The Wolf of Los Angeles.

Chapter 12: Making money is hard and there are many troubles

The community theater group that Brand belongs to is Hawke's highly professional team.

Arriving at the community, Hawke confirmed again: "As long as there is sponsorship, the troupe can have nearly a hundred people participate. Is that okay?"

Brand kicked the snow on the roadside and said, "It's winter now, and there are a lot of idle people in the community. If it were you, would you refuse a party with free food and drinks? Believe me, they will come with their whole family."

He was very motivated because he could use his share of the profits to pursue his idol. "Come on, I'll take you to meet the head of the troupe, Larson. He is the most influential person in the troupe."

Ten minutes later, Hawke met the leader of the community theater group in the living room of a log cabin.

Larson is nearly fifty years old, but still full of energy. After hearing Brand's purpose, he asked Hawke directly: "Stranger, are you going to sponsor us with money? I don't understand, are you doing charity?"

Hawke said selectively, "I have a director friend who made an independent film that will be screened at the Great Salt Lake Cinema the day after tomorrow. He was worried that there wouldn't be enough viewers, so he asked me to help find some. It just so happens that I'm friends with Brand, and I heard about your party from him."

Larson stared at Hawke and smiled: "You can get a lot of benefits."

Hawke downplayed it: "A little hard-earned money."

Larson's smile faded, and he said simply, "I want half."

"Captain, I..." Brand was stopped by Hawke before he could finish his words.

He always considers the worst-case scenario first, and Larson's performance was undoubtedly on the bad side.

Hawke pulled open a wooden chair, sat opposite Larson, and said slowly, "The crew paid $5000 for this deal."

Larson's eyes lit up when he heard the number.

Hawke is not afraid of his greed, but is most afraid of his lack of interest: "The Sundance Film Festival is held every year, and there are more than 20 or even 30 crews with similar needs every year. This is a long-term business."

He pointed at himself and said: "I am an outsider. After this session, I will not come for the next session. This market will soon be occupied by you all."

Larson understood and asked, "Isn't it more than just the audience?"

Hawke said: "It's not easy to operate, Brand, or even you, you can stay with me during this film festival and observe and learn from the whole process. I won't charge you tuition."

Larson couldn't help but swear: "You are so f*cking generous!"

"Thank you for the compliment." What Hawke did actually didn't have much technical content. It was just old wine in new bottles. As long as the Pandora's box was opened at a certain film festival, it would soon become a disaster.

The bait of earning $5000 per crew made Larson itchy. There are more than 1000 crews coming to each film festival, so the base from which to choose is too large.

Larson thought for half a minute and said to Brand, "Call the other deputy captains and ask them to come over immediately."

Brand quickly made a phone call.

More than ten minutes later, four deputy captains arrived. They were all middle-aged men, about the same age as Larson.

Larson recounted the incident.

The deputy director, who looked very mature, said: "Every year when the troupe gathers, everyone complains about paying for their services. The troupe only has a few events a year, and if the most important gathering is cancelled, people's hearts will be completely dispersed."

Larson said solemnly: "If this is done well, the troupe will have a stable source of income every year. With the money, we can invite professional teachers to give classes. The talented people in the troupe will have a better future."

This was completely different from what Hawke had thought. He couldn't help but look at Larson again. People were indeed complicated.

After a discussion, Larson said to Hawke, "I will try to gather everyone here in the evening. Come here around eight o'clock. I have something to state in advance. I can call on them to do something, but if you want to mobilize their enthusiasm, you have to think of a way."

Hawke was mentally prepared and asked, "Around 100 people is okay?"

Larson asked the four deputy group leaders a few questions and said, "If you include the family members, there will be enough."

"Okay, I'll come again in the evening." Hawke called Brand and prepared to leave.

The experienced deputy head of the group grabbed Hawke and said, "You work in the media, let me ask you something. Is it true that Renona Reed stole money on Capitol Hill and hasn't been caught yet?"

Hawke said nothing, lowered his head and left.

When they went out, Brand never mentioned the theft and said, "The leader's idea is different from mine. I'll pay for the party."

