Hollywood Road

The black Ford sedan headed north, passing through Burbank, known as the media capital of the world, and gradually approaching the northern part of the Los Angeles Basin, where there is an urbanized valley, as famous as Los Angeles satellite cities such as Burbank. , It is the San Fernando Valley that will become world-renowned in the future.

Although it has only just entered two thousand years, the adult industry in the San Fernando Valley has formed a huge scale after years of development.

Entering the valley, Murphy slowed down a bit and turned into the cold water canyon between Burbank Avenue and Oxnard Street. He and Jessica Chastain, who was in the co-pilot, began to look frequently to the sides.

On the walls on both sides of the road, there is a 2754-foot-long mural, which is considered to be one of the longest murals in the world.

However, Murphy didn't stop to watch because of this. He turned at the next intersection and entered Ventela Avenue and drove along the straight road to the northern edge of the San Fernando Valley.

The filming house requested by Murphy must be far away from the chaotic downtown area. A man who has ulterior secrets and wants to continue cannot live in a prosperous area.

Such a house is not difficult to find in Los Angeles, but there are not many that are at the right price. So after Jessica Chastain contacted the real estate agent with the property far away from downtown Los Angeles, Murphy immediately took the time to rush over. .

"The real estate agent said that the house was often used for filming..."

Looking at the information delivered by the real estate agency yesterday, Jessica Chastain introduced some basic information to Murphy, "Because it is used for rental shooting all the year round, the owner of the house has undergone special reconstruction, and many places have reserved camera shooting positions. , And it’s very secluded. There are other residents only a thousand feet apart. These conditions are more in line with the needs of filming."

Murphy turned his eyes to the co-pilot. "Sounds pretty good."

Jessica Chastain does have some abilities. What she lacks most is social experience. For example, she didn't ask what movies or TV series the house had filmed.

But Murphy called to find out. The most filmed of this house is the specialty videos of San Fernando Valley.

"That's right." Jessica Chastain seemed to think of something again. "There is still a crew filming there now."

"What?" Murphy frowned. "Why didn't we say earlier, can we go in?"

Hearing this questioning tone, Jessica Chastain felt a little unhappy, but still explained, "The real estate agent has already contacted the crew, and they allow us to enter, as long as we don't disturb the normal shooting."

Murphy nodded, said nothing, just drove northward.

Jessica Chastain peeked at him, and the curiosity in her heart popped out again. She knew that this guy was poor and could not afford to eat a few months ago. He could only work in a small car repair shop without any guarantee. How could the porter of China suddenly spend $300,000 on filming a movie?

What method did he use to raise this huge sum of money in a short period of time?

Frankly speaking, Jessica Chastain always feels imbalanced in her heart for a person whose education, age, and experience are not as good as her own. For a while, she even thinks that the other party's ability is not as good as her own. At best, she has enough face. Thick and sinister enough.

But it is such a person who has the opportunity to shoot and make movies, and she, a top student who graduated from the Juilliard School of Art, has to look at the other person’s face instead...

"Jesse!"

The familiar voice heard in her ears, and Jessica Chastain quickly recovered from her random thoughts, "You call me?"

Murphy quickly turned her head and glanced at her, "I asked you to collect the girl photos ready?"

"Basically done." Jessica Chastain sighed lightly. "I collected photos of twelve girls. Attorney Robert also signed a license agreement with their guardians. There is no problem in using them in the film."

Turning the steering wheel, the car turned into a secluded road, Murphy nodded, this is also an expense, if there is no authorization, it will be troublesome if something happens in the future.

Thinking of the fact that the crew has just been established, there have been tens of thousands of dollars in expenditure from salary to rent to licensing fees, Murphy's brows frowned.

Fortunately, according to the signed agreement, in addition to the advance of about one-third of the staff's salary, the remaining ones have to wait until the start of the filming and the end of the filming, and the money can still lie in his bank account for a period of time.

According to Hollywood practice, mainstream crews often wait for the film to be released from North America before paying the last one-third of the compensation, but no one is stupid enough to sign such a contract with Murphy. Those people are not stupid, and they know the shooting. It's very possible that the movie won't make it into the theater at all.

Hollywood produces thousands of films every year, and only about one-third of them can finally enter the theaters. In this third, many of them are for a week or even three-day tour of the theaters.

"Jesse..." Murphy asked next to him again, "I remember you studied drama at the Juilliard School of Art?"

