America 1919

William Fox arrived in Atlantic City very soon.

Born in 1879, the 41-year-old William Fox now sported a small beard, rendering his appearance somewhat scholarly.

But the business he was about to conduct was anything but scholarly!

Upon meeting Donnie, his opening remark was that the production cost for each documentary would be 150,000 US Dollars!

"Mr. Fox, as far as I know, the production cost for a low-budget film is only around 110,000 US Dollars, and besides, my film doesn't even require hiring Hollywood actors. All you need to do is record the appearances of those beautiful girls, and you're asking me for 150,000 US Dollars in production costs?"

Now Donnie was solely responsible for the production costs of the Miss America documentary, and naturally, he couldn't accept William Fox's proposed costs.

Confidently smiling in response to Donnie's refusal, William Fox said,

"Mr. Block, the price I've quoted is quite fair, even though your documentary doesn't need actors. My company's photographers need to travel to 10 cities besides Los Angeles for shooting, which is clearly a massive project. Furthermore, our company's editors will need to select from the copious raw material, all of which are very costly endeavors."

William Fox did not back down because of Donnie's refusal.

Observing William Fox's composure, Donnie realized he had shown too much urgency, making William believe he was indispensable.

However, the city preliminaries for Miss America were about to start, and finding a new partner for Donnie would involve renegotiating, which could be problematic.

Time was of the essence for Donnie.

Therefore, Donnie still wanted to find a way to persuade William Fox to lower the price to 110,000 US Dollars per documentary.

Thus, prolonged negotiations ensued, but William Fox firmly stuck to the 150,000 US Dollars per documentary price point and refused to budge.

Eventually, Donnie realized he wasn't going to achieve anything that day, so he ended the negotiation with William Fox.

"William, Donnie is a very capable man. I've heard so many legends about him these past few days in Atlantic City. You would already make a profit at 110,000 per documentary. Why must you insist on 150,000?"

After leaving The Fuli Tavern, Walker and William Fox headed to a tavern on the boardwalk.

"Damn Prohibition, this is the purest whiskey I've had in a while!" holding his glass, William Fox commented with a look of enjoyment, "Walker, Donnie is capable, I admit that, but so what?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Making movies is my expertise. Donnie, knowing about our association, invited me to Atlantic City immediately, which shows he doesn't have much pull in making documentaries.

And now, with only a few days left before the Miss America city preliminaries, does Donnie really think he can find another film company in Hollywood that can shoot for him in such short notice?"

Having said that, William took a proud sip of his whiskey, emitting a satisfied groan.

"Dear Walker, don't worry, Donnie will certainly end up paying me!"

Watching William Fox's smugness, Walker shook his head. Based on what he had observed in Atlantic City, he didn't think Donnie was someone who could be easily manipulated. Although he didn't know if Donnie had any other tricks up his sleeve, he still felt that if William Fox kept underestimating Donnie Block, he would be the one to lose out in the end.

.

"Bruce, it looks like you'll need to make a trip to Philadelphia!"

After William Fox and Walker had left, Donnie promptly called Bruce Currie over.

"Philadelphia? No problem!" Bruce said without hesitation, "But what should I do in Philadelphia?"

In early America, the film market was not in Los Angeles Hollywood, but in New York and Philadelphia. It was only in the 20th century that some film companies moved to Hollywood in Los Angeles due to patent lawsuits with Edison.

Gradually, it evolved into the center of the United States film industry.

However, there were still some small and medium-sized film production companies in New York and Philadelphia. Donnie now realized what he needed was a professional film crew, but not necessarily a top-tier one. As long as they could successfully capture the Miss Americas, that was really all that mattered!

Previously, he was too anxious about the matter, which is why he didn't consider this point.

Now that William Fox was asking for the moon, it actually helped Donnie to cool down. If there were film companies in Philadelphia, why would he need to rely on William Fox?

After understanding Donnie's plan, Bruce nodded, "Got it, I'm setting off for Philadelphia right now!"

"Wait!" Donnie took out 1000 US Dollars from a drawer and handed it to Bruce, "When you get to Philadelphia, take care of this first. Then check out the private liquor situation there."

At the mention of private liquor, Bruce's interest piqued, "Are we finally expanding our private liquor business to Philadelphia?"

Donnie currently had businesses in Atlantic City dealing with newspapers, entertainment, taverns, casinos, dominoes, and private liquor.