In New York, at the intersection of West Fifty-seventh Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, east of the original Hearst Media Group editorial building, a Chinese-style teahouse opened.
This Chinese teahouse is very large, with two floors, each floor covering an area of ​​more than 200 square meters. Five months ago, this place was a clothing store.
Jimmy was sitting by the window on the second floor of the teahouse, holding a cup of tea and looking at the building under construction opposite. The building facing them was slanted by the sun, shining with golden light. Although construction was going on opposite, the picture in front of him was still the same.
Make Jimmy feel comfortable.
The "Satisfaction Teahouse" where he is now is his own property. He had already targeted this location when he had determined that the Deep Space Building would be placed above Hearst.
After negotiating with the Hearst Group to purchase the editorial building, he also took over the store and turned it into a Chinese teahouse.
After the teahouse opened, business was average. In places like Manhattan, Chinese tea is not a very popular drink, and the consumption in the teahouse is very high. A pot of tea costs dozens of dollars, which is still cheap.
As for the expensive ones, the prices are ridiculous. Such a teahouse is definitely not within the reach of ordinary people.
But Jimmy doesn't care about this, and his purpose of opening this teahouse is not to make money.
He just wanted to find a place where he could drink tea in peace and quiet.
In fact, when it comes to drinking tea, he can drink it in his office, but compared to the office, he prefers the atmosphere of a teahouse, and there are dedicated people here to help them make tea, which is definitely better than what his assistant and secretary make.
.
In the past, one of his secretaries deliberately learned how to make tea in order to cater to his preferences, but he stopped her. He told the secretary that she was invited to help the company make money, not to make tea for him.
Professional people do professional things, and of course Jimmy can do the math, but a secretary hired with a high salary is doing the job of making tea, which is a waste.
Today he did not come alone. Spielberg was sitting opposite him, holding a script in his hand and reading it seriously.
Spielberg read the script even more slowly than Jimmy did last night. When he closed the script, Jimmy looked at his watch and saw that three hours had passed.
It does take some time to read this script, because there are many interesting settings in it, and there is a certain logical relationship between these settings. If you just read it as a story, you don’t need to go into it, but Spielberg wants to
To see if the script can be made profitable, he has to figure out all the settings, so it will definitely take more time.
Seeing Spielberg reading the script, Jimmy said with a smile, "It seems that you have to worry about my dinner today. I have been here with you for three hours, not including the ten minutes I waited for you.
I have drank several pots of this tea, and you have to pay for it."
"Why can't you invite me to dinner?" Spielberg leaned back on his chair and looked around, "And you brought me here to drink tea and you still have to pay? Do you think I don't know, the owner of this teahouse?
It's you."
"You know everything." Jimmy pouted, "Don't worry, I have already arranged dinner. We have chefs in the teahouse, and they will let us eat authentic Chinese food in the evening."
You can not only drink tea in the "Satisfaction" teahouse, but you can also eat, but eating needs to be prepared in advance, so when Jimmy made an appointment with Spielberg in the morning to meet in the afternoon, he had already greeted the teahouse and asked them to prepare it.
A table of meals, and he would bring people over to eat in the evening.
Spielberg was quite surprised to hear that you can eat in this teahouse. "Since I sat here, no one has been here on the second floor of the teahouse. You hired a chef. How much money will you lose?"
Jimmy said with a smile, "Compared to this area, the chef's salary is nothing."
Hearing Jimmy's words, Spielberg couldn't help but nod. In a place like Manhattan where land is at a premium, the value of a two-story corner shop has exceeded that of ordinary people. In comparison, hiring a few chefs would cost more.
The little money is really nothing.
In addition to the high value of the shop itself, a lot of money must have been spent on the decoration of this teahouse.
Spielberg looked around the second floor again. This time he carefully looked at the layout and decoration of the second floor. He didn't know much about decoration. He didn't know how much these Chinese-style woods were worth, but this style and texture could be...
