Last night, I was bothered by some faint noises until very late, eventually even doubting if it was just my imagination. When brushing my teeth, I checked myself in the mirror. Luckily, there were no dark circles under my eyes, or it would have been really embarrassing.
The time was seven o'clock in the morning, Saturday.
The weather in Park City in January was still very cold, but inside the house, it was as warm as spring.
Leaving the bedroom, she guiltily slowed her steps and glanced at another door not far away. He definitely wasn't up yet, right?
She went downstairs to the living room and was startled.
Simon was already sitting on the single sofa by the fireplace, talking on the phone. Janette was curled up in his arms like a kitten, her eyes half-closed, wearing only a long, light pink wool sweater. Her two dazzlingly fair, long legs stretched out from under the hem of the sweater, revealing an abundance of youthful charm.
She stood blankly at the staircase for a few seconds until the man nodded at her. Only then did she react, walking over nonchalantly and sitting on the sofa next to him.
Her heart, however, felt a pang of bitterness.
After he kissed her neck in the car that day, although there were no other intimate contacts afterward, she naturally assumed that the two of them had developed some kind of connection.
Now, Janette could curl up in his arms without any reservations.
Jennifer, however, could only sit beside him, carrying a faint sense of guilt, as if she had stolen something from someone else.
Simon chatted with the person on the other end for a while, then put down the receiver and asked Jennifer, "How did you rest last night?"
The blushing sounds from last night resurfaced in Jennifer's mind. Her gaze shifted away, and she forced herself to nod calmly, saying, "Very well. You, um, who were you just talking to?"
"Ed McCracken, CEO of Silicon Graphics", Simon said, then explained, "Last night, I suddenly realized something. I don't need to rely on acquiring other companies for 3D animation and CG special effects. If I want to do these things, I can recruit people and build my own team. This way, the cost will be lower, and I can more flexibly control the direction of technology development. Silicon Graphics supplies professional graphics workstations to many universities, enterprises, and R&D teams, and they happen to have connections in this area. I just asked McCracken to help me introduce some people".
Jennifer listened to the man distractedly, but then suddenly realized something. She looked up at Simon and said, "You, last night, thought of all this?"
Simon nodded, "Yes, what's wrong?"
Before Jennifer could answer, Janette, nestled in Simon's arms, couldn't help but laugh.
Simon also understood in an instant. Looking at Jennifer's blushing face, he could only add, "Actually, I already had this idea when I left Pixar headquarters the day before yesterday".
Jennifer felt even more embarrassed. She stood up, mumbled, "I'll go prepare breakfast", and fled to the kitchen.
Simon watched the Female Assistant's somewhat flustered figure disappear, then patted Janette, who was still half-asleep in his arms, and said, "Baby, how about going to the bedroom to sleep? Be careful not to catch a cold".
Janette wrapped her arms around Simon and said coquettishly, "Carry me over".
Simon picked up Janette and carried her to the second-floor bedroom, placed her on the big bed, and tucked her in. He said, "Sleep. I'll call you when breakfast is ready".
Janette, nestled in the quilt, blinked at Simon when she heard this: "You can finish breakfast with her before coming to call me, you know".
Simon smiled, pinched the woman's cheek, and helped her pull up the covers, then went downstairs again.
Still on the stairs, Simon heard the telephone ring. When he reached the living room, he saw Jennifer coming out of the kitchen, presumably to answer the phone. Seeing Simon, the Female Assistant immediately shrank back, like a startled fawn.
Simon smiled helplessly, walked over, and picked up the receiver. The call was from New York, where it was already working hours on the East Coast.
After Westeros Company began reducing its holdings in New World Entertainment yesterday, the company's stock price plummeted from $16.75 at Thursday's close to $13.25 at yesterday's close.
The shareholders and executives of New World Entertainment, who had been secretly gloating and waiting for Simon to contact them, suddenly couldn't sit still. Early this morning, Larry Kopin, a major shareholder of New World Entertainment, personally went to visit James Raybould. He was currently speaking with Simon in Raybould's office.
After buying New World Pictures from Roger Corman, the King of B-movies, in 1983, and after several years of mergers, expansions, and reorganizations, Larry Kopin and his other partner, Harry Sloan, still held over 40% of New World Entertainment's shares.
