American fame and fortune

San Diego, California, Chula Vista near the Mexican border.

A commercial event in the mall had just ended. Anna Frank came out from the backstage, put on a heavy backpack, and dragged her tired body out.

When she came out, her agent was waiting for her and asked, "This activity is meaningless. You are wasting your time."

Anna stopped and said, "I need money. If I don't have money, how can I pay off my car loan? How can I pay my rent? What can your brokerage company provide me?"

The agent said: "We pushed you into the set of "Inglourious Basterds" and let you meet the real big boss in the industry, Harvey Weinstein!"

Anna thought of that nightmare and suddenly laughed: "You asked me to talk about the script and the character, and I went, and what happened? What I encountered was a shameful insult."

The agent was very dissatisfied with the last sentence: "I told you, this is the norm in the industry. Every female star rises like this. Apart from your body, do you have other assets that can impress the big guys?"

"Okay! I admit everything he did to me." Anna gritted her teeth with hatred: "He promised to give me opportunities and roles. I want to ask, where are the opportunities and roles?"

The agent could only say: "Wait, wait."

"You told me at that time that my efforts would be rewarded, and you prevented me from going to the police. What was the result?" Anna sneered: "If I wait any longer, I will go bankrupt and sell it."

The agent still wants to talk.

Anna was the first to say: "If there is a job that can make money like this, help me take it. Now I understand that not everyone can expect to be a big star. Making money is the most important thing."

No longer talking to the agent, she walked into the parking lot alone and came to the Hyundai car. She found someone waving to him from the other side of the car.

Anna was sure she didn't recognize him.

The man came over quickly: "Hello, Miss Anna Frank." He took out a card he got from Jodi: "I am a news reporter from TMZ."

Anna knows this website, which has been very popular in the past two years: "What's the matter with you?"

Ivan came to San Diego the day before yesterday, but he was not in a hurry to contact Anna, just to understand her situation and make targeted plans.

He said: "I'm here to buy something. TMZ has always been generous in purchasing news. It is well-known in the media industry and entertainment industry."

Anna had some suspicions, was short of money, and had no results for her efforts, so she was quite annoyed: "Let's talk somewhere else."

Ivan took her to the cafe in the shopping mall. After sitting down, he said directly: "We got a secret message. We heard that you are entangled with Harvey Weinstein..."

Anna asked tentatively: "You dare to attack a big shot in the industry like him?"

It was impossible for Ivan to make a case against Martin and Lao Bu, so he could only raise the banner of TMZ: "Don't we have enough big names exposed by TMZ? As long as you have news, money and follow-up matters are never a problem."

Anna asked: "Really?"

Ivan asked directly: "The premise is that you have evidence such as videos, photos and audio recordings."

"I have." Anna came back from Los Angeles and gave up the idea of ​​becoming a star. All she wanted to do was make money: "How much are you willing to pay me for the video of Harvey Weinstein raping me?"

Ivan said, "One hundred thousand dollars."

Anna sneered: "Too little, that's Harvey Weinstein!" She weighed it slightly: "$500,000, not a penny less!"

Ivan had communicated with Bruce before coming, ensuring that he would get the video first and that money would not be an issue.

He nodded and responded: "$500,000 is fine, but when necessary, you need to personally correct Harvey."

Anna hesitated, because the other person was a big boss she couldn't afford to mess with: "Come forward in person?"

Ivan grasped her weakness and said: "Have you forgotten the victims of Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck? In addition to this 500,000 US dollars, you can also protect your rights and interests through law and demand reasonable compensation." Financial compensation.”

Anna has read relevant reports: "I remember that many direct victims received millions of dollars?"

Ivan said: "You will have a chance if you take action, and you must cooperate with us."

Money has such a magical power. As long as enough money is thrown at it, the United Nations will be illegal.

There is no way to test people in this way! Anna surrendered directly: "You give me a deposit of 200,000 US dollars, and I will give you a video first!"

Ivan took out the check, pushed it in front of Anna, and said, "No problem, I have watched the video, and we will continue the transaction."

Ana calculated the check number and quickly put it away: "Follow me."

The two men left Chula Vista and rushed to Anna's apartment in San Diego.

…………

At Los Angeles International Airport, Martin and Bruce got off the plane, pushed their luggage and hurried to the exit, took out their mobile phones and turned them on.

Thomas waited at the exit of the terminal, stepped forward to take Martin's luggage, and got into the incoming commercial vehicle together.

Martin asked directly: "I asked you to know the progress of the "Hobbit" movie project. How is the situation?"

"The copyright issue is very complicated, similar to the situation before the filming of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy." Thomas has learned more about the status of this project in detail these days: "Peter Jackson's original plan was to prepare "The Hobbit" last year. "movie, but had to be postponed due to copyright issues, and filmed "The Lovely Bones" instead."

