Chapter 144: Development of Two Brands

[Chapter 144: Development of Two Brands]

"Of course! But now is not the right time, maybe next year..." Charlie said with a smile, lost in thought.

Charlie envisioned three films for the space series.

It was also about stockpiling IP.

In the future film industry, controlling and developing major IPs was the right path. The Big Six had accumulated too many copyrights; Corleone couldn't compete with them.

Charlie had to take matters into his own hands.

At present, he planned only two horror series, one bedtime story series, and one space series.

These were all things he had encountered or seen in his previous life.

Besides, along with Lord of the Rings and the quietly approached, soon-to-be-acquired Harry Potter, it was enough for Corleone Studios to grow and develop!

By then, a powerful Corleone would be able to compete with the Big Six, easily picking good projects to develop thanks to Charlie's past life experience.

Seeing him deep in thought, Kevin said, "Next year, we can probably confirm development on Wrong Turn 2, and producing Good Will Hunting and The Pursuit of Happyness. The former is already finalized, to be made by Lions Gate.

The latter two will be produced under the Corleone label. So mainly, it's the distribution of films that's scarce. Our film-buying teams for Mafia Distribution Company and Corleone Home Entertainment, are still being assembled.

I think basically, it's already consuming all the energy of the group. After all, we're just a new company and don't have the capacity to produce and distribute many films with investments over ten million at the same time.

Plus, the Lord of the Rings studio needs to kick off pre-production as well."

It sounded quite busy; everyone nodded in satisfaction.

Large film companies might plan projects three to five years ahead.

For Corleone, this was already very professional! After all, the projects weren't obscure.

Everyone had great confidence in Charlie, especially because he valued Lord of the Rings, and everyone else took it seriously too!

But Charlie himself was still not satisfied.

He knew that with the new century starting, the revival of the global economy would bring a strong stimulus.

Competition in the entertainment industry would become even fiercer.

If Corleone couldn't grow fast, it would never be able to stand at the top of the industry.

Unless it followed Netflix's internet path. But that was a brand new platform, with an obvious shortcoming: they seriously lacked content production capabilities! 

Charlie didn't think about competing and developing in the internet industry. At most, he could ensure his own foundation before investing in those companies, but he couldn't actively enter an industry and then turn around to influence Corleone Studios.

Tapping the table lightly, Charlie looked around and said, "I hope we can develop more projects without huge investments and fully unleash the company's energy! I have an idea.

Previously, John from the writing department had an idea about a teenage school story. After he reminded me, I wondered if we could develop a project to fill distribution gaps and help develop Lions Gate.

The concept is..."

He quickly and simply explained it.

The selling point was straightforward: about wild parties among American teenagers, aimless young people, boiling youth, well-fed young adults obsessing about muscles, butts, and such.

"The tone is comedy. There are many adult comedies like this, but we approach it from the wild party perspective. I think many teenagers in high school or college have heard of or participated in such parties. It's a low-budget exploitation film to fill our production and distribution work!

We strengthen Lions Gate, which will focus on R-rated horror and erotic films, while Corleone moves towards a more mainstream market brand. What do you think, Frank?"

"Sounds good!" Frank, who didn't have much film development experience, thought Charlie's consideration for developing Lions Gate was responsible and showed good leadership as group president. He chuckled, "Haha, Charlie, this inspiration must mainly come from your personal experience, huh?"

"Hahaha..." Everyone understood and laughed teasingly.

Even Melche gave a weird blink.

'Damn, no way to clear my name! I really am a good guy, a decent person,' Charlie thought.

In his previous life, he spent his college days wandering the streets hanging out with eccentric girls, so he wasn't that familiar with college wild parties. 

After the jokes, they discussed it earnestly.

Spike strongly agreed, "This is a good idea. Low-budget exploitation films with a unique perspective won't lose money given our company's capability."

"Alright then, let's first have John and his team write a script, temporarily called American Pie, based on my idea. Then we'll have a greenlight meeting to decide if we proceed," Charlie said.

The group's rules and system were being refined.

The project review process, called the greenlight system, consisted of internal and external sections.

Internal included market potential analysis, comparing similar films, determining funding sources, evaluating profit and risk.

External involved discussions with theaters, TV networks, videotape sellers, and advertisers.

Though the Corleone Group was still small, Charlie established these early on.

Theoretically, unless a project passed the greenlight process, even as chairman and CEO, Charlie couldn't force it through.

It seemed like a limitation on himself but was actually for the company's long-term development! It also stopped Charlie from getting too big-headed.

Because as long as his personally proposed projects didn't cause massive losses, Charlie could easily carry out his will for a long time.

Charlie yearned to build a business and have strong authority! But he also didn't mind putting on some chains for himself. He was self-aware; unchecked tyrants eventually self-destruct.

Look at Disney's Eisner and Miramax's Harvey -- classic examples.

This year's total and next year's planning meetings lasted several days.

Today was basically settled.

The remaining detailed work would be done as everyone prepared for the holidays.

...

After the meeting ended, team members got up and left one by one.

Mord stayed behind, stretched and looked happy, then cheekily said, "Boss, Vernon just called and told me something interesting."

"What?"

"Hehe, your British Rose had a big fight with Halle Berry at CAA," Mord said with a grin, describing the situation in his unique rap style.

Charlie rolled his eyes helplessly.

*****

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