America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 161 Light a Fire
The pickup truck turned into the parking lot. Martin looked at the small building not far away. There were many paparazzi gathered at the door of the building.

These guys have a very keen sense of smell.

Every person in Los Angeles is an actor, and every person in Los Angeles is a news informant.

Bruce made a phone call and said, "Mené's agent Munir and lawyer are already inside."

Martin opened the door and got out of the car, walking towards the office building with Bruce, ignoring the paparazzi and entering the office building.

After explaining their purpose, a civil servant immediately took them into an office.

Munir and the lawyer are waiting here.

Martin asked, "Is everyone okay?"

Munir said: "He is a very good person. He can leave after paying the bail."

Martin asked directly: "How much is left?"

"I have collected part of it. Mene's part of the salary is still there." Munir said quickly: "There is still a shortfall of 5000 US dollars."

Martin wrote a check for $5000 and gave it to Munir, who then went with his lawyer to process the bail procedures.

After a while, the two men brought Mene out.

Mene saw Martin and lowered his head: "Boss..."

"I'm glad you're okay." Martin walked out first: "Let's leave here first."

He added a reminder: “There are paparazzi and reporters outside.”

Mene slowed down his pace a little: "Boss, you and Lao Bu go first, I will go out later."

"Meet at the fitness center in North Hollywood." Martin and Bruce left first.

When the two got into the car, Mene just came out of the building. The paparazzi were so excited that they wanted to stuff the microphone into Mene's mouth.

Bruce laughed heartlessly: "He grabbed the headlines again."

Martin shook his head. "It's better not to have such headlines."

Arriving at the gym, Bruce opened a separate lounge and waited for a while before Mene and Munir walked in together.

Martin ordered some wine and snacks: "Sit anywhere."

Mene said with a sad face: "Victoria has no professional ethics. Not only did she not tell me that she had had enough fun, but she also wanted to arrest me to report to her!"

Martin said, "Fishing."

Bruce knew a lot: "The FBI often does this, using fake news on the Internet to lure traffickers or perverts..."

Munir interrupted, "Lawyer, the bail broker said that Mene was jumping too much on Paris's case and had long been targeted by the LAPD."

Martin asked Mene: "I remember you said you didn't take any money from her."

Mene was helpless: "This time she secretly put $100 in my pocket and I didn't even notice it! $100, I am worth $100!"

Bruce asked, "They didn't ask anything else? Like what club you were in?"

"No," Mene said. "Someone warned me not to say anything because my nuclear weapon might kill me in there. I didn't say a word."

Bruce said: "Fortunately, you didn't do anything stupid. Don't be fooled by the external propaganda. They don't follow the rules."

Martin asked Munir, "What did the lawyer say?"

Munir asked carefully and said, "In the end it should be a heavy fine, suspended sentence, and community service."

Martin reminded Menez: "You'd better not go to that club. Stay calm recently and don't let yourself be caught again."

Mene lowered his head and said, "Boss, I will listen to you." He vowed, "I will return the money to you as soon as possible."

Martin waved his hand and said, "If there is an audition opportunity, you can audition normally. If there is no audition opportunity, you can assist the crew with the preliminary planning work."

Munir was just a small agent. He kicked Menez and said, "I will keep an eye on him. If he dares to do anything wrong again, I will sell him to Mexico!"

Mene was first teased until he was tired of it, and then he was caught to report. His usual playfulness was gone at this moment: "I will report to the studio tomorrow."

Munir left first.

Mene walked out of the back door of the fitness center alone, looked back, and said to himself: "I thought the boss would abandon me and not care about me."

Not to mention helping the boss register a studio, even if he faced 20 people over years old, he would still rush forward for Boss Martin.

If there are more, you have to think about it carefully, after all, it concerns your life.

In the lounge, Martin couldn't help but say, "The LAPD is also playing such a trick."

Bruce shrugged. "Spending public money to enjoy yourself. You don't think that all LAPD people are law-abiding and have professional ethics, do you?"

Martin laughed: "How could that be."

Because the time was short, he still remembered reading a news report before he suffocated to death, saying that the Los Angeles officials themselves had disclosed or leaked all the undercover list information of the LAPD.

What a ridiculous thing this is! Those LAPD officers in special positions will probably start to question their lives.

Bruce added: "A friend of mine in the military once said that the biggest gang in Los Angeles is the LAPD." The next day, with the cooperation of professional organizations, Mene registered and established a separate "Wanted" studio, which rented a small studio at Warner Studios.

Martin has invested $70 in the project, including the buyout of the comic copyright, screenwriter Michael Bradt's screenwriting fees, and various other expenses and reserves, all of which will be included in the film's production costs.

Taking into account various expenses such as labor and management incurred during the period, the investment would be at least 200 million US dollars.

