Reborn America, this is my time

Chapter 182 Stupid teammate!

"So what the hell is going on now? Is Columbia Pictures involved in a massive check fraud?" An hour later, Ethan Jones saw Shi, who came overnight from John Bull, at his Palo Alto villa. Steven Spielberg three.

That travel-stained look explained what exhaustion was, but even so, there was no confusion in those bloodshot eyes, but filled with angry flames.

"What's the situation? What else can happen? All the f*cking projects have been stopped!"

Steven Spielberg just sat on the sofa for two seconds, and jumped up immediately after hearing Ethan Jones' inquiry, pacing back and forth, "David Begelman is simply my life Stupidest guy ever! When I heard about him in London, I was shocked!"

"There are [-] ways of corruption in Hollywood! In the end, he didn't use any of them!"

"He insisted on choosing the one with the highest difficulty! The easiest to be discovered! The worst way to embezzle after discovering it! This is simply - this is - this is simply stupid!"

Steven Spielberg waved his right hand, and his angry voice trembled.

To be honest, when Ethan Jones saw Steven Spielberg in this state, his whole head suddenly became a little dazed. Now it is his project that Fobole stopped, and he should be angry Is he angry?Why does Steven Spielberg have to be like a dead mother... well, this metaphor is a bit inappropriate, but it doesn't matter, why is this guy acting so hoarse?
Ethan Jones couldn't figure it out.

Blinking his eyes, he looked at Steven Spielberg in confusion.

"Uh, Steven, can you calm down?" He said, "I can understand how you feel now, because I am also angry now, but... can you tell me what you know? Because I feel that the information I have may be somewhat incomplete.”

The tentative words stopped Steven Spielberg from pacing his legs.

"Okay, of course I can tell you..." He looked at Ethan and started talking.

His words were very succinct, and he made things clear in a few words.After listening to the description, Ethan Jones found that the content and general process of the incident that these people learned were no different from the case files he saw that day.The cause of the whole incident was that an actor was subjected to a special investigation by the IRS.

And since the event information they got is roughly the same, then...

"I want to know, does this matter have anything to do with Universal?"

Ethan asked: "Steven, if I remember correctly, you seem to have said in the phone call before you came that your Universal is about to face Ferber's investigation?"

"Can this check fraud case bring down the whole of Hollywood?"

"MFxxk..."

"Is this David Begelman so powerful?"

"But why haven't I heard his name?"

I haven’t heard what Ethan Jones said. It actually means that David Begelman was unknown in his previous life. If this guy really came up with a check fraud case covering Hollywood, then in his In his previous life, this guy would definitely have a great reputation, and he might not be a hard-core ruthless person in the Tongliao universe, but it would be no problem for Hollywood to make a movie for him.

As for saying that family ugliness should not be publicized?
nonexistent!

Since I was cheated of money by this guy, I must earn back from this guy!

Losing money is more painful than losing face.

However, following Ethan Jones' questioning, Steven Spielberg, who was supposed to speak at the time, gritted his teeth. His chest kept rising and falling, and his complexion was more like a pig's liver.

That state was as uncomfortable as eating shit.

After seeing his friend's panting appearance, George Lucas hurriedly said, "Ethan, it's been a long time to talk about this, because before joining Columbia Pictures, David Begelman once He is the vice president of Universal's parent company MCA..."

"What?" Ethan suspected that his ears had misheard.

George Lucas said seriously: "You heard me right, that was a long time ago..."

David Begelman was born in 11 and graduated from New York University as an adult. He joined the American Music Company, or MCA, in [-], where he worked for nearly [-] years, and was eventually promoted to vice president of the company. The reason for leaving is that his business philosophy does not match the company's development.

He felt that as a music company, it should focus on the music business and maximize it, but other executives of MCA believed that the development of MCA in the music field had fallen into a bottleneck and needed to develop new product lines , So they decided to buy Universal Pictures.

David Begelman didn't want to make movies, so he left MCA and started a new company CMA with his friend Fred Feldman, specializing in the business of artist agency.Because they have worked in the music field for decades and have their own resources, the company has developed quite fast. Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand and many other superstars are their clients.

Even David Geffen and Fox President Alan Ladd Jr. have worked for them.

Since these superstars are all amphibious artists, in addition to having a music career, they all also make movies, so CMA went around and finally opened up a movie department, and their first client was Francis Coppola, and in After that...

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg boarded his pirate ship one after another.

