章 42: Funding and Scripts

*Timeskip*

"I'm so glad you haven't forgotten that your company is in Hollywood and your job is in Hollywood."

Time is strange; when people enjoy life, their footsteps pass quickly. When Bruce saw Levi again in Los Angeles, it was already August, and he didn't see his brother again until the TV series CSI started production.

"For three months, buddy, where have you been?" Sitting in the Enigma Company, Bruce complained mercilessly, "I thought you forgot your home. Where were you playing crazy outside?"

During this time, his younger brother became amazing. Perhaps because of the painful experience after the suicide incident, he became different. He has begun to know how to make a TV series which CBS is highly optimistic about. Of course, Bruce is delighted with these actions, but there are other things that need to be improved. Why does he still dislike contacting his family so much?

"I haven't been in touch with you all the time?"

"What kind of contact is a phone call? You ran away without a trace. You wouldn't have returned if not for your crew would be shooting live-action in Las Vegas in August." Bruce blamed, "Where did you go?"

"I didn't go anywhere. Here and there, just traveling," Levi covered his words with just one sentence: 'I don't want to tell my friends that I've been traveling for a long time looking for traces of my previous life but found nothing.' "I just wander around and enjoy the scenery."

"Really?"

"Of course it's true; this guy was watching sports games and went to England to see Kubrick." Outside the door, Alexander also opened the door and walked in, "If CSI hadn't started filming, he would still be there for a long time."

"If it's true, that's fine." Bruce looked at the two of them, obviously relieved.

"Are you still worried that something will happen to me?"

"Of course. You have a previous record of suicide, and your mental state is unstable. You have 10 million in your hand, and with your mental health condition, do you think we can not worry?" Alexander asked.

The harsh words made Levi smile bitterly.

When Bruce heard this, he also thought of something, "Nick, you have spent a full 10 million in the past few months? What did you do with all that money?" Bruce asked with concern. There are many liars in Hollywood. There have been many fundraisers, fraudulent marriages, drug sellers, and other miscellaneous set-ups in Hollywood. Many people here have made huge profits and don't know how to spend them. Levi holds 10 million, and Bruce is, of course, worried that he met a liar.

Although his younger brother is an adult, Bruce still worries about him.

His question made Levi shrug his shoulders, "Investment. If you have money, you should invest it naturally. You can't make little money by keeping the money. Isn't it better to spend it?"

"Ten million?" Bruce was slightly relieved but still had a slight headache; who knows where this guy spent his money, "What did you use it for?"

"I bought some Internet stocks and then invested in a search engine website company, so I have no money now."

"Invest in the Internet?" Bruce was not in a hurry this time. He thought for a while before speaking, "In the past two years, Internet stocks have really been booming, and the stocks of all kinds of weird websites have gone up crazily... But some people say this is a bubble, and it is easy to lose money, so be careful not to lose all your hard-earned money."

"Just make more money after you lose." Levi didn't say much, just laughed, "Don't worry, the websites I invested in shouldn't lose money... I know every investor says that, but I'm sure my investment has no problems."

Bruce is still a little worried. Since 1995, all kinds of Internet stocks have been selling very hotly, but various analyses have always said that this is nothing more than a bubble. Bruce has always cherished his money and refused to invest his own money for fear of being locked up in stocks and losing all his money. Seeing Levi throw all his money in, he was naturally distressed, "Be careful of losing money. What stock are you buying?"

"Since when did you become a tax police officer? You are so good at auditing accounts." Levi said helplessly, "I'll just tell you. I asked the investment consultant from Blackstone to help me buy AOL. Yes, It's the one that issued the visa in June. I bought it in May, and their stock was only a dozen dollars then, and you know how much it's worth now." Levi's words lit up Bruce's eyes light up. He didn't expect Levi actually to make money, "Then sell it quickly, and the company will have money immediately."

"No. I will keep it; it will increase in the future."

Levi ignored Bruce's rambling, just picked up the cup, and sipped the tea. Investing 10 million into AOL will absolutely not lose money. Levi remembers that AOL has been growing in the future and merged with Time Warner to become a super large company with assets exceeding 350 billion. Their stock price rose to 800 US dollars a share at that time. It is a profit of one billion, which is an excellent time to make money.

