America's Top Player

Chapter 132 Blurred Kanye

Leon came to his senses and picked up the playlist that Bonnie had dropped.

The Coachella Music Festival is produced by Anschutz Entertainment Group in the United States.

With a strong music lineup, diverse music genres and the combination of music and fashion trends as selling points, more than 20 tickets are sold every year!

It is now the largest, most famous and most profitable music festival in the world.

As the main performer at this year's Coachella Music Festival, Li Ang needs to sing five songs.

In addition to the famous song "Take Me to Church", it also includes four songs from the new album.

"Shxt! Why are there such idiots everywhere!" Li Ang discovered clues among a series of performing guests.

Arcade Fire, Suede, Duran Duran, Kings of Leon.
The most eye-catching name among them is Kanye West.

The length of the performance also highlights his unique status among the guests.

Kanye will give an hour-long performance, turning this international music festival into his own concert.

"Maybe." Li Ang stared at the list as if he had thought of something, and a mysterious smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The Coachella Music Festival is held in the Colorado Desert in Southern California.

Considering the rehearsal and the most important issue of the "Straight Outta Compton" movie, Leon decided to leave for Los Angeles immediately.

The next day, in the first-class cabin of a Delta Air Lines Boeing 747 bound for Los Angeles.

Li Ang was drinking coffee while calling James Wan.

When he heard that the 1000 million budget was not enough and additional investment was needed, he couldn't help but curse out loud.

"Fuck you, are you kidding me?"

Three days ago, he had transferred $500 million in film production funds into a special account set up by Lionsgate for "Straight Outta Compton."

The money is mainly used to pay the final payment of the contracts of actors and staff, as well as the post-production and publicity costs of the film.

"Man, I'm not kidding, the final result of our film is amazing," said James Wan. "The final editing will be up to you. Every frame of this movie is a work of art!"

"The scale of publicity must match the quality of this film! Otherwise it would be a crime!"

James Wan regards his works as treasures, which is understandable to Leon.

But the problem is that for the director's artistic pursuit, his wallet will suffer.

The actors and director received nearly $500 million in salary for the entire film.

Other expenses include consumables, staff expenses, and post-production costs, totaling nearly US$400 million.

The remaining $100 million in the budget was used to promote the film.

According to the industry's practices, distributor Lionsgate has to undertake certain promotional tasks.

However, since the entire company focused on the filming of "The Hunger Games" series, it had no time to take care of a low-budget movie like "Straight Outta Compton".

In addition, the stingy Apocalypse Films was only willing to pay 5% of the distribution agency fee, which made Lionsgate choose to just lie down.

They did nothing about the promotional activities.

"You mean one million dollars isn't enough?" Leon said.

"Of course, the money is not enough just to put in TV ads on TV," James Wan explained, "not to mention subway ads, car body ads, and billboard ads."

"Radio promotion also costs a lot of money. Oh, and there's also the Internet!"

"Man, those movie critics' social media accounts, are even more effective in promoting movies than TV stations."

Hearing this, Li Ang could only shake his head helplessly.

But he fully agrees with what James Wan said.

The publicity costs of a movie usually account for 20% to 30% of the production cost.

The rise of social media has changed the rules of the game across all industries.

Bonnie, who has a YouTube account with only 10 followers, charges clothing brands as much as $5000 per video.

Now she no longer relies solely on selling second-hand underwear to make money.

As for those big Vs who have hundreds of thousands of fans on Facebook and Bluebird, their quotes for a commercial promotion are usually several thousand or even tens of thousands of dollars.

In order to achieve significant publicity effects, such commercial promotions must be posted at least hundreds of times.

"Okay, man. Let's talk about this when we meet."

Leon cannot make the decision on the budget increase alone; he needs to discuss it in detail with his partner Robinson.

That night after the plane landed, Leon and Phil went to the Sony Pictures building in Culver City together.

The Sony Pictures Entertainment building is filled with posters and figurines of its IPs.

Men in Black series, Spider-Man series, 007 series and other brilliant names.

What makes this company different from other film companies is that it also incorporates elements of everyday life and gaming.

Although the management of Sony Columbia Pictures' North American business is still mostly white, there is no doubt that the influence of a simple life on this company is decisive.

A poster of Kratos, the protagonist of the game "God of War 3", is hung in the most conspicuous position.

The game swept all major game awards last year and recently won the British Academy Film Award for Artistic Achievement.

Paved the way for film adaptations.

