Early the next morning, Leon arrived at the office as if nothing had happened.
Ignoring the noise from the streets, he even leisurely spent half an hour on the phone.
The person on the other end wasn't Taylor or Beyoncé, but Kanye.
Ever since the dust settled on the Adidas endorsement deal, Kanye called him almost every few days.
The timing wasn't fixed, but the interval never exceeded five days.
Besides questions about sneaker design, what Kanye asked about most was Kim Kardashian.
Last month, Kardashian got engaged to NBA player Kris Humphries. Everyone in the circle who heard the news was waiting for the punchline.
Betting on how long their marriage would last—six months or a year.
But Kanye was devastated by this, repeatedly calling himself "the saddest man in America" in front of Leon.
Speaking of which, Leon was quite exasperated. If it weren't for fishing for information about Diddy, he wouldn't have bothered wasting time on this stupid topic.
"Man, I'm curious. If you regret it so much now, why didn't you just pursue Kim back then?" After getting tired of being a relationship guru, Leon's rhetorical question silenced Kanye immediately.
Humphries was just a bench player in the NBA, averaging less than ten points per game.
He had explosive physical qualities, but always lost out in matchups.
Slow speed, poor accuracy, insufficient jumping ability—he had all these flaws.
Nets fans described him as "a running pile of white sht."
Comparing net worth and fame, he wasn't even in the same league as Kanye.
For a snobbish woman like Kim Kardashian, as long as Kanye opened his mouth, she would dump Humphries without hesitation.
After a long silence, Kanye whispered: "I can't tell if I love her or just love the idea of her... and she's always entangled with other men."
Hearing this, Leon almost spat out the coffee he just drank.
A woman whose technique had been appreciated by men all over the world, and you're conflicted about her being entangled with other men?
Leon suppressed his laughter and asked: "Do you want to bang her every day?"
"Listen to me, Bro..."
"Answer my question. We are friends; I will help you."
After nearly ten seconds of silence, Kanye gritted his teeth and said: "Fxxk! I admit I want to every day!"
"Very good." Leon's tone was serious. "That is love."
"What?" Kanye was full of question marks.
"When you want to bang the same woman every day, that is love~ my friend."
Kanye pondered this sentence carefully and immediately felt enlightened, feeling clear from head to toe.
He thanked Leon repeatedly over the phone, as if he had made up his mind about something. "Bro, you are truly a magician of love. No wonder even Beyoncé can't resist you."
"What are you talking about? Don't tarnish our friendship!"
"Alright, I get it, I get it, man~" Kanye, having resolved his doubts, laughed like a child.
Just a few seconds later, his voice became serious again. "Watch out for Diddy, man!"
"What exactly does Diddy want to do? Tell me in detail." Leon sat up straight immediately, switching out of the playful state just now.
"Damn... he's been very mysterious lately, hiding in his home on Long Island and not coming out for any public events," Kanye said. "But he's been hosting small-scale parties at home; I went to one recently."
"Man, you can't imagine. The whole house has more than forty bodyguards armed with live ammunition. Diddy is like a warlord."
This was exactly as Leon expected.
Diddy knew there was a group of dangerous Mexican thugs around him; he had already suffered a loss at the hands of this group.
Solving this matter completely by force was unreliable from the beginning, and now it was even harder.
"What else? I mean, did Diddy reveal how he plans to take revenge on me?" Leon asked.
"No... he just repeatedly emphasized that he would make you completely finished. The East Coast is his territory!"
Just as Leon was about to hang up, Phil, Bonnie, and Old Mike walked in together.
"Talking on the phone with Taylor again?" Phil asked with a smile.
"Nothing of the sort." Leon hung up the phone and propped his feet on the table.
"Doesn't matter. You're just another ordinary name in that woman's phone book anyway." Phil pursed his lips.
According to the plan, Leon was to participate in the music video shoot for We Don't Talk Anymore today.
According to the original MV provided by the inspiration refresh, he and Robbie didn't need to appear in the same frame.
They would complete the shooting independently, and the two scenes would be combined to reflect the tragic feeling of "broken mirrors cannot be joined" that the song wanted to express.
Leon didn't understand art; he only knew that this shooting method not only saved money but also saved trouble, so he decisively adopted the idea of the original MV.
This song won by quality and streaming heat; it didn't need a fancy MV.
"Did you sort out the information I asked you to check?" Leon raised his chin at Bonnie.
"Of course."
Bonnie put a document about an inch thick on the table.