On the phone, Larry Kopin stated that they were well aware of Simon's intentions and were pleased with the potential transaction, hoping that both sides could formally begin acquisition negotiations.
Even at yesterday's closing price of $13.25, New World Entertainment's market value still exceeded $330 million, which was still more than Westeros Company could afford.
Moreover, once both parties officially began negotiations, New World Entertainment's stock price would certainly rebound again.
New World Entertainment's main dilemma at the moment was a lack of funds. If Simon agreed to initiate acquisition talks for New World Entertainment, those Wall Street capitalists who wanted to heavily exploit Westeros Company would certainly not allow the company's operations to run into problems.
At that time, it would be much easier for New World Entertainment to obtain working capital and escape its predicament.
Therefore, Larry Kopin's intentions were also very clear.
As long as they could maintain contact with Simon, the big financier, no matter
Whether the deal was ultimately reached or not, New World Entertainment had a strong chance of overcoming its current difficulties. Simon naturally couldn't do all the work for others. He simply gave a perfunctory reply on the phone and left the matter for James to handle.
After breakfast, Simon, Janette, and Jennifer went to the city at nine o'clock to attend the premiere of a film called 'Dream of a Nation'. Robert Redford also served as an executive producer for this film, which was funded by the Sundance Institute.
Simon had chatted with Michael Hoffman, the director of 'Dream of a Nation', at Redford's party last year. As it was his first feature film as a director, Michael Hoffman's narrative style was not yet fully polished. However, Simon really liked the film's exploration of disillusioned ideals and a confused reality through its stark cinematography.
After the premiere of 'Dream of a Nation', Simon, Robert Redford, and others left the Egyptian Theatre, planning to go to a nearby restaurant for dinner.
As soon as they stepped out, they were surrounded by a group of reporters.
Simon initially didn't pay much attention, but after hearing the reporters' barrage of questions, he realized that their target was him.
It turned out that this morning, the WGA announced the nominations for the new Writers Guild of America Awards. Simon's three films from last year, 'Run Lola Run', 'The Butterfly Effect', and 'Final Destination', were all ignored, receiving no nominations.
Among the three films, although the plot concept of 'The Butterfly Effect' was very novel, the film's critical reception last year was very low, so it was natural for it to be ignored by awards. As for 'Final Destination', this gore thriller was even less likely to receive a nomination.
Therefore, 'Run Lola Run' could be said to be Simon's main contender for awards this year's awards season.
Before this, due to his age, the media generally predicted that the most significant award Simon could easily win at the Oscar Awards, the most important award of the awards season, was Best Screenplay. Simon's three films written last year all made it into the top ten of the annual box office charts, so he deserved this award.
The main voting members for Oscar screenwriting awards are concentrated in the Writers Guild of America.
Now, the WGA completely ignored 'Run Lola Run', so Simon would no longer be able to achieve anything in the screenwriting awards at the upcoming Oscars, and even a nomination would be difficult to expect.
Returning to the resort apartment in the afternoon, Simon also received more detailed information from Los Angeles.
At the nomination press conference, facing persistent questions from the media, George Clooney, the president of the WGA West, explained that 'Run Lola Run' focused too much on form and lacked substance, thus failing to meet the award nomination standards.
Simon merely smiled at this. He hadn't expected that because he refused to join the WGA, their 'power play' would be so obvious.
However, after a brief discussion, Simon only had Pat Kingsley issue some polite remarks respecting the WGA's decision.
Simon himself didn't care about awards, but he couldn't disregard the films produced by Daenerys Pictures.
Ultimately, the entire awards season is a game, and everyone involved must abide by the rules if they want to win awards.
Therefore, although some astute media noticed the fact that Simon was not a WGA member and questioned the fairness of the WGA nominations, Simon did not respond to this in any way.
A tumultuous day ended.
In the evening, by the fireplace in the resort apartment, Simon, Janette, and Jennifer sat together on the sofa, each holding a script.
Robert Redford had someone send over two large boxes of scripts today. Simon planned to return to Los Angeles tomorrow afternoon and had another movie premiere to attend tomorrow morning, so he could only use the evening to look through these scripts.
After the premiere of 'Dream of a Nation', Simon had agreed to invest in another film by Michael Hoffman, called 'Some Girls', which tells various interesting stories that happen to a college student when he visits his girlfriend in Canada and encounters a strange family.
