Returning to his office, Linton said to Zhou Haisheng and Mira:
“Universal will transfer the money this afternoon. Once we receive it, first pay the remaining 3.5 million us dollars for the copyright fees to purchase The Lord of the Rings and the hobbit in the UK, then inject 7.4 million US dollars into Linton Studio.
Additionally, Mira, please arrange another charity event for me before the end of February. This time, the charity fund will be 1.5 million us dollars, using up all of last year's tax deduction quota.”
“Okay,” they both answered in unison.
“Mira, you can go back first and help me keep an eye on the progress of the film crew.”
“Zhou Haisheng, I carefully reviewed the Charity Foundation information you gave me last night. After careful consideration, I think it is very necessary to establish my private Charity Foundation.” After Mira left, Linton said to Zhou Haisheng.
“The fund will be called the 'Linton Charity Foundation.' When registering, it must be clearly stated that I am the sole executive of the Linton Charity Foundation, and I have the right to make all decisions for the Foundation, including the transfer and inheritance of its management rights.
If I have an accident, the executive of the Linton Charity Fund must be chosen from my direct descendants.
Furthermore, the donations from the 'Linton Charity Fund' will be for medicine, impoverished areas, and the education industry, including donating food and medicine to impoverished areas, helping to improve transportation, building schools; funding university scholarships, and supporting impoverished students for their studies and overseas education!”
“Boss, how much do you plan to invest in the initial phase of your Charity Foundation?”
“An initial donation of 7 5 million us dollars in cash, and can the stocks I purchased earlier be directly donated, or can only cash donations be accepted?”
“Yes, you only need to transfer the stock account to the Linton Charity Foundation; you don't need to sell the stocks to donate cash, but I don't recommend you do that.”
“Why?”
“I see that your investment strategy, Boss, is to hold computer stocks long-term, isn't it?”
“Yes, at least I definitely won't sell them within 5 years.”
“It's like this: the money used to buy these stocks was your income from last year. Even if we transfer them to the Charity Foundation now, last year's tax base cannot be reduced.
According to US tax law, during long-term holding of stocks, the capital gains from stock appreciation are not taxed, but once sold, the appreciated portion will be taxed.
Assuming you plan to hold these stocks for more than 5 years, we won't need to consider taxes on these assets for those 5 years.
However, if you transfer them to the Charity Foundation, then these stocks will be counted as part of your Charity Foundation's net assets, and an additional 5% of the charity base will be added each year. Over 5 consecutive years, this would be a very large expense.
The best approach should be to transfer them to the Charity Foundation in the year you sell the stocks, though this is purely from a tax perspective.”
“Okay, go ahead and handle the registration procedures as soon as possible. We'll discuss the specific donations once the Charity Foundation procedures are complete.” Linton thought, indeed, professional oversight is necessary.
“Okay, I'll go now. The procedures should be completed in a maximum of one week.”
In the afternoon and evening, Linton also took the rare opportunity to practice dancing and singing at his own manor.
However, thanks to his body being comprehensively strengthened after Foundation Establishment, although the dance choreographed by Annie was very cool and flashy, for ordinary people, it would require long-term arduous training to achieve the ideal dance moves.
After one afternoon and evening of training, he quickly mastered all the essentials and was already able to dance quite well. With a bit more training, he would certainly become a street dance master, meeting the requirements for filming.
After nearly a year of continuous training, his singing skills had reached a professional level. Coupled with his control over his body after Foundation Establishment, his vocal range and timbre greatly improved, and his overall strength was no less than any top singer.
After just a few more days of training, the 12 songs he needed to sing for the movie could be recorded in the studio.
The next day, Linton gathered the main creative staff of the film crew for the second crew preparation meeting.
Attendees included producer Robert, associate producer Tim from Universal, assistant director Zack Snyder, art director Annie, casting director Jessica Stephen, cinematographer Carter, lighting director Roblin, stylist Kate, costume designer Simon, and production coordinator Francis.
Also present were Bella, Logan, Mira, and Carnes.
“The main topic of today's meeting is to finalize the casting template. Everyone has seen the script and storyboards, right?”
Zack pushed out a whiteboard with a character relationship map drawn on it. “The male lead…”
His student pasted a headshot of Linton below the name of the male lead, Tyler.
