Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 248 New Challenges
"Hi boss."

After Tang De walked into the company, the employees who met him all smiled and nodded to greet him.

Tang De nodded one by one without saying anything.

The office is bright and spacious. The distance from the door to the office is enough for a 50-meter shuttle run.

The ground was covered with gray carpet, which was soft to walk on and much more comfortable than the road.

Secretary You Fei was wearing a dark grey business dress, revealing two straight thighs covered in black stockings, black-rimmed, red-soled high heels, and a pair of black-framed glasses on her face, giving her an abstinent vibe.

But this is just a disguise. If anyone dares to make some inappropriate jokes about her appearance or figure, Yufei will make that person know what it means to be heartbroken and lose everything.

Previously, a manager of a department had flirted with her, saying that she had a pair of searchlights on her chest. As a result, she stayed in the hospital for a week, and was fired by Tang De after she was finally discharged.

After that, no one dared to speak to Youfei like that anymore, and people only speculated about the relationship between Tang De and Youfei when chatting privately.

However, the two actually have no relationship in private life. The reason why Tang De hired her was entirely because Fernando recommended his niece after retirement.

Yufei graduated from Columbia University with outstanding academic qualifications and outstanding work ability.

But the most important thing is that she likes Tang De's movies very much, is very interested in Tang De as a person, and has a very positive attitude towards him.

So Tang De hired her as his full-time secretary without hesitation.

"Good morning, boss." You Fei opened the office door for him and brought him a cup of hot milk after Tang De sat down.

Tang De is different from others. He doesn't like drinking coffee. Instead, he likes to drink some milk in the morning.

So he simply bought a farm and raised a group of dairy cows.

Of course, in addition to dairy cows, he also raised pigs and sheep, and asked farmers to grow a lot of vegetables. This was naturally done in order to be able to eat the freshest ingredients.

After all, he can eat out, but Elena can't.

This little guy is very picky. After drinking our own milk, he refuses to drink packaged milk on the market no matter what.

She doesn't like it even if it has sugar added.

In order to satisfy this picky little princess, Tang De put a lot of thought into it.

Whether it was the clothes and shoes she wore, or the early childhood education she received, Tang De provided the best, all of which were tailor-made by hand. It could be said that a set of her clothes was as good as a luxury bag.

Jessica said that Don doted on her children more than she did, which was why Elena was happy just seeing her father.

Thinking of Elena in his mind, Tang De drank up the milk and put the cup on the table. Yu Fei immediately came over and took it away.

Then she began to report to Tang De on the company's affairs of the past two days.

"Bernay PR has proposed a new budget for salary increases and recruitment. They hope to expand their scale to deal with the Weinstein Company's PR for the judges."

"Kane Mosley of Angel Manifesto has also submitted a new budget request to buy Republic Records' recording studio and expand the company's production scale."

"In addition, Rico Dash, who is in charge of publishing, submitted the half-year sales data of Fifty Shades Darker and Inception."

Tang De interrupted Youfei's report after hearing this and said, "Agree to the budget approval of Angel Manifesto and let them buy more. We really need to expand our production scale. We also need to find more singers with potential and hire more scouts. We can find good singers from anywhere, not just New York."

"Understood." You Fei quickly recorded Tang De's reply in the notebook.

"Then the budget application of Bernay Company was rejected. Tell them to spend more time digging deeper into the information of these judges and not always treat them to meals. Playing golf is also a good choice. Also, if this person is difficult to deal with, start with the people around him. I don't believe that he can still be so stubborn after you have dealt with his family members."

"Of course, this is only a temporary solution, not a permanent one." Tang De leaned back in his chair, crossed his hands and thought for a while, then ordered: "Yu Fei, leave this matter to Tom."

"Understood." Youfei knew that Tom was Tang De's personal bodyguard and the person in charge of the company's security.

Every time he appears, it means someone is going to be unlucky.

During this year, a lot of negative information about competitors had been inexplicably dug up and published in newspapers. You Fei knew that this was all the work of her boss.

It's just that he was very cautious, and no one could find evidence linking him to Tang De.

But the business world is like a battlefield, and Youfei doesn't think there is anything wrong with doing this.

You know, those opponents also wanted to dig up some dirty information from Tang De all the time, but they just didn't succeed.

Thinking of this, You Fei suddenly heard Tang De ask: "I won't look at the sales report, you tell me about it."

"Okay." You Fei picked up the report, skipped over the messy data, and read the key points directly to Tang De.

