America's Top Player

Chapter 101 Hollywood is never short of beauties
In mid-January, Li Ang rushed to Los Angeles again for the filming of the movie "Straight Outta Compton".

During this period, the various issues related to the company's expansion and Ariana's moodiness made him extremely anxious.

Going to Los Angeles is like taking a vacation, and it's a good opportunity to vent some stress on Robbie.

But at this time, someone is already doing the pressure relief work.

In the first-class cabin of Delta Airlines, the young assistant Bonnie was lowering her head to relieve the pressure for her boss.

She looked up at the flight attendant from time to time. Even though she came from the midnight club, it was her first time doing this kind of work at an altitude of 10,000 meters.

My face was red, my heart was beating fast, and I was extremely nervous.

Li Ang used a laptop as a simple cover and listened to a podcast while enjoying himself.

This podcast is created by DJ Marcus from Lion's Den Radio.

In order to attract attention, he produced a podcast program with sharp words and explosive content according to Li Ang's requirements.

In the first episode, the new generation of rappers in the current hip-hop market, led by J. Cole and Drake, were criticized.

Claiming that their electric rap is heresy and their persona is just gangster play.

Marcus has more than 20 years of experience as a Battle MC. Although he is not as good as top improvisation masters like MC Jin, he has come up with a lot of new swear words.

According to unofficial media statistics, the number of slang and curse words popular in the United States has increased fivefold since Lincoln freed the slaves.
This podcast program finally met Li Ang's expectations and has been played more than 100,000 times.

As long as they can continue to maintain the current level, it is only a matter of time before they can recoup their investment through advertising sponsors and singer interview programs.

After more than ten minutes of "hard work", Bonnie raised her head and wiped the corner of her mouth.

Seeing Li Ang immersed in the podcast, she said helplessly, "Li Ang, you're not focused at all. I don't understand what's so interesting about a guy chattering into a microphone."

"It's normal that you don't understand. Have you ever watched Joe Rogan's podcast?"

"I met him at a YouTube celebrity gathering a few days ago, but I have absolutely no interest in this greasy, middle-aged man. Listening to him for even a second longer is torture." Bonnie shrugged. "I don't understand how he has so many followers on YouTube."

Li Ang was stunned. He didn't expect Bonnie's side job as an internet celebrity to be so successful.

Thanks to her revealing lingerie looks, Bonnie has gained over 90,000 followers on YouTube, and it's only a matter of time before she breaks the 100,000 mark.

Li Ang explained, "Joe Rogan's appeal lies in the fact that men all over the world listen to him. In an era of increasingly fast-paced entertainment, it's a miracle that a three-hour pure chat show can become the world's best."

Bonnie curled her lips helplessly, indicating that she couldn't understand it at all.

After getting off the plane, they took a business car arranged in advance by Lionsgate and went directly to Lionsgate's headquarters in Santa Monica.

The meeting will announce the film's preliminary budget and determine the key roles in the crew.

Such as the director, cinematographer team, main actors, etc.
As the investor and producer of this film, Li Ang has a decisive influence on these key positions.

Once all these details are perfectly decided, the film can be officially announced to start shooting as soon as the investment money is in place.

"Leon, my bro~" Kendrick made a gangster greeting gesture as soon as they met.

As the actor who plays the main character Big E and also the agent of investor "Saint" Robinson, he was also invited to this meeting.

"I have to congratulate you. I heard that your album "Section.80" has sold more than copies." Li Ang patted the other person's shoulder.

"Fxxk Bro, stop making fun of me, everyone knows this album flopped!"

"Dre is not happy about this. The album didn't even sell half as much as Drake's asshole debut did in the same period."

"I've staked my entire future on this movie of yours!"

Then, Kendrick started rambling on about his recent feud with Drake.

The content is nothing more than taunting, backstabbing, stealing women, etc. These beefs between black rappers are nothing new.

Kendrick and the phenomenal rap newcomer Drake were once close friends, and both were promoted by Lil Wayne, the boss of the upstart label.

Now it seems that the two have completely turned against each other, which is a big beef in the rap circle recently.

Led by the staff, they entered a conference room where another core figure, James Wan, had been waiting for a long time.

The three of them drank coffee and chatted. Li Ang lowered his head and glanced at his watch, frowning.

