Chapter 1

Looking at the copy in his hand, Ryan had a helpless expression on his face. For over half a month, he had no idea how many distribution companies had shut their doors on him.

"Even with countless successful cases from my past life memories, facing an experimental short film shot with a home camcorder, I still have no way out."

Ryan muttered to himself with a bitter smile, turned around, and walked out of the distribution company's door, preparing to go back and re-edit it again, perhaps to find a distribution company willing to release it.

Of course, forget about theatrical release, he would be grateful if he could release it directly on videotape offline.

Hollywood has over a thousand film production and distribution companies, producing countless films every year, not to mention those from Europe and other overseas productions.

Most of them never get a chance to be screened, or only a few theaters attempt to play them for a few days before directly releasing them on videotape.

It can be said that the vast majority of distribution and film companies in Hollywood rely on releasing videotapes to recoup their investments.

Thinking of this, Ryan couldn't help but sigh. No wonder Hollywood is considered the movie paradise.

Across the Pacific in his previous life, the only way films made a profit was through box office sales, with no offline videotape releases at all, and television premiere rights were equally dispensable, with peripheral product revenue almost negligible.

Even after 2020, the only significant income was from online copyrights.

In contrast, in Hollywood, a film's box office revenue at most accounts for about thirty percent of its total revenue. Many films can recoup their costs just through offline videotape distribution, which is simply unimaginable.

Not to mention peripheral products, television premiere rights, and so on, the means of profit are varied.

He vividly remembered that in his previous life, for the sake of his directorial dream, he almost bankrupted himself to make a film.

In the end, not only did no distribution company agree to release it, but pirated DVDs were already rampant in the market, and it was said that they sold quite well.

As for which distribution company leaked it, there was simply no way to know.

What made him laugh and cry was that several legitimate video streaming websites came to buy the rights at a decent price, not only allowing him to recoup the production costs but also making a small profit.

However, the distribution companies remained indifferent to him.

Fortunately, with the rise of the Internet, many large video streaming websites began to enter the film industry, producing a large number of online films to enrich their libraries.

As a result, he suddenly became busy, having to shoot five or six films a year.

Until his death in a car accident in his previous life, there were still three film shooting contracts unfulfilled.

However, it seemed like fate was playing a joke on him, giving him a new life.

Ryan, a graduate of the film department at the University of Southern California, lost his mother early, and his father operated a sizable ranch in Texas. Although not wealthy, they had some assets, and the ranch's annual income was quite substantial.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent tens of thousands of dollars to shoot such a mess of an experimental short film.

But like all American families, his relationship with his stepmother was very cold, and his relationship with his father was getting worse, far from being intimate.

For the current Ryan, this was as good news as it could get.

"It seems I'll have to go back and rethink."

Ryan called a taxi back home and lay on his bed, lost in thought.

The experimental film he had now was really terrible.

Even with his experience from his past life, he was helpless.

Perhaps Hollywood does have cases where bad films sell well, but you need a distribution company willing to release them in the first place.

Unfortunately, the content of this experimental film was mediocre at best, and no distribution company took an interest.

To make matters worse, there was just over a thousand dollars left on his credit card, after deducting daily expenses and rent, it was hardly enough.

But this was the only comforting thing for him, that the balance on his credit card wasn't negative; otherwise, he would really be in financial trouble.

For most young Americans, the balance on their credit cards was almost always negative, and they had to work hard every month to repay their debts.

In this respect, Ryan was different from most young Americans.

Since he found his first part-time job, he hadn't asked his family for a single cent. Aside from the expensive tuition fees, all his other living expenses, including the money for making documentary films, were earned bit by bit by himself through work.

"So, what should I do next?"

"Should I re-edit it again and try my luck with distribution companies?"

"Or should I find a short-term job first, preferably something related to film crews?"

Of course, being a temporary actor would also do, it's just a matter of playing a background character or a corpse, which posed no difficulty for him.

He urgently needed funds to prepare for shooting his first film in this life, so any job that could earn money would do.

Whether it was from his past experiences or his current memories, he never thought about finding investors.

As an unknown college graduate preparing to shoot his first official film, only someone crazy would invest in him.

In his previous life, he had been a vice director and assistant director for over a decade.

Even so, when he was preparing to shoot his first film, he couldn't find any investors, and he could only invest all his savings into it.

Of course, working on a film set was also a good option.

Working on a film set was a rare opportunity for a recent college graduate.

It allowed him to familiarize himself with the shooting process, make some connections, and even have a chance to be noticed by big names in Hollywood.

At the same time, he could save some money.

This was what Ryan used to do.

Moreover, any slightly bigger film crew would not be stingy with salaries and meals.

The biggest benefit of working on a Hollywood film crew was that he could save money on breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night snacks.

Now, Ryan got up from the bed, picked up the phone, and called his agent to ask if there were any opportunities to work on a film set.

As for that experimental short film, he really couldn't be bothered to waste any more time editing it.

Yes, an agent. Almost everyone working in Hollywood has their own agent.

Of course, it couldn't be some top-tier agent; it was just an ordinary one who managed twenty or thirty temporary actors or young people like Ryan who wanted to develop in Hollywood.

In no time, the phone connected, and Kate's roaring voice came through.

"Ryan Gosling?"

"You dare to call me again!"

"Do you know how much trouble you caused me last time, you idiot!"

On the other end of the phone, Kate's face was dark, her voice full of anger. Just because of this guy, she almost lost the relationship she had worked so hard to build.

Ryan, however, seemed not to hear her at all and said, "Alright, Kate, I admit it was all my fault last time."

"As long as you help me find a job this time, I promise I won't let you down."

Kate showed a trace of sarcasm and said unceremoniously, "Let me down!"

"Is it to once

 again take a garbage-like experimental film around the film sets for recommendations?"

"I'm sorry, Ryan, I've decided to terminate our contract. Please don't call me again in the future."

"Take my advice, you're not suited for Hollywood. Continuing like this will only waste time."

With that, she hung up without hesitation.

A rule-breaking guy like him clearly wasn't suitable to continue wasting her resources.

The beeping sound from the phone left Ryan speechless. Apparently, according to what had happened in his memory, he really wasn't suited to stay in Hollywood.

Taking the opportunity to work on film sets and recommending that experimental film everywhere had ultimately led to being kicked out of the film crew.

Not only did he lose a good job, but he also caused quite a bit of trouble for his agent. Naturally, it was only right for her to kick him out.

"It looks like I'll have to find another agent again."

"I hope what happened last time hasn't spread."

Putting down the phone, Ryan muttered to himself as he looked at the ceiling.

Finding another agent in Hollywood was as common as eating and drinking.