Standing in front of the window and watching Carl's car slowly disappear, Andy was a little speechless about Carl's high enthusiasm. In his words, he would definitely make CCA regret it, and he would definitely use his dick to shoot that little bitch in the face!
McMiller hurried into the conference room and sat down at his seat, then glanced at all his colleagues in front of him. Although most of them had expressionless faces, the gloating in their eyes was obvious. He couldn't help but sigh. No wonder, because he always used to be sarcastic about that wretched fat man.
As he thought about it, McMiller felt a little depressed. There was a problem with the client he was responsible for, and he was about to be fired.
Following the sound of footsteps, a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties walked into the meeting room with a gloomy face.
"Can anyone tell me what's going on?" The middle-aged man sitting at the head of the table slammed a pile of manuscripts on the conference table. "We can only publish one volume of such a wonderful story. Are you kidding me?"
Elton Bull roared like an angry bull. As the head of Scholastic in Los Angeles, he was under immense pressure. Scholastic was a world-renowned publisher and distributor of children's books, publishing the American edition of the globally popular Harry Potter series. The Dark Tales before Elton was the first in a series, a truly new and significant IP.
But now, someone actually told him that their publishing house could only publish the first volume of this series, and the rest would have nothing to do with them. This was like a bolt from the blue, and how could he not be furious?
McMiller hesitated for a long time before he stood up with a pale face and said cautiously, "I'm sorry, I didn't maintain a good customer relationship."
Bang!
Elton slammed the table and stood up, roaring loudly: "I don't want to hear apologies. Today, today, I don't care what method you use, I want you to sign Andy Smith back to me! You stay, everyone else please go back."
Soon, only two people were left in the conference room. The enraged Elton slowly calmed down, his eyes fixed on Mike, whose face was sweating with nervousness. "I don't care what the cause of this is, you have to bring back good news! Like this... Tell Andy Smith's agent that we can advance his royalties and increase the royalty share to a maximum of 15%. As long as his book is published by our publishing house, all of this is negotiable."
"15%? But Andy Smith's agent is very greedy. What if he makes excessive demands?" Mike was very surprised. 15% royalties is a treatment only the top writers enjoy. Thinking of the hateful expression of that fat man, he asked cautiously.
"FUCK! We can talk as long as there's a request! Can't you take a long-term view? Have you read the manuscript? Idiot, where are we? This is Hollywood, a movie factory! Such an excellent story will attract Hollywood film companies, and when the movie is released, our book will also be a huge hit!"
"Yes, I'll go find Andy Smith's agent right away!" Mike lowered his head, not daring to look at Editor-in-Chief Elton who was cursing again. He picked up the folder on the table in panic and trotted out of the meeting room.
Elton, who stayed in the conference room, stared at the manuscript on the table for a long time. "I hope everything goes well!"
Funny guy, Andy shook his head with a smile, looked at Carl who was gloating beside him, and then looked at Mac Miller, the representative of Scholastic who was almost on the verge of tears.
"Okay, the conditions you offer are quite generous. We can talk about it. I'll leave Karl to you."
He ignored McMiller's gratitude, just gave Carl a subtle look, then stood up and went upstairs. He didn't want to continue wasting energy, as long as there was a result. As for the process, he would leave it to professionals.
After more than an hour,
Fatty Carl walked into the study with a smug and wretched look on his face.
"Looking at you, it seems like the conversation went well." Andy took off his decorative glasses and pretended to pinch the bridge of his nose with his fingers, rubbing it gently to relieve the non-existent fatigue.
"Haha, who am I? I am the vampire Carl. I taught that kid a lesson for looking down on people. How can I not teach him a lesson!" Carl sat down on the sofa happily, with a look of satisfaction on his face after taking revenge.
Andy took a cigarette out of the box and threw it to Carl, then lit another one for himself and motioned for him to continue.
"15% royalties, a $1 million advance. Hehe, that's after taxes, of course. They promise to do their utmost to promote your work, write soft articles for you in newspapers, and expand your influence."
Andy couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. He smiled with a bit of pride. After taking a puff of his cigarette and exhaling, he thought to himself, "I'm really short of money right now. This one million can ease my financial pressure."
