King of Hollywood-Chapter 577 - 298: Lives Up to Its Reputation

Time quickly moved into August, and the production of "The Lord of the Rings" was still proceeding in an orderly fashion. After focused coverage last month and continuous authoritative news updates from AC Media, public enthusiasm for the movie had slightly died down. Although reporters still occasionally came to bother them, they didn’t stay for many days; after all, this place was on the southern hemisphere across the Pacific, and it was still winter there.

But the number of women visiting New Zealand in August had slightly decreased, with only Sarah and Naomi present. Rachel explicitly declined over the phone, but it was clear she had other ideas, which Adrian would surely satisfy. Then Nicole also declined; even though her divorce had been finalized months ago, and despite the past year’s persistent rumors of an affair with the Miracle Director—due to her role in "Eyes Wide Shut" and the ambiguous relationship with that young director and playboy that was always a hot topic with the public—overall, with Adrian’s support, her image was much better off than Cruise’s. Before everything was completely stabilized, she didn’t want to take any risks.

Adrian expressed understanding; now all Nicole had left was her career, and everything must make way for this goal. He was actually pleased to see her this way; there was no need to elaborate on why. The only regret was not being able to bring her and Naomi to bed together in New Zealand; he preserved those genuinely intimate scenes from "Mulholland Drive" and "Eyes Wide Shut" very well, and he often took them out to enjoy.

"I’m very satisfied, everyone, but soon we will have a new drama to produce, and when the time comes, I hope you can manage the schedule as brilliantly as now." Adrian still returned to Los Angeles every month; it was a routine, not only to soothe the two pregnant women but also because some work needed his personal attention, like the production of TV series.

"Let them send everything via email; I need to read it all in a short period, as the timeline is tight." After encouraging his employees and leaving the conference room, Adrian said this to his female secretary.

"The ’Six Feet Under’ crew had a computer issue yesterday, and all documents were lost; they can only provide printed texts," Charlize, who followed behind him flipping through her notebook, said.

"That’s fine, but tell them not to let this happen again, and make backups immediately after completion," Adrian nodded.

"Also, the script for the first season of ’Scrubs’ is finished; maybe you can skim through it when you find the time," Charlize added.

"Send it along with the others," Adrian continued nodding.

"One last thing," approaching the office door now visible just steps away, Charlize briskly flipped her notebook to the last page, "Crow has invited you to Phil’s Bar tonight."

"Did he mention why?" Adrian stopped in his tracks.

"A ’Victoria’s Secret’ celebration event," Charlize raised an eyebrow.

"He likes that kind of thing," Adrian sighed unnoticeably and then looked at Charlize, "Would you like to join me, Charli?"

"Not at all, someone piled me up with a ton of tasks; I might be busy until late tonight," Charlize spoke in a light tone, "Besides, it’s not like you can’t find someone else to go with you."

"That really hurts, Charli, and I haven’t assigned you that much work, have I?" Adrian asked half-jokingly.

"Sorting files, scheduling, making calls to related personnel, and personally visiting if I can’t reach them... If you’d like, I can stand here and go on for ten minutes," Charlize shrugged.

"Alright, alright, I get it," Adrian hurriedly raised his hands, and then looking around as many people were glancing over, he leaned in and kissed Charli on the cheek: "Let’s leave it at that."

Back in the office, he quickly turned on his computer and started working on various tasks. Aside from TV series that required heavy investment and were beautifully produced like "Dark Angel" and "Band of Brothers," most new series would start airing in August. Screenwriters began to pitch their scripts, and, with the Emmy Award nominations announced last month, a variety of public relations work was required, making the television production side very busy over this period.

However, Adrian didn’t need to manage everything personally. The group had developed well and was operating efficiently, whether it be the terrestrial or the cable networks, both were nearly leading in the industry.

Speaking of the terrestrial network, "Friends" needs no introduction. Since it was acquired from NBC, although it had been airing for four seasons and the audience had stabilized — possibly even diminishing — as the most popular television series, "Friends" absolutely deserved this title. When it previously aired on NBC, other networks would choose to avoid scheduling against "Friends," allowing NBC to dominate the prime time blocks and boosting viewership for their other shows.

Now that it had moved to ABC, the situation was similar, even NBC dared not clash directly with it, especially since Adrian had specifically asked the writers and producers to tweak the storyline, such as delaying Chandler and Monica’s quick marriage or making Joey’s "dumb charm" even more endearing. It was unfortunate that Dennis had already made a guest appearance before; otherwise, having him and his wife appear together as enemies would definitely have drawn considerable attention.

