"Honey~ I can't wait to reward you properly~"
"I already received that batch of Evil Angel toys you sent me... those clothes are really interesting... I can't wait to wear them for you~"
"And that toy modeled 1:1 after you... I absolutely love it!"
Robbie was obviously incredibly excited about getting the chance to release a song, acting all coquettish on the phone.
But just half an hour later, Leon received bad news.
Robbie's management team strongly opposed her venturing into the music industry while her footing in Hollywood was still unstable.
This wasn't hard to understand. Americans tend to value specialization and authority in a specific field.
If you're an actor, you should focus on acting. If you switch to singing, focus on singing.
Those good at both acting and singing are generally on Broadway.
Those terrible at both but still dabbling in everything are generally called "celebrities," like the famous Paris Hilton.
Given the high prevalence of instruments like guitar and piano, it's normal for music-loving actors to have played in bands since childhood.
If Robbie really loved singing, she could just sing for fun. Releasing a record was meaningless other than burning money.
The competition in the music industry is too fierce now; very few singers make money from their debut album.
Compared to the efficiency of making money, Hollywood clearly had the upper hand.
As long as you participate in one phenomenal hit, as long as that movie is still being played for commercial purposes or DVDs are still being sold, even a supporting actor can eat off the residuals until they die.
Leon fully understood this and constantly comforted Robbie. "Baby, let me talk to your manager?"
"I promise they'll change their minds after hearing this song. I'll make you huge in the music world before you conquer Hollywood!"
Robbie was completely powerless against Leon's PUA tactics. This love-struck girl felt dizzy just thinking about that astonishing size.
Robbie's manager, Maggie, was a tough character. Women who hustle in the management industry are often harder to deal with than men.
During the hour-long tug-of-war, what ultimately sealed the deal was profit.
Apocalypse Music would bear all costs from record production to distribution for Robbie.
If this worked out, Maggie could earn a big extra sum.
The frequency of commercial gigs for singers far exceeds what actors can match.
If it didn't work out, there would be no loss for Maggie, at most a small blemish on Robbie's acting career.
Regarding copyright, as the songwriter, Leon had to cede 30% of the copyright to Robbie.
Adding the 20% taken by David Guetta, his copyright revenue on Faded was directly halved.
But Leon agreed very readily.
The exchange condition for all this was that Robbie had to sign with Apocalypse Music.
Signing a Hollywood actress with high hopes was very meaningful for the budding Apocalypse label.
Due to Robbie's tight filming schedule—besides the movie The Wolf of Wall Street, she was also participating in the filming of the TV series Pan Am—
The recording work could only be done in Los Angeles, borrowing Kendrick Lamar's recording studio.
Three days later, Leon took the entire Apocalypse Music crew on a flight to Los Angeles.
This time it was almost an all-hands operation. Not only Bonnie, Phil, and Cardi B, but even Roc Nation's MV director Old Mike came along.
Because on this trip to Los Angeles, Leon had another big thing to do—shoot promotional photos for the first batch of Evil Angel lingerie about to hit the market.
Leon had already outsourced the design work to a studio in Los Angeles.
Since it was outsourced anyway, Los Angeles offered far more studios to choose from than New York.
In the public's impression, fashion designer is a high-end profession, but this is actually a completely wrong stereotype.
Except for designers working for haute couture or luxury brands, for most people studying this major, graduation means unemployment.
It is said that the finance industry relies on family heritage. If your parents aren't high officials or dignitaries, ordinary people won't achieve much even if they struggle in this industry for a lifetime.
Actually, the fashion design industry is even more so.
The principals of those jewelry brands, the designers of luxury brands...
These fashion devils almost all have amazing family backgrounds; many families' histories can even be traced back to the era of founding father Washington.
Therefore, the only way out for most of the cattle and horses who stumble into this major after graduation is to join small studios and design patterns for factory assembly lines.
Take assistant designers for example; in Los Angeles, their income is not even as high as waiters.
The studio collaborating with Evil Angel was located near the famous Venice Beach in Los Angeles.
The principal, Jones, had twenty years of industry experience and had once launched his own designer brand, but it flopped without surprise.
This studio was just a small workshop. Including Jones, there were no more than five people, mainly designing clothes for some "joint venture brands" that exported from the big Eastern country and then sold back domestically.
"Welcome, Mr. Leon, for coming all this way!" As soon as they entered, Jones gave Leon a warm hug. "We have designed the patterns for the next batch of products according to your requirements!"
"Please take a look!"
The garments on the display stand were inspirations that Leon, Phil, Cardi, and others had come up with after racking their brains.
The characteristic of this batch of clothing was abandoning its basic attributes as clothing!
Since clothing was born in the Stone Age, it has only had two functions: keeping warm and covering shame.
With social development, class differences appeared in human society, leading to various additional attributes.
Take the bra products in this batch for example; many styles covered almost nothing.
Some extreme styles even ingeniously had a small hole cut in them, deliberately revealing the essence of the human body.
The same went for panties. To fit the lazy character of the American people, the design achieved the effect of solving physiological needs without taking them off.
Leon looked at these samples and praised repeatedly, "You guys did a really good job..."
Old Mike shook his head repeatedly on the side. "I think it's not enough..."
"Why?"
"These styles are all too ordinary; it will be hard to sell big..."
This is ordinary?
Leon was speechless for a moment. If these so-called lingerie items had any more fabric removed, they would directly become the Emperor's New Clothes.
"Have you heard of P. Diddy's freak-offs?"
Leon didn't know P. Diddy personally, so naturally, he had never been invited to his parties.
But anyone mixing in the New York entertainment circle knew the big name of the "Freak-offs."
In various versions of urban legends, P. Diddy's parties were called the biggest orgies in America.
Old Mike showed a smug expression and continued, "If it's just about less fabric, it won't arouse people's desire at all."
"You can walk out right now and take a look at Venice Beach... The bikinis women wear here have even less fabric than lingerie."
Leon strongly agreed with this. The dopamine threshold of the American people had been infinitely raised under various stimulations.
On Venice Beach, even if a girl ran naked, she might not attract much attention.
"Then you mean..."
"Based on my years of photography experience... if you want to achieve results in this lane, you must make the products vivid!" Old Mike took a deep drag on his cigarette, with a look of profound mystery on his face.