Standing in the front yard of his mansion, Adriaan watched the four assistants leave in a hurry. He couldn't help but smile. Thinking about their shocked expressions before they left, he knew that he had almost succeeded.
These scripts were all chosen after careful consideration, especially the four that were mailed out earlier. They were all different genres. There was a school comedy, a romantic love story, a thriller, and a horror film. Three of these four scripts were the kind that could make money, but not a lot of money.
Then, when the other party sent people over to negotiate, he threw out two more potentially valuable scripts – American Pie and Scream. These two movies were examples of low-budget, high-box office films, and there were countless sequels. With the professional quality of these people, it was impossible for them not to see it. Also, he added some reminders at the end.
So, how would the major film companies react?
Adriaan shook his head and ignored them. Anyway, he had already achieved half of his goal. As long as these four movies were made and made money, the other half of his goal would be almost achieved.
He was just a little disappointed and unwilling. One of the four scripts, the one that was sold to Warner's assistant, was supposed to be released two years later. It was The Bodyguard, starring Whitney Houston. If Adriaan remembered correctly, the box office of this movie reached $100 million in North America, which was in the early 1990s!
Unfortunately, he did not invest in it himself, and it was sold for $35,000. It was inevitable that he would be a little depressed. Of course, this feeling was thrown out of Adriaan's mind after a few minutes.
If he wanted to establish his reputation as soon as possible, he couldn't just sell scripts that made a small amount of money. It was necessary to add a script that was a big box office hit to the first few scripts. As long as the producer used a little bit of brainpower, plus the things that Adriaan wrote at the end, it would definitely make Warner a lot of money.
Of course, the most important thing was that Adriaan had a lot of scripts that made money, so he didn't care about this one. In the past three months, he had taken time out to register with the Screenwriter's Guild. It was not because the Guild could help him in times of need, but because the Guild could store and keep the outline of the script for two years by paying a fee.
Most screenwriters would hand over their outlines to the union for safekeeping, and the film company would often check the union to see if there were any noteworthy scripts or stories that might be similar to the newly received scripts.
Adriaan uploaded all ten scripts that he had worked on in the past three months, and in the days to come, he would continue to upload more scripts or complete scripts. In this way, even if there was a possibility of a "similar" idea, he could rely on the Union's records to remain invincible.
As for the changes that might happen to the lives of those "former" screenwriters, sorry, that was not within Adriaan's consideration. When he was still Zhang Haoxuan, he had once read a theory in a science fiction novel. It had left a deep impression on him, as he had been ostracized, and it had left a deep impression on him. It was the Sheep Herd Theory!
The Sheep Herd Theory was not the one that studied the herd effect. The author had hypothesized a scene where more than a billion sheep lived in a world full of ice fields. In order to survive, they lined up in an isosceles triangle. Whenever they encountered grass or water, the sheep at the front could enjoy it first, while the sheep at the back could only eat the grass and drink the leftover water.
No sheep could leave their flock and survive on their own. In the cold ice field, they didn't know when they would see the next place with grass or when a snowstorm would strike. Only by walking together and relying on each other could they survive.
The sheep at the back of the line would squeeze forward in order to obtain the same rights as the sheep at the front, which were nothing more than fresh grass and clean water. The sheep at the front would first have to maintain their current position to ensure that they would not be pushed to the back, and then try their best to move forward.
Some sheep, because they stood at the back, could not appear in front of the line even after a lifetime of hard work. As for some sheep, when they were just born, they stood behind their parents as a matter of course, and their position was much more forward than the other sheep.
There was no fairness in this world.
Now that he had been reborn, or it could be said that God or some other powerful being had adopted him, placed him in a front position, and given him a pair of extremely hard horns, why would he not continue to squeeze forward?
Perhaps in the future, he would set up a foundation to help those down-and-out screenwriters. Perhaps he would secretly support the Screenwriter's Union to fight for their rights and interests. The 2008 general strike had a far-reaching impact. Before that, there had been several strike plans that had been aborted. He knew all of this when he was still Zhang Haoxuan. But it was impossible for him to give up plagiarism in exchange for money and fame.
Shameless? Of course, he would never deny it. But he didn't care.
"I'm going out for a while, Mrs. Galen. Don't wait for me tonight." Adriaan tidied up a little and walked out. He had an important appointment that afternoon.
