America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 184, page 183: Breaking historical records, Eric's first major award!

"Welcome to the 55th Primetime Emmy Awards. I'm your host, Ellen DeGeneres."

"I am the host Conan O'Brien."

"I am the host, Martin Short."

"I am the host, Gary Sandlin."

After a song and dance performance, several hosts appeared on stage and delivered witty opening remarks, somewhat similar to a Chinese crosstalk performance.

"Eric, how many awards can we win?" Barrefali asked quietly.

Eric shook his head slightly: "I don't know. I hope the academy will give me a few more, otherwise I won't bother participating anymore."

"Everyone says that the drama category is a competition between 'Six Feet Under' and 'The West Wing,' with the former receiving 19 nominations and the latter 17, while we only have 11 nominations."

"Eleven is quite a lot. The Walking Dead is only in its first season, Six Feet Under is already in its third season, and The West Wing is in its fifth season. They already have an advantage," Frank Darabont explained.

"Director, are you confident you can win an award?"

"What award? Best Director?"

"Um."

The bald man frowned: "I don't think there's much hope. The subject matter of 'The Walking Dead' is more appealing to young people. Given the personalities of the judges at the Academy, it would be good enough if they even gave it a nomination."

"This is because our drama has a huge impact; it is indeed the most phenomenal drama of the year, but it will probably be difficult to win an award."

Daniel Wu nodded in agreement: "Those judges must be thinking, 'The Walking Dead is only in its first season. Anyway, there will be a second, third, or even tenth season in the future. It's not too late to give it to them then. Let's give it to someone else first.'"

"Boss, I think you can expect the Best Screenplay award in the drama category. The Academy also needs to maintain a balance; it's impossible for them to give us nothing."

Frank Darabont said, "Winning Best Writing is acceptable; it's a top-tier award besides Best Drama Series."

The "first tier" that Darabont refers to is a universal rule for all award ceremonies.

Just as actors are categorized by social status, so too are awards.

First of all, whether it's a movie or a TV series, the most prestigious award is Best Picture, and there's no dispute about that.

The Best Actor award is just as important as the Best Actress award; it belongs to the top tier of awards.

Then there's the difference between Best Director and Best Screenplay.

If it were the Oscars, Best Director would undoubtedly carry more weight than Best Screenplay, because filmmaking is the art of the director.

The Emmy Awards, on the other hand, place much greater importance on Best Writing than Best Directing, because television is a writer-driven field.

Regardless of the differences between the two, these five awards belong to the top tier of major awards.

Then there are awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and technical awards such as Best Makeup, Best Costume Design, Best Props, and Best Voice Acting.

Although The Walking Dead was not nominated for Best Drama Series, it was nominated for Best Director and Best Writing. It remains to be seen what the Academy will choose.

"If it were the Saturn Award, we would sweep everything!" Andrew Lincoln said.

On stage, the first award was presented: Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, which was won by Doris Roberts for "Everybody Loves Raymond".

Then, the best single-player mixing was won by "ER".

Next was the Best Costume for Variety or Music Programs, which was ultimately won by "Cher: Farewell Concert".

The first few awards had nothing to do with The Walking Dead until the fourth technical award was presented.

The presenter was Hugh Jackman; pairing a popular actor with an award that receives less attention is a long-standing tradition for boosting viewership.

"The nominees for Best Special Effects Makeup are The Walking Dead, Normandy Landing, Alien, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and The Laremi Project."

"Let me see who the winner is. Hmm."

Uncle Wolf stopped halfway through his speech, looked down and chuckled. When he laughed, some people laughed along with him.

After building suspense, Hugh Jackman loudly announced, "Congratulations to Legion of the Zombies for winning the award!"

Crash, slap, slap

A round of enthusiastic applause erupted from below. The other four film crews were also impressed, as although all involved makeup and special effects, the level of difficulty was clearly not on the same level.

Zombies need to be not only grotesque and have three-dimensional facial features, but also have missing limbs. Each extra needs to be made up for several hours, and the makeup team is the largest in The Walking Dead crew.

Eric patted Jack Garber, the makeup artist representative, on the shoulder: "Go on, bring over your trophies."

The man excitedly strode onto the stage and took the trophy from Uncle Wolf.

"Thank you to the academy and the judges for giving us this award. It's a great honor for us behind-the-scenes staff, and I'm so happy to receive it."

