“…Our total investment in this movie exceeds one hundred and twenty thousand, and our investment in the male lead alone also exceeds fifty thousand.”
“Don’t forget, we just signed a contract with him!”
Their investment in the male lead was not just a time cost, the cost of training him, and various miscellaneous expenses. They had also signed a very special contract.
The male lead must shoot no less than fifteen more movies for Triumphant Pictures. In other words, the clause originally intended to restrict the male lead had now become a knife hurting Triumphant Pictures!
The detailed rules stipulated that the male lead must be the male lead in every movie.
At the time they signed this contract, Seric believed that with the male lead’s handsome appearance and a body like a classic bodybuilder, he would definitely be very popular in the market.
Previously, they had shot a silent film of about thirty minutes as a trial. Many moviegoers thought the male lead’s performance was very good and were willing to get to know and follow this male lead.
Based on this, Triumphant Pictures had signed such a contract with him.
They would cultivate the male lead, and the male lead would have to repay them as much as possible, bringing benefits to the company.
But now, there was a crooked scar on the male lead’s face, which looked like a f—king worm on his face.
The stitches looked like the legs of a worm. Thinking of this, Seric felt a little nauseous.
God f—king dammit!
“The company has lost at least three hundred thousand in total. If someone gives him advice and he demands the company fulfill the contract, we will have to shoot another fourteen movies for him.”
“Even if we lower the cost of each movie to the minimum, it might still cost one hundred thousand dollars.”
“We’ve lost at least four hundred thousand, and if he becomes a big hit in the future, then our losses will be even greater.”
The board member on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, “So what do you want to do?”
The corner of Seric’s mouth curled up slightly, but no one could see this expression. “That young man named Gerald is the most talented and has the best physical appearance I’ve ever seen.”
“He’s worth four hundred thousand, even a million, two million!”
The voice in the receiver was a bit muffled, “Are you sure that young man named Gerald is really that outstanding?”
“Or has your sexual preference started to affect your judgment?”
Seric was suddenly a little ashamed and angry, “F—k, I won’t be influenced by this kind of thing. I can still distinguish between public and private matters.”
“If you come over and see that young man, you will know that I am absolutely not wrong. He will become a banner for the company!”
The board member thought for a moment after hearing this, “So?”
“We’ll give them a little pressure, make them bow their heads. I know they are a gang, but we are not vegetarians either!”
“Besides, there are some other film crews in Valley City now. If we back down now, we will become the laughingstock of the entire industry.”
The gentleman on the other end of the line let out a light laugh after hearing this, “But they are a gang, Seric. Those methods are not very useful against them.”
“You can’t expect these gang members to voluntarily pay fines or plead guilty. That’s impossible, let alone expect the police to catch them.”
“You have no way to pressure them.”
“But I agree with what you said. We can’t become the laughingstock of the industry. We support you in fighting back!”
“According to your idea, give them a little pressure, and then talk to them.”
Seric showed a smile after hearing this, “You made the right decision…”
Gerald couldn’t leave Valley City for a few days because he was still under a “ban.”
Actually, if he really wanted to leave, no one would care. In the Federation, violating a ban was as simple as drinking water for some people.
But for others, it would seem a little more difficult.
Especially since Gerald was going to be a big star in the future, he couldn’t have too many “stains” on him now.
Although from a longer-term perspective, being involved with a gang was also a stain on him, but that was something for decades later.
In this era, the Federation government, capitalists, and gangs co-ruled the world. People didn’t think being a gang member was a stain, as long as it wasn’t some third-rate small gang.
But, having a gang background and having a criminal record were two different things, so Lance and the others would temporarily stay here.
Precinct Chief West had already passed the information about Lance’s group to the local police through internal channels. For them, a gang from Golden Port naturally had some deterrent effect.
There was even a book called “Golden Port Gangs,” which recorded many brutal incidents.
Triumphant Pictures very decisively called the police and was preparing to sue Lance and the others, demanding a total of one million in compensation.
This debt was placed directly on Gerald. When he heard this news, he was clearly quite flustered!
Anyone, at his age, suddenly facing such a huge compensation lawsuit, could not possibly remain calm!
This was a million dollars!
In an era where the actual salary was only thirty-something to forty-something, a million meant they could never pay it off in their lifetime.
Seric’s lawyer even proposed the idea of “being able to talk.”
Valley City was too quiet. This news quickly made the front-page headline of the local news. Seric also mentioned in an interview that he greatly admired Gerald’s talent.
He stated that if Gerald and his friends were willing to apologize, and Gerald was willing to sign a work contract with the company.
Then he could apply to the company to terminate the lawsuit and compensation demands against Gerald.
Not only that, but they were also willing to build a series of movies around Gerald.
