America 1982

After listening to Tommy's words, Wolfe's facial muscles became a little uncontrollable and twisted. He opened his hands and moved his eyes from Tommy to Sophia's face, hoping that Sophia could translate for him:

What does it mean to bypass BT TV station and prepare a brand new TV network?

"I'm sorry that I can't help you, Wolf, Tommy... No one knows the structure of Tommy's brain and what's going on in it, not even me." Sophia shrugged apologetically and said to Wolf.

"I misunderstood the meaning of that sentence, right?" Wolfe reluctantly digested Tommy's words again, then showed a clear expression and laughed somewhat self-deprecatingly: "Actually, Tommy , you want to say, launch a second channel, the second channel of BT TV network, right?"

"No, it's a separate, another existence that has nothing to do with the BT TV network, and it's a cable news network." Tommy looked at Wolfe again and explained.

Wolfe opened his mouth. Although no sound came out, Sophia and Tommy could tell from the shape of his mouth that Wolfe probably wanted to say WTF.

"A TV network that needs to rent satellites and then make profits through subscriber payments? And it's a TV news network?" Wolfe looked at Tommy in confusion, and these doubts popped out of his mouth uncertainly.

"Yes." Tommy nodded: "That's it."

"Tommy, you can find the value of your life by setting up a TV station, but there is no need to burn the money on fire. In other words, investing in the establishment of a satellite TV news network is not as good as burning the money on fire, at least it is that frivolous Can appreciate the visual beauty brought by fireworks." Wolfe exhaled:

"Who gave you this idea? Earl Rush? I'm about to talk to him! I can't watch him use all kinds of bad investment schemes to make away with my friends' hard-earned money!"

Wolfe was really angry. In his opinion, this was definitely someone deceiving Tommy, trying to get Tommy to invest his money, and then trying to find ways to take Tommy's money away in various ways of losing money. The most likely possibility , that is Earl Rush, the CEO of BT TV station, that damn black lawyer.

Tommy immediately explained: "No, it has nothing to do with Earl, it was my idea. Wolfe has nothing to do with anyone else. The experience of founding BT made me understand what is really lacking in the television industry, and it also made me realize I realized that my previous ideas were one-sided and inadequate, and now I finally know what to do to prove my worth.”

"What do you think you should do?" Wolfe suppressed his anger and asked Tommy.

"Witness." Tommy said to him with a bright smile.

Wolfe was slightly startled: "Witness?"

“That’s right, sending all the major moments in the world’s future into the living rooms of Americans through satellites. They may not be able to personally experience those important moments that changed history but are thousands of miles away, but I can let them sit on their sofas at home. Witness it with your own eyes." Tommy expressed his thoughts in an almost pious tone.

This sentence made Wolff confirm that the current vulgar style of BT TV station has absolutely nothing to do with Tommy, and must be caused by Earl Rush, the mercenary lawyer.

This was the Tommy Hawke he knew. Just like back then, this young man had clearly invited himself to join BT and create a TV station needed by the black community, so that black people could improve themselves and change themselves through BT's programs. , thereby reversing the stereotype of black people.

"Uh... Frankly speaking, at a certain moment after you said that sentence, I had the idea of ​​coming back." Wolfe was moved and smiled at Tommy and said:

"Your dream is great, but the investment is staggering. It is not a traditional television network like BT, and it is not a traditional television industry. In the entire United States, there is only one cable news network, CNN. It has been on the air for eight years. Its founder Turner has been going crazy in the past two years. Selling off assets and looking for investment. You have to know that three years ago, he had the ambition to acquire MGM with 1.5 billion. In just three years, he split up MGM and sold it at a low price of 1 billion, leaving only The film library used the film library to establish the TNT movie channel, trying to make money through paid movie channels to maintain its own cable TV network. In the past eight years, CNN has made it clear to all TV people that news does not make money, on the contrary, it consumes a lot of money. If Turner Jr.'s advertising business and several sports teams were not still profitable, and he had not completely defeated Murdoch, he would have shut down CNN long ago."

"What's the conflict between him and Murdoch?" Tommy asked curiously after hearing Wolfe's words.

He knew that the bosses of the three major TV networks all hated Murdoch. How much did they hate him? At the FCC's meeting of television industry practitioners in Washington, as the oldest television network in the United States, Grant Tick, the president of NBC Television Network, walked up to the rostrum in public and patted the American flag and the three major major broadcasters on the wall of the rostrum. The TV network's program schedule spoke without any emotion to the FOX people sitting in the audience:

"I, and we, will not prevent the emergence of the fourth TV network in this land. With the development of the times and the needs of the audience, its birth will be a matter of time, but we believe that it will never rely on peddling lies. , the one started by Australians who make a living from porn.”

