Chapter 220: I’ll Keep an Eye on You
Chapter 220: I’ll Keep an Eye on You
Her guilty little movements having exposed a flaw under Eric’s gaze, Elizabeth’s face finally flushed slightly. Yet the girl seemed to treat this confrontation like a “war.” Always extremely competitive, she stubbornly remained seated there, as though standing up would mean losing something. However, seeing Eric completely unconcerned by her presence only made her more indignant.
“Hey, what are you thinking about now?”
Eric did not even look at her. He casually pointed toward a standing landscape lamp on the distant lawn. “That lampshade over there looks pretty nice. I was thinking that once you can’t stand it anymore and leave, I’d take a few of them apart and stuff them into my car trunk to bring home.”
Elizabeth could not help bursting into laughter, but she quickly straightened her little face again and fiercely glared at Eric. “Don’t even think about it. I’ll keep an eye on you.”
“What a pity,” Eric sighed, though there was not the slightest hint of regret in his tone.
“I mean it, can’t you be serious for once?” Elizabeth finally said helplessly.
Eric extinguished the cigarette in his hand and tossed it into the nearby trash bin before replying, “All right, Liz, what exactly is it? Just say it directly, okay?”
“I…” Elizabeth paused briefly. “I wanted to say, don’t forget to pay me.”
Eric looked baffled. “Huh?”
“The assistant director thing. Even if my father’s the one making me go, don’t think I’ll work for free. I want to become financially independent as soon as possible. That way the old man won’t be able to threaten me by freezing my credit cards anymore.”
Eric smiled. “You really plan on becoming some assistant director, Liz? We both know perfectly well what your father’s intentions are, but neither of us has that kind of interest, so stop messing around, okay? Even though you don’t have many classes left, I still suggest you go back to school. Enjoy your final year on campus properly. Once you leave, you’ll never be able to find that feeling again for the rest of your life.”
“My business is none of your concern!” the girl shot back unhappily.
Then she added, “I already have plans for my future. I want to become a film producer, so of course I need to familiarize myself with this kind of work first.”
“Oh? Then what about News Corporation? Didn’t you study media specifically to inherit your father’s business?”
Hearing Eric ask that, Elizabeth’s expression dimmed slightly. “He… even though Dad never said it outright, I know he wants my younger brother to take over.”
“Your father’s pretty… traditional then.”
Eric had not expected Murdoch to have such patriarchal tendencies. Instantly, Eric felt a strange sort of… familiarity.
“More like an old fossil,” Elizabeth muttered dissatisfiedly before speaking to Eric again. “Actually, there’s something else.”
Eric realized this was the real matter Elizabeth wanted to discuss tonight. He nodded lightly, signaling for her to continue.
“I already discussed it with Julia. Maybe next year, after gaining some experience, I want to try producing my first movie. She agreed to play the female lead.”
“And then?”
“So… I mean… could you… sell us a script?”
Eric did not answer immediately. Instead, he pulled out his cigarette pack again. This time Elizabeth finally could not stand it anymore. She snatched the cigarette from Eric’s hand and tossed it directly into the trash bin.
“Hey, haven’t you realized that smoking in front of a lady is extremely rude?”
“All right, all right, I won’t smoke anymore.”
Eric raised his right hand in surrender before asking again, “Putting the script issue aside for now, where are you getting the money to make a movie? Didn’t you just say you wanted financial independence? With your rookie status, even with Julia as the female lead, it’ll probably be hard to attract investors.”
“That’s completely different,” Elizabeth said matter-of-factly. “I already thought about it. First I’ll borrow ten million dollars from the old man to establish a film company. That amount is enough to make one movie. Julia also agreed to invest her salary as shares, and then we’ll split profits proportionally afterward.”
Elizabeth spoke as though this sort of thing were perfectly ordinary to her. After thinking about it briefly, Eric understood.
This was one of the common methods billionaires used to pass down family wealth while avoiding massive inheritance taxes. Under the name of a loan, they would provide their children with startup capital to help them establish and develop their own companies. Once the companies reached a certain scale, they would reacquire them through high-priced share swaps or mergers. This method allowed wealthy families to transfer assets to the next generation at the lowest possible cost.
Of course, this type of inheritance strategy also demanded relatively high competence from the children. If the next generation was completely useless, the method naturally would not work.
Although Murdoch did not plan to let Elizabeth inherit News Corporation, when it came to wealth inheritance, if Elizabeth asked, Murdoch presumably would not refuse either.
While Eric was thinking, Elizabeth suddenly interrupted his thoughts. “Eric, what are you thinking about? Are you agreeing or not?”
“Agreeing to what?” Eric asked reflexively before immediately remembering. He revealed a curious smile and asked, “The script? Then how much are you planning to pay for one of my scripts?”
That question immediately stumped Elizabeth.
Every movie script personally written by Eric so far had grossed no less than one hundred million dollars at the box office. Almost every one of them earned investors at least fifty million dollars in profit. By that standard, even paying according to Hollywood’s top-tier golden screenwriter rates definitely would not be enough.
“See? You haven’t thought anything through yet. So wait until you’ve figured it out before bringing it up again.”
After speaking, Eric stood up. As long as Elizabeth’s comprehension ability was normal, she would naturally understand he was rejecting her.
This was not merely about money.
Eric possessed countless “scripts” in his mind. Giving one to Elizabeth would not actually matter much. But not now. Although several consecutive films had already achieved box office success, his footing in Hollywood still was not firmly secured.
If he handed over a script for Elizabeth to fiddle with while he himself could not maintain control and supervise the movie’s quality, then if the film failed, it would ruin the undefeated aura he had painstakingly built through several successful movies.
Clearly, although Elizabeth had persuaded Julia, that still was not enough for Eric to believe the two girls would succeed.
“Hey, Eric, wait.”
Elizabeth hurriedly stopped Eric from standing up completely. Although she did not know Eric’s concerns, after thinking for a moment, she temporarily abandoned the idea of obtaining a script from him. She realized she simply could not afford his price.
But the girl was quite clever and quickly thought of another idea.
“Eric, how about this instead? I won’t ask you for a script anymore. Julia and I will choose a script ourselves, but when the time comes, you help us evaluate it and see whether it has blockbuster potential. That should be fine, right?”