America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 538 An Opportunity Has Arrived

Chula Vista, San Diego, California, near the Mexican border.

A commercial event in the mall had just ended. Anna Frank came out from backstage, carrying a heavy backpack and dragging her tired body out.

As she stepped outside, her agent was waiting for her, and questioned, "This kind of activity is meaningless; you're wasting your time."

Anna stopped and said, "I need money. How am I going to pay my car loan? How am I going to pay my rent? What can your brokerage firm offer me?"

The agent said, "We got you on the set of 'Inglourious Basterds' and introduced you to a real big shot in the industry, Harvey Weinstein!"

Anna, recalling that nightmare, suddenly laughed: "You sent me to discuss the script and the role, I went, and what happened? I was met with a shameful humiliation."

The agent was very unhappy with the last sentence: "I told you, this is the norm in the industry. Every female celebrity has to climb up like this. Besides your bodies, what other assets do you have to impress the big shots?"

"Fine! I accept everything he did to me." Anna gritted her teeth in hatred: "He promised me opportunities and roles, but I want to ask, where are those opportunities and roles?"

The agent could only say, "Wait, wait a little longer."

"You told me back then that my efforts would pay off and stopped me from calling the police, and what happened?" Anna sneered, "If I had waited any longer, I would have gone bankrupt and had to sell myself."

The agent still had something to say.

Anna spoke first: "If there are any jobs that can make money like this, please help me take them. Now I understand that being a big star is not something everyone can dream of. Making money is the most important thing."

Ignoring her agent, she walked into the parking lot alone, approached the Hyundai, and noticed someone waving at her from across the street.

Anna was certain she didn't know him.

The man strode over: "Hello, Miss Anna Frank." He pulled out a card he'd gotten from Jody: "I'm a reporter for TMZ."

Anna knew about this website; it had become incredibly popular in the last two years. "What do you need?"

Ivan arrived in San Diego the day before yesterday, but he didn't rush to contact Anna in order to understand her situation and make targeted contingency plans.

He said, "I'm here to buy something. TMZ has always been generous when it comes to buying news, and it has a great reputation in the media and entertainment industries."

Anna had her suspicions, was short of money, and was quite annoyed that her efforts had yielded no results: "Let's talk somewhere else."

Ivan took her to the mall's coffee shop, and after they sat down, he said directly, "We've received some confidential information. We've heard that you have some dealings with Harvey Weinstein..."

Anna tentatively asked, "You dare to target someone like him, a big shot in the industry?"

Ivan couldn't bring up Martin and Brooks, so he could only invoke TMZ's name: "How many big shots have we exposed at TMZ? As long as you have news, money and follow-up matters are never a problem."

Anna asked, "Really?"

Ivan asked directly, "That is, if you have supporting evidence such as videos, photos, and audio recordings."

"I have it." Anna, having returned from Los Angeles, had given up on her dream of becoming a star; all she wanted was money: "How much are you willing to pay me for the video of Harvey Weinstein raping me?"

Ivan said, "One hundred thousand dollars."

Anna scoffed, "Too little! That's Harvey Weinstein!" She weighed it briefly: "$50, not a penny less!"

Before Ivan arrived, he had communicated with Bruce, assuring him that he would get the video first, and that money was not an issue.

He nodded in agreement, saying, "$50 is fine, but if necessary, you'll need to personally correct Harvey."

Anna hesitated, because the other party was a powerful figure she couldn't afford to offend: "Personally?"

Ivan seized on her weakness, saying, "Have you forgotten the victims of Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck? Besides this $50, you can also protect your rights through legal means and demand reasonable financial compensation."

Anna had read the related reports: "I remember many direct victims received millions of dollars?"

Ivan said, "You'll only have a chance if you take action, and you'll have to cooperate with us."

Money has such power that if enough money is spent, even the United Nations becomes illegal.

Who tests someone like that?! Anna surrendered immediately: "Give me a $20 deposit, and I'll give you a video first!"

Ivan took out a check, pushed it in front of Anna, and said, "No problem, I've seen the video, let's continue the transaction."

Anna calculated the amount on the check, quickly put it away, and said, "Come with me."

The two left Chula Vista and headed to Anna's apartment in San Diego.

…………

At Los Angeles International Airport, Martin and Bruce got off the plane, hurriedly pushed their luggage toward the exit, and took out their phones to turn them on.

Thomas waited at the terminal exit, took Martin's luggage, and they got into the van that had arrived.

Martin asked directly, "How's the progress of The Hobbit movie project going?"

