Chapter 269: Batman and the Little Wizard

More than a dozen stunning women in bikinis ran across the moon-white beach, drawing a chorus of whistles. Several crew members immediately chased after the hired models. As with any Hollywood party, alcohol, beautiful women, handsome men, weed, and revelry were the eternal themes. The relaxed laws of a tourist destination like Fiji, combined with Duke renting the private island for three days, allowed the crew and invited guests to completely cut loose.

It was true that Duke was a workaholic, but that didn't mean everyone else was. As their boss, aside from paying them well, he turned a blind eye to plenty of behavior as long as it didn't cross his bottom line.

For instance, his team included gay, lesbian, and bisexual members; core figures with a degree of authority, like Zack Snyder and John Schwartzman, would use minor roles to hook up with actresses, and even art director Hannah Serena recommended a few handsome guys for marginal parts on every film...

This was simply the norm in the Hollywood ecosystem, a circle that infinitely magnified fame, temptation, desire, and competition. Setting aside those desperate to climb the ladder, many established stars and top professionals in other fields no longer needed to trade favors for benefits, yet they remained enthusiastic about fooling around—purely to seek thrills, vent their desires, and relieve the pressure of fame and fortune.

Lying on a beach chair beneath a parasol, his face shielded by dark sunglasses, Duke gazed at the tranquil ocean. He reached out, grabbed a few grapes from the fruit platter, and tossed them into his mouth.

Tina Fey and Nancy Josephson sat drinking chilled beers at a small table nearby. They had just flown in from Los Angeles.

Duke turned his head and spat the grape skins into a trash can.

"Tell me the exact results."

Even though she had led the negotiations, Nancy Josephson did not speak. Instead, she looked at Tina Fey. As an astute professional agent, she understood perfectly well that Duke placed more trust in his personal assistant.

This was perfectly normal. Any established figure who placed complete trust in their agent was undoubtedly an idiot.

The long, drawn-out haggling of the negotiation process had already been covered in their continuous phone calls, so Tina Fey cut straight to the chase.

"After half a year of evaluation and market research, Warner Brothers and Time Warner acknowledge the potential of the Harry Potter Series. On this front, Duke Studio and Warner Brothers have reached a complete consensus. There are no objections."

No company, and no corporate management team, would blindly invest a massive sum of money into a project simply based on someone's impassioned pitch.

Even if that person was Duke, Steven Spielberg, or Michael Ovitz—figures with a track record of continuous success—it was impossible. Otherwise, saying the people sitting in those management positions had the brains of pigs would be a compliment.

Duke looked at Tina Fey.

"Just give me the results."

"We've currently reached an oral agreement."

Always rigorous in her work, Tina Fey flipped open her log.

"Duke Studio and Warner will jointly promote the Harry Potter Series and co-found the Harry Potter Studio. The share distribution between the two parties will be forty percent and sixty percent, respectively!"

Duke was already aware of this outcome and had no objections. It was entirely normal for Warner Brothers to take the lion's share. If Warner Brothers weren't in desperate need of his cooperation right now, Duke Studio wouldn't have secured forty percent of the shares in the first place.

Without sufficient projected profits, why on earth would Warner invest massive amounts of resources that Duke Studio completely lacked?

To put it bluntly, even though Duke Studio held the rights, it still needed Warner or another media conglomerate as a partner—whereas those media conglomerates didn't necessarily need Duke Studio.

Was it really possible in Hollywood for him to issue a rallying cry, only for other companies to flock to him with resources without demanding sufficient returns?

Moreover, Warner Brothers wanted more than just this sixty percent share. They wanted to bind him even more securely to their war chariot.

Tina Fey lifted her gaze from her work log and stated the most critical point of their trip.

"Warner's management hopes to use an equivalent value of Warner Brothers shares to acquire twenty to forty percent of Duke Studio's shares."

Seeing Duke frown in silence, Tina Fey spoke directly.

"Nancy and I have privately met with Jeff Robinov and the CEO of Time Warner. Time Warner Group wants to forge a closer connection and partnership with us. If the share swap is successful, you will become the largest individual shareholder of Warner Brothers. Furthermore, Warner will guarantee through a formal agreement that once the exchange is complete, the Warner Brothers board of directors will add a new seat, making you a board member."

Duke remained silent. This wasn't the sort of thing he could decide on a whim. The situation was abundantly clear: riding on his continuous success and string of blockbuster hits over the past few years, Warner Brothers—and indeed the entire Time Warner Group—had developed sufficient confidence in him. Furthermore, the predicament brought about by the Batman Series wasn't limited to the film sector; it inevitably impacted the stock market. Warner needed a shot of adrenaline to answer to its numerous shareholders and investors, and it needed the market to rebuild its trust in Warner Brothers.

