Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 8 New Line Cinema
"Link, table 12, two muscle burgers, two cheese fries, and two ice cokes."

"coming!"

In the Burger King on Shenaga Avenue in West Hollywood, Link, wearing a burger restaurant's peaked cap, a green cartoon apron, and holding a metal tray in his hand, walked from the counter to booth number 12.

"Link, why is it you?"

"Hi Matt, Ben, what a coincidence, it's a pleasure to serve you both."

Link laughed and placed the tray of food on the dining table.

"Aren't you a director? You don't look like you're filming a movie."

Matt Damon looked him up and down and laughed.

"As a director, I have no income for the time being. Now I work here part-time. Do you live here too?"

"No, we are here today to learn. The thing is, we are auditioning for a role in a movie. That role is about a college student who works as a waiter at a hamburger restaurant outside of school. We are here to observe and learn."

Matt Damon pointed to his eyes.

"Scent of a woman?"

"Hey, you know this movie too?"

"In addition to working part-time here, I also play minor roles in various crews, so I am more familiar with the recent developments of the crews."

Link shrugged and smiled.

"It's a pity that the second male lead in this movie is not an Asian face, otherwise you would be a perfect fit."

Matt Damon said.

"Haha, I think so too."

Link heard the orders being called out from the counter, signaled to the two men, and went to the counter to continue picking up the food and delivering it to the customers.

"He looks really special."

Matt Damon looked at Link's figure moving around.

Ben Affleck took the ice-cold Coke and drank half of it in one gulp, then let out a long burp.

"What's so special about it?"

"He was very energetic in his work and seemed to be in a relaxed mood, as if he had no worries."

"Are you kidding? People who work part-time here don't have any worries? At least he's short of money."

Ben Affleck bit into a French fry and looked at Link.

"Money, who doesn't need it? It's very special that he can be so happy just because he doesn't have money. Okay, let's not talk about him anymore. Ben, do you want to go with me to audition for the set of Scent of a Woman tomorrow?"

"No, the second male lead is too cowardly and not suitable for me. I can't play the role well."

Ben Affleck shrugged.

"It's better if you don't go. I'll have one less strong competitor."

-

Working part-time at a burger shop for six hours straight, he earned $60 in salary and $22 in tips.

In the afternoon, he returned to his small apartment, changed into a suit, and went to New Line Cinema on Hollywood Boulevard with the video tape of Buried.

New Line Cinema is a famous independent film production company in Hollywood.

Founded in 1967, its main business at the beginning was to distribute low-cost European and local horror films to American universities.

He entered the film production industry in 1979, investing in low-cost horror films.

In 1990, he bought the Hong Kong movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" from Fox Film, which no one dared to distribute, and it became a huge success, earning more than million US dollars.

New Line Cinema also took this opportunity to become an independent film distribution company with greater influence in Hollywood, not much worse than Miramax Films.

The "Lord of the Rings" series, which would become a global hit in the future, was produced by New Line Cinema.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm a director. I have a great film project that I'd like to discuss with your company. Who should I contact?"

Arriving at the New Line Cinema office building, Link came to the front desk and asked.

"Movie project? What specific project are you talking about?"

The receptionist was a pretty blond woman in her thirties.

When Link came to ask, the woman was reading the fashion magazine "Vogue". When he asked, the woman kept smiling, but there was obviously a hint of impatience.

"I have a movie that is looking for a distributor. During the Sundance Film Festival, several film companies wanted to acquire the distribution rights for this movie, but the prices they offered were too low. I would rather cooperate with a powerful distribution company like New Line Cinema."

Link said as he took out the videotape.

The blonde looked at him and picked up a box with a folder in it and put it on the counter.

"Sir, you can put your videotape in this box and fill in your personal contact information. I will pass the videotape to my colleagues in the distribution department later. If your movie is really good, my colleagues in the distribution department will contact you."

Link didn't do that.

First, the videotapes were not backed up and were quite valuable.

Second, there were several videotapes in the box, and no one knew how long they had been there. Even if he put the tapes back in the box, he didn't know when the people at New Line Cinema would watch them. It didn't matter if it was a week, a month, or a year.

