The next day when Jack came looking for me, I was with Gans and Fatty, ready to take the film for developing. To ensure the safety of the film, I didn''t choose a Hollywood lab but picked an unremarkable small factory in downtown Los Angeles.


    Jack was called into the taxi by me, and the four of us happily went into the city with the fruits of our labor these days.


    The boss of the developing lab asked for $1,000, saying he would guarantee the best results. It took me and Gans almost exhausting efforts to bargain it down to $700. After handing over the film, I let Gans and Jack stay. Their task was to take turns watching the film until it was developed and then bring it back safely.


    Coming out of the developing lab, I suddenly felt incredibly relieved. The long shooting work before had kept me so busy that I could hardly breathe. Seeing that it was still early, I strolled around the city with Fatty.


    "Boss! Isn''t that you?!" As we passed a newsstand, Fatty pointed at a newspaper and shouted at me as if he had discovered a new continent.


    I leaned over. "Los Angeles Times", the headline on the front page, a huge bold - faced title "Who is the mysterious man?! The future son - in - law or successor of Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer?!", and the article was accompanied by two photos. One was a group photo of me, MarcScollov and Fox, and the other was a photo of me and Lenny smiling at each other.


    "Boss, you''ve become a celebrity!" Fatty took out a coin to buy a copy, quickly flipped through it, and then blinked at me and told me: "It also mentions our movie here."


    "I already knew. Look!" I pointed to other newspapers on the newsstand.


    "The Los Angeles Tribune" had a photo of me celebrating with champagne after the completion of "Lust, Caution" on the front page. Naturally, Grant, Old Ma and Fox were in the photo. Their title was much more straightforward: "The mysterious director''s mysterious film is completed. It is said that there are pornographic scenes in the movie". Among these newspapers, the most explicit one might be "The Post". Its headline on the front page was Grant, and below it was me. The title was: "Grant supports a new movie, and the mysterious beneficiary director makes pornographic films".


    It seems that it''s hard for me not to become famous now.


    "Boss, it seems that these newspapers are not very friendly to us." Fatty flipped through several newspapers thoughtfully.


    I don''t care whether they are friendly or not. On the contrary, I welcome their actions 100%. This has saved me a lot of publicity expenses. The more they do this, the more well - known my movie will be. Then will there be any worry about no one buying tickets to go to the cinema to watch it?


    "Let''s go to the newspaper office together."


    "Boss, do you want to cause them trouble?"


    "What trouble? Go and do some advertising!"


    Los Angeles Times Newspaper Office. As the largest newspaper in the West, this newspaper office has an independent and imposing building. When I took Fatty into their editorial department, those editors and reporters inside whispered to each other when they saw me, and I greeted them with a smile.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Their editor - in - chief and chairman, Mike Douglas, was very surprised by my sudden appearance.


    After a little polite exchange between the two sides, I came straight to the point and proposed the idea of wanting to do some advertisements in their newspaper.


    "Mr. Corleone, the advertising fees for different pages in our newspaper are different." Douglas handed me a copy of today''s newspaper. I looked at my photo on the front page and praised their photographer for being good at catching shots.


    "That''s right. Our staff is also first - class in the United States."


    "How much do I need to pay if I do an advertisement on your front page?" I asked.


    "It depends on whether you are publishing text or pictures, and how long it will last."


    "Pictures. Well, for two weeks." I estimated my money bag and said a bit nervously.


    "$5,000." Douglas gave a price.


    "Can you give me a discount? Mr. Douglas, our advertisement will definitely increase the circulation of your newspaper greatly." I spoke convincingly, exaggerating the benefits that advertising in their newspaper would bring, and finally even dragged Old Ma and Fox into it. I was just short of saying that this movie belonged to Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer.


    I knew that Douglas had a good relationship with Old Ma and their private friendship was very close, so using Old Ma''s name to do things should be somewhat effective.


    Douglas did loosen up a little and said with a frown: "$4,000, Mr. Corleone. Really, it can''t be less."


    "Okay, deal. I''ll send you the pictures, posters and advertising fees to be published in a few days." I stood up and shook hands with him.


    In the next half day, I ran around more than a dozen newspapers, large and small, such as "The Los Angeles Tribune", "The Post", "The Citizen", etc., basically running through all the newspaper offices in Los Angeles, and signed advertising contracts with these newspapers. After going around, all the advertising expenses cost more than $10,000, which made Fatty on the side grimace and complain that I was wasting money.


    However, among all the newspapers in Los Angeles, only one firmly refused to publish our advertisement after hearing a brief introduction to the general content of "Lust, Caution". This newspaper was called "Christian Truth Newspaper", which was a second - tier newspaper in scale, but always adhered to social responsibility and had a good reputation in Los Angeles and the whole West. It was known as "the conscience of the West". They thought that my movie had a low taste and was suspected of harming the social atmosphere.


    Although I was snubbed, I had a very good impression of this newspaper. After all, in a society full of material desires, such newspapers that adhere to principles are extremely rare.


    "Boss, how much money do we have in hand now?" As soon as we came out of the newspaper office of "Christian Truth Newspaper", Fatty asked me.


    "There is still nearly $13,000." I took out the account book I carried with me.


    "Not bad, not bad. There is still some money left in the end." Fatty thought it was really fortunate that I didn''t spend all the money.


    "Who told you that this money wouldn''t be spent? Go, it''s not over yet." I looked down on him.


    "What are we going to do? Do you have a grudge against money? In my opinion, these more than ten thousand dollars today are simply wasted. Advertising. I can''t believe you even thought of it. Spending so much money on a poster, I think it''s a complete loss." Fatty nagged behind me like a woman.


    How could he know the importance of post - production publicity for movies? At this time in Hollywood, although attention began to be paid to post - production publicity of movies, the main way of publicity was still mainly distributing posters on the street, and few people used mass media like me.


    Newspapers like "Los Angeles Times" almost cover every city in the West. Almost every common citizen has a copy. Spending just $4,000 can easily open up the audience market. Such a thing seems like a huge loss to Fatty, but for me, it''s simply a great bargain. In addition, second - tier newspapers like "The Los Angeles Tribune" and "The Post", whose readership is mainly in Los Angeles and more than a dozen nearby big cities, also have strong appeal. In this way, through these newspapers, our movie has a great popularity in the Los Angeles market and the whole Western market.


    However, relying solely on newspaper publicity is not enough. After all, at least those who read newspapers in society are literate and have a certain amount of knowledge, while those ordinary people in society who don''t read newspapers need to use another means of communication, which is radio.