"Let's call it Luna."
"You agreed just like that?"
Ariana couldn't hide the joy on her face, blinking her eyelashes rapidly.
In traditional Western values, naming rights are seen as a supreme honor.
"Of course. I'll have someone customize a sign and stick it on the door of this recording studio immediately." Leon didn't intend to waste too much energy on things like naming recording studios.
He even thought about doing it all at once, naming the recording studio next door with a red and black background "Sol" (Sun) to match the moon.
"Great, honey!"
Ariana leaned over and kissed him lightly on the corner of his mouth. As passion intensified, the two entangled together again immediately.
Knock knock—Leon was still immersed in the loving atmosphere with Ariana when a knock sounded on the door.
Followed by Bonnie's voice: "Boss, James is here. They are waiting for you in the conference room."
"I know." Leon got up and put on his clothes. Today was an important day to meet the script team of Ready Player One and the male lead Tom Holland.
"You always seem to have endless work." Ariana seemed a bit unsatisfied, pouting and complaining, "It should be lunch break now."
When did this girl's appetite become so big?
Leon recalled an article he read in a natural science magazine a few days ago that overturned common sense.
The stereotype is that a woman's desire peaks between the ages of 30 and 40. The article pointed out that this is completely wrong.
A girl's hormonal peak should be between 18 and 25 years old.
The reason for causing this misunderstanding among men is entirely because compared to young girls, women aged 30 to 40 are more open in their thinking and concepts.
He curved the corners of his mouth, revealing a mysterious smile. "Do you want to meet Wan's team with me? They are a group of cool guys."
As soon as the voice fell, Ariana immediately fell into unrealistic girlish fantasies. "Do you think I have the potential to become an actress?"
"Anything is possible. Maybe one day you can really appear on the big screen."
Ariana was PUA'd dizzy, hugging Leon's arm tightly, and walked out of the recording studio together.
Sitting at the oval long table in the conference room were James Wan and his assistant, and six unfamiliar faces.
Leon quickly recognized the tall, unshaven white man as the famous Hollywood screenwriter David Benioff.
Seeing his figure, everyone in the conference room stood up hurriedly.
"This is Mr. Benioff. He is simply red-hot now. Game of Thrones is the best American drama in history!" James Wan introduced.
"Hello Mr. Benioff, welcome to Apocalypse Music."
"Mr. Leon, you look even younger than on TV." Benioff complimented.
Immediately after, James Wan pointed to the white boy beside him who looked like a middle school student.
Dark brown hair, fair skin, thin body, looking very clean, perfectly fitting the public's imagination of a good boy.
"Tom Holland." James Wan patted his shoulder. "The young man is a bit shy, especially seeing you, the famous Street Jesus."
Just as Leon was about to walk over to say hello, Ariana covered her mouth and exclaimed: "I know him!"
"You know Holland?"
"Of course! He is a genius musical actor. I watched Billy Elliot the Musical at least six times!"
Leon then remembered that Ariana started as a Broadway actor and is a peer of Holland, who became famous at a young age.
Because the age difference is only three years, the two soon chatted using musicals as an entry point.
Leon took a seat in the center of the conference table. A thick stack of documents was placed in front of everyone. This was the script written by Benioff's team based on the original novel Ready Player One.
James Wan flipped through the script and said: "When creating the script, I repeatedly conveyed your requirements to Mr. Benioff to ensure that every scene and every storyboard is consistent with your vision."
"Very good." Leon's first requirement was that the general framework of the story cannot be changed.
Facing this harsh requirement, as a top screenwriting team, Benioff's team still restored the original Spielberg version refreshed by inspiration almost perfectly.
Spielberg's greatest ability can be summarized in one word—"rhythm."
He knows clearly when to plant seeds, when to mobilize audience emotions, and when to let the climaxes explode intensively.
That's why he is the most successful commercial film director in the world. His movies look effortless and don't require using brains at all.
"I must say this is the most complex project I have taken over in my screenwriting career." Benioff said, "Those complicated IP copyrights alone are headache enough."
Because IP authorization is full of uncertainty, he left blanks for many scenes when creating the script.