The reason why the three major television networks have such hatred for FOX and Murdoch is not because Murdoch poached a large number of elite talents from the three major television networks at high prices. For the three major television networks, poaching talents from each other is very difficult. Normally, if the other party gives you higher remuneration, then it is very normal for your subordinates to resign.

The real reason is that this bastard from Australia did not follow the rules. While establishing the FOX television network, he acquired the 21st Century Fox Film Company. This made Murdoch's identity, in addition to being a TV person, also a movie star. Man, before the TV network even started broadcasting, Murdoch's 21st Century Fox Film Company joined forces with other major movie companies to arrange lobbying companies to pass a restrictive bill for TV movies in Congress. This is what makes the three major TV networks hate it. the key of.

TV movies are movies that are shot by the TV network itself and will only be played on their own TV network. They will not be shown in movie theaters. The main reason why such TV movies are made is that the TV network does not want to buy a movie company at a high price in order to save costs. movies, because often this kind of movie buying business is a packaging behavior.

For example, if a TV network wants to buy the rights to broadcast "Jaws" on TV, then it is not that "Jaws" has a high box office and the TV network can buy it at a high price and then show it on its own TV station; When you buy this popular movie, you have to spend a lot of money to buy dozens of bad movies at the same time, so that the movie company will sell them to you.

Murdoch showed favor to the Republican Party and joined forces with film companies to lobby Congress, and finally the U.S. Congress successfully passed the relevant restriction bill. Therefore, the restriction bill announced that in order to allow people to continue to enter cinemas to enjoy film art, the film industry would not decline, and the film industry Those who do not face the risk of unemployment will not face the risk of unemployment. After the bill takes effect, major television networks and television stations will need to apply for a license to shoot TV movies, and the number of licenses is limited each year, depending on the shooting plans of major Hollywood film companies.

In other words, the three major TV networks were plotted by Murdoch before FOX started broadcasting, allowing the film industry to successfully seize the opportunity again.

Murdoch's own FOX television network does not worry about licenses because he bought the 21st Century Fox Film Company in advance and has a library of thousands of movies.

As we all know, the American television industry has been cheated many times by the film industry. The two sides have been fighting each other for many years over the issue of letting the American people spend their money on TV fees or movie tickets. As a result, this Australian Jew colluded with the film industry to The television industry has set up another set of obstacles. The three major television networks are eager to buy an atomic bomb and completely wipe out the FOX TV headquarters building in the United States.

However, Ted Turner also had a grudge against Murdoch. This was the first time Tommy had heard of it, because strictly speaking, Ted's CNN did not compete with the three major television networks, including FOX. Those television networks It's free, and his CNN is a paid cable channel, so there's no overlap at all.

"Murdoch is a stingy guy who can't afford to lose. Turner likes sailing, and so does Murdoch. The two sides competed in a sailing competition in Australia. When the boats sponsored by the two started to compete, the boat sponsored by Turner was always in the lead. That was Australia, Murdoch's territory, so another sailboat sponsored by Murdoch that had no chance of winning suddenly collided with Turner's boat, causing Turner's boat to run aground directly and withdraw from the competition. At the subsequent post-match banquet , Turner directly poured a glass of red wine on Murdoch. If the bodyguards on both sides hadn't pulled the two away, Turner might have broken Murdoch's spine with a back throw. He is an American wrestling fan." Wolfe told Tommy introduced the conflict between the two.

"This game sounds really sportsmanlike and gentlemanly." Tommy responded with a smile.

Wolfe sighed, changed the subject again, and said seriously to Tommy: "The point is, even the rich Turner can no longer support the losses of cable paid news networks like CNN, Tommy."

"Loss is not your concern, Wolf. I don't like to let money taint it when we talk about dreams." Tommy stopped Wolf's dissuasion in an understatement, and instead continued to describe his dream:

"The three major TV networks have almost cut off all overseas correspondent stations. Today's way of obtaining international news is to purchase news image materials from major news agencies. What the three major TV networks buy are the same photos or videos, but News anchors and commentators are just different. What does this mean? It means that there is no TV station in the United States that can truly report important news in a timely manner. Moreover, the news purchased by the three major TV networks determines what the American audience knows about what is happening in the world. To put it bluntly, if the Soviet Union collapsed and the three major TV networks did not buy this news from the Associated Press, AFP, Reuters or TASS because the price of news was too high, or vice versa, if one day, Those news agencies refused to sell the news to these American television stations, so American viewers would not be able to get the news on their television sets."

