January 24, 1991
Man, it’s great to be back. When I got into my rented car and hit Highway 280, I laughed out loud, I was so thrilled. The trees, the colors, the quality of the sunlight… San Francisco is the most beautiful city on the planet. It’s a wonderfully reassuring feeling to return and realize that my old life is still here, waiting for me, if I want it.
The good news is, they’re truly hot to do POP 2. Over lunch at Gulf of Siam with Brian and Alan Weiss, Ann Kronen covered her entire placemat with ball-point notations. She was in her most no-nonsense mode, like a businesswoman in a TV commercial, leaning forward and saying things like “Brian, that’s your department.” Doug must have lit a fire under her in this morning’s priority meeting. Since she’d responded to all my previous Prince 2 proposals (the first in May ’90) with a batting of eyelashes and a “Let’s wait and see” smile, I found today’s encounter immensely gratifying. Best of all, it looks like Lance is back in the running to get this assignment.
Toward the end of lunch, I decided there would never be a better moment, and brought up the royalty rate. Brian, bless his heart, stepped right in with the 8% figure. Ann took it with a brave blink. Brian went right on and said: “Doug waffled at first on the 8%, but because of the success of Prince 1 in Europe and Japan, and the strength of Jordan’s name, and in view of the contribution he’s going to make on the sequel, he finally said it was OK.” The way Brian presented it, Ann had no choice but to agree. I asked for 8% and, amazingly, that’s what I’m getting. Victory is sweet.
Before I left, I dropped by Doug’s office. Kazue was there, and Jeannine Cook, and Doug’s parents. Doug’s father told a story about someone’s grandchildren shouting “Who’s for POP?” as they ran downstairs, and he didn’t know what it stood for.”
“I thought it stood for ‘point-of-purchase,’” I said.
Doug laughed. “Not any more.”
Paid a visit to Presage in El Cerrito. It looks like Scott’s finally getting close to finished. My visit seemed to cheer everyone up. Funny how you can motivate someone to work harder just by showing up.
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I’ve wondered why they were talking about PoP2 even though there was only a little effort in marketing and sales figures weren’t that good.. but I guess the eur/jap figures explain it.