Shadow Empire

Chapter 228 New Movie
"…Our total investment in this film is over 120,000 yuan, and our investment in the leading actor is over 50,000 yuan."

"Don't forget, we just signed a contract with him!"

What they invested in the leading actor was not only the cost of time, training and various miscellaneous expenses, they also signed a very special contract.

The leading actor must shoot no less than fifteen more films for Triumph Pictures. In other words, the clause that was originally used to restrict the leading actor has in turn become a knife that hurts Triumph Pictures!
It is stipulated in the fine print that the male lead must absolutely be the male lead in every film.

When they signed the contract, Selick thought that the male lead had a handsome appearance and a body like a classical bodybuilder, and he would definitely be very popular in the market.

They had previously made an attempt by shooting a silent film of about thirty minutes in length, and many viewers thought that the leading actor’s performance was very good and were willing to get to know and pay attention to him.

Based on this, Triumph Pictures signed such a contract with him.

They train the leading male actors, and the leading male actors must repay them as much as possible and bring benefits to the company.

But now, the actor has a crooked scar on his face, which looks like a fucking bug on his face.

The threads looked like insect legs, and the thought made Serrick feel a little nauseous.

So fucking fucked!
"The company lost at least three hundred thousand dollars in total. If someone had advised him, he would have asked the company to fulfill the contract and we would have made another fourteen films for him."

"Even if we reduce the cost of each film to the lowest possible, it might still cost 100,000 yuan."

"We have lost at least 400,000 yuan. If he becomes popular in the future, we will lose even more."

The board member on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment. "So what do you want to do?"

The corners of Serric's mouth turned up slightly, but no one could see his expression. "That young man named Gerald is the most talented and the best-looking one I've ever seen."

"He's worth four hundred thousand, or even one million, or two million!"

The voice in the receiver was a little dull. "Are you sure that the young man named Gerald is really that outstanding?"

"Or has your sexual quirk begun to cloud your judgment?"

Cerrick was immediately embarrassed and annoyed. "Fuck, I won't let this kind of thing affect my judgment. I can still clearly distinguish between public and private matters."

"If you come and see that young man, you will know that I am absolutely right. He will become a banner of the company!"

The director thought for a while after hearing this, "So?"

"Let's put some pressure on them and make them bow their heads. I know they are gangsters, but we are not vegetarians!"

"Besides, there are some other filming crews in Creek Valley City right now. If we give in now, we will become a laughing stock in the entire industry."

The gentleman on the other end of the phone chuckled after hearing this. "But they are gangsters, Sellick. Those methods won't work on them."

"You can't expect these gang members to voluntarily pay fines or plead guilty, it's impossible, let alone expect the police to catch them."

“You can’t put pressure on them.”

"But I agree with what you said. We cannot become a laughing stock in the industry. We support you in fighting back!"

"Put a little pressure on them, do what you want, and talk to them."

After listening to this, Serrick smiled and said, "You made the right decision..."

Gerard cannot leave Valley City these days because he is still under the "ban".

In fact, no one would care if he really wanted to leave. For some people, violating the federal ban is as easy as drinking water.

But for some others, it may be a little more difficult.

Especially since Gerard is going to be a big star in the future, he won’t have too many “stains” on him now.

Although from a longer-term perspective, his involvement with the mafia was also a stain on him, but that was decades later.

During this period, the federal government, capitalists and gangs ruled the world together, and people did not think that gang membership was a stain, as long as it was not a small and insignificant gang.

But, having a gang background and having a criminal record are two different things, so Lance and the others will stay here for the time being.

Chief West has passed the information about Lance's gang to the local police through internal channels. To them, the gang from Jingang City is inherently intimidating.

There is even a book called "Jingang City Gang" which records many brutal incidents.

Triumph Pictures decisively called the police and planned to sue Lance and others, asking them to pay a total of one million in compensation.

This debt fell directly on Gerard, and when he learned the news, he was obviously a little panicked!

It is impossible for anyone, at his age, to remain calm when suddenly faced with such a huge compensation lawsuit!
That's a million years!
In an era when the actual salary was only around 30 or early 40 yuan, one million yuan meant they would never be able to pay it back in their entire lifetime.

Sellick's lawyer even suggested the idea of ​​"negotiating".

Valley City was too peaceful, and the news quickly made the front-page headlines of local news. Serick also mentioned in an interview that he admired Gerard's talent very much.

He said that if Gerald and his friends were willing to apologize and Gerald was willing to sign a work contract with the company.

Then he can apply to the company to terminate the lawsuit and compensation claim against Gerald.

Not only that, they are also willing to build a series of movies around Gerard.

