Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 288 Devil's Smile
When Wellington Edu walked into Norton's Eye, Tang De's office, he was mentally prepared.

In order to increase his salary, he has been negotiating with the producer of Norton's Eye, but the other party has not agreed.

Now this matter has finally reached Tang De's ears, and he can talk to Tang De face to face.

"Pa pa pa." The sound of leather shoes came from outside the door. Tang De quickly shifted his eyes away from the computer screen and looked at the handsome Greek actor.

"Edu, long time no see." Tang De opened his hands and gently gestured: "Sit down."

Wellington Edu came and sat down in the chair opposite the desk, smiled and said, "Good afternoon, Don."

"Not very good." Tang De shook his head and looked at him.

This sentence made Wellington Edu's heart jump. Under Tang De's sharp eyes, he said awkwardly: "Why... is it not good?"

"Haha." Tang De suddenly laughed and rubbed his temples: "Because I usually take a nap at this time, but I don't have time today. What a pity. By the way, how old are you?"

"I'm twenty-six." Wellington Edu didn't quite understand what Tang De meant, and his expression was a little confused.

"Oh, you're not even thirty yet, so you don't know that men don't have as much energy as they did when they were young after they turned thirty." Tang De seemed to be chatting about family matters, and didn't mention the pay at all: "But four years goes by very quickly, right? Just like when a person goes from obscurity to fame, it usually only takes one or two years."

Wellington Edu nodded: "You are right."

"If I remember correctly, you were a model before filming Lucy, right?" Tang De took out the cigar and cut off the head with a cigar pliers.

"Yes, and thank you for choosing me." Wellington Edu also felt a little emotional. He thought that he had only come to audition for a supporting role, but he did not expect to be chosen by Tang De at first sight and starred in the Royal Knight Rean. Now his career in Hollywood is going very smoothly.

It’s just that my pay is indeed a bit less compared to others.

You have to know that Rob Sally was paid $8 million to play the villain who hardly showed his face.

He felt it was too much that he was not even as good as a dwarf.

Moreover, his agent had been persuading him to act in some movies with higher pay, but he stayed only out of gratitude to Tang De.

Therefore, even if Tang De played the emotional card at the moment, he treated the matter very rationally.

"But one thing is one thing, Tang, I think I can have a higher...you know." Wellington Edu didn't say it too clearly, but Tang De knew it very well.

"That's one thing for another...very good." Tang De smiled: "I remember I just gave you a 20% pay raise last year."

"That's right." Wellington Edu did not deny it: "But my salary is low to begin with, so 20% is actually not much."

Tang De tapped the table with his fingers: "How much do you want?"

"Another 25 percent increase." Wellington Edu took the initiative to lower his demands. In fact, according to his agent and his calculations, a 30 percent increase was just a drop in the bucket for the entire movie's budget. There was no need for Tang De to shelve the filming of "Lucy" just because of two or three million dollars.

As for substitutions?

Wellington Edu felt that this possibility was almost zero, unless Tang De wanted to hide the character of Rean.

Because of this, he has made up his mind not to take a single step back.

However, Tang De appeared calm in the face of his request. He crossed his legs and said while smoking a cigar, "Contract spirit, you should have heard of these four words."

"I will abide by the contract and finish the rest of the film, Tang, but my salary is indeed lower than others, which is unfair."

"Fair?" Tang De pursed his lips, as if he was laughing, but he didn't laugh out loud.

Wellington Edu didn't understand why he smiled like that and was a little flustered for a moment.

"Edu, you think the crew is unfair to you, but are you fair to them?" Tang De exhaled a puff of smoke, and said with a dark look behind him: "On the afternoon of the 13th, you and your agent went to Warner for an audition, right?"

“Uh…” Wellington Edu was speechless and opened his mouth to explain: “I just went to audition for an art film.”

"Batman v Superman, well... in a sense it is." Tang De murmured, "But I don't care what role you auditioned for, Batman or the villain Luthor, I just want to remind you that we have stated in the contract... You can't play in superhero movies of other film companies, right?"

This is considered a non-compete agreement in Hollywood, because once a positive hero actor plays a villain in other superhero movies, his image will not be able to remain positive, and it may even cause disgust among some audiences and fans, resulting in lower box office sales.

For the film companies, this undoubtedly represents a huge investment gone down the drain.

So every superhero actor will sign a similar agreement.

Wellington Edu was naturally no exception, but he secretly went to Warner without telling Donde and Norton's Eye, obviously trying to find a way out for himself.

