Darkstone Code

An outstanding premiere, when people are pursuing various filming arts and film depth, a truck driver with no connection to art shows people that there is a kind of movie that can have little to do with art but attract more attention than art films.

After the premiere ended, Lynch did not leave immediately. The Fox father and son brought in a relatively well-known documentary director and screenwriter from the industry to sit down and talk. Lynch was somewhat surprised that James had also come.

When James saw Lynch, he was slightly embarrassed. He opened his mouth to speak, then glanced at the Fox father and son not far away, finally calling out "Mr. Lynch" instead of "Boss."

A simple form of address actually allowed Lynch to distinguish James's current situation; not calling Lynch "Boss" meant he no longer had a direct working subordinate relationship with Lynch.

"I didn't know you had resigned, Cook didn't tell me," Lynch didn't have much thought, "Are you working at Fox Film Corporation now?"

James's embarrassment gradually dissipated; Lynch's calm demeanor eased the betrayal he felt. He nodded, "Yes, I'm sorry..."

From Cook's retreat and resignation to joining Fox Film Corporation, on one hand, he has a very special talent for screenwriting. He's not the rigid academic type always trying to show depth through some details.

Truck drivers don't have much depth; if there is any, it's the depth of road girls, not theirs.

Several scripts written by James have a very strong personal style, but the reputation of the films was not particularly good once they were shot, possibly related to the director and the editor.

It's well known that good stories are countless, but there are only so many good directors in the Federation; the director's status is higher than the screenwriter, editors too.

In search of new breakthroughs, James began learning how to become an excellent director, which gave him little time to participate in the transport team's work. Coupled with the desire of the Fox father and son for him to switch to Fox Film Corporation to help them, James ended his work with the convoy after talking with Cook twice.

Of course, he has some of his own ideas. After all, being a truck driver, no matter how good he does, he'd end up like Cook, in the management of the convoy, spending a lifetime with perhaps less pay than a truck driver.

This is not what he wanted; he wanted to turn his whimsical ideas into reality. He wanted to earn more money so that his mother could live in a big house, so he had to earn more money, more quickly.

Joining Fox Film Corporation is a very good choice. The Fox father and son are just setting out, still building their team, and joining at this time could result in becoming an elder, with resources inclined toward him, granting a large chance of success.

The only thing he felt a bit awkward about was that he felt he had wronged Lynch, considering it might be a kind of betrayal.

But Lynch seemed indifferent, patting James's arm, "I'm also a major shareholder of Fox Film Corporation; I'm still your boss in reality. Don't think you can get rid of me just because you changed workplace!"

He spoke entirely in a joking tone, which nicely relieved some of James's nervous unease, "Sorry, Boss, you know..."

Lynch didn't let him continue, "People must have ideals, James. I'm happy the people around me can find their ideals and then find the right direction to strive for. When you have the ability to direct independently and need people to support you, give me a call."

James was very moved. Although Fox Film Corporation wasn't big yet, phenomena of power struggle were gradually emerging, mostly reflected in project initiation.

How much investment a project could get, how much attention it could receive, screenwriters and directors in the company contended. If Lynch could back him up, his future development in the company would certainly be smooth sailing.

As they spoke, the Fox father and son entered with two middle-aged men wearing baseball caps, somewhat sloppy, full of bushy beards.

In recent years, in Laridemo's film circle, having a brown bushy beard almost became a director's standard. Without a circlet of beard, it would lose points in cooperation talks, leading everyone to start growing beards.

"This is the general director of 'Minority Sect'..." Mr. Fox first introduced Lynch to the first bearded man, a very famous yet controversial director.

'Minority Sect' is, without exception, the most influential documentary in recent years within the Federation. It directly uncovered the Federation's hypocritical mask; this documentary exposes the life of immigrants and natives to the public most comprehensively.

It was because of this documentary that the people of the Federation realized how "ugly" and "evil" they were. Apart from a few wealthy investment immigrants and researchers, labor immigrants and natives face some desperate environment within the Federation.

