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Pat*eon : Belamy20
Pat*eon : ilham20
Wiz Khalifa's eyeballs rolled chaotically in their sockets, lost in fantasy and unable to extricate himself.
He relied on drugs to maintain inspiration, and the only time he could escape from them in a day was when he was sleeping.
Even in the hip-hop circle where drug addicts are the norm, he could be called a "Breaking Bad" level existence.
American prison culture is an important source of creative inspiration for Hollywood. Historically famous films like Papillon, The Shawshank Redemption, The Hole, and the phenomenal hit series Prison Break are outstanding examples of this genre.
Alcatraz, which once imprisoned Al Capone, is the public's ultimate fantasy of crime and mystery.
But Alcatraz is long gone. Now, Pelican Bay State Prison in northwestern California is the concentration camp for felons.
If GTA: San Andreas is used as a reference, reaching a three-star wanted level is just the threshold for entering here.
Most of those imprisoned here are the highest-risk gang thugs and notorious serial killers...
Serving a sentence here is more like gilding the lily for criminals, becoming a symbol of status. But to graduate from this university of crime, one would have to at least survive until after 60.
"I understand why you can reach your current height, Bro!" Wiz screamed excitedly. "Shooting an MV in the middle of a group of perverted lunatics... thugs like El Chapo and Al Capone. No one has ever thought of doing this before!"
"This is called craftsmanship," Leon grinned.
"Pelican Bay is the highest security maximum-security prison in the US. Getting permission to shoot in this place will be very difficult." Max also got energized, asking Wiz for a mysterious cigarette.
"It's not complicated at all. I can donate some money to the prison, build a library for them or something." Leon spread his hands. "This is America; nothing can't be solved with money."
In a highly capitalist world, nothing cannot be privatized.
More than half of the prisons in California are private prisons. Arizona is even more frantic; the state government is considering putting prison operation rights up for public bidding.
If implemented, it will become the first state in the US to fully privatize prisons.
"Sht, if this really gets done, the visual impact of the MV will definitely not lose to Billy." Wiz clicked his tongue in praise.
Drugs couldn't help him break through the limits of imagination.
Leon established his image as a street villain through a series of street conflicts and the big shot styling in the Billy MV. Although those participating in this MV were all serious die-hard gang members, no one dared to call themselves a tough guy in front of the lunatics and antisocial serial killers in Pelican Bay Prison.
Although California still retains the death penalty, very few criminals are actually sentenced to death, and even fewer are actually executed.
But in Pelican Bay Prison, there are more than twenty felons just waiting for execution. This is already a staggering number.
Three days later, at 2 pm, Leon called Sean to the Apocalypse Music office.
Elvis Presley's classic work Jailhouse Rock was playing on the vinyl record player.
Just this morning, Bonnie contacted the management of Pelican Bay Prison. Upon hearing about the $50,000 donation, the prison side agreed without thinking.
But the premise was to obtain permission from the California Department of Justice.
The prison side proposed that whatever unexpected situation Leon and his team encountered in the prison had nothing to do with the prison side, equivalent to a disclaimer.
"Dre will come to New York the day after tomorrow. He only has one day for us. You have to ensure that the program recording goes without any hitch." Leon took a sip of coffee and instructed Sean.
"Don't worry, I will create the most perfect stage effect for you and Dre. I invited the New York City Street Dance Crew to dance for you!" Sean said.
According to the program setting, six flying mentors will join the show before the live broadcast of the finals to maximize the heat of the finals.
The finals will be held at Yankee Stadium in New York, with specifications no less than Taylor's concert.
Lion's Den Media expects to invest no less than $10 million for this.
To save recording costs before the finals, Leon thought about it and decided to personally serve as the sixth flying mentor in the show.
Performing the West Coast hip-hop bible Still D.R.E. together with Dre.
"Very good." Leon snapped his fingers and shouted, "Bonnie!"
Bonnie pushed the door open and came in, holding a pile of documents. "What's wrong, boss?"
"Any news from Z100 radio station?" Leon asked.
There was over $100 million in cash lying in the company account. Before the filming of Ready Player One started, this money was just dead money.
These days, Leon had been inquiring about suitable investment channels. Through a real estate agent, he set his sights on a mansion in Beverly Hills. This house belonged to action superstar Vin Diesel.
Covering an area of more than 35,000 square feet, with an independent swimming pool, tennis court, and private gym. The surrounding neighbors are all big shots famous in Hollywood, Twilight series heroine Stewart, Friends star Aniston, ghost talent director Quentin Tarantino...
It takes only ten minutes to walk to Taylor's house.
The price tag is only $15 million, $3 million lower than when Vin Diesel bought it before the financial crisis.
Considering that the frequency of going to Los Angeles will be very high in the future, Leon was very moved by this house.
