Chapter 245: No Regrets

Chapter 245: Chapter 245: No Regrets

Irene knew Shelly was looking out for her and didn’t interrupt him. After he calmed down a bit, she spoke slowly: "Shelly, I understand what you mean, but you don’t understand that the sequel value of these projects isn’t as high as you think."

"How is it not high?" Shelly immediately retorted. "Both of these films were in the top ten at the box office that year! So many people in the industry are eyeing them! As soon as news breaks that the sequel rights are for sale, a bunch of companies will definitely scramble to bid. How could they not be valuable?"

"They’re valuable in the short term, but in the long run, the follow-up potential is limited," Irene explained patiently.

"The growth arcs for the leads in Legally Blonde and Mean Girls have been perfectly realized, and the plot of The Italian Job has formed a closed loop.

Sequels to these three films would either repeat the same tropes or forcibly add new conflicts, and the audience would easily get tired of them. It’s much better to take advantage of the current hype to sell them for a high price in cash than to keep them until no one cares anymore."

"It’s not as exaggerated as you say. Hollywood is full of sequels with repeating tropes that are still very popular!"

Irene blinked and finally told the truth: "Alright, the main point is that I’m in urgent need of money right now. The funding gap for Facebook is over ten million. Server room expansion, team growth, and promotional operations all cost money.

It’s launching across the US at the end of the month, and I simply can’t wait. Compared to a bank loan, selling sequel rights is the safest and fastest way, and it doesn’t involve debt."

"Facebook? That social platform you mentioned before?" Shelly frowned.

"Selling the sequel rights to three blockbuster movies for a platform that hasn’t even launched yet? The risk is too high. If the platform fails to take off, won’t you end up with nothing?"

"No risk, no reward," Irene said firmly.

"I know the potential of Facebook better than anyone. The revenue it can bring in the future will far exceed the value of these three sequel rights. This is just a temporary liquidation. Once the platform is stable, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to create new blockbuster IPs. Don’t you believe in my ability?"

Shelly looked at her certain eyes and knew she had made up her mind. He had followed Irene for so many years and knew that once she made a decision, she wouldn’t change it easily.

After a moment of silence, he sighed helplessly: "Alright, I know I can’t persuade you. Since you’ve decided, I’ll help you ask around."

He stood up, his tone carrying a hint of compromise: "I’ll first contact the few companies that reached out to me before—Fox, Universal, Warner Bros.—and reveal the intention to sell the sequel rights.

I’ll emphasize fast payment. You want the money within a week, so time is very tight. I have to make the payment deadline clear to them."

"Thank you for your hard work," Irene breathed a sigh of relief. "As for the price, the more the better, of course, but if the other party is willing to pay quickly, we can offer an appropriate discount."

"Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to negotiate." Shelly picked up the itinerary. "But you should also be mentally prepared. Film companies have to follow procedures to buy rights. Completing negotiations, signing contracts, and transferring funds within a week is no small feat. I’ll try my best to push it, but if it really doesn’t make it, you still need to have a bank loan as a backup plan."

"I understand, a two-pronged approach," Irene nodded. "You start the negotiations here, and Jean is also pushing forward with the bank loan to ensure nothing goes wrong."

"You really won’t regret it?" Shelly asked one last time before leaving.

Irene smiled: "I really won’t regret it. It’s just a film series. Just you wait, in a few years I’ll definitely create several more!"

"Wait for my news!" Shelly took the documents and left without looking back.

Less than two hours after Shelly’s call, several top Hollywood studios were in an uproar.

The news that Irene Coppola was selling the sequel rights to the three blockbusters Legally Blonde, Mean Girls, and The Italian Job was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, instantly stirring up a thousand waves.

In the Warner Bros. meeting room, several executives happened to be discussing the early promotion plan for Million Dollar Baby.

When they heard the news, the head of production was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "What play is Irene performing? These three movies are all heavy hitters in the top ten at the box office. The sequel rights are a piece of fat meat."

"The female audience for Legally Blonde has strong stickiness, Mean Girls has an exploding reputation among teenagers, and the action IP of The Italian Job also has continuity. It’s indeed worth acquiring," another executive added, though his tone wasn’t urgent.

"However, we are in the early stages of cooperation with Irene on Million Dollar Baby. Her rush to sell the rights now most likely means her cash flow is tight. We don’t need to rush to bid. Let’s see what the other two are doing first. When she starts pushing, we can negotiate slowly. We can drive the price down and use this opportunity to deepen our cooperation."

The head of production nodded: "That makes sense. Tell Shelly we’re interested in all three rights. Have him send over the materials so we can evaluate them internally, but there’s no need to follow up actively. We’ll wait until there’s further news from Irene’s side."

Warner Bros.’s calculation was shrewd, relying on their existing partnership to try and reap the benefits of the situation.

On the other side, Paramount also received the news. They had been closely following Irene’s movements lately and felt some regret about missing the chance to cooperate with Irene on Million Dollar Baby, but it wasn’t to the point of heartbreak.

This time they also had some ideas. After weighing the pros and cons, they sent a message to Shelly, wanting to get the sequel rights for The Italian Job.

Shelly didn’t refuse directly but asked the other party to provide an initial quote first.

The one who could least sit still was Fox.

Adelaide had just received the news and almost knocked over the coffee cup in her hand.

The Italian Job and Mean Girls were both co-produced by Fox and Irene. These two movies were like meat in Fox’s mouth. How could they stand by and watch them be snatched away by others?

She grabbed the phone almost immediately and dialed Irene’s number, her tone laced with a hint of "accusation": "Irene! You’re really something. For something as big as selling sequel rights, you actually had Shelly notify us first without even giving me a heads-up?"

Irene was looking at the Facebook function test report. Hearing Adelaide’s voice, she couldn’t help but laugh: "I was afraid you were too busy and didn’t have time to talk to you. You’re managing an entire company now."

"Even if I’m busy, you can’t not tell me!" Adelaide’s tone softened as she started playing the emotional card.

"Think about it, how happily did we cooperate on The Italian Job? We didn’t give you a cent less of the box office share, and all the promotional resources were piled onto it.

For the distribution of Mean Girls, we insisted on making it a phenomenon from a teen movie. Now, which young person doesn’t know this movie? We built both of these up together. Now that you’re selling the rights to others, how can we not feel bad?"