If the talks between him and Tang De failed, he might have to break the contract and sign with Warner. After hearing the two roles Tang De mentioned, his face changed again and again. He didn't expect that Tang De was so well-informed that he even knew the role he was interviewing for.

He couldn't help but begin to regret agreeing to his agent's plan. He shouldn't have gone to Warner first!
But Tang De probably doesn't have any evidence.

Just as he was thinking this, Tang De took out a camera and put it on the table: "I know that many people don't know that the god of death is coming until they see the coffin, so you can take a look."

Wellington Edu swallowed, picked up the camera and flipped through it. Sure enough, there was the photo of him entering the Warner Building "fully armed".

He looked at the delete button on the camera screen and wanted to press it, but his reason told him that Tang De must have a backup.

So he put the camera back on the table obediently.

"I just talked to Warner and didn't confirm the cooperation." Wellington Edu could only grasp this point and said: "I don't think these photos can represent anything, and this does not conflict with my request for a pay increase."

Tang De took two puffs of his cigar and nodded slightly: "Of course I understand, but Edu, I can only give you a 10% increase, that's all."

"Sorry, it's too little." Wellington Edu rejected the proposal without hesitation.

Although he was worried that Tang De had other cards in his hand, he thought about it and realized that he had been keeping himself clean all this time and had no personal problems. Even if Tang De wanted to threaten him, he would never be able to do it.

He thought he had seen through Tang De's tricks, which were nothing more than using the photos to scare him first, make him lose his composure, and then reduce the increase in his salary.

As long as he insisted, Tang De had no choice but to agree.

However, just as he was thinking this, he suddenly saw Tang De shrugged his shoulders with a helpless expression on his face: "What a pity, Edu, I always thought you were a very smart person, but I didn't expect... Well, take a look at this again."

Tang De replaced the memory card in the camera and handed it to Wellington Edu.

Then he smoked while watching Wellington Edu's face becoming worse and worse.

Until he gritted his teeth and said to himself: "This is a crime!"

"Sorry, this was provided to me by someone else. If there is a crime, it is him." Tang De put down the cigarette, took the camera back from Wellington Edu, pressed the button, and flipped through the various "sexy photos" inside.

"Tsk tsk tsk, look at the fair skin and strong muscles. I didn't expect that the actor who plays Rean used to be a gigolo. This is really big news. I guess those fans will be heartbroken after hearing it. But it doesn't matter, this is also good news, because if they work hard in the future, maybe they will be able to order your service."

Tang De put the camera back into the drawer with a teasing smile, looked at Wellington Edu who was looking sullen and frightened, and said, "Edu, what do you think of this gift for the news media?"

"I don't need a pay increase. How about you give me the photos?" Faced with his own dark history photos, Wellington Edu decisively gave up his original idea.

Tang De restrained his smile and said seriously: "Do you think I'm kidding? Wellington Edu, do you think I took out this thing just to reduce the pay?"

"What...do you mean?" Wellington Edu had been led by Tang De since he entered the door. He didn't understand what Tang De wanted at all, and was naturally extremely flustered.

Tang De crossed his arms in front of his chest: "It means you are finished, Edu, your career ends here."

"No!" Wellington Edu begged, "You can't do this. I... I can reduce my salary and never ask for a raise again!"

"I gave you a chance, but unfortunately you didn't take it." Tang De shook his head: "Yufei, send this dying Li En out."

Yufei appeared at the door at the right time: "Okay, boss."

"No! No!" Wellington Edu shouted out of control: "Don, let's talk again. I can agree to any of your conditions! Don't ruin me!"

But Tang De ignored his words and just stood up on his own, as if he was going to leave.

The bodyguard outside the door also came into the office under Yu Fei's command, intending to take him away.

Seeing this, Wellington Edu finally realized that Tang De was not trying to scare him, but was really planning to spread his dark history and destroy him.

When he thought about the miserable life he would have to return to after his career was ruined, with no mansion, no beauties, and even having to use all his money to fill the holes from his overspending, he felt like the sky was falling.

So he immediately gave up all resistance, struggled in the security guard's hands and shouted: "Tang, there must be a way, right! I can do it for free! I can play Rean for free! As long as you don't send the photos out!"

Tang De stopped and was silent for a moment, then stopped the security guards before they were about to take Wellington Edu away.

"Perhaps I can give you one last chance."

Tang De looked at Wellington Edu with a smile, but in his eyes that smile was more terrifying than the devil from hell.

Because the devil only wants the soul of a person after death, but Tang De wants everything he had during his lifetime.

(End of this chapter)