Hollywood Domination Chapter 397: Great dinner

The dinner date with the Secretary of State was nominally initiated by the invitation of a member of Congress, a mutual friend of the two parties. Of course, many political brokers and lobbyists were present-the difference between the former and the latter is What is different is that lobbyists are generally employed by companies and are just doing their own work, while political brokers have different identities. They may not have a public office and are self-employed, or they may serve on Capitol Hill openly. The position is low, but their hands and eyes are as good as the sky. Even a secretary of state like Hillary can have a dinner with them, and no one will feel that there is the slightest inappropriateness.

Although Jenny has attended many prudent occasions, if you want to enumerate the positions of everyone present, then this will be the dinner party with the most power per capita that she has attended. Of course, the position deserves the respect of her and Cesare, so they just browsed briefly in the afternoon before returning to the hotel, so as not to be delayed by traffic and arrogantly become the latest guests to arrive. ——However, neither she nor Cesare dressed up too much. Jenny just wore a small dress, and didn't even wear any expensive jewelry, so as not to be overdressed and give people the feeling of nouveau riche. Fei, but this is only relative to ordinary people. Compared with Jenny, their income is only a drop in the ocean, and their lives are also subject to strict supervision. So tonight's dinner location, sorry, does not match the size of the power. It's just in a house that is almost indistinguishable from a townhouse. The dress is too grand, which will be out of place with the entire dining environment. Jenny even has a bag. Without Hermes, I grabbed a mk and got into the car.

"Are you nervous?" Robert, who was in the car with them, asked jokingly, and Jenny grinned, "No—we are completely two worlds, aren't we?"

Come out of an East Asian country with strict control over cultural affairs, and have been immersed in that official culture for a long time. For politicians, she was a little apprehensive at first, as if the other party could decide her career with a single word. But calm down and think about it. In this money-based world, the two sides are basically two parallel lines. To the extent that Jenny is like this, it is an exaggeration to assume that even if she and the Secretary of State had an extremely serious personal conflict, the other party would find it difficult to get rid of her. Well, there are indeed some people in this country who have been imprisoned in Guantanamo without any reason, but they are all little people with no money and no power--Jenny really lives in a different world from them, the master of the country like her belongs to the Secretary of State The object of service, the relationship between the two parties is actually extremely equal. What she really needs to deal with tonight is the Film Association. They represent the six major interests and occupy the "righteousness". Now they represent the entire Hollywood, and you can even say that the Secretary of State They are all one of their weapons to oppress Jenny. If she can't give a sincere enough answer, she will definitely become a traitor in the industry-how dare to prevent everyone from making money? From then on, it is really hard to say about Dameng's prospects in Hollywood.

"It is true that you have nothing to talk to them before you intend to develop in politics. They will have a certain meaning to you when you want to be governor one day." Robert said with a smile, "maybe you You can really consider running for the state legislature, can't you? With your popularity and personal image, if you intend to enter politics, this road will definitely go smoothly."

With Reagan in front, joining the political world has indeed always been a dream of Hollywood actors, or a way out. Besides Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney is also working **** these things Jenny shrugged her shoulders, "If I become a state senator, who will shoot "oz" for you? Dear Bob?"

For Robert, although this series of meetings is also the first time, he is used to seeing strong winds and waves. He must be calmer than Jenny and Cesare. While several people were talking and laughing, the vehicle was already approaching the dinner venue— — There are many guards with guns walking around outside the door, wearing black suits with bulging waists, and they look like national security. They watch the vehicles approaching vigilantly, adding a lot of "nobility" to the whole house Breath - But the embarrassing thing is that the vehicle cannot be parked on the street, because the garage space is limited, and the parking space on this roadside is also full of guests' vehicles, so after the three people got off the car, the driver had to find another parking place. This is in contrast to the Hollywood dinners that Jenny attended: Whether it is the president like Bob or the producer like Bruckheimer, their mansions have large and extravagant underground parking garages, unless there are more than a hundred guests at a time, otherwise Parking will never be a problem.

After a simple security check and registration, the three of them finally stepped into the threshold of the congressman's house—but they were still a step late. Her guard, the security level of a congressman is not that high.

“There you are——”

"j.j!"

"Haha, tonight's big star is finally here!"

