The Global Prince, with Limitless Power and Influence

Chapter 80 The Global Prince, with Limitless Power and Influence

Perhaps it's because being in the entertainment industry means having to show off, but it could also be that Universal Studios is the headquarters of Universal Pictures.

In short, when Steven Spielberg brought Ethan Jones and Steve Jobs to his family's dining room, the more than 10,000 square feet of space could only be described with one word—luxurious!

The buffet-style dining and the three rows of food display cases resembling an assembly line further emphasize the abundance of food on the storefront.

Whether it's Pacific cuisine representing the seaside, Southwestern cuisine heavily influenced by MXG, or Cajun cuisine that blends French, Indian, and African dishes, you can find it all here.

In addition, you can also find Southern Black cuisine, represented by shredded pork and fried meats, which is what Americans often call home cooking; New York cuisine, which incorporates the tastes of immigrants from various regions; and New England cuisine, which was created mainly by John Bull immigrants.

It's no exaggeration to say that Universal Pictures' small cafeteria already encompasses all the popular American flavors!

After picking and choosing, Ethan selected a seafood mixed vegetable dish, a spicy meat sauce stewed beans, and a Texas barbecue.

Spielberg ordered a grilled steak, eggs Benedict, and a pecan pie.

Jobs took a pear and cheese salad, a burrito, and ordered okra and shrimp soup.

After taking a quick bite, Ethan immediately gave a thumbs up and exclaimed, "Oh fxxk! This barbecue is absolutely juicy!"

"Oh, Ethan, I'm glad you like it." Spielberg introduced, "Our chefs here are all masters with more than 20 years of cooking experience. Many of them are directly invited from the places where the cuisine is popular, so as to restore the local flavor as much as possible."

"For example, this Texas barbecue you ordered was made by a chef from the Mueller family, who came from Austin."

"The founder of their family was the first master in the entire United States to introduce beef ribs into the world of barbecue."

"Really? Looks like I'm pretty lucky today?" Ethan said with surprise. "Although I was stuck in traffic for half the day and didn't have time for lunch, being able to taste a master chef's cooking when I was hungry is truly a happy thing."

"I'm not exaggerating! After all, getting what you need when you need it can multiply your sense of satisfaction."

Spielberg's eyes lit up at Ethan's words. "Oh, Ethan, you're absolutely right."

Jobs raised his eyebrows and nodded slightly, which was considered an agreement.

Although everyone's real purpose in coming to the cafeteria was to eat, they still chatted when they met for the first time. After praising the food, Ethan took the initiative to start a conversation and asked how Spielberg and Jobs knew each other.

"How did we meet? Just like you, we met through a game."

Spielberg chuckled and said, "Steve told me you two met while selling games? Well, that's the opposite of you, because I met Steve while buying games. I think he was in Los Angeles promoting Gran Trak back then?"

At this point, Spielberg glanced at Jobs.

"Yeah~Yeah~Yeah~"

Upon hearing the question, Steve Jobs nodded and said, "Gran Trak—that's it. That's the first song we heard about."

He took a sip of the apple juice the waiter brought him, and then complained, "To be honest, when we first met, Steven's impression on me was that he was a madman, because he pulled a thousand dollars in cash out of his pocket to buy arcade machines."

"Seriously! I was completely stunned!"

"That's a thousand dollars! I don't know why a normal person would carry so much money!"

"Oh, well, who told me I wanted to play games?"

Jobs' words made Spielberg laugh. He said, "If I remember correctly, Atari advertised a three-day delivery time at the order fair, but three days was too long for me. I didn't want to wait, so I just took out cash and bought it."

"But the problem is he only had hundred-dollar bills at the time!"

Mentioning this incident immediately energized Steve Jobs, who began gesturing to Ethan, "That was a stack of hundred-dollar bills! I didn't dare accept it at the time! I was afraid he was selling drugs, and even more afraid that I would be robbed if I carried cash!"

"Oh, oh, oh, this isn't my fault." Spielberg shrugged and began to explain, "While I can produce twenty-dollar bills, a thousand dollars is fifty twenty-dollar bills! That's a whole stack! Is it convenient for me to carry that much money to buy arcade machines?"

This question made Jobs frown. He said, "So you're just trying to scare me for your own convenience?"

Spielberg ignored him, saying, "That's because you have such poor mental fortitude!"

"Oh! Sxxt! Steven! What did you say?"

"What did I say? I'm stating the truth!"

Ethan laughed at their banter.