He just needs to wait.

Link was unwilling to pin his hopes on low-probability events.

After leaving the front desk, Link went to the sofa area in the living room to read the newspaper. At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Robert Shea, president of New Line Cinema, came out of the elevator with his secretary.

President Shay is in his sixties, bald, wearing a gray casual suit, with a serious expression and a serious expression.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Shay."

Link laughed and walked towards him from a distance.

"you are?"

Robert Shea stopped, held his eyes and legs and looked at him.

"Mr. Shay, my name is Link, and I'm a director. I recently made a thriller movie, and the plot is this."

Link walked to two meters in front of Robert Shea and stopped, introducing the main plot of "Buried Alive" in fluent language. A man who came to America to work unfortunately encountered an accident and was buried in an unknown sand pit with only a few simple tools on him.

When calling the police for help failed, he could only save himself.

The brilliance of this movie lies in its description of the struggles of people in desperate situations, the neglect of foreign immigrants by the American authorities, and the fact that there is only one actor and one scene in the movie. This type of movie has never appeared before and is quite novel.

"You mean there was only one actor in the entire movie, and all the scenes were shot in a wooden box?"

Robert Shea said as he walked.

“It’s like this, this is an experimental film, although I won’t boast that it will cause a sensation after it is released, but I can guarantee that it will arouse the interest of many audiences after it is released.

Mr. Shea, I can guarantee that this movie will make more than $500 million in North America, as long as New Line Cinema is willing to distribute this movie. If it’s less than $500 million, I won’t take a cent of the box office revenue.”

Link said as he caught up with Robert Shea.

Robert Shea continued walking until he came to a car waiting on the street.

Robert Shea opened the car door and was about to get in when he turned around and said to Link, "You told a good story. I hope your movie is good too. Please give the videotape to the front desk. I will arrange for someone inside to watch it in the next two days."

"Mr. Shay, I hope my movie will amaze you."

Link laughed.

Robert Shea waved his hand and got in the car.

Link stood on the street, watching the car go away, and touched the videotape in his pocket, feeling conflicted.

If he left the videotape behind and it was accidentally lost by the people from New Line Cinema, he would then have no choice but to crawl to the Sundance Film Institute to look for that copy. If he couldn't find it, all his previous four months of hard work would have been in vain.

But if he doesn’t stay, the people at New Line Cinema won’t be able to see the movie, and there will be no way to distribute the movie.

After hesitating for a moment, Link returned to the front desk of New Line Cinema. The blonde woman was still reading a fashion magazine.

"Hello, beautiful lady, we meet again."

Link greeted.

The blonde woman glanced at him, pushed the box on the table forward a little, and still ignored him.

"Beautiful lady, I have a question for you. Just now, President Shay told me to give you the videotape and he will arrange for someone to watch it in the next two days. As far as you know, does the next two days mentioned by President Shay refer to tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, or an uncertain time?"

Link laughed.

"Sorry, this is a work secret. I can't tell you."

The blonde said expressionlessly.

"Well, ma'am, when I first met you, I knew I couldn't get anything out of you."

"why?"

The blonde blinked.

"I'm the director, and I'm good at observing people. I guess you work here on the surface, but you're actually a secret agent planted here by the FBI, right? You've received confidentiality training, and no one will get any information from you."

Link looked around and spoke in a low voice.

"Congratulations, you guessed it correctly."

The blonde said with a smile.

Since he had decided to keep the videotape, Link no longer hesitated and signed the registration book with a pen. The woman took out a sticker, wrote the number and the name of the movie on it, and stuck it on the videotape.

"Baby, don't be sad, we are just separated temporarily. After they have seen it, I will find you no matter where you are."

Link kissed the videotape, then reluctantly put it back into the box. In order to distinguish his videotape from the others, he drew a red heart on the sticker with a colored pen.

"I think you are more suitable to be an actor than a director."

The blonde laughed.

"Good idea, I will consider your suggestion carefully."

Link also smiled, said goodbye to the blonde woman, and left New Line Cinema with his hands in his pockets.

(End of this chapter)