America 1919

Seeing Donnie's expression, Walker spread his hands and said with a laugh, "What can I say, of course there's no problem now, it's just a matter of how you're going to convince William Fox to join you in this crazy endeavor!"

Donnie smiled and said, "As long as there's money involved, I believe William won't be disinterested."

At present, Fox Films wasn't a behemoth in Hollywood, nor was William Fox a Hollywood mogul. In fact, by the next decade, William Fox would be investigated by the federal antitrust authorities due to the "MGM acquisition case," and he would lose control over Fox Films. By 1936, Fox himself would be bankrupt.

When he died, not a single Hollywood star attended his funeral; by then he had become an outcast in Hollywood!

Donnie didn't know any of this, but that didn't prevent him from meeting with William Fox now.

Sure enough, after receiving a call from Walker at Block Tavern, William Fox learned that the organizers of the now nationally known Miss America wanted to invite his company to shoot a documentary for them and, upon hearing of the production fee they would pay, he readily agreed to travel to Atlantic City in the near future.

To thank Walker, Donnie specially arranged for two women for him and instructed them that if he returned that evening to find that Walker could get out of bed, they would be allowed to service "those negroes" in the North District. Both women patted their chests and assured Donnie that Walker wouldn't be able to get out of bed the next day!

After taking care of Walker's needs, Donnie instructed Dwight to drive him straight to the Ritz Hotel!

"My God, Donnie, can't you make a phone call or have Louis send a message before coming in?"

Nucky stood up from the wool carpet in his office, and Louis, who had come in with Donnie, hurriedly grabbed a coat for Nucky from a nearby rack, while the woman lying on the wool carpet gave Donnie a provocative look without any concern.

"If Lucy finds out about this, she's going to make a big fuss!"

Donnie teased Nucky.

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"That's why I sent her to New York to let off some steam!"

Louis then took out ten US Dollars, handed it to the woman, and escorted her out of Nucky's office.

"Tell me, what is it that made you lose your manners and barge into my office like this?"

"I plan to shoot a documentary for our Miss America contestants..."

Donnie shared his plan with Nucky.

Even though Starry Entertainment was Donnie's own company, the final profit split of the Miss America contest gave both Donnie and Nucky 50%!

Now, as Donnie wanted to shoot a documentary for Miss America, he would definitely need more funding, which naturally required Nucky's approval.

"Donnie, I will not agree to this."

After hearing Donnie's plan, Nucky straightaway voiced his objection, with quite a direct reason.

For the promotion of Miss America, Donnie had already spent so much money, which was nearly crossing Nucky's mental line.

Now Donnie was even considering additional investment, and no matter what kind of influence Miss America was going to bring, in Nucky's opinion, it wasn't worth a million US Dollars!

"It's impossible to cover everything with just one documentary, the preliminary competitions in various cities, the finals, plus the finals in Atlantic City; we would need to prepare at least three documentaries.

Even if we don't have to pay the actors, the cost of film stock, salaries for the filming crew, editing, release, and so on would require at least an investment of half a million US Dollars.

I will absolutely not allow this investment!"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Nucky directly refused to spend the money; however, Donnie was now his business partner, and through more than two months of collaboration, Nucky indeed had recognized Donnie's capabilities.

So after refusing, Nucky still advised kindly, "Donnie, based on the current intensity of our promotion, Miss America has already become something that has captured the attention of the entire United States. There's absolutely no need for additional investment now, the effect is already very impressive!"

Donnie also had his convictions. He understood that in this era of a dire lack of entertainment, the opportunity to bring the Miss America pageant to the big screen was definitely something worth gambling on.

"Nucky, our previous agreement was clear; the promotion of Miss America is completely up to me!"

Nucky shook his head and said, "But the agreement also stipulates that on the matter of major expenses, it must be approved by me!"

Donnie clenched his teeth and said, "I can invest in this alone, but if there is a profit from this venture, you will not get any share of that profit!"

Nucky looked at Donnie in surprise; he hadn't expected Donnie to be so determined. How could this not be an investment doomed to fail, yet Donnie was so resolute?

Thinking about Donnie's successes during this period, Nucky started to have his doubts; after all, a person who is always successful often makes others believe they will continue to succeed!

An investment of 500,000 US Dollars, according to the movie revenue-sharing calculation, meant that a box office of 1 million would be needed to possibly recoup the costs.

With movie ticket prices ranging from 25 cents to 1 US Dollar, Nucky took an average in his mind, which meant that at least 1.4 million Americans would need to enter the cinemas to watch his documentary!

That's simply impossible, isn't it?

Thinking of this outcome, Nucky said, "I can agree to your request, but I will not give up on the peripheral funds gained through movie publicity!"

The old fox!

Donnie realized the other party was poaching the fruits of his labor, but he also understood that to make this thing happen, he had to agree to Nucky's conditions, otherwise if Nucky refused to cooperate, Donnie really had no way to make it happen.

However, Donnie was also certain in his heart that Americans would definitely be very interested in such a tabloid documentary.

Tony Stark's prototype, who made a big sale with a documentary about flying his own plane, had allowed Miss America to become well-known across the United States through the publicity over this period of time; there was no reason it wouldn't attract at least 1.5 million viewers.

Donnie understood Nucky's concerns, but Nucky didn't know Donnie's thoughts; Donnie had never planned to shoot all three documentaries at once.

Instead, it was to be one at a time; if the first documentary did not succeed after its release, Donnie could completely abandon the idea of shooting the latter two.

"No problem, let's go with what you said!"

Donnie agreed to Nucky's suggestion swiftly!

Nucky shook his head with a smile, feeling that Donnie had now completely lost his mind, "Good luck, my friend!"

Donnie also smiled confidently, "I've always been quite lucky!"

After leaving the Ritz Hotel, Donnie quickly sought out John and Robert, with a very clear purpose—to have them prepare a sum of cash!

But just as Donnie was discussing his plans with them, Chris found Donnie and relayed that Brad had sent news: Donnie's application for a commercial radio station license had finally been a success!