New York 2006

Chapter 213 The director who exploded

On September 2008, 9, at the Target department store in Los Angeles, California, Luo Ji finished signing the DVD of "Twilight" purchased by a white girl. When he looked up, he saw that the long queue still had no end in sight. .

"Come here."

Luo Ji shook his sore wrist and said to the Target staff next to him. He hurried over and asked with a smile, "Is something wrong? Logic."

"After you sign these, it's over. You go ask the people behind you to stop queuing." Luo Ji picked up the mineral water on the table and took a sip.

"Okay, I'll go and notify the staff at the front."

After he finished speaking, he trotted towards the staff far ahead.Luo Ji lowered his head and, like a sophisticated machine, continued to sign his stage name on the DVD.

"Your stage name is so simple, Logic. I heard that Kristen Stewart can't sign a thousand DVDs a day." Zhu Haowei said with a smile.

Luo Ji returned the signed DVD to the white girl in front of him.

He then said to Zhu Haowei next to him: "I can't sign many autographs today. It's mainly to attract buyers. By the way, all the actors are present at this all-American autograph signing, right? Are there any who are absent?"

"They were all present, Kristen was in Silicon Valley, Constance Wu was in New York, Ashley Greene was in Chicago, Austin Swift was in Nashville, Stephanie was in Seattle, and even Katherine, who was not dealing with the company during this period, Hardwick went to Dallas, too.”

"Humph!"

Luo Ji snorted coldly and curled his lips: "Has that old woman Catherine Hardwicke finally realized her status?"

"Yes, she asked screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg to give you a message and she is willing to cooperate with the release of the DVD director's cut."

Luo Ji said unhappily: "Let her wait for a while. The theater version is selling so well now, so don't worry about the director's cut. Wait until the theater version can't be sold anymore, and then release the director's cut."

When choosing a director for "The Twilight Saga: Part 2" some time ago, Catherine Hardwicke was unmoved and directly threatened the company.If she is not allowed to be the director of the second part, she will not cooperate with the announcement of the DVD director's cut version.

The company tried to persuade her for a long time, but she just refused to cooperate.There are always some people who don't recognize their own status, so Luo Ji doesn't tolerate her.

A few days ago, Luo Ji was so angry that he removed her and several people she recommended, except Evan Rachel, from the Logic Private Equity Fund and replaced them with several large clients.

Among them was Viacom's Philip Dauman, and Luo Ji was using the topic as a way to exchange favors.

Zhu Haowei said: "I have good news for you. The DVD of "Twilight" sold 380 million copies in the United States in two days last week, with sales reaching 6840 million US dollars."

While signing autographs, Luo Ji said to Zhu Haowei: "The film industry really makes money! It's much more profitable than the record industry. No record can sell so many copies in the United States in a week."

Zhu Haowei frowned, thought for a moment and explained: "Logic, "Twilight" is a special situation. You must not treat it as a daily routine. Ordinary movies cannot sell so many, such first-week sales results Less than three a year.”

"Ah."

After Luo Ji answered casually, he continued to sign.

…………

Two hours later, Luo Ji, Zhu Haowei and their bodyguards drove to the Warner Studio in Burbank, where the news was being broadcast on the radio.

"Last week, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Merrill Lynch was acquired by the Bank of America, and AIG made an unprecedented request for short-term financing from the Federal Reserve. There was an unprecedented stock market crash in the United States."

"People fled the market in panic, several major investment banks in the United States suffered runs, and last year's subprime mortgage crisis caused the current financial crisis. There was a complete problem in the entire financial system, and funds panicked and poured into hedging products, such as Gold, low-risk products such as government bonds.”

"The two presidential candidates, Senators Barack and McCain, urgently ended their nationwide voting trips and went to the White House to deal with the financial crisis that is gradually spreading around the world."

Zhu Haowei said with a hint of regret: "If there had not been this financial crisis, our DVD sales would have been higher. Now the focus of the media is on the financial crisis."

"Yeah." Luo Ji returned.

Taking advantage of the financial crisis, a hot topic sweeping the world, Luo Ji also acted urgently.

He and Robin quickly signed a prenuptial agreement, got married quickly with the blessing of only a few relatives and friends, and directly recognized the two children in his name.

This eye-popping news only triggered a half-day public discussion. The popularity quickly dropped a lot and was covered by the topic of financial crisis.

Although the media is still discussing this matter, it can only be like this. It can be considered that it has been handled very well.

The news that his Holi gaming company was established less than two years ago and is valued at $5.5 million did not cause much trouble in the media at all.There were only a few financial news reports, and everyone's attention was still on the financial crisis sweeping the world.

This is not a big or small regret.

The vehicle soon arrived at the Warner Studio in Burbank. A white staff member had been waiting at the door for a long time. Under his guidance, Luo Ji and Zhu Haowei passed through each building and arrived at a studio.

At this time, the MV for "Bad Romance" was being filmed inside. The studio was decorated in bright white. Lady Gaga was wearing a hollow bra scarf made of BlingBling rhinestones and was dancing to her lips.

There are five dancers standing behind Lady Gaga, and several white men sitting in front.Director Francis directed two photographers to shoot around.

"Don't tell me, Lady Gaga has a pretty good figure." Zhu Haowei whispered in Luo Ji's ear.

"Just keep your voice low and don't talk. Be careful not to disturb the filming."

At this time, Lady Gaga was kneeling on the ground with her legs, slowly crawling towards several white men, her movements were very seductive.

After continuing to shoot for a few minutes, Francis shouted: "Yes, it's perfect. Let's take a break and shoot later."

