I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1125: EEstonian, is That Obscure Enough?]

Although Firefly Group was not a publicly traded company, it invested a staggering $7 billion into the Clover Fund over the past few years to buy technology stocks, making it necessary for Eric to explain this to the other shareholders.

Therefore, Clover Fund's substantial technology stock holdings were not a secret to many. This also seemed to explain why, recently, Eric's personal communication systems were often under attack.

Since making a fortune in oil futures during the Gulf War, Eric's financial success had been a subject of study for many. After the Gulf War, however, there didn't seem to be any major operations that garnered attention in the financial market from Eric. Even during the Southeast Asian financial crisis a couple of years back, his and Chris's combined investment of a few hundred million dollars was just a drop in the bucket compared to the international investments which totaled in the hundreds of billions.

In recent years, Eric had rapidly expanded his personal wealth mainly through long-term investments in new tech companies. Such long-term strategies rarely attracted speculative capital that typically focuses on short-term gains.

However, things were different now.

The Clover Fund had over $30 billion worth of technology stocks, far exceeding the profits Eric made in the oil futures market during the Gulf War. Although he hadn't shown any remarkable moves in stock trading over the years, Clover Fund's early investment in tech stocks proved his exceptional financial foresight was at least comparable to his earlier oil futures operations.

Consequently, people naturally thought that if they could figure out Eric's strategies behind the Clover Fund's technology stock operations, they could follow suit or develop specific stock investment strategies to easily profit.

Prompted by Steve Mitnick, Eric immediately wiped clean all emails related to Clover Fund's operations from his personal email and instructed all trading studios working on Clover Fund to do the same.

Eric even felt a bit relieved that he had chosen to communicate via email during this period, as he found it hard to determine whether his phone or landline was being tapped.

However, after all these actions, it was clear the situation was still unresolved.

He remembered the various eavesdropping scandals in Hollywood that had occurred more than once. Once just a spectator, Eric now found himself in the midst of the situation. Although he hadn't personally experienced it, he could gauge the potential damage a similar incident could bring to the Firefly operation.

Thus, Eric took Steve Mitnick's advice and called for a meeting with Firefly's executives on the plane to discuss rebuilding the Firefly communication system.

As for the necessary expenses, it was clearly the least concerning issue for the current Firefly operation.

Upon learning that Firefly's email system had been attacked 37 times in just a week -- and this was only regarding the breaches Steve Mitnick had personally noted after getting past Yahoo's external firewall -- everyone was extremely cautious.

Throughout the eight-hour flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo, Eric mainly discussed the matter with Jeffrey Katzenberg, John Chambers, Ian Gurney, and even Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who was thousands of miles away in Finland.

The meeting wrapped up only as the Boeing 747 entered Japanese airspace.

He briefly connected with Drew, asking her to find an information security company to conduct anti-eavesdropping checks on his locations -- Firefly Studios, the Burbank headquarters, and the various residences he often occupied, including Liberty City, Troutsdale Manor, and even in New York.

...

After hanging up, he looked out of the aircraft window, seeing the plane circling above Tokyo.

The flight attendant's voice came on again, and Eric buckled his seatbelt, looking across the aisle at Caroline and Merissa. "You girls should find an information security company in London too. When we get to the UK, let's have this plane checked out. Oh, and remind Liz and Drew about their flight. I forgot to mention it."

Both women nodded in agreement.

As the plane began its descent, Eric fell silent for a moment before asking, "What hotel did we book?"

Caroline replied, "The Okura Hotel."

"I'll pass; switch me to another hotel. Let's go with the Park Hyatt instead," Eric suddenly recalled the hotel from Lost in Translation and casually added, "And remember to keep it anonymous."

The two women understood why Eric was suddenly making such requests. He hadn't stayed in hotels much over the years, and considering this "opportunity", it was hard to imagine some people wouldn't take advantage of the situation to plant eavesdropping devices in his room.

Merissa asked, "So, Eric, should we also have someone check on the Park Hyatt side?"

Eric hesitated, feeling he really had no reason not to, nodded, "Keep it low-key. Let's find a federal company to do the check -- we're here for a movie promotion."

Merissa thought for a moment and remarked, "The embassy should have professional anti-eavesdropping equipment."

"Do you think that's feasible?"

"Well, protecting their citizens is their duty," Merissa grinned and added, "Plus, we could always get a few invitation letters for the Iron Man premiere ready for them."

Eric chuckled, "That sounds too insincere. Why not just pay for it as a rental?"

Merissa shook her head, "No need, Eric. I'll take care of it."

...

Tokyo was eight hours ahead of Los Angeles, which meant that after an eight-hour flight, it was still around 10 AM there.

After sending Joss Whedon and his crew off from Haneda Airport to the booked Okura Hotel, Eric stayed on the plane a bit longer, waiting for Caroline and Merissa to coordinate with the local office of Buena Vista International to set everything up before leaving the airport.

At Park Hyatt, it turned out the embassy staff used a few premiere invitations to entice them to conduct a comprehensive security check on Eric's newly booked room. Before leaving, several workers excitedly posed for a picture with Eric.

Such theatrics were rather predictable.

However, Merissa seemed to take it all for granted, and even brought up something she happened to know about Kevin Costner.

Years ago when Costner was in Tokyo promoting his disastrous Waterworld, he had his private jet denied landing at a Japanese airport. He had to ask the U.S. military base for help, which promptly agreed to lend him a military airport on the condition they could screen the film for their soldiers.

