America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 137. Only you, you are the one who abandons!

A plane took off from Silicon Valley and flew towards Los Angeles, and Eric was in it.

As the plane approached Los Angeles, it passed through a small town called Santa Monica.

Lionsgate's headquarters are located here, and Eric was having an affair with Seville here.

At this moment, in a villa in Santa Monica, Tom Anderson was fast asleep in bed.

He slept too late last night and worked through the night, doing the final checks on his self-developed social media app, My Space.

This social networking app is the culmination of his hard work. From the initial idea to its implementation, it took more than a year, and it is finally nearing completion.

He has already registered the domain name, and the software will be launched in a month at most. At that time, he will create the world's first social networking site.

As a super genius, he created a hacker group at the age of 14 and successfully hacked into Manhattan Bank, attracting the attention of the FBI.

He was extremely confident in the software he developed, believing that it would quickly become a global sensation once it went live in July.

His confidence stemmed not only from his superior technology and MySpace, but also from his pioneering spirit, which meant he had no competitors and was poised to dominate the market.

By the time others want a piece of the pie, it will take at least six months from software development to market launch.

In just six months, they had already captured most of the market share.

When that time comes, who will be your opponent?

Nobady! My space will always be invincible.

And he himself will inevitably become a new internet tycoon, making a fortune.

A few years later, it went public on NASDAQ, and more than a decade later, it dominated social networks worldwide, eventually becoming a top internet giant.

Such a beautiful scene, every time I think of it, I wake up smiling from my dreams.

Hehehe

Tom Anderson was laughing as he slept soundly when suddenly he heard a loud knocking on the door, as if someone was trying to tear his house down.

He suddenly woke up and quickly got out of bed and ran to the living room.

"Who's knocking? Who's knocking?"

Tom Anderson yelled as he finished dressing.

"Anderson, open the door! Open the door quickly, something terrible has happened!"

"Jarvis? Are you crazy? Are you planning to smash this door to pieces?"

When the door opened, Tom Anderson looked furious, his eyes bloodshot.

Jarvis, however, shouted anxiously, "Stop worrying about your lousy door! Something terrible has happened, Facebook is here!"

"What?"

"Facebook is here!"

Tom Anderson wiped the drool from his face: "You sprayed it in my eyes, Jarvis. What are you even talking about?"

"I'll show you something."

Jarvis ran to the computer, opened Facebook, and as soon as the minimalist interface popped up, Tom Anderson suddenly felt his heart pound, and an extremely bad premonition rushed into his brain.

Jarvis entered his username and password, logged into his account, and, panting heavily, pointed at the screen: "See that? Look at this!"

Tom Anderson stumbled back a few steps, clutching his head and tearing at his hair. "OMG! No way! No way! How could this happen? How did this thing even appear?"

Jarvis also plopped down on the ground, like a deflated balloon.

Although he is not a major developer of MySpace, he does hold shares in it.

The software was supposed to launch in July, and he had high hopes, dreaming of getting rich overnight, but it all fell apart.

"Yesterday, I went to the school to see Professor Siffer and found that this software was being promoted on campus. After getting in touch with it, I knew I was in trouble. Someone had completed the first social software before us."

"And this person is very smart. He chose a flawless promotion plan, starting from university campuses, which was more effective than our plan."

Tom Anderson stared at the computer screen with an extremely grim expression when suddenly, a flash of insight struck him, as if he had grasped something.

"Jarvis, you said this software was initially promoted on campuses, so is the developer a college student?"

"If he's a college student, we can easily find him and buy Facebook."

"What kind of insight can a college student have? If we use the money from selling the software, a million dollars, and put it in front of them, I don't think anyone can refuse."

But to his surprise, Jarvis looked at him like he was an idiot.

"What's wrong? What kind of look is that?"

With a sigh, Jarvis said, "When I first found out, I had a similar thought to you. Then I discovered that a large number of celebrities had opened accounts in a short period of time, including Johnny Depp, Peter Jackson, Nicole Cage, Nicole Kidman, and so many that I couldn't count them all."