Establishing a deep, inseparable partnership with Duke Studio and himself—even forging an alliance of shared interests—was undoubtedly one of the most suitable ways to achieve that.

This couldn't help but remind Duke of another director from the past, someone who later worked exclusively with Warner and also stood as one of its major individual shareholders.

However, burdened by the negative impact of the Batman Series, the current Warner Brothers had encountered its most difficult hurdle at the turn of the century. Should he grasp this highly sincere hand they were extending?

Hollywood was always a game for the giants. Orion Pictures had once enjoyed a period of brilliance with films like Dances with Wolves and The Silence of the Lambs; Carolco Pictures rose rapidly in the nineties and was once hailed as Hollywood's eighth-largest film studio; DreamWorks, with the full backing of the Big Three, would reach the number seven spot in Hollywood in the future...

Yet, these film companies all shared the same trait: their glory was only temporary. Faced with the encirclement and suppression of the Hollywood giants, they ultimately couldn't hold out. Even Lionsgate Pictures, whose performance would temporarily skyrocket in the future, enjoyed immense prestige on the backs of blockbuster hits like Twilight and The Hunger Games, but as those film series gradually neared their end, they too began to sink into the mud...

Relying on a bit of extra experience to direct a succession of massive blockbusters, then using that to break through the major powers' encirclement and establish a brand-new conglomerate that stood shoulder-to-shoulder with or even above them? Was there a more unrealistic fantasy than that?

In this circle, films were the foundation, but only the foundation. For a new company to rise up, it needed far more than just movies.

David Geffen, one of the wealthiest billionaires in the United States; Jeffrey Katzenberg, the man who single-handedly forged Disney Animation Studio's most glorious era in the eighties and nineties; Steven Spielberg, who went without saying...

Even the collaboration of the Big Three had fallen to the encirclement of the traditional powers. Could Duke, with a mind hardly proficient in business, truly compare himself to the united front of the Big Three?

Fantasy was incredibly important for filmmaking, but fantasy brought zero benefits to a business partnership!

Hollywood was just one part of the business world, and the business world was ultimately rooted in reality. Fantasy couldn't solve any problems, and Duke had always known that such fantasies lacked any feasibility whatsoever; otherwise, he might ruin his years of hard work.

From the very beginning, he had been cooperating with the giants, and his competition had always been conducted with the backing of a sufficiently powerful corporate conglomerate. In his future plans, he would continue to collaborate with giants like Warner.

Cooperation and competition were eternal themes in the business world. To stand tall in a fiercely competitive circle like Hollywood, one needed a powerful partner.

Let alone a single director—even the Big Six Companies needed to cooperate at times!

"Tina..." Duke took off his sunglasses and looked at his female assistant. "Return to Los Angeles as soon as possible and continue meeting with Warner. I agree in principle to a share exchange with them. You handle the negotiations for the exact ratio."

After saying that, he looked at his agent.

"Nancy, I hope you can gather as many stars from ICM as possible to attend the Titanic premiere before Thanksgiving!"

Nancy Josephson didn't hesitate for a second.

"I will head back to Los Angeles with Tina, and I'll personally visit and invite the agency's heavyweight clients."

Tina Fey and Nancy Josephson soon left the beach. Barely ten minutes later, a helicopter lifted into the sky and flew away from the private island.

Lying back on his beach chair, Duke put his sunglasses back on. His mind was entirely consumed by the upcoming cooperation with Warner, and he completely lost any desire to relax on his vacation.

A few dozen feet away, Natalie Portman sat with her mother and her agent. As they tasted tropical fruits unique to the South Pacific, they occasionally glanced in Duke's direction.

"I heard you two have met a few times?"

The agent asking the question had distinctly Jewish features. He looked at Natalie. "What do you think of him?"

"A director with a lot of ideas, deep thoughts, and immense talent." Natalie was extremely clever and could vaguely guess her agent's intentions. "Martin, you aren't thinking of poaching him for William Morris, are you?"

"Why not?" Martin Miller stood up. "Although William Morris has Clint Eastwood on the directing side, his market appeal can't even compare to Duke's."

Natalie's eyes flashed. "Do you need me to introduce you? We get along pretty well."

"No need. I've met him before."

With that, Martin Miller strode over toward Duke, ready to begin his poaching operation.