King of Hollywood-Chapter 542 - 263: Don’t Let Me Down

"Decades ago, something similar happened when television began to replace newspapers as the new medium. Compared to the need to go out to buy newspapers or wait for the paperboys to deliver them to the home, televisions were undoubtedly much more convenient—you could just turn them on and be informed about the various news you could—or couldn’t—find in the newspapers," Adrian said to Claude in the spacious office.

"And before the rise of television, radio broadcasts had already been forcing newspapers to adapt and adjust themselves. The growth of the internet is much faster than television was, so it’s going to have a huge impact on traditional media, right?" Claude said with a smile, "You’ve said it many times before, Ed."

Adrian shrugged and continued without concern, "You and I both know that the advantage of the internet lies in the speed of dissemination and the vast amount of information, which greatly exceeds traditional media. Participants are also gradually becoming ordinary people, which will generate even greater reactions. Just think, what if in ten years, you could access the internet with a mobile phone? What if you could take photos with a mobile phone, high-definition photos, or even videos, and then upload them instantly to specialized websites?"

"Are you making predictions again?" Claude raised an eyebrow, "So, is that why you had me acquire Macromedia and take a controlling stake in Adobe?"

"Well... about that..." Adrian suddenly flashed a sheepish smile, "Actually, we just needed Macromedia. I think their Flash software has great potential. I initially thought it was developed by Adobe."

"What?" Claude looked incredulously surprised as he raised his eyebrows.

"Don’t worry, Adobe will have things we need in the future too," Adrian quickly added.

"Oh, hell, I knew it. Completely trusting you was a mistake," Claude rolled his eyes and moaned.

"Hey, how can you say that, Claude? I’ve often told you that my opinions aren’t always entirely correct. You need to have your own judgment," Adrian immediately retorted, "You’re just overly trusting. Yes, I admit I was wrong, but don’t you think you should bear some responsibility too?"

"Are you bragging, Ed? Is that it?" Claude narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms in front of him, staring at him as he asked.

"Bragging? Me?" Adrian laughed out loud, "If I were to brag, I’d use this, not something about the company."

He said this as he pulled out his wallet and tossed a credit card in front of Claude.

"What’s this?" Claude picked it up and examined it. It was entirely black, unremarkable, but the craftsmanship was indeed very refined and exquisite.

"American Express has just launched its newest top-tier credit card, the Centurion Card, following Citibank’s lead. It’s even more prestigious than the Platinum Card, not open for application—only available by invitation from the bank," Adrian explained succinctly.

"Oh? Does it offer better services?" Claude asked.

"No spending limit, or perhaps a full-service personal assistant," Adrian thought for a moment, "I just used it to buy a Gulfstream; it’s really not bad. Maybe one day, if I accidentally leave something on a train I’m traveling on—like a car being transported—I could call them and ask them to notify the train station to drop off the item at the next stop."

The credit card he produced was naturally the legendary black card. Despite having heard various rumors about the world’s top credit cards in his previous life, it was only once he had it in hand that he realized it was nothing special; the so-called unlimited credit line was still built on the cardholder’s assets, and excessive overdrawing would lead to the card being reclaimed. As for the all-around service, that was simply a tactic for banks to woo customers. Besides, how many people were truly worthy of being sought after by them? Most already had their own assistant teams.

"Stop joking, when have you ever taken a train?" Claude said disdainfully.

That was true; whether Adrian went out by car or by plane, trains in the United States were considered one of the less reliable forms of transportation. After all, freight transport was much more lucrative than passenger service, and most people preferred to travel by car.

"I’m just using an example. If you don’t think it’s enough, I have another," Adrian said, pulling out another black card and handing it to Claude, "This one is from Citibank. After American Express sent out their invitation, they also invited me soon after. The competition is really fierce."

"If I also bought a Boeing 747 for my personal use, they’d invite me too," Claude shrugged, handing back the two black cards to Adrian, "Alright, let’s continue our previous topic. Frankly, if it weren’t for the reduction in liquid assets due to the control of Adobe, we wouldn’t be competing so fiercely with Bertelsmann for the ownership of Random House."

"I’ll say it again, Adobe might not be of much use to us now, but that won’t be the case in the future." Adrian repeated his earlier assertion.

Okay, he was being somewhat sophistical; holding shares in Adobe was mainly for Flash software. However, his understanding of it was limited, so it was only after starting the acquisition of Adobe that he discovered Macromedia, the developers of Flash software, had not been acquired by Adobe. That’s when he switched from full acquisition to holding and pulled Macromedia into the group. But Adobe wasn’t entirely useless; their image editing software had always been the best in the industry, and Adrian had a lot more planned for the website part.

All this was beside the point. Claude’s question about Random House was the main issue. As one of the top 9 publishing brands in America, Random House had a very respected name. Although AC Media’s focus was on movies, television, and the internet, they couldn’t completely abandon traditional print media, especially not when their publishing companies gained fame from agenting the Harry Potter series—it would be unreasonable not to take this opportunity for expansion.

