From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

A misty drizzle floated in the air, yet it couldn't obscure the sun's face. Golden halos danced freely between the fine raindrops. In the distance, lush greenery stretched out like a smoky expanse, with vibrant red and yellow maple leaves appearing intermittently.

Clean, clear, rich, refreshing.

The situation was subtly peculiar. October was nearing its end, yet one could still grasp the tail end of summer, feel the crispness of autumn, and catch a glimpse of winter. The three seasons were magically intertwined. Gazing at the verdant forests enveloping the city, he was momentarily lost in thought.

The scenery resembled a watercolor painting.

Standing in Vancouver, his thoughts seemed to linger in Seattle, not far behind. An indescribable poetic beauty gently slowed down the pace of life.

Wait, was that… Chinese?

Involuntarily, his eyes caught a fleeting glimpse of square Chinese characters. Just as he looked away, more familiar characters flashed by. It was then he realized that this was perfectly normal in this city.

Slightly distracted, the river of time carried his thoughts back to dreams of his past life.

Some people welcomed film crews with open arms, some didn't, and some had no idea what was happening.

A complete mess.

Thus.

Some established policies were implemented differently across various departments; some word-of-mouth policies weren't implemented at all; some willing staff members didn't know how to proceed.

Difficulties. Troubles.

It was the pioneering stage.

Small crews like "The Butterfly Effect" and small companies like New Line Cinema lacked influence and didn't have enough time or energy to push for policy implementation. Standing in Atlanta felt like being dropped in the wilderness without survival tools.

Unsuitable.

The situation wasn't quite as he'd heard.

Later, Anson inquired with Daren Star, finally learning some behind-the-scenes details.

Everything stemmed from AMC Television.

AMC was a cable television network that made a name for itself by broadcasting classic old movies, with rights mainly from Paramount, Universal Pictures, and 20th Century Fox. Since 1996, it had been preparing to venture into original movie and series production, showing potential and receiving multiple Emmy Award nominations.

After the millennium, AMC prepared to further break free from the control of movie company copyrights and fully develop its own original business, but they quickly discovered—

In Hollywood, they were hindered at every turn.

They had to rent sound stages from other movie companies, had to use production teams from other movie companies, and had to constantly mediate between large companies.

This gave AMC a different idea.

Perhaps, they could leave Los Angeles and open up a whole new world?

This idea wasn't too bold, because other movie companies also realized that space in Los Angeles was limited. They successively began exploring other cities, such as New Orleans, Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston, and so on.

But so far, these cities and their respective states hadn't offered many incentives. The only exception was Pennsylvania, where Philadelphia was located, so movies like "Rocky" and "Philadelphia" were filmed on location there.

AMC Television needed a whole new world.

After traveling to different states and engaging in negotiations and discussions with different state senators, Georgia came into view.

AMC Television, in conjunction with Lionsgate Films from Canada, was preparing to build a brand new filming base in Atlanta. Georgia showed keen interest, but turning the concept into reality still required undergoing numerous tests.

Currently, it was still in the early stages. The power of AMC and Lionsgate Films was too weak. They needed to bring in a behemoth like Disney to join them.

Daren leaked a piece of news to Anson: Warner Bros. was somewhat interested.

The success of "Spider-Man" finally prompted Warner Bros. to dig out the DC Comics copyrights locked in the storage cabinet, preparing to restart the superhero series.

But the production costs of these movies were estimated to be not low. Warner Bros. didn't plan to bet everything like Sony Columbia, so they needed to control costs.

If a studio was built in Atlanta, and tax breaks were obtained from the state, Warner Bros. could develop Atlanta into a second film production line factory, exploring more possibilities for superhero adaptations at a relatively controllable cost.

However, it was just interest and rumors for now.

The power of AMC and Lionsgate Films hadn't been able to truly push the policies forward, so it was conceivable that the production environment in Atlanta was still a mess.

This was the situation that Mackie and Eric had experienced.

Where had they seen such a scene? Two shut-ins who had been holed up in their apartment for seven years suddenly encountered this chaos. Faced with a pile of messy things, they turned around and fled in disarray, eventually ending up in Vancouver to the north.

Vancouver, belonging to Canada, was, in fact, known as "Hollywood North."

Since the early 1990s, Vancouver had opened its arms to welcome the arrival of the Hollywood film industry. Starting with "The X-Files" settling in Vancouver for filming, it gradually became a favorite of film crews large and small.

In addition to tax advantages and low-cost advantages, Vancouver's diverse terrain, modern city appearance, and surrounding natural environment provided a wealth of filming locations for different film genres, which was undoubtedly a major advantage.

Therefore, a large portion of the crews coming to Vancouver were willing to choose on-location filming, which was somewhat similar to Philadelphia; but what AMC and Lionsgate Films were preparing to do in Atlanta was to set up a studio.

Here, there were still some minor differences.

Not only "The Butterfly Effect," Chris Evans had also come to Vancouver last month to film "The Perfect Score," jokingly saying at the time that he would come to visit the set—

So, Anson really came to visit the set.

"The Butterfly Effect" hadn't officially started filming yet. Anson arrived in Vancouver in advance, taking advantage of the free time to visit the set and cheer on his friend.

The vehicle slowly came to a stop, and one could immediately see the filming area with posted notices and erected barricades, clearly reminding passing pedestrians that filming was in progress.

That wasn't all.

Outside the barricades, there was also a figure in a security guard uniform patrolling back and forth, ensuring that no curious kids or clueless passersby would intrude.

However, standing outside the barricades, one couldn't see the scene inside the school at all. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary middle school, so there was no crowd of onlookers gathered around, and it even seemed a bit deserted.

Obviously, for Vancouver city residents, this was really not surprising at all. Like Los Angeles and New York, countless film crews shot here every year, and there was no need to make a fuss about it.

Anson strode forward, and immediately saw the security guard reach out to stop him with a serious face.

"Sorry, we're filming a movie here. Unauthorized personnel are not allowed to enter or exit."