America's Top Player

Chapter 90 Film Shooting Plan
15 copies sold in the first week, there is no doubt that this is the level of a first-line singer.

Eminem's comeback hit "Recovery" achieved a terrifying sales volume of 74 in its first week, which is second only to Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" in its first week sales this year.

Moreover, there was no drastic drop in sales after the first week, and it can now be basically confirmed that it has topped the sales crown in 2010.

Li Ang's precise brain automatically converted the sales figure of 15 into Daole, and then he realized what a terrifying amount it was.
Even if all the sales are calculated based on CDs, this is still over one million in sales.

This is just the benefit of one week of release.

It took Lenny about three minutes to finally get himself under control.

Although he is not the actual beneficiary of the company, Li Ang's performance as an artist manager is related to his bonus.

Even if we take a step back, Leon's relationship with his big boss JAY-Z is strained now, and if "Demons" flopped, Lenny would also be implicated.

Now, Li Ang is particularly confident in ROC company and walks with confidence.

As for his current momentum in the company, no newcomer can match him except the highly anticipated rap genius J.cole.

Phil lit a cigarette and boasted to everyone, "Don't forget who did this! I was the one who pulled this kid out of the shithole in Brownsville!"

The executives at ROC completely ignored Phil and would not give him a share of the profits from the album.

Next, Lenny streamlined the tour plan for Leon and optimized his subsequent schedule.

With such success in the first week, there is naturally no need to go around promoting the film.

Just like in a presidential election, the party with an absolute advantage will not travel across several states in one day to campaign.

For superstars, we naturally have to go the high-quality route.

Now Li Ang’s most important commercial performance is the performance in the NBA Christmas game.

By then, not only celebrities from the sports and entertainment circles will be present, but also political and business celebrities.

This is a great opportunity for him to expand his personal influence.

If you want to improve your status in the circle, the quality of your work alone is not enough, your network of connections is equally important.

P. Diddy's ability to stand out in the era of gangsta rap was not entirely due to his records.

He achieved the status of the godfather of rap more by virtue of his excellent ability to mix in circles and endless silver parties.

Suddenly, Lenny changed the subject and lowered his voice, saying, "There have been some rumors about you lately. I hope you can distance yourself from them."

"What? Can you please explain clearly?"

Li Ang was confused. Judging from the current public opinion environment, since Chris disappeared, the only one who dared to discredit him on social platforms was Kanye.

Even the negative traffic has decreased a lot, and Li Ang's personality is slowly moving towards the positive side.

This incident made him a little upset for a while, and he considered hiring a group of internet trolls to continue writing some unscrupulous soft articles to discredit himself.

"Cough cough." Phil suddenly coughed twice with a nervous expression.

Normally, this guy would only behave like this when he felt guilty. Leon immediately realized that what Lenny wanted to say was related to Lao Deng.

He narrowed his eyes at Phil, "Are you hiding something from me?"

Seeing that Phil kept avoiding his gaze and didn't respond, Leon knocked on the table and raised his voice, "You damn old bastard, how dare you play tricks behind my back?"

Lenny and Pena crossed their arms and watched the quarrel between the artist and the agent quietly.

Under pressure, Phil spread his hands with an innocent look on his face, "Listen to me, buddy, there are indeed some people out there who are very interested in you, and they tried every possible way to contact me."

Li Ang raised his eyebrows. It turned out that Old Deng could never change his ways of betraying his own people.

"Tell me."

"Leonard, Senior Vice President of Warner Music North America. We've been friends for many years, and they've shown a keen interest in you."

"So, you damn bastard contacted them behind my back, huh?!"

Leon couldn't help but slam the table, which really scared Phil.

After witnessing the young man's various skills, he still felt a little afraid of Li Ang in his heart.

"Leonard gave an unimaginable number, you know what it is"

Phil swallowed his words before he could finish them. Leon was winking at him frantically.

Take it back!
According to his thinking, he had already considered parting ways with ROC. It was okay for Phil to make plans behind his back, but he absolutely could not let Lenny know the bargaining chips in his hand.