The sight of a fight about to break out made him shake his head repeatedly.

But he didn't intend to interfere, because it wasn't a big deal.

The issue of the dollar's face value, as mentioned by Jobs and Spielberg, has existed for many years.

The US dollar is a currency with strong purchasing power. Most of the time, twenty dollars is enough for a family to go on a shopping spree at the supermarket. Therefore, twenty dollars is the most commonly used currency in daily life.

As for higher denominations? Those are mostly circulating in illicit businesses.

For example, a hundred-dollar bill is mostly used by drug traffickers or counterfeiters.

If you catch one, you shoot them; there's almost no chance of them being wronged.

So when Spielberg went to buy arcade games with a stack of hundred dollars, any normal person would be scared.

Ethan understood, and he was happy to watch the show.

After arguing for a while, the two of them, realizing there was no point in it, calmed down.

At this point, Ethan intervened again, asking whether the previous leak of information would cause trouble for Spielberg.

After all, according to the information Ethan and Jobs heard, MCA wanted to acquire Atari, and while they were discussing the cooperation, Spielberg gave the Atari information to outsiders. This behavior seemed rather rebellious.

When Ethan voiced his thoughts, Jobs chuckled and scoffed, "Troublesome?"

"Oh, Ethan—you're seriously underestimating Steven!"

"Steven has always been the crown prince of Universal! The crown prince of MCA!"

"Who would dare to cause him trouble?"

Ethan was taken aback by Jobs' words.

But the next second, he realized what he meant and shook his head with a smile, saying, "Yeah~Yeah~Yeah~ I was being superficial."

"Jaws was the first film in history to gross over 100 million at the box office!"

"Once he achieves this level of success, no one in Hollywood will dare to offend him!"

However, before Ethan could finish speaking, Jobs shook his head with a smile, "No, no, no~"

"You still don't understand, Ethan."

"Even before making 'Jaws,' Steven was already able to roam freely around Universal like a crab!"

"Because he only needs to report to one person, namely the CEO of MCA and the president of Universal, Sidney."

"What?" Ethan didn't understand.

Spielberg smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Steve, keep a low profile."

Seeing Ethan's blank expression, he explained, "Ethan, don't listen to his nonsense. Sidney is my boss, my leader, and also my mentor who supports and educates me. I respect him very much."

After Spielberg's explanation, Ethan finally understood what the hell meant by the chosen one!

Because Spielberg had wanted to make movies since he was a child, he applied to the Southern California Film School three times after graduating from high school, but was rejected because he only got a C grade. So he had to switch to California State University, Long Beach.

The problem was, Spielberg didn't like studying at all; he only wanted to make movies. So, he spent his free time in Hollywood, hoping to find a way into the industry. When he heard that Universal Studios was offering a tour of the studio, he immediately signed up. He also played a trick: during the tour, he asked the guide if he needed to use the restroom, then sneaked away, separated from the group, and openly watched others filming inside Universal Studios.

Although this act of stealing someone's skills was somewhat shameful, Spielberg didn't care.

After all, how can something done by a scholar be called stealing?

This is clearly learning!

But he could believe it himself; the dog's furtive figure couldn't escape the eyes of Global Management.

While Spielberg was wandering around, a project manager at Universal named Chuck Silvers spotted him and asked about his intentions. When Spielberg explained that he had escaped from the tour bus simply to learn filmmaking techniques and wanted to become a film director, Chuck Silvers was moved and decided to give him a three-day pass, allowing him free access to all parts of the studio and to watch openly.

then……

From that day on, Spielberg became a member of Universal.

Although the pass was only valid for three days, Spielberg spent the entire summer at the studio.

Because when his fourth day passed...

"The security guards at Universal Studios didn't stop me at all."

Spielberg laughed and said, "He just let me in."

"I was happy at the time, because I thought he had misremembered the date on my travel permit."

"But I later found out that someone had put in a good word for me. The person who put in the good word said that if I could come on time for three days, I could watch them make a movie here."

"Is it Chuck Silvers?" Ethan asked with a smile.

"Yes, it's him. He's a good man," Spielberg nodded.

His face was also filled with a nostalgic smile.

He cleared his throat and continued, "And then, I became a member of Universal."

"Because I didn't know that someone had put in a good word for me, in order to avoid being discovered, I pretended to be a Universal employee here and acted like I was working here."

"The office Steve just took you to was my office back then. Although it was very run-down and old, I didn't care because nobody used it at the time, so I used it. It gave me a place to rest and a place to think."