Inside his room at Park Hyatt, after the embassy staff left, Eric invited Buena Vista International's Japan branch manager, Coyle Crowe, to sit by the living room window and update him on the status of Iron Man's release in Japan.

Coyle Crowe was a middle-aged white man in his early forties, perhaps having spent a long time in Japan, he exuded an air of meticulousness.

After introducing the distribution work for Iron Man, Coyle pulled out a stack of invitations from his briefcase and said, "Mr. Williams, here are some invitations from companies here in Japan for you. Additionally, there's an interview invitation from Fuji TV."

"Just turn it down," Eric took the stack of invitations, flipped through them, and shook his head. "I'm only in Tokyo for two days, leaving the day after tomorrow."

"Understood, Mr. Williams," Coyle nodded without further persuasion and added, "If there's nothing else, I'll get back to work."

Eric looked at his watch and smiled, "It's noon. Let's grab lunch together, though I'm not too familiar with this area."

Coyle quickly got up, "I'll take you to a restaurant," then glanced at the two women who were changing the couch covers and bed linen, "Do these two ladies want to join us?"

Eric shook his head, "No need to bother them."

...

Eric walked out of the room with Coyle, heading to the restaurant at Park Hyatt where they ordered a simple lunch while continuing to discuss business matters regarding Japan.

As Asia's leading box office market and the largest outside of North America, Hollywood's major film companies attached great importance to this market and had set up subsidiaries in Japan.

"Recently, Hironobu Sakaguchi reached out to me; he hasn't given up on the Final Fantasy animation movie yet. However, after we declined, other Hollywood companies were unwilling to take over the project," Coyle was obviously a chatty person and began to relax a little around the boss. He continued, "Now, I hear Square has acquired a batch of graphic workstations and plans to create it without Hollywood's involvement. However, the budget for this animation film is at least $100 million. If it fails, Square will probably go bankrupt. That said, Final Fantasy is Japan's national game and should succeed easily in the Japanese market."

Eric listened with a smile; he knew that historically, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within had flopped both in North America and Japan. Square went bankrupt, merging with another game company.

Now, without the financial and distribution support from Hollywood, if this animation film matched its previous quality, it would undoubtedly lead to an even worse outcome.

Speaking of animation, Eric suddenly recalled another matter. "By the way, I remember last year we reached a cooperative agreement with another animation company here?"

"Studio Ghibli," Coyle nodded and replied, "Miyazaki is working on his new animation, with a budget of only $17 million. We're responsible for 30% of the investment and hold all overseas rights for the film."

Given that Eric had decisively shut down Disney's hand-drawn animation department, Coyle instinctively sensed the big boss wasn't a fan of 2D animation. After speaking, he cautiously added, "Miyazaki's work differs entirely from Hollywood's 2D animations and what we have in Japan. His animations are filled with imagination and philosophical contemplation. The last film we distributed, Princess Mononoke, was a solid success; the current one, Spirited Away, has a more creative script, which is why we sought to join the production team. Plus, we only invested $5 million, and with overseas all-channel operations, not recouping costs should not be a problem."

Eric maintained an indifferent expression on the surface but wondered how much Spirited Away had grossed globally.

Of course, he didn't remember.

But a $5 million investment for all overseas rights was definitely a good deal.

Eric was also aware of why Coyle's tone was so cautious. It wasn't just because of his personal decision to shut down the 2D department; in fact, before Spirited Away, while every Miyazaki film received acclaim, they often underperformed in box office revenue. Many animations barely broke even, largely relying on peripheral merchandise to recoup costs in Japan's massive animation merchandise industry.

Historically, Spirited Away was the film that cemented Miyazaki's legendary status. Afterward, his animated works frequently topped Japan's box office charts.

Truth be told, a $5 million investment hardly reached the approval threshold for Eric's level. The prior project by Buena Vista International, Princess Mononoke, didn't perform particularly well either. Eric vaguely remembered viewing the collaboration agreement between Buena Vista International's Japan branch and Studio Ghibli two years ago but hadn't paid much attention since then.

Thus, it was only now that Eric discovered, unbeknownst to him, Firefly had actually become a producer of Spirited Away.

He still had to stay in Tokyo for two more days, and given the recent network attack news from the flight, he had no desire to focus on any business matters during this time.

After Coyle finished speaking, Eric pondered and asked, "Could you arrange for me to visit Studio Ghibli?"

Coyle paused, initially thinking he misheard, but quickly nodded, "Of course, Mr. Williams! I can call them right away."

"Let's aim for this afternoon. Also, there is no need for any special arrangements; I just want to drop by privately."

Coyle readily agreed.

...

After lunch, Coyle stepped out, and Eric returned to his hotel room.

Noticing Eric's return, Caroline, who was sitting on the couch typing on her laptop, looked up and smiled, saying, "Eric, Kelly just sent another email. She's asking how we will contact Clover Fund's trading studio if we can't use email anymore."

Not knowing where Merissa had wandered off to, Eric sat beside Caroline, curious about her laptop screen. "Just use the phone. Have Kelly set up an encrypted line."

Feeling Eric's presence next to her, Caroline's cheeks grew slightly rosy as she said, "But that could still be eavesdropped on."

"Then let's make it harder for anyone to understand."After mulling it over for a moment, he said, "Let's use a pretty obscure language."

"What would that be?"

Eric thought for a second and chuckled, "Estonian, is that obscure enough?"

Caroline instinctively glanced at Eric's arm, scrunched her little nose slightly, but didn't voice any objections.

*****

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