American fame and fortune

"I'm totally screwed when I step on a horse. This is my conclusion after careful consideration. I'm screwed!"

"These six days were supposed to be the beginning of the most glorious six months of my life, but it turned out to be the prelude to a nightmare... The other teammates must have thought I was dead, and of course I can't blame them. Maybe it will take a while. There will be a state funeral, and my bio will say: Mark Watney is the only person to have died on Mars."

Martin read the first two chapters carefully, and Matt Damon's honest face automatically jumped out in front of his eyes. Combined with the name of the novel, it was not difficult to determine that this was the film Growing Potatoes on Mars.

Then, he looked at Rachel opposite and thought to himself, what kind of plane are these FBI doing?

Martin looked for this novel, but could not find it on the publishing market. As a result, several FBI agents who wanted to fish for their own secrets used it as bait to catch themselves.

Or are these FBI showing goodwill to him?

Send beauties first, then projects, what a good person!

Although his mind is spinning, Martin's acting skills are completely online and his face is very calm, as if this work is ordinary.

Rachel had been observing Martin and found that he was just reading the manuscript calmly and seemed not very interested.

This is not an action by the FBI, but her boss has found a few hard-core subordinates to show off the person who blocked her promotion.

The resources that can be mobilized are limited.

Rachel's first thought was that simple seduction could lead to successful fishing. After all, the other party's playboy had a very famous reputation.

Martin read two more chapters to make sure there was no mistake. He closed the printed text and said: "A literary work that is slightly biased towards hard science fiction, with average adaptation potential. Over the years, Hollywood has tended towards hard science fiction movies. Large investments have always yielded low returns, and few are truly successful.”

Rachel still made some preparations and said: "Don't you think this is like a Martian version of "Robinson Crusoe"? It's very well written. When I read it, I felt like it was like a rocket taking off. Such dramatic thrust!”

Martin asked: "Has this work been published? Is there an audience? Is the author famous?"

Facing industry insiders, Rachel couldn't make it up, so she could only say: "Without publication, the author is an unknown person."

"You see, these are the problems." Martin spread his hands: "Even if I want to adapt it into a movie, there is still a long way to go."

Rachel said to herself, as long as you don't refuse outright.

She didn't care whether Martin adapted it or not.

Rachel added: "We can agree on a plan to move it towards an adaptation."

Martin quickly flipped through the printed manuscript and found that there was no ending at all, and asked: "Who is the author? There is not even an ending! Rachel, you are making me very embarrassed."

Rachel's foot, which she was about to extend, took it back.

Martin continued: "I need to meet the author and chat with him face to face to make sure that he can complete the work and write a qualified ending, so that I can promote the adaptation."

He looked at Rachel: "You are a senior editor and you should understand the operation of Hollywood. Every step forward for a larger film project will cost at least hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Rachel thought for a moment and said, "Our publishing house is also communicating with the original author on these matters. I can assure you that none of what you mentioned is a problem."

Seeing that the other party was using what he was good at as an excuse, Martin simply said: "How about this. For the early recommendation, we will jointly fund the project. When the film project is operated later, I can introduce your publishing house as an investing shareholder."

This was completely beyond Rachel's expectations. It wasn't enough to recommend a novel to the other party, but she also had to provide money to help run the project?

Is this fishing or feeding fish?

But she worked as an assistant in the FBI's Hollywood office and knew that this was a sincere and normal way of operating in Hollywood.

Of course, Rachel couldn't pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Maybe her boss had it in his treasury, but his boss definitely wouldn't pay for it.

Bruce glanced at Martin and said nothing, because the other side was the individual behavior of an individual in the FBI.

If it were the official behavior of the FBI, the two would have already found a way to settle the matter.

The development of things always goes beyond the plan. Rachel is a little messy. Looking at Martin opposite, he is full of sincerity.

"This..." She had no choice but to say, "I need to ask my superiors for instructions."

Martin said: "Don't worry." He picked up the printed manuscript and said: "I'll take it back and take a closer look."

It's definitely not possible without someone taking it back. Rachel nodded and said, "You can take it with you."

Martin put the manuscript into the file bag and lightly touched Lao Bu's feet.

Bruce remained calm as the cell phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

He then said a few words and said to Martin: "This is a call from the White House. Mr. President invites you to watch the fireworks show tonight."

Rachel's eyebrows skipped a beat, but she didn't worry too much because her superior was not on the White House line.

Martin picked up the portfolio and shook hands with Rachel who stood up: "If you are willing to invest, please notify me in time so that I can make preparations."