It seemed that they offered very good conditions. Even some onlookers could feel Triumph Pictures' determination to get Gerard.

This also made them all feel that Triumph Pictures was good. They were obviously victims, but because they loved Gerard's talent and gift, they were willing to give up "revenge".

This is very attractive to the federal people who have a spirit of freedom and romanticism in their bones!
Many of them did not know Gerard, but because of this, they began to show some interest in this big boy who they had only heard of his name but had never seen in person.

What happened here not only had an impact on Valley City and Jingang City, but also had a certain degree of impact on the entire film industry.

Some film production companies began to discuss a question - how to ensure that the company's shooting plans can be carried out without being affected?
If there were gangsters involved, they might all face the same situation. Although some people shouted the slogan "Please keep the gangsters away from the movie", it didn't seem to cause much of a stir...

Lance looked at the "Golden Port Today" in his hand, which mentioned this matter.

"I haven't even asked them for compensation yet, but they've already taken us to court," he said, thinking for a while. "These people need to face reality."

Hiram couldn't help but get excited, "It's time to live!"

Lance took out the map and drew three circles. "Assign your tasks..."

At two o'clock in the afternoon, there were many security guards maintaining order on the set of "Love Trap". Serick felt that Lance might attack other crews, so he urgently hired a lot of security guards.

Some were hired locally, and some were hired from other places and then rushed here. They tried their best to avoid hiring security guards from Jingang City to avoid hiring people who had any relationship with Lance.

The protection of so many security guards also made the crew members feel at ease. They completed the filming of a scene while chatting and laughing.

The director seemed very satisfied. They were making fast progress and if nothing unexpected happened, they would be able to finish filming in a week or so at most.

In fact, not only does the first launch in the entire industry have unshakable advantages, but the first launch within the company also has unshakable advantages.

Just as he was thinking about how the plot should proceed, he suddenly heard the sound of car tires rubbing against the ground.

He turned his head and saw that the road was temporarily closed. The city hall gave them three days, and no one should drive in at this time.

Just as the director called his assistant over and asked him to tell those people that they could not stay here and to leave as soon as possible, someone got out of the car.

They were all carrying the sailing team's baseball bats, and some locals looked dissatisfied when they saw this scene.

Because last year it was the sailing team that eliminated the Valley City team!
The assistant walked over with gritted teeth and said, "You can't park here!" He originally wanted to drive these people away and tell them to leave as soon as possible.

But for some reason, his lips suddenly became disobedient and he said something he hadn't even thought of.

Hiram looked back at the three neatly parked cars, swung the baseball bat while cursing, and with a dull thud, the assistant fell asleep.

After a very brief silence, some actresses screamed and fled far away, and the security guards who were guarding here also rushed over. Hiram lifted his windbreaker, revealing the submachine gun inside, and in an instant, all the security guards stopped moving.

"Hold your hands and squat slowly. Let me see your hands, otherwise my bullets will come to you!"

Faced with security guards who far outnumbered them, Hiram was not nervous or timid, but became even more arrogant.

He handed the bat to the man next to him and pulled the trigger of the submachine gun towards the sky.

The sound of gunfire made the chaotic scene even more chaotic!
After briefly weighing the pros and cons, the security guards all squatted down.

In fact, some of them were armed, even with pistols, but it seemed not worth it to risk their lives for such a small amount of money.

The security guards' giving up resistance plunged the crew members into despair, but most of them actually had no need to be afraid.

Lance is not the kind of person who loves killing, and these people are essentially innocent. As long as they don't do anything stupid, they won't get hurt and won't be in danger.

Lawn remembered Lance's words. He walked directly to a man who looked like a director and grabbed his collar. "Where is the film?"

The director had never experienced such a scene before. He swallowed his saliva and said, "In the van over there, some are in the hotel..."

Two minutes later, the director saw the film that had been shot a few days ago but had not been sent back yet was torn out, doused with gasoline, and engulfed in flames.

All the achievements made during this period of time were reduced to ashes at this moment. He knelt on the ground and let out a shrill scream.

"Do not!!"

The police arrived very quickly, perhaps because there were not many cars on the roads in Valley City. The sound of sirens could be heard after only seven or eight minutes.

Hiram jumped up and stomped on the camera lens until it was deformed, then he grinned at the controlled people and said, "Tell your boss that this is just the beginning!"

He shook his hair and spat on the ground, "You're in trouble!"

He heard from Lance that this was what the producer told them, and now he wanted to return this sentence to these people exactly as it was.

After saying that, he put the submachine gun on his shoulder and swaggered into the car.