It contained information about which companies held the rights to the IPs involved in the movie Ready Player One.
"Damn..." The thickness was enough to explain the problem. Leon braced himself and leafed through it.
Chucky, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mechagodzilla, Gundam, Terminator T-800...
The IPs were distributed among major manufacturers such as Paramount, Warner, Universal, Capcom, etc.
Spanning movies, anime, games, and other fields, from Japanese to domestic American IPs, all were involved.
This couldn't help but make Leon wonder: How did Spielberg achieve this?
Just paying the high copyright fees would be enough to make all manufacturers shy away.
Leon, who had the original movie stored in his mind, knew that he could avoid most plagiarism risks by limiting the duration of IP usage.
That is, not filming the entire homage to the classic movie, but just 4-5 seconds of footage.
Leaving the rest to the audience's movie knowledge to make associations.
In the American film industry, the general time limit for plagiarism or "fair use" referencing is set at eight consecutive seconds.
But even so, there were still quite a few IPs with many shots that required payment.
"Why are you investigating this information? Do you want to buy a super IP?" Phil looked confused. "Although you made a lot of money from the movie, I think you are getting a bit carried away, aren't you?"
The boom in the superhero movie market further boosted the value of big IPs.
For any well-known IP on the market, let alone how much it was worth, no company was willing to sell at all.
They were all in the hands of major studios.
Leon looked at Phil with a meaningful look and didn't bother to respond.
He followed Old Mike's filming team to the MV shooting location, a hotel suite.
He only needed to lie on the bed and constantly change poses in front of the camera, showing the struggle and despair after a breakup.
This was the simplest possible shoot.
But Leon couldn't find the state; he had never had such an experience.
"Cut! Do it again!"
"Your state is still wrong, do it again!"
After more than ten NGs in a row, Mike finally couldn't take it anymore and blurted out, "Man, recall the state of mind when you broke up with a girl you liked... think about Robbie."
As soon as he finished saying this, he realized he misspoke. "Man... I mean you must get into the state."
"It's okay." Leon waved his hand. "Fxxk, I don't know what else to do. Can't we just make do?"
"No!" Mike resolutely opposed.
Although he was just an MV director, worlds apart from famous directors like David Fincher.
But he also had his own artistic pursuit.
When taking photos for women, he tried his best to capture perfect infatuation, let alone an MV work.
He tried to change an angle to help Leon find the state. "Think about the scene when a relative passed away... think about the scene when terrorists hijacked the plane and crashed into the World Trade Center..."
"Think about the bank holding your life savings going bankrupt because of the financial crisis..."
Hearing the last sentence, Leon's expression finally changed.
His face was ashy, revealing the highest level of sadness.
"Keep this expression, don't move!" Mike pushed the cameraman away and took charge of the camera himself. "Yes... perfect~ So right~ God, you are the most heartbroken man I have ever seen... sadder than Romeo taking poison..."
The hotel scenes took longer than expected. Next was the last scene.
Encoutering a girl at a cocktail party.
In the MV, this represented trying to enter another relationship after a breakup, but ending in failure.
Leon chose Kendall Jenner for the female lead.
Good looks and figure, and the key point was that the price wasn't high.
As her screen time in Keeping Up with the Kardashians increased, her value would rise accordingly.
Being able to act opposite her idol, the girl agreed without thinking, and family members also strongly supported it.
Not a single member of this profit-driven family didn't covet Leon's traffic.
"Mr. Leon, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity." Kendall's appearance was mature and glamorous, showing a strong aura.
But in front of her idol, her voice was as faint as silk.
"Don't be nervous; let's try to get it done in one take."
"Mmh!"
Leon looked Kendall up and down, making the already shy Kendall blush immediately.
He shouted to the costumer: "Why did you idiots think of preparing a pair of 12-centimeter high heels for her..."
Kendall was 1.78 meters tall barefoot, about the same as Taylor.
The key point was that she was still growing, with at least two more years of development time.
She was fully 20 centimeters taller than her sister Kim Kardashian, an absolute giant in the family.
With the blessing of 12-centimeter high heels, she was directly half a head taller than Leon.
The costumer brought a pair of flat shoes as fast as possible, fearing to upset this street tough guy.
After changing into flat shoes, the two standing together looked much more compatible.
After the start command was given, Kendall hooked Leon's neck, her eyes misty.
Entering the state at the speed of light.
Old Mike, carrying the camera, couldn't help swallowing, praising Leon's keen eye for selecting actresses in his heart.
