High anxiety in movie industry
http://bit.ly/1rJ5jkE
BEN FRITZ AND SRICH SCHWARTZEL | THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
前言：这几天除了冲击欧美关系的马航二次空难，大众娱乐集团想要买进华纳的计画也是
在欧美新闻网站有热门讨论与深度分析的重要政经事件，以下就借由华尔街日报记者深入
浅出的巧妙手笔，近一步了解好莱坞圈内人士对此事件的看法
HOLLYWOOD has long expected consolidation as the movie industry grapples with
lower home-entertainment revenue, changing video-consumption habits and the
need for global scale.
好莱坞专家已经在很早以前，就预测片场间大规模的合并案迟早会发生，因为这个产业正
在与以下环境搏斗－片场家庭娱乐部门的收入(DVD或蓝光租售)逐年下滑、影视消费模式
的改变，与对北美以外市场的更加需要。
Already, most studios have shrunk the number of films they release each year
and closed art house-focused divisions to focus on big-budget event movies.
事实上，大多数的片场都已经调降每年电影的发行量，并陆续关闭艺术导向的子公司，转
而把投资目标聚焦在大成本的盛会型热门电影。
But for those who live and breathe by the traditional studio model, Wednesday
’s news that 21st Century Fox wants to buy Time Warner, owner of the Warner
Bros production studio, was reason for anxiety.
然而对那些以传统电影片场模式生存的人来说，上周三21世纪大众想买进时代华纳集团（
也就是华纳兄弟电影母公司）的震撼消息，却成为他们最近焦虑的缘由。
Mergers wouldn’t just mean fewer jobs, but less competition for talent and
less diversity among the industry’s key decision-makers.
因为购并象征的不只是更少的工作机会，也代表演艺人才竞争的空间变少了。当然，娱乐
圈重要决策者的多样化程度也只会下降。
Though a consolidated Warner and Fox would probably have “a tremendous
appetite for content”, said Jeremy Zimmer, chief executive of the United
Talent Agency, “anytime two becomes one, that’s a problem”.
好莱坞经纪公司UTA的总裁Jeremy Zimmer接受记者访问时说：“假如华纳与大众合而为一
的话，对单一公司的内容资产或许会更有吸引力，但这种如虎添翼的并购案一旦实现，那
就是问题了。”
注：UTA签约的著名艺人有强尼戴普、裘莉、查宁塔图、葛妮丝派特洛等，业界公认UTA是
好莱坞第三大经纪公司，仅次于CAA与WME
Fox would want to keep Warner Bros and its own Twentieth Century Fox
separate, according to a source.
有消息指出：假如大众成功买进华纳，大众仍会让华纳自己保持独立运作。
Still, it is difficult to imagine that operations would not be consolidated
over time if two of Hollywood’s largest film and television studios came
under the same corporate roof.
然而，当好莱坞两间最大的影视制作片场共处于同一个屋簷下时，很难想像不会随着时间
过去而进行人事上的重整。
Warner’s own New Line Cinema division could be a harbinger. Time Warner
acquired New Line some 18 years ago, as part of its purchase of Turner
Broadcasting System. For 10 years, New Line operated separately from Warner
Bros.
华纳自己的“新线”影业就是一个血淋淋的案例。时代华纳在1996年“透纳传播系统”的
并购案中，顺道把新线纳入成为自己的资产－不过在双方合作的前十年，新线的经营并没
有受到华纳的特别限制。
But in 2008, Time Warner eliminated New Line operations, including home
entertainment, distribution, television and more.
Today, New Line is a label within Warner Bros that employs 60 people, down
from 550 at its peak.
但到了2008年，华纳却大幅裁撤了新线的不少部门，如行销DVD的家庭娱乐部门、原本独
立于华纳的发行宣传部门、有制作一些节目的电视部门..等。如今，新线在华纳管控下，
只剩下60位工作人员，明显跟当初巅峰期的超过5百人有不少差别。
Warner Bros is Hollywood’s largest producer of films and television shows but
Fox isn’t far behind and the two have similar strategies to put together
diverse slates for the broadest possible audiences.
华纳是好莱坞现今规模最大的影视制作片场，然而大众相比之下却也没有落后太多；而且
，这两家公司有不少产品的潜在观众群与宣传策略，其实是相近的。
Among the few points of differentiation are Fox’s greater success in family
animated films and Warner’s ownership of the DC Comics superhero library.
如果要列举这两家公司比较大的差异，大众在家庭导向的动画喜剧更为成功，华纳自己拥
有的DC漫画可堪称是规模庞大的超级英雄图书馆。
Fox’s biggest recent successes include the X-Men and Ice Age movie franchises,
along with The Simpsons and Modern Family on television.
大众近期最成功的品牌，电影有“X战警”与“冰原历险记”两大吸金系列，电视部分则
包括今年因本土化在台湾翻红的动画喜剧“辛普森家庭”、美国收视超过千万人，但在
亚洲因同性恋情节被压制的伪记录片喜剧“摩登家庭”。
Warner Bros has Harry Potterand The Lord of The Rings as well as television
hits The Big Bang Theory and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
华纳这边除了“哈利波特”、“魔戒”两大奇幻冒险系列电影外，美国收视率最高的影集
“宅男行不行”、今年奥斯卡主持人艾伦迪珍妮主持的脱口秀，也是由他们负责制作的。
Both are in the midst of changes in senior leadership. Warner chief executive
Kevin Tsujihara was promoted to the top job just a year ago.
这两家影视集团近年也面临重要高层更替的关键时刻。华纳去年才让日裔的凯文辻原升官
变成CEO，而他也是有史以来第一位带有亚洲血统的片场高官。
Fox chief Jim Gianopulos took the reins solo in late 2012 after his longtime
co-chairman Tom Rothman was ousted. It is widely believed that Fox later this
year will bring on Stacey Snider, the former chairman of Universal and current
CEO of DreamWorks SKG, to help run the studio.
至于大众在2012九月以前，原本是采用双董事长模式，但当Tom Rothman辞职之后，现在
就只剩下Jim Gianopulos独自领导大众影视娱乐部门。另外，业界也相信大众会在不久的
将来，把前环球董事长、目前是梦工厂CEO的Stacey Snider挖进经営团队。
On the Warner lot on Wednesday, when employees were given no more information
than what was disclosed to the public, there was a sense that a deal of some
sort was imminent. Much of the talk was about what sort of buyer would be
best.
再把现场拉回到上周三华纳的总部，当那里的工作人员知道的(大众提出的并购提议)资讯
其实跟其他外界看热闹的乡民没有太大差别时，公司内部有一种大交易案迟早会发生的感
觉，许多人甚至已经在讨论哪个企业集团会是最好的买家。
“The people who work for Warner Bros would rather be bought by Google than
Fox,” said one executive, “because we don’t want to be redundant”.
华纳一位匿名高层就对华尔街日报表示：“比起大众，华纳的工作人员宁愿被Google买下
－因为他们不想(在被同质性集团收购后)变成冗员。”
(21st Century Fox and News Corporation, owner of The Australian, were until
mid-2013 part of the same company.)
最后顺便补个八卦︰撰写此文的华尔街日报，与刊登此报导文的澳洲新闻网站，原先都与
大众娱乐一样隶属美/澳双国籍媒体大亨梅铎掌权的新闻集团，不过大众已经在去年年中
从新闻集团划分出去，但大众的头号领导者仍然是梅铎。