Chapter 862: Chapter 268: The Fall TV Season Arrives
Little Emma, that little devil, has always been a headache. Until now, Adrian has not disclosed a single hint to Kate, only hoping that Ivanka can open the breach first. Lily has some reluctance towards Megan, who is almost ten years older than her—despite actively greeting Megan, she never used the term ‘aunt,’ which she did for the other sisters’ mothers, including Jessica. But with Megan, the first meeting after greetings led to her asking directly, “Can I call you by your name?”
Of course, it might also relate to the unborn child in Megan’s belly, creating natural distance, yet she behaved like this, especially since Lily was older than Little Emma, who was always treated as a sister.
Perhaps because she was born into such a family, Lily truly matured early in certain aspects; she had already discussed with her father how children come into the world and used it as a way to accuse him of being unfaithful.
“I know, when a man and a woman do certain things together, the child is born from the mother’s belly. School courses cover this. But there’s something strange, the courses say it should be done by two people in love after getting married, but dad and mom aren’t married, nor are you married to any other aunts, why is that?” Lily had asked at that time.
“Hmm…” Faced with this question, Adrian was momentarily at a loss, not because he didn’t want to explain, but because he wondered if the little girl could fully understand the explanation. However, if he used this as an excuse to evade, Lily certainly wouldn’t accept it. She never fell for that, always assuming the attitude of “as long as you explain, I’ll understand.”
Indeed, as he predicted, when he said “You’re still young and many things aren’t easy to explain clearly,” the little brat sneered.
“I’m no child; I’m Super Lily!” the little girl declared proudly, then posed a skeptical expression: “Does Dad have something shameful he’s afraid to share with me? I often hear Mom and Aunt Sarah and Aunt Charli say Dad has an unusual possessiveness.”
Upon hearing that last sentence, Adrian felt a bit of an eye-roll impulse, really wondering what they usually told Lily. Well, he couldn’t just let her guess on her own; otherwise, how could Adrian maintain his wise and mighty image in her heart? Although, in Lily’s mind, he probably didn’t match up to those terms.
“Let’s put it this way, dear: imagine there’s a delicious apple, everyone wants to eat it, so they share it. Even without an explicit agreement, there’s an unspoken understanding. At this point, if someone suddenly wants to claim the apple all for themselves and not share it, how intense a reaction do you think others would have?” Adrian thought for a moment before giving this reply, a barely sufficient way to dismiss the little one.
He certainly didn’t anticipate this sentence would become one of the materials his daughter would use to tease him several years later.
“Not only arrogant but also narcissistic, he actually compares himself to the apple from the Garden of Eden, everyone trying to grab it; this is our father.” Lily, now a beautiful young lady, said to her sisters during a family gathering. God knows, Adrian was merely giving an example, using an apple to illustrate—he couldn’t exactly use a banana—and it had nothing to do with the Garden of Eden.
Therefore, educating children is always a troublesome task. Initially, Adrian thought Lily might want to be a director or photographer because she frequently disassembled and reassembled the DV, although mostly failing to put it back together. Then, he thought she would become an actress, as she always felt playing her mother’s daughter in Underworld would be a nice experience. Now, he thinks she wants to be a designer because Lily earned quite a bit of pocket money by designing some accessories and small decorations for her mother and everyone else. The unpredictability of children is evident.
Yet, Adrian always enjoys it, just like he personally changes diapers, puts them to sleep, and cleans their bottoms for each child. It’s rare for him to have such energy and patience. But Adrian genuinely loves doing it, in a way, they… are also his creations, extraordinarily wonderful works.
So, although Megan complains that Adrian cheated her, not explaining how many women there are nor how many children, she won’t be able to escape his grasp. Adrian started early, capturing her with weaknesses, aligning her emotions with her interests, now further displaying his parental demeanor; what else can Megan do?
In fact, she merely has a bit of prenatal depression, which is not too difficult to handle. Adrian has already experienced 7 women’s pregnancies, from Kate’s whimsical requests to Blanchett’s sudden gloom and unhappiness, to Jessica’s daily concern about the baby being okay; what hasn’t he seen? Rather, it’s when he can best showcase his abilities; Adrian excels at alleviating women’s insecurities.
So the biggest problem now is still the matter with Little Emma; Adrian even rejected her request to vacation in the United States this year. It’s rare for the little devil to understand his predicament and not insist further, but this matter still needs to be resolved. Therefore, after much consideration, Adrian decided to focus on late September. If Ivanka grasped the subtleties well, calling Little Emma over amid a certain film’s premiere could potentially resolve everything in one go.