No way, who let Francis Coppola's personal company was established with the help of David Begelman?When George Lucas took Steven Spielberg to Francis Coppola's set to observe the filming up close, most of the staff on the set were CMAs.

With this relationship, their cooperation is naturally very pleasant.

more importantly……

"Star Wars was actually brought down by David Begelman for us."

George Lucas spread his hands and said, "After I submitted the script to Fox, Alan Ladd Jr., the president of Fox who was in charge of the final review, passed it because of David Begelman's face."

"After I got the funds from Fox, I didn't make a movie right away, but established Industrial Light and Magic, which was not in compliance with the contract, but Fox didn't hold me accountable, because the president Alan Jr. Ladd acquiesced in doing so."

"If it weren't for the poor editing of the first version of the film, and other executives at Fox couldn't stand it anymore, then Alan Ladd Jr. would still be in control of the overall situation."

"As for the copyright of "Star Wars"..."

"I'll tell you the truth, if the signer wasn't Alan Ladd Jr. . . . "

"I think other studios would rather kill me than bet against me with copyright."

George Lucas sighed and cast a helpless look at Ethan Jones.

And after hearing such a shocking melon, Ethan Jones' eyeballs were straightened!

He glanced at Steven Spielberg and Gary Kurtz, the president of his film company, in disbelief, and the two guys nodded in resignation.

Not only that, Steven Spielberg leaned forward, put his elbows on his legs, covered his face with his hands, and said: "My "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was signed to Columbia because of him."

"I can get all the resources at Universal, but I didn't put Close Encounters of the Third Kind at Universal. Because David Begelman helped us many times before, when Columbia Pictures needed to improve their performance, we Naturally, I helped him..."

"It's the same with "Alien" now, Ethan, do you remember the day when we signed the contract? David Begelman didn't read the script at all, because we have always operated like this."

"And he found CBS for you before the contract was finalized..."

"We have cooperated for many years, so a verbal promise is more effective than a signature..."

'...' This answer made the corner of Ethan's mouth twitch.

'It turns out that the previous smooth cooperation is not very popular with me? '

'It turns out that the smooth sailing before is the perennial tacit understanding of these guys? '

'Grass--'

'I thought it was me who shocked Columbia Pictures and fell in love! '

'Lan Shou! '

In just a split second, a [-]-word drama appeared in Ethan Jones' mind.

But soon, he came out of that feeling of regret and asked: "So, why did he jump from CMA to Columbia Pictures? Isn't he the founder of CMA? The boss should not go to work?"

"Uh... this question is a bit embarrassing to say." Ethan Jones' nominal subordinate, Gary Kurtz, president of Destiny Films, explained after hearing this question: "Because David Begelman I found that after ten years of operation, their CMA has reached the top of the industry, and there is no room for improvement. If they want to break through, they can only find other ways..."

At the beginning, when he was working at the American Music Company, David Begelman strongly opposed the acquisition of Universal Pictures by other high-level executives, but after he founded his own company, he realized that after he achieved the ultimate goal, he had to operate in a mixed manner. , otherwise profits cannot rise again.

Compared with the money earned by being an artist agent, the most money can be earned by devoting himself to the real production of music and movies, so he gave up the CMA he created by himself and was invited by Columbia Pictures. Since [-], he has been in charge here.

The first film he launched was Warren Beatty's "Shampoo", which was No.4 on the North American box office list in 8, and his second film was "Shampoo" starring Barbra Streisand. Funny Ms., that was No.[-] at the North American box office in [-].

The success of two consecutive films gave him a great reputation in the field of film production, but he was not satisfied, so he brought in Steven Spielberg, hoping to hit the box office crown.

But unfortunately...

In [-] there was Star Wars.

But it doesn't matter, right?

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" can still make Columbia Pictures a lot of money.

In this case, no matter what kind of scandal happened to David Begelman, Columbia Pictures would protect him to death, because his contacts covered most of Hollywood!When Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were his buddies...

Columbia Pictures will only fire him if his brain is broken!
What embezzlement of public funds?

That's obviously because the treatment we gave wasn't good enough!

What check fraud?

That was definitely a misunderstanding!
Columbia Pictures didn't want to give up on him, and Faberle and the Los Angeles police didn't want to touch David Begelman, who had already managed a huge network in Hollywood and was himself a capitalist.

Therefore, self-examination and self-correction have become a way for them to turn a blind eye and close one eye.

