“You bought so many books?”
In the office, seeing Ronan carrying a large stack of books, Marie hurried over to help: “You’ve become haggard again?”
Ronan’s hair was messy, and he had two large dark circles under his eyes; it was obvious he hadn’t rested well.
“There’s too much work to do lately.” He didn’t seem to mind; it was normal to be tired during the startup phase.
He entered the office, placed the books he was holding on the desk, took the ones from Marie, and said, “I was revising the script last night and lost track of time.”
The company had just gotten back on track these past few days, and there was too much work to do, so script revisions had to be done at night.
Marie made him a cup of coffee and flipped through the books: “Are you studying?”
These were all professional industry books, ranging from law and production to screenwriting, and some were collections of successful case studies.
Ronan nodded: “After the last failure, I realized that my own abilities are lacking.”
Foresight is an advantage, but one’s own ability is the foundation; the former affects his future ceiling, while the latter directly defines the floor.
To operate a film company and be a successful producer, relying solely on past memories is far from enough.
Ronan had decided to pick up the textbooks he had put down for many years in his past life and study to strengthen his professional knowledge.
Although he had been a small producer on the other side of the Pacific, things there were completely different from Hollywood.
For the past week, he had only been sleeping about six hours a day, reading books and revising scripts at night, handling various company affairs during the day, and continuing to enrich himself whenever he had a little free time.
As a producer and head of a production company, he needed to have a clear understanding of things like entertainment law and industry regulations, even if he didn’t know them by heart.
For example, if one didn’t look into the Writers Guild, one would never know that it had the highest entry threshold of any industry union in Hollywood.
To join the Writers Guild, within three years prior to application, one must have appeared in the credits of at least 24 film crews, including experience signing with companies and undertaking creative work, or experience selling written works.
In other words, even if he were the screenwriter of a released film, he would not be qualified to join the Writers Guild.
In addition to his normal studies and work, Ronan also picked up the social network that the younger Anderson had disdained, and for three consecutive afternoons, he had been visiting Old Anderson’s former friends and business partners.
When he went to settle the royalties for the television and video rights of dead end life with New Line Cinema yesterday, he specifically visited Robert Shaye.
Having more connections never hurts.
Yet the younger Anderson did not realize this.
Without a doubt, Hollywood is a circle that relies heavily on talent, but as a newcomer, wanting to dominate everything based solely on talent and genius is a bit whimsical.
Ronan knew very well that countless geniuses had died on the road of entrepreneurship.
“Aren’t you looking for a suitable party?” Marie placed an invitation on the desk: “This is a high-end banquet organized by DreamWorks. It’s said that many celebrities from the entertainment and fashion circles will attend. I had to pull strings to get it, and this ticket costs as much as $3,000.”
Ronan picked up the invitation and looked at it; it even had David Geffen’s signature on it.
He immediately said, “Put this expense into the account for the purge.”
A $3,000 ticket was indeed expensive; even the tickets for this year’s Oscar night party were only $5,000. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
One also needed certain qualifications to pay for tickets like this; not everyone could buy them.
Anyway, with the Arabs paying the bill, Ronan didn’t feel the pinch.
Ronan hadn’t been idle all morning; he interviewed six people who came to apply for jobs at the company, reviewed a preliminary financial expenditure report for the purge prepared by Marie, and even managed to steal some time to read the California Entertainment Act.
In the afternoon, he temporarily put aside his work and spoke with the three directors who had come to apply for the job.
These three directors were not members of the Directors Guild, and directly contacting production companies to find work violated industry regulations, but the independent film circle was chaotic, so this minor issue was nothing.
Unfortunately, these three had no qualifications and no relevant work experience.
Strictly speaking, they had only shot experimental films in school and hadn’t even touched MV production.
Since he was operating the project the purge, Ronan naturally wanted it to succeed, so he rejected these three outright.
Ronan didn’t have much experience to begin with, and the producing experience from his past life that he could use was limited.
If he found a director with zero experience, the film would 90% likely flop.
This was definitely not a case where writing a script for a hit movie from his past life and grabbing a director to shoot it would guarantee success.
Ronan needed to study to enrich himself and accumulate experience; finding a better director would undoubtedly increase the chances of the project’s success.