It seemed they had offered very good conditions. Even some onlookers could feel Triumphant Pictures’ determination to get Gerald.
This also made them all feel that this Triumphant Pictures was not bad. They were clearly the victims, but because they loved Gerald’s talent and gifts, they were actually willing to give up “revenge.”
For the people of the Federation, who had a spirit of free romanticism in their bones, this was very attractive!
Many of them didn’t know Gerald, but because of this, they began to have some interest in this big boy whose name they had only heard but had not seen in person.
What happened here not only had an impact in Valley City and Golden Port but also had a certain degree of impact on the entire film industry.
Some film production companies began to discuss a question—how to ensure that the company’s shooting plan can be carried out without being affected?
If gangs were involved, they might all face the same situation. Although some people shouted the slogan “keep gangs away from movies,” it didn’t seem to make too big of a wave…
Lance looked at the “Golden Port Today” in his hand, which mentioned this matter.
“I haven’t even asked them for compensation, and they’ve already taken us to court.” He said, then pondered for a moment, “For these people, we have to make them face reality.”
Hiram couldn’t help but get excited, “Time for action!”
Lance took out a map and casually drew three circles, “You guys assign your own tasks…”
At two o’clock in the afternoon, at the filming set of “Love Trap,” there were many security guards on site maintaining order. Seric felt that Lance might make a move on other film crews, so he had urgently hired a lot of security guards.
Some were hired locally, some were hired from out of town and then rushed over. They tried their best to avoid hiring security from Golden Port to avoid hiring people related to Lance.
The protection of so many security guards also made the crew members feel at ease. They chatted and laughed as they finished shooting a scene.
The director looked very satisfied. Their progress was very fast. If nothing unexpected happened, they could finish all the shooting in at most another week.
In fact, it wasn’t just that the first release in the entire industry would have an unshakable advantage; the first release within the company also had an unshakable advantage.
Just as he was considering how the next plot should proceed, he suddenly heard the sound of car tires screeching against the ground.
He turned his head to look. This section of the road was temporarily closed. City Hall had given them three days. No one should be driving in at this time.
Just as the director called his assistant over and told him to go and tell those people that they couldn’t stay here and to leave as soon as possible, people got out of the car.
They were all carrying baseball bats from the Sailing Team. Some locals showed expressions of dissatisfaction upon seeing this scene.
Because it was the Sailing Team that had eliminated the Valley City team last year!
The assistant braced himself and walked over, “You can’t park here!” He originally wanted to drive these people away and tell them to leave as soon as possible.
But for some reason, his mouth suddenly became disobedient and said something he hadn’t even thought of.
Hiram looked back at the three neatly parked cars, cursed, and swung his baseball bat. With a dull “thud,” the assistant fell down and went to sleep.
After a very brief silence, some female actresses screamed and fled into the distance, while the security guards on duty here all rushed over.
Hiram lifted his trench coat, revealing the submachine gun inside. In an instant, all the security guards’ movements stopped.
“Hands on your head, squat down slowly, let me see your hands, otherwise my bullets will have a talk with you!”
Facing a number of security guards far greater than their own, Hiram was not only not nervous or timid, but became even more arrogant.
He handed the baseball bat to the person next to him and aimed the submachine gun at the sky, pulling the trigger.
The sound of rat-tat-tat gunfire made the chaotic scene even more chaotic!
After a brief weighing of the pros and cons, all these security guards squatted down.
In fact, some of them had weapons, even handguns, but to risk their lives for so little money, it always felt a bit not worth it.
The security guards’ surrender directly plunged the crew members into despair, but the vast majority of them actually didn’t need to be afraid.
Lance was not the kind of person who was fond of killing, and these people were essentially innocent. As long as they didn’t do anything stupid, they wouldn’t get hurt and wouldn’t be in danger.
Lawn remembered Lance’s words well. He walked directly to a person who looked like a director and grabbed him by the collar, “Where’s the film?”
The director had never experienced such a situation. He swallowed, “It’s in the van over there, and part of it is in the hotel…”
Two minutes later, the director watched as the film that had been shot a few days ago and hadn’t had time to be sent back was pulled out, doused with gasoline, and devoured by raging flames.
All the results of this period of time turned to ashes at this moment. He knelt on the ground and let out a shrill scream—
“No!!”
The police came very quickly, perhaps this had something to do with the few cars on the roads of Valley City. The sound of woo-woo sirens was heard in just seven or eight minutes.
Hiram jumped up and stomped the camera lens until it was deformed, then grinned at these controlled people, “Tell your boss, this is just the beginning!”
He flicked his hair and spat on the ground, “You’ve caused trouble!”
He had heard Lance say that the producer had told them this. Now, he wanted to return this sentence to these people exactly as it was.
After speaking, he slung the submachine gun over his shoulder and swaggered into the car.