Rachel smiled and said: "I will respond to the superiors."

Martin and Bruce are gone.

After the people went out and disappeared, Kate sat back on the chair and said: "You have caused too much trouble. It could have been solved by taking off your pants."

Rachel was a little unhappy when she heard this and asked: "Last time Martin came to Washington, you wanted to take off your pants. Did you succeed?"

Kate sells it as bad: "I'm not charming enough, but you are different. You just spread your legs and tell him to look down and he will find a surprise. Once he uses it, he will crave it forever!"

Rachel was very angry, stared at Kate, and finally said nothing, picked up her briefcase and left the cafe.

Martin and Bruce entered the hotel lobby and came to the rest area first.

Bruce checked the file bag carefully and made sure there was nothing wrong with it, and then the two of them went upstairs.

"The conversation is over so soon?" Elizabeth hasn't finished packing her luggage yet.

Martin nodded and said to Bruce: "Call Thomas over."

Elizabeth knew that he had something important to do, and pointed to the next bedroom: "I'm going to see if Lily has packed up."

A few minutes later, Thomas came in from outside, and Martin called him into the study room of the suite.

Bruce handed the file to Thomas: "Inside is the manuscript of a novel."

Thomas took it out and asked, "Do you want to buy the copyright?"

Martin nodded slightly: "This manuscript has not yet been published. The copyright should still be in the hands of the author, but I don't know who the author is."

He asked specifically, but Rachel made a roundabout way but said nothing: "Find the author and negotiate with him for film and television adaptation rights as quickly as possible."

"Okay." Thomas flipped through the manuscript.

In Martin's mind, Matt Damon's honest face flashed again, remembering that the other person was a member of the Foot Gang, and secretly sighed that not only was fate, but even the FBI wanted him to stand on the opposite side of the Foot Gang.

Thomas read the manuscript for a while, turned on the computer in the study, logged into the Google website, entered a paragraph of the manuscript, searched on Google, and opened a personal blog.

He looked at it carefully and said, "The author has been found."

Martin responded: "Who is it?"

Thomas said: "A man named Andy Weir, because he did not have the support of a publisher, he serially updated "The Martian" through his personal blog, and he has currently updated it to the last chapter of the manuscript."

There was an introduction to the author on it, and he said while reading it: "This person graduated from the University of California and currently works at Blizzard Entertainment."

Martin asked: "Blizzard Entertainment makes the Warcraft game?"

"Yes." Thomas confirmed this: "He is a game programmer at Blizzard."

Martin thought for a while: "Go back to California immediately, find this person, deal with him, and buy the copyright."

Thomas put away the manuscript: "I'm going to book a flight right now."

Martin thought of another thing: "By the way, I would like to confirm Ridley Scott's future work schedule."

Thomas nodded and left the room.

Martin thought about it carefully and made sure he remembered correctly. Ridley Scott was the director.

The director Lao Lei is known in the industry for his unstable performance. The films he directs are always good and bad, resulting in a great reputation, but he cannot get the final editing rights.

But one thing is clear. Lao Lei's beat films are basically epic masterpieces, especially costumes. It seems that "Gladiator" has achieved great commercial success.

On the contrary, in science fiction films, Lao Lei rarely misses.

Martin remembers that Lao Lei was a very ambitious director. Every time he succeeded in a science fiction film, he jumped into the big pit of epic films without hesitation.

"Kingdom of Heaven", "Robin Hood", "Pharaohs and the Gods", "The Last Duel"...

They were all box-office disasters that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce.

Martin took out the mobile phone dedicated to the trio and dialed Neves' number again. After chatting for a while, he felt relieved.

Thomas took a flight back to Los Angeles that afternoon.

Martin and his party had dinner in advance and came to the White House again to enjoy the Independence Day fireworks show with Guan Hai and others.

Elizabeth also communicated with Michelle in person that Maria would go to Los Angeles in mid-July to join the crew of "Inception" for summer practice activities.

Nolan, Martin and several Warner Bros. executives will all sign notes on her practice.

It is conceivable that she will definitely enter an Ivy League school in the future.

The next morning, Martin saw off Lily and Elizabeth first, then took a flight to leave North America and return to Morocco to continue filming "Inception."

During a layover in Rabat, he received a call from Neves.

The fishermen who were fishing were sent to South Korea as liaison officers because they failed in the internal competition among the fishermen and would not return to North America for a long time.

The hook was gone, so of course Martin had to take the bait.

Thomas contacted Andy Weir, who is still writing part-time. It is difficult to see hope in serialized novels, and the negotiation went relatively smoothly.