They all require money to accumulate.
Let's just say that the set of tables and chairs they are sitting on are all made of mahogany. Although these things are not sky-high prices, it is rare to find such good chairs in a teahouse where business is conducted.
"But it feels really good to chat in a place like this. The decoration here reminds me of the scene of drinking tea in Luoyuan, Jinling. The tea here is also good, but it's not as good as the one in Luoyuan."
"
"Your judgment is completely subjective. I use the best tea. Except for some new seasonal teas that are not as fresh as the tea from Luoyuan, everything else is the same. Besides, how many teas have you drunk, can you tell whether the tea is good or bad?
Can you tell the difference between Longjing, Maofeng, Huangya, Guapian, Houkui, and white tea? You may only be able to tell what is black tea and what is green tea."
"Food is a very subjective thing. I can't tell the difference. It's your responsibility, not my problem. But it's really nice to come here and sit here if you have nothing to do. Sitting in such a quaint Chinese teahouse, again
Looking at the streets of Manhattan with people coming and going outside, it gives people a strong sense of contrast, which can also be said to be a sense of freshness."
"Come and sit down when you have nothing to do in the future, and I'll give you a 20% discount."
Spielberg raised his lips and said, "I come here to drink tea and I still have to pay. You are so stingy."
Jimmy laughed and said, "I can't help it. It's a small business after all. 20% off is already my limit. If you come and get free of charge, then I really won't be able to make a dime in this teahouse. Let alone you."
, even if YU comes to my teahouse, he has to pay obediently, and I will give him a maximum of 10% off."
This chapter is not over yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "You shouldn't give him a discount, but you should charge him several times more, because he is richer than us, and this guy usually doesn't spend any money."
Money, if you don’t earn it from him, he won’t be able to spend it all.”
This is the impression that Yu Dong gives to everyone. He usually makes soup with little water and spends very little money. In fact, Yu Dong’s family usually spends quite a lot of money. The number of staff hired by Luoyuan is double digits. Each of these staff members
The monthly salary is tens of thousands of yuan.
Moreover, in addition to Yu Hua and the others who often go to Luoyuan, relatives from both sides also often come to visit. There are always people in the garden all year round, so various living expenses are not cheap.
Also, with such a large garden area, the annual maintenance costs are quite high, and as time goes by, the later maintenance costs will be higher.
Their family's annual consumption is not to mention tens of millions, but certainly several million. This figure is unimaginable for ordinary families.
But even so, Yu Dong's friends still think that he lives a simple life, because compared to his net worth, this little money is just a drop in the bucket.
Jimmy gave a thumbs up, "Otherwise, everyone would say you are a business wizard. You are indeed great. Come and join us as a shareholder later to ensure that the teahouse can make money."
Spielberg waved his hand, "No kidding, let's talk about "Inception". I think this script is pretty good."
Listening to Spielberg's calm words, Jimmy knew what he meant.
No wonder I didn't rush to talk about the script after reading it just now. It turns out that this guy is trying to lower the price.
Jimmy rolled his eyes and said, "Well, if you want to participate in the production of this movie, Deep Space can give you 5% of the investment share. After all, it is not a big project, just for fun. And the director's
YU has also decided on the candidate, you can only be an investor this time."
"Five percent?" Spielberg was stunned, "That's too little."
"How much do you want?" Jimmy asked.
Spielberg blurted out, "It must be at least 30%, otherwise..."
After saying that, Pierberg regretted it. He looked at Jimmy with a smile on his face and shook his head helplessly, "You have deceived me again. I am not such an easy person to be deceived, but this script is really too...
Okay. In this case, let's all be honest. I really think this script is very good. Although it can be seen that this script has a bit of a shadow of the previous YU "Prison No. 7", there is still a big gap between the two stories, and they are very similar.
Compared with "Prison No. 7", the story of "Inception" is more complex and the structure is more rigorous. I hope to get 30% of the investment share, please tell me if you can, and if so, what I need to pay.