The people around him had discovered Luo Ji long ago, and they swarmed up to talk to Luo Ji.Zhu Haowei dismissed a few people with a few words, leaving only Francis and Lady Gaga around Luo Ji.

Luo Ji smiled and said, "You dance well! Gaga."

Lady Gaga curled her lips and said: "I am a singer and dancer. How can I be bad at dancing?"

Luo Ji looked her up and down and felt that her attitude towards him was much more relaxed than before.

Luo Ji's eyes finally fell on the bra made of rhinestones on her chest. Looking from the side, he could see two white lumps, which he estimated to be B cups: "Aren't you wearing anything underneath?"

"No clothes!"

Lady Gaga said sheepishly: "But the fake diamonds in the front can block it, so it can't be seen in the camera."

Luo Ji gave a thumbs up: "It's very sexy, not bad, not bad. The MV will definitely become a hit." "I'll give you some good advice."

Lady Gaga said sourly: "Congratulations, happy marriage and two children."

Luo Ji said politely, "Thank you."

Lady Gaga spoke angrily: "So this is the real reason why you and Taylor broke up, and I became your shield."

“Wouldn’t this be good for you, with increased media buzz and increased record sales?”

Lady Gaga said angrily: "But my media image has deteriorated a lot. Now many fans of you and Taylor hate me."

Luo Ji didn't want to take the blame, so he said with confusion on his face: "Isn't this what you agreed to at the beginning? You said it would be good for your career."

"I was thinking..." Lady Gaga stopped talking.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Oh... forget it." Lady Gaga smiled bitterly: "Anyway, congratulations."

The atmosphere in the studio became tense for a moment, and Director Francis next to him tried to smooth things over: "Logic, aren't you going on your honeymoon with Robin?"

"Too busy, no time."

Luo Ji responded casually. He didn't want to talk too much about this topic, so he changed the subject: "Director Francis, what did you ask me for today?"

Frances glanced at Lady Gaga next to her. She was already very familiar with this kind of scene and knew that the two of them had something private to talk about.He left wisely, and Zhu Haowei next to him also followed.

Francis took Luo Ji to the backstage dressing room of the studio and closed the door quietly, making it mysterious.

He asked seriously: "Logic, I heard that your company is preparing for a big production, "World War of the Dead". Do you think I have a chance to become the director?"

Luo Ji understood. It turned out that this was why he was called here.

He thought for a moment and said: "Yes, you have the experience of directing "I Am Legend" and you have sufficient qualifications. If you apply, I will support you. However, I cannot guarantee that you will be successful. Brad Pitt is the starring role. , his film company also has investment, and I promised him at the beginning that in addition to being the producer, I would give him most of the rights to the crew."

"is it?"

Luo Ji continued: "Well, if you talk him through again, you have a high chance of becoming a director. You have also cooperated with Warner before, and you have a good relationship with Legendary Pictures. They will not stop you, so , the only obstacle is Brad Pitt."

Francis nodded: "I will go find him."

"it is good."

Francis is considered one of our own, and they knew each other when they first filmed the music video.After getting along with him for such a long time, he has a very good personality and is also helpful to Luo Ji.

Luo Ji would definitely support him as long as the conditions were not too high.

The two chatted for a while, and Luo Ji felt like there was nothing more to do, so he said goodbye.

"It's okay, I'll go first."

"Uh..." Director Francis hesitated.

Luo Ji saw his look and said, "What's wrong? Just say what you have to say."

"As for the recent events in the stock market, you also know that with the advent of the financial crisis, Internet stocks have performed very poorly recently. Apple has recently fallen by 23%. What should we do next?"

Luo Ji said seriously: "Internet stocks have fallen much less than other stocks. This proves that most people are still optimistic about Internet stocks, but they have just been affected by the financial crisis."

"Then what do you think will happen next?"

Luo Ji continued: "I have long said in the media that I do not pay attention to the short-term fluctuations of stocks. I am a value investor."

"Just tell me your prediction!"

Many people have asked him this in the past two days.

Luo Ji said with some annoyance: "Francis, I really don't know. Now the U.S. Treasury Department is launching the "Wall Street Rescue Bill," and no one knows whether the House of Representatives and the Senate will pass it."

Luo Ji was telling the truth, he really didn't know this.

He privately asked Ms. Clinton and Senator Barack that the current situation of this bill is very anxious.

The richest people on Wall Street are calling on the government to quickly pass the "Wall Street Rescue Act", and they have also come up with the too-big-to-fail theory to support this bill with reasonable evidence.

But the bottom class hates the "Wall Street bailout bill". Now various protests are happening one after another, opposing the use of taxpayers' money to bail out those rich, "vampires" and capitalists.

This is the first time in the past few decades that wealthy Americans and ordinary people have had such a fierce confrontation over a bill, and no one knows what the outcome will be.

Francis was a little troubled. He thought for a while and said, "Can you let your film company acquire my MV production company?"

Luo Ji was surprised and said, "What's wrong? Are you short of money?"

"Yes."

Luo Ji asked in confusion, "What's going on?"

"Uh……"

Francis seemed to have made up his mind: "Didn't you recommend me to buy Apple stocks at the beginning? I didn't buy them at the time. Later, when they rose so much, I discovered that you are an investment genius. So I used leverage to buy Apple stocks. Who knew? It has fallen so much this year. If we don’t inject money now, we may be wiped out.”

"How much did you pay for it?"

"200 meter knife."

Luo Ji looked at him in surprise. He was such a talent. He bought it at the highest point in the past two years.

(End of this chapter)