Seeing that the two were silent, Lenny smiled and said, "Bro, Warner already has enough superstars. You won't get as many resources there as ROC."

"It was JAY-Z who discovered you and brought you out of the ghetto."

"Besides."

Lenny paused and gave a sinister smile. "We're a logging company. Usually, those who betray their families don't end well."

These words were full of threats.

Li Ang found that his situation was very similar to that of Tupac, Dre and others who had a very unpleasant dispute with Sugar Knight over copyright issues.

What controls the ROC Kingdom, a hip-hop empire with a glamorous appearance, is still JAY-Z's power on the streets - money and bullets.

After leaving the ROC building, Phil, who is usually very talkative, remained silent and even breathed carefully.

He didn't feel relieved until Li Ang took the initiative to talk to him.

"Listen, I don't want you to hide anything from me in the future."

"I'm not hiding anything from you, buddy! I just want to wait until I can get the best deal for you and then give you a surprise! Do you know how much signing bonus Warner is willing to give?! Five million dollars or even more, you can get it with just a click of your fingers!"

Strive for maximum benefit?
Leon didn't believe a single word of this. Phil kept it a secret from him just to get more kickbacks.

He rolled down the window and handed Phil a cigarette. "Listen, I don't object to you contacting other record companies, but you can't hide it from me."

Phil nodded repeatedly and immediately swore to God with his mother and "son" in his hands.

Li Ang continued, "Not just Warner, help me get in touch with more record companies, the more the better."

"What? Doing that right under JAY-Z's nose is not a good idea, man."

"Don't worry about anything, just do what I say."

In Li Ang's opinion, facing JAY-Z's dominance, he cannot give in no matter what.

It is necessary to ensure that in the storm when the one-year contract expires, you have enough flexible chips in your hands.

With three days until Christmas, Li Ang is promoting his new album in Los Angeles.

Thanks to its good reputation on the West Coast, the sales of "Demons" in Los Angeles are no less than those in its hometown of New York.

Sales momentum remained unchanged in the second week, still maintaining around 12 copies, but the proportion of vinyl records sold increased significantly compared to the first week.

This is because many die-hard fans who bought CDs in the first week failed to get the vinyl records and later spent money to buy them.

Currently, "Demons" ranks second on the Billboard chart, behind Katy Perry's "Firework."

Robbie's "Faded" ranked third, but this result is actually more impressive than "Demons" because it has been in the Billboard Top 3 for four weeks. However, with the increasingly popular sales of Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" on streaming platforms, it is foreseeable that the physical album "21" will immediately change the chart pattern.

After the show, Li Ang rushed to a high-end bar on Rodeo Drive.

A private party is being held here to celebrate the box office success of James Wan's "Insidious".

Most of the participants are Australian stars or extremely close friends.

As soon as Li Ang entered the VIP box, he was greeted by Robbie's warm hug.

Kendrick, Miranda Kerr and several stars of "Insidious" were in the box.

When Li Ang learned that the box office performance of "Insidious" in the first week after its release reached a terrifying 1337 million US dollars, he was shocked and speechless.

James Wan completed the filming of this movie in just forty days.

He was fired by Universal Pictures after his previous film, Dead Silence, was a box office failure.

No one in the industry could have imagined that he could replicate the box office myth of "Saw" again.

The film "Insidious" was produced for less than $150 million.
With the film's current momentum, it is a foregone conclusion that the North American box office will eventually exceed 5000 million.

And horror movies usually perform very strongly on the DVD track. This movie is likely to bring in over 100 million yuan in revenue for the distributor, Film Domain.
Thinking about how Lenny had just praised him as a human money-printing machine, Li Ang felt ashamed.
James Wan is the real human money printing machine!
"Cheers, everyone! Cheers to James' new movie!"

"Cheers! Cheers to Leon and Kendrick's new album!"

Everyone was happy, and the atmosphere was already very lively just half an hour after the party started.

Robbie, Miranda, and the cast of "Insidious" danced to the tune of Kesha's "Tik Tok."

Looking at the long legs, especially Miranda's 109-centimeter-long white and beautiful legs, Li Ang couldn't help but admire them again and again.