Besides that, he had a bigger goal. He set his sights on Z100, the top brand of New York pop music radio stations.
Z100 is the hottest music radio station in the New York market, especially ranking first in listenership among female listeners aged 18-24 and 25-34.
It mainly plays pop music and is one of the flagship radio stations of iHeartMedia.
In the latest issue of Vibe magazine, he asked Sean to reserve a page to release the news that he wanted to acquire Z100 radio station and the news-focused American Victory Radio, in order to test iHeartMedia's reaction.
In the first day, iHeartMedia did not respond, but the tabloids climaxed first.
They speculated one after another how much money Leon had made from the show The Rap of America, and even spread the outrageous rumor that Netflix paid $100 million for it.
Titles such as "Next Michael Jackson" and "Music Industry Jordan" were put on his head, and the media bragged about his investment ability.
"iHeartMedia gave a quote, but I think they just want to tease you and don't really want to sell at all." Bonnie sighed.
Sean couldn't hide his excitement, lasers in his eyes.
If they could take down a top radio station like Z100 with tens of millions of listeners, Lion's Den Media would achieve a qualitative leap, completely breaking away from the scope of petty fights.
"How much?" Leon said calmly, as if discussing the weather.
"One hundred million dollars." Bonnie gritted her teeth.
"What? Are these bastards crazy? What do they think Z100 radio station is? The New York Times?" Sean's eyeballs almost fell to the ground, completely unprepared for this terrifying number.
"About the same as I thought." Leon grinned, as if he had expected all this long ago. "That's iHeartMedia's cash cow; they won't let go easily."
Before getting into this industry, Leon never thought the gold-absorbing ability of the radio industry would be so strong.
Just for Apocalypse Music, the cost of promoting songs on Z100 radio station is no less than $200,000 a year, and Apocalypse Music only has three artists at most.
Imagine industry giants like Columbia Records; the promotional fees paid to Z100 radio station annually would not be less than one million dollars.
"This is simply outrageous. Don't they understand that the radio industry has no future?" Sean pinched his throat, his tone rather disdainful. "This industry is rotten to the core. Internet music platforms will drown them like a tide, sleeping forever in the cold North Atlantic like the Titanic."
Leon picked up the coffee and took a sip. "In New York in 2011, radio is still the lifeblood of music. No matter how the internet develops, it hasn't completely stolen its thunder yet. Z100 can let me control the playlist, push my artists, and even intervene in ad revenue sharing. As long as people are still driving cars and the calculation method of Billboard rankings hasn't changed, radio won't be eliminated."
Bonnie sighed, shook her hips, and turned to leave. "Okay, you are the boss. But iHeartMedia's boss Bob is not a kind person; he will bite a piece of meat off you."
"As long as he is willing to sell, I don't mind letting him feel he earned it." Leon shrugged. "Listen, we must have our own media mouthpiece. This is essential. People are only willing to believe what they want to believe. Whether music fans or ordinary people, what they believe depends entirely on what the media instills in them."
Leon briefly explained the promotional plan for the The Rap of America finals and let Sean leave the office.
Standing up from the swivel chair to stretch his body, he lay on the ground and did push-ups out of boredom.
"Forty-eight..."
"Forty-nine..."
"Fifty..."
"FXXK, the improvement is so obvious? No wonder those athletes always say abstinence is very important." Leon stood up and adjusted his breathing rate.
Since parting with Taylor in Los Angeles, he had been abstinent for almost a whole week, and his physical fitness improved visibly.
Although he always had the habit of fitness, in the past, 30 standard narrow-grip push-ups at a time were his limit.
"No wonder Vanessa has so many complaints about Kobe."
Recent hot news in the sports world was very popular, even occupying the front page of the entertainment section for a time.
Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa was about to file for divorce in court, citing inability to overcome the impact of the sexual assault case.
But in the interview program, Vanessa revealed more divorce details, pointing directly at Kobe for neglecting the family for his career all year round and ignoring her feelings as a wife.
This passage was very implicit, but thinking about it, everyone could understand.
Vanessa is 29 years old this year, with a hot figure and exquisite face, still in the time when a woman's vitality is most vigorous.
There is no lack of admirers in the NBA league either.
But her husband frequently neglects her in order to maintain a top competitive level.
"Have you seen the sun in Los Angeles at 4 am?"
This sentence is regarded as a classic inspirational quote by countless people, but for Vanessa, it is a curse.
At 4 am, she was still wearing sexy lace lingerie, but her husband unhesitatingly chose another kind of ball game.
At this time, Leon's phone rang. The caller was Jeff.
"We succeeded. I persuaded the board. They agreed to sell Ready Player One at a price you absolutely can't imagine."
Jeff's pitch was high, but Leon didn't find it ear-piercing at all.
He had expected this result in advance. In the industrialized film world, only pragmatic companies can survive. Only fools would hold a novel no one dares to shoot as a golden nugget.
