America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 516: Fishing? Feed the fish!
"I'm completely fucked. This is my conclusion after careful consideration. I'm fucked!"

"These six days should have been the beginning of the most glorious six months of my life, but it turned out to be the prelude to a nightmare... The other teammates must have thought I was dead, and I can't blame them. Maybe there will be a state funeral in a while, and my introduction page will say: Mark Watney is the only person to die on Mars so far."

Martin read the first two chapters carefully, and Matt Damon's honest face automatically popped up in front of his eyes. Combined with the name of the novel, it was not difficult to determine that this was the movie about growing potatoes on Mars.

Then, he looked at Rachel opposite him and wondered what the FBI was doing.
Martin looked for this novel, but couldn't find it in the publishing market. As a result, a few FBI agents who wanted to fish for private goods used it as bait to catch their own fish.

Or are these FBI agents showing goodwill to him?
First he gave me a beautiful woman, then he gave me a project. What a good guy!
Although his mind was racing, Martin's acting was perfectly on point and his face was very calm, as if the work was mediocre.

Rachel had been observing Martin and found that he was just reading the manuscript calmly and didn't seem to be very interested.

This was not an FBI action, but her boss found a few loyal subordinates and wanted to teach the person who blocked his promotion a lesson.

The resources that can be mobilized are limited.

Rachel's first thought was that simple seduction would be enough to hook the fish, after all, the other party was known as a playboy.

Martin read two more chapters to make sure he was not mistaken. He closed the printed text and said, "It is a literary work that leans slightly towards hard science fiction. Its adaptation potential is average. Over the years, Hollywood movies that lean towards hard science fiction have always had high investments and low returns, and there are very few that are truly successful."

Rachel did some preparation and said, "Don't you think this is like a Martian version of Robinson Crusoe? It's very well written. When I read it, I felt like it had the dramatic thrust of a rocket taking off!"

Martin asked: "Has the work been published? Is there an audience? Is the author famous?"

Faced with people in the industry, Rachel couldn't make up a story and could only say, "It's not published, and the author is a nobody."

“You see, these are the problems.” Martin spread his hands: “Even if I want to adapt it into a movie, there is still a long way to go.”

Rachel thought to herself, it would be fine as long as you don't refuse outright.

She didn't care whether Martin adapted it in the end or not.

Rachel added, "We can agree on a plan to move it in the direction of adaptation."

Martin quickly flipped through the printed manuscript and found that there was no ending at the end. He asked, "Who is the author? There is not even an ending! Rachel, you are making it very difficult for me."

Rachel was about to stretch out her foot, but then she retracted it.

Martin continued: "I need to meet the author and talk to him in person to make sure he can complete the work and write a satisfactory ending, so that I can promote the adaptation."

He looked at Rachel and said, "You are a senior editor. You should understand the operation of Hollywood. A slightly larger film project will cost at least hundreds of thousands of dollars for each step forward."

Rachel thought for a moment and said, "Our publishing house is also communicating with the original author about these matters. I can assure you that none of what you said is a problem."

Seeing that the other party was using something he was good at as an excuse, Martin simply said, "How about this? For the initial recommendation, we can both invest together. Later, when the film project is in operation, I can introduce your publishing house as an investment shareholder."

This was completely beyond Rachel's expectations. It was not enough to just give the other party a novel, but they also had to pay money to help run the project?

Is this fishing or feeding the fish?
But she had worked as a junior assistant in the FBI's Hollywood office and knew that this was a normal and sincere way of doing things in Hollywood.

Of course Rachel couldn't afford hundreds of thousands of dollars. Maybe her boss had some in his secret piggy bank, but he definitely wouldn't pay.

Bruce glanced at Martin and said nothing, because what he was dealing with was the individual behavior of an individual FBI agent.

If it were an official FBI action, the two would have found a way to settle the incident long ago.

Things always develop beyond plan. Rachel is a little confused. She looks at Martin opposite her, who is full of sincerity.

"Well..." She had no other choice but to say, "I need to ask my superiors."

Martin said, "Don't worry." He picked up the printed document and said, "I'll take it back and take a closer look."

It would be impossible not to let someone take it back, so Rachel nodded and said, "You take it with you."

Martin put the manuscript into the file bag and gently touched Old Bull's foot with his foot.

Bruce remained calm, and the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

He picked up the phone and said a few words, then said to Martin: "It's a call from the White House. The President invites you to watch the fireworks show tonight."