"
Jimmy smiled and said, "I like your honesty. Let me answer your first question first. Can I give you 30% of the investment share? The answer is no. We can give you up to 20%.
There is no way to talk about the investment share. But I am also going to pull Lucas over and give him another 20% of the investment share. The two of you add up to a 40% investment share.
If you feel that 20% of the investment share is not enough, you can also talk to him. But I personally think that 20% of the investment share is enough, and it will also put pressure on you in terms of funds."
When he first heard that it was only 20 percent, Spielberg was a little disappointed, but later he became happy when he heard that there was still 20 percent for Lucas.
The production cost of this movie is definitely not low, and the 20% investment share requires a large amount of money. And Lucas is relatively tight on money right now, so he may not be able to come up with that much money.
Perhaps, he could discuss with Lucas and transfer part of the investment share from Lucas.
Lucas has not been developing well in the past two years. In addition to making money from the "Star Wars" IP, their company now also relies on IMAX, which they cooperate with Deep Space Company to make some money.
However, IMAX has just started to make profits, and their share is already small, so they can’t get much money.
As a collaborator, Jimmy certainly hopes that Lucas can develop better, which is also a good thing for IMAX. However, the current situation is not without benefits for Deep Space Company, because Jimmy has long been eyeing Lucas.
The Industrial Light & Magic in my hand is drooling.
Jimmy told Yu Dong more than once that he wanted to take down Industrial Light and Magic.
When they were going to shoot "Lord of the Rings" before, Jimmy and Yu Dong discussed which special effects company to find. At that time, Yu Dong wanted to buy Weta Digital, but Jimmy didn't agree with it because Jimmy thought that deep space was related to
Industrial Light & Magic has always been a pleasure to cooperate with, but Weta Digital has not been established for long, and the company's scale cannot be compared with Industrial Light & Magic. Instead of wasting money to acquire Weta Digital, it is better to be serious and try out the industry in a few years.
Light and Magic.
The most valuable person in the entire Weta Digital is their boss Richard Taylor, and the rest are not valuable at all.
But in the end, Jimmy agreed to Yu Dong's plan and acquired Weta Digital first. As for Industrial Light and Magic, he had to put it aside. Now it seems that Yu Dong's decision still makes sense. Although Weta Digital is small in scale,
But the special effects are very distinctive. They took a completely different path from Industrial Light and Magic. Weta Digital performed very well in the filming of "The Lord of the Rings" this time, and after participating in the filming of "The Lord of the Rings", Weta Digital
Tower Digital has grown a lot.
Spielberg doesn't know what Jimmy thinks about Industrial Light and Magic. Even if he knows, it doesn't matter. He doesn't care whether Industrial Light and Magic is in the hands of Lucas or Deep Space. Anyway, it doesn't matter who owns Industrial Light and Magic.
It does not affect his own development.
"I am basically satisfied with the investment share. So how much does this 20% share cost? Is it a direct cash transaction?"
"Let's talk slowly. I made a rough calculation and found that the investment in this movie is relatively high. The production cost may reach 130 million U.S. dollars. If cash is given, 20% of the investment share is also
That’s about 26 million US dollars.”
Spielberg exclaimed, "Twenty-six million! I can't even spend that much money to make a movie myself, and how much can the production cost of this movie be? You know, we just made "The Martian" before.
It cost less than 90 million U.S. dollars. Even if prices rise, they won’t rise so much. It can’t be said that the special effects requirements of “Inception” are higher than those of “The Martian.” Moreover, if it weren’t for Mang Ya
With local road construction and other infrastructure, production costs can be even lower."
"Steven, you also need to know that when filming "The Martian", we didn't spend much money on actors, and most of the filming of "The Martian" was done in China, which naturally saved a lot of costs.
"
What Jimmy said is true. They really didn't spend much money on actors when they were filming "The Martian."
Chapter completed!