Chapter 3: The First Step
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Although Adrian set a so-called “mighty” aim for himself, it was much easier said than done. Since ancient times, men who could attract women were either rich, powerful, or both.
Needless to say, if Adrian could control Hollywood and make anyone a celebrity, the actresses whom he used to desire would certainly throw themselves into his arms. However, having a few million dollars was insufficient, thus expropriation was imperative.
An ordinary person would have fretted over expropriations, but it was a relatively simple thing for him as he was born again. Owing to the fact that he read many online novels in his previous life, he remembered a lot of expropriation methods, for instance, asking Claude to trade Japanese yen for him.
Nevertheless, knowing the methods was one thing, because they were also easier said than done. Being a small-time director in his previous life, he knew films very well but was not as knowledgeable in the financial aspect. While he could find information related to money-making on the Internet, they were impossible to execute.
Therefore, he needed someone to help him in the financial aspect if he wanted to expropriate.
Even though every rich playboy had a bunch of bad friends, one still had a few good ones, such as Claude Ronries whom Adrian convinced. Their families were rather close, especially because their dads were Harvard graduates from the same year, they were fraternity brothers with a deep level of connection, and were also godfathers of each other’s children. After Adrian’s parents died in an accident, the Ronries couple helped him a lot.
The best term to describe Adrian and Claude’s relationship was childhood friends or friends who wore split pants. Overall, the two of them grew up causing trouble together, bullying people together, and picking up girls together. Even after Claude was asked to work in his dad’s company after he graduated, he still made time for Adrian once in a while. He also stayed by Adrian’s side to help him deal with his parents’ death.
Adrian may not be the rich playboy he used to be, but he had a natural affinity with the previous owner after inheriting all of his feelings and memories. Furthermore, based on his previous memories, Adrian remembered that Claude was extremely outstanding in business, thus he thought about him right away.
The only thing was that it required too much talking to convince Claude, thus it was fortunate that the trump card he drafted based on the memories was useful—6 million dollars was not much, but Claude had little opportunity to go all-out. Besides, Adrian also mentioned that he would not suffer any loss even if the plan was ruined. Additionally, the fact that they were childhood friends made it easier for him to get the first step done.
That being said, the fact that Claude agreed to the odd plan that was full of loopholes made Adrian wonder if he had other intentions.
“Since I’m done with the first step, I should take the second step as soon as possible.” He began working again after the most important thing to kickstart it was done.
From February 1990 to May 1990, he basically spent all his time in his villa. Apart from the Writers Guild and the library, Adrian rarely stepped out, which really shocked Mrs. Galen, who was responsible for tidying the rooms.
The first time he hated the era was when he realized computers were still equipped with DOS programs, phones were big and clumsy, laptops were way too simple, and the lack of Internet meant the lack of web portals and search engines.
This forced Adrian to prepare a lot of books and dictionaries, and he also spent at least a week familiarizing himself with a typewriter before he began writing scripts.
The second step was naturally to enter Hollywood to build his influence through films. While he had no relationships in the film industry, he knew that being a screenwriter was unquestionably the simplest way since he already had a plan.
In the beginning, he was still a little uncertain when he set that aim, but he made a shocking discovery when he carefully recalled the scripts he read and analyzed before he was reborn—he remembered those scripts completely and clearly as long as he spent enough time thinking about them.
Perhaps this was related to the merging and recombination of his memories, but the gift from God had undoubtedly helped him have enough chips in hand. Hence, he completed six full scripts and ten script outlines after working tirelessly for three months. Following that…
Brandt Erwin checked his surroundings carefully after he stopped his car. He grunted softly when he made sure that this was his destination, then walked toward the villa. After he rang the doorbell, an ordinary-looking middle-aged woman answered the door a few minutes later, who looked at him in confusion. “May I ask who you’re looking for?”
“Does Mr. Adrian Cowell live here? I’m Brandt Erwin from Universal Pictures’ editorial department, we have an appointment,” Brandt asked politely but was secretly grunting on the inside. He wondered. ‘He lives in a villa like this, but is writing scripts for a film company? Are rich men so bored nowadays?’