This is definitely a reasonable price in Hollywood.

Six major companies like Warner Bros. operate package projects. If they don't pay $5 million in management fees for a $50 million film, they would be embarrassed to say hello to the other five Hollywood companies.

Martin knew very well that he needed to move up and build a brand through word-of-mouth operation, but he couldn't go too far.

To put it bluntly, cheating and deceiving also requires a reputation and strength.

After the news of recruiting directors and action directors was released, the studio quickly received more than 20 resumes.

Martin had never heard of most of these names, and they had no outstanding works in the past.

He did not dare to take too many risks and hire a director without any successful experience.

In this regard, Martin can only discuss it with Louise.

Louise, wearing black-rimmed glasses, carefully read through the directors' resumes brought by Martin and said directly, "There may be directors with talent, ability and dreams, but they have never proven themselves, so their talents are worthless. If the investment is only a million, we can take the risk, but at the tens of millions of dollars level, all these people will pass."

Martin had experienced the torture of turning dreams into reality in his previous life, so he agreed with Louise's statement: "I would rather spend more money to hire a director with successful experience than take the risk of hiring a talented newcomer."

He asked, "How about John Woo? He's really good at action movies with guns and fighting."

"John Woo from Hong Kong?" Louise thought about it carefully and shook her head slowly. "His personal style is too strong, especially in the gunfight genre. Do you think he can make a cool and innovative gunfight action movie, or another John Woo-style movie?"

Martin has seen too many John Woo-style gun-and-gun action movies.

At this moment, flying white doves, solemn churches, romantic dance-like movements and gun battles seemed to flash before my eyes.

Martin said: "The latter is more likely."

Louise reminded: "He is a mature director who has been famous for many years. His style has been set. It is difficult to change. And forcing him to change is unpredictable."

Martin nodded: "I understand."

Nikki knocked on the door and said, "Thomas Ryan is here."

"Thank you." Martin stood up and left Louise's office and went to Davis' studio downstairs.

Thomas was waiting in the inner room of the office. When he saw Martin, he said, "It's nothing important. I just sent Oscar Isaac to the studio for an audition. I passed by here and came to take a look."

Martin sat on the sofa and said, "I remember he was another client of yours?"

Thomas specifically said: "Latinos are completely different from your acting style."

Martin nodded and added fuel to Thomas' fire at the right time: "A few days ago, Mike Vogel's agent Pinto contacted me."

Thomas said, "The snake incident has nothing to do with you..."

He was halfway through his words when he suddenly realized something and looked a little nervous. He quickly adjusted his breathing and asked casually, "About your agency contract?"

Martin said directly: "Yes, Pinto wants me to choose him as my exclusive agent after the agency contract expires. In addition, he promised to get me the leading role in a Class A production of 20th Century Fox, an epic film directed by the top director Ridley Scott."

Thomas couldn't help but grab the armrest of the sofa tightly. As the leading actor of an A-class big production, he didn't have such ability.

That's Ridley Scott. His last epic blockbuster, Gladiator, was not only a box office hit, but also won Russell Crowe an Oscar for Best Actor.

Even though Thomas's brain was working rapidly, he didn't know what to say for a moment: "Martin, he is just making empty promises for you..."

"I rejected him!" Martin said righteously, "I have never forgotten that when I first came to Los Angeles, it was you who helped me gain a foothold and settled down in Los Angeles."

Inexplicably, Thomas felt relieved.

Martin's words were powerful: "Thomas Ryan, we are a golden pair!"

Thomas suddenly felt as if he owed Martin a little bit, as he was the leading actor in a big A-class production!
Martin at least had a chance to compete.

As for myself, I can't even find a chance to compete.

Thomas gritted his teeth secretly, with a determination he had never had before: "Martin, I promise you that within one year, even if I have to sell my ass and accompany old men and old women, I will fight for you to play an important role in a quasi-A-level production! I swear!"

He didn't dare to be too confident, because quasi-A was the limit he could hope to reach.

Martin said seemingly casually: "Just do your best."

The fire was ignited, and Martin did not just talk, but also took practical actions: "If the "Wanted" project can be operated, if there are roles suitable for your other clients, just ask."

Thomas smiled and said, "No problem, I won't be polite with you."

Martin asked again: "Is there a suitable gunfight action director in the company?"

"I've sent the message out, but there's been no response yet." Thomas thought for a moment and said, "The company has a lot of director clients, including the biggest names like Eastwood and Michael Bay, and Mel Gibson, Tony Scott and Guillermo del Toro, as well as Brad Bird and others who are fairly well-known. I've notified their agents."

Martin knew that this matter could not be rushed, so he said, "Please pay more attention to the company." He emphasized, "A director with a similar successful resume."

(End of this chapter)