"Run Lola Run" was a blessing in disguise. In the eyes of many people, it was almost the North American box office champion in 1987.

but.

Simon found that he was becoming more and more inclined to be a poor man.

During this period, it costs a lot of money to rent a mansion, hire Pat Kingsley, sign Amy Pascal, maintain Daenerys Films, and even deal with the public controversy.

.

Now, not to mention Simon's own pocket, even Janet's small purse has been completely wiped out. The more than 50,000 US dollars saved from filming "Lola Run" has long been consumed in various expenses.

All.

On the other hand, although it is expected to earn tens of millions of dollars in revenue, the North American box office share of "Lola Run" will not be settled until after the film is released. It is not known when the distribution rights in other channels will be realized.

.

then.

Simon is still carrying a pile of bills.

She owed the rent for the mansion, owed Kingsley's commission, and owed Amy's basic salary. Even the money Amy wanted to hire an assistant for herself after she joined the job was temporarily paid out of her own pocket. The woman complained bitterly about this.

I asked Simon a lot.

Now, it is extremely urgent for Simon to get a sum of money as soon as possible.

In fact, Simon ordered Janet to take Daenerys Pictures and Orion's "Run Lola Run" distribution contract to the bank for mortgage evaluation last month.

However, compared to the $100,000 loan he borrowed from Wells Fargo for the "Butterfly Effect" script contract, Simon applied for tens of millions of dollars this time, so naturally it was impossible to get it done overnight.

Just the preliminary review of all aspects of the materials took a full month. Then Simon encountered this public controversy. Several banks simply rejected Simon's loan application considering the risks involved.

In the end, Wells Fargo remained.

Los Angeles.

Inside the Palisade Cliff Mansion.

After evaluation, Wells Fargo finally only provided a loan amount of US$20 million, which was US$10 million lower than Simon and his expected contract share.

However, US$20 million is obviously not a small amount.

Due to the huge loan amount, Wells Fargo sent a senior vice president named Paul Olson to personally conduct the most critical customer visit process in the loan review with Simon and Janet.

Paul Olson is about forty years old, with brown hair, a square face, and a gentle appearance. Although he is a very talkative person in private, when he officially starts working, he immediately becomes meticulous and even a bit rigid.

at this time.

In the study room of the mansion, three people were sitting on the sofa in the reception area.

Paul Olson held a folder in his hand and asked all the questions in the routine list word by word. He changed the subject, stared at Simon and Janet, and said again: "Mr. Westeros, Johns

Miss Dun, I must ask you two to confirm again that the loan you applied for is only for personal consumption and will never be used for illegal operations such as film investment, right?"

the third time.

Simon muttered something secretly in his heart, but nodded without hesitation and said: "Yes."

Janet also responded solemnly.

"Then, I need to reiterate again, Mr. Westeros, Miss Johnston, we will regularly track the flow of your loans. Once we find that you have used the loan to invest in movies and other irregularities, Wells Fargo Bank will

They have the right to withdraw the loan in advance. Moreover, their credit records will also be seriously affected."

Simon and Janet both had stiff smiles on their faces and nodded mechanically together.

"In that case," Paul Olson finally closed the folder in his hand, showed a smile, stood up and said, "I'm glad to meet you two. I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation."

Simon and Janet finally relaxed, stood up quickly, and shook hands with Paul Olson respectively.

After seeing off Paul Olson, Simon returned to the living room of the villa and lay down on the sofa a little tiredly. Janet also came over looking exhausted, and her limp body lay on Simon's body.

Simon hugged the woman's slender waist, looked at the ceiling, and sighed: "I finally got the money from you."

Janet responded weakly: "Yes."

Simon's ultimate goal of withdrawing the money in advance was to use it to invest in stock index futures in the second half of the year, but this kind of thing must not be said.

Anyone with some common sense knows that banks will not provide loans to borrowers with such intentions, even with collateral.

However, loan applications up to $20 million are always subject to legitimate loan need.