Late September may not be considered the summer vacation period, but it’s not quite the off-season either, so some promising movies that lack competitiveness compared to commercial blockbusters are usually premiered at this time. Films are constantly being made in Hollywood; such circumstances are unsurprising, even Sophie is filming her new movie.
After rising to the top, Sophie was not eager to take on new movies but shifted towards directing. Although Cashback’s Oscar nomination prospects involve Adrian’s influence, Sophie’s own abilities contributed significantly, and she’s indeed grown in this area, thus growing increasingly interested. With this in mind, Adrian, who always hoped she would develop in directing, provided her with a script, supporting her to produce her first feature film.
“This story consists of five short tales in total, with themes that can be interpreted from two aspects: either following a suspense-thriller path or a fatalistic-tragic path.” Adrian explained to Sophie.
The script, titled The Dead Girl, briefly involves a young girl’s death that leads to stories about several other women. There’s the monotonous woman who discovers the corpse that becomes a headline, a sister seeking confirmation of her long-missing sibling’s identity through the corpse, a wife uncovering her husband’s unusual connection with the deceased girl, a mother probing why her daughter left home and died, and so on.
The clues are not complex; as long as the pace is properly handled, either path can transform the story into an outstanding movie. Additionally, being a female-centric film, it suits Sophie, who just started holding the directorial baton. She ultimately chose the fatalistic-tragic path, which was within Adrian’s expectations, even though he hoped she’d try the suspense-thriller path, only that requires higher directorial proficiency, and without comprehensive producer consideration, it’s easy to mess up the film. So let’s leave it at that.
Besides, taking the fatalistic-tragic path is fine, though it’s overly artistic, likely not great for box office but achievable by minimizing costs and maintaining the story’s integrity. The main cast, including Scarlett and Kayden, command negligible fees. Sophie also plays a role.
There’s no need to mention Kayden; she plays the sister searching either for her sister or her sister’s corpse, a role easy for her to master. After Adrian explicitly stated his position, Kayden started to exert effort. In The Day After Tomorrow, although she was merely a trophy, she was still a beautiful trophy. And prior in Cashback, if not for being too attractive, her acting might have received more acclaim. Precisely due to this, Sophie first thought of her during preparations, leaving Adrian pondering whether to make Kayden Sophie’s dedicated actress?
Scarlett is recommended by Adrian; since the premiere of Garden State early this year, her position in independent films has become increasingly stable, making her perfect for roles in such small-budget films. Of course, there are commercial films, but they are medium investment types, a decision Adrian planned for Scarlett’s long-term development, and Scarlett acknowledged his plan.
This time, she plays the deceased young girl, who ran away from home due to sexual assault by her stepfather, ended up a prostitute, fell into drug addiction, and had a daughter. It’s not an easy role for her; these experiences never occurred to her, rarely more than trying marijuana with Adrian. To convincingly perform, she needs abundant preparation.
“Don’t worry, Scarlett, believe in yourself, you can do it. If you can portray this role well with your ability, no role will be too difficult for you in the future,” Adrian said to her.
This is indeed true. Even if Scarlett did a lot of preparatory work, being 70% convincing is already quite good. The biggest problem is the lack of experience. If she could really achieve 100%, perhaps only a few people could match her acting skills. It’s a pity there wasn’t that final sentence.
“If you want, we can try it privately and give you a more intuitive experience.” His real intentions quickly showed.
“You just love seizing such opportunities,” Scarlett said half-complainingly after being coaxed into giving him a lap dance, with green bills still stuck in her stockings and panties.
Then, Sophie also played a role in it herself. Originally, she wanted the role of the mother of the deceased girl, but Adrian persuaded her to change it as that role had too many scenes. It’s not that he thought her acting skills weren’t good—even if Sophie’s Best Actress win was a result of her PR team, it’s impossible for her not to have been recognized for her acting at all.
It’s just that Adrian always insists on one thing: being both a director and the lead inevitably leads to work deviation. Moreover, as Sophie was just beginning to make strides in directing, he suggested she change to playing the mother of the character Kayden portrays. That way, she could be involved without affecting her directing work.
In this way, as long as the promotion and distribution are adequate, breaking even wouldn’t be difficult.
Promotion has always been important, as everything needs it. That’s why Google and Yahoo have fought over YouTube, and why AC Media was able to do business with the Bush family. To achieve the desired effect, various methods emerge one after another, such as hiring temporary actors to play eyewitnesses in hot news, like shootings or demonstrations, to guide TV audiences’ thoughts—it’s no secret that major media corporations engage in such tactics.
