From Hollywood to Media Empire

In August, Sofia Coppola received Bill Murray's acting contract and swiftly led the minimalistic crew to Tokyo.

"Boss, the crew of Lost in Translation seems to have only eight people, and almost all of them are actors!" reported the assistant, Dona.

"The rest will be local hires, and the preparations there are almost done. There's a company helping us," Charles responded without lifting his head, as he was busy monitoring the box office of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding had been playing in over 2100 theaters since its release in early April, and now it was almost September.

After nearly five months of screening, the North American box office grossed two hundred million dollars. However, the ticket sales were starting to decline as the movie had exhausted its drawing power.

"Have you called Tom Hanks' production company?" asked Charles.

Dona nodded, "I've called several times. They said they are calculating, and the funds will be transferred to us as soon as they are available!"

"Get ready; we are moving to the new office in Burbank. The recruitment over there has gone smoothly as well," said Charles, standing up with renewed energy.

When Carpe Film was moving, the North American box office share from My Big Fat Greek Wedding finally made it to Charles' account as anticipated.

After the theater's 47% cut, they were left with a hefty sum. After deducting the 15% distribution fee, they had $91.2 million left, minus the $5 million production budget and $7.7 million marketing costs.

The net profit for the production side was $78.5 million. According to the contract, Charles had a 15% percentage share of the box office net profits, so he received 11.7 million dollars.

The contract stipulated that Charles also had a $3 million cash bonus, of which he had already received $1 million, leaving him with $2 million more.

His due earnings were millions of dollars, but after subtracting the $4.3 million he previously received, Tom Hanks' company was paying Carpe Film 7.4 million dollars.

Overseas distribution rights and the DVD market were directly sold by Tom Hanks, and Charles could also share in the profits from these two markets.

As for cable TV and merchandise, those had little to do with Charles. Even the DVD market shared less because Charles' share level was relatively low.

However, given the phenomenal performance of My Big Fat Greek Wedding at the box office, and considering the significant revenue generated from DVDs, some profits were inevitable.

Although My Big Fat Greek Wedding wasn't the hottest type of movie in the DVD market, there was definitely no shortage of buyers.

Charles received $3.5 million from overseas theatrical revenue, and with the global DVD market, he accumulated $4.8 million. In total, he earned 19.5 million (11.7 + 3 + 4.8) as of now.

With over $19 million, Charles had become a multimillionaire. However, the real moneymakers were definitely IFC Films and Tom Hanks.

Sitting in the new Carpe Film office, Charles leaned back in his boss's chair, stroking the desk as he began to contemplate.

A distribution company was most urgent. An independent distribution channel required funding, either to build one from scratch or to acquire an established indie distributor.

Lionsgate, founded in 1997, grew through acquiring an independent film distributor in Canada, followed by the purchase of the US-based videocassette distributor, Trimark Pictures.

The most valuable assets of a distribution company were its library of film rights and its agreements with theaters.

Traditional distribution was firmly held by the major six studios. Even DreamWorks couldn't break through. Currently, mid-tier distributors like Miramax were under Disney and New Line Cinema under Warner Bros.

Companies like Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment were not quite there yet. Lionsgate released about 30 films a year, generating less than $50 million in box office revenue.

Charles scanned the stock market on his computer, finding the future streaming giant, Netflix, which had just gone public on NASDAQ in May.

With an offering price of $15 and a total of 20 million shares, the market value was approximately $300 million. However, the stock price had been declining, now down to about $5 per share.

In the competition against Blockbuster's store sales, and with bookstores and supermarkets in the mix, Netflix was struggling.

Considering Netflix's market cap was now under $100 million, wasn't this a great time to jump in?

"Dona!" Charles called out, referring to the economics undergraduate from the University of Memphis.

"Boss, what's up?"

"Have a look, I want to buy some Netflix stock!"

"Netflix?" Dona knew the name - a company dealing in DVD rentals, and anyone working in Hollywood would know about it.

"Boss, Netflix's stock has been falling for months after the IPO. It's under pressure from store sales, and the outlook for online DVD rentals isn't great. The subscription service also has few members," Dona advised softly.

Charles shrugged, "Help me find a stockbroker to buy Netflix shares. I believe in it, that's all."

"No problem, Netflix stock is currently easy to buy on the market. It's readily available on the secondary market. How much do you want to acquire?"

"I want to get around 10%. Can you handle that for me?" Charles narrowed his eyes, with over $19 million on hand, why not spend some?

Dona nodded, "Alright, we'll start acquiring in the market and also buy directly from shareholders, which might be cheaper that way!"

"Okay, I will set up a Carpe Investment Fund to handle my investment activities and capital growth," said Charles, then gazed at Dona with a smile.

"Dona, you were chosen by my mother to be my assistant. Work hard, and you'll become a big shot in Hollywood, worth millions."

"Oh, thank you," Dona Williams smiled gratefully. "I will work hard!"

"Good, get on with it. The Carpe Fund is a big deal now; others at the company can also pitch in," Charles said, patting her shoulder encouragingly.

Carpe Film, including Charles, had less than ten people altogether - in finance, marketing, media, production, and the front desk.

It was likely that the overwhelming success of My Big Fat Greek Wedding had drawn a lot of independent script ideas to Carpe Film, all needing sorting.

The production team alone had three people to organize these submissions, preparing them for Charles to vet and potentially develop.

However, so far, Charles hadn't spotted any script ideas that matched the big-money makers he had in mind. He knew he had to keep searching diligently.

*****

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