America 1982.

Chapter 189 Rick's Growth

Tommy waited until Rick Luther had finished speaking and he had carefully read the document Rick had given him before he clapped his hands vigorously. Then he stood up excitedly and pointed his finger at the vice president of programming and production who had previously worked at the small film company Living Colors. He happily shouted to the guy with red curly hair:

"Rick, I knew you were a talented producer and you knew what we needed! This episode is proof!"

The sound was so loud that even Paige and Sophia, who were outside the meeting room, heard Tommy's happy voice. They were all a little stunned, not understanding what Rick had said to Tommy to make him so happy.

Sophia knew that Tommy hadn't laughed truly happily for a long time. The guy was getting richer and richer, but at the same time, he was also becoming more and more silent.

Most of the time, after finishing work at the company and attending some board meetings that could not be shirked, Tommy would read newspapers silently in the office. When he needed to relax, he would stare at the map of the United States in the office in a daze. Anyway, no one knew which state his soul had drifted to at that moment.

Even when they returned home, Sophia knew what Tommy would do: swim three miles as usual, do some aerobic exercises with a fitness trainer, and then go to his study, which was larger than many families' living rooms, to watch TV, read, and stare at the wall.

No one except himself, Ottilia and Dorothy, who was in charge of cleaning, could enter the study and see the magnificent wall.

That wall was covered with a huge and detailed map of the United States. The map was so precise that even small cities like Warwick were marked on the map.

Of course, in addition to the map, there are more than a hundred magnetic stickers posted by Tommy, more than a hundred magnetic stickers spread across the territory of the United States. These magnetic stickers should have been marked with text, but they are all blank.

So even though Sophia often went in and out of Tommy's study, she didn't know what the magnetic stickers Tommy placed on the map represented, and how charming the map was that made Tommy admire it for at least half an hour every night before going to bed. It was very likely that Ottilia was not as attractive to Tommy as the map.

Having followed Tommy for so long, she was sure that the happiness Tommy showed towards Rick at this moment was pure happiness from the bottom of his heart.

This also made Sophia more curious about what Rick said to Tommy that made this bastard, who was always so mature that people couldn't help but ignore his real age, smile like a happy child.

"Mr. Paige, go ask them what they are doing. They are too noisy. Please ask them to be quiet." Sophia looked at Paige next to her with a frown on her face, who was also curious about why her boss was so happy, and spoke.

Paige looked at Sophia with his eyes that seemed a little cloudy but could see through everything: "Ms. O'Connor, if you are curious, go find out the truth yourself. The boss can tolerate everything you say, but he will never be lenient when it comes to deducting my salary."

"If Martin is here, he will definitely help me..." Sophia's trick was discovered by Paige. She rolled her eyes cutely, then walked to the meeting room, knocked on the door gently, then opened it, and asked the two people inside with a smile:

"Do you need the girls from the administration office to refill your coffee? I heard you guys were having a great time chatting outside." "Rick can't just get a cup of coffee. I told you he's a genius." Tommy happily picked up the information and smiled proudly at Sophia, "Look at the dramas he and his team designed for BT TV. I know he knows how to figure out the boss's real needs."

"How to Marry a Millionaire?" Sophia picked up the information and looked through it. She couldn't find anything that made Tommy so happy. She looked at the two of them in confusion. "I know that BT TV is preparing a sitcom, but I didn't expect it to be How to Marry a Millionaire? If I remember correctly, Marilyn Monroe made a comedy movie with the same name. So, buying the movie copyright and adapting it? That would be a huge expense."

"The movie was released in 1953, but I actually looked it up carefully and found that the original novel was published in 1930. The author died shortly after the movie was released. The copyright has entered the public copyright pool and we can use it at will." Rick excitedly introduced to Sophia.

Sophia, who graduated from law school, immediately pointed out the problem with Rick's statement: "But the US Copyright Act stipulates that a work can only enter the public copyright pool fifty years after the author's death."

"That's for American citizens, Miss O'Connor. The author is a Greek living in the United States and has never obtained American citizenship, so the author should rely on the International Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works to protect his copyright. Unfortunately, that international convention was issued in 1886, but the United States has not yet approved the Berne Convention to take effect in the United States. This is also the loophole I found." Rick looked at Sophia:

"I consulted a lawyer privately and got a positive answer. Yes, we don't need to pay the original author's family. We can directly adapt the original novel about the love deception and adventure of three white girls into a love comedy story about three poor black girls who borrow money from the bank and pretend to be socialites. They help each other and finally successfully marry rich men and change their destiny."

"Are you happy because someone at the TV station finally knows what program to use to please both you and those low-income black audiences?" Sophia sighed. After hearing Rick's words, she immediately understood why Tommy was happy.

Whether it is "NiggerBoss" or "Looking for Daddy America", or even other homemade programs that are still in production, they are either gimmicks proposed by Tommy himself, or programs that Tommy is completely not interested in and will never watch. At this moment, the idea of ​​this sitcom makes Tommy happy because Rick has found a loophole to save a lot of copyright fees, and he can also use the gimmick of Marilyn Monroe. Finally, this program sounds really suitable for those low-level black people to appreciate. Using the gimmick of a romantic comedy, it actually wants to brainwash the audience. If you want to change your destiny, you can also borrow a large sum of money from the bank to package yourself like the three heroines, and maybe you can meet a rich man tomorrow.

But Sophia didn't know whether they met a rich person, but if they wanted to borrow money, they would definitely meet Tommy's KeyBank.

Rick thought so thoroughly about this project, which should be why Tommy is happy.

"No!" Tommy gave a negative answer to Sophia's judgment.

Sophia looked at Tommy suspiciously, "No?"

"I'm happy because we can promote a beautiful black woman and declare her to be the Marilyn Monroe of black people." Tommy said hypocritically:
"My black brothers need a goddess of the same skin color as you."

(End of this chapter)