"I also want to thank director Darabont and every actor in the crew; they were all very kind and cooperative with our work."

"I also want to thank screenwriter and producer Eric Cooper, who provided an excellent story and was willing to invest a lot of money, which gave us the space to create. Thank you very much!"

After giving his acceptance speech, Jack Garber returned to his seat with a cheerful smile, kissed the trophy, and was greeted with another round of congratulations from the crowd.

The awards ceremony continued, and after several reality show awards were presented, it was time for the first grand prize of the evening: Best Actress in a Comedy Series.

The award presenter was Robin Williams. There's no need to say much about Robin Williams' work; he's one of Eric's favorite actors, excelling in both comedy and drama.

Unfortunately, fate played a cruel trick on him, and destiny did not treat this person who brought joy to everyone kindly.

He was diagnosed with one of the world’s most terrifying diseases – Lewy body dementia.

This disease not only causes loss of limb control, but also reduces spatial awareness, and has a variety of other effects such as amnesia, sleep disorders, neurological dysfunction, loss of consciousness, depression, and hallucinations.

The most terrifying thing is that patients can feel their brains collapsing little by little, but they are helpless, which is the most despairing feeling.

Finally, he chose to hang himself while he still retained some consciousness, taking his life along with the disease.

The subsequent autopsy report revealed that Robin Williams' mental capacity before his death had regressed to that of a three-year-old, a truly lamentable situation.

"The nominees are all sexy and funny women: Patricia Heaton from 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' Jennifer Aniston from 'Friends,' Jane Kazmarak from 'Malcolm's Family,' Sarah Jessica Parker from 'Sex and the City,' and Deborah Messing from 'Will & Grace.'"

"The winner is Deborah Messing for Will & Grace."

Everyone applauded, but Eric didn't clap; he naturally hoped Friends would win an award.

However, seeing Rachel smiling happily on the big screen, winning the Best Actress award must have lessened the disappointment of not winning any awards.

Unsurprisingly, The Simpsons won Best Animated Feature, without any controversy.

Seeing The Simpsons win an award, Eric felt that he should also develop MGM's animation business and not keep focusing on movies and TV series.

Before he traveled through time, he loved watching Rick and Morty and Peppa Pig. He found the former to have a great script and the latter to be enjoyable even as an adult.

In Eric's view, Peppa Pig is one of the few cartoons that appeals to all ages, following Tom and Jerry.

It is a high-quality project with low production difficulty and high commercial profit, and it can be put on the agenda.

After several awards, it was time for the Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series award, where Norman Reedus, known for his role as Daryl Dixon, was nominated.

Presenter Lucy Liu opened the envelope and read: "The nominees for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series are Joe Pantoliano for 'The Sopranos,' Jeremy Sisto for 'Six Feet Under,' Carlos Bernard for '24,' Kenny Jensen for 'The Shield,' and Norman Reedus for 'The Walking Dead.'"

"The winner is Norman Reedus of The Walking Dead. Let's congratulate him."

Upon hearing that he had won an award, Daryl was so excited that he immediately stood up, hugged everyone, and walked onto the stage.

"Thank you, thank you so much to the Academy for giving me this award. I've been in the industry for seven years, and this is the first trophy I've ever received. Tonight will be an important moment in my career, and I will always remember it."

"Thank you to everyone in the crew, they were all excellent partners, and also to Mr. Cooper Jr. I heard that he made a special exception for me to get this role, thank you so much!"

The camera immediately focused on Eric, and his handsome, angular face was instantly projected onto the big screen.

Many actresses secretly marveled at how incredibly handsome he was—rich, powerful, young, and good-looking—a perfect partner, wondering which little bitch would end up with him.

Daryl returned to his seat happily, picked up his glass and downed it in one gulp: "This has been a wonderful night. Thank you, Mr. Cooper, for creating such a charismatic character that I was able to win the trophy."

The crowd whispered among themselves, but Balrefaeli seemed a little uncomfortable, as she was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

However, by adhering to the principle of balance, her chances of winning the award have decreased considerably.

Just over ten minutes later, reality proved her prediction right: the Best Supporting Actress award went to "The Sopranos".

On the big screen, Barrefali could only put on a fake smile that she had practiced many times in private, and clapped to show her approval and magnanimity.

