Chapter 524

In the hall of the circular theater, rows of candidates were trying their best to show off their talents to the interviewers sitting in front of the tables. Even though some of them had just put down their farming tools, and some looked like bandits, they kept raising their heads and stammering their lines. Even so, their wretched and ferocious faces were full of confidence, as if to say, "Not choosing me is definitely a very wrong thing to do!"

Shakespeare, who was watching all this from the second floor, shook his head and sighed. He suddenly felt that writing "Romeo and the Pirate's Daughter" was actually a huge mistake. It was terrible. He had no idea how to develop the plot next. But if not this, what else should he write? What the hell? His mind was still empty. What could he do to make his inspiration surge violently?

Just like that, he scratched his head and sighed until a voice rang out, "Very good, well done."

As Adriaan applauded, the entire crew suddenly relaxed. Denis stretched his body and let out a long breath. Soon, he came to his side.

"Are you all right?" he asked Adriaan, who was talking to the assistant director.

"Very good. Continue to maintain this trend, and we can speed up the progress." Adriaan nodded in affirmation, then pointed to a place not far away. "Well, don't worry. I don't want people to talk about me behind my back."

Although Denis smiled a little embarrassedly, he did not stop walking. He walked straight to a young girl with medium-short hair. The girl immediately smiled sweetly, hugged him in front of everyone, and kissed him affectionately. There was no other woman but Jennifer Aniston who could be so intimate with him. Naturally, she was here to visit her boyfriend.

Jennifer arrived on Friday, when Adriaan had not yet gone to Paris. There were still a lot of paparazzi around, and Jennifer did not make much of a cover up. Soon, they found Rachel Green, the most popular actress in "Friends", and Denis Knight, who had made a name for himself in movies such as "Two Smoking Pipes" and "Broken Arrow".

As early as when Winona announced their breakup and the end of the love triangle, there were rumors that Denis had actually chosen Jennifer, but there had been no concrete evidence. Now, there was finally proof.

Therefore, in the two days that Adriaan went to Paris to have sex with Sophie, the entertainment media in Britain and the United States were full of news about Jennifer and Denis's relationship, and all kinds of comments were made, especially about the love triangle. At first, it was said that Winona had an affair first, and then Jennifer intervened. Denis wavered, and finally, Winona broke up.

However, after these photos were released, especially with Denis and Jennifer smiling sweetly, this theory was immediately overturned. Then, it was said that Denis and Jennifer had been together for a long time, and that his date with Winona was just for fun. The evidence was that as early as the first season of "Friends", Denis had made a cameo appearance. But soon, people refuted it. Don't forget, Denis had taken all the responsibility, and it was Winona who broke up with him.

Then, people refuted it again and again. It was really lively. This fully explained two things: first, people, or ordinary people, really only saw what they wanted to see; second, gossip was indeed the most important way for the entertainment media to attract attention. In addition, there were all kinds of blessings and abuse on the already lively Internet. Jennifer's fans and Winona's fans began to quarrel again, while most of Denis's fans chose to mediate.

Interestingly, when the reporter finally found Winona and asked her about her opinion on Denis and Jennifer's public relationship, Winona said after a long silence that she sincerely wished him happiness! Some people said that she was magnanimous, and some said that she had walked out of the shadow of the breakup. But, as someone who knew about Denis's relationship, Adriaan was slightly surprised when he saw this news.

He completely believed that when Winona said this, she was sincere and in pain. This guy, Denis, actually left such a deep impression on her. In this case, it was not surprising that Jennifer would throw herself at him.

"Do you really have the heart to leave Winona alone, Dan?" In a high-end restaurant in London, while Jennifer went to the bathroom, Adriaan asked casually.

Denis, who was very talkative before, was stunned. He suddenly shook his head with a wry smile and did not say a word, as if he had suddenly lost the ability to speak.

"Don't worry, the paparazzi are outside. He can't come in, and he won't stick to the window to take pictures." Adriaan pointed to the floor-to-ceiling glass window humorously.

Although the scene of them publicly walking together had caused a big stir, the two people involved did not take it seriously. Even when they were surrounded by layers of paparazzi, they could still keep smiling, but they did not answer any questions. At most, they would ask the crew's spokesperson not to delay the filming of the crew and cause trouble to others. After all, using this method to publicize their relationship must have been discussed between the two.

In this case, the paparazzi became bolder. Although Denis and Jennifer had avoided being chased and intercepted several times, there were still times when they were discovered. For example, yesterday afternoon, Denis, who did not have any scenes, avoided the reporters to go shopping with Jennifer, and was recognized in a bookstore. In just a few minutes, the reporters rushed over and took pictures outside the bookstore. As a result, business was affected, and the owner of the bookstore was furious and threatened to file a complaint.