Rachel's eyebrows twitched, but she didn't worry too much because her superior was not from the White House line.

Martin picked up the file bag and shook hands with Rachel who had stood up. "If you are willing to invest, please inform me in time so that I can have someone prepare."

Rachel smiled and said, "I will report this to my superiors."

Martin and Bruce left.

After the people disappeared, Kate sat back in her chair and said, "You've made too much trouble. This can be solved by taking off your pants."

Rachel was angry and stared at Kate, but finally said nothing, picked up her briefcase and left the cafe.

Martin and Bruce entered the hotel lobby and went to the lounge first.

Bruce carefully checked the file bag and confirmed that there was no problem. Then they went upstairs. "Is the discussion over so soon?" Elizabeth hadn't finished packing yet.

Martin nodded and said to Bruce, "Call Thomas over."

Elizabeth knew he had something important to do, so she pointed to the next bedroom and said, "I'll go see if Lily has packed up."

A few minutes later, Thomas came in from outside and Martin called him into the study of the suite.

Bruce handed the file bag to Thomas: "It contains the manuscript of a novel."

Thomas took it out and asked, "Buy the copyright?"

Martin nodded slightly: "This manuscript has not yet been published. The copyright should still be in the hands of the author, but I don't know who the author is."

He specifically asked, but Rachel beat around the bush and refused to answer: "Find the author and negotiate with him for the film and television adaptation rights as quickly as possible."

"Okay." Thomas looked through the manuscript.

Matt Damon's honest face flashed through Martin's mind again. Remembering that he was a member of the Foot Gang, he sighed that it was not just fate, but even the FBI wanted him to stand against the Foot Gang.

Thomas read the manuscript for a while, turned on the computer in the study, logged into the Google website, entered a passage from the manuscript, used Google search, and opened a personal blog.

He looked at it carefully and said, "I found the author."

Martin responded: "Who is it?"

Thomas said: "A man named Andy Weir, because he has no support from a publisher, he serialized and updated The Martian through his personal blog. He has now updated to the last chapter of the manuscript."

There was a brief introduction of the author on it. He read it and said, "This guy graduated from the University of California and currently works at Blizzard Entertainment."

Martin asked, "Blizzard Entertainment, the company that made the Warcraft game?"

"Yes," Thomas confirmed. "He's a game programmer at Blizzard."

Martin thought for a moment and said, "You should go back to California immediately, find this person, deal with him, and buy the copyright."

Thomas put away the manuscript and said, "I'll go book a flight right away."

Martin thought of one more thing: "By the way, let's confirm Ridley Scott's future work schedule."

Thomas nodded and left the room.

Martin thought about it carefully again to make sure he remembered correctly that Ridley Scott was the director.

Director Lao Lei is well-known in the circle for his unstable performance. The movies he directed are always good or bad, which leads to his fame but he cannot get the final editing rights.

However, one thing is very clear, the films that failed for Ray are basically epic masterpieces, especially costume dramas, and it seems that only "Gladiator" has achieved great commercial success.

On the contrary, Lao Lei rarely fails in science fiction films.

Martin remembered that Ray was a very ambitious director. Every time he achieved success in a science fiction film, he would jump into the epic film without hesitation.

"Kingdom of Heaven", "Robin Hood", "Pharaohs and Gods", "The Last Duel"...

All of them were box office fiascos that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce.

Martin took out the trio's special mobile phone and called Neves again. After chatting for a while, he felt relieved.

Thomas flew back to Los Angeles that afternoon.

Martin and his party had dinner in advance and came to the White House again, where they watched the Independence Day fireworks show with Guanhai and others.

Elizabeth also communicated with Michelle face to face that Maria would go to Los Angeles in mid-July to join the "Inception" crew for summer practice activities.

Nolan, Martin and several Warner Bros. executives will all sign her practice records.

It is conceivable that she will definitely enter an Ivy League school in the future.

The next morning, Martin first saw Lily and Elizabeth off, then took a flight to leave North America and return to Morocco to continue the filming of "Inception".

While changing planes in Rabat, he received a call from Neves.

The fishermen who went fishing were sent to South Korea as liaison officers because they failed in the internal competition among fishermen and would not return to North America for a long time.

Now that the hook is gone, Martin of course has to take the bait.

Thomas contacted Andy Weir, who was currently a part-time writer and had little hope of seeing his serialized novels published, so the talks went relatively smoothly.

(End of this chapter)