Chapter 88: The Curious Clipping

After dinner, Simon, accompanied by Janet, hurried back to Palisade.

Inside the Chevrolet SUV, Neil Bennett, the driver, drove the vehicle very smoothly. Simon, leaning against the car window, pondered seriously about his meeting with Mike Medow that evening.

Mike Medow's reaction to "Pulp Fiction" was more negative than Simon had anticipated, which was worrisome.

The previous success of "Pulp Fiction," besides its inherent quality, was largely due to the relentless public relations efforts of the Weinstein brothers.

This year's 18 Oscar nominations demonstrated that Orion's prowess in awards PR was on par with the later Miramax, but if Orion's top brass were pessimistic about "Pulp Fiction," replicating the Weinstein brothers' aggressive publicity strategy seemed unlikely.

Moreover, Simon's age was still the biggest variable limiting the film's recognition at awards.

He was not even 20 years old yet.

That said, Simon was not without other options. However, according to his previous contract with Orion, this second film did not justify exposing some of his other ideas.

Initially, to push the distribution of "Run Lola Run," Simon had signed a contract with Orion that totaled only $500,000 for his roles as director and screenwriter.

Although Simon retained the right to renegotiate profit-sharing terms, this new film would not bring him significant earnings, and the best outcome might only be a profit-sharing arrangement similar to "Final Destination."

But compared to "Final Destination," "Pulp Fiction" required Simon to invest much more effort as the director.

Since it was unlikely to yield sufficient profit, Simon decided to choose a project that interested him more and could also solidify his reputation as a stylistic director.

The specifics of the profit-sharing contract for "Pulp Fiction" would be negotiated by Jonathan with Orion, but up next, the negotiations to sell off "Run Lola Run" would also be a time-consuming task.

Besides.

Whether it was "The Butterfly Effect," "Final Destination," "Pulp Fiction," or "When Harry Met Sally," all these projects required swift action.

Even considering the release schedules of "Final Destination," "Pulp Fiction," and "When Harry Met Sally," Simon found that the end of this year and next Easter were also suitable for adding at least one more film.

Time is money.

But Simon was short neither of money nor time.

And.

These were all just movie-related matters.

The upcoming stock market crash in the US, known as Black Monday on October 19, was clear in Simon's mind. To profit from this financial turmoil, not only would he need to gather a significant amount of capital in advance, but many other preparations were necessary, all demanding time and effort.

All the way home, Simon was lost in thought, and Janet quietly leaned against him, not wishing to disturb.

By the time they reached their mansion in Palisade, it was already nine o'clock in the evening.

Upon entering the villa, Simon noticed the blinking message light on the living room phone and pressed play.

Janet also followed quietly.

The call was from Amy Pascal.

In her message, Amy expressed her concerns about Simon's afternoon meeting with the executives from Wells Fargo and then mentioned another matter: today, a vice president from Mattel contacted her, hoping to discuss the development of merchandise related to "Run Lola Run."

Mattel, being one of the world's largest toy design, manufacturing, and sales companies, is best known for its various types of Barbie dolls.

After hearing Amy's message, Simon immediately perked up.

Merchandise.

Merchandise from a movie almost guaranteed to be North America's box office champion.

This was definitely another significant source of income.

Simon had personally designed small props like the clocks and rings in "Run Lola Run," precisely with this in mind. Most of these props and even Lola's character were original creations, and according to copyright laws, which grant rights upon creation, the rights to these items and characters belonged to Daenerys Productions.

With so many things to handle recently, Simon had had no time to think about this.

Now.

Someone had come to him.

He couldn't miss this opportunity, and he needed to plan carefully.

Standing by the phone, quickly strategizing, Simon turned to head to his study, only to find Janet standing behind him. Surprised by his sudden turn, her eyes widened in shock.

Seeing Janet's expression, Simon smiled apologetically, tenderly cupped her delicate face, and kissed her, saying, "Honey, go take a bath first, I still have some work to do."

All day today, or rather, these past few days, watching Simon busy himself to the point of exhaustion, Janet had been pondering some things.

At that moment.

Watching Simon hurry upstairs, Janet followed him to the bedroom.

After removing her evening gown, she took a bath absentmindedly, not wearing her usual silk robe but instead opting

 for a set of slightly OL-style women's shirts and white trousers.

Standing in front of the dressing mirror to take a look, Janet then headed to Simon's study.

Unlike the large study downstairs where he met with Wells Fargo's Senior Vice President Paul Olsen earlier, this was another small study next to the bedroom on the second floor, which was very private.

Janet seldom came here.

Because she always felt that many of Simon's secrets might be hidden in this study. Though extremely curious about her boyfriend's affairs, if he didn't share them himself, Janet never deliberately probed.

The study door was open.

Janet knocked on the door panel and entered.

