The Wolf of Los Angeles

[Chapter 12: Making Money is Tough, and There's a Lot of Mess]

The community theater group that Brand belongs to is Hawke's highly professional team.

Arriving at the community center, Hawke confirmed again, "As long as there's sponsorship, the theater can get close to a hundred people to participate. No problem, right?"

Brandt kicked at the snow piled up by the roadside. "It's winter and there are a lot of folks hanging around. If it were you, would you refuse a free food and drink party? Trust me, they'll bring the whole family."

With a chance to split the profits and impress his crush, he was highly motivated. "Come on, I'll take you to meet the director, Larson. He is the most influential person in the troupe."

Ten minutes later, Hawke found himself in the living room of a wooden cabin meeting the theater's director.

Larson, nearly fifty but still energetic, listened to Brandt's introduction and directly asked Hawke, "So, are you planning to fork out some cash to sponsor us? I don't quite get it -- are you doing charity?"

Hawke selectively responded, "I have a director friend who made an independent film, and it's screening the day after tomorrow at the Great Salt Lake Theater. He worries there won't be enough audience and asked me to help find some. I happened to hear about your gathering from Brandt."

Larson stared at Hawke and chuckled, "You must be expecting to get something good out of this."

Hawke downplayed it, saying, "Just a little cash for the effort."

Larson's smile faded, becoming serious and straightforward, "I want half."

"Director, I--" Brandt started to protest but was quickly cut off by Hawke.

Hawke always anticipated the worst-case scenario, and Larson's response clearly leaned toward the negative side.

He pulled out a wooden chair and sat down across from Larson, stating slowly, "The production team is paying five thousand dollars."

Upon hearing this figure, Larson's eyes lit up.

Hawke wasn't scared of his greed; he was more concerned about his lack of interest. "The St. Denis Film Festival occurs every year, and each session has similar needs from twenty to even thirty production teams. This is a long-term business."

He pointed to himself, adding, "I'm an outsider; after this year, I won't be back for the next one. This market will soon be entirely yours."

Larson understood, probing further, "It can't just be as simple as getting an audience, right?"

Hawke explained, "Executing this isn't simple. Brandt, and even you, can stay by my side during this year's festival to observe and learn for free."

Larson couldn't help but swear: "You are so fucking generous!"

"Thanks for the compliment." What Hawke was doing wasn't high-tech. It was just repackaging old ideas. Once the magic box opened at a film festival, it would quickly become overwhelming.

A production team could rake in five thousand dollars, which made Larson's heart itch. With over a thousand production teams attending each festival, the selection was vast.

After half a minute of contemplation, Larson told Brandt, "Call a few other deputy captains and ask them come here immediately."

Brandt hurriedly picked up the phone.

Minutes later, four deputy captains showed up, all middle-aged men, similar in age to Larson.

Larson explained the situation to them.

One particularly mature-looking person stated, "Every year at the theater's gathering, everyone complains about digging into their pockets. We have only a few activities a year, and if we cancel the most important gathering, people will completely lose interest."

Larson's expression turned serious. "If we do this right, the theater would have a stable source of income every year. With money, we can bring in professional instructors, enabling the talented individuals in the theater to have better futures."

This was entirely different from what Hawke had in mind, prompting him to reevaluate Larson. It became clear that people were indeed complex.

After some discussions, Larson turned to Hawke and said, "Tonight, I'll try to get everyone together. Come back around eight. I should clarify something: I can rally them, but to motivate them, you need to come up with something."

Hawke was prepared, asking, "About a hundred people should be no problem?"

Larson asked the four deputy captains a few questions, confirming, "Including family counts, we'll be good."

"Great, I'll come back tonight," Hawke replied, and he and Brandt got ready to leave.

The mature deputy captain grabbed Hawke's arm. "You're from the media, I need to ask you something. Is it true that Winona Ryder got caught stealing at Capitol Hill and hasn't been arrested yet?"

Hawke remained silent, bowing his head to leave.

Once outside, Brandt didn't mention the stealing incident at all. Instead, he remarked, "What the captain said was different from what I expected. I'll cover the costs for the gathering."

