America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Beverly Hills, Hilton Hotel.

The Oscar Night party was in full swing, and as one of tonight's winners, Martin received a constant stream of congratulations.

Cheers, clinking glasses, and chatter were incessant.

Leonardo raised his glass and said, "Congratulations to Martin for snagging the Oscar Best Actor award, cheers."

Mene shouted, "Boss, congrats!"

"Thanks!" Martin lifted his glass and took a hearty drink before adding, "Later we'll go to my place, Elizabeth has gone back to prepare for the celebration party, and I've got lots of good booze."

Those around Martin roared in approval.

Leonardo, with one arm around Martin and the other around Nicholson, laughed heartily, "Now, we all have Oscar Best Actor awards!"

Martin laughed joyously; tonight was a moment of celebration.

Nicholson then said, "We've created a problem for the century, the three of us have six Oscars. How many does each person have?"

Martin asked, "Leo, you're best at math. What's the answer?"

Leonardo looked at Martin, "You bastard, why do you always make me do the math."

Martin chuckled, "Because I'm a mathematician, please call me Martin Goldbach."

Mene then reminded, "Tom Sherak is coming over."

As the current Academy President, a certain level of respect was due, and Martin's group ended their frolicking.

Tom Sherak came over, exchanged brief greetings with everyone, and said to Martin, "Congratulations on joining the ranks of Oscar Best Actors."

"Thank you for the Academy's recognition." Saying a few nice words was easy, and Martin's business flattery blew like the night wind outside, whooshing, "Without the guidance of many predecessors at the Academy, I couldn't have achieved today's results; the Academy will always be the benchmark within the industry."

Compared to the nearby Leonardo, Tom Sherak favored Martin more, "Whenever you're interested, drop by the executive committee, and we can have a good chat."

Martin responded, "It would be my honor."

As people there were quite boisterous, after exchanging brief courtesies, Tom Sherak left the area.

His assistant came over and said, "The preliminary ratings statistics from ABC are out."

Tom Sherak asked, "How are the ratings?"

The assistant replied, "The peak viewing period was when the Best Actor award was given, with a peak audience of 39.4 million, 1.4 million higher than last year."

For the Oscars, which had seen a decline in ratings year over year, this was good news, and Tom Sherak nodded, "Martin Davis's appeal and influence are now top-tier within the circle."

Last year's peak viewing period was also during the Best Actor award, won by Leonardo.

After the good news, the assistant shared the bad news, "The average number of viewers for the award ceremony was 31.4 million, down by 1.2 million from last year."

He lowered his voice, "This year's Grammys average viewership surpassed the Oscars."

Tom Sherak's face turned grim. A few years earlier, among the four major awards shows—the Oscars, the Grammys, the Emmys, and the Tonys—the Oscars had always reigned supreme.

This year, they were even surpassed by the Grammys.

Tom Sherak looked worried.

This news couldn't stay secret, and individuals with better access to information soon learned of it.

Nicholson was rather sentimental, "Who could have imagined, a decade ago, that there would come a day when the Oscars would be surpassed by the Grammys."

He glanced at Martin and Leonardo, "These last two Oscars had the two of you, massively influential and with strong market appeal as Best Actors, boosting the numbers for the peak viewing period. Otherwise, the average viewership figures would have been even more dismal."

Leonardo was well aware, "The films nominated for the major awards have too narrow an audience."

Martin agreed, "Indeed." He pointed to Nicholson, "Most of the films vying for awards are made for you all rather than for the audience."

Nicholson didn't deny it, "Today's Oscars are a classic case of the jury dictating creativity."

Martin nodded slightly.

The core composition of the Oscars' old white men essentially determined which films could win the major awards, and producers naturally catered to their preferences, creating films that play on nostalgia and homage.

Especially Harvey Weinstein, who became a prime example of this.

For these two editions, the film Martin hadn't seen almost reached the pinnacle of nostalgia and tribute.

A black-and-white silent film, would you imagine this being the big winner at the Oscars in the 2010s?

Leonardo asked Martin, "If you were made head of the executive committee, could you reverse this trend?"

"No," Martin said bluntly, "unless most of the jury members were dismissed, but many of these jurors are our friends and collaborators."

Nicholson commented, "Actually, anyone with clear eyes can see what the problem is."

Discussing privately with two close friends, Martin had no qualms, "The rise of video games and other forms of entertainment means that movies are no longer the primary entertainment for youth. If the Oscars don't take the needs of young people seriously and don't start rejuvenating themselves soon, the Oscars are bound to become an irrelevant niche, rotting away day by day."

According to his memory, the Oscars were not doing well now, and they would get even worse in a few years.