Of course Hawke would not do this, as it would cause big problems later: "We cannot change what we agreed on. Don't forget, the goddess is still waiting for you in State University."

Brand immediately became motivated: "What else should we do?" He urged: "Dude, now is not the time to rest. You are walking too slowly. We don't have much time!"

"Find the catering for the party." Hawke walked out of the community. "You know Bill well, right? How much does Alpine Pizza do at noon? How much does it cost to book a time slot?"

Brand was very familiar with the Alpine Pizza Shop, and he started to mutter to himself.

Ordinary meals in America are quite cheap, and Brand is half a mole, so Hawke agrees to book the lunchtime of Alpine Pizza the day after tomorrow for $1000. The store will offer a variety of food including pizza, steak, barbecue, fried chicken and salad, with unlimited beer and cola.

In addition, the pizza shop will provide 100 cups of refreshing American black coffee the day after tomorrow morning. The two of them each came out with a cup of black coffee. Brand took a big sip, thinking back to everything that happened in the past two days, and said to Hawke: "I found that, except for Lewis and Damian, you have used almost all the resources you have encountered."

Hawke threw the empty paper cup into the trash can and said, "If I hadn't been lucky enough to meet you, it might have been a different plan."

At eight o'clock in the evening, Hawke showed up at Larson's house on time.

About eighty or ninety people gathered in the yard surrounded by wooden walls.

Larson talked about the movie and the party, and the crowd cheered.

Everyone likes a free and hearty lunch.

A bearded man holding a bottle of wine raised it to Hawke and said, "Hey man, I want to toast you. You're a good man!"

"We must have a drink at the party!" Hawke had to say something about the movie first: "The movie we watched before the party was a movie about Mexicans."

He asked Brand to distribute the movie color pages.

After everyone saw the movie introduction and stills, the enthusiastic atmosphere disappeared.

The bearded man said loudly: "We don't give a shit about Mexican movies."

The crowd was in chaos.

“This movie is boring.”

"Change it!"

"We only go to parties, not movies."

When there are too many people, order is hard to maintain and large-scale events are particularly difficult to organize.

Hawke opened his bag, pulled out a small electronic megaphone, and said, "Everyone, everyone, listen to me!"

The scene became a little quieter, and Hawke used the most unpretentious way to get these people to cooperate: "Everyone gets a $10 reward! $10!"

Hearing the money, the crowd quickly quieted down.

Hawke added: "Everyone who goes to watch the film will get a $10 reward when they enjoy the dinner at the party! There is a prerequisite, the crew will have special people patrolling, if someone does not watch it seriously, not only will they not get the money, but their dinner qualification will also be cancelled."

"It doesn't seem difficult." Someone commented.

"Just over an hour."

"It's interesting to see how Mexicans live."

Human nature is the same, just like an old lady with a pension of several thousand yuan, who spends several hours to get ten free eggs.

There is also a lot of cutting.

Just sit in a warm theater and watch a movie for more than an hour.

Hawke added: "To prevent you from getting sleepy, I've prepared coffee for everyone."

The bearded man suddenly raised the bottle: "Can I have two glasses?"

Hawke pretended to be troubled, and after a moment he said, "Well, I'll give you my cup."

Everyone burst into laughter, and the atmosphere became particularly harmonious for a moment.

The makeshift team finally took shape, Hawke gave some pointers, and everyone dispersed.

It is too difficult to command nearly a hundred people smoothly with just one or two people.

The next day, Hawke first met with Eric and Catherine, and then made an appointment with Larson and the four deputy heads to explain tomorrow's procedures.

In the afternoon, he went to the Great Salt Lake Theater with the previous two to discuss the screening arrangements.

In short, Hawke wants his clients to see that he is always working.

No one was 5000% sure whether the movie could be sold, but the other party had to pay the remaining $ anyway.

After dinner, Hawke was finally able to rest. He borrowed Brand's computer, logged into his blog and posted a blog post with pictures.

At around ten o'clock, Catherine called suddenly.

"Robert Reiner suddenly changed his schedule and will not attend our screening tomorrow. Eric went crazy and ran out to cause trouble. I can't stop him. You need to come and help quickly."

(End of this chapter)