The Film Studio CEO's First Meeting

However, the stack of documents in his hand wasn't all of them. Henry said to the young man, "Thanks. I have many more documents in my office; please bring them all over."

"We'll need this for the meeting later; we can use a trailer to move it. Different piles of documents have different uses, so remember to keep them separate."

Don't mix them up.

"Okay, Mr. Brown." The young man then called to his colleagues, including Julianne, to help move the things.

Henry, meanwhile, rubbed his clean-shaven chin, contemplating whether he should emulate Tony Stark's flamboyant style and grow a beard.

Ignoring how long the spaceship containing the baby had drifted before his time travel, he arrived on Earth approximately 70 years ago.

It's 1995 now, which means this body has spent about twenty-five years on Earth. Let's just say I'm twenty-five years old.

I call others young, but I'm not that old myself. Following the normal educational path, at twenty-five, I've only recently graduated from university and haven't been working for two or three years.

If I had gone on to graduate school, I might still be struggling with my dissertation right now.

There's a saying back home, "A young man with no beard is unreliable." Tony Stark's meticulously groomed beard is most likely a sign that he's going to deal with the old guard of Stark Industries.

So what about myself? Should I also grow a beard to add some authority to myself?

Standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, Henry gazed at the scenery outside, lost in thought. At the same time, he monitored the situation across Stark Studios; it seemed the effects of firing the executive director were taking hold, the news spreading to various departments.

Henry thought to himself, "They wouldn't fire an administrative director and end up firing the company's lifeline, would they? He's not a top salesman or a tech guru, and he's certainly not a relative of the Stark Family."

Tony Stark is now all alone. Countless people with the same surname "Stark" want to claim kinship with him, but they can't stop him from digging up his family history and making a fuss about it.

What If...? there really is some crucial weakness held by that dismissed former administrative director, then so be it. This isn't my own company; why should an employee have any psychological burden?

Even if you really mess things up, as long as you don't end up in jail, you'll just go through a painful or adjustment period. If you get through it, things will become clear; if you don't, you can simply cut off the parts that can't be salvaged and find another way.

As the old saying goes, the Earth will keep spinning no matter who's gone. Not everyone is like Superman, able to make the Earth rotate in the opposite direction and thus reverse time.

As their thoughts wandered, the executives of Stark Studios arrived at the meeting room in full before the scheduled meeting time.

Even the newly appointed administrative director, Wendy Ingrid, who probably hadn't even sat down in her chair yet, arrived.

In Henry's perception, the poor former administrative director, John Snipe, was being escorted by legal and security personnel as he meticulously reviewed the matters he was supposed to hand over.

The list is a bit long.

If any item is missing, it adds another item to the charge of "embezzlement." Embezzlement in the United States falls under the category of theft, and the sentence is determined by the amount stolen. The most serious first-degree felony theft carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

Faced with such accusations, would John dare to retaliate? He'd probably end up spending his retirement years in prison.

Once everyone was seated, Henry turned around from the window and went to the head seat. He didn't sit down, but stood and spoke to everyone. "Hello everyone, I am Henry Brown, the new CEO of Stark Studios."

Some people saw me at yesterday's inauguration banquet, some may not. That's okay, starting today...

Please remember my face. We'll be doing business together for a while.

Henry beckoned, and several administrative staff members who had been left at the conference room door stepped forward. Following Henry's instructions, they moved the documents and materials to their respective department heads.

"These are the documents you all brought to my office this morning requesting approval. I have processed them all and categorized them accordingly."

Instead of searching through the documents, Henry pointed to each pile of documents and roughly pointed out the key items inside.

He speaks extremely fast, like a rapper rapping, but his words are clear enough that they are not incomprehensible.

For most of the documents that were issued "as proposed," Henry would pick out a few important points to praise, and then say, "I look forward to the follow-up results, please remember to report back to me."

As for those unreliable, trap documents, Henry didn't expose their trickery, but instead refuted them with reason and evidence. Even the sloppy wording was pointed out by Henry.

When it was the production department's turn, Henry didn't even offer basic encouragement. Pointing to the stack of documents, he said, "These projects and plans are unacceptable. Return what needs to be returned, and destroy what is no longer needed."

"Even if our production department hasn't made a film in a long time, we shouldn't be haphazardly undertaking unreliable projects. We're a for-profit business, not a charity, dedicated to helping people realize their daydreams."

Pointing to the short stack of documents, Henry continued, "These are projects that I know other film companies have already started working on, some of which have even entered the post-production stage."

"Why are we here? Are there any legal concerns? We request that the production team cooperate with the legal team in conducting an investigation. If there are any illegal acts, we will not cover them up; those who should be prosecuted will be prosecuted according to the law."

Henry remained silent on whether someone had presented this project as a pretext to frame decision-makers and incite disputes between the company and other film studios. But everyone in the industry was aware of the potential consequences.

Going to court is a minor issue; the money already invested will inevitably be considered a loss. It's not hard to see who will be held responsible for that.

Finally, it was the equipment department's turn. Henry was even less polite. He looked sharply at those guys who didn't seem to be technically skilled but rather adept at manipulating people, and said:

"I don't understand why issues like loose screws are requiring me to research solutions. Or it's that the client needs a certain function, and you don't even offer a suggestion; am I supposed to figure out how to solve each one?"

"What If...? the people in the equipment research and development and manufacturing department can't solve this problem, then fire the entire department."

Replace them with a group of engineers who can solve the problems. What If...? management and product managers don't know how to assign tasks to which people, then fire those incompetent people who are drawing high salaries for nothing, and promote suitable people who can do the work and lead others.

"Stark Studios' most important source of revenue today is its equipment division. I don't need someone who doesn't understand the situation dragging the company down and causing losses. Understand?"

The head of the equipment department was indignant at Henry's accusation. She forced herself to say, "Mr. Brown, you probably didn't read the documents we submitted for the ruling carefully."

"The company's photography equipment has not seen any groundbreaking innovations for a long time. Whether it's Germany brands like Arri, Panavision, or Phantom, they all use the latest technology in the same field and have made considerable progress."

"What If...? Stark Studios can't come up with better equipment, we'll eventually be eliminated from the film industry! This studio, built by Howard..."

The company founded by Mr. Stark, with its great history, will not last into the next century.