"The copyright issues are very complicated, similar to the situation before the filming of The Lord of the Rings trilogy." Thomas has been learning about the project in detail these past few days: "Peter Jackson's original plan was to prepare for The Hobbit movie last year, but it had to be postponed due to copyright issues, and he ended up filming The Lovely Bones instead."

He added, "The female lead is your student, Saoirse Ronan."

Martin asked, "The copyright isn't entirely in Warner's hands?"

Thomas said, "The copyright for the entire Lord of the Rings series originally belonged to MGM, then to Sony Columbia, and changed hands several times, resulting in the fragmentation of many adaptation rights. The copyrights for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy ended up in the hands of Harvey Weinstein."

Martin nodded. He had learned about it over the years: "Harvey was the one who first prepared 'The Lord of the Rings,' but he only gave Peter Jackson one movie, and the budget was pitifully small. Peter Jackson brought in New Line Cinema, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., which led to the trilogy. It was because of the profit distribution of the trilogy that Harvey and Warner Bros. completely broke up."

Thomas stated, "The copyright situation for 'The Hobbit' was equally complicated. Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema believed they had priority adaptation rights, but Harvey's side presented a complete copyright license. Both sides then approached Tolkien's copyright management agency, which was eventually persuaded by Warner Bros. to resolve the issue by stating that Harvey's license had expired and that Warner Bros. owned the adaptation rights..."

While he was drinking water, Bruce, who was driving, interjected, "The interests involved in this series are too great; nobody wants to give it up."

Martin stated, "The Lord of the Rings series has a huge commercial impact. If The Hobbit were to also be made into a trilogy, the box office alone could exceed $25 billion!"

Bruce said, "That's a huge sum of money; enough to wipe us all out."

"Harvey and Warner Bros. have had extremely sharp conflicts over the years, more than once. The various conflicts of interest surrounding the Lord of the Rings series have made Warner Bros. extremely disgusted with him," Thomas explained in detail. "It is said that Peter Jackson has planned a new trilogy, and the profits from the trilogy are within reach. Warner Bros. can no longer cooperate with Harvey and has joined forces with Tolkien's copyright agency to kick Harvey out."

He was certain of one thing: "Warner Bros. was prepared to take legal action, hoping to offer Harvey a small copyright compensation through Tolkien's copyright agency and then fully reclaim the adaptation rights, but Harvey refused, demanding half of the profits from the film adaptation!"

Martin thought for a moment and said, "I remember that in top Hollywood blockbusters, box office revenue often only accounts for one-third of a film's total revenue."

Thomas added, "The Lord of the Rings trilogy only accounted for 26% of the total revenue from box office sales."

Bruce added, "Hundreds of billions of dollars, God Jesus, with that kind of money, you could hire an army in Africa and make someone the leader of that country."

Thomas understood what Martin wanted to do, and now that he was tied to Martin, he was still somewhat worried: "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"It's not that I wanted to do it, but that I had to," Martin said roughly. "Harvey is a domineering man. The feud started when I took Craven's 'The Hills Have Eyes,' and it's happened many times since then. This year's Cannes Film Festival is another example."

As Bruce said, with so much trouble, Martin sometimes couldn't help but overthink: "Nolan thinks the shooting in Los Angeles is related to the kidnapping in Morocco, but I think it might be related to Harvey's gang, even though there's no evidence that it was targeting me."

"My concern is that if we can't get rid of him, the fire will spread to us." Thomas's concerns were not unfounded.

Martin said, "So I've been waiting, looking for the right opportunity, and now the right opportunity has been found. Warner Bros. has a huge conflict of interest with Harvey because of The Hobbit. Harvey is holding on to the copyright, and Warner Bros. may want him to go down more than ever."

Thomas thought it over carefully: "As things stand, this is indeed an opportunity, with at least several billion dollars in potential profits."

Martin nodded slightly, then asked Thomas for more details and began to consider it seriously.

On the way back to his home in Beverly Hills, Bruce received a call from Ivan as soon as he entered the villa. After chatting for a while, he came over to find Martin.

"Ivan bought the full video for $50," Bruce said simply. "He glanced through it, and the content was exactly what we wanted. In addition, Anna Frank agreed to come forward and make corrections in exchange for financial compensation."

Martin's billions hadn't been wasted, he said. "Léa Seydoux's information is fairly reliable." He instructed, "Go see Ivan personally, make a copy of the documents, and bring them back. Proceed with Ivan's plan as scheduled."

Bruce picked up his car keys: "I'm coming right now."

Martin thought about it on the way: "You mentioned before that the News of the World has a team of reporters who followed Harvey for a while. Check if they are still investigating. If you can get in touch with them, you can have Ivan try to make contact."

Bruce was very interested in the trio, saying, "Finding them won't be difficult."

(End of this chapter)