"Fifty Shades Darker" is a new book written by Carmella, which was released in 08. It inherited the popularity of "Fifty Shades of Grey", so its sales are extremely hot.

Although the story was about black people and was not so popular among white girls, it carved out a niche in the black market and became the sales champion in 08.

"Inception" was published after being revised based on Tang De's script. In addition to the script, it also contains some of Tang De's essays and sources of inspiration.

Although this book is not well-known among the general public, it sells well among movie fans and professionals, so it can be considered a good attempt.

After Youfei finished the report, he asked, "Boss, MGM President Parent has arranged a meeting at 10 a.m., is it on time?"

"Emm..." Tang De looked at the name displayed on his personal mobile phone and waved his hand: "Let him wait for a while."

"Okay." Yuffie nodded and walked out the door.

The two men didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with leaving Parent out in the cold, because MGM was about to be unable to afford the high debts and enter bankruptcy.

Of course, for this old film company, bankruptcy is nothing more than finding a new buyer. After the bankruptcy protection process, it can face Hollywood with a new look.

But Parent, the executive chairman, may not have a role to play by then.

Because the new owner will definitely replace this position with his own confidant.

So Parent came here this time to ask for Tang De's help, trying to gain a foothold in MGM and at least not be kicked out.

No matter what Parent thought, Donde had no intention of doing as he wished.

The box office of "Volkswagen" far exceeded MGM's expectations, reaching $300 million, which can be said to be a lot of money.

Therefore, Parent couldn't wait to let Tang De fulfill his promise for the next film and shoot another historical film.

As a result, when Tang De read the script, he threw it on the table and told Parent to get out. It was ridiculous that they wanted him to shoot a third-rate script written by a group of third-rate screenwriters.

All we can say is that Parent was desperate and tried every possible means.

"Ding Dong Dong..." The phone rang again, interrupting Tang De's thoughts, and he answered the call.

"Hey, oh, Paul, don't thank me, it's all I should do. Um, how is Heath now? That's great, tell him that I will work with him on more movies in the future."

The caller was a good friend of Heath Ledger in the circle. Although the release date was postponed a lot compared to the original date, Heath Ledger still went back to his old ways, overdosed on drugs, and almost died in the apartment.

The reason he didn't die was because Tang De happened to want to call him to talk about movies.

So now that Heath Ledger has been rescued, people in the circle are sighing that the name Good Luck Tang De is indeed correct. As long as you have anything to do with Tang De, good things will happen at critical moments.

In the past year, people who have a close relationship with Tang De have achieved a lot.

Needless to say, those within the company, and those outside the company, such as Nolan.

His "Batman" became another movie to break the billion-dollar box office after "Inception", and Heath Ledger also became a Hollywood male star with two billion-dollar movies at the same time.

This means his salary is almost catching up with Leonardo.

Similar to Heath Ledger's current situation is Downey, who has returned to the ranks of Hollywood's top male stars thanks to "Inception" and "Iron Man".

But this year is not all good, as several other film studios have taken up the threat of Norton's Eye and are sniping at his films.

If he continues to make those low-budget movies, other film companies will not care too much. Even if they make money, it will not overlap with their areas of expertise.

But it’s not like that anymore. The success of Inception eclipsed the blockbusters of other film companies, and Norton Eye also announced plans for its next blockbuster, Lucy, which immediately made them realize the serious threat.

If Norton's Eye really creates a batch of new IPs, then perhaps the existing pattern will be broken and their market share will be further encroached upon.

So over the past year they have launched various public opinions in an attempt to discredit Tang De personally and Norton's Eye Company.

Fortunately, by this time Tang De had already settled his women down, and the major film companies did not find any weakness in him, so they could only say a few sarcastic words to him.

For example, Tang De hasn't announced his girlfriend for such a long time, is he a gay?

This resulted in Tang De frequently receiving text messages from gay male celebrities over the past six months, asking questions like "Did I leave my back door key in your car?"

Of course, Tang De was not idle either. He used his memory to find a lot of negative information about several major film companies. After exposing it, it caused a lot of chaos for a while.

However, after all the competition, the entertainment industry ultimately has to rely on quality and box office.

This industry is very cruel. If the film is not good, even the most famous director will face Waterloo.

Therefore, Tang De must make one good movie after another to keep himself firmly rooted in the upper echelons of Hollywood.

"Lucy" is his latest ambitious work.

The original script was naturally not enough to support his ambitions. There were many problems with both the rhythm and the plot, so he recruited a lot of top screenwriters during this period and revised the script with them.

Seeing the ambition of Norton's Eye, several other film companies also announced their own release plans for the next two years.

