America 1982-Chapter 445 - 69: Born Aristocrat

Tommy had never heard anyone question Rick Russo’s sincerity before. Although this guy, who always sported red hair and liked to wear flashy floral shirts, looked like the sleaziest white drug dealer commonly found on California beaches, in fact, Rick was very sincere toward people. This wasn’t Tommy boasting but a recognition he received from many in the industry.

Following the success of BT’s original programming, many other TV network producers or production company executives, just like little Turner, would visit BT Entertainment or invite Rick to tour their company, exchanging work methods and expanding their networks.

Rick dealt with these people with one word, sincerity.

He would never engage in insincere flattery but would rather share his thoughts on program production fully and honestly.

He wouldn’t hide his work history in San Fernando, nor shy away from the fact that each time he developed a new program, he habitually started from catering to the voyeuristic desires of the audience and providing visual pleasure, two vulgar aspects utterly irrelevant to the art of television.

But peers rarely learned anything useful from Rick’s earnest teachings, as they all had their aspirations for television art, whereas Rick Russo had thought from the day he started working with Tommy that the reality shows he produced were no different from the adult films he used to shoot in San Fernando. Artistry, watchability, depth, levels - all that was shit. Giving the audience a sense of satisfaction after watching was his only pursuit.

Even if those colleagues couldn’t learn Rick’s unique tricks, they understood that Rick’s attitude towards people was very sincere. Perhaps their failure to learn was a matter of talent and personal artistic pursuit.

Now, Rick said to Tommy that little Turner was questioning the sincerity of Mr. Rick Russo, the same one he held in high regard and who could help advertisers squeeze oil from a large number of lower-class Black folks?

Tommy immediately stood up and walked towards the meeting room. The boss must understand something about treating good employees, that is, if you need your subordinates to help you make money, then you need to stand up for them.

And it was the old guy who sought out his father-in-law’s friend to initiate the cooperation, not like BT Entertainment had no work to do. No matter how big of a tycoon in film and TV you are, you can’t be so self-righteous when you come seeking cooperation, can you?

The hereditary redneck of the Democratic Party is prestigious? If Tommy gets irritated, one phone call would bring over a bunch of die-hard Republican rednecks from Warwick’s countryside where his own father is from, to discuss their differing views on environmental protection, racial equality, and nuclear deterrence.

Seeing Tommy return to the room, Turner’s face still showed anger. Without waiting for Tommy to sit down, he blurted out, "Tommy, your subordinate is the complete opposite of you, he’s somewhat two-faced."

"What my subordinate said is exactly opposite to what you’re saying, Mr. Turner. He said you’re somewhat asking for a beating," Tommy said directly as he pulled a chair next to little Turner, turned his body to face the older man, rested his forearm on the table, and stared at him.

Turner glanced at Rick Russo in the distance and looked at Tommy: "Do I look like the kind of guy who would fly all the way from New York to Los Angeles to find someone to beat me up?"

"You want to have a chat with my best producer, and Rick Russo is the top producer at BT. He’s pushed aside other work arrangements and has especially cleared out two hours to chat with you. Do you think that’s hypocritical? Everyone knows you have a bad temper, Mr. Turner, I’ve heard about it of course, but if you think because of your bad temper, everyone should respect and fear you, you’ve come to the wrong place." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Do you think I’m maligning him?" Noticing that Tommy seemed genuinely angry, Turner was taken aback: "Do you think I would demean the very person I sincerely came to visit and seek advice from? Even the most foolish understand to respect the wise who can help them; and this slick fellow, is just a phony."

"The dean of Brown University, the one who caught you with a female classmate in the dormitory, must also be a wise man, but I heard he didn’t end up too well that day because he interrupted your fun, and that wise dean got a mouthful of insults filthier than the jokes German women heard when welcoming the United States Military. And you even tried to rub some stains into his mouth, making a fifty-six-year-old man taste the flavor of youth," Tommy unabashedly recounted Turner’s bold stint from his youth:

"From this, it seems the respect you show the wise is something ordinary people can’t understand."

Herbert Siegel had already warned him about Turner’s temperament; if you’re upset with him, just confront him. The old guy would apologize if he realized the error was his or would spit back if the problem was with someone else—a pretty adorable and straightforward old man.

Once, a reporter asked Turner why he only retained the film library rights to MGM and not the entire MGM movie studio, Turner stared at the reporter for several seconds: "For the same reason, you can only marry one wife, poverty."

What Tommy said just now recounted Turner’s legendary experience at Brown University when he skipped class to sleep with a girl in the dorm and got caught by the school right in bed. If it had been a dorm manager, the problem might not be so bad, but that day he happened to encounter the dean. Moreover, faced with the dean’s attempts to intervene, Turner was unafraid and boasted that he would let the old guy, who was probably impotent for years, taste the flavor of youth.

