Right now, Dunn's juggling two massive tasks: boosting The Unsinkable's box office and getting the TA TV network off the ground.
Between the two, TA TV's the bigger deal!
The Unsinkable might be a hyped-up, big-budget flick, but it's just one movie. Even if it flops, it won't tank Dunn's film empire. He's got the Marvel Universe, the Pirate Alliance, Transformers—plenty to keep the movie side humming.
But TA TV? That's different. At this delicate moment, one wrong move could wipe out his entire TV strategy!
That's no exaggeration.
It's 2001, and Time Warner's a mess, tangled up in its merger with AOL—boardroom shouting matches nonstop. Meanwhile, Sumner Redstone's Viacom empire is the undisputed king of media, hands down!
Even Disney's market value doesn't hit half of Viacom's!
Dunn's got the guts to take on Michael Eisner and Disney, but against Redstone's raw power? He doesn't stand a chance.
Viacom's just too massive!
Four killer divisions: the core Viacom cable networks, the B Group, Paramount Pictures, and Blockbuster—each a titan in its field. Except for Paramount, the other three are flat-out industry leaders.
Blockbuster especially—it's got the U.S. video and DVD rental market in a chokehold.
Dunn can poke at Disney because their focus doesn't overlap much with Dunn Pictures' game plan. But Viacom? That's a whole other beast.
Blockbuster alone could crush Dunn Pictures in the movie space.
For TA TV to rise, it's got to climb over two giants: Viacom's H Network and Time Warner's HB Network.
Time Warner's too busy imploding to worry about—easy to brush off.
But Viacom? That's a must-watch!
Especially Redstone—that old shark. When he gets mad, all of Hollywood feels the chill.
Everyone knows Disney's Michael Eisner is the sharpest exec in town right now. But before him, who was the best?
Barry Diller!
And where's Barry Diller now?
Redstone ran him out!
The guy who once ruled Hollywood—helming A, AB, Paramount, even founding the Fox Network—Diller's off in the internet world now, messing with e-commerce, totally out of media.
Can't fight him—gotta dodge him!
So with Redstone, Dunn can't play the same reckless game he does with Eisner. He's got to tiptoe.
Luckily, the old man's 78 now—not the razor-sharp mind he once was. He's getting foggy, his grip on the company's a mess, dumb moves piling up, but he still won't let go of the reins.
Even his kids are at odds with him over it.
---
May 27th is Sumner Redstone's big 78th birthday.
But that day, the Redstone clan keeps it low-key—just a private family gathering.
It's not until May 30th that they throw open the doors, inviting elites from all corners to shower him with well-wishes.
Talk about a grand affair!
Tosca Musk, newly tapped as Dunn Pictures' VP, isn't just running Sillywood Animation—she's also Dunn's point person for dealing with Viacom, aka Redstone himself.
She's been killing it.
Dunn scores an invite, complete with Redstone's personal scribble: "Sincerely inviting you to my birthday party. Sumner Redstone."
For a formal gig like this, Dunn can't roll up with some random date. Good thing Harvard's summer break has started, and Natalie's around.
"What? You're not going?" Dunn stares at Natalie, shocked.
Natalie pouts. "How could I? It's not some Hollywood party—it's a serious business thing. Everyone there's an old-timer, like forty or fifty at the youngest. Me, a little girl, a student—how awkward would that be?"
Dunn brushes it off. "What 'little student'? You're a Harvard student! The best university in the world!"
Natalie mumbles, "Sure, in the entertainment world, my degree's a flex. But there? I'd be too shy to bring it up. Did you know Mr. Redstone got into Harvard at 17? And while he was there, he served in the U.S. military—a war hero!"
"No way, that impressive?" Dunn's eyes widen.
Natalie flops on the bed, huffing as she tosses five or six dresses onto the floor. "I'm just a clueless actress. In front of those big shots, if I mess up, how embarrassing would that be? I'm not going!"
Dunn mulls it over, then lets out a long sigh.
He gets where Natalie's coming from.
She's not worried about embarrassing herself—she's scared of making him look bad.
The latest Forbes list just dropped: Dunn's worth $8 billion, ranking 37th globally. Nowhere near Redstone's 18th spot and $14 billion-plus fortune, but still enough to turn heads at the party.
