Chapter 174: An Unexpected Gain
Chapter 174: An Unexpected Gain
“A… small matter?” Eric pulled the girl in front of him and set her on his lap, lightly pinching her doll-like face. “Did you cause some kind of trouble?”
“How could I? I’d never cause trouble!” Drew immediately denied it. “Here’s what happened. To buy the copyright for that movie, didn’t I hire an agent?”
“Oh.” Eric immediately understood. “You promised the other party some kind of benefit you don’t actually have the ability to deliver, and that benefit definitely has something to do with me, right?”
“Eric, you’re so smart!” The girl shrank into Eric’s arms, tilting up her little face with an expression full of admiration.
“Enough pretending. Spit it out already!” Eric could not help knocking her lightly on the forehead, which immediately provoked another round of struggling and protests.
“It’s really nothing serious,” the little girl first gave Eric a preventative warning shot before continuing. “When I was looking for an agent, this guy named Lawrence Bender happened to come over to me at a party with a friend. He was holding a script and asked me to pass it along to you to take a look. They hoped you’d invest in it.”
“They couldn’t reach me directly, so it makes sense they’d approach you. But why would they want me to invest? Out of all the film companies out there, their first choice should’ve been one of the Seven Majors. Even if not the majors, other second- or third-tier studios should’ve been their first option.”
Drew wrapped her arms around Eric’s neck and laughed. “Because you have money. The papers are full of stories now about you getting hundreds of millions of dollars in profit shares.”
Eric shrugged. “You should know already that there’s barely anything left from Home Alone’s profit share. Even if I receive the profits from Pretty Woman, if I want to acquire a film company and establish distribution channels, that money will disappear quickly too. And once I get the profit share from Running Out of Time, I can’t spend that either. I have to save it for taxes next year. I still have to pay thirty-five percent income tax. Thinking about it now, I suddenly realized I’ve been busy nonstop since last year and ended up saving absolutely nothing.”
The girl mischievously patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Mr. Billionaire. If you run out of money, I’ll support you.”
“If only a woman had said something like that to me in my previous life,” Eric said with a laugh. “Alright, back to the topic. What was that guy’s name again?”
“Lawrence Bender. I think the reason he wanted your investment is because both he and his friend are too young. Even if the script is good, those film companies wouldn’t trust them with producing a movie. After all, even a proper low-budget movie still costs at least a million dollars or more to make. So, you get it now.”
“And then you agreed, and had him act as your agent… Does he even have the ability to be your agent?” Eric thought of another question.
“That guy’s pretty smart. He and his friend even started a film company together. You know, the kind where you just pay the registration fee and get a shell company with nothing in it. Hollywood has lots of those. But two years ago they actually produced a super low-budget movie. He personally worked as producer, and that friend handled directing and writing. But after production finished, the negatives were destroyed in a fire, and they lost a huge amount of money.”
“That’s really unfortunate. Lawrence Bender, right… Wait, Lawrence Bender?”
Eric’s tone suddenly rose.
“Mm-hm?” Drew nodded, completely confused.
Eric lifted the girl off his lap and pointed at the coffee table. “Spell his name for me.”
Although bewildered, Drew obediently walked over to the coffee table. She dipped a finger into the tea in a teacup, thought for a moment, then somewhat hesitantly wrote two words on the table with the water.
“I think… I think that’s how it’s spelled?” After writing them, the little girl turned around and asked uncertainly.
Eric covered his forehead, replaced the “o” in the written name with a “w,” turning it into “Lawrence Bender,” then knocked lightly on the girl’s head again.
“I really want to know what exactly you do at school every day. You can’t even spell such a simple name. Speaking of which, I paid such a huge sponsorship fee to send you to boarding school, yet I’ve never once seen your report card. Bring it to me next time so I can take a look.”
“Hehe, maybe that won’t be necessary?” The girl grinned widely, bracing one hand against the coffee table as if ready to bolt at any second.
Eric did not pursue the matter further.
Looking at the name on the coffee table, it matched perfectly with the name in his memory.
The reason he had not recognized it immediately when Drew first mentioned it was mainly because in his previous life he had generally encountered English names translated phonetically into Chinese. Combined with Drew’s accent sounding completely different from the English Eric had learned in his previous life, he had failed to connect it to the name in his memory right away.
“Drew, what was Lawrence Bender’s friend’s name again?” Eric asked.
The girl scratched her head and tilted it while thinking. “I think it was… maybe… Quentin Tarantino?”
After speaking, Drew noticed Eric’s expression visibly shift and asked, “Eric, you don’t actually know them, do you?”
