Chapter 268: Financial Summary
Chapter 268: Financial Summary
The CEOs of several major companies in the meeting room had nearly all climbed up from the bottom of Hollywood, so they were also very familiar with all kinds of tricks in Hollywood. After several hours of discussions, a series of strategies for Firefly and Eric were formulated, and the benefits that the major companies were going to get were divided.
After Thanksgiving, Eric entered the busiest period of the year. According to the plan, as long as he finished the busy month in late December, Eric could rest for a long time. Even Donald had already been thinking about whether they should go on vacation during Christmas.
Eric had been participating in the audition of the protagonist of ‘X Files’ at Fox all morning. Since ‘X Files’ was getting far more attention than before, the selection of the male and female protagonists who would support the entire series was also very cautious.
Due to the success of Friends, the competition for the male and female lead roles in The X Files, which was directed by Eric, was very intense. Several Hollywood actors who had not been doing very well in recent years had participated in the auditions for the lead roles. Although the auditions had already entered the second round, the selection of male leads had not been completed in one morning, and none of the auditionees had made Eric satisfied.
In addition, Eric had not considered the two from the previous life. Because in the original version, David Duchovny, the male lead, had an elusive smile on the corner of his mouth no matter what kind of mood he was in, which gave people a very exaggerated feeling. Therefore, Eric had not planned to give this role to him from the beginning. The reason why the previous life producers chose David Duchovny as the male lead was mainly because his fee was very low.
As for the female lead, Gillian Anderson, it was even less in line with Eric's expectations. What’s more, she hasn't debuted yet.
The lead female character, Dana Scully, in the X-Files should have been a highly intelligent woman with a physics and law degree and a teacher to boot. But the petite Gillian Anderson didn't act like a highly intelligent woman in the show but more like the male lead's little secretary. Eric imagined the actress who would play Dana Scully should be tall, smart, and competent with a touch of coolness. Instead of being a sidekick, the role should be that of a worthy opponent to the male lead.
After having lunch at Century City, Eric could only hand the afternoon auditions over to the two producers as he had to return to Firefly headquarters for the first annual meeting after its merger with New Line.
"I'm sorry, Carol, the traffic was really bad," Eric rushed into his office, apologizing to a brunette in her forties sitting in his office. The woman, Carolin Elwitt, had her own well-known accounting firm that handled the financials for Firefly and Eric himself.
Seeing Eric's rushed appearance, Carolin, who had been waiting for a while, could only smile lightly and say, "It's alright. Eric, I just got here too."
Eric didn't go to his desk but instead sat down on the sofa opposite Carolin and said, "Carolin, have you got my personal financial information ready?"
Carolin took the prepared information from her bag and put it on her knee. Looking up, she asked, "Eric, now?"
Eric looked at his watch. There were still more than twenty minutes before the two o'clock and a half meeting. He thought that listening to his financial situation should be enough, so he nodded.
Carolin flipped through the papers and began her report: "Eric, your main income this year comes from a few movies, of which Home Alone 2 earned $120 million, Fox bought the foreign distribution rights for $24 million, and the Home Alone 2 home video and TV broadcast rights for a total of $32 million, for a total of $176 million for Home Alone 2 so far."
Although Carolin had seen this data many times before, it was still her own personal arrangement. However, when the young man, who was not even 20 years old, read it out in front of her, Carolin still felt that her life was wasted. After a brief moment of sentimentality and distraction, Carolin quickly shifted her attention back to the data and continued to read: "Because Firefly and New Line will only merge financially next year, all the box office profits from Firefly's films this year will still be yours personally. The total global box office profits of Steel Magnolias is 102 million dollars, and the video and television broadcast rights currently only account for 19 million, totaling 121 million dollars. In addition, the total global box office profits of Lethal Weapon 2 is 88 million dollars, and there are currently no video profits. The advertisement profits of Home Alone 2 is 29 million dollars, and these two payments have yet to be received according to the contract, which Columbia and Fox Television will complete before December 31st. In addition to these major box office receipts, Firefly's advertising department made a total of 18 million dollars from the advertisements planted in Steel Magnolias, Lethal Weapon 2, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and Seattle Nights. Additionally, the profits from Pixar Studios, which you own, is zero, and the profits from UTA is 9.3 million dollars."