Simon was standing by a wall in the study, which was covered with a large white board. He held a water-based pen in one hand and a microphone in the other, discussing something with someone on the other end.

The whiteboard was already filled with a series of terms.

Original soundtracks, poster albums, video games, character dolls, butterfly clocks, T-shirts, rings, magazines, image licensing...

These were clearly potential merchandise options for "Run Lola Run."

Below the somewhat disorganized terms, there were several names and some contact numbers.

Janet saw Simon busy discussing and merely nodded at her with a casual gesture. She then walked to the bookshelf on the other side, glanced over a whole row of folders, and casually took down a blue folder to flip through.

It was a collection of clippings.

Each page of the hand-bound 16-open draft paper was pasted with a news clipping the size of a tofu block.

The first page's news came from the "Los Angeles Times," titled 'New World Entertainment Acquires Marvel Entertainment.'

Curiously, she read the content.

"New World Entertainment formally reached an acquisition agreement with Marvel Entertainment on Thursday, claiming that the move aims to expand the company's comic publishing and TV animation ventures."

"Marvel Entertainment is one of North America's largest comic producers, owning assets including Marvel Comics in New York, Marvel Comics in Britain, Marvel Productions, and an animation studio in San Fernando Valley, California, featuring popular superheroes such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, and the X-Men."

"In 1985, Marvel Entertainment had an annual turnover of $72 million and a profit of $5.1 million."

"Previously, the parent company of Marvel Entertainment Group, Candice Industrial Holdings Group, had officially entered bankruptcy proceedings. The details of the transaction were not disclosed, but industry rumors suggest that Marvel Entertainment was sold for approximately $40 million to $50 million."

"The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year."

Having known Simon for half a year, Janet had never seen him read comics, wondering why the young boy would be interested in such news.

Tilting her head, she read the news again, still clueless. Other than a handwritten 'November 21, 1986' date annotation on the blank space, there was nothing else.

So she flipped further.

The subsequent pages were still just simple news marked with simple dates, rarely with any comments.

After flipping through most of the folder, another clipping caught Janet's attention.

It was the list of the 59th Academy Awards nominations announced in late December last year.

However, the clipping only retained a small section, the three nominations for Best Animated Short Film, with a red oil pen circling one called "Luxo Jr." and a date, 'December 20, 1986,' and a word: Pixar.

Pixar.

Janet remembered that a segment of the animation at the beginning of "Run Lola Run" was made by this studio, apparently a rare 3D animation studio.

Marvel Comics, 3D animation.

Ha.

Perhaps the young boy was interested in cartoons?

Thinking to herself, Janet casually flipped another page.

This time it was about a software company called 'Microsoft' undergoing internal testing of a new version of its operating system, with an additional assessment of Microsoft's recent stock prices. Due to the ongoing boom in the North American stock market, Microsoft's market value had officially surpassed $1 billion.

After reading this news again, she was still clueless.

All these clippings seemed to jump from one topic to another without any clear focus or organization. Janet even pondered a bit with her small brain, still unable to grasp any connections.

She had no choice but to carefully place the folder back in its original spot, turning to rejoin the man.

Simon's another call was also nearing its end, listening to the other side's narration and noting down a name and a string of phone numbers on the whiteboard.

"Thank you for your help, Peter, sorry to disturb you so late... haha, sure, let's have dinner sometime," Simon finished speaking and casually pressed the receiver on the phone, turning to Janet who had been wandering around him for a while. He sized her up and down, saying, "It's quite late, why the sudden change of clothes?"

Janet

 spread her arms and spun in front of Simon, asking, "How do I look?"

Janet, though not as tall as Catherine, definitely had a physique that looked great in or out of clothes.

Simon, without hesitation, nodded and smiled, "Very stylish, put on some heels later. By the way, was this outfit expensive?"

Janet immediately understood the hidden meaning in Simon's words, giving him a stern glare.

Taking the microphone from Simon's hand and setting it aside, Janet pushed him to sit on the study's sofa and sat down opposite him, saying seriously, "Simon, I've said before that I would help you. So, for the upcoming negotiations on the release of 'Run Lola Run,' let me handle them. The merchandise too, you just focus on what you want to do."

Simon's face was originally smiling, but as he listened to Janet's serious words, he sobered up, "Janet, this will be tiring."

Janet shook her head, resolute, "I've made up my mind."

Simon and Janet looked at each other for a moment before he finally nodded, "Alright. But, if you ever feel like you don't want to do it anymore, just tell me."

Janet's typically lazy demeanor had left a strong impression on Simon. Inherently somewhat chauvinistic, he didn't find anything wrong with this, and thus didn't hold much expectation for Janet's offer to help.

Perhaps it was because his expectations were so low, in the following days, Simon was genuinely surprised and also realized the caliber of a Columbia graduate who could render Warren Buffett speechless, as Catherine had once mentioned offhand.