From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Anson was taken aback and looked out the window, seeing Mackie's face in the rearview mirror—

Tears streamed down his face.

His smooth, long hair whipped wildly in the wind, his slightly trembling voice shouting with abandon, tears glistening in his slightly reddened eyes. This seemed like a scene from a pure romance comic or a youth movie, but looking at Mackie's neatly trimmed beard and standard otaku appearance, the whole style started to become strange.

"We… woo hoo hoo, we! Are finally about to shoot our first movie!"

"We're going to be huge superstars! Hollywood, here we come!"

"Woo hoo hoo, woo hoo hoo."

As he spoke, Mackie burst into tears, his tears and snot all mixed together.

Anson, "Uh, cough cough."

He cleared his throat.

"Mackie, Eric, there's still one problem here."

Suddenly, Eric turned to look at Anson again, his eyes filled with panic.

"Don't tell me they won't let us be the directors? This is our bottom line, what…"

"No, Eric, that's not it." Anson had to stop Eric from going crazy, "I know it's the bottom line, and I've already negotiated it. Don't worry, you're the directors, and the producer won't change the script."

A beat later, Mackie finally reacted, his nose as red as Rudolph's, sniffling every so often, looking at Anson pitifully through the rearview mirror, his tearful eyes filled with unease.

Anson made a downward pressing motion with his right hand, "Calm down, calm down."

"Listen, we haven't signed yet, the contract hasn't been finalized yet. If you guys aren't willing, you can always back out, you can always refuse. At worst, we'll just go to the next film company."

"This is Hollywood, we don't have to hang ourselves on one tree."

What Anson didn't say was that he believed DreamWorks and Sony Columbia were the last hope, the former because of his personal relationship with Steven Spielberg, and the latter because of the ongoing negotiations for "Spider-Man 2." Anyway, in Anson's name, he would eventually be able to find an investment company.

He was confident in that.

Right now, they were still in a stage of holding the initiative, able to choose a partner company, so Anson wasn't worried.

After experiencing countless rejections, Eric and Mackie couldn't control their anxiety, but they finally realized that because Anson was the producer, maybe the fate of this project had completely changed.

Today was the best proof.

Before, they had gone back and forth, going around in circles, never finding an exit; but since Anson appeared, they had achieved a breakthrough in just one week—

More accurately, it had only been one morning.

After ordering, drive around half the store and go to the pick-up window to get the food.

"Hey, Anson."

"Anson Wood!"

"God, oh God, Anson, you're the most handsome man in the world."

The employee at the pick-up window couldn't believe their eyes when they saw Anson, a series of exclamations tumbling out, even leaning out of the pick-up window, grabbing Anson's right hand tightly, continuously emitting dolphin-like screams, looking like a fish thrown onto land, struggling with all its might.

This scene made Anson smile wryly.

After the low-profile trips to Portland and Columbus, and now returning to Los Angeles, Anson increasingly felt how turbulent the Peter Parker craze was—

From Warner Bros. to New Line Cinema to the burger chain in front of him, every step of the way he could deeply feel the gazes cast from all directions; and whether it was industry insiders or ordinary viewers, their gazes were filled with scrutiny and curiosity.

This allowed Anson to experience the treatment of a superstar, but it was slightly different from what he imagined. The image that surfaced in his mind was "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."

He was that E.T.

Anson flashed a smile, "Shh, please help keep it a secret, otherwise my personal trainer will find out, and the amount of training for the next week might double."

With a small joke, the other party nodded vigorously, agreeing with all their might, but their figure still couldn't help but tremble, and their body as well.

Then, one, two, three, the other employees in the store also came to say hello, trying to pull the stranded whale back, joining in the fun.

With great difficulty, before the crowd further gathered and caused a riot, the car slowly drove away, and Anson then discovered Mackie and Eric with faces full of shock—

Once again, the two screenwriters refreshed their concept. They suddenly realized that they seemed to have never truly understood Anson's market appeal.

So, was this a good thing?

Or rather, was this a bad thing? Were there too many eyes focused on Anson, to the point of stealing the focus of the movie itself, which might lead to failure?

For a time, all sorts of thoughts surged anxiously in their minds. After the surprise and panic, they actually forgot how to respond.

Eric looked at the burger in his hand, lost in thought, his mind still focused on the project, without any appetite.

Mackie, who was driving, hadn't planned on eating a burger anyway. After swallowing a mouthful of saliva, he finally couldn't help but ask.

"Anson, what was the problem you were talking about just now?"

Anson just happened to take a bite of the burger, raised his hand to signal Mackie to wait a moment, chewed, swallowed, and then spoke, "Budget."

A pause.

Mackie and Eric both realized the difficulty of the matter—

Although they weren't planning on shooting a commercial blockbuster, a different budget meant completely changing the entire situation.

First, the crew's filming methods might completely change, and computer special effects couldn't be used too much.

Second, the crew members and cast lineup might also change, making it impossible to invite big names.

Third, if the budget was lower than expected, the most direct impact would be that the movie's release scale and publicity scale might all be lower than expected. After all, film companies wouldn't spend fifty million dollars to promote a work with a ten million dollar investment, and both screening and publicity resources would be reduced.

A budget could change many, many things.

However.

Mackie and Eric had also anticipated this possibility. With their duo combination as directors, they still lacked appeal. If they insisted on being the directors themselves, they had to make sacrifices.

That was precisely why they had always insisted on a production cost of twenty million dollars. It wasn't that the movie really needed that much funding, but rather it was a strategy.

If they could get that much funding, that would naturally be the best; but if not, they also had a fallback, and there was still some room for bargaining.

Everything was just a strategy.

Unfortunately, so far, when producers or film companies heard that Mackie and Eric were preparing to take the director's chair for the first time, they didn't even give them room for discussion and adjustment, glossing over it lightly, and then… there was no then.

Now it seemed that twenty million dollars might have been a terrible idea, scaring away those producers and film companies from the start.

Taking a deep breath, Mackie looked into the rearview mirror, "How much is the budget?"

"Ten million dollars," Anson said.