"Okay, but I will make two sandwiches and leave them in the fridge. You just need to put them in the microwave and eat them," Mrs. Galen said kindly as she tidied up the living room.
"Thank you!" Adriaan nodded, then went out and drove to the city.
Although the profession of screenwriter was not as lowly as it used to be, it was not that high. Otherwise, why would there have been a general strike in 2008? A good script, a good director, and good actors were the three main factors in making a good movie. But when had a screenwriter ever asked for a bonus? Even the screenwriters in the Screenwriter's Union with an annual income of 500,000 hadn't asked for it!
Although screenwriters had made it easy for him to enter Hollywood, he would not stop there.
"I didn't expect you to arrive earlier than me, Krau." Adriaan sat down in front of Claude with a teasing expression, then nodded to the waiter, "A latte."
Without waiting for Claude to speak, he continued to ask in a teasing tone, "Did you have a good time?"
Although he handed over all his assets to Claude, and he had been copying the script for the past three months, he still took time to look at the financial statements sent by the private accountant. Looking at the rising and falling graph, Adriaan only had one thought: Claude was addicted to playing!
"Hey, how can you say that? At least the funds you gave me have quadrupled, "Claude said innocently.
"You could have stopped at the fifth turn and waited for the fluctuations to pass before starting again," Adriaan said bluntly. "Don't forget our agreement. Playing depends on the situation."
Even so, Adriaan was still a little depressed. After all, it was a verbal agreement, and according to what he said, even if Claude ran out of money, he could only accept it. Fortunately, he didn't mortgage the villa in order to save the capital for a comeback. Adriaan secretly twitched the corner of his mouth.
"Don't worry, I always keep the agreement in mind. You trust me so much, of course, I can't let you down." Claude smiled and waved his hands.
"My accountant told me that I have three months at most."
"For me, at least four months, maybe more." Claude said confidently with a little arrogance. Obviously, he had benefited a lot in the past three months.
"Alright, Eide, let's get straight to the point. Why did you ask me out?" He took a sip of coffee.
"It's simple. I need to acquire a film company and direct a debut film." Adriaan's fingers tapped lightly on the table.
Claude almost spat out the coffee in his mouth. He quickly put down the cup in his hand and looked at Adriaan with surprise.
"Warner, Universal, Fox, and Disneyland have each bought a script from me. At the same time, they are competing for the rights to two scripts, so you don't have to be so surprised," Adriaan said calmly.
"I thought … I thought …" Claude subconsciously made a few gestures.
"You thought I was just joking? Please, Krau, I was very serious. " Adriaan raised an eyebrow. "Since when did I joke around when I'm officially asking for your help?"
After letting out a long sigh, Claude shrugged. "I know, but … Eide, you've changed a lot."
"Everyone changes. I've told you before, from the day I was electrocuted, I was no longer the same person." At this point, Adriaan waved his hand. "Alright, let's not talk about that. Originally, I planned to spend 500,000 to start a new film company, but I don't have that much time and energy to start from scratch, so I plan to acquire one. It doesn't need to be too big. The price is around 3 million, and I just need a complete department and a basic network. "
Claude stirred the coffee in the cup with the spoon and looked at Adriaan silently. In the end, he sighed. "This is really strange, Eide. Even though logic tells me that this idea is crazy, my instinct tells me that you have a high chance of succeeding."
"When did you become so wishy-washy, Krau?" Adriaan couldn't help but frown.
"Okay, okay." Claude raised his hands. "So, what do you want me to do? Open a new account and transfer the money directly to it? Or help you look for a movie company to sell? "
"It would be best if you could help me, but I need you to come up with 4 million." Adriaan thought for a moment and said, "In addition to buying a film company, I need to buy the adaptation rights of several novels and invest in my first movie."
"If you do as you say, your first movie investment will only be a few hundred thousand at most …" Before Claude could finish his words, Adriaan interrupted him. "Okay, Krau, I know you care about me, but please believe me."
"Okay." Claude nodded. "However, if you only leave me 20 million, I can't guarantee that I can earn 60 million for you in the end."
"Then lower it to 50 million. Your remuneration can't be counted," Adriaan said immediately.
"Then that's it." Claude finished his coffee in one gulp and stood up. "I'm looking forward to your miracle. This time, I'm telling the truth."
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