Hawke wouldn't let that happen; it would cause issues later. "Things need to stay as agreed. Don't forget, the beauty is still waiting for you at the state university."

Brandt immediately perked up. "What else do we need to do?" he urged, "Dude, this isn't break time. You're moving too slow. We don't have much time!"

"Sort out the catering for the gathering," Hawke replied as he headed out of the community. "You know Bill pretty well, right? How much does the Highland Pizza place make at lunch? If we wanted to book a time slot, how much would it cost?"

Brandt was quite familiar with Highland Pizza and began murmuring his calculations.

Casual dining was relatively inexpensive, and with Brandt being a half-insider, Hawke negotiated to book Highland Pizza for a thousand dollars to cover lunch. They would provide an array of food, including pizza, steak, BBQ, fried chicken, and salad, along with unlimited beer and soda.

Additionally, the pizza place agreed to provide a hundred cups of energizing black coffee on the morning of the event.

The two emerged with cups of black coffee, and after taking a big sip, Brandt reflected on the past couple of days and said to Hawke, "You know, aside from Lewis and Damian, you've nearly tapped every resource you encountered."

Hawke tossed the empty paper cup into a trash bin, replying, "If it hadn't been for my luck in finding you, I might have had a totally different plan."

...

At eight that evening, Hawke arrived at Larson's home right on time.

In the yard enclosed by wooden walls, around eighty to ninety people had gathered.

Larson spoke about the film and the gathering, and a cheer erupted from the crowd.

Everyone loved a free, sumptuous lunch.

A bearded fellow, holding a bottle of alcohol, raised it towards Hawke, declaring, "Hey man, I've got to toast you -- you are one hell of a good guy!"

"We'll definitely raise a glass at the gathering!" Regarding the film, Hawke had to make it clear upfront: "The movie we're going to watch before the party is about people of Mexican descent."

He instructed Brandt to distribute the movie flyers.

As people read the film's synopsis and watched the stills, the enthusiastic atmosphere evaporated.

The bearded guy shouted, "A Mexican movie? What the hell do we care?"

The crowd erupted into chaos.

"This movie looks boring."

"Let's change it!"

"We're only here for the party, not to watch a movie."

With a large group, order became difficult to maintain; organizing a big event was exceptionally challenging.

Hawke pulled out a small electronic megaphone from his bag, saying, "Everyone, listen up!"

The crowd quieted down a bit, and Hawke used the simplest approach to get their cooperation: "Every person gets a ten-dollar reward! Ten dollars!"

Hearing about cash, the crowd quickly settled down.

Hawke continued, "Anyone who watches the film at the party will also get an additional ten dollars when enjoying the grand meal! There's one catch: the production team will have someone monitoring. If anyone isn't paying attention, not only will they miss out on the cash, but they'll also lose their meal privileges."

"That doesn't sound too hard," someone commented.

"Just over an hour."

"Checking out the life of a Mexican doesn't seem so bad."

Hawke added another incentive: "To prevent anyone from dozing off, I've arranged for coffee."

The bearded guy suddenly raised his bottle, asking, "Can I get two cups?"

Hawke pretended to ponder, before finally saying, "How about this -- I'll give you my cup."

The crowd burst into laughter, and the atmosphere became exceptionally friendly.

The makeshift theater group finally started to gain some momentum, and Hawke shared a few more reminders before the crowd dispersed.

To manage nearly a hundred people smoothly was tough for just a couple of folks.

...

The following day, Hawke first met with Eric and Katherine, then arranged with Larson and the four deputy captains to go through the schedule for tomorrow.

In the afternoon, he arrived at the Great Salt Lake Theater with the first two, discussing the setup for the screening.

Overall, Hawke wanted the clients to see that he was continuously hard at work.

Whether the film could be sold was uncertain, but one way or another, they needed to pay five thousand dollars.

After dinner, Hawke finally got a chance to rest. Borrowing Brandt's computer, he logged into his blog and posted an article with pictures.

Around ten, Katherine's phone rang unexpectedly.

"Bruce Richmond has suddenly changed his schedule and won't be attending our screening tomorrow. Eric is going crazy and ran out to find trouble. I can't hold him back; you need to come help quickly."

*****

https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.