“Please come in, Mr. Adrian has been waiting for all of you for a long time.” The woman who came to a sudden realization quickly led him inside.
Brandt nodded but was actually puzzled. ‘She said “all of you”, what did she mean?’
Soon enough, his question was answered because three out of the four men who were sitting in the villa’s living room were familiar people to him. They were people from film companies Warner, Fox, and Disney.
‘What? Is Mr. Cowell waiting to sell to the highest bidder?’ This was Brandt’s first thought, but he quickly got rid of that. ‘Although he looks young, he doesn’t seem like he needs money.’
Before he managed to figure it out, Billy Eddie, an assistant from Disney’s editorial department waved his hand to greet him with a smile, “Hey, we were waiting for you, Brandt. Quick, come over.”
Afterward, Billy exchanged glances with the other men and they shrugged at the same time, which made Brandt even more confused. ‘You were waiting for me? What does that mean?’
“Can you explain, Mr. Cowell?” After introducing himself to the young man, Brandt asked, “I believe that you arranged for all of us to meet?”
“Oh, of course.” The young man laughed. “I was suddenly inspired to write a few scripts lately, and I wanted to see if I can earn money from them, so I sent them to your company, then invited you over for a discussion.”
“A… A few scripts?!” Brandt was dumbfounded. He subconsciously turned to look at his peers, who shrugged at the same time again and looked at him as if they were saying “now you understand.”
Brandt suddenly felt that his brain could no longer function. ‘Mr. Adrian Cowell clearly meant that he sent different film scripts to different big companies at the same time, and these companies sent their representatives to contact him to purchase his scripts!
‘Are you kidding me? Even Hollywood’s top screenwriter can’t satisfy a few big companies at the same time unless the scripts were written long ago, but based on the responses from Billy and the others, it looks like he really wrote them recently. This is… Unbelievable.’
Brandt read the script he received, which was a very relaxed high school comedy called ’10 Things I Hate About You.’ Even though some methods used to develop the plot were rather old-school, it was overall an interesting piece. In America, films that were least likely going to lose money were about romantic love and high school teens. As long as the scripts were outstanding, the director was smart, and the cast were youthful and attractive, the box office sales would be decent. At times, those films even resulted in high profits.
It was exactly why the editorial department’s manager urged him to do his best to secure the script.
“This is too shocking, Mr. Cowell.” Brandt quickly regained his senses, then glanced at Billy, Shakira Jefferson from Warner, and Barney Jacklin from Fox as he said, “Honestly, your story about high school teens is amazing.”
He was surprised when he noticed the other three men shaking their heads so slightly that they were unnoticeable. ‘The four scripts are of different genres? This is… Too much.’
Nonetheless, he quickly held back his emotions, then looked at the others who nodded slightly at him. Since Mr. Cowell chose to negotiate with a few companies at once, they needed to join hands to lower the price, which was a normal situation since he was also new to this.
While Adrian gave each company a different script and seemed like he was not lacking money, the four men knew that they could not lower the price much, but anything was better than nothing.
“Thanks for your compliment, Mr. Erwin.” Adrian smiled, then mentioned, “Let’s get to the point.”
“Of course.” After exchanging glances quickly, Brandt was the first to speak, “Your script is very remarkable, but you’re new to this, and you’re not a professional screenwriter, so I can only offer you 35,000 dollars.”
Billy twitched his mouth upon hearing him but immediately agreed with Shakira from Warner and Barney from Fox. “Yes, Mr. Cowell, that’s a fair price.”
“Is that so?” Adrian frowned a little. “That’s too low.”
A moment later, he smiled again. “It’s alright, that will do.”
The four of them were startled, especially Brandt who offered the lowest price on purpose to make it easier for them to negotiate. He did not expect Adrian to agree so quickly, thus he was stunned.
Following that, Adrian revealed the mystery when he placed two files on the side table. “Oh, right. If it isn’t inconvenient, can you help me take a look at these scripts?”
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