“The female lead is a blonde Caucasian girl with an excellent foundation in ballet and modern dance. Her age in the script is twenty-one, and the actress's actual age cannot exceed 25. She needs to have chemistry with Linton when they stand together. Linton has already found Naomi Watts.”
His student pasted a full-body photo of Naomi Watts below the name of the female lead, Rola.
Everyone present was a little surprised, even dissatisfied, and began to talk in low voices, “She's pretty enough, and her figure is very good, but isn't she a bit short? Linton, you're so tall, the female lead should be a bit taller, preferably above 1.7 meters.” Tim said.
“Let's not discuss the female lead anymore. Naomi is 1.65 meters tall, which is the most standard height for a ballet dancer.”
Tim and casting director Jessica looked at him, saying worriedly:
“Both the male and female leads are newcomers, and neither was selected through auditions. I'm worried the media will be pessimistic about us?”
“Haven't you been following the news recently? The media has already been completely pessimistic about me and this movie. What more can they say? It's fine, we'll use the final box office to prove them wrong.”
Linton's 'dead pig not afraid of boiling water' attitude made everyone laugh.
“The second male lead, Mike, needs to be a Black athlete, good at basketball, similar in height to Linton, or even taller,” Zack said.
His student found a photo of a basketball player and pasted it there, noting a height of around 1.9 meters.
Then for the second female lead, Zack used a photo of Halle Berry.
“No, isn't she too beautiful?” The casting director questioned, fearing she would overshadow the female lead.
“It shouldn't be a problem. One is a white girl, and the other is a Black girl; there won't be direct competition. Moreover, if both main actresses are top-tier beautiful, it will benefit the box office, and our movie is a youth musical dance film,” Zack explained.
For the second male lead's younger brother, Zack used a photo of the recently popular Black singer, Belle Canas.
“This kid is currently very popular. If he acts, it will help the box office among the African American community. I think we can invite him for an audition,” Robert agreed.
For the Gang member's girlfriend, who dances with Linton at the beginning of the movie, Zack used a photo of Black supermodel Tyra Banks.
“This choice must be beautiful?” he said, and everyone agreed.
For the Gang member PJ's template, Zack used a photo of Ice Cube.
The female principal's template photo was Meryl Streep, portraying an elite professional woman.
The second female lead's boyfriend was a Black musician, and for this character template, Zack used a photo of Black rapper Snoop Dogg.
The female lead's villainous boyfriend had no template photo posted, only stating: a young, handsome white man.
These were the main actors who needed to be cast through auditions.
“Jessica, please summarize and organize the template information for these actors later, and issue actor recruitment advertisements as soon as possible. Send recruitment information to the two major Hollywood Screen Actors Guilds, and also send audition invitations to most of the industry's talent agencies. In 5 days, we will hold the first audition,” Robert concluded.
“Okay, I'll do it right away,” Jessica responded.
“Also, for other actors with few lines and extras, WMA can provide a package deal, but the list still needs to be audited and confirmed by the production team. For group dancers, the production team will select them from various dance troupes.
Let's proceed simultaneously, aiming to have all actors and group dancers confirmed by the time auditions conclude,” Linton proposed new requirements.
“No problem,” Robert responded.
“Also, the script and storyboards have been finalized, and the male and female leads have been confirmed. The production team can start soliciting advertisements to see if any businesses are willing to have product placements.
I have a few suggestions: first, for the female lead's various outerwear, we can look for high-end fashion brands; for beverages, we can try the two cola companies; and for fast food, we can try Burger King, KFC, and McDonald's.”
“Your fame is the greatest; the clothes you wear should be more attractive for clothing brands to place products, right?” Tim said.
“I can't afford it. In the movie, I'm a poor kid from the bottom of society. How could I wear brand-name clothes?” Linton explained.
“Okay, our production team will set up a business development department, but don't have too much hope. After all, the director, male lead, and female lead are all newcomers, so it's hard for businesses to believe the movie will achieve good box office results.”
“Today's first stage of the meeting ends here. Robert, Tim, Zack, Annie, Carter, Roblin, Kate, Simon, Francis, let's stay and continue the meeting to discuss and formulate the shooting plan, cinematography, and artistic style. Everyone else is dismissed.”