Seeing that their actions attracted most of the attention and let Adriaan relax for so long, he readily agreed to their invitation to dinner.

At this moment, Denis's bitter smile became even more intense. After fiddling with the spoon for a long time, he said, "Winona is a good girl, and Jennifer is also a good girl, it's just that …"

He did not continue. Although Adriaan did not take it seriously, he still smiled apologetically and said, "Sorry, I shouldn't have said this."

"It's okay, it's all in the past." Denis shrugged, as if he was sighing with emotion and reminiscing.

"What are you talking about?" Jennifer's voice could be heard. She was wearing a dark purple dress tonight. Her brown hair hung down on both sides, barely covering her face that was a little too wide. She was still very pretty.

It was no wonder that she liked to keep her hair long. From the fact that Denis could persuade her to cut her hair short twice, it could be seen that she really loved him.

"Some things from the past." Denis said first, grabbing her hand and kissing it. Jennifer smiled sweetly in return.

"Speaking of which," Adriaan did not miss the opportunity to change the topic, "why did you invite me to dinner? I don't think it's a pleasant thing to be involved in a beautiful world of two people. "

Denis and Jennifer looked at each other and smiled, and the sweetness became even stronger.

"It's like this." He grabbed his girlfriend's hand and put it on the table. "We're planning to get engaged. Eide, I hope you can be our witness."

"You're planning to get engaged?" Adriaan raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Yes." Denis answered with certainty. At that moment, a trace of sadness flashed across his face, but he immediately recovered. He gently patted his girlfriend's hand and stared at Jennifer with tenderness in his eyes.

"Just before the movie started, I proposed to Jennifer. I don't want to delay it any longer." He continued, "Jennifer has never been so happy before, and I'm very happy too. I want her to continue to be happy, so I propose to hold an engagement ceremony. It doesn't have to be too flashy, just invite a few friends. You know, without you, there wouldn't be who I am today, so I hope you can be one of the witnesses."

"Well … Obviously, I can't refuse." Looking at the sweet look on the two of them, especially Jennifer, who looked touched, Adriaan shrugged and then picked up the red wine on the table. "Congratulations, but I don't know if you've agreed on the time. I want to remind you that I won't let you go before these two movies are completed."

Although this request was a little unreasonable, under Denis's comfort, Jennifer still accepted it. Anyway, it was only two to three months, and it would be over soon. Adriaan, who saw this, could not help but shake his head and nod. He was originally joking. He had planned to talk about something else during dinner, but after hearing such news, that topic could only be postponed.

Therefore, he deliberately made such a request to stir up trouble, and at the same time, test the relationship between the two. As a result, it basically did not deviate from his judgment. But because of this, he did not tell the two of them that he was joking. First, he wanted to save some face for Denis; second, with such a temptation in front of him, it was like a carrot tied to a stick, making him more focused and eager to finish as soon as possible.

As for the topic he wanted to talk about, there was no need to rush. Anyway, there were still a few months, and everyone knew that this matter could not be changed.

"Tomorrow, I'll take some time to call Bosworth and tell them that we can start negotiating with ABC first." After returning to the hotel, Adriaan, who was leaning against the headboard, watched Charlize sitting in front of the dressing table while admiring her back. Her silk pajamas were soft and smooth, perfectly matching her beautiful and well-proportioned figure. Of course, it would be better if her chest was bigger.

"Do I need to tell the six leads?" Charlize replied faintly.

"No, not for the time being. I wanted to tell Jenny when I had dinner with Dan and the others today, but after careful consideration, I decided to wait until they finished talking." Adriaan shook his head.

The matter was actually very simple. Adriaan planned to give the broadcasting rights of "Friends" to ABC instead of renewing the contract with NBC. When "Friends" was first produced, Adriaan did not have a single television station, so according to his memory, he handed it over to NBC to broadcast. The show received extremely high ratings when it first aired, and there was no lack of people with good foresight within NBC, so they immediately signed the contract with Four Seasons.

After that, they formed AC Media and acquired TBS, and carried out a lot of reforms. "Millionaire", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Sex and the City" and other reality shows and TV series all received good ratings. At that time, someone internally proposed to terminate the contract with NBC and hand over the popular TV series to TBS.

However, Adriaan rejected this proposal. What a joke. How many viewers who were used to watching "Friends" for free would be willing to start paying for it? Besides, handing over "Millionaire" to TBS was already a waste. If this show were to be broadcast on a wireless television station, the ratings would at least increase several times. He would not make the same mistake.

