The Second Daughter of Rubert Murdoch
In another room by the lounges of the two crews, Eric was talking with leading figures from other companies who had already arrived .
These senior managers served different companies but most of them were quite familiar with each other since the turnover was frequent among the seven major film companies .
Barry Diller was absent . He had been controlling Paramount until 1984 but now worked as CEO of Fox . When he was in Paramount, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg served as his a.s.sistants . Now, however, the two turned into CEO and President of Disney respectively . If history remained the same, Jeffrey Katzenberg would be CEO of DreamWorks several years later . Now, Amy Pascal worked for Columbia Pictures . Before her appointment, though, she was a senior manager of Fox . Such complex interpersonal relations had ensured compet.i.tion and cooperation among the major film companies .
“How much will your two films take at the box office this time? Clue us in for some reference for future bidding . ” Michael Eisner asked in front of others . Although he put on a look of casualness, he could not conceal the expectation hidden in his tone .
Eric put down the coffee cup and replied smilingly:“Mr . Eisner, seriously, I can only ensure that the two films are of high quality . The box office will be determined by the reaction of the audience and the market . ”
“This will not work . You are still at a young age but have already become so sophisticated . A youth shall speak and act daringly,” said Nade Tarn, president of Paramount . The speaker was nearly 60 years old . He was an amiable old man with all gray hair and all smiles . His words sounded like encouragement given by the older generation to the younger generation, drawing the speaker and the listener much closer in a natural way .
Eric smiled as if he were listening carefully . In fact, he was thinking to himself that those old fellows were birds of a feather, craft and craftier . If he had followed their advice, he would have been trapped without knowing about it .
Since Barry Diller and Michael Eisner quit together with a large group of senior managers, Paramount had witnessed a bad time . Now its films were poorly received except Indiana Jones, a movie put on show this year . However, the producer and the director were George Lucas and Steven Spielberg respectively . The two were shrewd businessmen and would take most of the profits, leaving Paramount only some payment for distribution .
In the previous a.n.a.lysis, Eric believed that Paramount would make the biggest offer . This time, everyone would partic.i.p.ate in secret bidding . After watching the film, every partic.i.p.ator would offer their own profit-sharing conditions . Then, the Firefly Film Company would, based on the conditions, choose its partner . However, the appearance of Michael Eisner had rendered the result much more complex . Michael’s att.i.tude was likely to spur the compet.i.tion from other big film companies . After all, it had taken him only 5 years to send Disney’s business booming . Now the status of Hollywood was even more prominent than at the time when his former superior Barry Diller took charge .
Alan Fisman opened the door gently and approached Eric softly, trying his best not to arouse any attention . He bent and whispered by Eric’s ear:“Mr . Williams, Fox’s people have arrived . ”
Eric nodded and said smilingly to Michael Eisner and others:“I am sorry . Wait a moment, please . I have another guest here . ”
Leaving the room, Eric walked in the direction of the lift together with Alan . Fox’s people were likely to go up soon . Alan then said:“The receptionist downstairs Mike said that two people from Fox are coming here . One is Carta Hunter and the other is a woman . ”
Eric was lost in thought for a moment before asking:“Has he recognized who the woman is?”
Alan shook his head and replied:“He does not know . He said that the girl is just about 20 years old . But Carta Hunter shows great respect for her . ”
Carta Hunter was in charge of Fox’s film distribution and could be regarded as vice-president of the company . He would show respect for only Barry Diller and several other big figures . Such personalities would by no means include a girl in her 20s .
Eric could not figure out the reason and then just stopped thinking . When he walked by the lift, the exclusive lift stopped with a ding and a man and a woman stepped out .
“Nice to meet you, Carta,” Eric smilingly moved forward and hugged Carta Hunter, giving a glance to the blonde girl who was standing by and looking at him with great interest . The girl was about 20 years old . She was 170cm tall and her relatively short blonde hair just covered her ears . This was a beauty with a heart-shaped face and long eyebrows and eyes . She was dressed in a plaid black-white s.h.i.+rt, long light yellow pants and flat black shoes .
Eric thought to himself that she must be a high-flying career woman since she was quite similar to Amy Pascal, the woman sitting in the room .
Carta Hunter received the greeting and was about to introduce the girl when she reached out her hand and said:“Nice to meet you, Mr . Williams . My name is Elizabeth Murdoch . ”
Eric raised his eyebrows slightly and thought:“The girl comes from the Murdoch family . Carta Hunter’s respectful att.i.tude shows that she must be a direct relative of Rubert Murdoch . ”
“Nice to meet you, Ms . Murdoch . You can call me Eric . ”
The girl let go of Eric’s hand and asked seriously: “Why don’t you call me Elizabeth?”
“What a difficult woman!” Eric thought to himself . Then he unhurriedly explained:“Since we have just met each other, I would not call a girl by her name without her permission . ”
Elizabeth Murdoch raised her chin slightly and looked into Eric’s eyes:“Okay, Eric, you now have my permission to call me Elizabeth . ”
“Um……”
Carta Hunter saw Eric’s embarra.s.sment and hurried to mediate between the two:“Eric, Elizabeth is the second daughter of Rubert Murdoch . She has been interning in Fox these days and she is quite interested in you……your films . That is why she has come here . I hope you won’t mind it . ”
“Of course not,” Eric smilingly replied . “Let’s go to the room . We will have to wait a moment since the test screening starts at 2 o’clock . ”
Then the four went to the room at the end of the hall . Elizabeth Murdoch deliberately moved closer to Eric . Alan saw this and quickly stepped backwards, following the three behind .