The only student who got kicked out of Brown University for sleeping with a girl in the dorm was little Turner.

It wasn’t until he later became a billionaire, and after outliving the dean who expelled him donated a hefty sum to the school, that they awarded him his long-overdue degree and annulled his expulsion.

The old geezer nearly had a heart attack on the spot when Tommy hit him with those words, choking on his breath for quite some time before he could catch it again, his face flushed with rage, almost slamming his hand down and storming off in anger.

But considering his pay-per-view variety channel had to lower its monthly subscription fee from 20 cents to 10 cents and was still losing subscribers, Turner thought it necessary to explain why he found the red-haired kid so phony:

"I asked him about reality shows, and he recommended that I watch some adult movies, insisting I could find the answers in them. I told him in my life I’ve probably slept with more women than the male stars have movies, I have a wealth of practical experience, I enjoy talking about topics related to beauties but not now. I want to understand American reality shows, something with depth, substance, and which viewers are willing to pay for, you know what he told me? He said he was powerless, he didn’t know how to make that kind of reality show. You could’ve just told me directly that it involves some damn trade secrets so you can’t divulge anything, but you can’t just brush me off like that. Neither can I, powerless, sorry, the door is over there."

"Uh... I can assure you, he wasn’t lying," Tommy interjected after hearing the irate old man Turner’s rant.

Tommy gestured for Rick to get back to work and turned to explain to little Turner, "There’s been a misunderstanding. Rick isn’t like those TV folks you’ve dealt with before. He doesn’t think about things like substance and depth. His primary concern when making a show is how to tone it down to avoid being targeted by the FCC for suspension. I apologize for bringing up your college years earlier, I feel terrible about it, and to make amends for the hurt you’ve suffered, I’m willing to donate a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of food to those American bison you want to preserve."

Turner was already moving on to the next topic: "I’ve heard that Fox is preparing a reality show about high society for their pay-per-view channel, inspired by the popular ’Counterfeit Heiress’ on BT Network and CBS’s hit drama ’Feuds of the Rich’."

"The women in your life are just passing clouds; it’s Murdoch who is your true love, Mr. Turner," Tommy said weakly, hand to his forehead.

Ever since the incident in Australia where Murdoch deliberately capsized his yacht in the race, the old man seemed slightly obsessed with teaching Murdoch a lesson and getting even. First, he challenged Murdoch to a boxing match in Las Vegas through a press conference, which Murdoch ignored. Then he started producing programs to compete with any standout shows made by Murdoch’s Fox.

After such a lengthy battle, the consensus was that Murdoch was unmoved, while Turner was off his rocker.

It looked like he wasn’t giving up yet; maybe he felt his production team was a bit lacking, so this time he sought help from BT Entertainment as reinforcement.

"’Born Aristocrat,’ catering to people’s curiosity about high society, follows the young heirs of five elite families, peering into the transformative fates of their grand households, touted as a real-life version of ’Feuds of the Rich’."

The audience of cable pay channels is entirely different from that of a TV network like BT. These more sophisticated, voyeuristic reality shows do indeed manage to get a slightly higher-tier audience to willingly part with their money to subscribe. And, according to Turner, Fox is seriously investing in this pay-per-view reality show, with all five families being real, including senators, billionaires, socialites, and so on; these are not people you can simply hire for a fee.

If Tommy remembered correctly, in his past life, he had indeed seen a similar pay-per-view channel reality show, but wasn’t sure if it was produced by Fox, nor could he recall which season, but it felt very well made. It definitely had scripted elements, but not too many, a mix of real and fake elite family scheming.

"People indeed like to peer into the lives of the rich, shrouded in mystery because they’ve never experienced it themselves – it’s undoubtedly captivating. But I was just considering another question: how do I become a wealthy person?" Tommy sat silently next to little Turner for quite a while before speaking up, "I have an idea, but I don’t think Rick’s team can do it. They’re not good at this sort of thing. I can introduce you to someone who can, and who’d definitely be interested in doing it."

"One of the film industry’s top elites?" Turner asked skeptically.

As far as he knew, right now, in the niche of reality shows, BT Entertainment was the most well-known. If recruiters hadn’t failed to poach Rick Russo, he wouldn’t be sitting here reminiscing about his disgraceful college days with someone younger than his son.

"A unquestionable industry elite, let me put it this way; sixty percent of the female stars in Hollywood have worked with him," Tommy said, looking seriously at Turner:

"The boss, producer, director, and screenwriter of Heaven Productions, Stephen Binns."