Chapter 12

Kevin-Thomas transferred the $500,001 compensation to the account before dusk on Wednesday. This fraudster, in order to save his reputation, had no choice but to do so.

With these changes in the company, the three theater distributors became one. The other five limited partners were undoubtedly puzzled, but they could not yet know the truth, or everything would be ruined. They only knew that Kevin-Thomas had been fired for negligence in film distribution, and that the company would improve.

Thursday, and the release of "The Wedding Approaches" was one day closer.

Ye Wei continued to get up early to go to school, but today he brought something to school to work on—the latest edition of the "Hollywood Creative Industry Guide"!

The "Hollywood Creative Industry Guide" is an essential reference for anyone in the film industry. It is not a journal but is updated three times a year, listing all past and current projects of various Hollywood studios, producers, including "The Wedding Approaches."

This guide has many uses, whether it's for producers to establish projects, screenwriters to submit scripts, actors to find and choose roles... it provides the necessary market information.

He bought this guide from a film bookstore after school yesterday, along with the latest issues of "Variety Daily," "Behind the Scenes," "Film Producer Special," and others. These industry information sources are like deserts hiding gold; he wanted to dig out some valuable raw stones.

Today was the activity day for the Dream Chasers Club, but by 9:25, Ye Wei had not gone to the activity location, the storage room in the academic center. He sent a text to Lev and the others: "I have other things to do today, you guys play, don't come looking for me."

He sat in a quiet corner under the shade of the campus trees, ignoring the students laughing and walking by, and began to read seriously.

Last night, Ye Wei had already read part of it, but the projects were as numerous as the stars in the sky—major studios, mini-major studios, independent film companies...

Hundreds or even thousands of projects were ongoing, some still in the planning stage, some in pre-production, some in production, post-production, and distribution...

Some projects had costs as low as a few thousand dollars, while others were astronomically high, like "Spider-Man 2" with a production budget of $200,000,000, two hundred million dollars! And that's just the production cost, not including distribution and promotion.

Two hundred million dollars could build a luxurious skyscraper anywhere in the world or produce a two-hour Hollywood blockbuster. That's the film industry.

Looking at this guide, Ye Wei couldn't help but marvel. Among these projects, how many would end up in a mess, and how many would create miracles? Which would lose money, and which would make money?

"Primitive tribes respect storytellers, but if their stories are not good, they will kill them and eat them for dinner."

This is a famous quote in Hollywood, a motto for many filmmakers, and the reason why reputation is so important. The film industry is full of unknowns.

No one knows the future, only the past.

Reputation here does not refer to personal morals. As long as you have value, no studio will care if you are a drug dealer or a pervert who peeps at grandmothers. It refers to professional competence, earning ability, and how your behavior affects the film itself.

Filmmakers are not lawyers or doctors; they are athletes whose performance can fluctuate. Being good once doesn't mean you'll always be good, and falling once doesn't mean you can't get back up.

Therefore, there is an unwritten "three strikes and you're out" rule in the industry: producers, directors, lead actors, and screenwriters who fail three times in a row will be eliminated.

No one cares about the reasons behind the failures; the industry only recognizes one thing: "Now you're a jinx, and whoever gets your bad luck will die."

This rule is especially strict for foreign filmmakers and those on the fringes of the industry.

Like John Woo, whose success with "Face/Off" and "Mission: Impossible 2" brought him fame and fortune in Hollywood, but with the failures of "Windtalkers" and "Bulletproof Monk," he is now on the edge of the cliff. If the upcoming "Paycheck" fails again... three strikes and you're out.

To get back up is a thousand, ten thousand times harder than for a newcomer to break into Hollywood.

And Ang Lee, whose "Hulk" released this summer was a failure, the first time.

What their futures will be, Ye Wei is not quite sure. The dream is only clear in his own experience, but he has a feeling that Ang Lee will get back up. He will, because commercial films are like a bastard, but art films respect talent. Ang Lee's artistic talent is evident; as long as he makes art films, it will be fine.

Even the situation of the Chinese directors he cares most about is vague, so how can the others be any better? Ye Wei flipped through the pages of the magazines, finding little clear information.

He wanted to find a project that was intentionally abandoned but was actually good, relying on his professional judgment and the clues from his dream. So far, he hasn't found anything particularly noteworthy, just circled and marked the ones that seemed interesting for future contact...

...

"Ha ha ha!"

"Guys, look at this, oh yeah, I'm going to blow it up—"

At the same time, in the storage room on the first floor of the academic center, a burst of wild laughter, TV sounds, and conversations...

In the corridor outside, Lily Collins frowned, her hand raised to knock but couldn't bring herself to do it.

What a mess! After the squid operation yesterday, she found that the braided wristband she was wearing was gone! It was a gift from her father, worthless to others but very important to her.

She was frantic, but couldn't find it anywhere. The only possibility left was that it was lost during the squid operation.

So she called Tris, Bab, and even the two supervising teachers, but none of them had seen it. The only person left from yesterday's group who she hadn't asked...

Bab offered to give her the person's phone number, but she refused. She wanted to talk to him face-to-face to determine if he was telling the truth. Yes, she didn't trust him.

