On June 5th, Andrew O'Hare from Dunn Films personally attended the signing ceremony in the UK for the rights transfer of the last four *Harry Potter* books. For $5 million plus a 3% share of future profits, they officially secured the rights to the entire *Harry Potter* series.
Dunn had a quick phone chat with Andrew, who mentioned that J.K. Rowling seemed pretty cooperative—probably feeling a bit guilty and trying to make nice. Thanks to David Heyman's mediation, some of her tougher demands had been dropped, like allowing American actors for the director and supporting roles. It was a big show of goodwill.
On June 6th, a weekend, the third-week box office numbers for *Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace* came in: $98.8 million, with just a 12% drop. Three weeks in, the North American total had hit $340 million! Beating *Titanic*'s $600 million North American record looked like it was only a matter of time.
When Dunn landed on the cover of *Time* magazine again, dubbed the "King of the World," he pretty much became synonymous with box office gold.
Then, on June 7th, a bombshell dropped that rocked Silicon Valley and Wall Street: Google had scored $25 million in funding from Dunn Films, the KPB Foundation, and Sequoia Capital. Wall Street and Silicon Valley teaming up wasn't rare in these internet bubble-crazy years, but Dunn Films jumping in? That had people freaking out.
Dunn Films… wasn't that a Hollywood movie company? Sure, *Titanic* and *Star Wars: Episode I* were masterpieces, and Dunn was a genius director, but did he know squat about venture capital? This was nuts!
The KPB Foundation and Sequoia Capital were playing with investors' money—their managers could afford to take risks since they'd still get paid if things tanked. But Dunn Films was Dunn's private gig. If this flopped, it was his own cash going down the drain. With the internet boom, hundreds of companies popped up every year, and just as many crashed. Who could say Google wouldn't be next?
The kid had gotten too cocky!
What blew Wall Street and Hollywood's minds even more was the breakdown: Google gave up 20% of its equity for the $25 million. Dunn Films shelled out $12.5 million for a 10% stake, while KPB and Sequoia each kicked in $6.25 million for 5%. Insane!
When Brian Lord heard about it, he was livid and called Dunn up. "Dunn, didn't you say you were tight on cash? What the hell are you doing? Venture capital's not your playground!"
Dunn scrambled to smooth things over. "Google's founders are Stanford grads, you know. My secretary, Reese—oh, right, her contract's still with AA—she kept nudging me to help out her old classmates."
"This isn't some small favor—it's over ten million bucks!" Brian sounded like he wanted to strangle him.
Dunn laughed awkwardly. "Well, Brian, you know me—hard to say no to a pretty face, right?"
Brian practically growled. "Dunn, women are gonna be your downfall!"
Then Bill Mechanic and Tom Rothman called too, chewing him out. They'd busted their butts pulling strings for Dunn's loans, and now he was off playing venture capitalist? Dunn apologized left and right, promising it wouldn't happen again, barely calming them down.
---
Tomorrow was Natalie Portman's 18th birthday.
That day, Dunn welcomed two special guests from New York: little Taylor Swift and her mom, Andrea Swift. It'd been over half a year, and Taylor had shot up—her brows arching just like Dunn remembered from another life.
When Taylor saw Dunn, she didn't have a shred of the usual kid-meets-bigshot nerves. She just waved a tiny hand. "Hey, Dunn, you're not gonna kick me out, are you?"
"No way!" Dunn chuckled, crouching down to her level. "Big welcome, warm welcome!"
Taylor pouted. "That didn't sound real. Liar!"
"Taylor, we're not in the sticks—mind your manners!" Andrea scolded, then turned to Dunn with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Mr. Walker. She's a bit wild. Don't take it personally."
Dunn waved it off, grinning. "I think it's great—real and cute, right, Ms. Swift?"
"Hmph!" Taylor was still mad about getting scolded and whipped her head away.
Kids, right? Dunn didn't mind. "Ms. Swift, are you here to celebrate Nat's birthday?"
Andrea nodded. "Yeah. Over the past few months, Mrs. Hershler and Ms. Portman have been a huge help—finding us a place, hooking us up with the best music teacher in New York. Taylor's come a long way."
