I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 537 Scapegoat (Two more chapters this afternoon, please vote with your monthly tickets!)
It was late at night, and Los Angeles, which had been dry since the beginning of summer, was suddenly struck by thunder and lightning, followed by a torrential downpour.

Stringer was sitting in his office, on the phone.

Ganis and Columbia Pictures Chairman Amy were also there, and Li Jinwen huddled in the corner of the sofa like a little quail.

"Is the surgery over?"

How is the situation? Is it a minor injury, or...?

"Okay, I understand, thank you!"

He hung up the phone and looked at the people sitting in the office.

Besides the three people from Columbia, there were also three senior executives from Sony in the office.

Jamie Ericht is the head of Sony Pictures Television and will be responsible for promoting shows like Breaking Bad.

However, Jamie had just taken office in 2005.

Prior to this, he was in charge of public relations and distribution for Sony.

Zach van Ambon succeeded Jamie as Vice President of Public Relations and Distribution at Sony.

He is also an excellent producer.

However, in terms of television series...

Nobuyuki Idei, the former chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures, was ousted by Stringer this year due to Sony's declining profits.

However, he is a representative of Sony headquarters and still serves on the board of directors.

He also holds a financial oversight role at Sony Pictures Entertainment...

There's no way around it, Americans love to rip off suckers; they don't treat everyday money like money at all.

This has been the case from Columbia Pictures to Sony Pictures. Little Life has truly suffered greatly in this regard.

We can't say anything yet, because saying anything would mean we're going in the wrong direction or that our strategy is wrong.

Anyway, it has nothing to do with me personally.

This is why, even though Stringer gained the trust of headquarters and passed the shareholder vote, headquarters still kept Nobuyuki Idei in office. Nominally, he was there to assist and cooperate with Howard Stringer, but in reality, he was acting as a supervisor.

Of course, there's Nobuyuki Idei...

It wasn't as wonderful as headquarters had imagined!
Stringer lit a cigar, looked at everyone in the office, and glanced directly at Li Jinwen in the corner.

Li Jinwen actually didn't want to come!
As a classic Sony production manager, she had absolutely no right to speak in this office.

What are you here for?
How do important figures solve problems?

"I just spoke with the hospital, and the surgery is over."

That guy didn't die... The bullet went straight through his chest cavity, almost hitting his heart.

He is currently still in a coma.

According to the doctor, Amos is still in critical condition. Three days; if he doesn't wake up within three days, there's a high probability...

Gentlemen, we're in trouble!

What's the trouble?
Everyone in the office knew exactly what was going on.

"This has nothing to do with us!"

Ganis readily agreed, saying, "Columbia and Amos have had a very friendly working relationship. Although there have been serious disagreements on some issues, we have always maintained a friendship. We would never do something so despicable."

This is America, we're just filmmakers.

If we have differing opinions or conflicts, we will use business methods.

Assassination?

Do you really think this is a Hollywood blockbuster?

Amy Pascal nodded in agreement.

She is the chairperson of Columbia Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony, which was once one of the eight major studios.

She didn't want Colombia to get involved in this mess.

What's more, she's a big fan of Liu Jin's books, especially his "Night at the Museum" published last year, and she was planning to buy the rights from him. Now, with that shot... whether Liu Jin is dead or alive, it's all over.

She's feeling really uncomfortable right now.

Stringer glared fiercely at Ganis.

You idiot, you're the only one who opened your mouth, aren't you?
Suddenly, Nobuyuki Idei spoke up: "Could it be... like before, a self-inflicted injury ruse?"

"Mr. Idei, you may not have heard me clearly."

The bullet pierced his chest cavity, essentially confirming that the gunman intended to kill him.

This is different from the minor incidents at the Cannes Film Festival before, where a knife stab would hurt a lot, but wouldn't be life-threatening. But this time... I asked my friends in the police force. If it weren't for Ms. Jessica Alba greeting him, he would probably have died on the spot.

This is a billionaire with a net worth of hundreds of millions.

He has hundreds of millions of dollars in cash flow in his account... Such a person might use a self-inflicted injury as a ruse, but he would never gamble with his own life.

Zack, can you?

"Of course not. If I had hundreds of millions of dollars in cash flow, I would have quit my job long ago, bought a yacht, and traveled the world."

Mr. Zack wanted to be humorous.

But all he got in return were a few glares.

Including Howard's eye roll...

"Mr. Idei, you may not yet realize the seriousness of the problem."

The issue now is not whether it was a ruse or not. Even if it was, we would still have to bear the blame.

He launched the sales event for "Assassination of the Emperor" today.

At the premiere, he played a recording of the Emperor announcing the surrender...

Add to that our previous underhanded tactics against "Life Is Beautiful"! I guarantee that as soon as it's light of day, all the major theaters will expose those underhanded tactics to the world for all to judge.

Gentlemen, the current situation is that none of us can escape it.

Whether it's Sony Pictures or Columbia Pictures... after dawn, we will face a torrent of public opinion.