"Miles, that bastard, is already five minutes late."

This is extremely disrespectful behavior, and it is enough to show that Lionsgate does not take "Straight Outta Compton" seriously enough.

As soon as he finished speaking, Miles, accompanied by his assistant, hurried into the conference room. "Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. The company has an important matter to attend to today."

"There's something important. So you can be late in front of the investors?" Li Ang snorted coldly, taking the opportunity to criticize the other party.

Miles smiled and didn't rush to answer. He asked his assistant to make him a cup of coffee, then slowly pulled out a chair and sat down.

He said proudly, "The company has a big project about to start, with a budget of $55 million. It's called 'Drive,' starring Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage!"

"We were just auditioning for the female lead, and there were so many girls that it took us a while."

James Wan's face instantly darkened. The other party's words implied that he didn't take their movie seriously.

After thinking about it carefully, Leon laughed out loud.

"Drive" is a bad name that flopped at first glance, and it was also supported by Nicolas Cage, a famous box office poison.
The action movie star, who rose to fame in the 1980s, is now embroiled in a debt crisis, divorce proceedings, and a recent tax default scandal.
Just from the tax arrears, it can be seen that he is really penniless. After all, even drug dealers dare not owe money to the IRS.

From this point, we can see that the senior executives of Lionsgate Films are really crazy. The box office failure rate of this movie is as high as 90%.

After a brief incident, the meeting officially began.

Miles instructed his assistant to hand over the budget list.

Li Ang took it and looked at it, his expression instantly changed. "WTF! Are you kidding me? $1200 million? How did you get that number?"

"If you look more closely at the content, you'll see. This is already the lowest budget."

This list is indeed very detailed.

Costumes, props, photography team, film music, post-production and publicity costs are all very well considered.
Each expense may not seem like much, but when added together it adds up to an outrageously high number.

The largest portion of this comes from actors' pay.

James Wan's director fee was $100 million plus a 100% share of the box office, and Kendrick Lavine, who played Big E, received $ million in salary.

The other leading actors received salaries ranging from 100 million to 10 yuan.

Chadwick Boseman, the black actor who plays Dre, actually asked for $100 million.

Li Ang nearly cursed out loud, banging his head on the table and demanding, "Are you kidding me about a million dollars? Does anyone know this Nico Boseman?"

"Kendrick is a popular singer and his salary is only one million."

"In Compton, you can give a black man a thousand dollars and he'll do anything for you."

He almost blurted out: One million US dollars, converted into today's purchasing power, was enough to buy more than 100 black slaves in the 100th century.

Although Boseman debuted very early and participated in the filming of some TV series and movies, he has always been a marginal figure in Hollywood.

There are only a handful of black actors in Hollywood, and even if they are of the same level, their pay is slightly lower than that of white actors.

A black actor with a sky-high salary like Will Smith only appears once every hundred years.

Miles quickly explained, "Relax, my friend. Acting isn't as easy as you think. We've selected these actors through rounds of auditions, just to make this film the best it can be."

"In fact, your friend is very satisfied with Boseman's joining." "Friend? Who?" Leon's eyes swept around and soon fell on Kendrick.

Kendrick sighed helplessly: "There's nothing I can do. Bro Dre demands that the actor who plays him must be outstanding enough. He is very satisfied with Boseman."

Li Ang was so angry that he almost cursed out loud: Do you want me to pay an extra $100 million just to satisfy your boss?

To be fair, Boseman has a face that is quite handsome among black men.

Kendrick quickly explained that as long as the final effect of the movie satisfied Dre, he could give up the 2% licensing share.

After weighing the pros and cons, Li Ang finally gritted his teeth and agreed.

If the final box office is good enough, then the one million may be worth it compared to the 2% box office share.

In order to save costs as much as possible, he directly replaced the actor originally scheduled to play Ice Cube with his bodyguard Davis.

Apocalypse Music hasn't recorded any rap works recently, so this guy is just sitting around doing nothing.

It would be better to throw him onto the set to help out for free.

Davis would have paid a fortune for the chance to appear on the big screen, playing the role of gangsta rap legend Ice Cube.

Finally, the three leading actors were selected.

