Chapter 2: Career Start
Once again I came to the film company, still the same office, same scene.

Zhang Feng looked at the young man opposite him and thought of himself in the past. Others were already billionaires at the age of 20, but he worked like a cow and a horse every day, choosing to lie down and live like a walking corpse. When he was studying, he fantasized and yearned for a life of beauty, honor in front of people, and returning home in glory as long as he worked hard. How ridiculous that was. Zhang Feng thought to himself that he must seize the opportunity to realize the decadent life of a capitalist, enjoy this world, and let his descendants live the life of the second generation. This is life. In the past, he might as well be a pig without thoughts.

"Zhang, I want your script. Now let's talk about our cooperation. What are your requirements?" Howard Hughes said with a smile when Zhang Fan was distracted.

"Mr. Howard, I hope to direct this movie and get 15% of the net profit." Although Zhang Feng only had experience shooting videos with his mobile phone in his later life, he found that he had a strong learning ability after traveling through time. As long as he was not studying or researching, he could learn other things very quickly. After reaching a cooperation, he planned to go to Hollywood through Howard's relationship to learn how to shoot movies of this era. It's not too much to ask for 15% of the script plus the director's fee, and he asked for this number to leave room for negotiation.

"Oh, Zhang, I didn't expect you could make movies. But even so, I can't give you 15%. It's too high. I think it's at most 10%. Your directing ability needs to be verified. I don't know what movies you have made." Howard said in surprise.

"I shot this movie in China, so I may not be able to show you the finished film here. You can also verify it when the filming is underway. If you think it's not good enough, you can replace me at any time, and the wasted funds will be deducted from my share. But I have never shot in the United States, so I hope you can recommend me to a Hollywood set to observe." Zhang Feng said casually.

"As for the share, 10% is too low. Let's calculate it based on the profit. If it's below $50, I only want 5%. Between $50 and $100 million, I'll take 10%. Between $100 million and $200 million, I'll take 15%. If it's over $200 million, I'll take 20%. What do you think?" Zhang Feng paused and continued.

"Since you are willing to bear the loss, I certainly have no objection. I recommend you to go to the set to observe, that's even better. As for Zhang, I am very interested in the profit-sharing method you mentioned. This proposal is very nice, and I think it can be applied to many of my businesses. Oh, Zhang, you are the smartest Chinese person I have ever met, although you are the first Chinese person I have ever met, haha." Howard joked.

He had just failed once, so as long as he could succeed, he didn't really care how much money he could make. He would not suffer a loss from Zhang Feng's profit-sharing proposal, so he readily agreed.

This made Zhang Feng think that there are many business models that have not yet appeared. Can the stockings business he is planning to do be advertised in the movie? Originally, this movie was all about men, with almost no female characters. Now it seems that a female character with some roles should be added to promote the stockings.

Zhang Feng had originally planned to wait until the movie was released and he got the money before approaching Howard to discuss investing in stockings, but now it seems they can do it together. After all, time waits for no one, and one must become famous and make money as early as possible.

"Mr. Howard, I have another business I want to discuss with you." Zhang Feng said quickly, doing what he thought.

"Oh, Zhang, do you have any other ideas?" Howard Hughes asked with interest.

"It's like this. My parents are scientists. They developed a material that can be made into a product. I think it has great market prospects. However, they have passed away, and I don't have the ability to produce it in America, so I hope to cooperate with you." Zhang Feng found an explanation that he thought was more reasonable and said.

"Oh, I don't know what product it is. If it can make money, why not?" Howard Hughes did not ask any further questions. Perhaps he did not care, or perhaps he was not that cunning. After all, he was only 20 years old. Although he was a genius, he was not an old fox.

"I only know the general production method. After all, I am not a professor. I hope you can find some chemistry professors to work with me to study the production process. I call it nylon stockings. It will look very sexy when worn on female legs, haha." After saying that, Zhang Feng gave him a look that all men understand. He hoped that this would arouse his interest and increase the probability of his agreement. After all, according to later information, Howard Hughes was a playboy, so naturally he had to cater to his preferences. You know, in 1941, Howard Hughes would invent the padded bra.

"Oh, really, Zhang? I can't wait. I wish us a pleasant cooperation." Sure enough, Howard Hughes agreed readily.

As for the advertising, Zhang Feng decided to wait until the actual product was made. There was no rush now. He could modify the script first and talk about it later.

After shaking hands with Howard Hughes and saying goodbye, Zhang Feng agreed to come to the company tomorrow to help Zhang Feng arrange to study on the set. After finding a chemistry professor to continue discussing cooperation on stockings, Zhang Feng left the film company and returned to the apartment.

