Global Film Emperor

Chapter 481 The book is about to be released
"Charlie, welcome to the company. It's a pleasure to work with you for the next five years. I look forward to your continued support."

"Thank you, sir."

This wasn't the first time Charlie had shaken hands with Lu Ze, but when their hands met again, he was even more impressed by the rough, large hand. It felt like a piece of withered tree bark, and when it touched his own soft, delicate hands, it even made his palms itch slightly. The pat on the shoulder afterward acted like a catalyst, making Charlie's heart surge with excitement.

"try hard."

"I will, sir."

There is no such thing as a perfect face in the world, not even the boy in front of him who was breathtakingly beautiful at first glance. His flushed face broke his original melancholy temperament and he didn't look so amazing anymore. However, for Lu Ze, this was a reason for him to like Charlie even more.

This is the first batch of newcomers from Universal Brothers Agency, a total of seven people, four men and three women. Among them are a white male screenwriter, a black male actor, and a Haitian female actress. There are no Asians and no black actresses.

The camera captured the moment. In a rented office building in the city center, Mickey and Lu Ze took a group photo with everyone. Everyone's face was beaming with smiles. After the photo was taken, the key staff of the agency recruited by the headhunter applauded, celebrating what was destined to be another milestone for Universal Brothers Studios.

This office will no longer serve as a training base for actors. Actors will be based at the headquarters campus from now on. This place will be used as a work location for the company to interview new actors and for agency staff. Agents will also be based here, including Wang Zixuan. In addition, the film company's finance and human resources departments will also move here and will no longer be based at the headquarters. From then on, the old base on the outskirts of the city will become a playground for the crew's internal staff.

After a simple recruitment ceremony, Lu Ze and Mickey left in a One-77 worth 50 million yuan in China, seeing off the seven new members.

After thoroughly exploring the car's interior and understanding all its functions, Lu Ze gave a very fair assessment... It's not worth it. Even though it looks really cool and is one of only 77 units produced worldwide, it's still a used car after all...

Lu Ze didn't know much about cars, and he wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about them as he was about collecting watches. So he had no idea about things like torque, horsepower, or carbon fiber. Plus, he was influenced by the Chinese shopping mentality of buying new rather than old, so he personally wasn't interested in this amazing car.

The car drove towards headquarters. Having skipped lunch, it turned into a McDonald's halfway there. Inevitably, it was recognized, so it could only smile at the camera and awkwardly wait to pick up its food. Then, it quickly left with several meals in its hand, got into the car, drove a short distance, and sat on a bench by the roadside to open the food containers.

British chips are all thick-cut, which Lu Ze likes. He doesn't have to eat several at once for the sake of enjoyment, even though they are very high in calories. He always orders a serving whenever he has time.

After wolfing down his food to satisfy his hunger, Lu Ze glanced sideways and saw Mickey holding a Coke cup, biting a straw, and fiddling with McDonald's latest SpongeBob SquarePants plush toy, the kind that can even talk.

He bought a kids' meal, and if he hadn't asked the clerk for one and hadn't relied on the brand's reputation, the toy in the kids' meal wouldn't have ended up in his hands.

Mickey is a really strange person. Even though Lu Ze has known him for a long time, it is still hard for him to understand what he is thinking. Sometimes he is bitter and resentful and hostile to many things. Sometimes he is very stubborn and enjoys torturing himself, constantly putting pressure on his mind. In the end, he has also retained a childlike innocence. Lu Ze and the others used to tease him about this and laugh at him for being a bit childish. But he admitted that he wanted to be a good father, even if he was a little childish, so that he could have endless common topics to talk about with his daughter.

He didn't have a good family or a good childhood. He was proficient in all sorts of vices, so he certainly couldn't be considered a good person. But as a father, his daughter liked him, so he was a good one.

He accidentally dropped SpongeBob's lower body to the ground. He picked it up in a fluster, wiped it on his three-thousand-pound suit trousers, reattached it, and tried pressing the button on SpongeBob's back.

