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7:35 PM, Friday, May 16th, 2025:   16 months ago today...   7:35 PM, Tuesday, January 16th, 2024:   My goodness are we really starting 2024 with 75% locked entries? How do I even write this. Here's the email:   ***   Re: 4TVs Shoot Cancellation   Adam   We are no longer going to move forward with this project. Please let me know if you’re able to get on the phone today between 10am and 12pm to talk more.   ***   And now I just found out the terms in this first go-round of negotiations with the Raiders that's so ridiculous I can't process it. I read the specifics Monday, so more then... but I'm gonna attempt to write this entry with the knowledge it'll be UNlocked. I'm doing that for you guys following it because I could easily just lock the next MONTH with how this is playing out... but I want SOME things public - and since I can't really wrap my head around it, I can't really give away anything concrete 'cause I won't understand it until next week. So we get to play in this little entry bubble and talk about feelings and goofy shit.   So Hef and I called Yoda Monday morning (Pete's friend, and come to find out also in contact with everyone at the Raiders) and he let us know he was heading up to Vegas in a couple days to gauge the temperature and figure out how to make this all work. I'm nitially confused as to why I wasn't going up there, but I soon understood that Pete wants him involved and he CLEARLY has a vested interest in this working because this is how he's going to be connected to the Raiders. Somefuckinghow, Virtual Presence is now seen as a section of an NFL team that needs the head coach's advisor to oversee. As well, this is what Yoda does - he's been in this world for decades.   After that call however, Hef realized "Well, there goes my role in any of this..." to which I promptly offered him 25% of the company on the spot. He is NOT getting screwed here, because I know this: he is why this is all happening. I said it in the podcast, I've said it in these entries - I DON'T CARE IF LAWYERS ARE READING THIS AND TELLING ME TO STOP WRITING. John Hefner, not only believed in this: he put his ass on the line and got me access to THE ENTIRE SPORTING WORLD including LeBron and Ohtani. He never once tried to take ownership of it, he just helped. Which eventually lead to Yoda and now Pete and so on and so on. Beyond ALL of that? He's been in this business for well over 30 years. He understands production, he has advised me through all of these meetings and strategized ways around the problems IN these meetings. He's been relentless - and he's done it with ZERO assurance from me for ANYTHING. He didn't ask for a percentage, he didn't ask for ANYTHING.   <blink>   Which is exactly why I gave it to him. I want him on my team, this is getting bigger by the day, and I'm not sure I've trusted anyone more business-wise than Hef. And I get it, he is probably reaping the benefits of my absolute PTSD from what that dude did to me in '23, but oh well. I feel absolutely privileged to have someone willing to put this much time and effort into this (without even the promise of a percentage) and I'm so freaking happy I got to say it to him first. It took 5 seconds. Everyone wins here. I'm thrilled.   Now...   Yoda went to Vegas yesterday and by around noon asked me if I could go up next Wednesday - I said yup, he said Stand by...   6 hours pass.   I ask if his "stand by" was a tomorrow thing? Or what... 'cause uhm - in MY world, that means a few minutes. For Yoda, it meant TWENTY FOUR HOURS before even a response. LMFAO. Hef talked me down a few times but you could tell we were both thinking things were suddenly disappearing and that pit in your stomach just grows. And then... Yoda called...   So, yeah, the temperature has not lowered. He absolutely verified that they are READY TO GO and he spent most of his time talking to other people at the organization on the best ways to package this whole thing to get a very long-term commitment to ensure this actually works. Something I honestly never dreamed we could leverage but the reactions to these reels are SO OVERWHELMING everyone believes it will work, it's a matter of making a plan...   ...but then this moved into the stratosphere. Not sure you know about the ownership of the Raiders but it involves quite a few billionaires, not just Mark. Apparently that is who we're meeting with next week and we're talking about way more than a season. Yoda thinks the other owners will want to invest for beyond just their share of the Raiders, but to get in on the ground floor of something that will become huge. Again, not a buyout, not owning part of the company, but something else? Fuck if I know. My ass was just looking for a fair production budget and the ability to train people and scale this up and now we're talking about billionaires and venture capital and mother fuck.   I went from freaking OUT about taxes and S-Corps and LLCs and budgets last week to realizing... I just need to relax, keep talking to Hef and Yoda and let this play out. I've more than done my part. I'm gonna be paying taxes. A FUCKING LOT. I just need to understand that my entire idea of what money means is about to change.   Now I know everyone is thinking - YOU HAVE TO GET A LAWYER. Trust me, it's in process, and it's more than one. The good news here is Yoda has the same motivation I have to lock this in, protect me, and make this work long term because everyone at the team wants this to happen.   How the fuck did this happen. WOW.   Anyway, the point of this entire entry is that I wasn't dreaming, they are adament about getting this lined up, I should be shooting with them by the end of July and will most likely get a signing bonus before that to start setting up the company, training people, and getting this underway to scale up for everything beyond just the Raiders.   <blink>   Oh and I had the meeting with the bigwig at the Dodgers and they'll be releasing that soon too. LMFAO. That gargantuan news is now an addendum. LMAO. If my calculations are correct, once the news of the Raiders thing hits the press and we start releasing this footage? The Dodgers will absolutely want to say they released a Dodgers Virtual Presence video first... and then we set up a similar arrangement with them. And so on with the Lakers/Clippers and the LA Kings.   Starting to see where this could go? So I now get to relax for a couple days, big meeting on Monday to check out the paperwork... and of course a flight to Vegas on Wednesday. I made 'em push it to late afternoon 'cause Cam's 5th grade promotion is that day. Felt kinda badass to be able to shift a meeting with a billionaire for my kid. Fuck yeah.   Is this real life? I feel like I need to talk to the other Adam for a minute... Man do I finally watch that entire awful video from losing the Super Bowl? Yeah lemme jump in headset and talk about that...     ...wild. This has to be one of the most unique ways to tell a story - like if this format really starts to take off people might actually WATCH this documentary - LOL. Ha. But I just needed to explain the difference between "silver lining" and getting to the point where you look back on that awful moment and THANK THE EVER LOVING FUCK that it happened because there's no way we would have ever gotten here. And in the most beautiful kismet ever: here... is also Vegas. But this time, I ain't just a cameraman.   Can, you fucking, believe it.   Adam