The next day, Zhang Feng went to the set under the arrangement of Howard Hughes. Five days passed in a flash. Zhang Feng did odd jobs on the set for five days. As a free laborer introduced by a rich man, the staff on the set were quite friendly to him. So he basically did every position. He believed that it would not take long for him to learn the job.

That day, he was discussing some techniques in the filming process with the director, and Anna found him and told him that Howard Hughes wanted him to come over. Zhang Feng guessed that it was to discuss nylon stockings, so he said goodbye to the director and went to the film company.

"Zhang, I have found two professors and rented a laboratory. Come with me to the laboratory now. I can't wait to see the nylon stockings you mentioned." Sure enough, Howard Hughes said as soon as they met. "No problem, Mr. Howard, I am looking forward to it too." Zhang Feng said with a smile.

An hour later, they arrived at a university laboratory and met two professors.

"This is Professor Lawrence Kate, this is Professor Bob Ford, and this is my partner Zhang." Howard introduced first.

After the three of them greeted each other, Zhang Feng explained the method of making nylon fiber. The two professors said it was very simple and they made the real thing after several rounds of experiments on the spot, but if they wanted to mass-produce it, they would need time to explore the industrial process.

Both Zhang Feng and Howard Hughes expressed their hope that it could be done as soon as possible, and they soon left the laboratory.

"Mr. Howard, I think I also need to register this as a patent. We don't have a patent in the Far East." Zhang Feng said.

"No problem. My company has a long-term lawyer. When I get to the company, I will call the lawyer and ask him to help you." Howard Hughes said readily.

After returning to the film company, the two began to discuss cooperation on nylon stockings, and finally reached an agreement. Zhang Feng invested 20% of the shares with patented technology and advertising creativity, but there was also a supplementary agreement. Zhang Feng had the right to make up for the funds Howard Hughes paid in advance after the film was released, and get the remaining 31% of the shares. If he did not get it, it would be considered as giving up. Howard Hughes was responsible for finding people to research and invest in the construction of factories and purchase of production machines, holding 49% of the shares. This was Zhang Feng's greatest effort.

(The share ratio and supplementary agreement here are the most reasonable ones I can think of. Don't say that the protagonist gets too much, or that it's a naive article. After all, in a novel, it's the time traveler who finally travels to this world. If he still works for others, it will feel weird. What do you think, readers? You can discuss in the comment section.)
Then they talked about movies. Jiang Feng mentioned the product placement issue. Howard Hughes had no objection and said that adding a little love element might be better. He also praised Zhang Feng's idea of ​​product placement.

The film plans to recruit actors and form a crew within a month. Zhang Feng will continue his studies and said that he will complete the script revision within a week.

Zhang Feng went to various film sets to study during the day, revised the script at home at night, and occasionally went to the factory to check on the progress.

Today, Zhang Feng came to the filming site of a movie called Torrent to learn. It is a silent film.

Silent films, also known as "silent films", are a general term for all films before the invention of sound films. After the birth of movies, due to the limitations of film sound technology, early films were films with images but no dialogues or sound effects. In order to solve this limitation, silent films mostly use single-screen subtitles to express important dialogues and sound effects, so they are also called "silent films". When some theaters are showing movies, musicians will improvise accompaniment on site according to the development of the plot. In the late 1920s, with the invention of sound film technology, films such as "Don Sulfur" (1926) and "The Jazz Singer" began to partially use sound technology, which shocked the audience at the time. Silent films were destined to be replaced by sound films.

Zhang Feng’s movie Special Forces is a sound movie, so the investment will be relatively high.

Back to the movie Torrent, Zhang Feng was not interested at all. What he was interested in was one of the actresses in the movie, Greta Garbo, who was born in Stockholm, Sweden and was a Swedish Hollywood film actress. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Greta Garbo as the fifth greatest actress of the century.

After coming to this world for such a long time, Zhang Feng has no intention of finding a girlfriend for the time being because he is as poor as in his previous life and he only wants to make money. But now it is different. It is foreseeable that it will not be long before he will at least be a millionaire. In this era, a million dollars is also considered a small number of wealthy people.

As a single man for 26 years, he couldn't wait to find a woman to have some fun with, and having money gave him the courage and confidence of Fish Leong.

"Hi, beautiful Miss Greta, may I have the honor of inviting you to dinner?" Having just finished a day of shooting, Zhang Feng found the right opportunity to approach Greta Garbo and said.

After these two days of contact on the set, the two have become quite familiar with each other. This may be mainly because she knows that Zhang Feng is a film director and is about to shoot a blockbuster, and has the right to decide the female lead, so Greta Garbo does not dislike Zhang Feng, a Chinese.

(End of this chapter)