He felt the ideal candidate was David Fincher, but that was just wishful thinking; after all, the project’s real budget was less than $2 million.
This was actually a paradox: directors with even a little bit of successful experience didn’t come cheap, and cheap directors basically hadn’t proven themselves.
The recruitment advertisements sent out by Sand Sea Entertainment had some effect; in addition to candidates who came to self-recommend, several small agencies sent over lists of their directors, actors, and other personnel.
Ronan paid special attention to the directors and actors; there were a few familiar names among the actors, but none among the directors.
In Hollywood, good directors are a scarcer resource than good actors.
In the following days, Ronan met five more directors, and the situation was about the same as the previous three.
It wasn’t that Agents for B-list or C-list directors hadn’t contacted Ronan, but after seeing their quotes, Ronan didn’t consider them further.
For instance, the quotes for directors and actors provided by several medium-to-large agencies were higher than the entire project’s real budget.
Within the circle, certain situations could be vaguely felt without being spoken; after Ronan rejected multiple offers in succession, this project quickly disappeared from the view of medium-to-large agencies.
What really made progress at Sand Sea Entertainment was the hiring of general staff; after a few days of interviews, Ronan finalized several new employees.
The weekend arrived quickly.
Ronan went to a stylist recommended by Marie to get a new haircut and arrived at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel feeling refreshed.
This banquet was convened in the name of DreamWorks, and even outside the hotel, one could see some famous figures.
As soon as Ronan entered the hotel lobby, he saw Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Because there was some distance, he vaguely heard Kate Winslet telling Leonardo to go on ahead, as she was waiting for someone.
Ronan’s purpose in attending the banquet was to expand his social circle; he didn’t ask for anything else, just to get familiar with some people first, as connections are also quite important in Hollywood.
“Good evening, Ms. Winslet.” He walked straight up to Rose, politely greeting her, “We meet again.”
Kate Winslet shook hands with Ronan and replied politely: “Hello, it’s nice to see you again.”
Hearing this, Ronan immediately understood that Kate Winslet had forgotten who he was.
Ronan didn’t show the slightest displeasure and said: “I’m Ronan Anderson; we met at the 20th Century Fox appreciation reception.”
“Yes, I remember now.” Kate Winslet remembered who this handsome guy was and smiled with great approachability: “Call me Kate. May I call you Ronan?”
Unlike the characters she played, this British actress appeared to be extremely well-bred, at least on the surface.
“Of course you can.” Ronan said with a smile: “Kate, I’m a loyal fan of yours.”
Kate Winslet’s gaze passed over Ronan and looked behind him.
Ronan was very self-aware and immediately said: “I’ll head into the banquet hall; let’s chat again when there’s time.”
“Okay.” Kate Winslet responded with a smile as well.
This person gave her a good impression; not only was he outstanding in appearance, but he was also very tactful.
Ronan walked past Kate Winslet and glanced back.
A sturdy man with a beard had walked up to Kate Winslet, and Kate Winslet took the initiative to hold his arm.
This wasn’t a polite arm-in-arm; it was fingers interlaced!
The banquet was considered a public occasion, and this gesture undoubtedly indicated that the sturdy man was, at the very least, Kate Winslet’s boyfriend.
“I told you to keep your distance from Leonardo!” The man’s voice, which carried over, was quite annoyed.
“Do you think there aren’t enough rumors about you two already?”
Kate Winslet seemed a bit helpless: “Leo came over to say hello; I have to say a few words to him, right?”
Ronan quietly slowed his pace; this gossip piqued his interest to some extent, and it wasn’t hard to judge from these two sentences that Rose was actually in a weaker position.
The man was even more annoyed: “I don’t like that greasy, pretty-boy kid! He’s very annoying!”
Kate Winslet’s voice was a bit soft: “Jim, we’re already engaged.”
“If he harasses you again, I’ll make him pay!” The man’s words didn’t sound like a joke: “I’ll let him know the power of a British man’s fist!”
Kate Winslet tried to persuade him gently for a few more sentences, and the man gave a heavy harrumph and stopped speaking.
Ronan took one more look, shook his head, and entered the corridor leading to the banquet hall.