Besides "Friends," there were other TV shows and reality programs with solid ratings. "Survivor," after addressing mistakes from the first season, hit a viewership of 50 million by the end of its second season! It broke the record held by "Friends." Although subsequent reality shows became frequent and for various reasons, "Survivor" never reached such heights again, it was still an impressive achievement. No wonder some said that ABC could overtake NBC whenever they wished.

Yes, exactly. Although NBC had been extremely successful from the late ’80s to the mid-’90s, ABC under Adrian’s behind-the-scenes control was soaring. With a little more effort, overtaking them wouldn’t be difficult. However, for now, Adrian and Claude didn’t plan on doing so, and maintaining the status quo with NBC was sufficient.

It wasn’t that they lacked ambition. Frankly speaking, if Adrian wanted, he could make viewers watch AC Media’s channels every day of the peak season. He had many more assets to unveil. But what would be the result? All networks would band together to boycott them! Although it hadn’t reached that extent yet, Claude sensed some of the tension, and Adrian traditionally took his advice on these matters, hence the current situation.

However, ABC was just one of the five major national television networks in America (besides the Four Major Broadcast Companies, there was also the non-profit, non-commercial PBS), and now it was quite prominent — especially considering that ABC had been mostly operating at a loss over the past few years — pursuing an overly aggressive strategy would only draw hostility from other broadcasters.

Therefore, maintaining a neck-and-neck state was best. Not only that, but Adrian also planned to produce quality TV shows for allies for shared benefits, the show "Scrubs" was planned to be pitched to CBS. Since they were all produced by studios under Universal and AC Media, no slice of profit would be missing. Besides, such circumstances wouldn’t last forever. After the millennium, ABC was bound to be the leading national television network.

Moreover, while restraint was necessary for the terrestrial networks, cable networks didn’t need to hold back. In the late ’90s, the U.S. cable television had rapidly developed, and now was a time of intense competition. The primary profit strategy for cable was to attract more subscribers through outstanding TV shows, so naturally, the more high-quality content, the better.

After "Band of Brothers" aired, TNT had basically surpassed HBO as the most famous cable station, and Adrian didn’t mind pushing it to firmly hold that position. Warner was reportedly planning a collaboration between HBO and Disney Channel, so Adrian decided to release the show "Six Feet Under."

That was Adrian’s way of intervening; he didn’t need to visit all the studios or inquire about every detail. He only needed to participate in scriptwriting and establish a core team of writers around himself. It had long been said that television scriptwriters held a higher status than film scriptwriters because they often doubled as producers while writing. As long as he had a say in the scripts, he didn’t worry about the shows straying out of his control. Of course, he also granted the writers plenty of autonomy; many episodes of "Friends" did not coincide with his memory, yet they were very popular.

In fact, the team from Miracle Director had already become renowned in Hollywood. Adrian’s approach of setting a direction and letting it evolve had, after countless script revisions, produced many exceptional writers. Even those who had only been in the group for a short time and participated in a few scripts had benefited tremendously. Many writers hoped to join this group, and many pitched their scripts to companies like Universal, Bossworth, and Miramax, hoping to be discovered by Adrian.

"This is my unique advantage no one can replicate," Adrian said proudly as he dealt with the scripts and related matters for those television shows.

He wasn’t late for the evening event at Phil’s Bar. Victoria’s Secret was doing very well, and with Adrian occasionally providing advice from behind the scenes and collaborating closely with the soaring ABC, its reputation was now much higher than in its originally intended trajectory. Thus, after a recent fashion show, Claude organized this celebration. He was quite fond of these little festivities, but it never interfered with company affairs, so Adrian fully supported it.

Of course, going there alone, surrounded by models, was certainly not a good idea with his girlfriend.

"It’s rare indeed, knowing we seldom see you out alone these days," Claude chuckled as they sat down.

"So rare to see me? So you haven’t cared about me for a long time, Claude, very heartbreaking," Adrian said, picking up his glass and raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm... I specifically meant places like this, and besides, don’t you think that statement is a bit inappropriate?" Claude coughed lightly while Heidi Klum, who was standing next to him clutching his arm, covered her mouth and giggled.

"Inappropriate? Why? Can you point it out specifically?" Adrian shrugged in surprise, seeming truly puzzled.

"Alright, let’s drop it," Claude immediately raised his hand. "Look, there are so many girls here, just pick one at random, there’s sure to be someone suitable for you."

"Oh?" Adrian turned his head, scanned the bustling bar, the models from Victoria’s Secret, and the staff attending the event, some chatting at the bar, others dancing gracefully on the dance floor to the music.

Admiring those curvaceous figures, Adrian had to praise inwardly; fortunately, they were lingerie models, where certain figure standards were a necessity, unlike those overly thin fashion models that were somewhat nauseating just to look at.