Kendrick plays the soul character "Big E";
Boseman plays Dre;
Davis plays Ice Cube.

The budget list was passed to James Wan. He stared at it for a long time but ultimately couldn't find any major problems.

Miles took a sip of coffee and said with a smile, "Mr. Leon probably doesn't understand the filming process very well. The current budget doesn't represent the final cost of the film, but rather the minimum budget sufficient to support the filming."

"You mean, maybe 1200 million isn't enough and I have to keep spending money?"

"You can understand that."

"Fxxk" Li Ang shook his head helplessly. Making a movie was more expensive than he had imagined.

With the exception of horror films, almost all genres require heavy investment, but biographical films are notoriously difficult to make money.

It is understandable that Miles has had a weird smile on his face since he entered the door.

He completely treated Li Ang as a rich idiot outside the circle.

James Wan encouraged him, saying, "I don't think we'll exceed the budget in the end. Maybe we won't even need 1000 million."

"You may have forgotten that I am a master of cost control."

Hearing this, Miles spread his hands. He really couldn't refute this point.

The two parties randomly drafted a filming contract.

Within a week, the investors must secure 500 million in start-up capital, and the film will officially start shooting in Compton.

After the two sides exchanged a few brief words, Li Ang left the meeting room.

As soon as I left the house, I heard some unusual movement in the lounge.

More than twenty young and beautiful girls walked out of the office next door. Their frustrated expressions already revealed the result.

Any one of them would stand out at first sight on the street with their figure and appearance.

It's certain that this is the group of actors Miles was referring to who auditioned for "Drive."

"Bro, these girls are so boring. If you have a chance, you must try some black girls. God cast a spell when he created black women!" Kendrick walked behind Leon and patted him on the shoulder. "These girls don't even have butts. It's hard to get anyone interested."

Halfway through his boast, Kendrick suddenly got stuck.

A tall, blonde woman appeared in the hallway.

Long blond hair, big eyes, high nose bridge, and glowing white skin;
The most eye-catching thing is the green eyes, which look very special.

It's like the elves from the Lord of the Rings novel.

Li Ang was also fascinated by this woman and couldn't take his eyes off her. He muttered to himself, "She must be the heroine chosen by Lionsgate."

"Bro, I think this white girl looks familiar." Kendrick scratched his head, as if trying hard to recall something.

"Where have you seen her?"

"Have you ever seen Criminal Minds? It's my mom's favorite TV show."

"No." Li Ang shook his head. "Are you saying she's the heroine of that TV series?"

"No. She only plays a vase in three seconds of screen time."

Hollywood has never lacked beautiful vase actresses, but few of them can eventually make it big.

But if beauty reaches a certain level, becoming famous is only a matter of time.

Being stared at by two men, the woman in the corridor finally reacted.

She looked at me with disgust and whispered something.

Although he couldn't hear it clearly from a distance, Leon was 100% sure that it was a swear word.

But after three seconds, the woman's expression immediately changed.

"Street Coconut Crisp. Li Ang?"

The woman walked straight over, her eyes almost filled with excitement.

"you are?"

"My name is Hilde, Amberme Hilde!" The woman flicked her blonde hair, her voice trembling. "Oh my God, I'm your biggest fan! I own all your records!"

"You're going to kill it at the Grammys next month!"

"Can you sign an autograph for me?!"

Faced with the beautiful woman's request, Li Ang had no option of refusing and took out the pen he carried with him.

But he soon discovered the awkwardness, "Excuse me, miss, do you have any paper?"

"That," Hilde said after a while, "seems not."

"Then please wait for two minutes while I go to the conference room to get some papers."

"No need to be so troublesome, just sign on my clothes!" Ai Bo pointed to his T-shirt and puffed out his chest.

Li Ang carefully picked up the T-shirt and signed his name on the other's chest with a serious face.

Hield's T-shirt was very tight, so friction between him and Ray was inevitable when he was signing autographs.

"terribly sorry."

"It doesn't matter! I'm so happy! It would be even better if you could just sign it on my body! I definitely wouldn't shower for a week if you did that!"

"This"

At this time, Li Ang also realized that although this girl was very beautiful, there seemed to be something wrong with her brain.

The words "crazy" and "beautiful" always seem to be tied together.

(End of this chapter)