Later, under Claude's proposal, ABC also became their possession. Although there was a family TV series like "Everybody Loves Raymond" and a reality show like "Survivor", which increased the ratings a lot, in addition to Adriaan selecting some good TV series to produce, such as "Will and Grace" and "Victoria's Secret Wardrobe" because of the acquisition of Victoria's Secret, ABC finally stopped its decline and began to slowly climb up. However, good TV series could never be too much, not to mention an extremely popular TV series like "Friends".

Therefore, AC Media began to propose to let ABC broadcast this TV series. Even Claude talked to him about it once, but Adriaan did not agree or disagree. He just asked them to wait a little longer. Then this year, ABC had finished grinding the gears, and the contract with NBC was about to expire, so they put this matter on the agenda.

NBC had actually been aware of this for a long time. As early as the end of the year, they began to lobby for "Friends". After all, the high ratings of "Friends" were very desirable to any wireless television station.

Unfortunately, once Adriaan made up his mind, he would not change his mind. Even if they gritted their teeth and increased the share a lot, he still did not relent. As a result, NBC could only sigh at their bad luck. It wasn't that they hadn't thought of putting "Friends" in the late night slot. The popularity of a TV series was very limited, but that would only damage their image.

This was one of the reasons why Adriaan waited until now to put this idea into action. If ABC terminated the contract with NBC as soon as they got it, even if it was understandable, it would be too embarrassing. In any country, in any place, no matter how dirty the people below were, they had to be good on the surface.

Now that the contract was over, no one would be able to blame them. Moreover, the initiative was in their hands, so it was unlikely that NBC would play any tricks.

This was also why he wanted to inform Jennifer and the other six leads of this matter before Bosworth negotiated with ABC. If possible, he wanted to consult them. This was like voting. On the surface, he respected their opinions, but in reality, he still had to do what he had to do.

Of course, Adriaan did more. For example, he increased the salary early. In the first season, the six of them only received 5,000 USD per episode. In the second season, it increased to 20,000 USD per episode. In the third season, it increased to 100,000 USD per episode. This did not mean that he had a conscience that those capitalists did not have. Maximizing profits was something that everyone would do. It was just that in addition to this, there was also minimizing risk.

Since they knew that they might go on strike because of the salary, they indeed had the right to do so. They were probably the only TV series actors who could get a million USD per episode. So why not express goodwill in advance? Just like how he got the various copyrights of the Harry Potter series from Rowling, wasn't it better to increase the salary in his own hands than to let them go on strike and ask for a higher salary?

Unless it was absolutely necessary, Adriaan would never give up the initiative, whether it was in his career or women.

"Shouldn't you go back, Eide?" Charlize stood up and walked to the bed. He crossed his arms and looked at Adriaan on the bed.

"Go back? Why? "Adriaan asked, puzzled.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping with … them? Why are you here? "Charlize shrugged.

"Well, if I say I miss you, can I lie down?" Adriaan asked with a smile.

Charlize rolled his eyes, picked up the quilt, and went to bed. Then he turned off the bedside lamp on her side and turned his back to Adriaan. Adriaan chuckled and put aside the information that Charlize had sorted out for him. Then he turned off the light and lay down. He reached out and pulled her into his arms.

"I want to sleep." Charlize muttered, but he did not turn around.

"Yes, yes, sleep." Adriaan kissed the back of her neck and then fell asleep with her in his arms.

The reason why he came here was mainly because Gwyneth and Blanchett were not in his room. After he came back from Paris, the faces of the two women were not very good. Especially when they rushed to the set on the day of his return, they sniffed him separately and showed their unhappiness on their faces in private.

Therefore, when Adriaan wanted to take them back to the room together, there were always many excuses to shirk. Moreover, the two women had a tacit understanding. When one of them was stumped by Adrian's question, the other would immediately come to his rescue. Moreover, they always walked together after work to prevent themselves from being deceived by him. This close relationship not only surprised Adrian, but also made him thoughtful.

Since they were not by his side, it was inevitable that he would feel a little uncomfortable in the empty hotel suite, so he ran over to Charlie's place tonight and hugged his secretary to sleep.

He just shrugged at Gwyneth and Blanchett's behavior. It was okay to have a small temper, and they would return to normal in a few days. Besides, was there a shortage of women around him? Needless to say, Charlize. Although the beautiful secretary would express her dissatisfaction with his idea in her unique way, she was by his side, wasn't she?

Moreover, Paris and London were so close, and Sophie had just been conquered. Adriaan had also left an invitation. It would be strange if she did not come here before "Anna Karenina" started shooting. And in addition, there were several women Adriaan had in London. Oh, of course, it was not Kyla or Emma, but —