Inside an apartment in the Brentwood district north of Santa Monica.

At the end of last night's party, Nancy Brill invited Sophia Fesse to her apartment to borrow it. Both girls are from France, and when they hit it off again, Sophia readily agreed, and left her hotel room overnight and moved over.

Today is Sunday.

Sophia woke up around 7 a.m., and on the other side of the bed, Nancy was still asleep.

The two were the same age, but looking at Nancy's petite face covered by hair, Sophia inexplicably thought of her pair of children who were far away from her French parents.

At one point, she even felt the urge to lean down and kiss the face of the woman next to her.

Such abrupt thoughts, of course, will not be acted upon.

Sophia is not gay, and although she learned during the chat last night that Nancy has been single all these years, she also doesn't think Nancy has this tendency.

Getting out of bed lightly and pulling the curtains that let in the light tightened, Sophia walked out of the bedroom.

Standing in the hallway outside the bedroom on the second floor, Sophia, based on her experience as a former real estate agent, judged that the two-story apartment had at least 12 rooms. However, the apartment does not show the slightest messiness because the owner is a busy single working woman, but rather reveals a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder of cleanliness and order.

After changing rooms and washing, Sophia consciously began to prepare breakfast for the two of them. She has always been a very attentive woman, and she had a general idea of Nancy's tastes at the party last night. Moreover, the ingredients in the kitchen of this apartment probably won't be the type that the owner hates.

Half an hour later, Sophia was cooking a sweet corn soup when a good morning voice came from behind her.

Turning her head, Nancy was standing in the doorway in a pale pink silk suspender nightdress, her hair was still unkept, her face was tired of waking up after drinking, her delicate collarbones and rounded shoulders made her look very sexy, and she was barefoot underneath.

Sophia also said good morning, except that her originally level-eyed gaze had to be lowered a little before she could meet the eyes of a petite woman.

Nancy noticed the smile on the corner of Sophia's mouth, and suddenly looked like a cat that had been stepped on by the tail, and said with wide eyes: "Please, don't say that I look like a doll, I'll be angry." ”

Sophia originally wanted to joke that her 8-year-old son would be as tall as her in a few years, but seeing Nancy's reaction, she gave up the idea and just said, "Breakfast will take a while, you can go take a shower first." ”

Nancy said yes and went upstairs again to freshen up.

In the dining room, the two were eating breakfast together, and Nancy took the initiative to confide in Sophia about her long-standing troubles: "My dad is 6 feet tall, and my mom is 5 feet 9 inches. But for some reason, I never grew taller when I got to 5 feet 1 inch. Although I never said it, I knew that my dad had always suspected that I was not his own. ”

When it comes to other people's family privacy, Sophia is not very easy to answer, just quietly being a listener.

Nancy didn't shy away from it, and continued: "A few years ago, when I heard that DNA paternity tests were present, my dad immediately ran to do it, and I guess he must have done it several times. After confirming that I was his daughter, he solemnly apologized to his mother and me. It's just that after so many years of rift, how can it be repaired with a single apology. Ever since junior high school and finding out that I was shorter than any other child my age, I have always had low self-esteem. I haven't had a boyfriend since I heard my first boy brag to his friend that I was like a doll. Later, I got stronger and stronger, and I wanted to surpass everyone who was taller than me. ”

Sophia cleverly ignored the impact of Nancy's height on her family, and said lightly: "Actually, it's okay to be shorter." We are women, it doesn't matter if we are tall or short, let alone you are so beautiful. ”

"You can't understand my distress," Nancy sighed with a little vicissitudes, picked up the spoon and took a sip of the sweet corn soup before saying, "What about you, Sophie, why did you work for Westeros?"

"I was originally an agent for a real estate agency in Nice. At last year's Cannes Film Festival, one of Simon's favorite houses in the local area happened to be represented by me, so I decided to seize the opportunity. You know, in order to get the attention of our boss, I would call every day during that time, and often find excuses to take the initiative to visit, and finally succeeded. ”

Nancy listened stunned before she said, "Sophie, you're really scheming." ”

Sophia felt that she should be able to become a very close friend with the straightforward little woman opposite, so she showed her other side a little. She could also feel that Nancy's words did not mean anything contemptuous, so she just glanced at her and said: "Without a little scheming, I should be in Corsica now, maybe marry a fisherman, repeat the boring and endless housework every day, take care of the children, take care of the husband, and live in obscurity all my life, until one day I will grow old completely." My mother was such a woman, but it wasn't the life I wanted. ”

Although she has a suspicious father, Nancy has lived in a privileged environment since she was a child, and basically has not experienced any major ups and downs.

