While Wu Wentao and Douglass Kirkland engaged in a passionate debate about whether the advancement of personal and small video creators could even be on the same levels as Haoliwood creations, Wu Xiaoming began doing some quick research on the personal video and livestreaming business of this world. As it turned out, though the technology was mostly there, the market was simply not as big. For example, he could shoot a video and upload a video and have it ready to be viewed the same day, and he could do a small live stream to around a hundred people at a time. But there simply weren't that many big creators of them - not yet anyway.
"Well yeah, we have that - that website whose name I can't remember right now, where you can just watch movies as long as you're a subscriber. And I don't think a lot of people are going to the theaters for every movie out there." Wu Wentao shrugged at Douglass Kirkland: "They might just feel happy enough seeing them on their couches."
"Oh, come on, you expect people to see 'Storm Breaker Dragon' on their couches with no popcorn?" Douglass Kirkland grabbed another chocolate chip cookie.
Per Wu Xiaoming's latent memory, "Storm Breaker Dragon" was one of Wu Wentao's best performing action movies, it was more than a great hit back then, for a period of time it was nothing short of a phenomenon.
"Well, I'm not talking about 'Storm Breaker Dragon', I'm more talking about 'Storm Breaker Dragon: the Fourth of Evil'." Wu Wentao shook his head.
"My man, they not having you in it tanked the entire franchise, I don't think they're gonna watch it even sitting on couches." Douglass Kirkland laughed, he had to cover his mouth because he was spitting crumbles of cookies.
"Yes - but it IS a passable movie to play as background noise, or if you have roughly two hours to kill." Wu Wentao knocked the table with his knuckles: "And let's be honest - most movies are like that, okay? None of those horror slop peddlers stop to think about the quality or awesomeness of their swill, but they are still getting ROIs normal studios could only dream of on their normal, serious projects." He took a moment to look at Wu Xiaoming: "Sorry, son. I know you're in it now - "
"Nonono, reality TV is reality TV. " Wu Xiaoming waved his hands, chuckling: "Slop or not, as long as it's interesting to me, it doesn't bother me too much what others think." He was mostly honest with that one - back in his previous world, being in the video game industry meant taking a lot of heat from his parents and other relatives from the early days. He could still get cursed at online or even in real life, if some parent with a troubled kid knew he was a game developer.
"Okay, Xiaoming, help us out here." Douglass Kirkland turned to Wu Xiaoming: "Do you think it's true? That people might wanna watch not-so-great movies sitting at home through the internet? They have DVDs for that right?"
"Well, if you're excluding piracy - " Wu Xiaoming tried another sip of his coffee - still too bitter: "I think so, yeah. I mean - if it's convenient, I guess that's fine. But we're not just talking about regular movies, right? We're talking about people making their own content and sharing it with - "
"Hey! I got a last minute reservation at Lorenzo's!" Wu Xiangyu barged into the kitchen: "Table for three, let's go!"
"Anyway we can add one more seat?" Douglass Kirkland rubbed his hands.
"Sure, why not." Wu Xiangyu rolled his eyes a little, then turned to Wu Xiaoming and Wu Wentao: "C'mon, let's go! Xiaoming you just wrapped up your first episode, right? Let's go and have a small celebration."
Wu Xiaoming coughed: "I thought this already a celebration - "
"Well yeah, but the owner just told me they had a last minute cancellation, so - " Wu Xiangyu rushed everyone, waving his right arm towards the door: "Let's go!"
Lorenzo's, a high-end Spanish style restaurant. It used to be a favorite of the previous Wu Xiaoming. But for the "current one", it would be a challenge, for he never really had proper high-end Spanish food.
"So, how was the first shoot?" When they sat down in their cozy booth, Wu Xiangyu looked at Wu Xiaoming over the thick menu.
"It was, uh - okay." Wu Xiaoming scratched his head: "You know - just ghost hunting and stuff, stay in the rooms and pretending to be scared - "
"And you're feeling fine right now? I heard that hotel was not that clean." Wu Xiangyu frowned slightly, emphasizing on the "clean".
"I'm good. It's just a bit of an exhausting shoot. " Wu Xiaoming nodded and reassured his older brother: "There was only a few members of the crew, and we had to work through the night and record almost everything - "
"Well, that's Leslie McKinsey alright." Douglass Kirkland chuckled: "He likes to run a lean crew and do a lot of things himself."
