After a week of tough talks, Zane and the British TV company, ITV, finally made a deal for the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
It was a very expensive deal for Zane.
Here's what he had to pay:
$9.8 million (6 million pounds) right away.
15% of all the profits from the American show for 5 years.
And... if 15% wasn't enough, Zane had to pay a minimum of $8 million (5 million pounds) every season!
Zane cursed ITV under his breath. "Those guys are black-hearted!" he thought.
If he made one season a year for five years, that meant he was paying them at least$50 million!
"Darn it!" Zane thought. "I'm still too naive! When I sold Got Talent to them for $32 million, I thought I was the smart one. But now I realize... I was a fool!"
It wasn't Zane's fault. The TV business was just full of sharks, and ITV was a professional shark.
"Boss," his bodyguard Ray asked, "the deal is done. When are we going back to Los Angeles?"
Zane thought for a moment.
He had come to London to see his girlfriend, Adriana Lima. They had spent two nice days together, but she was already gone. She had flown to France for training, and then she was going to Italy. Being a model was hard work! She had no free time.
He had also come to get Christopher Nolan. That part was done. Nolan was now part of Zane's team, which was great. A genius director like him would make Zane's company famous.
"Huh?" Zane suddenly remembered something. "Harry Potter!"
He turned to Ray. "Ray, call Cindy later and ask him to help us find... wait, no! Never mind."
Zane stopped himself.
"Hehe," Zane muttered, looking out the window. "Cindy is a smart, tricky guy. If I ask him to help find J.K. Rowling, he might just steal the Harry Potter rights for himself!"
Harry Potter was too important. It was going to be worth $100 billion one day! Zane couldn't take any risks.
"Let's hire our own detectives to find her," Zane decided.
...
Finding J.K. Rowling was easy. Money can find anyone!
Soon, Zane and his team arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland. They found Rowling's home in an old, run-down neighborhood.
"Hello, Ms. Rowling," Zane said with a warm, polite smile. "I'm Zane Blackwood. And this is my lawyer, David."
"Very pleased to meet you!" Rowling said. She was excited. David had called her yesterday about buying her book rights.
"Sorry, the house is a little small," she apologized.
Zane's team couldn't even all sit down. The apartment was tiny—less than 50 square meters!
"It doesn't matter," Zane said kindly. "We can stand."
Zane knew Rowling's story. She was divorced, had a 4-year-old daughter, no job, and was living on government welfare. She was very poor.
"This is my daughter, Jessica," Rowling said.
The little girl was sitting on the sofa, watching TV. She wasn't scared of the strangers at all.
Zane looked at the TV. Coincidentally, she was watching Teletubbies!
"Ms. Rowling," David said, "Mr. Blackwood owns a Hollywood movie company. Have you seen movies like Static, Hard Candy, Wrong Turn, or Juno?"
Rowling blushed. "I'm sorry," she said, embarrassed. "As you can see... I haven't had the money to go to the movies lately."
David smiled. "That's okay. But do you see the show your daughter is watching? Teletubbies?"
"Yes?"
"The idea for that show came from my boss, Mr. Blackwood."
"What?!" Rowling gasped. "Really? Oh my God!"
This proved Zane was real and successful. It meant she really could sell her book!
They started talking about the contract. Zane had told David to make it very strict. Every single rule was written down perfectly. There were no loopholes.
Ray, the bodyguard, thought Zane was being too careful.
But Zane knew better.
Rowling was a tough woman. Right now, she was poor and happy to sell. But once Harry Potter became famous? Zane knew she would try to tear up the contract and demand more money. In his old life, she gave Time Warner a huge headache!
Zane was going to make sure that didn't happen to him. He was locking this treasure down tight.
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