These senior managers served different companies but most of them were quite familiar with each other since the turnover was frequent among the seven major film companies.

Barry Diller was absent. He had been controlling Paramount until 1984 but now worked as CEO of Fox. When he was in Paramount, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg served as his a.s.sistants. Now, however, the two turned into CEO and President of Disney respectively. If history remained the same, Jeffrey Katzenberg would be CEO of DreamWorks several years later. Now, Amy Pascal worked for Columbia Pictures. Before her appointment, though, she was a senior manager of Fox. Such complex interpersonal relations had ensured compet.i.tion and cooperation among the major film companies.

"How much will your two films take at the box office this time? Clue us in for some reference for future bidding." Michael Eisner asked in front of others. Although he put on a look of casualness, he could not conceal the expectation hidden in his tone.

Eric put down the coffee cup and replied smilingly:"Mr. Eisner, seriously, I can only ensure that the two films are of high quality. The box office will be determined by the reaction of the audience and the market."

"This will not work. You are still at a young age but have already become so sophisticated. A youth shall speak and act daringly," said Nade Tarn, president of Paramount. The speaker was nearly 60 years old. He was an amiable old man with all gray hair and all smiles. His words sounded like encouragement given by the older generation to the younger generation, drawing the speaker and the listener much closer in a natural way.

Eric smiled as if he were listening carefully. In fact, he was thinking to himself that those old fellows were birds of a feather, craft and craftier. If he had followed their advice, he would have been trapped without knowing about it.

Since Barry Diller and Michael Eisner quit together with a large group of senior managers, Paramount had witnessed a bad time. Now its films were poorly received except Indiana Jones, a movie put on show this year. However, the producer and the director were George Lucas and Steven Spielberg respectively. The two were shrewd businessmen and would take most of the profits, leaving Paramount only some payment for distribution.

In the previous a.n.a.lysis, Eric believed that Paramount would make the biggest offer. This time, everyone would partic.i.p.ate in secret bidding. After watching the film, every partic.i.p.ator would offer their own profit-sharing conditions. Then, the Firefly Film Company would, based on the conditions, choose its partner. However, the appearance of Michael Eisner had rendered the result much more complex. Michael's att.i.tude was likely to spur the compet.i.tion from other big film companies. After all, it had taken him only 5 years to send Disney's business booming. Now the status of Hollywood was even more prominent than at the time when his former superior Barry Diller took charge.

Alan Fisman opened the door gently and approached Eric softly, trying his best not to arouse any attention. He bent and whispered by Eric's ear:"Mr. Williams, Fox's people have arrived."

Eric nodded and said smilingly to Michael Eisner and others:"I am sorry. Wait a moment, please. I have another guest here."

Leaving the room, Eric walked in the direction of the lift together with Alan. Fox's people were likely to go up soon. Alan then said:"The receptionist downstairs Mike said that two people from Fox are coming here. One is Carta Hunter and the other is a woman."

Eric was lost in thought for a moment before asking:"Has he recognized who the woman is?"

Alan shook his head and replied:"He does not know. He said that the girl is just about 20 years old. But Carta Hunter shows great respect for her."

Carta Hunter was in charge of Fox's film distribution and could be regarded as vice-president of the company. He would show respect for only Barry Diller and several other big figures. Such personalities would by no means include a girl in her 20s.

Eric could not figure out the reason and then just stopped thinking. When he walked by the lift, the exclusive lift stopped with a ding and a man and a woman stepped out.

"Nice to meet you, Carta," Eric smilingly moved forward and hugged Carta Hunter, giving a glance to the blonde girl who was standing by and looking at him with great interest. The girl was about 20 years old. She was 170cm tall and her relatively short blonde hair just covered her ears. This was a beauty with a heart-shaped face and long eyebrows and eyes. She was dressed in a plaid black-white s.h.i.+rt, long light yellow pants and flat black shoes.

Eric thought to himself that she must be a high-flying career woman since she was quite similar to Amy Pascal, the woman sitting in the room.

Carta Hunter received the greeting and was about to introduce the girl when she reached out her hand and said:"Nice to meet you, Mr. Williams. My name is Elizabeth Murdoch."

Eric raised his eyebrows slightly and thought:"The girl comes from the Murdoch family. Carta Hunter's respectful att.i.tude shows that she must be a direct relative of Rubert Murdoch."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Murdoch. You can call me Eric."

The girl let go of Eric's hand and asked seriously: "Why don't you call me Elizabeth?"

"What a difficult woman!" Eric thought to himself. Then he unhurriedly explained:"Since we have just met each other, I would not call a girl by her name without her permission."

Elizabeth Murdoch raised her chin slightly and looked into Eric's eyes:"Okay, Eric, you now have my permission to call me Elizabeth."

"Um..."

Carta Hunter saw Eric's embarra.s.sment and hurried to mediate between the two:"Eric, Elizabeth is the second daughter of Rubert Murdoch. She has been interning in Fox these days and she is quite interested in you...your films. That is why she has come here. I hope you won't mind it."

"Of course not," Eric smilingly replied. "Let's go to the room. We will have to wait a moment since the test screening starts at 2 o'clock."

Then the four went to the room at the end of the hall. Elizabeth Murdoch deliberately moved closer to Eric. Alan saw this and quickly stepped backwards, following the three behind.