"Did you hear about the guy? " Wu Xiangyu asked: "The guy who jumped?"
Wu Xiaoming had to sigh, eventually this still came up. He could appreciate the concern, but it could have been easier if they did not know. "Well, yeah - it's kinda - kinda crazy. I wonder how the director will react to this. Hope he's doing alright."
"I sent him a text." Douglass Kirkland shrugged: "He's not picking up."
"It's okay." Wu Xiaoming had to take a drink out of his water to hide the embarrassment of being at the center of attention: "I've done the first shoot, I'll just wait for him to update me on next steps."
"... good." Wu Xiangyu nodded: "Patience is important - I think they might reach out to you for some PR talk, since the timing is a bit unfortunate. But we'll see. And let us know if you need help."
"Of course. Of course." Wu Xiaoming fixed his eyes on the menu. Just a quick glance, he did not know anything about any of these dishes - almost any of them. He had the memories of the previous Wu Xiaoming about three items: a seafood paella, an apple salad, and a grilled octopus tentacle - he might not know how to pronounce the names of these dishes, but he just knew what they were and what they looked like. It appeared that the previous Wu Xiaoming was very fond of this place - and those three dishes in particular.
"So, what do you wanna eat?" Wu Wentao asked, clapping his hands to signal an end to the work talk.
"Seafood paella." Wu Xiaoming and Wu Xiangyu answered at the same time.
"Alrighty, two paellas." Douglass Kirkland laughed: "And there's no room for anything else."
"We'll just have one, for Xiaoming. And what else, an apple salad as well?" Wu Xiangyu looked at Wu Xiaoming.
"That - that would be great, thank you." Wu Xiaoming nodded.
When the dishes were served, Wu Xiaoming was actually more intrigued by a whole pot of shellfish Douglass Kirkland ordered. Lucky for him, they were doing the "family style" dinner where everyone would share their orders, so he could grab a few pieces from that fragrant tomato-flavored pot.
"How's the paella?" Wu Wentao asked Wu Xiaoming as he finished his second round of food. "Is it still to your liking?"
"Umm - " Wu Xiaoming swallowed his drink: " - the rice is undercooked."
Everyone at the table laughed, including Douglass Kirkland. Wu Wentao laughed the hardest, he almost spit his drink and had to cough a few times to clear his throat.
Apparently Wu Xiaoming said something that was quite unexpected. Was the paella supposed to be this way? He never actually had paellas before - though he should have been very familiar with it.
"Oh man. He's switching back to the Chinese palette. You must be proud." Douglass Kirkland rubbed the inner corner of his left eye.
"I thought you kinda liked the mouth feel of undercooked rice?" Wu Wentao shook his head and took a sip of his ice tea.
"Well - " Wu Xiaoming thought for a brief moment: " - yeah, but - it just - kinda feels a bit awkward now."
"Yep, that's it." Douglass Kirkland smiled and shook his head: "He'd be back to shrimp fried rice in no time, Wentao, and he'd kick everybody's ass on screen soon."
Wu Xiaoming could almost hear the eye roll from Wu Wentao and Wu Xiangyu.
"It's okay, I'm feeling like I like your seafood stew anyways." Wu Xiaoming chuckled and grabbed a snow crab leg from the pot in front of Douglass Kirkland.
"Hey, that's called a cioppino! " Douglass Kirkland shook his head.
Just this moment, Wu Xiaoming's phone dinged. He took it out for a quick peek, then frowned: "Hmm, the director wants to meet me tomorrow."
"Huh? What's that about?" Douglass Kirkland took his phone out and checked his messages and voicemail: "Nothing for me - he better not be pulling something funny."
"Relax, if something bad happens, we'll be dealing with some PR guy or lawyer." Wu Wentao scooped up a full fork of seafood pasta and put it on his plate.
"Wait, why would it be something bad?" Wu Xiaoming asked.
"Well - as you can imagine, the guy that jumped off the building might just put your project in a hold." Wu Xiangyu sighed and put down his utensils: "You know, before that, your show about the hotel being haunted and people commit mysterious suicide was just fun and intriguing. But after that? It's at best bad taste and at worst insensitive and cruel. The studio might just tell the director to halt it."