Keeping Up with the Kardashians started airing in 2007, when Kendall was only 12 years old.
As a national reality show, Mike witnessed Kendall's growth on the TV screen.
In the blink of an eye, she had blossomed into a bright and beautiful young woman.
"Worthy of being a woman of the Kardashian family..." Leon supported Kendall's grippable waist with both hands, trying hard to control the distance.
This family's sense for the camera was innate.
As soon as the start signal rang, they immediately entered the state as if they had received a divine revelation from God.
"Closer..."
"Like this?" Kendall pressed a few inches forward.
"Not enough... a bit closer~" Mike urged.
"Okay... still can be a bit closer." Leon recited silently in his heart.
Kendall's performance was nearly perfect; the three shots in this segment were all done in one take.
Team members gathered around Leon to praise him, then packed up the equipment to wrap up.
"Mr. Leon, how was my performance just now?" Kendall skipped over to Leon.
After getting along for more than an hour, she had activated the Kardashian family's "Social Butterfly Gene" and became less restrained.
"Do you think I will become an excellent actress?" Kendall blinked her big eyes and asked.
These questions were all prepared in advance.
Before coming to the shooting scene, her mother Kris repeatedly instructed: Don't miss any opportunity to get close to Leon!
Leon saw through the other party's little thoughts at a glance and perfunctorily said: "You will become an excellent actress."
"What about a singer? Do you think I'm suitable for singing?"
"I've never heard your singing voice."
Kendall quickly followed up, "If you can give me an audition opportunity, I will show you my best side!"
Amid the girl's expectant face, Leon promised to give her this opportunity at a suitable time.
Two days later, Robbie's individual segment was also filmed.
We Don't Talk Anymore, which had been brewing for half a year, was completely produced and ready for release at any time.
In these two days, Leon and Diddy had no major friction but constant minor conflicts.
In addition to releasing harsh words on the street, the conflict between the two teams on the internet had never stopped.
Although three months had passed since the beef broke out, the heat showed no signs of subsiding. Instead, it became more heated with constant street conflicts.
The internet was full of onlookers waiting to see who would end up in a coffin first.
New generation rappers tried every means to leech off this wave of traffic.
Among them, the one leeching hardest was a white rapper nicknamed MGK (Machine Gun Kelly).
He had just signed with Diddy's Bad Boy Records this year.
From image to persona, he imitated Leon in all aspects and insulted him indiscriminately in all public occasions.
A 21-year-old white kid daring to act so recklessly under Leon's fierce reputation—this was all P. Diddy's idea behind the scenes.
He not only wanted to destroy the "Street Jesus" but also wanted to copy a new one.
Leon had long been disgusted with MGK to the extreme. When he heard that Davis, who had just been discharged from the hospital, met MGK at a nightclub, he immediately issued an order:
"Stuff those kids in tight leather pants into the van!"
After half an hour of torture, one of MGK's legs was broken.
Under Leon's instructions, Davis gave the tattoo-loving MGK a special gift.
Using simple tattoo equipment, he tattooed a dck pattern on the other party's face.
This was already the most merciful result.
If there hadn't been many witnesses at the scene who saw MGK being stuffed into a van by a group of black men, Davis might have sent the other party to see God with a bullet in his anger over losing a ball.
In the office, after Aisha routinely reported the financial situation of the previous month, Bonnie walked in right after.
Followed by five people, men and women.
These people were screened through online resumes and interviews, and would stay as members of the new company under Apocalypse Music.
Leon established the management company according to plan.
This group would be responsible for artist signing, management, promotion, and performance arrangements.
Finding performance opportunities for artists, negotiating cooperation matters, formulating performance plans, etc., to enhance the artist's popularity and commercial value.
Just as Leon was explaining the work priorities to this group of newcomers, Phil walked in.
He mocked as soon as he opened his mouth: "Fxxk, where did these guys come from... they aren't professional hitmen you hired, are they?"
Leon shook his head, the corners of his mouth rising as he continued to watch the other party perform.
"I thought so. They look like they were just kicked out by their parents, with the word 'Loser' carved on their faces. Letting such fools deal with Diddy won't work." Phil said mysteriously: "I heard Diddy hired a large group of people, many of whom are street veterans who have been to prison."
"You are right." Leon spread his hands.
"Then what are these guys for?" Phil said while reaching for the liquor cabinet.
"Members of the new company, the management company."
Crash—
Phil's right hand trembled, and a bottle of wine smashed on the floor.
"What?!" His expression was like he had seen a ghost, full of disbelief.