Internet stocks are very hot now. Honestly, Levi doesn't know which ones make money or lose money. So, his method is also straightforward. The companies that he can remember are definitely large-scale companies, such as Yahoo and Google, and they will never lose money. AOL's affair with Warner was quite a sensation in the future, and Levi knew something about it, so he naturally wouldn't let go of this opportunity. Not only that, but he also invested in Google in addition to AOL. The two founders of Google only had 100,000 in start-up capital, he gave them 2 million in investment, and now he is also a well-deserved prominent investor in Google. Of course, although the early stage investment accounts for a lot of shares, it will continue to decline in the later stage of financing, and to maintain their rights, the two founders were only willing to give shares but not voting rights. However, Levi estimated that he would continue to invest, and with Google's financing, he could retain at least 10% of shares when it went public. Even if it's only 10%, that's tens of billions.

Time traveling is indeed a good thing. With a simple operation, Levi can guarantee that ten years later, he will have at least tens of billions of assets. Levi is not a business genius, and he is not in the mood to play with people in the business circle and compete for equity, but even so, he guarantees that he will definitely have money to spend. Of course, maybe five years is a bit long, but Levi can afford to wait.

The 1990s was a good time for the technology stock bubble, and until the new century, there are many good opportunities to make money. As a traveler with cash in his hand, it is not surprising that he can multiply it by two or three hundred times within ten years. And once he had this money, he didn't have to worry about anything at that time.

The fastest way to make money is to invest in stocks.

And even if things change, it's just the money for half a season of TV series.

After talking to Levi for a few words, Bruce didn't say any more. He knew Levi had just returned and had something to discuss with Alexander, so staying long was naturally inconvenient. After he left, Alexander also talked about the company with Levi.

"How is the company doing?" After Bruce left, Levi asked, "In terms of TV drama and buying scripts, is everything going well?"

Enigma Company doesn't have too many things to do. Although Alexander said he would hire a lawyer, accountant, etc., that is Alexander's business. All he cares about is the TV series production and future development.

"You don't have to worry about the TV series. It will be premiered on September 11th. Although it's not the best Thursday, it's still Wednesday. It's better than Friday. As for the company, we've considered buying a few scripts this summer. Some time ago, I wanted to buy the adaptation rights to a zombie-fighting game produced by the Japanese. Unfortunately, the adaptation rights cost at least tens of millions, and we didn't have enough funds." Zombie game produced in 1996? Isn't that Resident Evil? Levi immediately thought of it but didn't think about it too much after some consideration: Resident Evil is a very popular game. Since it came out, it has been targeted by many Hollywood companies. If they want to buy it, it won't be that easy.

"It's fine if you don't buy it, and there will be other opportunities in the future." Levi also has some regrets: It would be great if he traveled a year earlier- not just Resident Evil, but now Diablo has just launched in the United States, and the same with Harry Potter in the UK. He would have the right to adapt these things if he had crossed earlier. Unfortunately, the rights to adapt well-known games and best-selling novels are never cheap.

"The funds are limited, so we can only buy some not-so-good scripts. Bob bought the right to adapt a novel called 'The Notebook.' The story seems to be an innocent love story about a man and a woman falling in love. It's the kind of story men don't like to read." Alexander said, throwing two books on the table, "Clark saw a story about a man, but it seemed to be about neuropathy. But these days, stories about neuropathy in movies..."

"Clark took a fancy to the story of "Fight Club"? Bob took a fancy to the story of "The Notebook"? Your vision is amazing." Looking at the two books before him, Levi sighed in admiration.

"What's so amazing? Search the best-seller list one by one, excluding the unaffordable ones and those unsuitable for making movies. There are only a few left." Alexander replied, "Clark glanced at the books. He just fell in love with this one, saying how creative the cover design was, and after seeing it, he immediately decided to buy the rights to adapt it." That is to say, he didn't even read it; he just bought it after looking at the cover. Levi was a little speechless. He thought his companion was good just now, so why did he rush to destroy his fantasy?

"We all have something to gain. What about you? Did you buy rights to adapt any good books?"

Levi shook his head, "No, I'm still not very good at digging other stories, but I'm trying to write a script."

"Are you writing a movie script? What's the story?" Alexander immediately became interested.

"Why are you in a hurry? What we have to consider now is not movies. Don't forget. Our TV series will start broadcasting soon. Let's look at our TV series first; how is the situation?"

*****

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