King of Hollywood - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: The Future Is In My Hands

Honestly, Adrian had never been so tired, and he felt more tired than when he edited films in the editing studio for a few days in a row. Swaying someone was indeed not an easy job, and he tried to sway a smart person. One would have a hard time getting others to listen just because one was domineering as others would not care if there were no benefits for them in return.

Adrian removed his coat in his bedroom after returning home. He exhaled deeply when he poured a glass of water for himself, then sat on a couch to recall everything that happened that night. Fortunately, he eased the tension between him and his uncle beforehand and went to New York a few times, or he could not have backed himself up earlier. He could say that he received information from his uncle once or twice, but he would not be able to justify himself if he were to use that every time.

For example, when Claude finally asked why he was paying attention to Quantum Fund, he dared not use his uncle as an excuse anymore. Luckily, he only asked Claude to keep an eye on it and did not specifically state what it was for. Besides, Rogers and Soros were quite famous now, so Adrian managed to convince Claude in the end.

No matter what, Adrian achieved his goal for the night. He began planning in his head. Although he very much wanted to build all the shelves at once, he knew that haste would not bring success. Moreover, a full bloom was not the best method, and DreamWorks was the best example. Even though he knew how the future would unfold, it was not a reason for him to do anything he wished, and he should be maximizing profits for the time being.

Therefore, he chose to purchase a publishing company and an agency. For the former, he knew that the three novels he produced were not enough. Whether it was ‘Resident Evil’, ‘Tomb Raider’, or ‘The Matrix’, they were originally attached to games and films. Without the popularity gained from those platforms, ‘Resident Evil’ and ‘Tomb Raider’ were only second-rate novels, and ‘The Matrix’ was only slightly better. This was because there were plenty of science fiction novels in America that described the virtual world and talked about the definition of real.

Nonetheless, he was not entirely out of ideas if he wanted to make the publishing company famous as soon as possible. The magic series that would cause a storm a few years later, and the vampire novel that would attract housewives over ten years later, were the perfect targets. However, Adrian already had plans for the former; for the latter, it was not something that could be written by a man, because the writer was the American version of Grandmother Qiong Yao 1, and he had only watched the movie.

In actual fact, the three novels were enough to open up a new prospect for their publishing company—as long as everything operated properly. If Claude did not even have the ability to do so, Adrian could only conclude that he was blind.

As for the agency, firstly, as mentioned by Claude, it would ease their group in transferring resources once it grew bigger; secondly, a powerful agency meant more connections, and a broader network would benefit Adrian in controlling Hollywood in the future. Furthermore, while CAA 1 was independent at that moment, it was not as well-regarded as it would be 10 years later.

This gave Adrian an opportunity to step in, and he felt that it would be simple. He only needed to use CAA’s agent system since it was pretty good, then sign some future celebrities in advance, and boost a few to be famous—this was why he asked Dennis and Kate to not look for an agent in a hurry—by the 21st century, Adrian dared not say that his agency would dominate in Hollywood, but it should be able to match CAA. Once again, this was if Claude managed it well.

Everything else could be done one step at a time because Adrian had rough plans already. For instance, the foreign trade company that he asked Claude to prepare, as well as the Quantum Fund. Those required the right timings.

Despite all that, Adrian was proudest about showing off that night. Frankly, it was not difficult to get Claude to agree on establishing an IT risk investment company if he could explain himself. In any case, it was only an investment, and Claude was not asked to earn money through websites. At the spur of the moment, Adrian’s speech became full of passion, where he talked about America’s general election, the information highway, and brand new industries. In the end, he found it hard to explain how he knew that there would be Quantum Fund activities.

If someone else who was also reborn was around, one would definitely think that he was relying on his advantage to boast about his understanding in the network—that was actually what Adrian thought, but he had an aim for every step he took.

Even blood brothers would possibly have conflicts regarding authority in a company, let alone Adrian and Claude. Two conditions had to be met if this were to be solved: One, the company could not be too big-scaled; two, both of them had to have similar abilities.