"Ethan, I don't know if you've ever had that feeling, but once you get used to lying, you slowly start to believe your own lies. I've been with Universal for so long that I even thought I was one of them. Until one day, someone from Universal came to me and asked if I had any ideas of my own after studying for so long. That's when I realized that they knew everything all along."

At this point, Spielberg leaned back, fiddling with his fork, and said in a nostalgic tone, "I was terrified. But the people at Universal were very kind. They let me put together a project myself, saying that if I passed the audition, I would get a job. I was thrilled by that, and of course, I had my own ideas, so I wrote a script, got $100,000 from a friend, and made it into a short film called 'Amblin'."

"To be honest, I wasn't very satisfied with that movie, but Sidney thought it was good after watching it. He was probably the vice president of Universal at the time, right? He had the power to sign contracts, so he gave me a seven-year director's contract with a fixed salary and let me get experience in various projects."

"Although I messed up a lot of projects, with Sidney around, no one dared to criticize me because he once told me in front of many people, 'A lot of people will stick with you in success; I'll stick with you in failure.' Because of that, I was able to get projects from Universal one after another, so what Steve said was actually true..."

Spielberg tapped his index finger on the table and said softly, "Here, indeed, no one will refuse me."

"And after the release of Jaws—"

"This is indeed my territory now."

After Spielberg told his story with a smile, Ethan really didn't know what to say.

Is a future world-renowned director staying at Universal Studios like a child, refusing to leave just to make a movie?

This……

What a dark history!

Wait, that's not right!

For ordinary people, this is a dark history, but for celebrities, it's a thirst for knowledge!

There's no way around it; once someone becomes famous, even their farts are considered right!

"I see?" Ethan nodded with a smile, and said with a sigh, "No wonder the security guards didn't stop Steve from bringing me in just now, because they know Steve often comes to Universal to see you, right?"

"Yes. I'm the one who sent Snake Game over."

Jobs nodded and said, "Didn't I disappear that afternoon of the new product launch? I just delivered an arcade machine to him."

Is that so?

Ethan suddenly remembered.

On the afternoon of the Snake Game launch event, only Nolan Bushnell and his group remained at Atari.

At the time, he thought Jobs had gone to deliver goods with the rest of the team.

But I didn't expect it to be a special gift for Spielberg?

"It seems they have a really good relationship."

After a moment of reflection, Ethan resumed chatting with them.

We talked about games, movies, and Hollywood.

When he learned that Spielberg and Barbra Streisand knew each other, he made a request.

"Oh, Steven, can I do you a favor?"

"Go ahead," Spielberg said with a smile, "If it's within my power, I'll definitely help you."

"Could you get me a signed copy of Barbra Streisand's album? My sister really likes her."

"That's easy. I can get you anything, not just one copy, but a whole set." Spielberg waved his hand and said, "Whether it's a music album or a movie videotape, I can get it for you. I'll talk to my assistant later, and she'll take care of it."

"Don't worry, although this will take a little time, you'll definitely get it before you leave."

"Of course... you can't tell me you're leaving now!"

Spielberg tapped the table and joked, "After all, I'm not Superman."

"Haha~ No, no~" Ethan smiled broadly. "Oh Steven~ Thank you so much... We just met and you've already gone to so much trouble for me, it's really... I don't know what to do..."

"Don't know what to do? That's simple," Spielberg said. "I want to know one thing. If you can answer me directly, I can guarantee that you won't feel any distance between us."

"? 』

"Is there really such a strange question?"

"What's the problem?" Ethan asked curiously.

Upon hearing this, Spielberg first adopted a stern, enigmatic expression, looking at Ethan with a very serious gaze. Only when Ethan frowned in surprise did he chuckle, rub his hands together, and say, "It's simple!"

When are you releasing a new game?

"I can't wait!"

"While I believe I could play Snake Game for a long time, I still want to try new things!"

"..."

Alright!

Spielberg's question left Ethan both amused and exasperated.

What kind of situation is this?

Isn't today supposed to be a fun fan meeting?

How did it turn into an offline solo challenge where they had to urge me to update in person?!

Although Ethan didn't understand what Spielberg's brain circuits were like, he could still answer this question.

He took a deep breath, shook his head, and said, "Oh Steven, I don't want to lie to you, I do have an idea in my head, but I can't bring it to fruition for now."

"What?" Spielberg asked, somewhat surprised. "Why can't it be done?"