No doubt, Dunn's going to be in the spotlight. As his girlfriend, Natalie would face a barrage of questions from the wives and socialites.
At not even 20, handling that scene would be brutal for her.
One slip-up, and it's a laughingstock moment.
"It's my fault—I'm not strong enough," Dunn says, sitting on the bed and pulling Natalie into a hug, his voice heavy.
Natalie shakes her head, leaning into him. "No way. You're only 25! Even Bill Gates wasn't this big at your age. To me, you're already incredible."
Dunn smirks, a little self-deprecating. "Still too weak. If I were the world's richest guy right now, hmph—even if you flubbed something, even if you're an actress, so what? The whole world would kiss up to you!"
Natalie giggles. "Then work hard and become the richest guy already!"
Dunn's laugh turns weird. "You've got that much faith in me?"
Natalie tilts her head, biting her lip. "Doesn't matter. I'm working hard too. At school, I'm minoring in etiquette, languages, social theory—a ton of stuff. By the time I graduate, I'll be amazing. I'm confident!"
Dunn chuckles, half-annoyed, half-amused. "That's not faith in me—that's faith in yourself!"
"I'm an actress, sure," Natalie says firmly, "but I'm going to make sure no one looks at me like 'just' an actress."
Dunn nods solemnly. "Let's do it together!"
---
When it comes to social graces, Dunn's no match for Natalie.
But status and wealth? That's his armor.
It's like a class reunion: the rich, successful guy can misspeak a few times, and no one bats an eye—they'll call it "real." But the broke, down-and-out one? One gaffe, and even if everyone's polite on the surface, they're sneering inside.
It's the 21st century—money talks loudest!
Tosca Musk steps in as Dunn's plus-one for Redstone's birthday bash.
At 27, she's blonde, blue-eyed, fair-skinned, leggy, and curvy—arm-in-arm with Dunn, they've got that golden-couple vibe.
But the more perfect they look, the more uneasy Dunn feels.
"Everyone knows my girlfriend's Natalie Portman. Let's not stir up rumors," he says casually.
Tosca flashes an awkward smile, loosening her grip on his arm. She falls into step beside him, more like a secretary now.
That's her gig tonight anyway—secretary duty. She leans in and whispers, "Nine o'clock, left side: that's Rupert Murdoch, the big boss of News Corp!"
Dunn glances over. Sure enough, there's the newspaper tycoon Murdoch with his Chinese wife, chatting up another old guy about the same age.
"The guy he's talking to? That's John Malone, the godfather of cable TV!" Tosca adds. "He's a legend in the industry—even Redstone and Murdoch give him mad respect."
Dunn's surprised, stealing a few extra looks. "How've I never heard of him?" he mutters.
"He's retired," Tosca says with a shake of her head. "But his ideas shaped a whole generation."
"Oh?"
"He's got this famous line: 'High profits mean high taxes. The way to build a giant is to use every trick in the book to cut reported profits and taxes, then plow pre-tax cash flow into growth and acquisitions.' Comcast and Viacom both ran with that playbook to get where they are today."
Dunn's eyes pop.
What a slick breakdown!
Wall Street usually values companies by earnings per share, so for ages, raking in profits was the holy grail for public firms.
Then the internet era hit.
But Malone was preaching this decades ago!
Take Amazon—why'd it grow so fast? Beyond e-commerce basics, it dodged profits and taxes like a pro, pouring every dime of cash into expansion.
Decades later, its shareholders haven't seen a penny in dividends!
And yet, its market cap's closing in on a trillion bucks.
Dunn swallows hard, nodding stiffly. "This guy's unreal!"
Tosca gives him an odd look. "You really don't know John Malone? TA TV—it used to be part of his TCI empire!"
"What?" Dunn's jaw drops.
Tosca smacks her forehead, piecing it together. "Oh, right—TA TV was tiny back then, and he was already checked out. In '97, he sold the Teleport biz for $11 billion. '98, he offloaded the Sprint chunk for $9 billion. '99, General Instrument went to Motorola for over $11 billion. Then TCI's core got snapped up by AT&T for $48 billion. TA TV? Barely a blip."
Dunn sucks in a breath.
Only now does he realize how puny his precious TA TV is in the eyes of these titans!
He scooped it up for just $1.7 billion.