Eric steadied himself and quickly came up with an excuse before the girl could notice anything more unusual. He nodded and admitted, “I’ve heard of them. When you said the name earlier, it gave me a strange feeling of familiarity. I think I once heard someone talking about them as an amusing story. Those two unlucky guys made a movie together, but after filming was completed, the negatives got burned.”
Eric did not mention who he had supposedly heard it from, and his explanation was vague enough that there was no risk of the girl going back to verify it. Besides, Drew clearly did not suspect anything. She accepted Eric’s explanation immediately.
“So, you’re saying they want me to invest in their movie? Did they leave the script with you?” Eric asked.
Drew shook her head. “No, I didn’t take it. I originally wanted to talk to you about it first. If you disagreed, I was just going to brush them off somehow.”
“That’s not good. Since you made a promise, you shouldn’t handle it perfunctorily. We’re definitely going to expand our production business in the future. Even though they’re still nobodies, if word gets out about how you brushed them off, it could still create a little negative impact.”
Eric sat back down on the sofa and thought for a moment before saying, “Tomorrow, then. Tomorrow at noon, bring them to the Friends set. There’s a one-hour lunch break between filming sessions. Have them bring the script. I’ll take a look.”
“Eric, isn’t that too troublesome? Why even meet them? I think it’s just a waste of time. That… Quen… Quentin Tarantino guy is only in his twenties. What kind of good script could he possibly write? Aren’t all the famous screenwriters in Hollywood in their thirties or forties? At worst, I can just ask them for the script and let you read it. There’s no need to meet them personally, right?”
Eric smiled. “Did you forget? I’m not even twenty yet.”
“Hehe, I think you’re at least forty,” the girl said as she snuggled closer to him.
That intuition… was frighteningly accurate.
Eric rubbed the little girl’s hair, though he quickly relaxed again. With how sharp Drew was, it was not strange that after spending so much time around him she had sensed something about his mental age. In truth, many people had noticed it.
“Alright, it’s settled then. Bring them over tomorrow. But don’t be late. You know I’m busy.”
“Mm.” Drew answered, then immediately leaned against Eric again in a spoiled manner. “Um, Eric, now that I finished this task, is there a reward?”
Eric patted the girl’s back. “Of course. I helped you establish a film company. But since you’re still underage, it’ll temporarily be under my name. Once you turn eighteen, I’ll transfer it to you. As for the copyright for An Affair to Remember, we’ll place it under this company’s name.”
“Wow! Tell me quickly, what’s it called?” The girl’s eyes sparkled as she asked excitedly.
“Flower Films.”
The girl froze for a moment before pouting. “Flower Films… that sounds so tacky. Can’t we change it?”
Tacky?
Eric stared at the girl’s doll-like face.
That was literally the name you chose yourself in the previous life.
“How is it tacky? Then tell me one better.”
The girl pressed her forehead against Eric’s chest and thought for a while before finally lifting her head with a slightly defeated expression. Clearly, naming things was not one of her talents.
“Then… let’s just keep Flower Films for now.”
Eric laughed and rubbed the girl’s head. “Alright, it’s late. Go to sleep.”
The girl grabbed Eric’s arm before he could stand up. “No, no, no, don’t rush off yet. There’s still a whole month left of summer vacation. Give me another task to do, okay? Like buying some more movie copyrights or something.”
“Mm… let me think about it. I’ll make you a list tomorrow. Now go to bed early,” Eric said.
“Don’t brush me off! I want it tomorrow!” the girl insisted stubbornly.
“No problem. I’ll definitely give it to you tomorrow.”
After speaking, Eric stood up and headed toward the stairs. But instead of going directly to his bedroom, he entered the study.
Seeing the girl following after him, Eric said, “Don’t come bother me anymore. Go sleep first. If you keep staying up late all the time, you’ll turn into an ugly monster before you even hit thirty.”
“Hmph!” The girl wrinkled her nose and reluctantly turned toward the bedroom.
Eric sat down at the desk, spread open a notebook before him, and casually picked up a fountain pen.
Thinking back to what had just happened, a smile appeared on his lips.
He had never expected Quentin Tarantino, the “genius director” of his previous life, to come to him on his own initiative.
Although Lawrence Bender was not nearly as famous as Quentin, the two were in fact longtime partners. Almost all of Quentin’s films had Lawrence Bender as producer.
But now that, because of his butterfly effect, these two people who should not have become famous until two years later had approached him early, Eric could not help wondering whether the legendary Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction from his previous life would still come into existence.
After all, the butterfly effect had become far too powerful.
Perhaps with only a single small deviation, Quentin might completely miss the inspiration to create those two films.
At the same time, Eric was also extremely curious about what script Quentin would bring tomorrow.