Carolin Everett paused for a moment and looked at Eric earnestly: "Eric, compared to movies, I don't think UTA (the talent agency) can bring you much profit, so I personally recommend that you should quickly get rid of the stocks of this agency, or it may cause trouble for you."
Eric nodded, having gradually become aware of this problem over the past six months. Even though he owns 90% of UTA, that doesn't mean that 90% of the artist's commission goes to him. The company can only get a small portion of the 10%, with the majority going to the artists' direct agents. So even though CAA holds only 10% of UTA, if you only count the income of the agency, CAA, which has contracts with several A-list stars like Al Pacino and Julia Roberts, earns no less profit than Eric. After all, agents not only take a cut from the actors' salaries, but also share the income they get from sources such as endorsements. Furthermore, Eric can't intervene in any of UTA's affairs in order to avoid suspicion, so this share of the company is of no importance to him and can be transferred at any time.
"I'll take that into consideration, Carolin, you can continue."
Carolin Elliott continued, "In total, your income for this year has reached 441 million dollars, with two payments still outstanding totaling 117 million dollars. For expenditures, Firefly produced seven films this year, with expenditure for Zero Dark as zero, and the other six covering various bonuses for personnel, totaling 84 million dollars. The purchase of Pixar and the following investments totaled 30 million dollars, the purchase of New Line totaled 60 million dollars, and the purchase of Fox Television shares totaled 80 million dollars. In addition, the construction of the estate in Malibu totaled 27 million dollars, your personal credit card account covers several large payments, totaling 71.4 million dollars, and..."
Carolin Elliott curiously looked at Eric and said, "Also, Miss Pamela's credit card expenditures were 21.56 million, bringing the total expenditure to 309 million US Dollars. Eric, before you can pay the other two payments to Columbia and Fox, you only have 15 million US Dollars to be spent. And even if those two payments arrive, you can't use them freely, because even after some reasonable tax avoidance, the taxes you have to pay this year will still reach 140 million US Dollars."
Eric specifically asked Carolin to help him sort out his finances in preparation for the upcoming investment company he was setting up, to which Chris Hansen had already agreed after a few days of consideration. According to the data collected by Chris, the stock price of Cisco may be $18 when it goes public, and the total market value is only $224 million. Eric knew that this was definitely the only chance to get Cisco's shares at such a low price, and when Cisco went public, the stock price would skyrocket. Even if he wanted to buy then, it was estimated that those investment institutions would not be willing to sell the shares in their hands, so Eric of course wanted to get as many shares as possible this time. But now, he found that his remaining funds were not even enough to pay taxes.
"Carolin, can we apply for a tax deferment?" Eric tentatively asked. He just happened to know that there was a way to extend the tax payment for half a year. If it could be delayed to the second half of next year, then the royalties from these movies released at the end of the year would have certainly been credited, and his financial situation would be very relaxed.
Carolin shook her head: "Eric, no matter if it is Firefly or your personal financial situation, it's too late to get a deferment from the tax office through financial means. If you wanted a deferment, you should have notified me at least half a year ago."
Eric smiled wryly and said: "Looks like I need to get a loan again. Oh, by the way, Carolin, what do you think of Firefly?"
Carolin puzzledly asked: "Which aspect do you mean?"
"You should know that after merging with the New Line, it will be impossible for us to outsource our finances to your firm this year," Eric replied.
Carolin, felt a chill in her heart. Firefly was her biggest client, and if she lost them, her firm's income would drop by at least half. But then Caroline suddenly realized what Eric had just hinted at: "Eric, are you saying you want me to..."
"Yes," Eric smiled and nodded, "I want to invite you to join Firefly as the Chief Financial Officer. Although this would mean closing down your own firm, I am sure you can see that Firefly is worth it."