Is it due to technical reasons?

Ethan shrugged regretfully, unsure how to respond.

This situation prompted Jobs to speak up at the opportune moment.

He explained the specifics.

When Spielberg learned that the problem stemmed from that ridiculous patent on video games and training devices, he was immediately surprised. "Oh, Ethan, you can't get the license?"

"If I really wanted to get it, I should be able to, but the price would probably be a bit too high."

Ethan said sincerely, "You make movies, you should know that inspiration is also valuable."

"If this value is taken away by the theater chains that provide the venue, then I have nothing to say."

"After all, their existence provides a place for audiences to watch movies."

"But if Edison takes most of the profits, then..."

Before Ethan could finish speaking, Spielberg laughed and said, "No need for 'what ifs,' Edison's actions have already been recognized as a monopoly."

"But something like Milrova's... it's hard to call it a monopoly, right?" Ethan said with a smile. "After all, Professor Bell is different from Edison. Professor Bell never buys patents. The patents under his name are either developed by himself or by the teams he led. When he is involved in many fields such as aerospace, deep-sea exploration, and medicine, and he no longer charges patent fees for many projects, the courts or even the government will not interfere with his corresponding monopoly in the video game field."

This fact prompted Spielberg to nod slightly, and he asked, "So, this problem can't be solved?"

He then explained, "Oh, I mean, I'm really looking forward to your game."

"I understand, I understand, you mean no harm." Ethan nodded with a smile and said, "Actually, I have a solution now, but it may not be possible in the short term because I need to meet with Professor Ralph Bell, but I don't know him. I've already asked my sister's teacher to contact Professor Ralph Bell, but their information is that it won't be possible until the end of the year at the earliest."

"So, you might have to wait a while."

Since Spielberg knew what had happened, Ethan didn't try to hide it.

But when he told the truth, Spielberg, who was sitting opposite him, was stunned.

Then, the young man scratched his head, frowned, and asked, "You mean Professor Ralph Bell can help you solve your patent problem?"

"If he's willing to cooperate with me," Ethan nodded. "If he's willing to cooperate with me, I have a way to bypass the patent barriers, and legally at that. Steve can prove that to me."

Ethan pointed at Jobs.

Jobs, who was already using the MOS 6502, nodded. "Yes, we have the method, all we need to do is find the right people."

However, just when Ethan thought the conversation had died down, Spielberg said, "Is it really that simple? Then you can start playing the game! And I have to be the first player!"

"? 』

Spielberg's words stunned Ethan, who said, "Steven, I don't understand what you mean."

"Don't understand what I mean? It's simple!" Spielberg blinked and said, "Because my father knows Professor Bell."

"Knowledge in various senses."

"After Milrova's Odyssey was launched, my father mentioned Professor Bell to me, saying that Professor Bell's technical skills in the field of electrical engineering were far superior to his own."

"If you want to see Professor Bell, I can have my dad make a call for you."

"Although I don't know what you want to collaborate with Professor Bell on, or rather, what you definitely want to get from Professor Bell, I can assure you that even if it's an outrageous collaboration, Professor Bell will listen to it out of respect for my father."

"WTF???" Ethan exclaimed in shock!

He asked incredulously, "Oh Steven, are you serious???"

"Of course! Why would I lie to you about something like this?" Spielberg asked, puzzled. "Are you surprised?"

"Why? Why was it an accident?"

"Do you think it's abnormal for my dad to know Professor Bell?"

"Um?"

Spielberg frowned; he couldn't understand it.

Even more bewildered than him were Ethan, who looked completely dumbfounded, and Jobs, who was equally stunned.

Because this kind of thing is really abnormal!

Note: ① *Gran Trak* is a racing game produced by Atari. Well… saying it was produced is actually a stretch; it's essentially plagiarism, as its style and production method are virtually identical to the racing game Professor Ralph Bell released at the Milova Odyssey. ② The information about Spielberg becoming a director comes from a BBC interview with him, which Spielberg himself said. It's still on the BBC's UK website.

P.S., there's a rumor that Universal Pictures allowed Spielberg to study there because of his Jewish identity. Universal is a studio with an extremely strong Jewish atmosphere; from the earliest founders to the later controllers, and the executives during the MCA era, they were all Jewish. So when Spielberg's very obvious Jewish appearance appeared, Universal tacitly allowed him to come and study there. And when Sidney discovered that he really had talent, he directly gave him a long-term contract to cultivate his own people.

(End of this chapter)