Dunn thought for a sec, testing the waters. "New York's music scene… it's not quite California's. Warner Records, Universal, Sony—they're all in Hollywood."
"But… music's an expensive path. My husband and I need to—"
Dunn cut in. "It's simple, really. My company's always looking for talent. Oh, you might not know—Shirley Hershler's out of the agent game now; she's with Dunn Films. Entertainment's a messy business, but Shirley raised Natalie right. You could learn a lot from her about keeping Taylor grounded. I'd hate to see her get flak for her personal life down the road."
Andrea went quiet, clearly mulling it over.
"My husband's a stockbroker, and Taylor's got a little brother—only five."
"Stockbroker?" Dunn's eyebrow ticked up as he smiled. "Perfect! If you've seen the news, I just invested in a tech company and hold a ton of stock. Next year's gonna be big. Having Scott Swift's help would be awesome."
Andrea was still thinking when Taylor piped up, "Dunn, what's this 'AB' thing mean?"
The little troublemaker had popped open Dunn's cabinet, where three stacks of printed scripts sat on the left shelf: one labeled "A," one "B," and one "AB."
"Hey, kiddo, you're too young to get this," Dunn said, hurrying over to tidy the mess she'd made.
Taylor puffed out her cheeks, indignant. "Who says I don't get it? Hmph, don't underestimate me!"
"Oh, you get it?" Maybe it was some past-life vibe, but Dunn loved bantering with her. "Alright, what's it mean?"
"Scripts! Movie scripts!" Taylor shook her head smugly.
Dunn's eyes lit up. "Well, look at you, smarty-pants."
"Duh, hmph!" She pointed a chubby little finger, lecturing him. "'B' stands for B-movie—low-budget stuff. 'A' is for adult, like adult films, right? Told you I know!"
Dunn's jaw dropped. He was floored.
Andrea Swift was just as shocked. She couldn't believe a big-shot Hollywood director was stashing adult film scripts…
She couldn't waste another second. She rushed over, scooped Taylor up, and snapped, "How many times have I told you not to touch other people's stuff?"
Taylor didn't look remotely guilty, just sulked pitifully at Dunn. "So what's 'AB' then? Super cheap adult flicks?"
Andrea wanted to crawl into a hole. Kids say the wildest things.
This had to be some private, kinky thing of Dunn's—super embarrassing to have Taylor blurt it out. And yeah, Dunn's face was a rainbow of colors, absolutely priceless.
After a long pause, Dunn noticed Andrea's weird look and coughed hard. "Taylor, you've got it all wrong."
But the Swift duo clearly didn't buy it. Taylor's take on "A" and "B" made too much sense.
"'A' is for 'art'—art films," Dunn said, taking a deep breath. "'B' is for 'business'—commercial stuff. 'AB' is both: commercial *and* artistic."
He had a whole writing team; they weren't just sitting around. Those scripts were their work.
"Ohhh!" Now it was Andrea's turn to blush hard.
It was totally professional, and they'd misunderstood it as…
"Mr. Walker, I…" Andrea was mortified.
Taylor's eyes sparkled, like she'd cracked a case. "Got it now!"
Dunn sighed. "Ms. Swift, Taylor's only ten and already jumping to… that. It's not great. You should talk to Shirley Hershler about raising girls. She's old-school, but a little caution's good—especially since Taylor's bound for showbiz, right?"
After that fiasco, Andrea realized she'd dropped the ball with Taylor. Ten years old, casually tossing around adult film talk like it was nothing? That wasn't normal.
---
Dunn's tech investment stirred up a storm in Hollywood—some mocked, some sneered, some just watched the chaos unfold. Either way, after *Star Wars: Episode I*, Dunn was still riding high as Hollywood's top dog.
Then came another bombshell that shook the whole industry.
After six months of talks, Viacom Media Group—Paramount's parent company—sealed a deal to buy CBS, one of America's big three TV networks, for $33 billion in cash and stock.
Paramount had been struggling lately, but with Viacom snagging CBS and its massive reach, the Hollywood tide turned. People started betting on Paramount's comeback.
Leaning on a media giant was becoming the trend for movie studios.
Maybe even the only way to survive.
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