At this time, the police cars were only about twenty meters away from here. They also saw the three gangster vehicles and the submachine gun Gerald was carrying.
Even they themselves were still using revolvers, while these gangsters were already f—king using submachine guns. How were they supposed to catch them?
Hiram, as if in a show of force, stuck the submachine gun out of the car window and fired another burst of bullets into the sky.
The police cars that were originally accelerating suddenly stopped in their tracks. It wasn’t until they could no longer see the three cars that they drove over.
Several police officers straightened their uniforms, calmed their frantically beating hearts, and one of them asked with a straight face, “Who called the police?”
Being a cop is too damn dangerous!
In one afternoon, all three of Triumphant Pictures’ film crews were smashed. The film they had shot was destroyed, and some crew members were beaten—
There are always people who think they are the protagonist of this world. They want to do something to change the situation at the time, but they fail.
Fortunately, no one was killed, only some were beaten and injured.
In an instant, the pressure was back on Seric. He didn’t expect the bodyguards he hired to be so useless, nor did he expect that Lance’s group would dare to fire warning shots even in front of the police.
This group of people was too arrogant. Were they really… an ordinary gang?
For a time, the directors on the board of directors almost blew up his phone. The hundreds of thousands of dollars lost had not yet been recovered, and new losses had come.
This time, the total loss was at least another four or five hundred thousand. The film was only part of it; the main thing was that the filming equipment of these three crews had all been destroyed!
This was a large sum of money.
The directors who had remained silent on this matter before now began to argue. They seemed to have a lot of “foresight,” as if they had known all along that this would be the result.
But between the lines, their target of attack was not Lance’s group, but Seric.
They believed that Seric’s d—k had affected his brain. He was no longer suitable to continue serving as a director. Some even said that he should hand over his shares to atone for his sins!
The accusations and abuse from these people made him very unhappy. He directly hung up the phone and refused to answer any more calls.
He paced back and forth several times and then asked, “Do we know any local gangs?”
“Ask them how much it would cost to deal with Lance’s group.”
Previously, he didn’t plan to use these tricks because he didn’t want any stains on himself, just like Mr. Jobav.
He was unwilling to personally contact gangs because he didn’t want any stains on himself.
But now, Seric could no longer be bothered with these things.
His assistant quickly found some numbers through his superpowers and dialed them.
He kept making calls. Seric stood by the window smoking. He was fed up!
These damn gangs never played by the rules. The most crucial thing was that the company’s influence had not yet covered this area.
However, from the unpleasant expression on his assistant’s face, he knew that the idea of finding a local gang to help him take revenge also seemed to be unworkable.
When the last call was hung up, the assistant sighed, “No one is willing to take this job, even if the price we offer is very high.”
“The locals are heavily influenced by Golden Port. They say Lance is a member of the Pasoretto family. They are unwilling to make a move against Lance and his friends. It would offend a big shot.”
Seric began to pace back and forth irritably, “Call the mayor, call the councilmen, protest to them!”
“The investment environment here is too poor. We are actually being threatened by some gang members, and the police can’t protect us. This is simply a joke!”
There were several people in the room, all his trusted subordinates. Just as the producer was about to suggest something, the door was suddenly opened, from the outside.
They were all startled and stood up, watching the door being pushed open, watching Lance walk in from outside, “What joke were you just talking about?”
He walked straight to the sofa. The people who were originally sitting on the sofa, or standing by the sofa, were also pushed by others to stand in the corner.
Lance sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and jiggled his ankle, “Mr. Seric, can you tell me, what was the joke?”
“I also like to listen to jokes!”
Seric pursed his lips and looked at Lance. After about ten seconds, he finally said, “You are not welcome here.”
Lance looked at Ennio, “Get Mr. Seric a chair. I don’t like to talk to people with my head tilted up.”
Ennio dragged a chair from the side, placed it opposite Lance, and motioned for Seric to sit on it.
But the latter didn’t seem to want to cooperate, still standing there, looking at Lance with cold eyes.
Ennio walked to his side and punched him hard in the abdomen. In an instant, this Mr. Seric who insisted on standing bent over and was helped by Ennio to sit on the chair.
Perhaps truly realizing that these people in Lance’s group had no fear of social norms, Seric stopped talking.
He also tried his best to straighten his spine again, still with that impolite appearance, looking at Lance.
“Take the other ladies and gentlemen who have nothing to do with this matter to another room. We need to have a good talk with Mr. Seric.”
Hearing the news that they were “free,” the other people in the room breathed a sigh of relief. When Gerald’s producer also wanted to leave with them, he was stopped.
“You can’t leave.”
Seric was a little panicked at this time, but he didn’t show it, because Gerald was also here.
Just when he was not sure what was going to happen next, the male lead arrived…