"Yes." Jessica Chastain nodded, an unpleasant feeling rose in her heart.

"Then you must have learned acting."

Seeing Jessica Chastain on the co-pilot obliquely, Murphy patted the steering wheel lightly, "Great, Jesse, I have prepared a role for you in the crew."

Character? Or specialized? Jessica Chastain is not stupid at all. After reading the script, she immediately realized that her role must be a female neighbor with only one scene.

She asked tentatively, "What about the salary?"

"Salary?" Murphy said with a surprised expression, "Does the crew need to be paid for a guest appearance in the film? We are a team!"

Upon hearing this, Jessica Chastain closed her mouth, but kept muttering in her heart, "I knew it was like this, and I knew it was like this. This miser, he wants to squeeze everyone's value out. It's clean!"

Meeting such a boss, she felt very sad and helpless, but the qualifications to be able to participate in a film on the spot, like a carrot on a stick, seduce her to keep going.

If he had a budget of tens of millions of dollars, Murphy would not do it, but the total investment is only 300,000 US dollars, and a crew needs too much money. If you don’t plan carefully, even if you invest all the money If you go in, you may not be able to complete a project.

Big projects have big project planning, and small projects have survival rules for small projects.

There are more and more trees on both sides of the road, taller and taller, and the surroundings are quieter. Except for the sound of Ford cars, no other sounds can be heard. After driving for about five minutes, a typical American suburban community appears. In view.

This community is not large. From a distance, more than 20 houses are scattered under a small hill, probably because of deliberate design. All the houses are far apart, the ones in the most fringe areas. There are thousands of feet apart from each other, and one of them is the target of Murphy's visit.

The black Ford car parked near a gray bungalow. Murphy pushed the door and got out of the car. First, he looked around. The environment here is very good. There is a small forest behind the house and there is no courtyard in front of the house. In the open front garden, standing here and looking into the distance, you can also see a small lake with rippling blue waves.

Quiet, concealed, far away from other residents... These external conditions are very much in line with his requirements.

On the other side, Jessica Chastain had already taken out the phone and dialed the number of the real estate agent. After just half a minute, a 30-year-old Latino opened the front door of the bungalow and walked out.

"Hello, Miss Chastain." He first greeted Jessica Chastain who was waiting in front of the house, and then walked quickly towards Murphy, before reaching him, he enthusiastically extended his right hand. " Nice to meet you, Mr. Stanton, you are the youngest director I have ever met."

Murphy shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Wayne."

After a little greeting, the real estate agent Wayne led the way, "Let’s take a walk outside first, and I will introduce you to the basic situation."

Following Wayne, along the periphery of the house, Murphy walked and watched, and was doing routine sales in front of him, "This house was built in 1995 and has a masonry structure. The original owner of the house is an adult film company. The boss, when building, he considered the possibility of filming here, and deliberately chose to stay away from other residents. There are also specially reserved camera positions inside the house..."

After spinning around, Murphy was generally satisfied.

"Mr. Stanton." Back in front of the front door of the house, Wayne asked concerned, "I don't know when your crew will start filming."

Murphy thought for a while, "It will be next month at the earliest, not more than the tenth of next month."

"October 10." Wayne opened his notebook, looked at it roughly, and said, "Now that the crew is finished, there are two more crews who will come over to shoot. They will be available before the end of the month, and the time is right."

He asked again, "How long do you need to shoot?"

"At least one month." Murphy is the most optimistic estimate.

Real estate agent Wayne looked at the time and said, "It's time to finish a scene inside. It's estimated that it's time for a break, let's go in."

He walked over and opened the door, made a please gesture, and after Murphy and Jessica Chastain entered, he closed the door and followed.

After passing through the entrance, there is a huge living room, which is equipped with various equipment such as light-shielding panels, spotlights, cameras, etc. A strong man wearing a baseball cap is setting up the venue for the command staff, and it seems that he is the director of the crew.

On the couch in the living room, there is a blonde woman with heavy make-up, and a makeup artist is applying makeup to him.

When she walked into the living room, the blonde woman happened to look over here, and Murphy also saw her front face clearly. This face is very familiar. If you read it right, it should be a superstar.

Although under the blanket draped by the blonde woman, it seemed that she didn't wear any clothes, Murphy did not stop, but followed the real estate agent to check the condition of the house first.