Two Jeffs from Warner took the lead to warmly welcome the three of them. In the current occasion, all conflicts were put aside. Jeff and Robert, who came from the same industry and had the same status, were very happy. Intimacy, and Jeff Robinoff thoughtfully picked up Jenny and Cesare - his equal to them is the company of the two tonight, introducing them to Christopher Dodd, Film Society The chairman and Jack Katsfield, the hosts tonight, the senators of the Congress, compared with Hollywood's reckless carnival parties, luxury and money, and business parties that compete with each other, everything in the Washington dinner was arranged in an orderly manner. Appears to be restrained and polite-in layman's terms, that is more than Hollywood'holding'.

When the Secretary of State and the two presidents got to know each other, Jenny was introduced to the Secretary of State's think tank and lobbyist groups. A series of names and compliments followed, but Jenny didn't take it seriously. In her position , There are too many people to deal with, and "the nobles forget things too much" is more of a helplessness.

"j.j! I finally saw you—" Soon, the host and guest tonight also ended their pleasantries and greeted Jenny—the Secretary of State was unexpectedly kind, her professional smile almost reached Cesare The eight-toothed smile is perfect and warm, even though you know all this may be for politeness, but you still can't help but believe her words. "You know, I've always been a fan of yours, and when Jack said you were actually coming, I jumped for joy - we had to take a picture together and I had to show Chelsea, she's in France now , otherwise I believe she must be squeezed into tonight's banquet list..."

Among the jokes of the surrounding crowd, Jenny is like a group photo portrait in Madame Tussauds, smiling and taking photos with some important guests one by one—the hateful Cesare, as the 'husband' He was supposed to accompany him, but Jenny couldn't find the top of his head in the crowd. It is estimated that he took the opportunity to urinate and escaped.

A dinner party attended by the Secretary of State——When people hear this sentence, I'm afraid they can't help but wave the wings of their imagination and paint many extravagant scenes, but as long as they participate in anything once, all illusions will be shattered. Tonight's dinner can be said to be very close to the people. One of the main features is that the seats are a bit crowded: no way, in such a house that can barely be regarded as a single-family house, the restaurant cannot be as big as the banquet hall in Jenny's cliff villa. To the extent that a dozen people eat around a long table, it is impossible not to be crowded.

Although there are professional services, the food is still not exquisite at all, which is the standard of ordinary delivery restaurants. This is of course in line with the annual income of a senator (200,000 yuan), but it still gives Jenny a kind She didn't know what to say about the sense of disobedience, but since she came to Washington, she felt that her mood... seemed to be a little affected by the city's atmosphere: it's not that Washington is a city of angels, but this kind of harmony The completely different urban temperament of the materialistic Los Angeles still makes her feel a little bit emotional—although she has lived in other cities for a long time before, they are usually hotels, studios, and studios. This kind of self-imprisoned life makes her No matter where she is, her heart has never left Los Angeles, and when she came to Washington, she and Cesare walked the streets like ordinary people, enjoying such an ordinary meal with a group of politicians who were also closely watched by the media. During the dinner, this strong contrast finally moved her somewhat inexplicably.

Secretary of State, senators, four CEOs, a chairman, and lobbyists who are almost all top-notch students from prestigious schools without exception, and their income is considered generous, did not express any dissatisfaction with the food. Opening the identity, this is more like a normal dinner with friends and colleagues, except that the topic of discussion is not so ordinary. ——There is no doubt that the conversation this time was dominated by Christopher Dodd, Jeff Bewkes, and Robert Iger. Although Jenny and Cesare were valued by the Secretary of State before, they still I can only keep my mouth shut, and naturally, I also willingly become a supporting role.

"Yes, this is indeed a problem." Ms. Secretary of State swallowed a spoonful of gazpacho and agreed, "Online downloads have cost Hollywood a lot, and this is one of the problems of the global village-now the United States is also a problem. It has become a p2p paradise, which is a problem caused by the increase of bandwidth after entering 2000."

"The Pirate Bay at least sucked up more than 50% of the profits of DVDs," Jeff Bewkes said sharply, "Of course, its damage to the music market is far greater than that of movies and TV series. Gone forever, there is no doubt that p2p is destroying the domestic music industry, and the difficulty of cross-border law enforcement makes manufacturers can only sit back and watch it happen. If the government does not provide corresponding support, I am afraid that in 20 years, the United States will There would be no record industry."

