"The nominees for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at this year's Golden Globe Awards are: Mia Farrow - 'Alice'; Julia Roberts - 'Pretty woman'; Andie MacDowell - 'Green Card'; Demi Moore - 'Ghost'; Meryl Streep - 'Postcards From The Edge'".
On the stage of the Hilton Hotel ballroom.
Morgan Freeman, the winner of the previous year's Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, finished introducing the nominees, smiled as he tore open the envelope in his hand, took a quick look, and spoke into the microphone: "The winner is, Julia Roberts, congratulations".
Thunderous applause broke out.
Julia Roberts, wearing a white off-the-shoulder evening gown tonight, rose from her round table with a look of disbelief. She shared hugs with several fellow creators of 'Pretty Woman' and, clutching the hem of her dress, stumbled slightly as she made her way onto the stage.
Taking the trophy from Morgan Freeman, the wide-mouthed beauty approached the microphone, still somewhat overwhelmed, unable to stop herself from covering her mouth.
The audience gave her plenty of face, and applause rang out once more.
"It's truly... incredible, like a dream", Julia Roberts, who was only 23 this year, finally spoke after a moment, stammering as she leaned into the microphone: "First of all, I want to thank Simon. Without him, I wouldn't have everything I have now..."
At a round table slightly toward the back of the banquet hall, Janette heard the wide-mouthed beauty's speech. She wagged a finger in front of Simon's eyes and said, "That's the sixth time. I'm wondering if Michael Blake, who just forgot to thank you, is feeling restless right now".
As the awards ceremony continued to this point, including the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy just won, Daenerys Entertainment had already swept 7 major awards, including 5 film categories and 2 television categories. Out of the seven acceptance speeches, six winners had expressed their gratitude to Simon; only 'Dances with Wolves' screenwriter Michael Blake had not mentioned him.
Simon reached out to pinch Janette's pretty, upright fingertip, but she dodged him. He didn't chase after her, saying softly, "It's too many times".
He remembered that in the original timeline, some busybodies had tallied the most thanked Hollywood big shots at the Academy Awards Ceremony. Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein, who topped the list, had only accumulated thirty or forty mentions over many years.
The Golden Globes naturally couldn't compare to the Oscars. However, with tonight's momentum, Simon felt that in a few years, he would set a record for the most thanks received at various awards ceremonies.
Simon didn't want to seem ubiquitous at all; he preferred being the 'man behind the scenes'.
Janette knew her man's thoughts well and said, "You can mention it to Deutchman at the party later."
On stage, Julia Roberts finished her speech. The host came up to warm up the crowd for a moment, and then the presentation for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama began.
Kevin Costner had already won Best Director at this Golden Globe ceremony. However, his performance in 'Dances with Wolves' truly didn't have many highlights, and as expected, he lost to Jeremy Irons, who gave a masterful performance in 'Reversal of Fortune'.
Jeremy Irons was the actor who played the butler Alfred in Ben Affleck's version of Batman.
Barring any surprises, Jeremy Irons would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor this year. This middle-aged British star in his early forties had both the looks and the acting skills, but unfortunately, luck hadn't been on his side; several commercial films he had starred in since breaking into Hollywood in the eighties had not been box office successes.
Hollywood is very superstitious.
After an actor suffers several consecutive box office failures, it's often difficult to get high-quality projects from the studios again. As resources dwindle, it becomes harder and harder to make a comeback.
Following Best Actor in a Drama, the final award was Best Picture – Drama.
'Dances with Wolves' successfully defeated 'Goodfellas', 'Short Cuts', 'The Godfather Part III', and 'Reversal of Fortune' to win Best Picture – Drama.
Counting them up, out of all 13 high-profile film awards at this Golden Globe ceremony, films produced by Daenerys Entertainment alone won 6. These were Best Picture – Drama for 'Dances with Wolves', Best Director for Kevin Costner, Best Actress – Drama for Susan Sarandon, Best Actress – Musical or Comedy for Julia Roberts, Best Screenplay for 'Dances with Wolves', and Best Supporting Actress for Whoopi Goldberg.
