Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1526 What is Ovitz preparing?
"You know the mall where the President called him and asked him to help organize a fundraiser. Did he tell the President what he said?"

At the fundraiser, Ron Meyer, one of the founders of CAA, was holding a champagne glass and talking with Ronald. The president was on a tight schedule and had not yet arrived, while Ovitz was communicating with more than 500 CAA celebrity clients present, constantly boasting about his "good relationship" with the president.

As for the CAA agents, except for a few who stood on Ronald's side and had already distanced themselves from Ovitz, such as Richard, Niceta, and Kevin Hoeven who had been his temporary agent for a few days, all the other agents looked at Ovitz with great fear.

Ron Mayer, as the only remaining founder (the others were cleared out of CAA by Ovitz through various means and their shares were embezzled), was very dissatisfied with this, but was careful not to show it in the company.

Ovitz has always had a knack for intimidating people, and after Ronald and Tom Cruise semi-publicly played themselves on behalf of a group of agents, he put even more pressure on the remaining agents.

These people don’t have clients like Ronald or Cruise who stand firmly on the side of their agents, protect them, and refuse to change agents at will. So if they disobey Ovitz, Ovitz may change the agents of their celebrity clients, and their clients will not refuse to reduce the commission by one or two percentage points like Ronald did.

There is a new generation agent who also belongs to the "Young Turks", Tony Krantz. He represents several stars and his income is also on the same order of magnitude as Richard, with an income of more than one million US dollars a year.

But he was extremely afraid of Ovitz. Whenever he saw him or received a call from him, he would tremble uncontrollably. Over time, this became a neurotic symptom, and he could not speak for more than ten minutes after answering a call.

His mother, a novelist, found a psychiatrist for him. The psychiatrist prescribed a prescription, which was to have Tony Krantz call Ovitz and say to him, "I'm calling just to tell you that I'm not afraid of you."

Unexpectedly, Ovitz replied to him in his usual very cold tone: "That's good, Tony, I'm glad that you feel this way and that you have the ability to say it..." The young man was frightened and had a hysterical attack, so much so that he didn't dare to go to the office to work for a while.

This made Ron Meyer very scared. Ovitz had such great power and was connected to the President. Was he going to be expelled from CAA next? So he took advantage of this fundraising event to approach Ronald and seek support. But there were some things he couldn't say directly, so he could only ask Ronald in a roundabout way if he knew the gossip about Ovitz and the President.

"I don't know. Can he make any more conditions for the President?" Ronald was also standing nearby with a cup in his hand. In addition to Ovitz, Harvey Weinstein was also present. He took the initiative to move towards the direction where the President would appear, fearing that others would not know about his connection with William.

"Bingo, he told the president that, one, he wanted to see the speech beforehand to make sure William didn't accidentally say something that would get you in trouble here. Two, he wanted William to consider announcing some kind of major legislative initiative. Because these are show business people, and your audience is going to want some drama."

"How did you know?" Ronald also laughed. Ovitz was a little ignorant, but fortunately William was a man with a sense of humor. If he had met old George... However, William agreed to such an outrageous condition. Did he encounter some crisis?
"He would come to my office every day and tell me this conversation. How could I not know it? I almost memorized it."

"Humph……"

"Ronald, have you ever thought about these two..." Ron Meyer nodded at Ovitz and Weinstein who were waiting at the entrance. They stood there for another purpose, which was to block other people who also wanted to establish a relationship with the President.

"The United States of America, His Excellency the President, William..."

Just as Ronald was about to answer, a voice suddenly shouted the title of the Grand Commander, just like the ceremonial officer in ancient times when the king entered the venue. For a moment, everyone at the scene fell silent, and everyone looked towards the entrance, waiting for His Excellency the Grand Commander...

This kind of singing ceremony has an extraordinary effect. All the attention of the whole audience is focused on it at once. Everyone stares at the target person with bated breath, saving the time and trouble of getting everyone to calm down after the important person enters the venue.