Of course he was a bit alarmist, but Jenny still listened with gusto - she found that Jeff's speech was very targeted. The responsibility of the Secretary of State is mainly to visit foreign countries, and he can directly exert pressure on diplomatic occasions, which is better than speaking out on domestic affairs. Well, Hollywood needs her to put pressure on other countries directly on diplomatic occasions, so Jeff has been talking about cross-border joint law enforcement, and it seems that this is his main appeal tonight.

"Yes, yes, the most hateful thing is that the download does not generate any additional consumption." Tonight's host Jack Katsfield said, "Without consumption, there will be no tax, and the government's revenue will Therefore, it has been greatly reduced-I have always believed that websites such as The Pirate Bay and eztv should be blocked in China, but unfortunately, in the eyes of many people, this is not democratic enough.”

He made a grimace, and he didn't seem to agree with this statement very much-however, when he said this, the sense of power exuded from Jack did make him qualitatively different from the presidents of large companies.

"The most critical thing about this matter is not the attitude of the United States," said the Secretary of State, "but the attitude of the country where the website is located, isn't it? Like China, Microsoft has been protesting their large-scale use of pirated software, but... ..."

She smiled, as if she didn't intend to finish her sentence, but Robert said, "But it's not bad for the Chinese to get used to Windows, is it? It's much better than letting them develop their own system——"

"They can't make a Windows-level system, otherwise China will definitely ban Microsoft completely. This is the style of this country. They are deeply wary of all foreign things." The Secretary of State said helplessly, " But their huge market makes it impossible to give up easily, isn't it? Believe me, you are definitely not the first interest group to want China to open its market—"

She paused dramatically, and then said openly, "Google, k, youtube... almost all the big Internet companies you can think of want to quickly capture the Chinese market, instead of letting imitated websites seize the blue ocean, but in In this matter, the government can provide very limited help, and Beijing has made up its mind that it will never let foreign blood take root in their market-no matter how they protest diplomatically, they will pretend to be deaf and dumb. "

She spread her hands, "And of course we can't initiate sanctions because of this, or what - Internet war?"

Her funny tone got everyone laughing, and Jeff shook his head, "Irredeemable country."

"But you have to admit that this approach has resulted in the relatively largest number of large Internet companies in the country." Jenny couldn't help but said—but she soon realized that the occasion was wrong, and forced herself to The argument turned around. "So the further it develops, the more irreversible this closed policy will be—there will be enough power in the country to hope that Beijing will maintain the original policy, won't it?"

Because she is a blond, blue-eyed, white girl born and bred in the United States, there has never been any doubt about where Jenny's **** is sitting. It was an expression of surprise and admiration.

"Yes, based on China's strong population, as the Internet becomes more and more popular, local companies will also grow in size, and they will find that this special environment is very beneficial to them now, There is no need to innovate—just copying is enough, which can save them a lot of time and cost,” said a young man in the Secretary of State’s think tank, “Once the ecological environment is formed, it will be very strong. And vigilance, as well as the extreme disregard for copyright due to policies that are unique to all countries that are enjoying the advantages of latecomers, make this unique phenomenon fertile soil. If there is no major change in the political environment, This situation is almost impossible to break."

"It sounds like we can't do much on the Internet." Christopher Dodd also said, "—thank God, film is still an art that needs a lot of background, and China can't come up with such a thing for the time being." Shameless plagiarists - Of course, this is also because copying ideas is always easier than copying stories and techniques, but in my opinion, before China uses its crazy growing market to occupy this new blue ocean, we should try our best Expand your own share, otherwise the last channel of exporting democracy will be gradually cut off-oh, Hillary, I am not alarmist, you know those annoying Chinese, they are very smart, if they complete the right Our comprehensive plagiarism, or use their own new words: Shanzhai? You know, that is always their own market, and there are natural barriers in culture, and if Chinese audiences can see more local and original flavors Movies, they have no reason to support us. Although there are almost no good movies made in China now, you never know—just like their movie market, whether the movie production line will usher in a big explosion.”

Jenny put down her knife and fork, and observed people's expressions with great interest: Usually, she comes into contact with more technicians such as directors, and there are not many very political figures. They may not know much about China. Many, perhaps from the perspective of culture and market, from their words, she can clearly feel that China's sense of presence has increased in the past 10 years. It is no exaggeration to say that 10 years ago, many people even thought that China and North Korea were one country, or that the capital of China was actually Tokyo or Seoul... But 10 years later, almost everyone has at least a vague idea of ​​China : This is a country that is rapidly becoming rich, and Beijing is their capital... Although this is very basic knowledge, it is not too much for the United States, where most people's international common sense can be described as 'ignorant'. It's been an amazing transformation.