Taking nearly half the awards, their prestige was unparalleled.
Even though it was a Daenerys Entertainment victory party, many stars headed to Malibu Daenerys Studios as invited after the awards ceremony ended.
The party Daenerys Entertainment would host after the Oscars had already been booked by Gucci. This post-Golden Globes celebration was held in the name of the Ygritte Company.
The Westeros System's push into the internet industry meant more than just America Online's free trials and Ygritte's massive content investment; it also meant relentless advertising.
The Ygritte website didn't just place ads on TV networks and various print media platforms; it now also had a spokesperson. Sandra Bullock, as a celebrity user of Ygritte Blog and due to her personal relationship with Simon, easily snagged the job. With a three-year endorsement term, she unceremoniously took home $5 million a year.
After Simon and Janette left the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel, they stopped by their Palisades mansion so Janette could change her outfit before heading to Daenerys Studios.
After some delay and posing for photos in front of a backdrop wall printed with the Daenerys and Ygritte logos, they entered the party hall of the studio's activity centre, which was already packed with people.
Presumably, someone had been assigned to keep a lookout, because as soon as Simon and his wife entered the hall, Kevin Costner approached with 'Dances with Wolves' screenwriter Michael Blake to greet them.
Janette listened as Michael Blake, his words laced with a bit of trepidation, expressed his joy at winning and his gratitude to Simon. She casually shot her man a 'told you so' look.
Simon naturally wouldn't care about the detail of Michael Blake forgetting to thank him during the award acceptance. If he didn't even have that much magnanimity, he wouldn't be able to get through his days. Thus, he even offered a few words of reassurance.
Once Kevin Costner and Michael Blake left, Simon called over Ira Deutchman, the head of Highgate Film: "It's like this: have a word with the publicists of those nominees. For the upcoming Oscars, and for all future awards ceremonies, don't thank me anymore".
Ira Deutschman was puzzled: "Simon, is there a problem?"
Simon shook his head and smiled. "No, it's just what I said. I don't want the name Simon Westeros to be everywhere at future awards ceremonies. It makes it look like I'm manipulating the awards".
Ira Deutchman finally nodded. "I understand."
Having settled that matter, Simon casually changed the subject and asked, "So, how is the filming progress of 'The Piano' coming along?"
The two chatted casually for a while. During this time, Janette saw Kathryn and went over to join the other women.
After dismissing Ira Deutchman, the Female Assistant quietly appeared by Simon's side, accompanying him as he mingled with the crowd for a bit. Then, Amy Pascal approached with another guest, who turned out to be Steven Spielberg.
Simon greeted him with a smile, shook Spielberg's hand, and said, "Good evening, Steven".
Spielberg also smiled and shook Simon's hand, though his expression carried some complex emotions.
This young man who had risen so rapidly in Hollywood in just a few years was now effectively his boss. Spielberg had debuted as a contract director under Universal Pictures. After shooting to fame with 'Jaws', his original long-term contract was replaced by a few-picture deal, and he still owed Universal three movies.
Because of their early support, Spielberg was very close to MCA's two leaders, Lew Wasserman and Sid Sheinberg. Now that Daenerys Entertainment's acquisition of MCA was a done deal, and Lew Wasserman and Sid Sheinberg were being kicked out of MCA by Simon Westeros, the situation left Spielberg with mixed feelings.
However, contracts had to be honoured.
Amy Pascal had recently been discussing his next directorial effort with Spielberg, a sci-fi novel adaptation called 'Jurassic Park'. If Spielberg was willing, the project could be placed under Universal Pictures, with preparation this year, filming starting early next year, and a release date set for late 1992.
Last year's blockbuster collaboration with Columbia, 'Hook', had already wrapped and was now in post-production.
Although the project was being carefully coddled by Columbia, during the filming process, Spielberg had already begun to sense that this movie might become a disaster, a personal Waterloo, and it had exhausted him.