"Mike, am I a man who keeps his promises?" President William walked into the venue and shook hands with Ovitz first to express his satisfaction with his work. There were about a hundred donors who spent $5000 on the scene, all of whom donated to his personal and party funds. Being able to gather so many people, it was no big deal for him to support him in front of everyone.

"Your Excellency the President..." Before Ovitz could say anything, Harvey Weinstein rushed up impatiently and wanted to shake hands with him.

The duration of this donation party is very short. The president also had to give a humorous keynote speech to those who paid $1000, and then take photos with those who paid $5000. Time was very tight. If he didn't seize the opportunity to show his strength in front of everyone, it would be easy to miss the opportunity. So he ignored Ovitz's thoughts and went straight to shake hands, then waved to his brother who was holding a camera below, asking him to take a photo of this expensive scene.

"Harvey..." The President also knew very clearly who brought real donations and who was just here to do things for him and take advantage of his fame. After shaking hands with Harvey perfunctorily, he turned around and continued chatting with Ovitz.

But Harvey was not angry. He had achieved his goal. He moved aside a little to give Ovitz room to speak, and then he looked around at the guests below. His eyes revealed an arrogant attitude of "Did you see the relationship between me and the President?"

Suddenly, Ronald's face came into his sight. Harvey Weinstein had lost the previous fight with Ronald, and now he seemed to have finally found a way to be stronger than him. His face was trembling, and his eyes looked at him fiercely...

"Harvey..." The president was a very polite man. After talking with Ovitz, he turned back to shake hands with Weinstein. He happened to see his sharp eyes looking at the audience. Following Harvey Weinstein's gaze, he saw that it was Ronald, the director of Forrest Gump. He owed him a favor and played the saxophone on a talk show to recover from the impact of his defeat. His wife Rodham also owed him a big favor. She spoofed a clip from Forrest Gump for free to promote the health care bill - although the bill had already failed and had a counterproductive effect...

"Ahaha, Ronald, you're here too, how long have we not seen each other?"

President William walked past Weinstein and came directly to shake hands with Ronald. He held Ronald's hand tightly with one hand and pressed the other hand on Ronald's forearm affectionately, as if the two were old friends who lived in the same dormitory in college.

"Your Excellency, the President, I heard from Ovitz that this time he was contributing to the earthquake reconstruction in California, so of course I have no choice but to do it..."

This donation was made under the pretext of reconstruction for last year's earthquake, but in reality it was intended to replenish funds for the President's personal PAC.

"Ah, you are always so considerate of others. Rodham also asked me to tell you how she performed in the Forrest Gump (parody) short film and whether there is anything she needs to improve."

Ronald smiled warmly. Rodham was truly the representative of the arrogant elite. Not only did he use Forrest Gump's copyright for nothing, but he also seemed to have done Ronald a huge favor.

"Oh, if she hadn't been a lawyer, she could have tried her luck in Hollywood. You know, ten... no, twenty Hollywood actresses have spent less time in school than your wife alone..."

"Hahahaha, that's a good joke. I'll tell Rodham about it. But are you implying that her acting is not good?"

William is very smart and has high emotional intelligence. He expressed his goodwill to Ronald in just two sentences, and saw through Ronald's hidden complaints. In the end, he even gave Ronald a sedan chair, letting the Hollywood stars around him know that he and he are friends who can joke about their wives together!
"What can I say? Based on my years of experience as a director, the best acting in that short film is still from you, the Commander-in-Chief. Many professional actors can't do it as easily as you..."

"Hahaha..." The commander-in-chief laughed again. "Oh, I almost cried. I will repeat everything to Rodham word for word when I get back..."

The President and Ronald maintained this intimate chat for nearly a minute, allowing the photographer to take as many photos as he wanted. Then he said goodbye to him and continued walking forward, taking photos and shaking hands with the fools who paid $5000. Everyone looked flattered. Although most of the people here were celebrities, it was rare to have the opportunity to shake hands with the President and chat about family matters...