"At that time, I realized that this was definitely not something a college student could do. The person or company that developed Facebook must have a lot of power."

"Because compared to campus promotions, it's clear that the celebrity endorsement is their real trump card."

"Just yesterday, according to my rough calculations, Facebook gained at least 50 users. You and I both know what that number means."

Upon hearing this, Tom Anderson was struck dumb, feeling as if the world went black and he was spinning.

Adding 50 new users in a single day—that's terrifying data. Unless the other party does something reckless, it won't be long before they completely dominate the entire US market.

He couldn't imagine how fast it would happen; perhaps before July even arrived, there would be no more room for My Space to survive.

Sensing that something was wrong with him, Jarvis quickly helped him up and placed him on the sofa.

"Anderson, I rushed here to tell you that we need to make plans as soon as possible. What should we do with My Space? We need to make a decision."

"And your suggestion?" Tom Anderson countered.

"Continue development, since it's almost finished anyway. Then go to Silicon Valley and find Facebook. Selling it might be a good option, at least we can recoup some of our costs."

Snapped!

Tom Anderson slapped his forehead and shook his head: "My Space is my life's work, and I will not allow it to die like this."

"So what do you want?"

After a moment of silence, Tom Anderson said in a deep voice, "We need to find ourselves a backer; we can't beat Facebook by going it alone."

"Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, Google, or media conglomerates—I believe some of them will realize just how valuable this pie is."

Meanwhile, at Harvard University.

Another person who was just as frustrated as Tom Anderson was Mark Zuckerberg.

Looking at the prototype of the software he had designed on the computer, and then at the Facebook page he had created, Zuckerberg felt a deep sense of frustration.

boom!

Zuckerberg punched himself hard in the chest, his eyes wide with anger.

"It must be cheating! There's a thief, a pickpocket! They stole my thoughts!"

"No, there must be a thief right next to me. They're watching me, stealing my inspiration!"

Just then, my roommate pushed the door open and came back.

"Mark, why are you still spacing out? Why didn't you go to class? Do you want to fail?"

Seeing that Zuckerberg didn't react, his roommate went over and patted him on the shoulder from behind: "Mark, Mark, what's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Fuck! Thief, it must be you! You stole everything from me!"

Unexpectedly, Zuckerberg suddenly attacked, tackled his roommate to the ground, and angrily grabbed his neck while roaring.

"Are you crazy?"

Unfortunately, his thin frame was not cut out for fighting, and his roommate punched him in the temple.

Zuckerberg suddenly felt dizzy and fell to the ground.

boom!

He was then kicked in the stomach, and he coughed violently, curling his body up like a roasted shrimp.

spit!

His roommate spat in his face: "You lunatic! I'm telling the school about this, you'll get punished!"

After saying that, his roommate slammed the door and left, leaving only a lifeless Zuckerberg lying on the floor like a dead dog, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Boss, where are we going?"

Looking at the Los Angeles International Airport gradually shrinking in the rearview mirror, driver Peter asked.

Eric glanced at the time: "Let's go to the studio. If we don't go soon, they'll have to stop filming."

More than an hour later, the car arrived at the MGM filming location.

Arriving at Studio 5, if I remember correctly, "Blue Is the Warmest Color" was filmed here.

It was 1:30 p.m., the break time was over, and it was time to start work.

Eric went inside, intending to keep a low profile, but as soon as his head peeked out, he heard a staff member shout, "The director's back!"

The person's voice is so loud that you might think they've discovered a murder.

All eyes turned to him instantly. Eric gave an awkward smile and could only wave to greet everyone.

Ashley and Mary looked resentful, with Crocevini making a cameo appearance beside them.

Behind the monitor, Andrea and Neil Blomkamp hurriedly got up and came over.

The British female director exclaimed as she walked, "OMG! Director, you're finally back! It seems God finally heard my prayers."

"Director, if you don't come back soon, the crew will have to stay on holiday."