Li Ang was warmly greeted as soon as he entered the meeting room.

A short young man stood up.

First he hugged Phil, then he held Leon's hand tightly.

"Look who's here! Street Coconut Crisp, all-round talent in the music world, the hottest star right now!" The little notebook said in broken English: "Maybe I can call you Li Sang, or Li Ang Sang?"

"As long as you are happy." Li Ang smiled awkwardly.

After releasing his hand, he whispered to Phil, "Who is this little guy?"

"Saburo Kitano, head of Sony Music's artist management department," Phil said. "By the way, he's also the brother-in-law of Sony Interactive Entertainment's president, Shuhei Yoshida."

Li Ang nodded, and had a concrete assessment of the importance of his current life.

As a global conglomerate, Sony owns many famous brands including Xperia, Walkman, Sony Music, Columbia Pictures, and PlayStation.

The cornerstone of the entire group is undoubtedly Sony Interactive Entertainment, whose main business is electronic products and games.

As the brother-in-law of Sony Interactive Entertainment President Shuhei Yoshida, Saburo Kitano has a certain influence on various brands under the group.

"Mr. Li, please come and sit here." Kitano Saburo said with a smile in his eyes.

Nod every three steps and bend every five steps.

It's a typical everyday lifestyle, with so much hypocritical etiquette that it's outrageous.

"Let me introduce you. This is Maria Angelova, executive vice president of Sony Pictures Entertainment." Saburo Kitano pulled a middle-aged woman with a standard Eastern European appearance.

Black casual suit, medium-length hair, and black leather shoes.

A typical working woman.

"Mr. Li Ang, it's my honor to meet you through Mr. Kitano's introduction." The executive vice president's attitude was extremely flattering.

But Li Ang knew very well that this was not directed at himself, but at Saburo Kitano.

Xiao Rizi is like an emperor in the huge structure of the entire Sony Group.

Kitano swung his feet leisurely and whispered a few words to the female assistant.

After a while, the female assistant brought an exquisite tray with a bottle of Japanese Yamazaki whiskey and three cigars on it.

"I heard that you love drinking, try this Li-san~" Kitano Saburo looked proud.

Li Ang took a polite sip. He had the same opinion about Japanese whiskey and beer: both were poor imitations of their countries of origin.

"Ms. Maria, Mr. Leon is a bit shy. Let me speak for him," Phil lit a cigar and broke the silence. "Shy? From what I know, Mr. Leon isn't that kind of person," Maria said with a smile. "This young man has practically turned the rap world upside down."

While she was talking, Kitano Saburo winked at her frantically.

That look seemed to say: This is the cash cow that Sony Records has set its sights on, you decide what to do with it!
"Those are just normal hype tactics." Li Ang spread his hands. "There are always people using me as an excuse to hype themselves up."

They are all old foxes who have worked in the entertainment industry for many years. Maria smiled awkwardly based on the principle of seeing through but not saying anything.

Which singer you have had a quarrel with is not more famous than you?
Who is hyping whom?
Li Ang knocked on the table and said, "Your company is preparing to shoot a new 007 movie, right?"

"Yes, the current budget application and script have been approved by the company's senior management and the project has been officially launched," said Maria.

"Great. I'm a huge fan of this series. I think..."

"You want to ask about Miss Robbie, right?"

Leon was interrupted before he could finish his words. He had no time to prepare himself and could only passively take over the conversation: "Yes, to be honest, I think Director Sam's decision to cut out the Bond girl's scenes was a clear mistake."

Maria sighed helplessly.

In fact, there was a general consensus within the company that this was a catastrophic mistake.

Executives in charge of Columbia Pictures' operations even protested in a meeting at one point that the ridiculous idea of "Bon Woman" was a crime.

But this was Sjung's decision, and he was the tyrant who had the final say in the entire Sony Pictures Entertainment division.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Leon, it's just a pity that Director Sam had a considerable degree of autonomy in this film," said Maria.

After hearing this, Saburo Kitano could no longer sit still.

In his eyes, the group of Ansa people headed by Shi Junge were just a bunch of laborers.

At first, he just came to Sony Pictures to be a broker in order to get Leon.

But after learning the whole story, his attitude changed completely.

In his eyes, the British were wasting their money by doing this.

"Baka!" Kitano was so angry that he started speaking in his native dialect. "I'm going to call Shi Junge. This won't do any good for the 007 series!"

