Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 217 - 215: The Commentariat

New York, inside the studio of "Anomalies and Creatures."

"Mr. Michael Bay, this is last night’s ratings report."

A staff member hurried in, handing a fax to the highest-ranking Hollywood director on set, Michael Bay.

The prominent director took the document, glanced at it briefly, and then passed it on to others in the crew.

"Mr. Michael Bay, our ratings have already surpassed ’Everybody Loves Raymond’ by a lot." The male lead, Joseph Gordon, said with a delighted expression, "Does that mean we can throw a party tonight?"

Ratings?

Hearing this, Michael Bay scoffed disdainfully.

As a director of blockbuster films, did he really need to care about the ratings of a mere TV show?

No, not at all!

What he cared more about was the critical reception of "Anomalies and Creatures."

Due to a large viewership from writers, the impact of their reviews this time would far exceed previous ones.

Although directors of commercial films mostly scoff at film critics,

it’s also because those critics are extremely critical of commercial film directors.

James Cameron, who directed "Terminator" and "True Lies," was labeled as a mere "truck driver" who only played with special effects.

Affected by this, the highest honor he received was the Saturn Award in 1983.

As for George Lucas, since directing "Star Wars," he hadn’t received any significant directorial awards.

And Spielberg, celebrated as "the perfect combination of art and commerce," only managed to secure an Oscar for Best Director with "Schindler’s List" in 1994,

even though he had already produced popular and critical successes like "E.T." and "Jurassic Park."

Michael Bay thought about "Anomalies and Creatures" and couldn’t help but shake his head wryly.

Even though the shots in this TV show were no less spectacular than his film "Rock."

But...

The comedic character designs and story were completely in the style of a commercial film.

"I just hope..." Michael Bay picked up his coffee and took a gentle sip.

Waiting for the bitterness to completely spread in his mouth, he continued muttering to himself, "that the reviews for ’Anomalies’ aren’t worse than those for ’Rock’."

At that moment, his agent came walking briskly with a stack of newspapers.

"Michael, here are today’s newspapers," his agent panted, "For some reason, almost all the influential critics are talking about yesterday’s ’Anomalies.’"

That’s it, it’s time to say goodbye to the Oscars.

Michael Bay thought about Spielberg during the "Jaws" era, who missed out on many awards due to derision from critics.

He himself didn’t have Spielberg’s extensive network.

Moreover, he didn’t have another "Schindler’s List" to shoot.

He regretted taking on "Anomalies and Creatures" as he took the newspapers.

But a moment later, Michael Bay was stone-faced.

"In the history of literary adaptations, ’Anomalies’ marks a new beginning, worthy of remembrance."

Michael Bay read it several times, making sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

He was stunned for a moment, and quickly looked at the other newspapers.

"In the adaptation of ’Anomalies and Creatures,’ Michael Bay finally abandons showing off his techniques and begins to respect the original."

"Fans of the original say the space station filmed by Michael Bay is exactly as they imagined."

This...

He looked at the ratings, only to see that the lowest score was four stars.

And the average rating for "Rock" was what, 2 stars?

Could it be that ABC has become so powerful that it could sway most film critics?

Michael Bay stared at the television studio’s logo on the set, which felt slightly glaring for a moment.

This kind of thing, even Hollywood giants like Disney, Universal, and Columbia couldn’t achieve.

"Right," the agent took out three newspapers, "I think these reviews are worth collecting."

"No, all the reviews are worth collecting!" Michael Bay exclaimed in his heart.

"It’s hard to imagine a day when the critical reception is praise instead of blame!"

In Hollywood today, except for Spielberg, who else has achieved this feat?

He took the newspapers while pondering in his mind, "Probably, just me!"

"The adaptation of ’Anomalies,’ though not particularly outstanding, was quite on point.

Overall rating: 3.5 stars recommended."

3.5?

This made Michael Bay, who had just seen a lot of 4-star recommendations, quite uncomfortable.

"This is... ’New York Times’?" he grimaced and muttered, "Just because it has the largest circulation, is it worth collecting?"

"Of course not," the agent pointed at the newspaper and smiled, "Take a look at the name of the reviewer."

"Roger Ebert gave four stars, is there anyone more authoritative than him?" Michael Bay looked towards the byline and saw a familiar name appear.

"Stephen King?" he paused, surprised, and asked, "The Stephen King?"

"Of course," the agent nodded with a smile, "Otherwise, why would it be worth collecting?"

Then... who are the reviewers for these two newspapers?

Michael Bay carefully placed the ’New York Times’ on his desk.

Then, he picked up the ’Washington Post’ and ’American Literature.’

"Tony Morrison?"

"Joseph Heller?"

Even though these three reviews all gave a 3.5-star rating.

Besides their own works’ adaptations, what other works could bring these three globally renowned authors to write film reviews?

"Quick, go buy three more newspapers," Michael Bay shouted at the agent, "Make sure they aren’t creased!"

After the agent left, he picked up the three reviews again and read them carefully.

As he read, a bolt of lightning suddenly crossed Michael Bay’s mind.

"ABC doesn’t have the power to manipulate all film critics, but..."

"The Writers Association does!"

The most famous critic, Roger Ebert, was even a student of a student of Joseph Heller!

Then, he connected all the recent events in his mind.

The negotiation video of ’Anomalies’ was leaked, and the original author Wang blasted the producers.

The Writers Association stepped in to support Wang.

’Anomalies’ was re-edited and premiered on ABC.

Critics unusually started praising the commercially heavy ’Anomalies.’

"So..." Michael Bay looked at the full desk of newspapers and mused to himself, "So the critics aren’t really giving me high scores, but Wang?"

The few lead actors around him glanced at each other when they heard this.

Then, they heard the director chuckle lightly, "Regardless, since the critics have given high scores, for the critics’ dignity, the award season must reflect this."

"Who would have thought, my first major award wouldn’t be the Saturn Award, the Golden Globe, or the Oscar, but might actually be an Emmy!"

"Ha, ’Anomalies and Creatures,’ that’s really interesting."

He picked up his coffee and took a sip, "Wang, I’m really looking forward to when you’ll make films!"

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