"That one looks good." Since Claude had already said so, Adrian didn’t hold back and quickly pointed to a tall girl in the corner, laughing with friends, probably between the ages of 18 and 25, with long dark brown hair, and fairly nice features, charming when she laughed.

"Heidi," Claude immediately signaled to the woman next to him. Heidi then stood up: "Please wait a moment."

"You haven’t been with that girl, have you?" Adrian asked after withdrawing his gaze and waiting for Heidi to walk some distance away.

"No, she must have been recently invited for a show," Claude glanced that way and shook his head after a few looks.

"That’s good then," Adrian showed a content expression.

"But now I’m having some regrets; that girl looks quite charming," Claude suddenly said half-jokingly.

"She’s mine now," Adrian said unapologetically, and then laughed, recalling something, "I remember you and Heidi had a date a few years back; how come the old flame is rekindled now? You even brought her to Murdoch’s wedding. I remember you’re usually not one to touch someone after having played around, right?"

"People always change, Ed."

"Ha, she must be really good in bed right?"

"That’s all college stuff you’re talking about..."

"She must be really good!"

Listening to the question turn into a statement, Claude couldn’t resist rolling his eyes, "Alright, I admit she’s really great in bed, so reminiscing about old times isn’t such a bad idea. More importantly, my mom wants me to stop this behavior and find a suitable girl to marry soon. It would be even better if we could have a child within ten months. Oh, God, during that time I hardly dared visit their place; she turned the house into a marriage bureau."

"It’s quite normal; a young, accomplished single media mogul is hot property in high society—what about The Godfather’s opinion?" Adrian said, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Consent by silence," Claude spread his hands.

"Oh, that’s bad," Adrian tsked and sighed, "So you figured you might as well keep dating Heidi for a long time to avoid the issue, especially since she’s also great in bed."

"Bingo!" Claude snapped his fingers, "We still have so much of life to enjoy, why get tied down by marriage so early."

"Yeah, Victoria’s Secret is essentially your brainchild, right?" Adrian said with an elongated, meaningful smile. "Maybe you can also try having kids out of wedlock; I think your mother wouldn’t mind."

"Not mind?" Claude tugged at the corner of his mouth, "Of course she wouldn’t, because my dad would skin me alive first."

At this, he suddenly became serious, "Ed, I want to remind you, some things can be playful, but don’t go too overboard. No matter how many times Cindy Crawford has slept with you in the past, she’s married now."

Adrian raised an eyebrow, then nodded in response, "I’ll be careful."

Cindy Crawford got married last year. The guy, named Randy Goble, runs a modeling agency along with some bars and high-end clubs; he belongs to a fairly wealthy class, though probably not much wealthier than Crawford. Thanks to Adrian, Crawford had shot up in fortune, starring in ’Sex and the City’ and serving as a judge on ANTM.

However, it was said that the guy pursued her passionately, so they ended up getting married at the end of last year. Then last month, when Adrian returned from New Zealand, he attended a party where he met Crawford for the first time, and after talking briefly, they went to the bathroom one after the other. Despite Goble being different from Cruise, Adrian still didn’t take him seriously. You see, an hour before their wedding, he was fooling around with Crawford, already in her wedding dress, in some room. When the priest announced them as husband and wife in the church, the insides of those long legs under the wedding dress probably still had some things that weren’t wiped clean.

Okay, that was probably too much, but why would Crawford indulge like that if she wasn’t truly into him? Most likely, she just wanted to play with something more thrilling. However, since Claude had said this much, Adrian naturally didn’t intend to take it lightly, especially as it was just a friendly match with that woman.

"Let me introduce, this is Alexander Ambrosio," Heidi came back at this moment, followed by the girl she had in mind, "Eller, I won’t introduce this gentleman, since you’ve already met Mr. Claude, and this gentleman..."

"The famed Miracle Director, it’s truly an honor," she extended her hand boldly, still with a charming smile, revealing not a hint of timidity or any other emotion.

"It’s nice to meet you, Miss Ambrosio," Adrian smiled, stood up, and shook her hand, then gallantly made a welcoming gesture. Then he began to quickly jog his memory, Alexander Ambrosio? Seems like I’ve heard that name before, but was it in a past life or this one?

"Thank you, you can call me Alexander or Eller, Ed," Alexander took a seat, casually crossed her legs, and gently brushed aside her hair by the ears, looking very sexy and tempting. Clearly, she knew why she was called over, and she wasn’t going to let this chance slip by.

Thanks to his freakish memory, as long as there was enough stimulation, even information glimpsed in passing could be recalled, not to mention Adrian was technically searching through his memories, so he quickly found the corresponding memory,

"You are truly captivating, Eller. They say Brazil is a breeding ground for supermodels, and it’s obviously well-deserved," he said with a smile. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, we welcome you to vote at qidian.com; your support is my greatest motivation.)

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