Someone said she could find him here because today was his club's activity day, "Dream Chasers," which sounded so noble, but everyone knew it was just a place for freaks... other clubs' activity locations were usually in academic center classrooms, Reynolds Hall, or more remote places like the library or theater. Normal people wouldn't go to a storage room...

Lily paced a few steps, took a few breaths, as if several monsters were locked in the room, and opening the door would cause the end of the world.

She really didn't want to, but what could she do? She finally knocked on the door, "HELLO?"

"Coming, coming—"

It wasn't Ye Wei's voice. When the door opened, it wasn't him, but a boy with a strange outfit, a fake mustache, and a big nose. He screamed when he saw her: "Ah!!!"

Lily's ears hurt, and she took a step back, puzzled, "Are you okay?"

"Oh my God! I was right, I was so damn right!" The boy shouted wildly, turned around, and screamed again: "She's here, Lily Collins!!!"

"Um... uh..."

Lily was speechless, looking for Ye Wei's figure in the room. The storage room near the entrance was cleared out, with sofas, a TV, and other items, like a living room. Besides the madman at the door, there were three other boys inside, but not Ye Wei.

"Hello, hello, I'm Lev, that's Bud, Noah, and Corwin... oh God, Brother Wei, Brother Wei, where are you!?" Lev shouted wildly.

Bud was sitting on the sofa, holding a large bucket of popcorn, watching "Friends" on TV. This was his pastime when there were no special activities, watching an episode of "Friends." He looked at the door, his mouth full of popcorn.

The small Chinese boy sitting at the coffee table was Chen Nuo, or Noah Chen. He wore thick black-rimmed glasses and was playing "Dungeons & Dragons," with a map and cards on the table. He looked stunned, and the 12-sided die in his hand fell...

In the corner, a pale white boy was hiding, almost burying himself in the clutter. He was reading "National Geographic," glanced at the door, and immediately looked back down... Corwin Ritter, a guy with mild autism.

"Brother Wei, Brother Wei!!!"

"Brother Wei has something to do today," Corwin said calmly.

"Uh... yeah." Lev scratched his red nose, suddenly noticing that Lily Collins had glanced at his hand, realizing he was playing with a condom... he quickly stuffed it back into his pocket and gave a dry laugh...

What a bunch of creeps! Lily muttered to herself, not wanting to stay a second longer. She hated the cool kids and the freaks...

But she was also puzzled. How could Ye Wei be playing with them?

It was too strange. If he wanted to be a popular figure at school, constantly surrounded by brainless girls, he shouldn't do this. A fact is, whoever plays with freaks is also defined as a freak, with no popularity, no friends, no girlfriend... didn't he know? Was he a fool?

Hearing their words, she felt disappointed and had to take the step she was extremely unwilling to take: "Can you give me his phone number? I need to talk to him."

Sure enough... just as I expected! Lev nodded wildly, getting more nervous the more he looked at her. This was Lily Collins, the beautiful daughter of a rock star! Oh God! His voice became stammering: "Of course, of course! We know Brother Wei best..."

"Yes! Yes!" Bud struggled to swallow his mouthful of popcorn.

"He's about 170 cm tall, weighs over 140 pounds, his birthday is February 19th, he's a Pisces, so he's naturally romantic and artistic; his blood type is AB, cool, right; and he speaks several languages, fluent in English and Chinese, and a bit of Spanish, French, Polish, and the common language of 'Dungeons & Dragons'..."

Bud interrupted, speaking loudly: "And he lives in Brentwood, his favorite food is Chinese, but not fried, he's very particular, all from his grandfather's teachings. He admires his grandfather a lot, who was a WWII veteran from China! Unfortunately, the old man passed away a few years ago... Brother Wei was very sad."

"I'll say! Bud, let me say!" Lev, in a hurry, turned to yell at his partner, not noticing Lily's stunned expression, and quickly started talking like a machine gun: "Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, he likes Hepburn! Of course, he's also interested in Marilyn, and Elizabeth Taylor, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman... Brother Wei has very broad interests!"

Over there, Chen Nuo said in a daze: "Yes, Brother Wei's reading interests are also broad, he reads all kinds of books..."

"Right, he wears M-sized clothes, and his underwear style, he likes...!" Bud said, thinking...

"Stop!!!" Lily had to shout, the room fell silent, she felt like she was going crazy, laughing and crying: "I just want his phone number..."

Lev and Bud had understanding expressions, Lev smiled: "I understand, I get it, take it step by step, okay, Noah, give me paper and pen!"

Chen Nuo quickly moved, and when Lev got the paper and pen, he started writing while looking at his phone: "This is Brother Wei's phone number, this is his home phone, this is his email, this is his MSN, this is his..."

"Thanks, thanks..." Lily saw the phone number on the paper and snatched it, "That's enough, thank you! Goodbye!"

With that, she hurriedly left, four freaks! No, five!

After a while, the storage room came back to life.

"Wow..." Lev's wide eyes hadn't returned to normal, he said with a sigh: "The competition is almost 16, Brother Wei is finally going to break through!"

Bud laughed foolishly: "She's so beautiful, I really admire Brother Wei." Chen Nuo sighed in a daze: "Like an elven maiden." Corwin, who had been reading, suddenly said: "Her British accent, Brother Wei will like it."

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