Chapter 215: Resources

"Ah, the joys of being Richie Rich!" Wayne muttered, shaking his head as he gazed at Catherine fast asleep on the disheveled bed in the luxuriously decorated European-style bedroom.

Just then, Hannah, clad only in lingerie, padded in barefoot, clutching a thick stack of documents. "Here, the China branch sent over more scripts. I really don't get it, do you have to personally review all of these?"

Taking the scripts, Wayne explained with a smile, "While Hollywood mostly revolves around the director or producer, I believe that like TV series, a good story is the soul of a film."

Hannah shrugged, foregoing further complaints, and slipped under the covers.

Wayne, meanwhile, opened the script, enjoying Hannah's ministrations while he perused its contents.

Although his main focus remained on Hollywood, he hadn't neglected the China branch of Lighthouse Entertainment.

On the television front, in addition to investing in and replacing all the female roles in the "Storm Riders" with his own actresses, and swapping out "Step Amazing" and "Qin Shuang" for Nicholas Tse, Du Chun, and Zhou Yiwei respectively, he also acquired "Invincible County Magistrate," a series originally starring Su Youpeng and Wang Yan, which had enjoyed decent ratings and critical acclaim.

Naturally, this time, the male lead wouldn't be going to Su Youpeng.

After brief consideration, Wayne replaced him with Nick Cheung, but retained Wang Yan as the female lead.

As for films, four scripts had been finalized: two crime thrillers and two period comedies.

These included "Love Undercover" and "The Lion Roars," both of which had performed well at the box office and with critics.

"The Lion Roars" was a straightforward choice; Louis Koo would be the male lead, and Zhang Ziyi would remain the female lead. The only change needed was replacing Fan Bingbing, who played the second female lead, with Li Bingbing.

"Love Undercover" presented a different challenge, as the original leads, Daniel Wu and Miriam Yeung, were not with Lighthouse Entertainment, necessitating at least one replacement.

Ultimately, Wayne decided to replace Miriam Yeung, casting Tang Wei, fresh off the set of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes," as the female lead.

Furthermore, leveraging the connections of Wong Jing and Mani Fok, Lighthouse Entertainment successfully secured a 50% stake in "Infernal Affairs."

Of course, there wasn't much room to maneuver with the male roles in this film. So he simply replaced Andy Lau's girlfriend, the female psychotherapist, and Tony Leung's ex-girlfriend with Gao Yuanyuan, Li Bingbing, and Zhang Ziyi, respectively.

Although their screen time might be less than some of the supporting male roles, these were still coveted roles in a major production with a budget of tens of millions, starring Andy Lau, Tony Leung, and Eric Tsang.

Overall, Lighthouse Entertainment's development was progressing smoothly.

His only gripe was the slow pace of filming for "The Legend of the Condor Heroes."

From its start in late August to early December, nearly four months had passed, and they were only a little over halfway done.

While he knew that large-scale period martial arts dramas in this era were inherently slow to film, he still couldn't help but complain.

In Hong Kong or Hollywood, the same amount of footage could be shot in a month and a half without sacrificing quality.

Such was the efficiency of the film industry.

"The script's no good, send it back for a rewrite," Wayne declared, tossing the script aside and engaging in a passionate tussle with Hannah.

"Should I help accelerate the domestic entertainment industry's transition to a film industry model?" Wayne mused, lighting a cigar after the fact and gazing out the large window at the snow-covered landscape.

The industrialization of filmmaking had its pros and cons. The benefits were mainly higher efficiency and significantly improved quality.

The downside was a greater tendency towards homogenization.

Of course, from a purely financial standpoint, such a move would undoubtedly yield substantial returns. If he remembered correctly, Hengdian World Studios had consolidated all its filming locations, hotels, and other film and tourism-related businesses this year, forming the Hengdian Group Zhejiang Film and Tourism Co., Ltd.

After some thought, however, Wayne dismissed the idea.

He was all too familiar with the state of the domestic entertainment industry after its industrialization in later years, and with his current resources, he doubted he could exert the same influence over it as Hollywood.

Moreover, China was different from America.

"But the film and television base I invested in should be nearing completion, right?"

Glancing at his watch, Wayne called Li Ying to inquire about the progress of the film and television base.

"Yes, boss. Due to the Christmas holidays, our company's film and television base is expected to be completed and operational on January 10th of next year."

"What about Wayne Tower and my private estate?"

"Your private estate is scheduled for completion on February 13th next year, boss. Wayne Tower will take a little longer, probably mid-April."

Wayne nodded, then inquired about other projects before hanging up.

Companies like Nvidia and Google, thanks to his investment and guidance on their research direction, were showing varying degrees of accelerated progress.

As for Netflix, after becoming its largest shareholder, Wayne had steered it away from its DVD rental business and towards the path of online video streaming.

In addition, after months of negotiations, he had reached a preliminary acquisition agreement with Blizzard, a company he held in high regard.

The acquisition price of $100 million, while perhaps not the absolute lowest, was still very satisfactory to him.

Of course, what he valued most was the acquisition of the military security company.

After investing nearly $100 million, he had now completed the acquisition and integration of eight small military security companies, forming a private army of over 200 retired elite personnel.

He had also invested in the infamous Blackwater, becoming its second-largest shareholder after a retired general from the Department of Defense.

Now, even if they offered him another film shoot in that godforsaken place, Paris, he still wouldn't go.

He could simply change the filming location to Great Britain and visit little Hermione on set. Wouldn't that be lovely?

As for the beauties of France, having already plucked the most beautiful roses, including Sophie Marceau, he no longer found the rest appealing.

Ring ring ring.

The phone rang.

Wayne answered. It was Anne Hathaway.

(End of chapter)