Copyright Sold

London felt great to Zucker.

Although the air quality in the early morning was average, it was nothing like the foggy scenes depicted in movies. Zucker, Victor, and Candy had arrived in London around 10:00 PM last night, so they hadn't headed to the BBC; instead, they checked into a five-star hotel that had been arranged for them.

Loaded!

That's right, the impression the BBC gave Zucker was that they were rich—incredibly rich.

This wasn't just reflected in the fact that they insisted on booking a five-star hotel for the three of them; even the Wald Pictures employees who had arrived ten days earlier to handle the preliminary contact were staying at this same five-star hotel, with all expenses fully covered by the BBC.

"The BBC is truly wealthy. If I don't fleece them for a bit, it wouldn't even make sense now."

After waking up, Zucker looked at the exquisite and sumptuous breakfast and couldn't help but sigh to Victor and the others. The breakfast was simply fantastic; in his two lifetimes, Zucker had never eaten such an expensive meal.

Victor laughed, "Boss, it's true that the BBC is rich, but it's mainly because we are citizens of America."

Candy sliced a piece of bread and chimed in, "That's right. After all, their ancestors were once powerful, and they have always maintained a natural sense of superiority when dealing with America. Covering our hotel bill is just their way of showing off their hard power."

The three of them enjoyed the food while chatting about the upcoming copyright cooperation.

Not long after.

The Wald Pictures staff who had arrived in the UK ten days early appeared before Zucker.

"Boss, how did you sleep last night?"

Her name was Martha Hopkins, a 40-year-old woman who served as the manager of the legal and financial departments at Wald Pictures. She was a very capable woman.

"Excellent, simply perfect. I don't even want to go back to Los Angeles," Zucker laughed.

"Oh! If you say that, Boss, then all the employees in our company are going to lose a good boss," Martha smiled.

"Hahaha, Martha, I've always said that you're the most interesting person in our company."

Zucker was never stingy when it came to complimenting his employees; it didn't cost him anything, anyway.

The sumptuous breakfast ended amidst the pleasant conversation of the four.

9:00 AM.

The four of them arrived at the BBC on time to begin negotiations with the relevant heads of Teletubbies regarding copyright issues.

The initial negotiations went smoothly, and the atmosphere was quite friendly, but a huge discrepancy arose regarding the final buyout price for the copyright.

The BBC stated that they required the permanent copyright for Teletubbies, offering a one-time payment of 1.5 million pounds, with the contract excluding any profit sharing from merchandise or advertising revenue.

In other words, once Zucker took the 1.5 million pounds, he would have no further connection to Teletubbies.

How could Zucker accept that?

The production cost of Teletubbies wasn't high—at most 5 to 7 million pounds—but the key factor was the BBC's broadcasting platform.

Once Teletubbies aired, it dominated the ratings for children's channels in the UK. Not to mention the advertising revenue, the annual sales of related books and toys alone were staggering. Furthermore, the subsequent sale of broadcasting rights across Europe and the rest of the world would exceed 200 million pounds in licensing fees alone.

With such a huge and delicious piece of meat on the table, how could Zucker be content with just 1.5 million pounds?

It was simply bullying!

How infuriating!

"Mr. Wald, you should know that we are the BBC. We are not afraid of lawsuits. We could simply proceed with the broadcast once production is complete," the BBC's lead negotiator said slowly.

The implication was clear.

You have to accept it whether you like it or not.

At worst, we'll just fight an international lawsuit.

International lawsuits were notoriously tedious, time-consuming, and expensive. Even if Zucker won in the end, the compensation might not be much.

"Heh!"

Zucker looked at the BBC representative and sneered, "Yes, you aren't afraid of lawsuits, but neither are we, and I have the money. You might not know that just a few days ago, I made over 8 million dollars in the stock market in a single day."

"Uh..."

The few negotiators from the BBC were instantly speechless.

They had been completely unaware of this news. After all, they were "arrogant" Brits, and Wald Pictures was merely a bottom-tier Hollywood company; the two were not on equal footing.

"Ahem... everyone, let me add something. My client, Mr. Zucker Wald, is a wealthy American citizen and a young man who isn't afraid to spend money. He's young, rich, and prone to impulsive decisions. Sure, you could bypass our copyright and force the broadcast on your platform, but I don't think your company wants to trigger a media firestorm before Teletubbies even airs."

Candy was truly Candy; his words were absolutely lethal.

A media firestorm!

Zucker was fully capable of stirring one up!

Because while the Americans and the British might cooperate frequently at the government level, the citizens of the two countries could be said to look down on each other.

The British thought: "You Americans were once our colony, our territory; what do you have to be so cocky about?"

The Americans thought: "We are the world's greatest power; you Brits are already a sunset empire; what do you have to be so proud of?"

To put it simply, as long as Zucker was willing to spend the money, he could absolutely ignite a media storm. For the face-obsessed British, this was a reality they simply couldn't accept.

The subsequent negotiations went much more smoothly. It was just a matter of discussing profit sharing for merchandise and secondary licensing rights.

The reason the person in charge at the BBC was willing to give Wald Pictures a cut was, first, because they had witnessed Zucker's financial strength.

Second, they did not want to deal with lawsuits or a media firestorm.

Third, and most importantly, although they valued the future prospects of Teletubbies, they were not time travelers, so they had no idea that the future profits brought by Teletubbies would far exceed their imagination.

Over the next few days, several more rounds of negotiations took place.

Finally, a contract was reached.

The terms of the contract were: 1. The BBC would pay a one-time fee of 1 million pounds as a copyright licensing fee.

2. For secondary licensing of the copyright, including subsequent sales of film and television rights to other regions or countries, Zucker's Wald Pictures would receive 10% of the licensing fees.

3. In the market for Teletubbies DVDs and videotapes, Zucker would also receive a 15% share of the profits.

4. For merchandise licensing, including but not limited to toys, keychains, apparel, books, and 14 other categories, he would receive an 8% share of the profits.

And so on.

Overall, this licensing agreement was satisfactory for both the BBC and Zucker.

Once the licensing was complete, Zucker wanted to look into the situation regarding Harry Potter, but he discovered it had not yet been released for sale, and time did not permit it, as there was a mountain of work at the company waiting for Zucker and his team to handle.

London International Airport.

Zucker and his group were waiting for their flight in the lounge.

"Jonathan Nolan, you stop right there! Mom said that once we got to the UK, everything would be up to me."

A robust voice, tinged with a mix of anger and helplessness, reached Zucker's ears.

An airport is naturally a crowded and noisy place, so Zucker didn't pay much attention.

However!

When Zucker turned his head to look, he was shocked to discover that he actually recognized these two young men.

He had seen them in his past life!

<> The second update is a bit late, my apologies to everyone. The author had some bad luck today; I cut my hand while chopping vegetables, and the blood was gushing out.