He also added: "The heroine is your student Saoirse Ronan."

Martin asked: "The copyright is not completely in Warner's hands?"

Thomas said: "The copyright for the entire Lord of the Rings series originally belonged to MGM, and later fell into the hands of Sony Columbia. During this period, it changed hands several times, resulting in many adaptation rights being scattered. The copyrights for "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy Part of it fell into the hands of Harvey Weinstein.”

Martin nodded, and he had learned something about it in the past few years: "Harvey was the first to prepare "Lord of the Rings", but he only gave Peter Jackson one movie, and the budget was even more pitiful. Peter Jackson pulled over Warner Bros. The entry of New Line Cinema led to the subsequent trilogy, and it was precisely because of the distribution of profits from this trilogy that Harvey and Warner completely fell apart."

Thomas said: "The copyright situation of "The Hobbit" is also complicated. Warner and New Line believed that they had priority rights to adapt, but Harvey provided a complete copyright authorization, and both parties found Tolkien's copyright management agency. The reporter was sued by Warner, claiming that Harvey's authorization had expired and Warner owned the adaptation copyright..."

While he was drinking water, Bruce, who was driving, interjected: "The interests involved in this series are too great, and no one is willing to give up."

Martin said: "The commercial influence of the Lord of the Rings series is huge. If The Hobbit were also filmed as a trilogy, the box office alone may exceed 2.5 billion US dollars!"

Bruce said: "Such a big sum is enough to kill each other."

"The conflict between Harvey and Warner has been extremely sharp over the years, and they have had more than one quarrel. The various interest entanglements in the Lord of the Rings series have made Warner extremely tired of him." Thomas said in detail: "It is said that Peter Jackson has planned a new trilogy. The profits of the trilogy are within reach, and Warner can no longer cooperate with Harvey, so it has united with Tolkien's copyright agency and is preparing to kick Harvey out."

He was sure of one thing: "Warner was ready to resort to legal action. It wanted to give Harvey a small copyright compensation through the Tolkien copyright agency, and then completely get back the adaptation rights, but Harvey refused. Harvey wanted to adapt the movie. Half the profit!”

Martin thought for a while and said: "I remember that among the top commercial films in Hollywood, box office revenue often only accounts for one-third of a film's total revenue."

Thomas added: "The Lord of the Rings trilogy, box office revenue only accounted for 26% of the total revenue."

Bruce added: "Ten billions of dollars, God Jesus. With such a sum of money, you can go to Africa to hire an army and become the leader of the country."

Thomas already understood what Martin wanted to do. Now that he was tied to Martin, he was still a little worried: "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"It's not that I want to do it, it's that I have to do it." Martin said roughly: "Harvey is a domineering person. At first, I took away Craven's "The Hills Have Eyes" and we formed a grudge. Not to mention, this year’s Cannes Film Festival is another one.”

Just like Bruce said, there are too many things going on, and sometimes Martin can't help but think too much: "Nolan believed that the shooting of the crew in Los Angeles was related to the Moroccan kidnapping case, but I thought it might be related to Harvey's feet. Although there is no evidence against me."

"What I'm worried about is that if we can't get rid of him, the fire will come to us." Thomas' concerns are not unreasonable.

Martin said: "So I have been waiting, looking for the right opportunity, and now I have found the right opportunity. Warner has a huge conflict of interest with Harvey because of "The Hobbit". Harvey is holding on to the copyright. Warner may be more interested than ever." They all want him finished."

Thomas thought about it carefully: "As far as the current situation is concerned, this is indeed an opportunity. At least billions of dollars can be seen in the benefits."

Martin nodded slightly and asked Thomas for more details, thinking about it seriously.

All the way back to his home in Beverly Hills, Bruce received a call from Ivan just after entering the villa. After chatting for a while, Bruce came over to find Martin.

"Ivan bought the complete version of the video for US$500,000." Bruce said simply: "He roughly watched it, and the content was exactly what we wanted. In addition, the person involved, Anna Frank, agreed to stand up and make corrections in order to obtain financial compensation. .”

Martin's billions were not in vain, and he said: "The news about Léa Seydoux is quite reliable." He warned: "Go to see Ivan in person and bring back a copy of the things. Ivan will follow the plan." conduct."

Bruce picked up the car keys: "I'll be there right away."

Martin thought on the way: "You mentioned before that a reporter team from the News of the World has been following Harvey for a while to check if they are still investigating. If they can be contacted, Ivan can try to contact him."

At one point, Bruce was very concerned about the three-person team and said, "It won't be hard to find them."