As for these politicians, their attitude towards China is even more subtle. They all openly talk about exporting democracy and the like, and regard China as an extremely backward country and a very dangerous enemy, but at the same time They are salivating over China's huge market—and at the same time split into thinking that they are saving the country by exporting democracy and stirring up revolution (if possible). This kind of straightforward and innocent self-confidence is really a joy to her: if they think that exporting democracy is to weaken their opponents and maintain the hegemony of the United States, then that’s fine, but even senators, senior cabinet officials, and think tanks The regiments are so confident that the purpose of exporting democracy and causing chaos is absolute justice and salvation... If they are not acting for Hollywood, it is that the brainwashing of American values ​​is indeed very successful, and everyone completely regards the United States as a The defenders of the world order, that is, the world police...

"This is indeed an immediate problem." The Secretary of State nodded. "Thankfully, compared with the direct feedback that the Internet can bring, Beijing does not seem to think that movies will be too much of a problem-at least this one The product is something they can review. At this point, maybe I can help you guys-"

She laughed again, and looked at Jenny kindly, "But I think I'm showing my shame, you should actually ask for help from another person - Jennifer has already successfully entered the Chinese market Is it? What she enjoys is definitely national treatment—"

Following her words, everyone's eyes focused on Jenny. She knew that this was the time for her to perform. Robert and her specially flew here. Jeff Robinov's appearance was for all It is this moment: the Secretary of State has a certain interest in the resources in her hands, but it is not too urgent, but Jeff Bewkes, and Christopher Dodd representing the other four, they do not get any benefits, But I will not be reconciled.

The atmosphere cultivated by the previous conversation gave her a feeling that she was conspiring with others to deal with the motherland. This strong sense of absurdity made her feel extremely funny. Wiping her mouth with a napkin, she also used the condescending and condescending attitude that Bewkes and Jack had when they talked about China.

"When it comes to my relationship with China, I should really start talking about it two years ago-at that time, my instinct told me that the film market in this country is very worthy of attention, and this is why I participated in the Olympic torch relay The reason for the ceremony," she spread her hands and shook her head, said in a tacit and teasing bitter tone, "you know, for the market, a qualified operator will do anything."

Among the happy laughter of everyone, she noticed a bit of relief in the smiles of several think tanks.

"Dream's movie was released very smoothly after that, I think it has something to do with it-you know, their review and scheduling are all done by the bureaucratic system, and there are only two companies in China responsible for it Introduce foreign films, and they are actually a state-owned company, the competition is not strong, and they are strongly influenced by the upper-level bureaucrats." She lowered her voice and said a little secretively, "So I always thought it was the result of the Olympics—— Maybe because I decided to participate in the torch relay under the circumstances at the time, a certain high-level person had a good impression of me, you know the style of the Chinese, they like human relations-"

Everyone nodded their heads like a cannonball, "There are too many unspoken rules in their social interaction."

"So do you know which high-ranking official has a good impression of you? —Of course, maybe the person who made this instruction will not say it clearly, but you have traveled to Beijing many times before and after. With the style of those Chinese bureaucrats, you know... ..." said a certain think tank of the Secretary of State, he glanced at Cesare, and said with a smile, "Sorry—but I still have to say, with the style of those Chinese bureaucrats, they will not shy away from meeting you, Even, according to our intelligence sources, they may even entertain you very luxuriously."

Very well, so far, everyone has been led astray by her success. Christopher doesn't seem to suspect Director Zhang. Of course, this is also because China's system is relatively special. In the case of a shortage of director talents, some directors are inextricably linked to the system, and the privileges they enjoy are indeed unimaginable to foreigners. ——In the United States, the biggest communication between Capitol Hill and Hollywood is between actors and directors? It's fine if the director doesn't make a film and yells at the government, what could be the connection?

"If you are talking about some lower-level officials," Jenny smiled, showing a little sense of superiority inadvertently, "maybe so, but according to my guess——"

Full of pride in being appreciated by the powerful, she lowered her voice, "I should have only met that senior official once - at the opening ceremony of the Olympics, before the performance started, he came to the waiting room as the supervisor , met with us..."

She boasted, "He told me at the time that he was my fan..."