Behind the President were Ovitz and Weinstein. Ovitz's expression control was okay, but he kept turning his head to look at Ronald. I haven't heard that he has a good relationship with the current President? Maybe they met because of Forrest Gump. It's no secret that the President likes Hollywood...

Weinstein's arrogance was completely gone. He came here to show off his power, but he didn't expect that Ronald would steal all the limelight. All his little thoughts were gone. Others didn't know that he accompanied the president and his wife on vacation at Martha's Vineyard. A word from them could determine the prosperity or decline of a person or a company... It seemed that Ronald and they were not just casual friends. He had to change his direction as soon as possible and not get involved in Ronald's affairs.

Otherwise, should I find time to go to Ronald's house and admit my fault? Yes, going to his house would not affect my reputation outside, and Ronald would surely calm down, right?
After the President finished shaking hands and taking photos, he went to the large venue outside to give a ten-minute speech. He was very graceful and humorous, and except for his sharp and piercing voice, he had the air of a perfect Hollywood star.

Many Hollywood female stars at the scene had a strong feeling for him. It could be seen from the way they applauded and the timing of their applause that it was not just a perfunctory performance. Their eyes revealed their determination to compete in a different field… After all, the top Hollywood female stars, such as Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, etc., were all competitors for JFK, who was powerful at a young age.

"Um……"

Ronald took the business card handed over by the White House photographer, and the photo of him and the President would be printed and mailed to him. This kind of fundraiser is specially set up for those who do not want to publicly support a certain party. The photo will not be published in the news bulletin, but will only be mailed to the person concerned as a souvenir.

"Thank you all for coming and your checks... I noticed some people want to write more, you can find Michael (Ovitz)... I am happy for the victims of the Los Angeles earthquake, this is what attracts me to the city of Los Angeles..."

After finishing his speech, the President waved to everyone, then quickly got into his car and drove away, escorted by his bodyguards. With the upcoming mid-term elections, the Donald Trump Party's situation in many places is critical, and the President has received so many invitations to help campaign that he is almost overwhelmed.

Ronald ignored the invitations from Ovitz and Weinstein to have dinner together, and just found a place to chat with Ron Meyer. Ovitz made another big move.

This fundraising event took less than an hour, and the President raised millions of dollars for his PAC. If we count the checks written by various people after the meeting to leave a good impression in front of the President, the efficiency was very high.

Ovitz has also found the right funding for his philanthropic endeavors. He is working with several other prominent Los Angeles philanthropists, such as Lou Wasserman, to raise money for a Los Angeles hospital.

In return, the hospital might be named after Ovitz, or a department might be named after him, or a charitable fund might be established to help patients who cannot afford the treatment.

The money raised for the president is for him personally, and in return, the federal government can provide subsidies, such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to the public hospitals he donates, with special subsidies of up to hundreds of millions of dollars.

In other words, Ovitz used the president's name to find a group of Hollywood stars to donate millions of dollars to the president and his wife's PAC, and in return they received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies for the hospital named after him.

Everyone was a winner in this deal: the president got money that he could fully control, the celebrities got the opportunity to take photos with him, and Ovitz got priority for federal funding.

This arrangement is really comprehensive and everyone has gained a lot of benefits. Only taxpayers do not know that their money has been moved from a public hospital that helps ordinary people to a public hospital with advanced facilities and more for wealthy couples because of Ovitz's personal fame needs.

On the contrary, those people might even be moved by this and have a better impression of the President, Ovitz, and those celebrities who donated generously.

"Ovitz must be doing something big, Ronald, are you worried?" Ron Meyer didn't want to beat around the bush anymore and directly raised the only topic of their meeting: how to deal with Ovitz's conspiracy.

"I don't have too many direct conflicts with him right now, but are you worried?"

"Come on, we all know that this guy likes bold conspiracies. How about we make a rule that if we find anything, we share it with each other?"

"Deal..." Ronald was actually a little worried that Ovitz might be plotting something again. The two of them didn't trust each other enough to unite, so it would be a good thing to have an internal senior executive to communicate with each other.