this game, may always be.

Now, the only real independent film company with a scale is Lionsgate. What is certain is that Lionsgate is different from DreamWorks. It is very careful and teaches talents. It is not interested in so many businesses at once, but it moves forward step by step for the camp.

If DreamWorks is a rich family, talking about dreams and art, fighting for kings and overwhelmingly, changing Hollywood, and ending up losing money until it fails to bankruptcy; Lions Gate is a poor boy who saves money little by little, keeps his pockets tight at all times, how Hollywood is all about me, living your own little life is the most important thing.

No one knows how the future is. Dreamworks has indeed become a thing of the past.

Spending money again and again in 11 years and investing millions in a teenage movie boy is definitely the most squandering and successful one at DreamWorks. Although he was the principal of Preton, Tom Hanks said in an interview: "It was only after I became Steven's assistant for one day, Steven told me, 'That kid is a genius' that I made up my mind."

That is to them, there wouldn’t be a big studio to deal with Ye Wei at that time, and the talented newcomers only took place in independent movies.

But things are different. "The Little Beauty of Sunshine" and Ye Wei have become an important wealth in DreamWorks. Paramount's spokesman Branda Sicoen mentioned that Paramount expects to have a close cooperative relationship with Ye Wei. She said, "His talent is priceless, and we are actively communicating with him the possibility of cooperation."

Ye Wei did not comment on this major industry event, and he was trapped in gossip about fighting with Peter Jackson.

The media public is concerned about the trends of this talented boy. Will the changes in DreamWorks make any changes in his new project? What is Paramount communicating with him?

※※

"What!?" When Julia Roberts heard the news, her face turned red with excitement. Emma was definitely suitable for acting, better than "Cute Bones"!!!

She thinks this is really a gift from God. How many projects can compare to the commercial production with a budget of 100 million yuan?

He immediately called Ye Wei, and she smiled intimately: "I know, you're hiding it from me! I really want to congratulate you, this is great."

"Oh...you mean? I didn't agree, and I'm not going to agree."

Hearing Ye Wei say this, Roberts's eyes were almost black. What a joke, is it like this? Jesus Christ! She persuaded: "Vei, this is a rare opportunity to meet again in life! It's not just for Emma, ​​but for you! It's rare opportunity to encounter in your life. If you can seize it and not mess it up, you are not just a prodigy, you are a top-line director!"

"You know, Julia, I love independent production, and I don't think I can stand the production process of such a big studio project."

Roberts was very anxious and continued to persuade him in a good mood: "You don't plan to shoot small-cost independent films for the rest of your life, right? You don't want to try blockbusters? Ang Lee and Ang Lee also filmed "The Hulk", right? Spielberg, tell me what blockbusters he has? But which big director doesn't make commercial blockbusters?"

"In fact...a lot, Terrence Malick, Woody Allen, Russ von Tyre..."

"Lass Von Tyre? I don't even know what this guy has photographed!"

"He's a lunatic, I don't like him, but I love him calling Roman Polansky a dwarf, haha."

"Believe me, I know who Lars von Tyre is..." Roberts was very helpless. The boy has grown wings now. She said helplessly: "I don't care about how Tyre or Polansky is. At the age of 18, have you ever thought about this seriously? How many people have worked hard for many years to get the opportunity? Are you not going to agree?"

“I’m not very interested in this project.”

"You have to seize this opportunity, or you will regret it, really!"

...

Inclined to refuse!?

Brian seemed to be choking something in his throat. Viy, viy, don't do this, just this time, show your intelligence, you are a genius!

Ye Wei's words were still coming from his phone: "I know you want me to take on commercial films, I will, I'm just not sure if it's now. I'm about to win TLB, I have SS, and another project I really want to shoot. Brian, I don't owe money now, with lms, I don't owe anyone anymore, I thank you, but for me, the first thing to do in filming is fun."

"Listen to me, this project is so fun. You can use CGI special effects to express your imagination. Isn't it fun?" Brian knew that he couldn't anger him. He had to be patient and think of ways to communicate with talented and personalized people. "You're not scared, are you? A 100 million budget scaring you?"

"Please do you want to provoke? Please. Only with fun can you have passion. Only with passion can you make a movie. I force myself to shoot it, and it will only mess up things."

Brian continued to say excitedly: "The budget of 100 million is very high, but you only need to be a director. Paramount is not ready to let you produce, and your workload will not be much. Even if you agree to direct it with your intention, it may not be you. You still have to pass the assessment. This is a huge challenge, but!"

"That's why I'm not interested. Why can I make "Exorcist Video" 18 days? Because that's really an independent producer! But what about lms?

Even DreamWorks, Preton producers, low-cost projects, I am the first producer and director, and have so many meetings, one after another, and it has nothing to do with creation, it is a waste of time. If it is the TET model, I can do LMS in at most three months, but how long does it take me?

Brian, I also want all the meetings to end in two minutes! I said, you do it. Make commercial blockbusters for big studios? I am afraid, I am afraid of so many producers on a football team, telling me that I can't do this, and there are so many other football team, I don't know whose guy it is, telling me what I should do.

There are also those research, analysis, numbers... In the end, I said nothing counts, and there is definitely no final cut right. I can’t change the lines, so is it still called making a movie? I’m very suspicious."

"You haven't tried it, it's not as bad as you thought." Brian couldn't refute it. Of course, the model of big studios would be like that. Spielberg and Cameron had a lot of meetings. He had to persuade: "The issue of power can be discussed slowly, maybe we will talk about the final power."

"Maybe! Maybe I took a shit in pain for a year or two, and it was not the shape I wanted. Man, I like to take risks, but I can't take this."

Brian sighed, "But don't let everyone down on your expectations. Now the whole world hopes that you will make the most correct choice. You win, I win, and everyone wins!"

He spoke excitedly: "This is a broad road! As long as you shoot this project well, in the future, its power will be ten times greater than LMS, the level of "Harry Potter" and "Naria Legend"! There are many good meetings, you endure a project, your fame, and your status will rise to the real top level! The top level in the world!

However, this is a huge challenge, it will definitely not be easy, but it will not be easy. Do you dare to accept the challenge?"

Ye Wei's laughter rang out on his phone, "Brother, your words are very inspiring, but I have done too many such things since I was a child, so... it's not very useful to me. You know, I don't want to endure it. I would rather make a few more independent films to make myself more powerful and then shoot commercial blockbusters, things will be much simpler, I think so."

"No, independent films and commercial blockbusters are different. Even if you have 10 LMS, your first blockbuster will still be restricted! However, this is a huge challenge!"

“I will think about it again.”

“A huge challenge!”
Chapter completed!