"Do you want the American people to live in a world where they can't witness history? Maybe they don't care what is happening on the other side of the world, but if they want to know one day, because of the existence of our news network, they only need to turn on the TV , you can easily see it by opening our channel.”

"This is the testimony."

"This is their God-given freedom and right."

Tommy said in a touching tone.

Wolf remained silent. As an ideal television practitioner, there was no way he could refuse the temptation of allowing the audience to witness history.

"I'll give you two months to hand over to SBG, say goodbye, and then prepare to start a life journey suffocated by dreams, Wolf." Tommy jumped off the desk and patted Wolf on the shoulder:

"I can't accomplish such a great cause by myself, so I'm not asking you to think about it. I'm calling you back on behalf of the American people to do the right thing."

He walked to the door, opened the door, and said to Wolfe, who still pursed his lips and did not respond, "As for the financial problem you are worried about, I am going to help you solve it now."

After saying that, Tommy walked out of the room, leaving only Sophia, who had free time to admire Wolf's expression, and Wolf Tucker, who had not yet recovered from Tommy's suffocating and fiery dream.

…

Tommy ate a burger at the KFC across from the company, and then he didn't let Page help him drive. Instead, he drove the car that was mostly parked in the company's garage gathering dust.

That was Otilia's birthday gift to Tommy on his birthday last year, a black 1982 Pontiac Firebird GTA.

Of course, Otilia's gift would not be ordinary. This 1982 Pontiac Firebird is not a model commonly seen on the street, but a perfect replica of NBC's popular science fiction series "Knight Rider" in previous years. The protagonist's smart car, KITT, is perfect because Tommy drove the car directly to Universal Studios to replace the prototype show car in the exhibition hall without anyone noticing.

After Otilia bought a new car, she found George Barris, who had modified KITT for "Knight Rider". This legendary old man is known as the first person to modify cars in the United States. In the 1960s, he began to design and modify bats for "Batman" movies. Many famous people will ask him to help modify their cars. His quotations are also very interesting. How much does it cost to buy a new car and how much does it cost to ask him to modify it?

For Tommy's birthday, Otilia asked him to help him make a perfect replica of a KITT.

Therefore, Tommy's car is extremely attractive. It goes without saying that it has functions such as one-button convertible and one-button hatchback. Even the sci-fi interior and steering wheel in the TV series are presented as they are.

Tommy even asked Martin to try to play a car thief. The result was that Martin got into the car and didn't know how to drive away the car. He couldn't find the key socket and didn't know where to disassemble it to hardwire it to start.

And once it is started, the various buttons and screens on the dashboard in the car light up immediately, giving people the feeling of driving a small alien spacecraft.

It's natural to attract attention, but Tommy rarely drives it out because the light pollution is too serious. He usually only drives it when he needs to stimulate the wealthy man. This is one of the few possessions of Tommy that can stimulate the other party. .

Yes, he is going to meet the rich man Stephen now.

When we drove to Stephen’s place in Los Angeles, the guy was basking in the afternoon sun, drinking a cold beer.

"Just show off, Tommy, you will lose this fun soon. I have asked George Barris to help me modify three cars." Stephen heard the roar of the car engine, opened his eyes and glanced at the front Tommy said lazily as he got out of the car.

Tommy looked around and didn't see the new girlfriend that the other party had recently hooked up with. He curiously asked, "Where is your new girlfriend?"

"I'm going to Paris to participate in the French Open, and I'll accompany my parents to Paris for a vacation." Stephen patted the empty seat next to him: "I called you more than a dozen times in the morning, and you are finally willing to come see me?"

Tommy came over and lay down, adjusting the angle to prevent the sun from shining directly into his eyes: "Okay, to be honest, I forgot about you calling me. The TV station just started broadcasting, and I was in a hurry."

"I've completed two movie scripts, Tommy, I want to shoot them." Stephen took out a beer from the ice bucket, handed it to Tommy, and said seriously.

Tommy took it and asked in a tentative tone: "I guess you're not stupid enough to want to trick me into investing in your movie, right?"

He knows that Stephen has always had a movie dream, but as friends, he can use the money to pay for Stephen's dream without any discussion. This guy's dream is more suffocating than Tommy's dream, and Tommy's dream can make money. But Stephen's movie dream seems more like throwing banknotes into water.

