27 - Tijuana Mexico March 1983

THE ULTIMATE CHILI SAUCE - Part 2

Crossing the border into Mexico was very easy, the queues of cars and people were rather to be found on the other side - trying to somehow get into the Eldorado of the United States had become a Mexican national pastime. Jean-Marc started to worry about getting back to Los Angeles in time for his plane the following day.

Tijuana is the arsehole of Mexico, the undertaken Cadillac seemed far less out of place than in the US, the place is full of vagrants and smugglers, whores and the like, and most of the automobiles look as if they come from used-used car lots to the north.

The stoned/overhung motley crew stumbled/fell out of the Cadillac in front of one of the more respectable restaurants in the town. The restaurant was deserted, tables and chairs stacked up, except for one large table in the centre of the room with three young men in dark suits sitting and obviously waiting for Charles and his "friends". Some introductions and the food started arriving.

The fajitas were indeed very good and the chili sauce extraordinary, thought Jean-Marc, but a tense atmosphere hung over the lunch table like a dark cloud. Between superficial but polite conversation in English and animated discussions in Spanish between Charles and the three men, Jean-Marc understood that some dubious business deal was going on.

Charles finally succumbed to Jean-Marc insistent demands for an explanation, helped by the fact that Charles has consumed a fairly large number of tequilas.

Two weeks earlier, just before the American Film Market, Charles has seen an ad in the Hollywood Reporter "bankrupt film company for sale, large stock of new 35mm films prints, any offers considered". The film production company had been run by moto-cross association who has made a documentary about their sport. Believing that their documentary was a great work of art and would make huge amounts of money at the box office, the company had ordered 80 new 35mm prints (5 reels each copy). When distributors and exhibitors saw the film, they unanimously pointed out that it was a very poorly made documentary about an obscure sport and it would never be shown anywhere. Of course the film laboratory had not been paid for the prints and a liquidator was appointed to get anything he could from the companies assets.

Before buying the bankrupt company, Charles had convinced the liquidator to give him 5 film prints "for quality checking". He immediately took the prints to the American Film Market and starting selling it in the lobby of the hotel where the trade show was taking place. All rights for your territory PLUS one brand new 35mm print for $1000. Seeing as a new 35mm print costs around $5000, it only took him one afternoon to sign contracts and deliver the prints for 5 countries.

With $5000 in his pocket he had returned to the liquidator to inform him that some of the prints were not very good and he needed another 20 prints from the warehouse to make further checks. As a "token of his good will", he gave the lawyer $4000 and said he would return in a few days. So far he had made a $1000 profit and he had another $20,000 minimum on the way.

Charles had set up the deal with the Mexicans for the whole of Latin America - why work hard selling the movie in the lobby of the American Film Market when he could sell 18 territories to just one client and get a free lunch in Tijuana. It also suited him to make a short visit to Mexico where he could deposit a large amount of cash in his Mexican bank account and immediately transfer it to the Cayman islands account without the US Tax Authorities ever getting near it.

Over lunch, the final details of the negotiation carried on in Spanish. The Mexicans were claiming that, despite the very low price for the rights ($18,000) and the 5 brand new film prints incorporated into the deal, according to Charles' original sales pitch of "$1000 per country print included", they should either be getting more copies of the film or obtain a discount.

Outside the restaurant, Charles opened the boot of the Cadillac and the Mexicans started opening all the film cans to make sure that they actually contained film and, with perfect timing, a large stretch limousine drew up alongside. The smoked rear window opened and an elegant silver haired gentlemen ordered his "boys" to load the prints into the car. He was the owner of one quarter of all the cinemas from Patagonia to the Mexican border with the US: he duly signed Charles contract and passed it our through the window. He started counting hundred dollar bills from the full attache case beside him on the seat. He stopped at $17,000 and passed it out to Charles, "I'll pay you the remaining $1000 when you send me the trailers". "Shit" Charles thought, although he had managed to patch together some posters and advertising materials for the film, he had never thought about trailers.

The silver haired tycoon was not someone you could argue with, so, cutting his losses, Charles agreed, and the limo sped off down the dusty street.

After a short stop at the bank, the car headed back to civilisation. Everyone slept on the way home, Charles managed to drive despite his inebriation, the amphetamine pills he had taken obviously helped. All the way he was calculating how much he was going to make on the remaining 15 film prints and, of course, he had decided not to return to see the liquidator, even taking into account the $1000 "discount" to the Mexicans because of the trailers, he would still make a clear profit of at least $20,000.

The queues at the border had gone and the return from the Third World seemed much easier than Jean-Marc had anticipated. He nevertheless pondered about the American Dream, to him it seemed that so long as you can make a profit anything is justified. He felt very uncomfortable about the whole trip and was starting to understand that there were more important things in life than money and that somehow he belonged elsewhere.

Lucie was never far from his thoughts, sometimes at night between sleep and awakening he thought she was really there with him, and, of course, she was....but Jean-Marc still had a lot to learn.