Hollywood Tycoon [US Entertainment + Business War]

However, Jed was not happy for a long time. The defense lawyer of American Family Life Insurance Company asked the court to punish Jed and his lawyer on the grounds of "contempt of court".But when Jed was interrogated by the judge, he insisted that the so-called evidence was not disclosed by himself.Carson, on the other hand, cited the "First Amendment" and refused to disclose his source, but denied that Jed was the source.Although the judge was dissatisfied that the content of his trial was leaked, he was unable to arrest Jed without evidence.

In the ensuing trial, as the media continued to report on the "risk internal control" of major insurance companies, the attitude of the jury towards the insurance companies became worse and worse.Even the representative of American Family Life Insurance Company felt the unfriendliness of the jury and could not help but look nervously at his lawyer.And the defense lawyer of American Family Life Insurance Company is in the same situation. Offending the jury means that he is about to lose the case, and judging from the current public grievances in the United States, the jury is very likely to award Jed a sky-high compensation to punish the American insurance company. .

Now that the trial is no longer an advantage, the defense lawyer of American Family Life Insurance Company insisted on delaying the trial.Because he has realized that it is time to talk to Jed about the compensation.

Jed and American Family Life Insurance Company have returned to the negotiating table again, and the defense lawyer has given the latest compensation of the insurance company.Jed made a slight scan, and paid the full insurance premium of 200 million US dollars, and paid an additional 100 million consolation money.Seeing the amount of compensation, Jed laughed, "We have been fighting the lawsuit for so long, but in the end we got back the insurance money I deserved, and also paid 100 million in compensation? The sincerity of your company It really chills me."

"This is not a 'compensation', but a 'comfort' given by the company based on humanitarianism." The defense lawyer replied lightly.Although the trial was not good for the insurance company, he also grasped Jed's urgent need for cash.He knew very well that because of the "management corruption case" and the "anti-monopoly case", the account of the "Sherman Family Development Fund" had been temporarily frozen by the government, and Jed probably hadn't received any money for a long time.From the defense lawyer's point of view, the reason why Jade didn't let go of the insurance company was to make money to add protection to his extravagant life in the future.For such a dude, 300 million is not bad.

"Then I think we should go back to the court." Jed shrugged, stood up and was about to leave.The reason why Jed hired Jones Day Law Firm to sue American Family Life Insurance Company was not for a mere $100 million in damages.

"How much money does Mr. Sherman think is more appropriate?" The defense lawyer was obviously unwilling to gamble on the attitude of the jury.

"The insurance premium will be paid in full, and overdue fees will be compensated according to the current interest rate." Jed made the first condition, and it is also the most reasonable condition.Then after a little thought, he said, "In addition, I ask the insurance company to compensate me 600 million US dollars."

"Just kidding!" The defense lawyer jumped up, "600 million in compensation, Mr. Sherman's appetite is too good!"

"This is the current offer. If we go to court again, I will demand double the compensation." Jed smiled coldly.

Now this case is no longer just a case between Jed and American Family Life Insurance Company, it has completely become a lawsuit between the American people and the insurance company.Once Jed wins the lawsuit, there will be serial prosecutions across the United States.In other words, as long as Jed tears this gap, the American insurance industry will face the dilemma of collective bankruptcy.

Obviously, neither the American Insurance Owners Association nor the American Association of Insurance Commissioners want this to happen.Jed believes that the pressure faced by American Family Life Insurance Company must be greater than his own, and even Jed guesses that the request received by the other party is that he must reach a settlement with himself regardless of the conditions.Otherwise, based on the current attitude of the jury, it is entirely possible for Jed to win about 1500 million yuan in compensation.Once this jurisprudence is established, disasters for other insurance companies will come.

"I suppose your boss is in trouble at this point? If we go back to court, I think your lordship and jury would be happy to set a new precedent for something like this."

After a long discussion between the defense lawyer and the representative of the insurance company, they replied: "We can pay the insurance premium and late fee in one lump sum, but we hope to pay the compensation of 600 million yuan in installments."

"No problem." Jed knew that American Family Life Insurance Company was one of the largest insurance companies in the United States until 2013, so he was not worried that it would close down in this turmoil. "Half of the down payment is paid, and the remaining half is paid in three months."

"No problem." This time the defense lawyer readily agreed, "In addition, we hope to sign a non-disclosure agreement."