At this time, the police car was only more than 20 meters away from here. They also saw the three gangsters' vehicles and the submachine gun in Gerard's hand.

Even they themselves were still using revolvers, but these gangsters were already using submachine guns. How could they catch people?

As if in demonstration, Hiram stuck his submachine gun out of the car window and fired another volley of bullets into the sky.

The police cars that were originally speeding up suddenly stopped where they were, and they didn't drive over until they could no longer see the three cars.

Several policemen straightened their clothes and calmed their pounding hearts. One of them asked with a straight face, "Who called the police?"

Being a policeman is so damn dangerous!

In one afternoon, all three film crews of Triumph Pictures were smashed, their film reels were destroyed, and some crew members were beaten.

There are always people who think they are the protagonists of this world. They want to do something to change the current situation, but they fail.

Fortunately, no one was killed, only injured.

In an instant, the pressure was back on Selrick. He didn't expect that the bodyguards he hired were so useless, nor did he expect that Lance and his group would dare to fire warning shots even in front of the police.

This group of people are too arrogant. Are they really... ordinary gangsters?
For a time, the directors of the board of directors almost blew up his phone with calls. The hundreds of thousands of dollars lost had not yet been recovered, and new losses had come.

The total loss this time is at least four or five hundred thousand dollars. The film is only a part of it. The most important thing is that the filming equipment of these three crews have all been destroyed!

That's a lot of money.

The directors, who had originally remained silent about the matter, began to argue at this time. They seemed to have a lot of "foresight", as if they had known that the result would be like this.

But from what they said, it was clear that their target was not Lance's group, but Selrick.

They believed that Sellick's conspiracy had affected his brain and that he was no longer fit to continue serving as a director. Some even said that he should hand over his shares as an apology!
These people's accusations and insults made him very unhappy, so he hung up the phone directly and refused to answer any calls.

After walking back and forth several times, he asked, "Are there any local gangs you know?"

"Ask them how much money they would need to deal with Lance and his gang."

He had not intended to use these tricks before because he did not want to have a stain on himself, like Mr. Jobaf.

He was reluctant to get in touch with the gangsters personally because he didn't want to have any stain on himself.

But now, Serrik can no longer care about these.

His assistant quickly found some numbers through his super powers and dialed them.

He kept on calling, and Serrick was standing by the window smoking a cigarette, he was fed up!

These damn gangs never follow the rules, and the most important thing is that the company's influence has not yet reached this side.

However, he knew from the unhappy expression on his assistant's face that the idea of ​​asking the local gang to help him with revenge did not seem to work.

After the last call was made, the assistant sighed and said, "No one is willing to take this job, even though the price we offered is very high."

"The locals are greatly influenced by Jingang City. They say Lance is from the Pasretto family. They don't want to take action against Lance and his friends because it will offend some big shots."

Serrick began to pace back and forth in annoyance, "Call the mayor, call the councillors, and protest to them!"

"The investment environment here is too bad. We were threatened by some gang members and the police couldn't protect us. This is a joke!"

There were several people in the room, all of whom were his trusted subordinates. When the producer was about to come up with some ideas, the door was suddenly opened from outside.

They all stood up in shock, watching the door being pushed open and Lance walking in from outside, "What kind of joke was that just now?"

He walked straight to the sofa, and the people who were originally sitting on the sofa and standing beside the sofa were pushed by others to stand in the corner.

Lance sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and shivered his ankles. "Mr. Sellick, can you tell me what the joke is?"

“I also like to listen to jokes!”

Serrick pursed his lips and looked at Lance. After about ten seconds, he said, "You are not welcome here."

Lance looked at Ennio, "Bring a chair to Mr. Serrick. I don't like talking to people with my head tilted up."

Ennio dragged a chair from the side, placed it opposite Lance, and motioned for Seric to sit on it.

But the latter didn't seem to want to cooperate. He still stood there, looking at Lance with cold eyes.

Ennio walked up to him and punched him hard in the abdomen. In an instant, Mr. Seric, who insisted on standing, bent down and was helped by Ennio to sit on the chair.

Perhaps he truly realized that people like Lance had no fear of social behavior at all, so Serrick stopped talking.

He also tried his best to straighten his spine again, still looking at Lance with that rude look.

"Take the other ladies and gentlemen who are not involved in this matter to other rooms. We need to have a good talk with Mr. Serrick."

Everyone else in the room breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that they were "free", and when Gerard's producer tried to leave as well, he was stopped.

"You can't go."

Serrick was a little panicked at this time, but he didn't show it because Gerald was there too.

Just when he was unsure what was going to happen next, the male protagonist arrived...

(End of this chapter)