"A romantic comedy, my own original script, called "My Underage Husband", the kind of romantic comedy that has been popular in Hollywood in the past two years, between a beautiful woman and an underage boy, from mutual hostility to mutual understanding. , and then to the story of getting to know each other, falling in love, encountering resistance, conflicts, but finally living together happily." Stephen talked about the general plot of the script he wrote to himself. When he was happy, his eyebrows were dancing and his eyes were shining with excitement.

"Brother, forgive me for not believing in love, so I want to ask a practical question, that is, if you don't pay for it yourself, have you found a company in Hollywood that is willing to invest and start filming?" Tommy opened the beer with a bottle opener, He poured a sip into his mouth, and then thoughtfully poured cold water on his good brother's head.

Stephen seems to have become accustomed to Tommy's vicious tongue: "After reading it, many film company producers thought the script was great, but the financial pressure has been a bit high recently."

"When I don't want to spend money, I will also use this reason to reject the other party, so what they said is what I want to say. In fact, I have been under a lot of financial pressure recently. Stephen, I will pay the bill and help you get the best night from the wife." How about a little actress with a salary of 20,000 yuan to spend the whole night with you and give up trying to persuade me to invest in your movie?" Tommy laughed.

Stephen threw a cigar to Tommy and cursed: "Thank you for your honesty and generosity, stupid*."

"You're welcome," Tommy said.

"I'm talking to you about my dream very seriously, Tommy. You know, I've always had a movie dream. I've been trying to write sequel scripts for cartoon movies since I was eleven years old." Stephen pretended and kicked Tang. Mi, said dissatisfied.

This is true. Stephen has liked to create follow-up stories for the cartoons he has watched since he was very young. He has also submitted articles to comic companies and sent cartoon stories he wrote. However, in so many years, he has not met the discerning Bole to dig out. This great screenwriter.

Tommy looked at Stephen and joked: "You wrote the screenplay yourself and invested in finding a director to shoot the comedy movie "The Marriage of the Ancestor." If I remember correctly, you invited the well-known young director John Hughes to be the director, and then We roped in Rob Lowe and Linda Kozlowski as the leading actors and actresses. The whole movie cost you 12 million. How much was the box office? Stephen, say it out loud. That movie you poured your heart and soul into. How high is the box office of the movie?”

"Art cannot be measured by money alone, understand? Vulgar poor guy." Stephen said dissatisfied.

Tommy saw that Stephen didn't say it himself, so he said it for him: "Only 17 million, that's John Hughes's Midas touch. "The Breakfast Club" cost 1 million and won 50 million. A box-office genius director, he almost got depressed and jumped off a building because of the critics scolding you for your film."

"That's because the director didn't really understand the emotions conveyed in my script. Everyone will make mistakes sometimes, not to mention that I now understand to avoid this problem from happening." Stephen defended.

Tommy breathed a sigh of relief: "I'm glad you can realize the problem of avoiding unnecessary spending, Stephen, I..."

"The way to avoid it is to be my own director and shoot my own script." Stephen interrupted Tommy and gave the answer excitedly.

Tommy seemed to be strangled. He stared at Stephen for a long time before speaking: "Is this your fucking way to avoid problems? Go into battle and become the director yourself?"

"Yes, I promise to understand the emotional transmission in the script I created and perfectly present them on the screen." Stephen stared at Tommy with twinkling eyes: "Isn't it the best solution?"

"A talented director who earned 50 million box office with only 1 million was almost sent to commit suicide on the rooftop by you. Your reflection on this incident is that the director is too rubbish. Isn't it the fault of the script?" Tommy said with a broken expression:

"Brother, where did you learn this way of reflection? So, the romantic comedy you just mentioned is to prepare yourself to be a screenwriter, director, and investor? Man, which Hollywood actress would think that you believe in love and can make love well? piece?"

Stephen shook his head and explained very quickly: "No, no, no, it's not that romantic comedy. I just said that I have created two scripts, and there is another one called "Missing in Action", which tells the story of a summer camp, that All the leaders of the country disappeared, and there was a male protagonist named Tommy who saved the country with his summer camp members. You hear it, it was our experience back then, and I finally worked hard and took some time off to adapt it into a script. "

"Otherwise, let's talk about romantic comedies, Stephen." Tommy looked at Stephen and said frantically:

"Isn't it good to just hide those memories selfishly in our minds? Why adapt it into an eye-catching horror story in exchange for the audience's scolding?"

Stephen ignored Tommy's words and introduced himself excitedly: "I think this time I will direct it myself, and the cost of the whole movie will be slightly higher, about 18 million to 20 million."

"I will give you 20 million personally in exchange for letting go of the beautiful memories shared by the CS gang. From the name of this movie, I know I have no interest in buying tickets to see it." Tommy rubbed his face in despair and said weakly.