Therefore, after receiving the proposal from Daenerys Entertainment, even though he felt an instinctive resistance toward Simon Westeros, Spielberg still indicated he would consider it carefully. After all, Daenerys Entertainment projects were always very reliable in terms of box office.
Amy Pascal also promised him that as long as he took on 'Jurassic Park', Daenerys Entertainment could support the filming of the movie he had been brooding over, which would recreate the Jewish Holocaust during World War II: 'Schindler's List'.
The group exchanged casual pleasantries. Once Spielberg walked away, Simon asked Amy, "How did the talk go?"
"Steven agreed. However, regarding the salary, we still need to talk to Ovitz". Amy continued, "Steven's previous movie contracts were all for gross profit participation, just like the 20% gross participation for 'Hook'. Ovitz is still leaning toward that. I've had a few contacts with Ovitz, and he's softened a bit, agreeing to accept a box office participation agreement similar to John Hughes'. However, for Steven's base salary, Ovitz probably wants $10 million".
The two-picture deal Daenerys Entertainment had signed with John Hughes back then had a compensation package of a $5 million base salary plus 10% of the domestic box office. Such an agreement was actually very generous and allowed the filmmaker to receive their due rewards within a relatively short period.
In the original timeline, the 'Jurassic Park' contract Spielberg signed was a base salary plus 20% gross participation.
Because 'Jurassic Park' was a global smash hit, Spielberg took home $250 million from just the first 'Jurassic Park' alone.
After Matsushita acquired MCA, despite having a massive hit like 'Jurassic Park', they still sold MCA to Seagram a few years later. A large part of the reason was that when movies lost money, Matsushita had to bear almost all the losses, but when movies made money, especially projects like 'Jurassic Park' the majority of the profits were taken by the Hollywood filmmakers. Matsushita was essentially the 'sucker' from every angle.
Simon had once considered directing 'Jurassic Park' himself. Now, he clearly didn't have the time, so handing the project to the original team seemed most appropriate.
Of course, a gross participation contract would definitely not be considered this time. Instead, he offered an agreement similar to John Hughes' base salary plus box office participation.
If 'Jurassic Park' could still achieve the same astronomical box office as in the original timeline, under the agreement Simon offered, Spielberg's personal income could still reach forty or fifty million dollars. This was, of course, still a sky-high price. However, Simon believed it was worth it; a director capable of creating a $1 billion global box office was absolutely worth that price tag.
In comparison, the $250 million from the original timeline exceeded Simon's limit of endurance.
Simon didn't comment much on the base salary Ovitz proposed. He just nodded and let Amy continue the negotiations, then asked, "What about 'Schindler's List'?"
"Steven still has some reservations. He doesn't know how to portray some of the emotional transitions in the film, but he's very grateful that you can support this movie".
As Amy said this, her face carried a somewhat distinct meaning.
The 'Schindler's List' project had been circulating in Hollywood since the eighties. After so many years of delay, the original author of the book, Thomas Keneally, often called Spielberg, complaining half-jokingly about whether he could see the project brought to the big screen before he died; he was already very old.
Ultimately, in the eyes of many, 'Schindler's List' had no commercial potential at all; it was entirely a work witnessing Jewish history. Although the Jewish people in Hollywood stuck together, they wouldn't rashly invest in a work that was destined to be unlikely to make money.
Amy was also Jewish.
In Amy's view, Simon's proposal to support the 'Schindler's List' project at the same time Daenerys Entertainment was about to swallow MCA was likely a gesture toward the Jewish community in Hollywood, to ease the pressure his growing power in Hollywood was placing on them.
In fact, Simon did have this intention.
Because of his environment in his past life, Simon wasn't inherently very sensitive to racial issues.
However, after several years of rebirth, he had to face this issue squarely.
The Jewish influence in Hollywood was indeed quite powerful.
And changing this was simply impossible.
Simon didn't fear or reject Jewish people, and of course, he didn't want such things to happen in reverse either.
Therefore, after acquiring MCA, investing in 'Schindler's List' was a way of going with the flow. Moreover, in his memory, 'Schindler's List' was actually very profitable.