Simon is so nervous to return to Los Angeles because the Hollywood screenwriters are on strike.

"Simon, this is a serious matter. The Producers Guild and the Writers Guild have been negotiating for three months without an agreement," Nina Jacobson reported in Simon's office.

Simon nodded, and he really forgot about it now, but fortunately, some scripts from the company had been adapted earlier.

"Today is the day when the writers are preparing to strike and demonstrate?" Simon said, looking at his watch, number 11.5.

Nina Jacobson nodded and explained: "Yes, today, the two major screenwriters' unions in the east and the west started to strike at the same time."

The Writers Guild of America has the Eastern Writers Guild, headquartered in New York, and the Western Writers Guild, headquartered in Los Angeles.

"What about our project? Shouldn't it have much impact?" Simon asked.

"We've already found screenwriters for the movie scripts of "Superman Hancock," "Fake Marriage," "Weakness," and "The Story of Hachiko," Nina Jacobson said clearly.

"Even Thor and the biographical adaptation of The Wolf of Wall Street are not finished yet!"

"That's okay, enough, this writer's strike shouldn't last as long as it did in 1988," Simon was relieved, the film project was not greatly affected.

"However, the two TV series we produced, 'Breaking Bad' and 'Modern Family' were affected, and fortunately the follow-up to the first season of 'Gossip Girl' has been settled," Nina Jacobson is also considered to be Rest assured, the company has not suffered too much loss due to the screenwriter's strike.

"The most influential should be the TV stations belonging to the six major groups. However, the six major film studios should also put some films on hold because of the project. The chairman of the producer union and the chairman of the screenwriters union are also holding their own opinions, but the main dispute is The point is still in the screenwriting points for the DVD market," Nina Jacobson continued.

"As expected, the screenwriters union will always have a trouble every few years, labor disputes," Simon leaned back in his chair. Although the DVD market is starting to decline now, the revenue is definitely higher than the box office revenue.

"The DVD revenue that the Screenwriters Guild could receive was 3%, and they wanted to increase it, but the Producers Union, which represents the film company, refused to agree, believing that this ratio was not low. After all, screenwriters were not qualified to buy from the home entertainment market a long time ago. Those who get the benefits," Nina Jacobson, who is also the owner now, spoke to the studio of course.

"Oh, it's normal. The current economic environment is not good, but the writers' union chose to strike and demonstrate in November. The time is good. The autumn episodes of major TV stations are over, and the spring episodes are being prepared," Simon seemed a little bit. Schadenfreude, after all, the main members of the two major screenwriters' unions in the East and West must be mainly TV, and it is estimated that many TV episodes will be stranded.

"Simon, we Xinghai Pictures are in the production alliance, what do you think?" Nina Jacobson asked.

"What do I think?" Simon smiled and said: "Viacom Group announced its exclusive support for HD-DVD, and received almost $300 million in benefits from the HD Alliance headed by Toshiba and Microsoft, and an 18-month exclusive agreement. !"

"Paramount, DreamWorks, Paramount Television and MTV Cable, Nerogan Kids will all be releasing HD-DVD only in HD for the next 18 months."

"300 million US dollars to buy an 18-month exclusive release agreement, you should be able to see the weight of the DVD market now, the writers' union will definitely not give up until the goal is achieved!"

Of course, what Simon didn't say is that Paramount Group's "Transformers" this year and its DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek 3" are also only released on HD-DVD.

However, due to the rise of online video, DVD is indeed shrinking, but the DVD sales of some good movies have not decreased much. After all, the theater release of some movies is the best advertisement in the DVD market.

"So, are we on the same side as the Producers Alliance?" Nina Jacobson asked.

"We? We don't have our own distribution channels, and we are small in size. It doesn't matter what we say or do," Simon laughed.

"But, Simon, now we have made several successful films at Xinghai Pictures, and we already have a foothold in the industry. This time I specially called you back to speak up!" Nina Jacobson suggested.

"Of course, the annual output value of Hollywood's entertainment industry exceeds 30 billion US dollars. The losses caused by the strike of the screenwriters' union are not small. The consequences of such losses are still very serious. Not only Los Angeles, but the whole state of California is very painful!" Simon felt , this year's economic situation is also one of the more compensation for these screenwriters in Hollywood.

"The mayor, as well as our star governor, will do everything they can to reduce the duration of the strike," Simon said of the governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, of course.

"The profits of the new film media market are getting bigger and bigger now than in the early years. The screenwriters' union has been planning for a long time. Every day of strike is a lot of money. In 1988, 20 years ago, the 22-week strike lasted for 22 weeks. Hollywood lost $500 million!" The screenwriters at the time were fighting for a point of profit distribution on the new film channel.

"Today's strike was near the studios of Warner Bros. and Sony," Nina Jacobson said.

"There should be a lot of TV shooting studios in their studio area," Simon was really gloating. Warner Bros. TV production company is the largest TV production base!

"Alas, I don't know how long this strike will last!" In any case, Nina Jacobson still doesn't hope that this writer's strike will last for a long time, after all, many projects cannot be carried out without writers.

"One or two months are indispensable. If the Producers Union does not make concessions, this matter will be difficult to end." Simon knew the result of the strike, which lasted for more than two months and ended in January next year. The Screenwriters Guild The share of revenue from the DVD market rose from 3% to 3.5%.

Nina Jacobson nodded. Anyway, there are large studios in front of them, and Xinghai Pictures is just a small shrimp in it.

""26 Dresses" is our last film this year, and it's good to focus on this film now. As for the writers' strike, we should wait and see how the two alliances will negotiate next. , there will definitely be many people who will come out to mediate," Simon felt that he should speak at the right time, and the final result could not be reversed anyway.

However, it is still early, and things are not serious enough, after all, the strike has only just begun.