Stephen looked at Tommy seriously: "I will be very careful, Tommy, I am not kidding, and I sent invitations to everyone in CS, including Otilia, asking everyone to come to Los Angeles to audition for their roles, by Everyone decided which actor would play themselves. Except for Dennis who couldn't come because he was serving overseas, everyone felt happy, eager to try, and encouraged me, except for you idiot, who kept pouring cold water on me."

"Okay, in order not to become the most disappointing person in your mind, what do you need me to do?"

As if by magic, Stephen took out a thick stack of actor information from under the seat: "This is the information of the actors listed as candidates. The top stack is the actor who plays Tommy."

"Who the hell cares about a poor guy's appearance? I care more about which actors were selected for the role of my wife Otelia." Tommy smiled and opened the actor information, skipping his own role and looking at the women. Actor information.

"That experience was very important to my life. If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't be as cheerful as I am now. Therefore, I will take it extremely seriously and reproduce our story on the screen. Those experiences are just like what happened in Yesterday, I remember every little thing, I..."

Before he could continue to express his determination, Tommy suddenly took out one of the documents and interrupted him: "This document shows the actress who wants to audition for the role of Zoe, the shrew. Can you contact me?"

"Of course, there should be a contact number. What's wrong, she attracted you?" Stephen took the information and glanced at the attached art photos and life photos: "Wow, she has black hair, have you changed your taste?"

"The information shows that the hometown of this girl named Sandra Bullock is Arlington, Virginia. She has settled in Germany with her parents. She is proficient in German. Her mother is a well-known German opera artist..." Tommy's eyes flashed, no less than Stephen mouthed the glow of excitement when talking about his movie dream.

"Do you have to do this complicated background check every time you sleep with an actress? How? Make sure you don't sleep with a black man?" Stephen couldn't understand why Tommy was so concerned about an actress's family situation at the moment.

Tommy came back to his senses, smiled at Stephen and said: "God has favored me. In fact, I came here to ask you to use money to invest in the TV business, but now, I think Stephen, your dream has moved me." , I am willing to suffocate for your dream, you just said, how much does this movie cost?"

"Thirty million? Or more? It depends on the intensity of this woman's temptation to you." Stephen noticed Tommy's excitement and said a little funny from the side.

Tommy nodded: "This woman is indeed very attractive to me."

"I don't think she's as pretty as Otilia, Tommy." Stephen disagreed with Tommy's statement that this woman was very attractive.

Tommy did not deny: "Of course, there are few women more beautiful than Otilia. I don't want to marry her, I just want to find a chance to get to know her father."

"Her father? So, do you want to sleep with her or her father?" Stephen asked, looking at Tommy strangely.

Tommy took a sip of beer into his mouth: "If I remember correctly, a name was recorded in a certain issue of SSD magazine. A well-known alumnus of the SSD West Point Military Academy branch, Mr. Wilson Bullock, a native of Arlington, Virginia, graduated from West Point Military Academy, served at the U.S. Army military base in West Germany, during which time he married a German opera singer and had two daughters. Judging from the girl's resume, I suspect that this girl named Sandra is Wilson- One of Mr. Bullock's daughters."

"If she is the other party's daughter, then what are the features that attract you?" Stephen curled his lips and said unhappily: "Can't you just invest in my fucking dream? Dreams, aren't dreams more charming than money? ?”

Tommy looked at Stephen: "Wilson Bullock previously served as the Assistant Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. After retiring, he became a logistics contractor for the U.S. Army Materiel Command, contracting the mail and mail for all overseas Army military bases in the United States. Express delivery business.”

"You want to get to know him, are you preparing to get involved in this kind of military contractor business?" Stephen sighed desperately.

Tommy smiled at Stephen and said: "Maybe in the future, but for now, if we can get to know each other and reach some cooperation, I think the news network can save a lot of trouble when developing international news business. For example, if Germany does not By agreeing to let us do exclusive reporting, we can let the American soldiers who help defend Germany talk to them about what American-style mutual aid is."

"Can we talk about our dreams? Don't always put business first every time we chat." Stephen gestured his middle finger at him and said in disgust.

Tommy nodded: "OK, OK, let's talk about your passionate dream. As the producer, director and screenwriter who has scheduled the biggest bad movie of the year, what is your dream?"

"F*ck You, Tommy." Stephen cursed after hearing Tommy's taunt.

Tommy seriously dissuaded him: "I'm sorry, I can't do anything about this dream, Stephen, because I'm not a gay like you. Let's try another dream."