Chapter 241： movie company

The founder of Rodrien Films, David Rodrien White, is Mexican, but he's never been to Mexico, even if it's next door.

He only read high school, because the family situation is not very good, there are too many brothers and sisters, and he is reluctantly supported by social welfare to a large extent. He is the third of six siblings.

After entering the society, people are willing to work hard.

Maybe it's because you're used to living a poor life, and you want to be strong.

First, he worked as a small laborer, and then worked as a coolie. Later, he worked in the field of auto repair. After slowly accumulating some experience, he partnered with others to open his own small auto repair factory.

It's true that the United States is a country on cars, but it's not true when it comes to how much money you can make from an auto repair shop.

He didn't make a lot of money anyway, but he was considered middle class.

The career has never improved, and it is hanging on and on.

By chance, he saw the news of "Titanic" in the newspaper. That year was the end of 1997, and the "big ship" miracle was staged in the film industry.

In 1998, he ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, and then inexplicably crossed the border, preparing a film and television production company called Rodrien.

He doesn't have much culture and doesn't understand the film industry at all, but that doesn't prevent him from thinking that making movies can make a lot of money.

So at the beginning, he hit a lot of obstacles. He didn't know that after the movie was released, there would still be cases where the movie would not be released in theaters, and he didn't know what the distribution channel was.

But he's resilient, trying to know if he doesn't know.

He took people to contact various theater chains, but all failed, and instead asked to contact the videotape market next, and slowly, it seemed that he succeeded.

His films can have a chance to make money.

In the first year, he made a profit of 130,000, but because of the internal personnel operation of the company, he lost 50,000.

In the second year, there was finally a profit, not much, only 200,000. But let him see the light.

In the following third, fourth, and fifth years, his film career was slowly improving.

He also felt that he had accumulated enough experience, so he was eager to make a theatrical movie.

This time, he took out most of his belongings, a total of 1.5 million for filming.

It's a pity that, like raindrops merging into the sea, there is no sound after the show.

A week later, the theater representatives notified them of the release.

In the end, this highly anticipated film only received 500,000 at the box office, which is a heavy loss compared to what it paid.

This loss seems to have taken away David - Rodrien - White's movie dream, or rather, his movie dream should have woken up long ago.

Frustrated, selling the company was his only plan.

He didn't want to hold on any longer, he was 45 years old and he was no longer young.

So, as long as the price is right, it doesn't matter to anyone this film company gives, he just wants to leave the scene quickly.

That's how Johnson approached him, and the two hit it off.

Later, Lehmann found an accounting firm and began to calculate the company's financial situation and assess the value of the acquisition.

There are many things to be valued, ranging from the tables, chairs, and sofas inside the film company to those movie copyrights that Rodrien thinks still has some value, as well as related business relationships.

It took three days and after the accounting firm consolidated the assets, the value of the company was given at about 3 million.

After 6 years of operation, he returned 3 million US dollars. It is better for him to open an auto repair shop.

Of course, for this result, Rodrien also resigned.

Determine the acquisition conditions, that is, Lehman will pay 3 million US dollars to take over the company with a one-time wholly-owned capital.

The subsequent negotiations went more smoothly. Rodrian was eager to let go and did not want to fight for anything. Under the witness of the relevant lawyers, Lisuo signed the transfer contract.

So far, he has received 3 million US dollars, and Lehmann has received 100% of the equity of "Rodrien Entertainment". (The shell studio in France continues to be affiliated with Europa Films, and the two parties are financially independent from each other)

On this day, October 29, Los Angeles was on the 6th floor of a commercial building near Warner Studios, where the original headquarters of "Rodrien Entertainment" was located.

Inside the floor, the employees are all sitting in their seats, and everyone's eyes are a little worried.

They also all know that their boss is going to sell the company, and maybe at some point, they may lose their jobs.

In this case, everyone has no intention of working, and the discussions with each other are all about employment.

"Do you know who is buying it?"

"I don't know, the boss didn't say it, how could I know."

"God forbid, I don't want to lose this job."

"Me too, even if I take a pay cut, I'll accept it."

......

It's a pity that the expectations of the employees are of no use. The world of capital has always been cruel, and Lehmann never thought of inheriting the company intact.

According to his idea, this company will definitely lay off a group of employees, such as the finance department, such as the personnel department.

In terms of finances, he doesn't have much time to take care of it at all, and he is not that kind of material at all, tedious expenditure calculation problems, and more complicated taxes.

This is the United States, from birth to death, all kinds of taxes are inseparable.

Therefore, he directly intends to hire those mainstream accounting firms to help in this area, all kinds of reasonable tax avoidance, they must be clear, and then hand over the audit to another accounting firm to reconcile accounts and supervise each other. .

Then, the company's financial department will not need too many people.

There is also the personnel department. As an outsider, he doesn't know the personnel relationship inside, so he just cleans it up together.

As for the rest of the production staff, they will not move for the time being, but those who are incompetent will definitely be laid off slowly.

Anyway, in a word, those who have the ability, go up, those who have no strength, go down.

After signing the contract Johnson also brought some caa people to temporarily manage the company's daily operations and layoffs.

Some people left, some people stayed.

Lehman didn't interfere too much, except for the layoffs, the job changes were not big.

And directly increase the salary by 15% on the original basis to stabilize people's hearts.

Seeing the slow transition, the original "Rodrien Films" was officially renamed "Firefly Films", and the company's logo was specially designed by someone, which is a firefly emitting a faint glow. Company name.

The color of the entire logo is very soft, in a comic style, and it looks vivid and dynamic.

After two years of preparation, Lehmann finally has the confidence to take this step.

It is ambition, professionalism, or the sense of solidity and foundation brought by success. In any case, on October 30, 2003, the "Firefly" film company began its journey.