Kapitel 45: Chapter 45 - Farce
A few days later, as Eric predicted, the Los Angeles Daily exposed pictures of Julia leaving his house. They talked in detail about the 'rave' he held at home. It fleetingly mentioned the Home Alone crew being there, but emphasized more on the 'wave of young and beautiful women' that attended.
Some newspapers followed suit but didn't have anything concrete to report on. They started criticizing Eric's personal conduct, turning him from an inspirational youth to an extravagant playboy that had abandoned his girlfriend for an under-aged girl.
"...Eric Williams is indeed a talented youth, but after obtaining wealth so quickly, the young man has obviously started down a slippery slope…"
"…After leaving his clerk girlfriend to sleep with Drew Barrymore, Eric Williams was immediately seen with another woman. According to sources, the woman in the picture is one of the lead actresses of Mystic Pizza…"
"…It's really hard to imagine that Eric Williams would even start a relationship with thirteen-year-old Drew Barrymore, however, it is undeniable that the young man's actions have violated the Californian law. One cannot help but be reminded of Roman Polanski, also a talented director, who committed the same unforgivable crime. To avoid a repeat of the past and have Eric Williams escape to Sri Lanka like his peer, we feel the L.A.P.D had better take measures immediately…"
Some shady entertainment tabloids who couldn't find anything even started to make baseless accusations. The favorable public image that Eric had established started crumbling.
The 20th Century Fox reacted as soon as the scandal appeared. 17 Again was still in theaters and they had just bought the Home Alone's overseas copyrights. If the image of Eric was tarnished at this time, they would surely suffer huge losses in the box office.
As for Columbia, besides fulfilling their part in the gambling contract, they ignored everything else and stayed on the sidelines. Some employees from the Publicity Department had suggested making a statement to appease the public, however, their plan was rejected. Blount Cohen had been disgraced by Eric earlier, and the Publicity Department even suspected that their boss might have had a hand in the scandal growing so large. So they weren't willing to risk their jobs for Eric.
Fox News Corp had originally started as a paper-based media. It was experienced in playing tricks to discredit public figures and increase their sales. Thus, they responded with ease when their interests were threatened in the same way.
Soon, under the company's direction, a counterattack was quickly launched. While protecting and reversing Eric's image through various media, they started to release speculations about the actors and directors of a few controversial movies. The North American newspapers were all pulled into the dirty war of words, and the focus on Eric quickly shifted away.
People gradually started feeling that something was amiss with all these gossips suddenly popping up. Although the media were good at manipulating the masses, they cannot blindly play the people for fools.
Soon, a not so famous Hollywood informational magazine published a special review article on its front page, completely revealing the undercurrent buried in the storm.
"Christmas season's farce: Troubles caused by the box office."
"The annual golden period that is Christmas is approaching. Every year, film companies have done their best to promote their movies during this period. But this year, they are instead using a series of despicable smears to discredit their competition. And all of this begins with the wonder boy, Eric Williams."
"After the box office results came out in the new week, the total of the two movies related to Eric Williams has exceeded 100 million US dollars. Especially "Home Alone", whos' box office rose against the trend in the second week. With a minor decline of 20% in the third week, it collected a total of almost 80 million US dollars at the box office, directly squeezing into the sixth position in the annual box office rankings. The miraculous trend has been unstoppable."
"It should be known, that the total box office and the audience available during the Christmas season are limited, which leads to the studios competing with each other every year by releasing blockbusters. Therefore, this time, for them to get a share of the pie, they shamelessly dragged Eric Williams' name into a variety of scandals and criticism."
"Regardless of the young director's misconduct – which has yet to be proven, or what a series of movie and tv stars might have done. We want to appeal to the major movie companies to remain calm and return to the normal competitive track. Let's stop using petty means to suppress opponents and fight fairly."
To the major newspapers, this article was a wake-up call and they quickly reprinted it. The powerful characters who manipulated this public opinion storm to get rid of Eric also had to take a step back and converge. They quickly realized that the youth was no longer fighting alone. The news corporation's quick and fierce counterattack clearly showed Eric to be in a partnership of mutual interest with the Fox.
While some of the tabloids were reluctant to drop the topic, the more influential papers had tacitly stopped attacking their competitors.
The storm seemed to have passed just like that.
A few days later, Eric, who chased endlessly chased by the paparazzi, finally moved into his new Beverly Hills mansion and firmly closed the door. He didn't have to take a peak from his balcony anymore, just a glance from a window could let him see the line of conspicuous cars stationed in front of his new house. Ah, those relentless paps!
Jeffrey Hansen looked at the mansion behind the high walls with some envy and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes, Eric opened the door to welcome his old friend inside.
Glancing at the cars parked outside, Jeffrey Hansen asked: "Eric, you've stayed home for several days now, what have you been doing?"
Once this matter was brought up, Eric felt depressed. Once the formalities were done, setting up the operations of the company didn't much require his personal presence. Adding to that the upsetting glare of flashes that followed wherever he went, he had basically stayed home these days. Compared to his past where even a reclusive nerd could lead a blissful life, this era had neither internet nor smartphones yet, so he had been bored to death.
"Writing a novel, writing a script, watching TV… boring stuff. With the current state of things, I don't even dare go out anymore. The last time I went to a convenience store to buy a drink, and the next day a tabloid made up an article about how I had tried to seduce the cashier's sister."
Jeffrey couldn't help but laugh mirthfully listening to him.
Eric led his friend to his study on the second floor of the mansion. Upon entering Jeffrey saw a large bulletin board hung on one of the walls, densely packed with newspaper clippings and hand-written post its.
"What is all this?" Jeffrey walked up to it and curiously asked.
"Nothing," Eric stepped forward and chuckled as he ripped off one of the clippings: "I was bored, so I tried to gather some information from analyzing various tabloids and newspapers, hoping to figure out who was behind it all, so that in the future I could… settle the score."
Jeffrey teased: "With Sherlock Holmes on the case, those guys had better be prepared."
Eric shrugged. In fact, he had been quite lucky to have been backed by the Fox this time, as it allowed him to get out of the mess rather unscathed. He hadn't yet reached the level of fame where fans would mourn sorrowfully at his death, like his past's Michael Jackson, so he couldn't be careless.
After thinking so, Eric asked: "Right, Jeffrey, how are things going?"
When the middle-aged man heard him, he pulled out a stack of papers from his briefcase and complained: "You, how can a boss be so laid-back, I've had to do everything alone. It'll take about half a month to finish renovating the office premises. And this is the information you asked for about the various brokerage firms. Eric, do you really intend to acquire an agency?"
Eric took the data and said: "Of course, you've seen how the CAA sank its clutches into Stuart Runkle. If I don't take proper measures, all the stars I mold are going to be snatched away."
"But the Federal Monopoly Laws stipulate that a film company cannot possess a brokerage firm."
Eric who was reading the files in his hand said without looking up: "I know that, and I don't plan on merging the two together. They will both be independent of each other. So there shouldn't be any legal problems."
"Alright, I'll let you handle that then. Right, did you write any new movie script?"
Eric took out a manuscript from his desk and handed it over to Jeffrey: "It's done, wanna take a look?"
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
Krudy
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Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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