This is truly a case of legs being longer than life.

"This girl is so hot," Kendrick also exclaimed.

Li Ang smiled at him, sat down together, and started talking about his ideas for the movie "Straight Outta Compton".

When Kendrick learned about his idea of making a movie, his thick lips trembled with excitement. "OMGBro, are you serious? Or is this just a drunken whim?"

Li Ang shook his head. "Of course not. I've been thinking about it for a long time and have already written a complete outline of the script."

"Bro, you're telling me you're going to make a movie about NWA?! That's the coolest idea I've ever heard!"

Kendrick was so excited that he picked up half a glass of whiskey and drank it directly, and told Leon about his past rap in Compton.

As a young man born in the 80s who grew up in Compton, NWA's music accompanied him throughout his teenage years.

It was precisely because he was deeply influenced by NWA that he determined to become a rapper, and thus did not follow the path of drug dealers like many of his cousins.

"After the success of the album 'Straight Outta Compton', there have been some disputes between Ice Cube and Big E."

"Ice Cube left NWA in 1990 after feeling he was not receiving the rewards for his contributions to the group's lyrics."

"Shxt! Every kid in Compton knows Big E isn't that guy."

"After NWA disbanded, everyone went their separate ways, as if those glorious days never existed."

"Later, even Dre was signed by the powerful Death Row Records. The NWA era ended, and then came the era of East Coast-West Coast rivalry."

Li Ang listened to Kendrick's stories with great interest.

If it weren't for polishing the movie, he wouldn't have the slightest interest in these stories of intrigue among the lower-class men.

Kendrick confidently said: "If your movie really starts shooting, I can give you the art direction for free."

"No one knows NWA better than me!"

Li Ang put his arm around Kendrick and said, "No, I have a much more important role for you."

"What role?"

"How about you play Big E? The leading actor in this movie!"

"WTF"

This is undoubtedly great news for Kendrick, so much so that he doubts the authenticity of Leon's desire to make a movie.

The temptation to play your idol is something no one can resist.

After about ten seconds of silence, Kendrick slowly opened his mouth and said, "Are you kidding me, Bro? I've never made a movie before and I have no experience at all."

"Acting, like rapping, doesn't require experience. Ice Cube and Will Smith weren't professional actors before they made the movie."

"Are you really not kidding?"

"Of course! James Wan is here too, and I'll share the news with him soon. I hope he'll direct the film."

After hearing this, Kendrick finally stopped doubting the authenticity of making the movie.

He hugged Li Ang tightly, repeating: "thank you bro"

In fact, Leon thought that getting Kendrick was a higher priority than getting James Wan.

On the one hand, it is because Kendrick looks very similar to Big E. On the other hand, except for Big E who has been taken away by AIDS, the other members of NWA are still alive.

Among them, Dre and Ice Cube have become godfathers in the circle.

You need permission to make a film based on them.

Kendrick is Dre's disciple, so it will be much easier to deal with these rap OGs with him.

Another very important point is that in order to strive for authenticity, the film will definitely choose to shoot on location in Compton.

Due to the prevalence of violence and drugs, Compton has seen little city involvement in infrastructure development.

Most of the scenes here are not much different from the 90s.

If you want to successfully complete the filming in Compton, where gangs are rampant, you really can't do it without Kendrick.

Li Ang and Kendrick hit it off and raised their glasses at the same time.

Miranda Kerr was not paying attention at all when she was chatting with Robbie. Her eyes always glanced at Leon intentionally or unintentionally.

This is the posture of the female sea king looking for prey.

When she saw Leon and Kendrick hugging each other and giggling, she patted Robbie on the shoulder and asked, "Why are they so happy?"

Robbie gave a puzzled look. "Yeah. Why are these two idiots so happy?"

Noticing the gazes of the two ladies, Leon stood up and rubbed against Robbie.

Miranda Kerr's body collided with his intentionally or unintentionally, and Leon's burning gaze was always fixed on James Wan who was already drunk.

I guess there is no chance today.

But with Robbie and Kendrick as wingmen, it’s only a matter of time before James Wan joins the cast.

(End of this chapter)