He emerged from the well and shut his mouth.
He certainly understood what Stringer was saying.

America, though, talks about RQ.

In the past, these kinds of things were mostly done quietly.

It would be fine to settle for a gunshot wound to the back or suicide afterward, but this time, it was a shooting in broad daylight...

At that time, there were many Hollywood celebrities and stars at the entrance of the Chinese Theatre.

In this situation, do you expect those celebrities to shut up?

impossible!

They desperately want to seize this opportunity to jump out, make their presence felt, and then launch a righteous attack.

Don't forget, Liu Jin has the support of a group of Jews behind him.

Those Jews weren't pro-GGZY groups; they were relatively peaceful Jews with very sound values ​​and beliefs. And these people wield at least half of the power in Hollywood.

Led by Michael Blumenthal...

Just then, the phone rang.

Stringer grabbed the phone and put it to his ear.

"Mr. Morita..."

Suddenly, Nobuyuki Iwai straightened his back.

Beside him, Ganis glanced at him disdainfully.

The Japanese devils love to put on these superficial things. They're not even here, so why pretend to be respectful?
He turned his head and glanced at Amy Pascal.

Sure enough, Amy's face showed disgust!
……

About ten minutes later, Stringer hung up the phone.

He breathed a sigh of relief and said to everyone, "Mr. Morita means that this matter must not be related to us in any way."

He raised his hand and glanced at the Vacheron Constantin watch on his wrist.

"It's 3 a.m. now, and there are still two hours until dawn."

We need to get this off our feet within two hours.

Did Morita Sama say how to pick them?

Nobuyuki Idei used honorifics.

Sama, you bastard!

Stringer cursed inwardly but said nothing, instead looking at the others.

"First, stop lobbying the theaters."

Not only do we need to stop it, but we also need to get theaters to cooperate with the release of "Life Is Beautiful."

He stubbed out his cigar, got up, walked to the liquor cabinet, and took out a bottle of wine.

Then, Li Jinwen brought over a wine glass.

• I'm the production manager of Sony Classics. You foreigners, do you expect me to serve you?
But what could she say?

He strangely took the wine glass and placed it on the table.

"Secondly, find the gunman."

"what?"

Nobuyuki Izui looked up, staring at Stringer with a puzzled expression.

Where to find it?

"This matter has nothing to do with Sony... In fact, it has nothing to do with us in the first place."

The problem is, everyone will think it's related to us.

To distance ourselves from the situation, we need to find a scapegoat. I believe the police will think so too, after all, Amos… his feud with Rowling, which started last month, has escalated to the point of attracting global attention.

The police will definitely want to find a scapegoat to close the case.

Where can we find a scapegoat?

"Amy Pascal asked in a deep voice."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the office, including Li Jinwen, turned their attention to Izui Nobuyuki.

"I?"

Nobuyuki Izui panicked!

Stringer smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Mr. Idei, you misunderstand. You are the former chairman of Sony, and this matter has nothing to do with you."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Mr. Idei must be very familiar with the area around Little Tokyo."

Nobuyuki Izui raised his eyebrows.

He certainly knew what Stringer meant by 'Little Tokyo'.

On the surface, Little Tokyo is a small, quiet neighborhood in Los Angeles, somewhat similar to Chinatown in China.

However, the 'Little Tokyo' that Stringer refers to is the Japanese gang members who are based in Little Tokyo.

Of course, Nobuyuki Izumi was familiar with it.

He had 'Little Tokyo' handle some of the dirty work.

"Yes!"

"Make them hand over the gunman."

"what?"

"Mr. Idei, this is the best solution at present."

Amos published "The Assassination of the Emperor," and a recording of the Emperor was played at the premiere. As a person of Japanese descent, I felt deeply humiliated and, in a moment of passion, I assassinated Amos—a perfectly reasonable and understandable act.

This would allow us to extricate ourselves and quickly quell the situation.

Moreover, we can hire a lawyer to exonerate him by arguing it was a crime of passion, and he'll be released after a few years in prison.

In addition, we can compensate him with two hundred thousand US dollars..."

"What about Morita Sama..."

"Mr. Morita's intention is to entrust me with full authority and to minimize the impact of the situation in the shortest possible time."

Mr. Idei, I hope that you can take on the responsibility for everyone at this time.

Now, I have two hours and twenty minutes left. I need to receive a perfect and impeccable explanation within those two hours.

"What about his books and movies..."

"We are powerless to stop his works from becoming bestsellers."

Zack, I need you to spread the word and let more people know about this...

Remember, it was a crime of passion!
Also, Sid, try to talk to Amos's agent... what was that French woman's name again? about the copyright of his works.

It would be best to acquire the adaptation rights to this book, *The Assassination of the Emperor*.

"why?"

Nobuyuki Idei is furious!

Stringer glanced at him. "Do you want someone else to adapt this book into a film or television series and release it worldwide?"

Upon hearing this, Nobuyuki Izui immediately fell silent!

……

(End of this chapter)