Hollywood Director 1992

"Link, is the story of the Blair Witch true? Can people really live to be over 100 years old?"

In a cafe called Venice on Beverly Boulevard, Monica Bellucci was flipping through a newspaper, reading with great interest. It wasn't just interesting, but also involved some action.

Initially, the two were sitting opposite each other. Halfway through reading, Monica took the newspaper and sat next to him, almost leaning entirely into his arms, seeking a sense of security.

The woman's body was warm and soft, and it wasn't bad to hold her.

However, the current weather in Los Angeles was relatively hot, and the temperature in the cafe was also above twenty degrees Celsius. The bright California sunlight shone in through the glass windows, glaringly falling on them, making the air even hotter.

After being leaned on by Monica for a while, his shoulder was already covered in sweat.

"Not sure, we'll have to go to Illinois to find out when we have the chance."

"Aren't you worried about encountering a witch and being kept by her?"

"Don't worry, look at these missing people in the newspaper, what are their characteristics?"

"Young? You fit that too."

"They are all white, with no Asian or Black faces. Based on this, we can explain two things: first, the witch is a racist, and second, the witch's witchcraft doesn't work on Asians."

"Pfft, you dare to slander the witch, be careful she comes looking for you."

Monica laughed as she leaned on him.

Link put his arm around Monica's waist, looking at the newspaper report about the Blair Witch, a smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.

This news wasn't entirely fabricated by him.

After reading a report on paranormal events written by a journalist named Thomas Miller, he combined it with recent missing person cases in Illinois, merging the two news events into one big story.

Separately, both news events were real.

The appearance of paranormal events in a certain place in Illinois was real.

Someone claimed to have seen a woman behaving abnormally in the town's forest, like the legendary witch.

The missing person cases in Rock Island, Illinois, were also real.

Because the area is close to the Great Lakes region, the terrain is special, and there are many underground caves and rivers.

During heavy rains, the caves and rivers are washed away and hidden. In the past five years, 12 tourists have gone missing while traveling here.

Regarding the disappearance of these tourists, there are also some paranormal rumors locally, including encountering ghosts, being eaten by wild animals, encountering space-time wormholes, and being abducted by aliens.

After seeing these two relatively real news stories, Link wrote an article and submitted it to the *Tribune* and the *Los Angeles Times*.

Because the story was well-written and highly readable.

It was quickly reported and reprinted by major newspapers.

After hype, this paranormal news story has also become one of the most关注ed news stories of its kind recently.

In addition to the rumors of the Blair Witch, there are even more rumors of haunted houses. Some are written by media reporters, and most are from reader submissions.

Now, when reporting paranormal news, many newspapers will write a call for submissions at the end of the report, inviting readers to share the paranormal stories that happened around them, no matter how many, the key is to be real.

Stories that are adopted will receive a cash reward from the newspaper, up to $10,000.

Currently, the average annual salary in the United States is only $20,758, with a monthly income of less than $2,000.

Ten thousand dollars is equivalent to half a year's salary for many people.

After major newspapers issued the call for submissions, they received thousands of reader submissions every day.

In the past, major newspapers needed reporters to rack their brains to make up ghost stories.

Now, they only need to select some interesting stories from the reader submissions, edit them, and publish them in the newspaper, which not only reduces the work of reporters and editors, but also increases the readability of the stories.

It is said that the sales of the *Los Angeles Times*, *USA Express*, *Tribune* and other newspapers that cooperate with Guess Pictures have recently increased significantly, and the number of audience submissions is also increasing.

Because the media that cooperate with Guess Pictures have increased newspaper sales when reporting ghost stories, many media outlets have also followed suit in reporting such news to attract readers.

Under this situation, there are more and more reports about paranormal events in the American media, almost forming a trend.

Everyone is watching ghost stories in the hot summer, feeling cold all over.

However, major newspapers such as *The New York Times* and *The Washington Post* have published articles criticizing their peers for promoting superstition.

They believe that this hinders the development of American society and is not conducive to the physical and mental health of young people.

At the same time, they also advised readers not to indulge in ghost stories, that there are no ghosts in the world.

But the United States is a multi-religious country, and many people believe in the existence of God.

Since there is God, why can't there be ghosts and witches?

The *Tribune* published an article refuting that *The New York Times* needs to prove that God does not exist before it can prove that there are no ghosts in the world, and *The New York Times* obviously cannot do it, because many of them believe in God.

These reports also involved religious newspapers such as *The Christian Science Monitor* and *The New York World*, actively discussing the relationship between God, believers, and ghosts.

These discussions also increased social attention to paranormal events.

Absolutely perfect!

Helping Guess Pictures save a lot of publicity funds.

"Link, we just want to promote a movie, do we need to make up so many ghost stories? Now, when you open the newspaper, you can see many reports of paranormal events, which feels very scary,"

Monica said.

"Yes, we do. Before the movie is released, the more reports like this, the better. Try to create a paranormal atmosphere in the social舆论, so that more viewers will be attracted to buy tickets to watch after the movie is released.

It's a pity that the company's publicity funds are limited, so we can only create such a big momentum. If I had several hundred million dollars, I could have major TV stations repeatedly broadcast paranormal videotapes on the news channel, and even have the President personally confirm the rumors of ghosts in the White House."

"You are too bold, but I like your style of doing things, very cool."

Monica held his chin and kissed the corner of his lips.

Link smiled lightly. In fact, he underestimated two things in creating such a big buzz about paranormal reports.

One is underestimating the driving force of the $2 million publicity budget.

Because he became a millionaire and multi-millionaire relatively quickly, he doesn't think it's that difficult to earn $1 million at this stage, and he doesn't know how much effect $1 million will have when used for publicity.

According to Jon Gordon's report, spending $30,000 can allow newspapers with sales of more than 200,000 copies to continuously report the news you want for a week, with each page no less than 1/4 of each edition.

If the news sells well, the reporting time can be extended.

Second, he underestimated the influence of current newspapers.

At this stage, President Clinton has not yet taken office, nor has he proposed the slogan of 'developing the information superhighway and revitalizing American economic growth'. The Internet industry is still in its infancy.

Without the Internet and news websites, traditional media such as newspapers, radio, and television have a great influence on the social level.

At this stage, many people have the habit of reading newspapers.

This also leads to the extremely fast spread of paranormal stories in newspapers, and the number of readers is also relatively large.

This is a situation that Link did not consider, and it is a pleasant surprise.

"Hi, Sophia, over here."

Monica raised her hand and waved in the direction of the door. A slender blonde girl walked over quickly, wearing a white striped T-shirt, a blue printed skirt, and slippers, dressed very fashionably.

She was of medium height, with a relatively flat figure and average looks. What was impressive was her fair skin and good temperament.

Looking closely, she was an acquaintance.