Chapter 12 Good Opportunity

The sun was setting. Link was walking on the street at dusk. He looked at the gorgeous neon lights in front of the roadside bars and dance halls, and the palm tree crowns swaying in the wind in the night sky. He always felt that the night scene tonight was different from before and seemed much more pleasing to the eye.

After being left behind by Jerome Preston at the cinema, the two had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the shopping mall and chatted about movie distribution.

Jerome Preston said that within his authority, he could arrange two theaters for "Buried" and schedule more than five screenings a day.

At the same time, he could also help contact other theater managers and try to arrange more theaters and add more screenings for "Buried Alive." He asked Link to go back and wait for news.

If all goes well, Buried Alive will hopefully be released in the near future.

But this is not a dream. Many things are more difficult to do than expected. Before the movie box office data comes out, every link cannot be careless.

"Hey, Link, where have you been?"

When Link returned to the Bird Street Youth Apartment, a group of young people were holding a party on the grass in front of Apartment Building No. 10.

There was loud music playing, and several boxes of beer and drinks were placed on the ground. Several men and women in scantily clad clothes were dancing in the crowd. Every time someone made a provocative move, there would be shouting and howling.

Chris Bauer was dancing in the crowd with his muscular upper body naked. When he saw Link passing by, he stopped to say hello.

"I went to see a movie and just came back from the cinema."

"Alone, or with that blonde chick?"

Eric, with his exposed arm tattoo, hugged a scantily clad girl and smiled.

"What blonde chick?"

"When did Link find a girlfriend? How come I didn't know?"

Chris Bauer and the people around him asked in confusion.

"Haha, didn't you see that Link brought a blonde woman home to spend the night a few days ago? She was a woman wearing a women's suit and dressed very delicately. She looked like a white-collar worker working in a respectable company, in her thirties. I have to say, Link, you have very special tastes."

Eric, who had a tattoo on his arm, laughed.

"Wow, Link, you're looking for a girlfriend in her thirties?"

"Link, you like older women. No wonder you rejected Lillian and Jennifer?"

"Link, cool!"

A group of people laughed loudly.

"Hey guys, your dancing is great, why don't you keep going, I hope I'm not disturbing you?"

Link gestured as he picked up a bottle of beer.

"Link, come along. You're not the Lone Ranger in Los Angeles. You can't always be out of our circle."

Chris Bauer pushed Link's shoulders into the circle.

Link had no choice but to dance disco to the rhythm of the music.

The lively atmosphere and the weather in Los Angeles made me sweat in less than five minutes.

"Link, a hot beauty moved into Building 13 today. She looks older than us. If you like older women, you can try to pick her up."

Chris Bauer, shirtless, winked at him.

"Hey, not only is it old, but this, this, is also very big."

Eric with tattooed arms scratched his butt and chest, made faces and smiled obscenely.

"Link, forget it. That woman is very beautiful, but she is very proud. She looks at people with her chin up and ignores people who greet her. It is impossible for people like us to seduce her."

The person next to him came over and said.

"Forget it. I'm too busy every day to have time to pick up girls. You guys keep dancing. I'll go back and take a shower."

Link drank a bottle of Bud Light and returned to Building 13 humming Michael Jackson's latest single "Dangerous".

When I went up to the third floor, I smelled a very tempting perfume, like the scent of roses mixed with orange, strong and fresh. Needless to say, it must be a woman's.

Turning to the third floor stairs, I saw the back of a woman walking in front of me. She was wearing a sleeveless dress, tall and plump, with a slender waist and wide and round hips.

She was carrying a Costco supermarket shopping bag. She used her arms to exert force and twisted her hips more vigorously when going up the stairs. In the dim light of the stairwell, her back was very seductive.

After the woman reached the third floor, she turned toward the apartment on the right. The sound of her mid-heeled shoes tapping on the floor was clear.

It has the atmosphere of a suspense movie.

Link smiled and returned to the small apartment on the fourth floor.

I took a hot bath, changed into loose pajamas, did a 3-minute plank on the floor, lay on the bed and thought about the day's events, gradually falling asleep.

——

"Welcome!"

"I'll have a lemonade and a chicken breast veggie burger, please."

"Okay Ms. Moore, please wait!"

In the morning, Link got a chicken burger from the kitchen, poured a glass of lemon soda, and handed it to the customer.

After the guests left, Chris Bauer came over, bumped Link's arm, pointed at the back of the woman walking away, and asked excitedly:

"Link, that's Miss Julianne Moore, right? I didn't expect her to come to the store in person to buy a burger."

"Celebrities are human beings too, it's normal for them to come to the store and buy food."

Link shrugged and wiped the counter with a rag.

The person who just came was indeed the famous actress Julianne Moore, who played the best friend of the third female lead in the hit thriller film "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle".

With her outstanding acting skills and appearance, Julianne Moore gained some fame in the American entertainment industry and became a well-known actress.

However, working in Hollywood, the probability of meeting celebrities is very high, especially those who are not yet very famous.

Link had seen a lot on the set in the past few months, so he was no longer surprised.

"I heard that Julianne Moore used to be a waitress and worked in the entertainment industry for seven or eight years before becoming famous this year. I wish I could be like her."

Chris Bauer said.

"No way. Julianne Moore is beautiful and has great acting skills. How can you compare to her?"

Another waiter named Michael said.

"How is that impossible? I have muscles. Do you have them?"

Chris Ball said, flexing his biceps.

"I'm taller than you!"

"Damn it, don't compare your height with mine."

While the two were playing, Link saw off a guest and heard the pager in his pocket beeping a few times. He took it out and looked at the number. It was Jerome Preston calling.

Link explained to Chris Bauer and went to a public telephone booth on the street to make a call.

Jerome Preston told Link to connect him with an art theater in Burbank that had 10 screens and specialized in showing low-budget independent films.

The cinema was undergoing interior decoration some time ago, and the work was completed a few days ahead of schedule. No movies were scheduled, so there was about a week of free time.

The manager of the theater agreed to show "Buried", but in order to avoid losses, Link needed to pay a deposit of $30,000.

"Link, thirty thousand dollars should be no problem. As long as the box office data is good, they will return your deposit after the show is over. How about that? Isn't that good news?"

Jerome Preston laughed.

"Jerome, I have no money, not even a hundred dollars."

Link said through gritted teeth.

".Are you kidding me? You can make a 90-minute movie for less than $30,000?"

“I spent all my savings on this film.”

"Tsk, you're awesome! Well, if you don't have a deposit, then forget it. The shopping center theater can arrange two theaters for your movie, and it can show about 16 times in three days. The Pershing Square AMC Theater and the USC AMC Theater can also allocate three theaters for "Buried" and show 20 times.

However, the screening times are quite scattered and the box office data is not easy to calculate, so we agreed on this in advance to avoid any disagreements later."

Jerome Preston said.

Link also thought of this. He was not a distribution company and did not have a statistician. Even if the movie was released in three theaters, he would not be able to accurately count the box office of the three theaters in a timely manner.

Without accurate statistics, it is not easy to attract the attention of film distribution companies and theaters.

"Jerome, the theater you mentioned has a week of vacant schedule. When is it exactly?"

"From the 15th to the 22nd!"

It is now the 10th, and there are only five days left until the 15th.

How to make $30,000 in five days?

But this is a good opportunity and it would be a pity to miss it.

"Jerome, give me five days. If I don't make $30,000 after five days, I will release the film sporadically for three days as planned."

"OK, I'll wait for your good news."

Link hung up the phone and frowned. He originally thought that the release of "Buried" had been finalized, but it turned out like this?

It is really not easy to accomplish something when you have no money.

(End of this chapter)