For example, the final "Battle of the Oasis" can only be written into the script when Tsuburaya Productions confirms the authorization of the Ultraman IP.
Therefore, in this version of the script, the confirmed plots are basically dominated by IPs under Warner Bros.
"It's nothing; changing while shooting is a tradition in the film industry." James Wan said with a smile, "When I was shooting Saw 1, I didn't think of the idea of letting the corpse in the bathroom resurrect as Jigsaw from the beginning. As a result, this ending exploded and became a classic in horror film history."
Leon tapped the table with his finger. "How about Sony's IPs? God of War Kratos, Spider-Man are all influential IPs."
Saburo Kitano called a few days ago; he had already settled his brother-in-law.
Shuhei Yoshida agreed to open IP authorization for Ready Player One, but the specific cost is still unknown.
This needs to be calculated based on the valuation of the IP selected for filming and the appearance time in the movie.
"Although I don't know what method you used to move those rigid Japanese, I have to say you are a magician..." James Wan complimented a few words, then changed the subject and asked: "Can the Ultraman IP be settled? The Oasis battle is the most important scene of the whole movie."
"Those guys at Tsuburaya Productions are stubborn." Leon shook his head.
Holding the top gold mine of the Ultraman series, they could easily make big money just by selling peripheral products like cards and toys.
But the reality is that Tsuburaya Productions' operating condition is not optimistic, facing bankruptcy several times in history.
Seeing James Wan drooping his head, Leon took a sip of coffee and immediately threw another surprise. "Wanting to get Ultraman's authorization doesn't necessarily require cooperation with Tsuburaya."
"What? I don't understand what you mean." James Wan subconsciously thought he was going to use so-called street wisdom to solve the problem.
Don't care if authorized or not, use it first.
After a few seconds of silence, James Wan squeezed out an awkward smile. "Buddy, everything has to follow procedures, or we'll have to pay a large sum of money after the movie is released..."
Penalties for IP infringement generally depend on the amount of profit obtained by the misappropriating party.
According to Japanese companies' awareness of IP protection, maybe all box office revenues will have to be compensated.
"I didn't mean that. Have you heard of UM Corporation?" Leon said, "This company also claims to own the copyrights of the first 9 Ultraman related works, complying with all legal procedures."
"How can this be?"
"This involves complex copyright disputes. Tsuburaya and UM have been fighting lawsuits for several years, and there is still no result until now."
Because he hit a wall at Tsuburaya Productions, Kitano, who values face extremely, naturally wasn't willing to let it go.
For this reason, he contacted UM Corporation, which also owns Ultraman copyrights.
In 1976, Tsuburaya Productions, which was in financial trouble, authorized the distribution, production, reproduction, copyright, and trademark of the first 9 Ultraman works in all regions outside Japan indefinitely to Thai businessman Sompote Sands.
And in 2008, Sompote permanently transferred all rights he obtained under the "1976 Contract" agreement to UM Corporation.
But the cunning Japanese now do not recognize the legality of the "1976 Contract," believing that the then president Noboru Tsuburaya who signed the contract died in 1995, and the authenticity of the contract cannot be determined.
Regarding related copyright issues, Tsuburaya and UM launched lawsuits in multiple countries.
UM Corporation didn't care at all, dealing with lawsuits leisurely while selling Ultraman IP authorization at low prices worldwide, making Tsuburaya Productions gnash their teeth while easily making big money.
"If you have any other ideas, remember to tell me anytime. Jeff and I will do our best to cooperate with your shooting." Leon lit a cigarette, crossed his legs, and puffed smoke.
After half an hour of conversation, all members of Benioff's team completely changed their impression of Leon.
Previously, they just thought this was a layman in the film industry who made a lot of money in the music market and mistakenly bought the winning lottery ticket of Straight Outta Compton.
He still can't believe how a 21-year-old young man settled so many thorny IP problems. Previously, Hollywood's view on Ready Player One was—except for industry big shots like Spielberg and James Cameron, no one can shoot this movie.
"How about adding some Japanese anime elements? Have you read the manga I recommended to you before?" James Wan asked.
"Browsed briefly while on the toilet."
