Note: Now I'm sure it was $10 million. Cleopatra cost $44 million.
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Catherine handed the appointment letters for the CEOs of Intel and Apple to Sanders—the "future" president of AMD.
Catherine found it amusing that the former president of AMD was now serving as Intel's president.
At times, Catherine had a peculiar sense of humor, and it was quite entertaining.
After taking office, Sanders launched sweeping reforms.
First, he slashed the price of personal computers across the board by $300, while simultaneously rolling out "non-profit" advertising campaigns.
The news caused a massive stir once it was released.
IBM called an emergency meeting, and HP also seemed to be preparing to reach out.
At that point, Sanders didn't stop there. He announced that the second generation of Microsoft PCs would feature an open hardware platform, and that part of the software source code would also be released to make it easier for other companies to develop software and games for the DOS platform.
In addition, Intel and Apple would be happy to brief interested hardware manufacturers in advance on the development of the next-generation application platform.
Sanders also hoped Blizzard Entertainment would accelerate game development, since games were a major reason people bought computers in the first place.
As for the company's internal structure, because of his difficult childhood and his respect for lower-ranking employees, Sanders greatly simplified it, reducing the number of middle layers between top management and ordinary workers.
Historically, Sanders was a deeply loyal person. He devoted himself to Fairchild Semiconductor, only to be sidelined in the end. Driven by anger, he left and founded AMD.
Catherine understood Sanders. After all, she had worked in software herself and was familiar with the field. She would never do something as self-destructive as what Fairchild Semiconductor had done.
Reassured, she entrusted the electronics business to Sanders and shifted her focus to the television and film industries.
AB Television would use the classic angel wings as its logo.
Catherine positioned the station as a film and entertainment network.
Of course, a television station couldn't survive on just one program.
And naturally, Catherine couldn't personally oversee the development of every show.
She planned to create just one program: American Idol.
Most of what Catherine produced had precedents; otherwise, she wouldn't do it.
Take GameTV, for example. In Catherine's era, there were some incredibly inventive foreigners who started from scratch, building integrated circuits, writing programs, and creating a Tetris game console with built-in display output. Unlike Catherine, they used LED lights, while Catherine used a television screen.
American Idol was Catherine's flagship project.
The original American Idol was a reality show launched by Fox in 2002, adapted from Pop Idol, with the goal of discovering American pop music superstars. Contestants first competed in preliminary rounds in designated cities, and those selected by judges and guest judges—all big names in the pop music industry at the time—advanced to Hollywood for the next stage.
The Chinese talent show Super Girl can be considered a clone of American Idol and Pop Idol.
Catherine expanded the scope of popular music to include virtually all mainstream genres. She wanted to create a truly mass-appeal show.
With the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Catherine believed her program would be a success.
Everything had to be prepared step by step, and Catherine needed major figures to come on board.
She set her sights on Elvis Presley.
Unexpectedly, when she sent a letter to Elvis, his manager demanded a signing fee of one million dollars.
Elvis's manager was named Parker, better known as "Colonel Parker."
While "Colonel" Parker was widely regarded as a top-tier manager, Catherine saw him as nothing more than a complete vampire—a cold-blooded monster.
On May 21, 1977, before Elvis's death, he was already extremely weak, and Parker was furious.
He even roared, "Listen to me—what matters is that he performs tonight!"
It could be said that Elvis's death was orchestrated by this man.
Even more ruthless, after Elvis died, devoted fans began flocking to Memphis from all over the world. Parker booked a flight not to Tennessee, but to New York, where he met with RCA. The company had sold more Elvis tapes and records than any other artist in history. Parker correctly predicted that every store in the country would sell out of Elvis recordings within 24 hours. He pressured RCA to raise prices and place massive orders with major labels, forcing them to delay secondary orders in order to maintain the revenue flow from Elvis's records. Parker then met with a businessman to lower prices on some Elvis merchandise. He arrived in Memphis on August 18, the day of Elvis's funeral.
Nick, Elvis's physician, prescribed him nearly 100 pills in just a few months; one prescription arranged by Parker was among the most significant causes of his death.
Moreover, Parker ruthlessly attempted to seize the rights to Elvis's songs from his 11-year-old daughter.
He destroyed Elvis's talent and his health.
Although Elvis remained popular from 1961 onward, his condition steadily deteriorated. He repeatedly tried to free himself from Parker's control, but failed.
During a concert tour in 1977, Elvis earned a total of $2.3 million, yet he was so poor that he couldn't afford medical checkups and had to rely on doctors hired by Parker. Parker had drained all of his earnings.
At that moment, Catherine's eyes lit up.
Maybe… she could recruit Elvis?
At the time, many singers shared a similar attitude toward Parker.
"I despise Parker, yet I worship him like a savior, because singers can't even control their own lives."
Catherine sent a letter directly to Elvis, completely bypassing Parker.
She believed this would give her a better chance of success. Even one million dollars to bring Elvis on board would be worth it.
While all this was happening, the buzz around Fallout was overshadowed.
The $40 million film Cleopatra burst onto the scene, its massive budget drawing most of the attention.
Cleopatra was set to premiere in June, and this was clearly a publicity stunt.
But Catherine remained silent.
A huge budget, huh? The higher the cost, the bigger the loss.
Cleopatra is the most expensive period drama in Hollywood history—and also the most disastrously unprofitable.
Catherine's film had fully learned from Cleopatra's mistakes and would never repeat them under any circumstances.
Preparations for the television network wouldn't begin until the following year, and Catherine couldn't handle everything on her own. She delegated authority and rushed back to the set.
Eastwood was waiting for her there…