"Please calm down, Mr. Kitano," Maria soothed. "Mr. Shi Junge made this decision after conducting detailed market research."

"What kind of ridiculous market research would lead to a significant reduction in Miss Robbie's role?" Kitano was full of anger.

Without even waiting for Li Ang to make a move, he did all the work by himself.

"Simply put, Mr. Shi Junger believes that the content of film output should keep pace with the ideological development of the United States, the world's largest film market."

"I don't understand what you mean."

"I mean, people are tired of relying on big blonde beauties to attract box office revenue," Maria sighed.

"Fuck, are you saying Americans don't like women anymore?" Kitano Saburo sneered, "What a bunch of freaks."

The quarrel between the two seemed to have no end.

From the "007" series of movies to MGM Studios.

In 2004, Kirk Ryan sold MGM to Sony Pictures Entertainment.

At this point, two of the world's eight major film companies have been merged into Sony.

It seems that the Americans are unable to withstand the financial offensive of Xiaoshi.

However, due to many mysterious operations by executives of MGM, the century-old film studio filed for bankruptcy protection and reorganization last year.

"I think Mr. Leon's suggestion is correct." Kitano Saburo said with a serious expression, "Shi Junge should understand this. Bond girls are the soul of the 007 series."

"Maybe you should say these things to Mr. Sjung in person." Maria spread her hands.

"Alright, both of you." Li Ang waved his hand to calm both sides. "You mean to say that as long as Director Sam or Shi Junger agrees, the movie script can be changed?"

“That’s right,” Maria said.

"Okay, I think I understand what you mean." Li Ang stood up and said, "Thank you both for your hospitality."

This matter was far more complicated than he had previously imagined.

Judging from the current situation, the deletion of the "Bond Girl" scenes is not just due to Sam's personal misogyny.

This was a decision made after Shi Junge conducted extensive market research.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have risked making a decision that goes against the tradition of the entire series just for a poor guy who was hallucinated by being cheated on.

"Mr. Li~" As soon as he walked out of the Sony Pictures Entertainment building, Saburo Kitano called him.

"What's wrong, Mr. Kitano?" Li Ang frowned. He had gained nothing today.

"Warner Records is a thing of the past. Those old-fashioned fools will inevitably decline." Kitano paused. "Sony Records' door is always open to you. Our terms will definitely be the most generous~"

"I will seriously consider this matter." Li Ang said perfunctorily.

In the business car, Phil kept advising, "You'd better seriously consider Sony's offer. The contract they offer is far more attractive than Warner's."

Li Ang rolled his eyes at the other person and said nothing, changing the subject. "Kanye will be at the Coachella rehearsal tomorrow, right?"

"Of course, that guy is the main guest. At least one-third of the audience bought their tickets just for him."

"That's good. He's all I can think about now."

Hearing this, Phil scratched his head in confusion, "Fuck Bro, you're not interested in men now, are you?"

The next morning, Leon arrived at the rehearsal site in the Colorado Desert accompanied by Phil and Jorge.

Under the guidance of the staff, I first met the band that would be performing with me, and then went into the dressing room to try on my makeup.

In the corner of the dressing room, members of the British band Duran Duran were gathered together to play the game.

Li Ang's appearance quickly attracted their attention, and they covered their mouths and whispered to each other.

The band was once popular on both sides of the Atlantic in the 80s, but its popularity has long since faded.

Li Ang didn't even have the interest to talk to them, and he glanced at his watch every few minutes.

About twenty minutes later, Kanye West finally appeared.

For some special reason, his security measures were much more thorough than usual.

He was surrounded by more than a dozen bodyguards, with an even grander style than the president's travels.

He headed straight to the dressing room with his head bowed.

He didn't look at anyone.

"Talk about coconut."

"Hey Bro!"

Li Ang greeted the other party loudly from a distance.

Kanye seemed to intentionally avoid Li Ang and sat in the innermost corner of the dressing room.

However, this was of no use. Seeing that the other party pretended not to hear, Li Ang walked straight over.

"Bro~"

Kanye was startled, but still didn't look up.

The bodyguards around him immediately became alert.

"Bro, don't be so nervous," Li Ang said. "There's nothing between us! You're such a positive person and you never criticize me on social media."

"I just came to say hello."

Upon hearing this, Kan Ye breathed a sigh of relief.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to post on social media, he just doesn’t dare.

He raised his head blankly and stared at Li Ang with a dazed look, "Hello Bro"

(End of this chapter)