The first condition was already met since Adrian’s goal was to establish a corporate group from the start. For the second condition, he would not have racked his brain to rope Claude in if he was not capable enough to manage a corporate group.

Nevertheless, that was also the reason Adrian would not argue with Claude about the right of control in the company, so… That would not be a problem. In spite of that, it did not mean that there were no other problems.

When a CEO with remarkable abilities led a company to its peak, it was inevitable for one to have a stronger desire for power. One would then monopolize by eliminating those with different opinions and those who disagreed. Should that happen, the board of directors would not intervene unless the CEO caused a huge loss or offended too many people.

Of course, based on Adrian’s impression of Claude, he was not like that. Adrian also expressed himself clearly that he roped Claude in because he could not do it himself and that he would only influence Claude without interfering with him. Claude, who was smart, would definitely understand.

For all that, as the company grew, it was necessary for Claude to build his own speaking rights, which could not be compared to Adrian who was only a major shareholder. If that was the case, what could Adrian do if Claude were to disagree with the important suggestions that he would propose in the future according to his memory? He could not always give long speeches as he did earlier and was only joking about always staying by Claude’s side as he was not gay. As such, it would be terrible if they were to fall out with each other due to disputes.

Hence, Adrian did the best he could to give Claude a good impression of him. If everything he predicted about the future were to come true, how would Claude react?! Claude would certainly take Adrian’s suggestions into careful consideration even if they had different opinions.

‘That’s all I can do for now.’ Adrian stood up to walk to the window, and clenched his fists when he looked at the lights outside. ‘The future is in my hands!’

Once the Berlin Film Festival was over, Laverne began following up on the publicizing work for ‘Memento’. Though he did not understand why Adrian specifically appointed Universal as the distributor, he followed his instructions.

Needless to say, the advertisement focused on the point that it was the wizard director’s second production. At the same time, other selling points included Adrian producing two films in less than a year, who won the Best First Work at the Venice Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at the Berlin Film festival, and that the film tested the audience’s observation skill.

Thus, even though Adrian was still new and there was no premiere before the film was screened on March 10th, the over 800 screens acquired through Universal’s help grossed 10 million dollars in the first week.

Apart from the selling points mentioned earlier, the reason the film had such high box office sales in the first week in 1991 was the celebrity effect, but the celebrity referred to Adrian who was both the director and the producer, not Dennis or Kate. Not only did the dark humor of ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ make Adrian’s name known to many cut film fans, but he also produced another cut film that was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival. On top of that, due to Laverne’s great work in publicizing it, as well as Ronnie Gross’ review, people who were curious naturally watched it in theatres as soon as it was screened.

Other than the box office sales at the start, reviews from movie critics were almost leaning to one side.

“An excellent film, Adrian’s skillful editing made the film thought-provoking.”⸺’New York Times’

“This is a simple yet complicated film, you’ll have to watch a few times to understand it.”⸺’Empire’

“My first thought after leaving the cinema was to watch it again, although I understood the ending. There are countless clues in the details of the film, and every detail complements the overall plot. We’ll understand the story much better through those clues, as well as what the director’s trying to deliver. As for the cast, Dennis Knight who plays the main character for the first time stands out more than he did in the previous film, and he did pretty well overall even though he’s slightly lacking due to his young age; it goes without saying that Joe Pantoliano, the main male supporting role, made the film more spectacular; for Ms. Kate Beckinsale, she needs more practice.”⸺ Famous movie critic, Roger Ebert

Though there were a few people who criticized that the editing was fanciful that the film became incomprehensible, most reviews praised it. In fact, many people had a deep impression that something simple was made complicated.

For Bosworth Film Company, if the distribution of ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ gave them hope, it would be a huge booster for them if ‘Memento’ gained high box office sales and a high reputation since they invested in it. The last time something like that happened was probably two to three years ago.

Additionally, Adrian also made an asset injection of 10 million dollars in the company, which remodeled the employees’ confidence in it. However, some employees were too late in believing in the company because Adrian mentioned that he would not interfere in the company’s business for only half a year, thus changes were bound to happen as the limit was over.

Footnotes:

A popular romance novelist from Taiwan

Creative Artists Agency