Discrimination, humiliation, indifference, violence, crime—almost all societal negative issues occur among this group, giving a fierce slap to the Federation, which claims to be a free country of equality for everyone.

It's said that some people even smashed the director's car and mailed him bullets.

Yet, regardless, he became famous, and after going through those unsettling days, he achieved considerable notoriety; what is somewhat amusing is that until now, he hasn't received any new work.

When Mr. Fox talked within his small circle about needing a documentary director, this person, somehow hearing the news, called him that very night, begging Mr. Fox to consider him.

The other bearded man is also quite well-known, but his fame differs from the previous bearded man. He excels in depicting the Federation's outstanding side, filming happy-ending social documentaries, like 'Federation Family.'

By following six families of different classes, it portrays their different solutions to the same problem, with love, anger, sorrow, joy; sometimes people even think he's filming a TV series, but it's indeed a documentary.

Aside from that, there were several screenwriters; Mr. Fox casually mentioned some of their names without mentioning representative works or anything.

The status of screenwriters in this circle isn't considered high, unless they're very big-name screenwriters, and even then unless original screenwriters, still, screenwriters' status isn't high enough.

Every year, each production company receives thousands of scripts, among them many excellent scripts. Once esteemed by big companies, they'll buy out the filming rights at a very low price.

So even if a screenwriter has great representative works, it has nothing to do with them. At most, they might give a few more for sequels, or want a share, or rights?

That's just a joke!

After introducing a few people, everyone sat together. Lynch talked about his ideas, "I plan to raise funds to shoot a documentary about the Federation's struggles in Nagariel from multiple aspects, to showcase the Federation's hardships and process overseas, as well as the final harvest."

This sets a tone; everyone nodded, noting these elements—overseas, and struggle—into their notebooks.

But someone raised some thoughts, "Mr. Lynch, why in Nagariel rather than in Gafura or similar places?"

The one who asked was the documentary director who slapped the whole Federation's face; his question was very realistic and tricky, "If it weren't for some of your experiences and recent events, people might never pay attention to Nagariel for a lifetime."

"Pardon my directness, I don't even know where this country is on the map, but I believe the Federation people, at least most of them, are very interested in Gafura."

"In all aspects—culture, economy, military, politics, and societal forms—attract Federation people; shooting Federation people in Gafura might cause a great sensation!"

What this director said is actually very right, but Lynch did not intend to encourage Federation people to make a living in Gafura, as they cannot provide convenience for Lynch there.

Of course, he couldn't directly express his inner ideas, so he had to express them in another way, "We can consider this later; at this current stage, our interactions with Nagariel are frequent, secondly, once we establish bilateral diplomatic relations, considerable capital forces will flow into Nagariel to jointly develop the entire country with the local regime."

"People know nothing about there, so we need to give them some understanding, which also helps to find some paths in the upcoming era's torrent."

Mr. Fox, after listening, couldn't help but exclaim, "Great sentiment, Lynch friend!"

Lynch replied with a smile and a nod of appreciation, "Thank you for your praise, Mr. Fox."

They didn't press further questions; Lynch continued to discuss some of his ideas. It must be said these people have a high reputation in the industry for a reason; they quickly summarized some practical content.

For example, which angles should this documentary be filmed from; one point Lynch was very interested in was the progressive visual angle from "Illegal" → "Legal" → "Beyond the law."

Proposing this idea was naturally the first director who slapped the whole Federation's face, and in his own words, if people want to understand Nagariel, they want to understand a real Nagariel.

To develop, venture, struggle in a place previously unheard of, absolutely not for some lofty ideals and sentiments—he slightly sneered at the mutual praise between Lynch and Fox just now, but neither of them seemed to notice.

He believed if people really wanted them to watch the documentary and then pack up and buy a ticket to Nagariel, the best way is to truly restore a real "profit-driven society," telling them how to make money in those places, earn the kind they can't make in the Federation.

In fact, this is not a documentary about the Federation peoples' life and work in Nagariel; this is a documentary about how to quickly make money in Nagariel.

This guy is truly a genius!

So Lynch chose another director.