Chapter 365: A Rare Opportunity

Chapter 365: Chapter 365: A Rare Opportunity

After dinner, Irene and Lisa went to the study on the first floor, closed the door, and shut out the hustle and bustle of the outside world.

The bookshelves in the study were filled with film theory books and classic scripts, and a photo of her as a child sat in the corner of the desk, creating a warm and quiet atmosphere.

"Sit down and tell me, what exactly is going on?" Irene asked as she poured Lisa a glass of warm water.

Lisa replied, "I’ve obtained the specific offer data from HBO regarding A Song of Ice and Fire, as well as the book’s current sales figures. It’s all first-hand insider information."

Hearing "A Song of Ice and Fire," Irene Coppola’s surprise instantly vanished.

Lisa opened her briefcase, took out a stack of documents, and pushed them toward Irene Coppola, saying, "This is the offer proposal HBO gave to Martin. I got it through a friend who works in HBO’s copyright department.

Look here, they are offering a copyright fee of $500,000 and have promised a per-episode production budget of no less than $5 million for the first season, plus they will give Martin a 5% share of the series’ revenue."

Irene Coppola picked up the documents and flipped through them quickly, her brow furrowing slightly. "$500,000? This offer is indeed not very high."

It barely ranks in the market.

"Not only that," Lisa continued, "I also checked the current sales data for A Song of Ice and Fire.

The book has only published its first three volumes so far: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords. Limited by the niche fantasy market, the total sales are less than 300,000 copies.

Compared to Twilight, which our company published this year — where first-month sales exceeded 500,000 copies and total sales have already surpassed 1.2 million — the sales of A Song of Ice and Fire don’t even amount to a fraction of Twilight."

She paused, her tone carrying a hint of certainty. "The reason HBO gave such an offer is that they think the book’s market potential is limited. They are just treating it as a generic fantasy IP to develop and don’t have the determination to secure it at all costs.

Besides, they didn’t expect a competitor to suddenly intervene, so they didn’t do any confidentiality work at all. I barely had to put in any effort to get this inside information."

Irene Coppola put down the documents, the weight lifted from her heart, and a smile of relief appeared on her face.

She thought as much. The premiere of Game of Thrones was in April 2011, and it was only 2003 now. The book hadn’t really taken off yet, so how could HBO spend a huge amount of money to fight for the copyright of a niche IP?

Their current mindset is probably that it would be best to get it, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t, which is why they were so unguarded.

She stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the night scene outside, her eyes becoming determined. "In that case, our chances are very high.

Lisa, contact Martin’s agent immediately and tell them that Future World Pictures is willing to offer better terms than HBO. We’ll double the copyright fee to $1 million. The per-episode production budget for the first season will be the same as HBO’s, but we promise to give Martin an 8% share of the series’ revenue. Additionally, we will let him serve as the executive producer for the series, giving him full creative freedom to participate in all key aspects like script adaptation and casting."

"$1 million? Isn’t that price a bit too high?" Lisa hesitated. "After all, the book’s sales aren’t ideal right now. Shouldn’t we be a bit more cautious?"

"No, this price is necessary." Irene Coppola shook her head, her tone resolute. "We must show enough sincerity right from the start so that Martin feels our regard. Only then is it possible to compete with HBO.

After all, we have absolutely no experience in producing long-running series. If Martin cherishes his work, he will consider it carefully. HBO’s offer exposed their disregard, which is a great opportunity, but the prerequisite is that we must seize this opportunity and move him with a higher price and better terms.

Furthermore, I firmly believe in the potential of A Song of Ice and Fire. It is absolutely not just a common, niche IP. As long as we produce it with care, it will definitely become a phenomenal hit series, and by then, all these investments will be earned back tenfold."

She turned to look at Lisa and added, "Also, tell Martin’s agent that not only will we invest enough capital to ensure the quality of the series, but we will also leverage our company’s resources in film and the internet to conduct comprehensive promotional campaigns for A Song of Ice and Fire.

Once production officially begins, we can run promotional trailers for the series attached to all films under Future World Pictures. We can also coordinate with our social media matrix to build hype in advance, letting more audiences know about this story."

Lisa nodded, the hesitation in her eyes gradually fading, replaced by a firm conviction. "Okay, I will contact Martin’s agent first thing tomorrow morning and tell them our terms.

I believe that faced with such sincerity, Martin will definitely consider our proposal seriously."

She paused, as if suddenly remembering something, and took another stack of documents from her briefcase. "By the way, Irene, there is one more thing I need to tell you.

Our silent acquisition of Marvel shares is progressing very smoothly."

"Oh? What’s the specific situation?" Irene Coppola’s attention was immediately drawn. She walked to the desk, sat down, and picked up the documents to read through them carefully.

"Following the plan you formulated earlier, we have been quietly absorbing Marvel’s circulating shares in the secondary market through multiple offshore accounts,"

Lisa said with a hint of excitement. "Because Marvel’s operating situation hasn’t been good in recent years, their stock price has remained low. Plus, the market generally isn’t optimistic about Marvel’s prospects, so our acquisition process has been very smooth, and we’ve encountered almost no resistance.

So far, we have acquired 13.5% of Marvel’s shares. In the second half of the year, Marvel’s stock price fell quite a bit due to the influence of Hulk, so we spent much less money than budgeted. We have now become Marvel’s largest individual shareholder."

"13.5%? That’s great!" A look of pleasant surprise appeared on Irene’s face, and the excitement in her heart was beyond words.

Even though Marvel had sold off Spider-Man, the X-Men, and many top-tier heroes, it still possessed Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and other superheroes. Coupled with the Hulk she already had, The Avengers was within reach. As long as it was managed properly, Future World would definitely be able to get a piece of this multi-billion dollar project.

"More importantly," Lisa continued, "next Monday happens to be Marvel’s annual shareholders’ meeting. According to Marvel’s articles of association, the largest individual shareholder has the right to attend the shareholders’ meeting and possesses corresponding voting rights.

I think you might want to attend this shareholders’ meeting to personally understand Marvel’s internal situation and, by the way, make contact with Marvel’s management?"

Irene’s eyes lit up. She tapped her fingers lightly on the desk, lost in thought.

Attending Marvel’s shareholders’ meeting was indeed a rare opportunity.

She could personally observe the ability and attitude of Marvel’s management, understand Marvel’s current operating status and future development plans, and could also express her own views and demands at the meeting, laying the groundwork for further control of Marvel in the future.

Furthermore, she still remembered that the company’s representatives had contacted Marvel’s CEO several times before, asking whether they could license the film and television adaptation rights for their heroes, but they had been rejected every time.

Now that she had become Marvel’s largest individual shareholder, her status was completely different. Perhaps she could take the opportunity of the shareholders’ meeting to have a good "chat" with that CEO.