As Adrian once said, the information you receive from media is always the information they want to convey to you.
Well then, this topic is a bit too big. To talk about movies, let’s take “Walk the Line” as an example. Early in the year, to divert attention from “Brokeback Mountain,” rumors started circulating that the Miracle Director’s new film would be a biopic of Johnny Cash.
Although the journalists never fully confirmed this news, Adrian avoided them and didn’t discuss it when he did meet them—though he didn’t deny it either. After some communication, the Cash family only told reporters they had been in contact with the Miracle Director but never talked about what happened later, so the news maintained some level of attention.
After all, Cash was a figure of his time, and after his death, even the White House issued a statement deeming it a major loss for the United States. Having one legend direct a movie about another legend’s life story is something Cash’s fans, or rather most music fans, would want to see.
Thus, under these circumstances, when the “Walk the Line” trailer suddenly hit major media outlets at the end of August, it’s imaginable what kind of reaction it would cause. Then, a prepared series of marketing strategies rolled out, quickly taking over the public’s view. Joaquin and Natalie became the best young versions of Cash and Carter, and even those who disagreed couldn’t make much of a wave.
The situation was so heated that people exclaimed the Miracle Director had already locked in next year’s Oscars. Unfortunately, they didn’t know there was another film still in post-production, set to premiere by the end of the year, demonstrating the benefits of keeping things under wraps. That’s why Adrian asked Claude and Victor for help, so his new film could remain secretive until after March next year.
Actually, he initially had a better option: starting shooting after March next year, as long as it could be released by the end of the year. Even if the public found out by then, it wouldn’t matter. But Adrian was plotting more than just that. To control Hollywood and represent it, he had to stand firmly on Hollywood’s side, and that occasion would be a perfect opportunity.
As September began, TV’s fall schedule was also coming up, and both “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” finally started airing. Undoubtedly, the ratings were exceptionally good, with the first episode of “Lost” airing at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays on CBS. The well-crafted scenes and perfectly timed suspense attracted 19 million viewers, easily becoming the ratings champion of the 9 p.m. slot. Both lead actress Rachel McAdams and supporting actress Cheryl Trudy gained considerable popularity as a result.
Though Lee Young-ae didn’t capture much attention due to the lack of standout performance by her Korean character, it attracted quite a few South Koreans as it aired simultaneously in South Korea and broke several records on the peninsula.
Overall, the premiere was quite successful. Many critics believed that although “Lost” was stylistically very different from “Hyper Heroes,” it was an excellent sci-fi drama, and it’s expected to attract more viewers in the future. So, Rachel, Cheryl, and Lee Young-ae expressed their gratitude in a similar manner, though it’s a pity they did it separately.
However, no one anticipated that since “Lost” could win the timeslot ratings championship for its premiere, it should maintain that the second week. But ABC aired a women’s show, and thus “Desperate Housewives” unceremoniously pushed “Lost” aside with over 22 million viewers.
This is a terrifying figure. Ever since stepping into the new century, cable TV has rapidly developed, and TV shows with over 20 million viewers have become rare, with 15 million already being considered excellent. Achieving viewing numbers like “Survivor” or “Friends,” which had records of over 50 million viewers at some point, has essentially become a thing of the past, especially since those achievements resulted from accumulated reputations.
The incredible success of “Desperate Housewives” undoubtedly caused a huge sensation, leading many critics to praise it in their writings, and the four housewives became overnight sensations. Adrian seized the opportunity to seduce Melinda again at the celebration party, taking her to a small room and having a passionate time together; although Melinda verbally complained, she was exceptionally passionate during the moment.
Moreover, this was just the beginning. Later, Vanessa, Eva, and Bridget were taken to rooms one by one, played with by Adrian. Originally, he wanted to woo Tina as well. Tina, who served as a scriptwriter, also played a role in the series—the housewife who committed suicide right at the start, with the narration for each episode’s opening and ending also done by her. That time in the car, she left a strong impression on him, so he had the idea of having a ‘friendly match’.
Unfortunately, she saw through it after only a couple of words, and then she quickly found an excuse to leave the party, which was a bit disappointing. But if Tina thought that would dissuade Adrian’s intentions, she miscalculated. The more she acted this way, the more it piqued Adrian’s interest, especially as she didn’t show firm determination.
Nevertheless, despite the numerous praises for “Desperate Housewives,” there were also criticisms, one of which was that the average age of the four housewives was relatively low, making their role as housewives somewhat… a misnomer. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to come to Qidian () and vote with recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)