Janette was currently holding this script, leaning against Simon and reading it with great interest.
Jennifer, however, was somewhat distracted. Last night was fine; everyone rested quickly after the party. But tonight, in this unfamiliar small town nestled in the mountains, surrounded by ice and cold, in a tranquil resort cabin, there was one man and two women.
This atmosphere was truly too strange.
The strangest thing was that the other two seemed completely oblivious.
After an unknown period, the telephone suddenly rang, finally breaking the atmosphere that Jennifer found quite uncomfortable. She looked up; Simon had already picked up the receiver, said a few simple words to the person on the other end, and then hung up.
Janette, however, was a little displeased that the quiet atmosphere had been broken. She nudged Simon and asked, "What is it?"
Simon picked up the script he had been reading again and said with a smile, "The Lord of the Rings is ours".
Janette pouted, "Ten million dollars. It would be abnormal if Zaentz refused".
Jennifer, who didn't know about Simon's communication with Saul Zaentz last night, said in disbelief, "Ten million dollars for the copyright to The Lord of the Rings trilogy?"
"Yes, you just need to know, don't tell anyone".
Jennifer still had a surprised expression, but she merely nodded.
Janette smiled and reached out her small hand to playfully grab Simon, saying, "This sheep is very plump, Jenny, do you want to touch him too?"
Jennifer's face flushed slightly, pretending not to hear Janette's words.
Janette's eyes darted around. She stood up, walked over, and pulled Jennifer, who hadn't reacted yet, to her feet and back, then she pushed her into the spot she had just occupied, then the woman ran to the other side of the sofa, squeezed Simon towards the middle, and sat down again.
This long sofa directly facing the fireplace wasn't particularly large, so with three people sitting on it, it immediately felt a bit cramped.
Perhaps it was due to the firelight in the fireplace, but Jennifer felt her cheeks warm up as she sensed the man's presence beside her. She didn't know how she felt inside, and after hesitating for a long while, she still didn't flee, carefully leaning against the man and pretending to be calm as she refocused on the script.
Simon was still thinking about securing the copyright for The Silmarillion in one go and hadn't expected Janette to suddenly do this. He just smiled and said, "Only two, that's a bit few".
"Little Bastard, how many more do you want?"
"Of course, the more the merrier... Ah, don't pinch".
"Jenny, you pinch him too".
Jennifer tentatively raised her arm, but seeing Simon happen to look over, she shyly pulled it back. After they playfully chatted for a moment, she randomly brought up a topic and asked Simon, "Have you picked out any scripts?"
Simon shook the script in his hand and said, "This one is pretty good".
Jennifer curiously tilted her head to look and saw a series of numbers, '3000', written on the script's cover.
"'3000' what does that mean?"
Simon sensed her curiosity and voluntarily explained, "This is a dark drama film about Vivian, a streetwalker in Los Angeles, who agrees to accompany a wealthy man for a week for $3,000. However, I plan to adapt it into a romance film".
Jennifer frowned slightly when she heard the term 'streetwalker,' then quickly said, "A romance film, like, um, 'Camille'?"
Simon nodded, "Exactly".
Janette also spoke at this time, "In that case, it would definitely be a tragedy. If it were a work by Dumas Fils, perhaps some people would still be interested. In modern times, who would be interested in a tragic love story about a streetwalker?"
"I didn't say I was going to change it into a tragedy. The ending, of course, is that the prince and princess live happily ever after", Simon shook his head, glanced at the script in his hand, and said with a smile, "I also thought of another name for this story, 'Pretty Woman'".
The 'Pretty Woman' in his memory happened to be adapted from a dark drama film called '3000'.
Simon hadn't expected to see this story among the scripts recommended by Redford. Both the screenwriter's name, J.F. Lawton, and the story content were very consistent with 'Pretty Woman'. But thinking about it carefully, the Sundance Institute precisely provides training and development platforms for new directors and screenwriters, and the dark drama genre of the '3000' script also fits the Sundance Film Festival style. After sorting this out, getting this script now wasn't too much of a coincidence.
After 'Run Lola Run', if 'Pretty Woman' also came out of Sundance, Park City would definitely be even livelier in the future.
On the sofa in front of the fireplace, Simon felt the two women beside him, thinking about the double good fortune of acquiring 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'Pretty Woman' tonight.
Perhaps, Park City was truly his lucky place.