Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 161 - 159

At ABC, in order to quickly secure the rights, they pulled a talk show that was of little importance and replaced it with an episode full of discriminating programs.

They clearly felt the impact of the public opinion storm that they had stirred up before.

Currently on the website, "Anomalies and Creatures" along with the freshly awarded "Prison Break" leave other works far behind in terms of paid viewership.

Of course, in the book review section of "Anomalies", some new readers started to frequently mention the name "Galaxy Guide."

"What the heck, it’s not even comparable in terms of being rigorous! But... it’s still pretty good to watch."

"Much better than ’Galaxy Guide’! The female lead there is just a bitch who seduces both the aliens and the protagonist!"

"The females in ’Anomalies’ are all centered around the protagonist. The only male side character is a Demon delivering scare-the-kids looks to the protagonist."

What’s with this full-on "All women in the world belong to me, others can’t even take a peek" vibe?

Wang Jian casually flipped through the comment section and couldn’t help but sigh that the thoughts of men on Earth really are all the same.

Everyone wants to be surrounded by beautiful women.

He picked up his contacts book and flipped through it at random.

"Lily, Lynn, Stephanie... Ah, the hardship of having too many beauties, you guys just wouldn’t understand!" freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

In Wang Jian’s mind, the images of women kept emerging.

Soon, he shook his head vigorously, throwing certain thoughts out of his mind.

"No, this is too disrespectful to women!"

"Better take advantage of the heat and make a harvest while it lasts!"

Wang Jian murmured to himself as he flipped through the outline, "Whether it’s good heat or bad heat, it’s heat all the same, right?"

Outside the office, two employees exchanged glances.

"Listen to that keyboard tapping, he’s started writing, hasn’t he?" one employee said proudly to the other, "I told you, as soon as there’s a streak, there’s bound to be an update."

The other employee sighed in resignation and pulled out a fifty US Dollar bill, handing it over. "Ah, our boss sure has his quirks!"

"Everyone on Twitter is talking about it, and you still don’t believe it!" The employee stuffed the bill into his pocket. "Artists, you know, this is all legendary stuff."

"But how exactly does Twitter describe the boss?"

The winning employee took a sip of coffee and said in a low voice, "naked man."

...

Right now in Atlanta, after just wrapping up promotion for "Rock," the great director Michael Bay had returned to his hotel when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." He massaged his temples, speaking offhandedly.

"Michael, ABC still won’t give up." The agent picked up a glass and poured himself some wine, without waiting for an invitation.

"What’s the box office for ’Rock’?" Michael Bay could hardly fathom ABC’s top brass’s thought process. "They’re asking me to direct a TV show?"

"And you at CAA, with your packaging deals, you completely disregard your client’s interests? If this continues, I’ll have to seriously consider whether I’ll renew my contract."

Although CAA was very aggressive with unknown actors,

they were quite humble in the face of this rising star director.

"You’re misunderstanding, Michael," the agent quickly explained. "The reason CAA recommended you take this job is because ABC is offering a record-breaking budget per episode for a drama series."

"$75 million is the production cost of ’Rock,’" Michael Bay scoffed. "ABC can offer a higher budget than that?"

The agent held up two fingers, "Two million dollars per episode, excluding sponsorship fees."

"Two million dollars per episode?"

The number made the director think he was hearing things.

"Then... with the current trend of 30 episodes per season for TV dramas, plus the big three networks’ sponsorship pulling power, wouldn’t the production cost... "

The agent nodded his head affirming the director’s calculations, "It will definitely break a hundred million!"

At that moment, Michael Bay’s mind raced with thoughts of other Hollywood productions that had soared past a hundred million in costs.

Okay, this isn’t really comparable.

Because in cinema, marketing costs make up a huge portion.

And the vast audience of broadcast networks means their TV dramas have almost no marketing costs.

This is a bona fide production cost of over a hundred million!

How many bombs could that buy!

Michael Bay downed a few gulps of coffee, suppressing the urge to take the job at all costs.

"What genre is this TV show?" His voice was a bit hoarse compared to earlier.

"Science fiction, comedy." The agent, seeing the director’s change in attitude, was quite pleased. "This work will be adapted from a novel."

The agent opened the laptop, swiftly typing in the website.

"Here, this one." He pointed to the screen. "The title of the novel is ’Anomalies and Creatures.’"

Michael Bay put down his coffee and walked over to the computer.

"wangwen.com, what’s this?"

He muttered to himself as he began to read.

After a while, Michael Bay rubbed his eyes, somewhat speechless.

Vampires, Werewolves, goddesses?

Does ABC want me to direct ’The Lord of the Rings’?

Would the great Sauron even survive three episodes under the effects that I’d love to play with?

Yet...

The novel itself seems pretty interesting.

He clicked the mouse, continuing to read.

Demons descending, summoning meteorites?

Seems... kind of cool.

Spaceships bombing the ground?

A planet blown to bits for habitation?

Michael Bay closed his eyes, envisioning what it would be like if he directed these scenes.

"No, no! Michael, this is just a TV series!"

But his fingers still involuntarily clicked the mouse, all the way to today’s update.

"A sea demon, that’s like a mermaid, right?" He interpreted the novel’s unfamiliar words in his own language.

"An entire planet of water? ’Unopened Water World’?"

But shortly after, he stared out the window, murmuring, "Collective will? Alien invasion?"

"The key point is, a massive explosion on the water’s surface?"

The agent watched Michael Bay nervously, asking, "What do you think?"

"Remember, when the ’Waterworld’ project started, I even interviewed for the director role."

"Of course, the director that was chosen didn’t end well, getting ousted by the big star Costner."

"But I’ve always wondered, what it would be like if ’Waterworld’ had been directed by me?"

"So, you’ve accepted?" The agent burst with joy.

Michael Bay shook his head. "I can only be one of the directors, not the sole director of the full feature."

"First, my home turf is Hollywood. Second, I’m not good at comedy."

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