Paramount announced that "Iron Man 2" has entered the filming stage and is expected to meet the audience in 2010.

Warner Bros. announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2010 has entered the filming stage and is expected to be released to the public in .

Sony announced that the "Kung Fu Dream" co-production with Jackie Chan has been officially launched and is expected to meet the audience in 2010.

2009th Century Fox Films pulled out its most powerful weapon, Cameron's Avatar, and announced that it would be released in late . This is undoubtedly a blockbuster, and Cameron's moviegoers have been looking forward to it for too long, so it will definitely set off a storm of moviegoers.

Therefore, no film company wanted to confront Cameron head-on. Even their own signature films were delayed until 2010 for release, and they did not dare to compete with him.

Tang De naturally wanted to have this kind of transcendent status, but it was impossible for him to spend several years making a movie.

Therefore, he had to make sure that every movie he made would be a hit, so that other film companies would be afraid when they saw the name Tang De in the future.

There is still a long way to go to achieve this.

"Knock knock." Shortly after Tang De hung up the phone, there was a knock on the office door, and then Youfei walked in with Parent, who was wearing a black suit.

"Long time no see, Parent." Unlike the warm greetings when they first met, Tang De now leaned back in his chair with no intention of getting up.

Even his eyes were still on the company's information without raising them.

Parent sat on the sofa and at a glance, he could only see Tang De's tall figure in the shadow of the curtains, looking mysterious and inviolable, which brought him strong psychological pressure.

He pursed his lips, forced a smile and said, "Tang, I brought a new script this time, I'm sure you will be satisfied."

"Sorry, Parent." Tang De raised his body and tapped the table lightly with the bottom of the pen, making a "dong dong" sound.

"This is the third time you've said that. You said the same thing the last time."

"Uh... Tang, I promise that this time it will definitely not be inferior to the script of "Operation Hitler." Parent smiled even more widely and spoke confidently, trying to convince Tang De.

But Tang De laughed and said, "Unfortunately, I don't have time to shoot another "Valkyrie" now."

"I know you've been busy with Lucy recently, but didn't you shoot several movies a year before? Why now?"

"The past is the past, and the present is the present." Tang De threw the pen on the table: "And Parent, you were the first to break the contract."

Previously, for the sake of his own status, Parent directly announced to the public that the new film would be shot by Tang De, which attracted a lot of attention and heated discussion.

But in fact, his script was not recognized by Tang De at all.

"Sorry, Tang De, I didn't expect that...but don't we have a contract?"

"But that's within five years." Tang De could have waited until MGM went bankrupt and reorganized before directing a work for it, instead of using his influence to help it survive for a while.

"Okay..." Parent stood up with some disappointment. He had kept a distance from Tang De from the beginning to the end, just like the gap between their current circumstances and identities.

But just as he was about to leave, Tang De suddenly said, "Parente."

"Hmm?" Afraid that Lent would turn around, he didn't think Tang De would change his mind because Tang De had always been very hard-hearted.

"MGM is destined to have no place for you, but the Norton Eye is different." Tang De's face was hidden in the shadows, only his eyes were shining.

"If you want to come over, I'll open my door to you."

Parent didn't expect that Tang De would start by trying to poach his girlfriend. He was stunned for a moment, but then he came to his senses and felt that this was not surprising.

After all, Norton Eye is now a rising star in Hollywood. After various expansions, the company has expanded a lot, and naturally it needs an experienced helmsman next.

These words immediately made him think a little bit. He didn't reject Tang De, but he didn't agree either: "Thank you for your appreciation."

When Tang De heard this, he knew that Parent had not completely given up, so he didn't say anything else. He just nodded and let him leave.

After he left, Tang De thought for a moment about the candidate for the president of Norton Eye.

He now needs someone who can help him handle things and manage this increasingly large company, because he can't keep an eye on it all the time.

The larger the company, the more detailed the responsibilities tend to be.

Because each department needs to manage a lot of people and things, in some cases the meetings even last from morning to night.

Many employees may question why their leaders do nothing but hold meetings every day, but in fact, holding meetings is what leaders must do.

Being able to hold meetings in a timely and effective manner is also a rare talent.

Take The Eye of Norton as an example. If the production department wants to determine the budget for a new movie, they have to hold meetings and research with the shooting department, props department, director, screenwriter, actor department, etc. to ensure that the budget does not exceed the regulations.

If the budget is exceeded, the production department will have to hold another meeting with these departments to see which department can cut some expenses and adjust the budget back to normal.