After the decline of the old white male group, the Oscars had opted for an even more niche path.

Martin had drunk quite a bit and went to the restroom.

Coming out of the entrance, a middle-aged man approached him and took the initiative to greet him, "Hello, Martin."

Martin didn't recognize the other party but nodded with his customary smile, "Hello."

The middle-aged man had finally obtained a ticket to Oscar night which was meant for self-promotion. He happened to run into Martin, so he decided against going to the restroom and introduced himself instead, "I am Denis Villeneuve, a screenwriter and director from Canada."

He knew that big shots were always busy and needed to be interested quickly, "I am the director of 'City of Scorching Sands,' which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film."

Martin hadn't seen the film, but having just attended the Oscar ceremony, he remembered the title.

Sensing the man's purpose since he had approached him proactively, Martin cut to the chase, "Denis, do you have a new film project in hand?"

Villeneuve smiled, "May I take a few minutes of your time?"

Martin gestured toward a quiet resting area, "Let's talk over there."

The two sat down, and Villeneuve said, "A friend of mine wrote a script about drug prohibition on the US-Mexico border. We approached several companies, but they were not very interested. Fortunately, I ran into you tonight."

It was equally tough for new directors as it was for actors.

Villeneuve's 'City of Scorching Sands,' which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, had received its first draft script back in 2003. He wanted to make it into a film and had approached numerous producers and production companies over the years. After several revisions to meet their demands, he kept hitting dead ends.

It was only after much struggle that he secured a collaboration with Albatross Film Industry, a company with limited resources, and the difficulties in fundraising are countless.

More than eight years later, 'City of Scorching Sands' was finally released in Canada.

Ambitious, Villeneuve no longer wanted to work with the underfunded Albatross Film Industry.

Martin, owning a studio, was familiar with such situations and extended his hand, "Do you have the script with you?"

Villeneuve reached into his bag and pulled out a section of the printed script, adding his business card on top, "This is the beginning part of the script. My friend has the rest. If you're interested, I can contact him."

Martin nodded, taking the materials. Now was not the time to look them over, "After I have read it, I will give you a definite answer, whether it's a yes or a no."

Villeneuve nodded repeatedly, "Okay."

Martin handed the script and business card to Bruce and, checking the time, announced loudly, "Guys, let's go to my place and continue the celebration."

Mene declared, "I'm going to empty out the boss's wine cellar."

Leonardo gave him a thumbs up, "Impressive."

There were at least several hundred bottles of fine wine in the wine cellar of the Davis Estate.

The group left the Hilton Hotel and took cars to the Davis Estate in the Sunset Boulevard North District.

A large number of paparazzi followed suit.

Even if they couldn't get into the community, they were determined to capture whatever happened along the way.

The top stars of Hollywood always seemed to lack recognition for professional awards. Leonardo had spent over a decade, transforming from a pretty boy into a greasy, middle-aged, overweight man, employing a strategy of selling ugliness to finally secure the Best Actor award.

Martin Davis, however, had seemingly effortlessly won the same award through a science fiction film.

The reporters were desperately chasing news about Martin.

Around 10:30 at night, a dozen or so cars entered the Davis Estate consecutively.

Elizabeth had set up the party.

Neighbors like Charlize Theron and the Stewart family had already come over.

Kristen-Stuart even brought along the three daughters of the Stallone family.

Silsa Ronan and her mother brought their congratulations.

"Congratulations, Martin!" Lily took the Oscar statuette and handed it to Silsa Ronan, then flung her arms around Martin with full force, "You bastard, you've become an Oscar Best Actor! When you talked about coming to Hollywood to be an actor back in Atlanta, I actually laughed at you."

Martin felt two pillowy soft things pressed against his chest. He knew Lily all too well and was aware these were the bountiful fruits of her development. He gently patted her back and teased, "You contributed to this award too. If you hadn't mocked me back then, I might not have come to Los Angeles."

Lily pushed him away, "Pfft, as if I'd believe that."

Only then did Martin notice an odd decoration in Lily's hair, a shiny plastic ribbon tied into a pretty bow. He asked, "What's up with that strange ornament in your hair?"

"Not telling you!" Lily playfully blinked, "You'll find out soon enough."

Elizabeth came over, "The guests are all waiting for you."

Martin took the glass of wine she handed him and moved to the banquet hall to deliver a toast.

"Hey, guys, it's time for fireworks!" Silsa Ronan called out to the girls who couldn't drink, leading them out to the yard.

Soon, fireworks with trailing sparks roared into the night sky over Beverly Hills, erupting into a blaze of colors.