"Did you read that manga called Berserk?" Chatting about ACGN, James Wan's eyes flashed with light. "I simply love this manga to death; my horror movies got a lot of inspiration from there!"
"Read a little bit; indeed very interesting." Leon commented expressionlessly: "But I have to say many settings in this manga are just copies of Clive Barker's Hellraiser series."
"You are right..." James Wan was unable to refute and could only droop his head, then suddenly raised his head. "What about video games?"
"How about GTA and Red Dead Redemption?" Leon immediately thought of Richie, the cowboy culture expert he met while shooting Old Town Road.
The other party is a member of the Red Dead Redemption 2 script team and invited Leon to Rockstar Games several times to chat with the Houser brothers face to face, hoping to add Old Town Road to the game soundtrack of Red Dead Redemption 2.
"What? Are you serious, buddy?!" James Wan stood up excitedly. "Buddy, you may not know what GTA means. GTA: San Andreas is the best game in history."
"If you want, I can talk to the Houser brothers, including their upcoming new work GTA V. We can add Easter eggs of this game in the movie, and also let Rockstar add Easter eggs about our movie in the game. This is a win-win."
"I don't know what to say. I feel we can open champagne to celebrate the box office in advance." James Wan said with a smile.
For a director, the greatest happiness is nothing more than this. He only needs to focus on the set; the producer will bring him everything he wants.
Two hours of conversation basically solved all remaining problems of Ready Player One.
After a telephone discussion with Jeff, Leon made the decision to officially start shooting in early November.
After James Wan's team left, Bonnie walked into the CEO office immediately, bringing exciting news.
In the fourth week on the Billboard chart, We Don't Talk Anymore finally successfully counterattacked Rihanna's We Found Love relying on strong data on streaming platforms and radio.
This is the first time a work performed by Leon himself topped the Billboard.
"The data of the top three are very close. No one knows if you can still keep the championship next week." Bonnie said.
The competition on the Billboard chart this week is fierce. Besides Leon and Rihanna, Maroon 5's new work Moves Like Jagger ranking third also performed strongly.
Even Adele's work Someone Like You, which has been on the chart for half a year, still has the possibility of topping again.
"It doesn't matter. I think JAY-Z has enough headache now." Leon couldn't help laughing out loud at the thought of the other party's expression.
The new album created for Rihanna with the top resources of Roc Nation and Def Jam did not show crushing dominance.
The title song We Found Love, which was placed with high hopes in the album, only took two weekly championships before being squeezed down, far from meeting JAY-Z's expectations.
Bonnie shrugged. "You are absolutely right. As soon as the Billboard chart was released, Roc released the second promotional song of Rihanna's new album."
Hearing this, Leon called Tim immediately. Before he had time to speak, the other party's excited trembling voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Congratulations Leon! Another chart-topping singer is born!"
"This is just topping for one week. Next, Roc will definitely take out more banknotes to smash promotion hard..."
"This is not a problem! Mr. Stringer decided to increase investment in promotional resources for you! This week, from the West Coast to the East Coast, as long as American families with cars turn on the radio, they will definitely hear We Don't Talk Anymore!"
"Thank Mr. Stringer for me."
Backing on the big sugar daddy Columbia Records, Leon is full of confidence in the confrontation with JAY-Z.
If he hadn't signed with Columbia at the beginning and shortsightedly signed himself under Apocalypse Music to be self-sufficient, the probability of topping the Billboard in the short term would be quite slim.
The difference in promotional resources between big companies and small companies is like heaven and earth.
After the other party's emotions stabilized, he continued: "Use Old Town Road as the second promotional song of the album, and finally release it on all channels within a week."
Tim was slightly stunned and asked: "Didn't you say before to use that new song as the second promotional song?"
"I don't plan to wait. I can't wait to see what kind of market performance Old Town Road will have."
Combining Trap music with Country music is the first attempt in music history. No one thought of doing this before.
Just like Max said, either leave a name in history or be sprayed into a pile of sht.
But Leon himself is full of confidence in this work.
Artistry, emotional value, and atmosphere are all not decisive factors for whether a song can explode.
For music works in the streaming media era, whether it is catchy and brainwashing enough is the key.