"Patrick, let's go jellyfish hunting!"

He was relieved to see that he could still talk and wasn't badly hurt. Lu Ze laughed when he saw him like this. Even if he was trying to please his daughter, it didn't stop Lu Ze from continuing to mock his childishness, if Lu Ze himself wasn't slurping and licking his ice cream cone.

“Now that the actors have been recruited, we need to get them working quickly to avoid any complaints later. But Lucas has been transferred to Italy, and Kesha is preparing to go to the Amazon. You're still writing the script, so there's no work to do.” “My current idea is to put them all at Gambiano Films, no matter what they're acting in, they need to find some work first. I'll only keep George (the screenwriter) to write the script. I'll also collect some scripts to fill the company's inventory. That's all I can do for now. The roles in Fatini's new group have all been finalized, so I can't really put any more in. By the way, did he tell you when he's going to Italy?”

"I'm leaving for Switzerland tomorrow. I'll be shooting endorsement photos for about two to three days. After that, I won't be coming back. I'll go straight to Italy to report for duty."

Mickey nodded, subtly stuffed SpongeBob into his pocket, stood up, stomped his feet—his luxury brand leather shoes still rang crisply on the asphalt—patted off the food scraps, stretched towards the sunlight, sighed comfortably, then turned and slapped the ice cream cone off Lu Ze's face before running away.

"I...cough cough...damn it! Stop right there!"

The ice cream squeezed into his nostrils, completely blocking them, causing Lu Ze to choke and cough for a while. Without even wiping his mouth, he grabbed the ice cream cone and got up to chase after it. The half-broken ice cream cone was held high by Lu Ze, making him look like an Olympic torchbearer from a distance.

Having just finished filming "Exile," Lu Ze was in great shape, while Mickey hadn't exercised in a long time. Before he could even get into the car and lock the door, Lu Ze dragged him out, then slammed him into a roadside ditch. Mickey lay motionless in the black puddle like a giant turtle, begging for mercy.

"Wrong, wrong..."

"You don't need to apologize. I'll apologize to you after I've beaten you up..."

……

They bickered and teased their way back to the company. Mickey suffered a great loss, as he was no match for Lu Ze. Lu Ze even tied his long hair in a tight knot, so Mickey could only cling to Lu Ze like a leech, sharing the dirty water on his body with Lu Ze. As a result, when they arrived at the company, they were both covered in filth, leading the security guards to believe that they had been splashed with excrement on their way out.

Instead of taking a shower right away, he sat by the door, basking in the sun and waiting for the dirty water to evaporate. Old Jill helped Mickey untie his hair, muttering that Lu Ze had tied it too tightly. After finally getting it off, he seemed to remember something and hurriedly returned to the mailroom, took out a package, and handed it to Lu Ze.

"Thanks, Jill. I'm going to take a shower now."

"Wait until I'm done working out, then we'll wrestle again. I don't believe I'll let you bully me like this!"

"I'll give you a one-handed advantage."

After exchanging a few harsh words, Lu Ze went upstairs to take a shower, changed into looser clothes, and opened the package. Inside was a book—his own book, in English.

The book is about the same thickness as the Chinese version, not as thick as expected. The hardcover cover is made of cardboard with high-pressure process, without any patterns or photos, just covered with white knitted fabric, which looks very clean and feels very good. The gold-plated title adds a touch of class and looks a little bit high-end.

Opening the book, you can still smell the fragrance of ink. Both the paper quality and the layout provide readers with a top-notch reading experience. Of course, the price is not cheap either, at 59 pounds. Even after deducting production costs, labor costs, and marketing expenses, it is still very expensive. After all, professional books in Europe and America are always more expensive than literary works.

The initial print run of "Performance, My Life" is 100,000 copies, distributed by London-based De Rosso Publishers and available in all major European Union bookstore chains. It will be officially released on March 27.

"..."

(End of this chapter)