In the film industry, only graves covered with flowers are left for idealists.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Jeff." Leon curved the corners of his mouth and asked in a low voice, "I want to hear that beautiful number."
Jeff kept him in suspense and talked about other topics. "Heard you are preparing to acquire Z100 radio station?"
"That's right." Leon didn't hide it. He had spread this matter through VIBE long ago; the more people knew, the better.
"That's really a big move. Although I don't know much about the music industry, I also know Z100 is the benchmark for music radio stations." Jeff's swallowing sound on the other end of the phone was clearly audible. "You guy are willing to spend so much money on a radio station, yet stingy as hell on the copyright issue of Ready Player One."
"I have my own value measurement standards." Leon said, "Please tell me that surprising number quickly!"
Jeff dawdled for a while, making his heart itch, and finally gave the figure of $3 million.
This price met his psychological expectations. Warner spent $2 million when buying this novel. Now catching up with the IP adaptation boom in the film industry, a $1 million premium is completely acceptable.
But this transaction is conditional. Warner Bros. requires that the production budget of the Ready Player One movie cannot be lower than $100 million, which will be written into the contract.
Leon had no objection to this. Even with cost control master James Wan behind the camera, the budget for this movie involving multiple cutting-edge shooting technologies cannot be lower than $100 million.
"Find time to come to Los Angeles. Are you free next week?" Jeff said, "Let's sign the copyright transfer agreement. Then we can have a good talk about the movie shooting issues. Once the script, shooting team, and actors are finalized, I can approve the project application at any time."
"No problem."
The two exchanged many views on movie shooting ideas. Although there were still many differences on the director and leading actor issues, the conversation was quite pleasant.
Most of the time, Leon could persuade the other party.
Chatting along, Jeff changed the subject and asked: "Do you really plan to acquire Z100 radio station? Or is it just a smoke bomb released?"
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
"This really doesn't look like your idea. Did some stupid investment advisor give you the idea?"
"No, I am indeed very interested in this radio station." Although many people are not optimistic about this deal, Leon thinks it is very necessary.
After getting Z100 radio station, Lion's Den Media will monopolize more than half of the music radio stations in New York. He can do whatever he wants to give traffic to his own singers and suppress competitors.
"I have dealt with iHeartMedia. Bob is a greedy and stubborn bastard." Jeff said, "Even though iHeartMedia has been in a loss state, Bob doesn't understand streaming at all... But Z100 is their core business. If you can't offer a price they can't refuse, this deal won't have a result."
"I understand this." Leon's psychological expectation is between $50 million and $60 million. Exceeding this range is not within his consideration.
"If you want to develop in the media industry, I advise you to set your sights on those Silicon Valley geeks. Think about Zuckerberg... That geek gained a net worth of $13 billion with a pile of code! Can you believe it?"
"Oh? What other ideas do you have?" Leon wasn't very interested. Jeff looked like a lobbyist for a Silicon Valley startup.
He receives harassment calls from self-proclaimed investment advisors every day, using various tactics to induce him to invest in some obscure apps.
Since Jobs released the classic model iPhone 3GS, Silicon Valley startups have sprung up one after another.
Now, thousands of apps are added to the App Store every day, many from small workshop teams of less than five people.
An inconspicuous app might create hundreds of millions of dollars in wealth, or even make it to the bell-ringing scene at NASDAQ.
But the vast majority of apps will die quickly after raising a round of investment. Nevertheless, investors are still tireless under the temptation of high returns.
Silicon Valley has become a huge casino.
"I have a good friend in Silicon Valley, Reid Hoffman. Maybe you have seen this name in Fortune magazine or Silicon Valley magazine." Jeff said.
"I seem to have a little impression..." Leon's impression of Reid's name comes from the tech madman Elon Musk who has been very hot recently.
This cyberpunk madman who is busy building rockets and clamoring to send humans to Mars is also very popular in the entertainment circle. People use him as a topic of conversation after meals.
Elon Musk's first successful venture overturned the way humans pay.
In 2000, he and Peter Thiel founded an electronic payment software called PayPal.
Reid Hoffman participated in the investment of PayPal relying on his good personal relationship with Peter Thiel. This investment made him a lot of money and instantly became a well-known investor in Silicon Valley.
"I want to introduce this guy to you properly." Jeff's laughter pitch got higher and higher. "Reid gave me a lot of investment advice, and every time let me make big money. Although he may be the fattest guy you have ever seen, trust me, his brain is fatter than his body, and his sense of smell is more accurate than Buffett!"
"Recently, he is investing in potential social software. There are more than forty social apps in his vision. As long as he bets on one, maybe he can become the next Zuckerberg..."
"This sounds good." Leon said so on the surface, but thought in his heart: With such a big money-making opportunity, why would Reid as a shrewd investor tell you for no reason?