After some consultation, the two filled in ‘personal consumption’ in the loan requirement column of the original application, and the repayment period was one year.

Many big stars in Hollywood often apply for huge loans from banks for consumption purposes.

Since personal consumption usually involves the purchase of real objects such as luxury homes and cars, even if the borrower is unable to repay the loan for some reason, the bank can take back these assets to make up for the loss. Therefore, this is a very legitimate reason for borrowing.

However, Simon's application still aroused Wells Fargo's doubts.

Mainly because the amount is too large.

Even if Simon and Janet are very spendthrift, a huge sum of US$20 million is definitely not a small amount of money that can be spent easily.

The two even made up an excuse to buy a private jet, but they still couldn't convince Wells Fargo.

Private jets can be financed by installments. Rich people usually choose to finance their private jets by installments, and they also don’t need so much money.

Considering Simon's status, Wells Fargo can easily imagine that he is more likely to want to use the money to invest in movies.

The risk of film investment is no less than that of stocks and futures.

Normally, banks will not approve this type of loan.

Of course, this cannot be said to be absolute. After the establishment of Orion, Mike Medowa and others directly obtained a credit line of US$200 million from a bank in New York.

However, although "Run Lola Run" was a box office hit, because there was only one successful movie at the box office, Simon obviously could not enjoy the same treatment as Orion.

So the process that Paul Olson repeatedly reminded or warned Simon just now emerged.

If Wells Fargo had known about Simon's true intentions, perhaps they wouldn't have even had today's conversation.

Moreover, it will also be a big trouble if it is accidentally discovered during operation in the future.

Anyway.

I can't control that much for the time being.

Loans are actually like this. Once you borrow the money, you have the ability. There are not many people who are completely honest after actually getting the money.

Otherwise, banks would not have so many bad debts.

He took a deep breath and relaxed. Thinking that the money would not be available until next week at the earliest, Simon was still a little worried. He hugged Janet's arm tightly and said, "Baby, we still don't have the money. How about we do it next?"

How about saving a little and only eating two meals a day?"

Janet rubbed her face against Simon's chest and said, "I'm afraid I'm hungry. I'll eat three meals. You can just eat one."

Simon nodded: "Yes, I understand."

"what?"

"You can also count one meal, so there are two meals."

"Hmm, how about I call Kate here too."

"Um?"

"It counts as one meal for her, so it's three more meals."

"My good girlfriend from the Federation, come here and let me kiss you."

"Bah, little bastard."

After a few words of laughter, the two became quiet again.

Simon began to sort out various recent events again, and what he was most curious about was the origin of the ABC videotape.

Thinking back carefully about the situation that day, Simon still couldn't remember who recorded that video.

Moreover, I made several calls and even went to ABC headquarters to inquire when I was in New York. I also received no answer. ABC responded that the video provider requested that the source be kept confidential. I don’t know why.

Today is already Tuesday, March 24th.

The storm dissipated.

Yesterday, Simon finally officially signed a contract with Fox Pictures for "Dead Man".

The budget funds provided by Fox for the film will also be received next week, and it is not a one-time payment. The total budget is US$8 million, and the first tranche is only US$500,000, which will be used for the early stage of the project, such as casting and location planning.

In addition, Orion Pictures has already started talking about Simon's next movie, and it needs to start working on it recently.

Both projects have been implemented,

Simon's last planned film, Nora Ephron's "When Harry Met Sally," is still up in the air.

In fact, Simon has not yet fully grasped the script.

Although due to the failure of the previous film "Heartfire" and the rather alternative story structure of "When Harry Met Sally", no film companies are currently interested in this script. However, during the first contact process,

Nora Ephron said that if Daenerys Pictures wants to buy the script, it must come up with a feasible production plan.

Obviously, Nora Ephron is worried that Daenerys Pictures is just an empty shell, with no production capabilities at all but trying to hoard her own scripts.
To be continued...