But last year, as AC Media set their sights on Random House, so did the Bertelsmann Group. The two sides clashed over Random House multiple times, and with Bertelsmann’s history of over a hundred years, they weren’t as easy to handle as Disney. Adding to that, AC Media had just acquired Macromedia and had taken control of Adobe, and Claude had suffered quite a few losses at their hands. If he couldn’t find a way to turn the tables, they would have to concede Random House.

"Delay it," Adrian said, "you know our plan, at most one year. I’ve already had Uncle Regret start preparing."

"I don’t know where you get your confidence from. Even my father can’t be one hundred percent sure," Claude sighed, "Delaying for a year is not going to be easy, Bertelsmann is not Disney."

Adrian then gave an unexpected answer, "If it really comes down to it, then give up. It’s not as if we can’t manage without Random House. Our future lies on the internet, and the success of The Blair Witch Project has shown this conclusively. In seven or eight years, it might be possible that a topic reported by CNN doesn’t cause much of a stir, but once it’s spread on the internet, it could spark heated discussions among countless people."

"Oh?" Claude raised an eyebrow, knowing Adrian must have more to say.

Sure enough, Adrian smiled and changed the subject, "What do you think about Houghton Mifflin Harcourt?"

"...I knew it, you’ve always had a big appetite," Claude laughed after a moment of surprise.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt was one of the big four publishers in America, with a history as long as Bertelsmann’s. Random House was good, but it still couldn’t compare to them. To acquire such an established publishing house, one would either need a huge sum of money or engage in a merger and restructuring. The latter was clearly not Adrian’s choice, so the former... if the plan went smoothly, it might actually be possible.

"You indeed have a far-sighted vision, Ed, even though you are always vague with details. But when it comes to long-term planning, you really have a knack," Claude remarked with a sense of admiration.

"Don’t worry, Claude, everything is still uncertain; let’s focus on what we have at hand first," Adrian laughed heartily.

"The Blair Witch Project" was still gaining momentum. With the testimonials of those who had gone to see the movie first, discussions about it online became even more heated. Consequently, the number of theaters showing the film continued to rise, and the box office naturally increased. Of course, the Maryland state government faced increasing criticism each day, but thankfully, at this point, Bossworth stepped forward to dispel the rumors.

His timing was perfect. The state government hadn’t completely lost patience yet, and with a substantial sponsorship - which, compared to the box office revenue, was just a drop in the bucket - they didn’t take it to heart. After the whole affair was made public, although some people felt they had been fooled, more were amazed that just such publicity could make them believe the whole thing was real, prompting even more to enter the movie theaters.

Although this was partly due to the covert support of the AC Media-affiliated media, it also had to do with the American public’s own mindset, just as a joke says, "Want to make money from Americans? Just try to underestimate their intelligence."

In the end, "The Blair Witch Project" garnered a whopping 270 million in box office sales worldwide, and Bossworth’s promotional tactics were thus recorded in the annals of movie history, becoming a subject of study for various film companies. However, this couldn’t compare to those few film companies that Adrian had repeatedly emphasized from the start under the umbrella of AC Media.

Well, this was the story for later. Right now, this low-budget film was just starting to exert its strength, and Adrian was busy meeting with a crew that was about to start shooting.

"You might be wondering why I’m personally meeting with you all to talk about a medium-investment film. The reason is simple: the movie adapted from the game was initially co-written by me and someone else." Seated at the head of the long table, Adrian looked at the scriptwriters, actors, and directors in front of him and said with a smile.

Dennis Knight playing Hank, the "Fourth Survivor" known as "Death God," River Phoenix as Leon S. Kennedy, Sarah as Claire Redfield, Love as Jill Valentine, and Lin Zhiling as Ada Wong; yes, the long-awaited film adaptation of "Resident Evil" was finally about to begin shooting.

Of course, except for Dennis being the male lead, the other actors playing roles from the game, only Lin Zhiling’s Ada Wong had a more significant part. After all, from the beginning, the film version had been established to both complement and develop the game version and stand on its own. While the game characters would appear, they wouldn’t have major roles, and what would happen later would depend on how film and game fans perceived the movie.

It was precisely because of this that Adrian was able to persuade River to play the role of Leon. He had initially wanted Aniston to play Jill, and the gimmick of the husband and wife team would have been quite interesting. But after Sarah had agreed to play Claire, she incidentally recommended her "puppy" for the role of Jill, and Adrian naturally wouldn’t refuse, so the plan had to be put on hold. But that was alright, there would be plenty of opportunities in the future.

"I’ve just had a great idea. It would be really interesting for you two to act together. But we’ll have to wait a few more years, let Jenny establish her image as an action star in films," said Adrian to the newlyweds Dennis and Aniston, who had rushed back from their honeymoon to Los Angeles to attend the "Resident Evil" meeting.