Eric chuckled: "It's not that exaggerated. I think the scene is great. Everyone is very engaged."

Before he could finish speaking, Ashley and Mary walked over, pouting.

"I've never seen a director like you before, abandoning the crew and running away. You disappeared for half a month!" Mary started complaining.

"Eric, although I've never worked on a big production, Blues of Adele is definitely the most bizarre film crew I've ever been on."

"The directors I've worked with in the past all pushed the limits of time and actors to the limit, and they practically wanted to go up there and film for the actors themselves."

"You've really opened my eyes. I know some directors are crazy, some are patient, and some are irritable."

"Only you are the type to be abandoned!"

"You abandoned the film crew, you abandoned me and Mary!"

Ashley launched her accusations in a subtle way; her words were full of hidden meaning and barbed words.

Others might not understand, but Severini, who knew Eric's true nature, wore a cryptic expression, his gaze shifting back and forth between Eric and the Olsen sisters.

It's understandable that the assistant director is anxious, but why are you in such a hurry, actor? And you still say you're not having an affair!

After being criticized by many, Eric learned about the current filming progress.

Since sleeping with the Olsen twins, Ashley and Mary have been on a roll, and filming is progressing at breakneck speed.

Looking at the schedule, there are only about one-tenth or one-twelfth of the scenes left. I estimate that filming will be completed in a little over a week.

This is an art film, yet it was filmed in just over a month. It's incredibly fast!

"Sevier, how's the filming of Get Out going? It's been so long, I haven't been to visit the set yet."

Colisevini shook his head: "I don't know either. I'm just an actor, responsible for performing my own role well. I don't know how director James Wan arranged the filming."

"How was your collaboration with James Wan?"

"He's great. Although he's younger than me, he's a very insightful director with a good personality. He doesn't yell at people, and our set was very harmonious."

"What is it?"

"It's him, I guess. Never mind, I don't like talking badly about others behind their backs."

Sevilla hesitated to speak, but this only piqued the curiosity of the others; who doesn't love gossip?

Eric pressed on, "What are you afraid of? I'm the one asking you. I'm his boss, he wouldn't dare complain about you."

"Okay, then I'll say it: Director James Wan is stingy, extremely stingy!"

"Props, blood, venues, vehicles—he really knows how to save money in every aspect. No matter what the process is, he'll use whatever's worn out rather than the best."

"I seriously doubt how much money MGM actually approved for him."

"Director James Wan has made an excellent film like 'Saw,' so it's not fair to only give him a million or two."

Eric waved his hand: "Of course not. I'm not Scrooge. I approved $500 million in funding for him."

Sevilla frowned. "Five million dollars is no small sum. They have money but don't spend it, and they're so stingy! It's really hard to understand."

"Hehe. Stingy but effective, that's the kind of director film companies love most."

"Hmph! Of course capitalists like it, but it's the actors who suffer."

"Stop talking nonsense, let's get started!"

Eric took the microphone, and the crew, who were already moving slowly, instantly accelerated their progress.

No one knew better than him what kind of feeling he wanted to create in "Blue Is the Warmest Color". Under his direction, Ashley, Mary and Sevigny began to act out their roles.

One was a Best Actress nominee, and the other two were actually involved with lesbians. The latter's powerful emotional outburst was in no way inferior to the former, and perhaps even surpassed it.

Several hours passed before we knew it, and the filming had continued for the entire afternoon.

As it was time to leave work, people began to clock in one after another.

Eric was just thinking of calling Gadot and going to her place that evening when he was already surrounded by the Olsen sisters, one in front of the other.

"Let's go!" Mary said.

"What?"

"Come on, you're not going to go back on your word again, are you?"

Eric slapped his thigh: "But I didn't bring a gift. Isn't it inappropriate to visit like this?"

"I knew you'd make excuses, but I bought it anyway," Ashley said.

"I'm inviting you to my house for dinner and even preparing a gift for you. You're not going to refuse, are you?"

"Hehe. How could that be? Let's go then."

(End of this chapter)