From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Adam was truly blown away, utterly devastated.

He couldn't imagine how Anson had secretly gone to record "The Tonight Show"; even more outrageous was that "The Tonight Show" had lost its mind and agreed.

Sony Columbia had been backstabbed like this, its entire plan disrupted. What else could this be but when it rains, it pours!

After thinking it over and over, Adam couldn't control himself.

Damn it!

Cursing under his breath again, Adam had to force himself to calm down. He didn't have time to settle accounts with Anson right now; controlling the crisis and minimizing the damage was the top priority.

As for Edgar, humph, he could settle accounts with him later.

He would let them know that no matter how embarrassed Sony Columbia was, it was still one of the seven major Hollywood film companies. It was already the twenty-first century, so he wouldn't say anything as foolish as a ban, but teaching an actor and an agent a lesson was still no problem.

With a flick of their little finger, they could make Anson and Edgar suffer.

Regaining his composure, Adam found his reason.

"What about 'The Tonight Show' side?"

The conference room was silent.

After a short while, a voice timidly replied, "The show's team hasn't responded."

Adam: ...

"The Tonight Show" and Jay Leno were tough nuts to crack. Adam knew that asking them to withdraw the show was impossible, but at least they could postpone the broadcast of that episode, right?

Postpone it a bit, avoid the eye of the storm, and wait until two weeks after "Spider-Man" was released before broadcasting it. No, even broadcasting it after the opening weekend would be fine. That way, they could keep the losses within a reasonable range.

Adam believed that this was negotiable. After all, "The Tonight Show" wouldn't suffer any losses.

However, the show's team didn't respond.

Adam glared fiercely.

That person immediately understood. "I'll continue calling the show's team now."

Hastily gathering his documents, the figure disappeared from the conference room in a puff of smoke. Because he was too anxious and rushed, he hadn't had time to open the door and crashed straight into the door panel.

Adam ignored it completely, looked at everyone expressionlessly, and continued to raise his voice, "So, how should we turn the situation around now?"

Everyone in the conference room looked at each other.

The air almost solidified.

After a brief silence, someone finally spoke cautiously.

"If we can't avoid it, why not take advantage of the situation?"

"Anson has a close relationship with producers like Darren Star and David Crane. Jeff Robinov has also mentioned his name before. He recently finished working with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Maybe we can contact them and have them mention Anson, taking advantage of the situation to make this game bigger..."

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

However, Adam's face was clouded over.

The next second, all he heard was a roaring in his ears—

"Idiots."

"What is their relationship with Anson? What is their relationship with us? Why would they endorse 'Spider-Man'?"

"Jeff Robinov?"

"Steven Spielberg?"

"Why don't you just have the Warner Bros. and DreamWorks teams help us promote it together? Let the whole of Hollywood see our joke."

"Ah?"

"Ah ah ah..."

That volcano finally erupted. The whole place was silent, and no one dared to look Adam in the eye.

Adam was almost about to flip the conference table. The entire space was as quiet as a graveyard, and everyone lowered their gaze, fearing that they would be targeted by a dinosaur.

After a burst of venting, Adam finally regained his composure and took a deep breath.

In the end, he still needed to solve the problem himself. He believed that he could solve it.

"Get me Brian Swarth's phone."

Not long ago, Brian Swarth had been promoted to CEO of William Morris.

In fact, things weren't that complicated. There was no need to confront them head-on. Just put a little pressure on them and postpone the broadcast time of "The Tonight Show."

It might be difficult for Sony Columbia to force "The Tonight Show," but if Edgar himself made the request, the show's team would have no reason to refuse.

So, to solve it at the source, Adam directly contacted the top management of William Morris.

On the phone, Brian showed the efficiency of a magnate, not evading or playing dumb, but agreeing crisply. He would inquire about the situation and would 100% cooperate with Sony Columbia's publicity plan.

Of course, Adam wasn't a child. He had long passed the age of naivety and couldn't possibly believe everything Brian said. He still needed to make multiple preparations, and Sony Columbia also became fully busy.

However!

"The Tonight Show" was still broadcast—

Not postponed, not canceled, and even three days earlier than planned.

The attitude couldn't be more firm.

Rumor has it that after Jay Leno learned of Sony Columbia's unreasonable demands, the king of talk shows was furious and went directly to the top management of NBC Television without saying a word.

Although no one heard the full text of the conversation, snippets could be caught before the office door closed, "When did it become someone else's turn to tell me how to do a show?", "They think they can cover the sky with one hand," and so on. It was rare to see Jay Leno get angry.

Because of hosting talk shows all year round, Jay Leno always had a smile on his face, giving people the illusion:

That he was a harmless teddy bear.

Only at this time could memories be awakened. Back then, when Johnny Carson was preparing to retire, the competition for the successor of "The Tonight Show" was also a bloody affair. Originally, David Letterman had already received a promise from the top management and had this job firmly in his grasp, but the result was that David Letterman angrily left and Jay Leno took over strongly.

What exactly happened behind the scenes was just a legend.

But it was certain that Jay Leno was definitely not a soft persimmon or an honest person.

Although no one knew the specific content of Jay Leno's conversation with the NBC executives, the result was already clear: the show was still broadcast—

Not only was it broadcast, but it was also brought forward.

Without a doubt, this was a slap in the face, and Jay Leno wasn't prepared to save face for Sony Columbia either. This counterattack made things very ugly.

Later, Sony Columbia found a peacemaker to ease their relationship, and Jay Leno used the mouth of a third party to spread his views.

"Doesn't the host know whether the show is good or not?"

"For them, the success or failure of a movie is limited in importance. Compared to those loss figures on Wall Street, it's just a drop in the bucket."

"But for me, I have my reputation to maintain. I invited him to be a guest on the show and recorded the show, so I need to be responsible for the quality."

"This is my show, goddammit, this is my brand."

"Who is he? Someone from the marketing department, running over to tell me how to do things, pointing fingers at my show, does he even have a brain?"

"I'm willing to broadcast this episode, which already shows my confidence. Even if he doesn't believe in those newcomers, he should believe in my ability and my judgment. I don't allow others to question my professional ability."

Facts have proved that Jay Leno was right.