Aniston had garnered quite a positive response among movie fans for her roles as a policewoman in "Broken Arrow" and a female hacker in "The Matrix." Whether it be her dashing image in "Broken Arrow" or the scene where she sacrifices herself to protect Trinity and Neo in "The Matrix," both scenes had earned the approval of the majority of movie fans after the arguments had ended, and several film companies were starting to consider her action image.

But the influence of "Friends" was enormous, and the innocently cute and slightly clueless Rachel Green was always more readily accepted by the audience, so Aniston’s action image was not yet solidified. Although Adrian could bring that script out now, it wasn’t the best time, so it would be better to wait a bit longer.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was harmonious, and most people were hearing for the first time that the Miracle Director had co-written a novel with someone else, leading to some questions and then a lively exchange among everyone.

"I wrote the novel about seven or eight years ago, when I always had many interesting ideas popping into my head, so I often took notes on those flashes of inspiration. Some ideas were very suitable for novels, like ’Resident Evil,’ which was built on a completely different framework inspired by ’Dawn of the Dead.’ But there was always so much to do at the time that I only managed to write an outline and some fragments, so I decided to co-write it..." Adrian explained his motives while discreetly observing everyone.

Director Brooke Hammer was quite young, about forty, and had directed a few decent medium-investment commercial films. Among the several directors, Adrian felt his style was closer to the game and to his own ideas, so he had chosen him. Right now, he was talking to two scriptwriters, one a signed screenwriter from the company and the other from the gaming department. They were both easy to talk to, and with Adrian’s occasional mediation, the script was rather well-written.

Dennis was chatting with River from time to time. They had worked together the previous year on Fincher’s "Fight Club" and both had a close relationship with Adrian, so they got along well. However, Adrian’s attention was elsewhere. "Fight Club" was set to be released next month, and he was curious to know what Aniston would think of Winona playing a supporting female role.

On the other side, Sarah and Love were conversing intimately. It seemed, just as the media had mentioned, they were in fact close sisters. However, Adrian could detect the reluctance in Love’s smile. Sarah likely vented all of her dark side onto Love, subduing her to a point where, despite harboring resentment, she dared not to rebel. Otherwise, Love would not secretly be referred to by Adrian as "Sarah’s little dog."

Of course, this had something to do with Adrian playing the good cop by Love’s side, since the movie "Final Destination," starring Love, was about to be released, and her debut album had sold reasonably well. The record company was now preparing her second one. freewёbnoνel-com

As for Lin Zhiling, this was her first time attending such a meeting. She hardly knew anyone, but fortunately her agent had accompanied her today, so she was able to engage in a bit of conversation instead of sitting idly by, unable to do anything. Her agent shared the last name Lin, hailed from Taiwan, and at the age of ten moved with her family to Los Angeles. She majored in Economics and Comparative Literature at the University of California. After graduating, she searched for jobs everywhere until she finally joined MCM Agency. After working in the mailroom for two months, Adrian noticed her and assigned her to be Lin Zhiling’s agent.

Her English name was Kelly, sharing it with Kelly Hu. As for her Chinese name, it was Lin Xilei.

"Alright, let’s call it a day. You’ve all seen the script, and I hope I can see a great movie out of it." Seeing that it was about time, and that everything had been addressed, Adrian stood up to announce the end of the meeting. Of course, he made sure to quietly bid farewell to those he knew well.

"Are you going to take Jenny to see ’Fight Club,’ Dan?" He said to Dennis, who just helplessly rolled his eyes. River, walking ahead, couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Don’t think you can slack off just because it’s a cameo." He said to Sarah. Her response was to pull a face at him and then hurried away with Love, not giving her a chance to curry favor with Adrian.

"Don’t disappoint me, Ling." He said to Lin Zhiling, and he did so in Chinese. She nodded immediately, her smile still alluring even within the confines of the meeting room.

However, to many people’s surprise, Adrian held Lin Xilei back: "Wait a moment, Kelly."

This caught quite a few curious glances. As Lin Zhiling’s agent, Lin Xilei seemingly had no business with the producer, so why keep her behind? Most of those glances carried undertones of understanding, so they didn’t take it to heart. On the other hand, Lin Zhiling’s expression carried a hint of jealousy.

"I heard there’s been some unpleasantness between you and Ling?" After observing Lin Xilei’s slight nervousness, Adrian opened with this question.

Although Lin Xilei didn’t understand why he was asking this, facing such a mogul, she nodded honestly, then began to explain. But Adrian cut in before she could continue: "I know the problem lies with Ling, but as an agent, you’re not cut out for it."

"I was the one who put you in charge of Ling."

"If you have any disputes, you should tell your superior, even the CEO Michael Ovitz—I’ve instructed him—instead of arguing with a client."

"I need an agent who can manage our Asian actors well for the company."

"I have an even more important person I’m considering putting under your care if you meet my standards."

"Don’t let me down." (To be continued. If you like this work, please feel free to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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