America: Child stars start with The Shining

Late at night, at a drive-in theater somewhere in Los Angeles, there were already quite a few cars parked there.

Thomas slowly drove the car into the empty space, turned off the engine, leaned back in his seat, and was about to light a cigarette to relax.

He is in his thirties and has been married to his wife for ten years. They have long since run out of things to say to each other. They also have a son and a daughter who are still young and argue every day, which is very annoying.

After get off work, he preferred to come to the drive-in theater to watch a movie and kill some time rather than go home and face his wife's daily questioning. Thinking of this, Thomas looked up at the big screen in the center of the square.

What movie is playing today?

He glanced at it and saw that it was an art film with a somewhat boring plot and a very slow pace. This kind of film is the least popular in cinemas, and generally not many people would go to see it. It is only used to kill time in drive-in theaters.

Because these low-budget art films don't have much copyright cost, they can be shown freely.

Moreover, now that every household has a television, who would want to go to the cinema?

Television entertainment programs are much more interesting than those slow-paced movies that last one or two hours.

Thomas didn't really care what kind of random movies were playing on the drive-in theater's big screen. He just wanted to find a quiet place to wait for a while, and getting a temporary parking space for five dollars was a great deal.

He took out the beer he had bought on the way from under the passenger seat, and then pulled out a copy of Playboy magazine from the car, ready to enjoy his night alone.

Sudden.

His car window was pounded on, and a black boy with dreadlocks stood on tiptoe outside and waved at him.

Thomas was startled, rolled down the car window, and yelled angrily:

"Fuck, are you here to cause trouble, kid?"

"Hey, sir, don't be so fierce. I have a question for you: do you have a video camera at home?"

Thomas was taken aback. There was indeed one at home. His wife had been very interested in TVG after seeing it, and with the encouragement of her friends, she persuaded Thomas to buy it.

As a result, it has only been used a few times so far, and now it's been left to gather dust in some corner somewhere.

"Yes, so what? I'm warning you, kid, if you don't have something serious to say, I'll have the administrators kick you out. They won't be as patient as I am!"

Dog handed over the videotape, along with a few posters of beautiful women, and whispered:

"Uncle, are you interested in this movie videotape? I'll let you in on a secret: it contains some really cool stuff you'll never see in a movie theater..."

After listening to Dog's words, Thomas glanced at the poster the other party handed him, his eyes widened, and his heart involuntarily quickened.

Wow, this level of explicitness is something drive-in theaters would never dare to show.

This is quite a shock for a man in his thirties.

He glanced around instinctively, and seeing that no one was paying attention, lowered his voice and said:

"Where did you get this thing from?"

"Never mind that. If you don't want to buy it, just give it back to me now."

Dog reached out and touched the videotape, but Thomas grabbed his hand and stopped him.

"Wait... Fuck, don't take it! Of course I'll buy it. How much?"

Dog Master held up one finger, indicating a number, and said:

One hundred US dollars.

"WTF!? Kid, you're practically robbing me! Nobody does business like this!"

"Don't rush, sir. I offer two ways to purchase it. One is to pay me one hundred US dollars directly, and the tape is yours. The other option is to rent it."

"Rental?"

"Yes, you need to pay me a $100 deposit first, and the rent is $10 a day. How about that? Pretty good deal, right?"

Thomas thought about it for a moment. Watching a movie doesn't take much time at all; it can definitely be finished in a day, especially this kind of movie...

He'll definitely sneak away and watch it all by himself when he gets home tonight.

This is much more interesting than going home to face his increasingly overweight wife.

Without much hesitation, he immediately took out a few US dollars from his wallet and handed them to Dog.

Dog immediately grinned from ear to ear, his dreadlocks swaying gently behind his head.

He counted them briefly, and after confirming there were no problems, he said:

"Alright, uncle, consider those posters a free gift. I'll be here every night, so you can come back to return this videotape. Besides, I have more than just this one movie here, you know what I mean."

Dog Master made a tacit gesture between the two men, and their eyes met, the meaning of which was self-evident.

Immediately afterwards, the roar of the engine began.

Thomas couldn't stay in that run-down drive-in theater any longer; he had to go home immediately.

Damn it, where did that video recorder go? He had to look for it carefully; he couldn't afford to waste any more of his time.

Meanwhile, Dogman rushed to the next car and repeated almost the exact same sales pitch.

The night passed quickly.

Throughout the following hours, cars would frequently drive away from this drive-in theater before the movie had even finished playing.

The security guards at the gate were all confused, but they didn't know what had happened.

......

A week later, in that alley on Hollywood Boulevard, Charles, Tupac, and Doge met up again.

Old Dog dumped his canvas bag onto the ground, and a thick stack of loose change and banknotes clattered out. He couldn't help but grin and excitedly said:

"Fuck, Charles, you're a fucking genius!"

In just one week, Doggy and his henchmen hung out at the entrances of several drive-in movie theaters in the vicinity every day. At first, they were a little rusty, but as they gradually became more skilled, the number of videotapes they rented out increased.

They earned several thousand dollars in just a few nights, and that doesn't even include the deposits they made!

Damn, this is outrageous!

Charles simply smiled, squatted down, and neatly arranged the stacks of money on the ground, then divided them according to the pre-agreed proportions.

He still got the lion's share, and no one objected, because he was the one who provided the videotapes.

His initial plan was to have Dog and his team keep an eye on the middle-class people in drive-in theaters. These guys were rich, easygoing, and thrill-seekers, making them the easiest targets for their customers.

After all, videotapes weren't cheap, and simply selling them outside ordinary movie theaters wouldn't be very effective.

But no matter what, everything is difficult at the beginning. He had already earned his first pot of gold, and he didn't plan to do anything else with it. Instead, he continued to buy more videotapes to expand the market.

Moreover, this kind of private work has an advantage: there is no need to worry about copyright issues for the time being. If it is handed over to Dogs and his team, the risk is not very high. In addition, they find clients themselves, so they will not be targeted by those big film companies for the time being.

However, you must not forget to pay the taxes you are owed. Don't underestimate the capabilities of the IRS in the United States; these guys are always looking at these tax issues and arresting people.

Otherwise, Charles would probably have to become brothers with them in prison.

He then inquired with Dog about the local gangs, confirming that doing this kind of business wouldn't offend some of the local bigwigs, before preparing to leave the alley.

But at that moment, he suddenly saw a familiar figure surrounded by several black children, and it seemed that a little argument was taking place between them.

Charles thought for a moment, then called Tupaik and went over.