After reaching an agreement, lawyers from Jones Day will naturally take over the drafting of the agreement.Jed also breathed a sigh of relief. The compensation of more than 800 million yuan is estimated to be about 600 million yuan in the end, which is enough for him to go to the Japanese market to make some troubles.After the compensation agreement was reached, Jed felt that his luck seemed to have changed, and he received invitations from the Writers Union of America and the American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association one after another.In this regard, Jed does not reject it. The membership fees of the two organizations are not high anyway, but being a writer is also beneficial to his future development, isn't it?And what makes Jed most happy is that all three of his novels have been nominated for this year's Nebula Awards of the American Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy.The Hugo Awards select works from the previous year, so Jade's book is not yet eligible for selection.

However, this nomination that made Jade very happy did not have much media coverage, only some science fiction newspapers mentioned it occasionally.Seeing such a result, Jed was a little depressed.Fortunately, Jed has been hoarding Microsoft and Apple stocks recently, so he doesn't have much time to be sad.Xiao Ansheng reminded Jed about the new book in it, but fortunately Jed sent the second of the three novels to Xiao Ansheng soon.Xiao Ansheng read the manuscript of the second book, which completely continued the quality of the first book, and as the plot of the novel progressed, it became more and more attractive.According to Simon Schuster's plan, it is natural that Jed's three books will be released at once next year.Doing this kind of thing once is enough to attract attention. If you do it again, you will compete with yourself for sales, which is a bit uneconomical.

Just after Simon Schuster arranged the publication schedule for Jade, "The New Yorker" suddenly published a novella by Jade, "Hilma and Louise".The title wasn't catchy, but the novella quickly caught the attention of a wide range of critics.Everyone knows that Jed can write science fiction, and everyone knows that Jed is a "feminist". After all, "Resident Evil" and "Tomb Raider" are very few heroine novels on the market .In Jed's writing, the heroine is no longer a vassal of men, but an independent social personality.But in "Hilma and Louise," Jed goes even further.

At this time, conservatism was still prevalent in the United States, and the status of women was still not oppressed by men.In the story of Jed's "Hilma and Louise", the two heroines have gone to an extreme because of patriarchy.Although the ending of the last story is a tragedy, which also implies that extremism has no future, the most obvious hint in the novel is that patriarchy is the root cause of a series of tragedies.Jed's bold style of writing naturally aroused some people's dissatisfaction. Some patriarchs scoffed at the show, thinking that Jed is a gay who has so much support for women.They believe that women should live under the protection of men and should not be too independent.

Originally, this tone still prevailed, but soon feminists and gay rights activists jumped out to speak for Jed, thinking that those who made these remarks were spreading "hate speech."In the United States, "hate crime" has always been a sensitive place.Hate speech against women has been conclusively problematic, but hate speech against gays has never been recognized by the courts.It is precisely for this reason that Jade has sparked a small round of gay demonstrations in the United States.

And Jed was not idle either. In less than two weeks, "The New Yorker" published Jed's novella again, "Half of a Man is Still a Man".This time, Jed directly extended his writing to the lives of gay men, and the two protagonists are also male prostitutes, so the controversy has become even greater.

"The New York Times" reviewer Vivienne wrote, "In the second half of last year, Jade emerged in the American literary scene with an almost stunning posture. His science fiction is fascinating, not only because his imaginative world is intoxicating. , and more because of the thought-provoking thinking about human beings behind his novels. At that time, I thought that he would not be confined to the world of science fiction literature, and he would one day come to the world of serious literature. But what I didn’t expect was that he actually In the New Year of 1990, works such as "Hilma and Louise" and "Half of a Man Are Still Men" appeared in front of me. One is feminists' fierce resistance to patriarchal society, and one is This is the love and separation between two men. Undoubtedly, these two books made the already dissatisfied men even more angry. They couldn't bear the appearance of such works, and they couldn't bear that such works were written by a man. …Like Jade’s novels last year, the descriptions of "Hilma and Louise" and "Half of a Man Are Still Men" are full of imagery, and I even think I can adapt them into movies based on these two novels. "

When Jed looked at the New York Times, he had a slight smile on his face, because he had already received an invitation from a film company to adapt these two recent controversial novels.As for the adaptations of the three science fiction novels, Jed rejected them without even thinking about them.Realizing Jade's sci-fi scenario won't be possible until at least the end of the century.Among the film companies contacted by Jed, there are even senior big film companies like MGM.

At this time, MGM is not the dying film company in the 21st century, but they are now the overlord of Hollywood.What Disney, Columbia, and 20th Century Fox are still lingering in its shadow, only Paramount can compete with MGM.As for the later famous DreamWorks, there is no shadow at this time.

When Gus Van Sant, the general manager of Muse Culture Communication Company, received the invitation from MGM, he was surprised.Because Muse Culture currently mainly serves the copyright of Jed alone, Sant is relatively free, and it can even be said that he has nothing to do.After hearing that MGM was interested in adapting "Hilma and Louise", Sante reported to Jed immediately.