Andy bought Apple stock with most of his money, leaving only $400,000 in the bank and $300,000 in salary paid to him by Seventeen magazine. He gave Carl $100,000 to register the company and rent an office, leaving him with $600,000. The salaries of his nanny and fitness trainer, lawyer fees, private doctor, and various other living expenses were not a small amount.
In the United States, any service involving people is expensive. Andy raised his eyebrows, feigning anger. "How's the company registration going? And why did you bring the person to my house?"
Carl completely ignored Andy's antics and rolled his eyes. "Of course the company has to be registered in Bermuda. California taxes are just too high! Didn't you see him? He looked desperate and said he couldn't see you today, so he blamed me. I was so annoyed by him that I brought him to see you."
Andy pointed at Karl and said seriously, "Don't bring strangers to my house in the future. Find an office as soon as possible. If there is anything in the future, we can meet at the company."
Karl nodded to show that he understood, looked at the clock on the wall, and seemed to want to leave.
"Stay for dinner. Nelson will be here soon and needs your help with some things." Andy said to him as he put out his cigarette in the ashtray.
"OK, that's great, I can eat delicious Chinese food again." Hearing about food, Carl naturally wouldn't miss it.
In the United States, the relationship between private lawyers and wealthy employers may last a lifetime, which is an unusual existence.
"Hi, Nelson, it's great to see you." Carl looked like he was meeting an old acquaintance, and he still had great respect for Andy's personal lawyer.
"Hello, Carl, you have gained a lot of weight. Take care of your body and eat less!" Nelson shook hands with Carl and joked.
"Hey, MAN, I'm as strong as a dragon and a tiger, and I'm very healthy!" Carl shouted as if he would take off his clothes to show you if you didn't believe him.
"Okay, okay, let's get down to business first. Nelson, these are some TV show ideas that I came up with while writing novels. I want to register the global copyright. Is that a problem?" Andy handed Nelson a few printed documents.
Nelson browsed through them quickly, his eyes becoming more and more surprised. The papers contained three TV program ideas and specific processes, of which the "China's Got Talent" program was the most detailed.
"Boss, I have to say, you're truly a genius!" Nelson exclaimed as he sorted through the documents, looking across at Andy. "Actually, there's no need to register for global copyright. The easiest way is to keep it with the Writers Guild. The guild's copyright protection is global."
"No, no, I know the function of the union, but these are just ideas after all. They haven't been made into broadcast programs, and we don't have the resources to produce them right now. I'm afraid if similar programs appear in other countries, it would be a waste of time to sue them."
Andy naturally knew that the copyright protection of the Writers Guild could prevent his interests from being harmed, but he vaguely remembered that the production time of the British and American talent shows was roughly during this year's summer vacation. Although he submitted the script and the outline of these ideas to the Writers Guild for safekeeping in early May, if there was a collision, both parties would suffer losses. He was now seeking wealth, not to cheat others.
After listening to Andy's explanation, Nelson seemed to understand his concerns, but global registration would not be completed in a short time.
Just as the two were lost in thought, they heard Carl excitedly shouting, "Wow, this is a genius idea, Andy, your brain is really amazing, I love you so much."
"Quiet! I know I'm a genius, but can you keep your voice down?" Andy looked at Carl, who was shouting, with some annoyance. He had just been startled.
"Oh, God, why do we have to register country by country? We can just find two TV stations in the United States and the United Kingdom to cooperate with us. They will definitely discover the value of it, and then we can sell them the copyright. According to the efficiency of the TV stations, it will be broadcast soon, and it will become an fait accompli. There is no need to go through so much trouble." Carl couldn't help but say excitedly.
"Nonsense, I've thought of this method a long time ago, but I want to maximize my profits. The idea of the talent show has some shadows of American Idol. FOX spent 67 million US dollars to purchase the copyright. Now it has proved to be a very successful deal, but my idea is only on paper after all. It is really unknown how much it can be sold for." Andy gave Carl a distressed look.
"Isn't it just a business negotiation? The most important thing now is to secure our copyright. We can invite several major TV stations and have them come together to bid. Once they know about this idea, there won't be any conflicts of opinion." Carl's fat face was filled with excitement. He kept rubbing his hands and pacing back and forth in the study. "We should proceed with the US and the UK simultaneously, first seizing the English market, and then the highest bidder will come in."