If no one reports again, then the matter is over.

But when this matter was brought up again...

Fo Bole, who found out that a third person knew about the matter, had to end up again.

"So... his fraudulent check is true?" Ethan asked with a frown.

"From the current point of view...the probability is true..." Steven Spielberg nodded.

"No... At least his net worth is in the millions, right? Why would a man with a net worth of millions carry out forged checks? Is he mentally ill?" Ethan was very puzzled.

"That's probably a mental illness." Even David Begelman's friend, George Lucas at the moment, said unceremoniously: "Only a guy with a mental illness would carry out check fraud activities." , and his net worth is more than one million, his CMA has merged with IFA, and it is now called ICM, and those stocks alone can make his net worth exceed ten million."

"..." The thoughtless answer made Ethan suffocate and his eyes went dark.

"So what do we do now? How many companies have been implicated by him? How many projects will be investigated because of him? When will our project start?" he asked loudly.

"Uh... I don't know yet." Gary Kurtz, the president of Destiny Films, pursed his lips and said, "So far, besides Columbia Pictures, Universal, which has cooperated with him, has also become the subject of investigation. One of the members on the list, as for other companies such as MGM, Disney, Paramount...these companies have not directly cooperated with him in recent years, and Warner and Fox, they are just their artists and executives and David Bergelman has a deep connection, so it is only an individual who is being investigated."

"Of course, if a problem is found, Fobole will definitely continue in depth."

"And if nothing goes wrong..."

"I think these shutdown projects should start soon, after all..."

"Every day a project is shut down is a loss for Hollywood."

"If it takes a long time, the bosses of those film companies will kill the FBI."

This answer made Ethan close his eyes.

At this moment, he really wanted to scold the three of them, complaining about why they didn't explain in advance that Columbia Pictures was a huge pit, but...after thinking about it, he decided to forget it.

After all, no one would believe that multi-millionaires engaged in fraudulent checks!

This is just like many Hollywood superstars like to steal, it is a quirk among quirks!

Since it cannot be considered with common sense, these three people are not cheating him. Moreover, when he was seeking foreign cooperation, his core appeal was to find a media to criticize Warner. This guy was really helping him at that time.

"So you are currently under investigation as well?"

Ethan thought for a while, then opened his eyes again.

"Otherwise, why would we come back?" Steven Spielberg leaned on the sofa helplessly, and said, ""Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is in his hands, and "Star Wars" is also related to him. If so, "American Style Painting" was also packaged by him..."

"We don't even know when he started forging checks..."

"If this happened a long time ago, it would be a lot of fun..."

When Steven Spielberg, a guy with a lot of people on top, felt that this matter was a bit big, the investigation related to it really came quickly.

Because it was already night when they came, so after passing the breath, they stopped rushing to Los Angeles. Ethan gave them his villa to live in, and he slipped into the next room.

Early the next morning, Ethan got up to solve the three urgent problems, and found two Faberle police cars parked at the door of his villa, the windows were all open, and there were three people in each car. After seeing Ethan go out to look out, they were still friendly Nodding his head, he pointed to his house with his thumb.

This gesture made Ethan understand in his heart that they were looking for Xiao Si Xiaolu, so he called his room and called the guys who were still sleeping.

After discovering that Fobole had come to the door, the three of them called a lawyer while washing their hands. Maybe it was because there were people behind them, but it was also possible that there was a Mahayana boss in the Palo Alto area. At that time, Fobole just sat in the car and waited.

Occasionally leave for a while, just find a toilet on the ground.

Such a civilized law enforcement behavior will definitely make other ethnic groups cry bitterly when they see it, but for Stoudemire and the others, these guys think it is normal.

After their lawyers came, they contacted the agents of Fobole.After answering some questions cautiously, it was convenient for him to leave with the freshly released information.

Since Ethan didn't lean over to listen, he didn't know what these guys were talking about, but after being questioned, the three of them also got up and said goodbye, heading to Los Angeles.

Stoudemire said that he would go back to deal with the cooperation with Columbia; Xiao Lu said that he would connect with Fox to see if there were any problems; and Gary Kurtz...

"Boss, I'll go back to Los Angeles and watch to see when the "Alien" project will start."

"According to the previous plan, we have to determine the director within three months, and then let Industrial Light and Magic help to manufacture the props and sets used for shooting, and let the director follow the casting, and strive to start shooting the whole movie in the second half of this year stage, it will be released at the end of next year, but now..."