At this time, listening to Sophia's faint narration, Nancy felt a bitterness that she had never experienced, so she put down the spoon, reached over and patted the back of Sophia's hand comfortingly, and said, "Sophie, I declare that from now on, you are my best friend." ”

Sophia smiled and shook Nancy with her backhand, but she didn't say it as bluntly as she did.

Nancy withdrew her hand, picked up the spoon again and stirred her own cornsweet soup, and then suddenly asked again, "Did you sleep with him?"

Sophia understood who Nancy was referring to, and shook her head, "No." ”

Nancy was a little surprised: "Why?"

Sophia thought that Nancy's rhetorical question was a bit strange, was it so natural for her to sleep with Simon? ”

Probably, it won't be long to restrain it.

As he spoke, a voice in his heart added so, with a shallow little pride.

Nancy naturally couldn't hear Sophia's voice, but said with interest: "If you sleep with him, remember to tell me." ”

Sophia was a little helpless: "You are very interested in this matter?"

Nancy said honestly, "I'm interested in all things our little boss. ”

"Then why don't you try it yourself?"

Nancy shrunk her neck as if she thought of some terrible scene: "I don't want to sleep with a man." ”

Sophia smiled and seduced: "This kind of thing still has to be tried for yourself." ”

After breakfast, Nancy changed into a black professional suit and her customary platform heels, and the two girls drove to Burbank together, where the office of Highgate Pictures is located in Daenerys Entertainment's Burbank branch, and they were going to discuss the Gucci documentary with Ira Deutchman today.

Leaving Brentwood's apartment, Nancy was in working condition.

Sophia held the steering wheel, glanced at Nancy, who was carefully reading the thick stack of video game materials in the co-pilot, and said: "I think Daenerys Entertainment should actually try to develop game consoles, and simply developing video games will always be constrained by console manufacturers." ”

"I've also thought about it, but Daenerys Entertainment's foundation in this area is zero, we have missed the 8-bit era, and the 16-bit console can't catch up, if we want to enter the market, we can only directly invest in the development of the third generation of 32-bit game consoles. Game console research and development requires a lot of money and time, when Atari developed the 2600 game console because of the broken capital chain, it had to sell itself to Warner, Atari 2600 development lasted for four years, invested 100 million US dollars, that was 100 million US dollars in the seventies. Moreover, even if there is no shortage of money and time, we still have to face the patent barriers and content barriers that have been erected by Japanese manufacturers. ”

Sophia heard Nancy say this, and said with a smile: "You don't look like a person who will back down when you encounter difficulties." ”

Nancy raised her chin slightly and said, "Of course not, in addition to these external factors, the most fundamental reason is that I don't think it's a good idea to invest in the development of game consoles." Don't look at the fact that now Nintendo's NES occupies 90% of the market, making a lot of profits every year. However, competitors such as Sega, Atari and Sony have not given up on making attempts to enter the console market, and new players may emerge in the future. Nintendo's lag on 16-bit consoles, and the rapid development of PC gaming in recent years, mean that there will be a very competitive state of competition in the gaming hardware market in the future, and there will probably be no winners. In contrast, high-quality game content is always in demand in the market. I've also found that great video games all have a very long life cycle, and as long as they succeed in creating a blockbuster, the production company can continue to develop it from generation to generation, and each generation can bring stable and lucrative profits. So, my fundamental goal was to make Blizzard Studios a video game production and publishing company, and I wasn't interested in developing consoles. ”

Talking all the way, Sophia and Nancy arrived at the Daenerys Entertainment branch in Burbank, and Ella Deutchman had arrived early.

Even though it was Sunday, the Burbank office building was still busy.