There are many complicated things involved here. For example, if the props department exceeds the budget and wants to deduct it from the filming department, the person in charge of the filming department will definitely not agree to that, and the two sides will start a battle or even a quarrel.

If it was just a separate crew, these things would only require the producer and director to make the decision, but now that a company has been established, everything must be based on basic fairness.

Therefore, talents like Parent, who have experience in running large film companies and can balance the needs of all parties, are the people Tang De needs most at the moment.

But it seems that Parent is not at the end of his rope yet and still feels that he can turn the tide.

"Once he hits his head against the wall, he'll know how unpleasant it is." Tang De didn't hesitate any longer and asked You Fei to call the next person in.

This time, the people who came in were an agent and an actress.

"Hello, Don! Just call me Bondo." The agent was very attentive with an exaggerated smile on his face.

Tang De looked up and saw a middle-aged man with a greasy hair and a small mustache.

"Hello." The actress next to him was wearing a black suspender dress and had brown hair. Her makeup was not too heavy, but her lipstick was very bright.

"Jessia Fei. Right?" Tang De read out the actress's name.

"Yes, that's right." The actress answered Tang De nervously.

This actress was recommended by others. Tang De thought that her image was suitable for playing the supporting role in "The Hangover", so he agreed to let her come for an audition.

Now Tang De’s audition no longer requires such a serious and solemn scene. Neither the investors nor the crew will interfere with his selection of actors.

This is the privilege of a great director.

Tang De looked at the actress's figure and thought that the way her butt swayed when she walked was quite sexy, so he decided to see her acting skills.

"Then you act out this scene."

Tang De placed a page of the script on the table, and his agent Bondo immediately came over, lowered his head, took the script from the table and handed it to Jeshia.

At the same time, he stepped out of the door and closed it considerately.

Jieshia looked at the lines in the script, walked slowly forward, and leaned on his desk when Tang De lowered his head to write.

Tang De raised his head after hearing the voice, and then saw Jieshiya biting her lip, reaching out with seductive eyes, and pulling off her black skirt.

"Wow." The skirt fell to the ground, revealing a naked expanse of white underneath.

She didn't even put on a breast sticker. She just stood naked in front of Tang De, put her fingers to her mouth, and slid her tongue gently up and down her fingers.

Then she ducked down and tried to squeeze in through the front side of the table.

It turned out that the front side of Tang De's desk was sealed.

"Damn it."

Jieshia muttered something in a low voice, then stood up, half of her buttocks resting on the table, and performed a sexy dance for Tang De.

“Pa pa pa.” Halfway through, Tang De clapped his hands and said expressionlessly, “Good dance, but this part should have taken place in a strip club, Yufei.”

"Boss." Yufei, who had been hiding in the shadows and watching the whole process, walked out with an expressionless face, which scared Jeshia.

She quickly lowered her head and put the skirt on herself.

Yuffie came over and helped her pick up the clothes.

"Should I put up a notice in front of the door?" Tang De rubbed his temple and said, "Just write that striptease is prohibited here?"

Yufei replied meticulously: "That's too low."

"That's right." Tang De thought about it and gave up the idea. He looked at Jieshia who had put on her clothes and said, "Send her away, and then tell that greasy agent that the role has changed."

"What has happened?" Jie Xiya looked at the two in surprise, wondering if her dancing had moved Tang De? Was she going to be promoted to the protagonist?
Tang De lowered his head to deal with company affairs again: "Change it to the stripper in The Hangover."

"Okay." Youfei nodded. It didn't matter whether this character was in "The Hangover". If not, she could just add it in. This would always allow her boss to realize his idea.

"What!" Jieshia didn't expect that after all her efforts she was downgraded. She wanted to surrender and beg Tang De, but Youfei grabbed her arm and quickly pulled her out of the door.

This woman's grip is so strong! She pinched it so hard that it hurt.

But Yufei had no intention of taking care of her at all. After throwing her out, she closed the door directly.

"Boss." She returned to Tang De and rubbed his temple considerately.

"Yeah." Tang De leaned back in his chair, put his feet on the table, and enjoyed the secretary's massage.

"Your craftsmanship is improving."

"Yes, I went to Chinatown and found a master and learned from him."

"Thanks a lot."

"It's not hard. This is what I should do." At this time, Yu Fei's coldness had lessened a lot, and even her voice was much softer.

While massaging Tang De's shoulders, she looked at the scenery outside the window.

The tall buildings are magnificent and golden, just like Hollywood, filled with the smell of money.

(End of this chapter)