"I guess that's probably the best case scenario."

"Besides, after the fraudulent checks by Columbia Pictures executives, the famous directors we confirmed before may all reject our project contracts. We have to prepare for the worst."

"The release of the movie may be postponed to the year after next, which is 1980..."

The words of Gary Kurtz, the president of Destiny Films, made Ethan Jones's heart burst.

Alien might be delayed until 1980?

This is something he cannot tolerate!

Shooting this year and releasing it next year is the best plan, because after a year and a half of impact, the demand for "Star Wars" in the North American market will drop to a low point, and a sci-fi movie and supporting video game will be released at that time , then the user can be introduced into the host perfectly.

Pushing the film back to 1980 would be very detrimental to him.

Moreover, if he remembers correctly, "Star Wars 2" has actually entered the negotiation stage?

If nothing else, Fox will let George Lucas set "Star Wars 2" to 1980 [-]!And fight it with "Alien" at that time?
That is simply courting death!
More importantly, games, which rely on content for food, have never been able to truly monopolize the market. If other companies launch games during the release vacuum of Destiny Games, for example, Atari and Mirov will continue to offer The market pushes his own home console, so the Thunder Strike he bought with "Star Wars" will be wasted...

Thinking of this, Ethan asked: "How likely is it to be postponed to 1980?"

"It's the worst-case scenario," Gary Kurtz said.

"When will we start work that will cause the film to be delayed until 1980?" Ethan continued.

Gary Kurtz thought for a moment, "We have to start work by April [-]st."

Today is March [-]st, a month full of calculations, so Ethan nodded slightly.

Staring at his subordinates for a while, he made a decision and stretched out his right index finger.

"One week, I'm only giving Columbia one week."

"If they can't handle the FBI within a week, then we will change the partner company."

"..." Gary Kurtz was stunned after hearing these words, and quickly said: "But boss, we have a contract with Columbia. In the face of such unexpected events, according to the contract, we have to give them a certain amount of money." The buffer time of..."

"Accident? You told me it was an accident?" Ethan showed displeasure, and said, "If Columbia got rid of David Begelman last year! Then what happened today would not have happened! Since they chose to cover up David David Begelman, then they will be responsible for what happened today!"

Gary Kurtz hesitated for a moment, and said: "Although their cover-up is true, if we really go to court, we can't use this reason to tear up the contract..."

"Then let them sue!"

Before Gary Kurtz could finish speaking, Ethan Jones raised his voice and interrupted: "Motorola isn't in California to sue me, he's nothing like Columbia!"

"In a few months, Warner Communications and Philips will sue Destiny Games for a defamation case for a full year, but the court has not yet opened a trial!"

"I, Ethan Jones, don't sue because I hate trouble! Not because I'm afraid of trouble!"

"You bring what I said to Columbia. I, Ethan Jones, will give them a week. If they can get it right, they will start working. If they can't, I will sue them for money!"

"My firm's legal counsel has always been Stanford Law School!"

"They want to sue, I can bring a bunch of people to sue them!"

Ethan Jones is pissed off!
Columbia is really a pig teammate!
It's okay to be caught once for breaking the law, but can you be caught twice in the end?

What kind of rubbish influence is this Nima?

If they can solve these shitty things within a week, then Ethan will be fine.

What if it can't be solved?

Then he will cooperate with others!
He's not interested in these people's cases!There is no intention of intervening in those old things!
Now he just wants to shoot "Alien"!Don't want to waste time with these sand sculptures!

　Note: ① CMA founded by David Begelman is actually the first artist agency company in the American entertainment industry to start packaging services, and CAA copied him.At his peak, the four major Hollywood directors in the 70s, Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas, and Scorsese, he could directly pull together.Woody Allen and others mentioned in the article, as well as Al Pacino and Peter Fonda who were not written are all his clients.Later, the founder of CAA jumped to a film company and copied him.However, for such a person to play check fraud, it is really outrageous that the special code opened the door for the outrageous and outrageous. ②The inside story of the copyright of "Star Wars" is also the same as written in the article. The Fox president who approved the "Star Wars" project was once a subordinate of David Begelman, and he had already cooperated with Lucas and the others before going to Fox.And he was kicked out of Fox after the incident ([-]). ③The fraud case did happen back then, and the Wall Street Journal reported on it, and finally published a book called "Indecent Exposure", which was published in [-] and is still sold on Amazon.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)