After the camera cut away, she lowered her head and secretly mouthed "fuck".

Not angry? How could I not be angry?

This was my first prize, and it's gone just like that.

All he could do was grab some snacks and drinks and gorge himself to soothe his wounded heart.

Subsequently, The Walking Dead won the Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects awards, but unfortunately lost the Best Editing in a Drama Series, Best Casting in a Drama Series, and Best Cinematography with Multiple Cameras.

Eric was also somewhat disappointed that Friends lost out on the Best Actor in a Comedy Series award, with Matthew Perry, who played Chandler, missing out on the award.

Ultimately, Friends only won one award for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, which went to Christina Epburgert, who played Rachel's sister Amy.

When other people eat, they round down the amount, but you rounded down the beginning, leaving only a zero!

At this point, The Walking Dead only received two nominations: Best Writing and Best Director in a Drama Series.

Under the watchful eyes of the entire audience, Nicole Kidman, who just won the Oscar for Best Actress this year, walked out from backstage, wearing a floral cheongsam and the love knot necklace, looking absolutely stunning.

Eric was a little surprised to see her appear; she hadn't told him she would be attending the party, which was strange.

Walking to the center of the stage, Nicole smiled and looked around at the audience, then playfully winked at Eric.

"Screenwriters are the soul of a TV series. They create excellent stories and bring out vivid and unique characters."

"I have always believed that screenwriters are the cornerstone of our industry. Without the contributions of screenwriters, there would be no prosperity in Hollywood today."

"Those nominated tonight are all dreamers I admire, some of whom have been nominated multiple times."

Photos of Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter of "The West Wing," and Aaron Bauer, screenwriter of "Six Feet Under," immediately appeared on the big screen.

"Some of them are receiving their first nomination."

This time, the big screen displayed a photo of Joel Suno, the screenwriter of "24".

"Some people achieve great things late in life, but make their mark in middle age."

The big screen displayed Chuck Lorry, the screenwriter of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation".

"Some people are young but incredibly talented."

After Nico finished speaking, Eric appeared on the big screen. The academy chose a picture of him writing at his desk, but it was actually a staged photo of him.

The pose, illuminated by the yellow lamplight, with numerous manuscripts scattered on the ground, creates an exquisite and charming composition.

The impression he gives is that this young man is not only handsome, but also very serious and talented.

"Oh my!"

Nicole opened the envelope and instinctively exclaimed in surprise.

Those sitting below are all shrewd and intelligent people; for the Best Actress to be surprised, she must have witnessed something extraordinary.

So, which of the five has the most impactful award?

Many people immediately made a connection, and all eyes turned to Eric.

Nicole took a deep breath, as if she had just won an award: "The winner for Best Writing in a Drama Series is Eric Cooper of The Walking Dead!"

OH

In an instant, the entire audience gasped in surprise. People who had some connection with him, such as Hugh Jackman and Brad Pitt, applauded and cheered.

Many people were simply shocked. As the camera panned across the scene, many people wore expressions of disbelief, as if they had witnessed the most incredible thing ever happening.

The reason why many people were shocked is that Eric is only 23 years old this year, just 23 years old.

What does this age represent?

The most influential film awards in the world today, including both global and regional awards.

Including the Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, the three major European awards, Tokyo International Film Festival, Golden Horse Awards, Hong Kong Film Awards, and so on.

The youngest screenwriter to be nominated so far is John Singleton, who received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for "Boys in the Block" at the age of 24.

Excluding frivolous awards, 24 years old is already the limit on record.

Eric moved the age forward by another year, and since he was the winner rather than a nominee, the difficulty increased several dimensions.

At that moment, everyone disregarded the boss's imposing presence and airs, excitedly hugging Eric in the middle, almost tossing him into the air.

On the big screen, it was clear that even Eric himself was staring wide-eyed, clearly taken aback.

"Alright guys, let Eric go up on stage to accept his award, Nicole's waiting."

Delabont pushed through the crowd to make way for Eric.

He composed himself, looked at the smiling beauty on the stage and the golden trophy in her hand, and strode up to her.

"Hmm"

As soon as I stepped on it, before my back foot even touched the ground, a fragrant breeze wafted into my embrace.

Then, in front of thousands of celebrities and more than 20 million viewers watching on television, the two kissed.

(End of this chapter)