Daenerys Entertainment's non-stop work rhythm has attracted a lot of media attention, and some employee rights protection organizations in California have sent people to investigate whether there is forced overtime.

The company did not have any compulsive behavior, but the atmosphere has been formed, when everyone else is working, those who want to take a break are embarrassed to stop, and there are some employees who choose to resign because they can't bear the pressure.

Moreover, recently the news that Simon was in a coma due to excessive exhaustion came back, and some of the original complaints were much less.

The bosses are tired, what right do you have to complain.

"My Left Foot" was completed at the end of February, and at the request of Deutchman, the film's director, Jim Sheridan, led the production team to Los Angeles to complete the post-production of the film.

Failing to get "Sex, Lies, and Tapes," Deutschman chose "My Left Foot" as an alternative film for this year's Cannes Film Festival. With Simon's connections built up in Cannes last year, it won't be difficult to secure a place in the main competition as long as the quality of My Left Foot is up to expectations.

"Sex, Lies, and Videotapes" received critical media acclaim and an audience award at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and Columbia Pictures is not rushing to bring the film to theaters and plans to participate in the Cannes Film Festival in May.

When the time comes, "Sex, Lies, and Videotapes" and "My Left Foot" will compete head-to-head.

After a regular meeting with the post-production team of My Left Foot, Deutchman came to the office to discuss the development of the Gucci documentary with Sophia and the two women.

Although the Gucci family's wealthy feuds are the most talked about by the outside world, these elements that will definitely affect the image of the Gucci brand must be mentioned in the documentary as much as possible.

After a morning of discussions, it was tentatively decided that the documentary would begin with the hiring of a new creative director at Gucci and end with the Gucci Spring/Summer 1990 show at Milan Fashion Week in September, interspersed with various introductions to Gucci's cultural heritage, brand style, classic styles and anecdotes.

Of course, this discussion was not without its differences.

Hearing that Deutchman demanded that Gucci provide at least half of the production funds as 'sponsorship' fees, but did not enjoy the rights and expected proceeds of the documentary, Sophia was adamantly opposed. In the end, the deal was that Gorgate Pictures and Gucci would each contribute half of the budget and share the rights and revenues.

However, as a distributor, Gaomen Pictures can take 12.5% of the documentary's omnichannel revenue as a distribution commission in the future.

Because of the very tight schedule, the preliminary preparations for the documentary began quickly, and it is expected that the filming of the documentary will begin at the end of this month or early next month when Gucci's new creative director takes office.

The next day is Monday, March 6.

Sophia spent another day discussing with Amy about the brand partnership between Gucci and Daenerys Entertainment, which was mainly the Gucci brand's advertising placement in Daenerys Entertainment's film and television productions.

Simon's proposed synergy mechanism is not only implemented within Daenerys Entertainment, but also includes all subsidiaries of Westeros. Therefore, Amy also tried her best to cooperate.

After her trip to Los Angeles, Sophia hurried to New York, where her work schedule was even more intensive.

The first is the $20 million that Simon just promised.

Westeros has continued to sell shares in six technology companies, including Apple, but the use of the cash has been determined, and Gucci can only continue to borrow money to get the money it wants. Because of the priority agreement attached to the previous loan, the money still had to be financed from Citibank.

Secondly, Sophia also plans to reshuffle the management of Gucci's US subsidiary and hire a new head of the US branch, which will be an opportunity to take full control of Gucci's North American business.

In addition, two of the Gucci creative director candidates that Sophia has eyed are in New York, which is crucial to Gucci's development in the next few years, so it will also take a lot of time to communicate with the parties in detail.

Finally, there are some social visits of a PR nature.

When he was still in Melbourne, Simon helped Sophia determine the itinerary to visit the Murdoch family after arriving in New York, and the Murdoch family also invested 100 million US dollars in the operation of Cersei Capital.

Favors must be used when they should be used.

News Corp.'s gossip newspapers in Europe and North America, such as The Sun, News of the World, and The New York Post, have been very happy to track the Gucci family's various infighting scandals in recent years.

Since Gucci is already controlled by Simon, and it happens to have connections in the Murdoch family, he naturally will not let this situation continue. Murdoch is obviously not going to refuse this kind of favor.