My Hollywood System

In Will’s office there were Amanda, Jeffery and him talking about the company.

“….[500 days of summer], [1917], [Liberty City] and now there are many more projects in the line. But that was a successful journey indeed,” Jeffery said while they were talking about the successful venture the company had achieved recently. 𝒇𝐫ℯ𝑒𝒘ℯ𝑏n𝑜ѵ𝐞l.c𝗼𝗺

The meeting started around 30 minutes ago and they started with talking about the recent projects they did.

“Yeah, I’m glad they all turned out to be how I expected,” Will said with a smile. “Terminator will at least break even. I’m sure we can recover the project budget in no time after its release, which means, no loss for the company,”

The assumption was solely from how the shootings had been going smoothly. It was everyone’s opinion that the initial price would be covered pretty easily.

“Yeah, James was doing a good job after all,” Amanda commented.

James Cameron was someone who did not enjoy anyone else meddling in his business. So the entire project was something he worked on by himself.

“Even alone, he seems to be doing a pretty good job, not gonna lie. So, if we think about the current projects, [Friends] would take upto $500k on average per episode, right?” Jeffrey asked.

“Yeah, it is an okay amount,” Will said. It was cheap when compared with the original series budget.

In the original series, a single episode took 10 million dollars eventually considering how famous the actors had become. They got most of the budget as payments. But in this world, the actors weren’t much established. It worked in the favor of Will.

“How much does it take per one episode in [Ultimate Spiderman animation]?” Jeffery asked again.

“Well, animations take a lot of money compared to other projects. Per episode, it costs around $300k, and I can say that it’s pretty cheap.”

It was also profitable when Will compared to the animations that existed in his previous world. For example, a 20 minute Pixar animation would usually cost around $2 million dollars. Comparing that to this, Will felt and knew this was very cost-effective.

“Let’s talk about the other projects, [Catch Me If You Can] will need around a $50 million budget. For [Hitch] we will have to invest $70 million, any ideas?” Will questioned.

“Won’t 70 be a lot for [Hitch]?” Amanda asked.

“Not really, we already have investments, and the amount was not taken based on an estimation, we discussed and did the calculations. I don’t want to reduce the quality of the movie by not investing as much as possible. There’s a high possibility for that movie to succeed with a huge bang, it would be a shame if things go wrong because of us reducing the budget,” Will explained.

“Yeah,” Amanda said. With a frown on her forehead she had another question, “What was that about Andrew?”

Although she wasn’t there while it happened, she got to know about it from a few other employees.

“Andrew Griffin?” Jeffery question.

Jeffery knew how Will made stars out of nowhere. And from what he heard, Will Evans wanted to talk with Andrew right after his performance at the audition. But seeing how a smirk appeared on his face with the mention of Andrew, he knew this would be a similar situation.

“Well, I have some plans. I just hope my instincts are right about him.” Will said.

The secret would no longer be a secret once Will attended the screen test. But for now, he decided not to explain his plans behind the meeting with Andrew and him in the office.

“We hope so too. Have you seen the numbers of the profits lately?” Jeffery continued the conversation they were having.

The meeting went on for an hour more in which they discussed every little detail that has been going on with the company lately. From investors to projects, and projects to future plans. Will even revealed his expectations with the company in two years from now.

***

Will wanted to do a screening of Andrew to see if he would actually fit in the role of Peter Parker and to see if he even possessed the minimum qualifications to act.

Next day, he had made arrangements for Andrew to meet in the studio to try out the role and see if what he wanted was possible.

For that, he had set up everything with cameras and was ready to do a private audition.

When he saw Andrew again, it brought a smile to his face.

Andrew took some time to read the script and showed Will his maximum effort on the first attempt he got.

“So, can you try one more?” Will asked, seeing how nervous Andrew looked.

“Uh… Yes, sure,” He said, feeling uneasy.

The first attempt was a failure. In the middle of the dialogues, Andrew felt as if something was coming and it didn’t feel right. He dropped in the middle saying, he doesn’t feel like he could do it.

“I’m not sure Will, I mean, I have always wanted to act and all, but with all the training and stuff with voice acting… It’s like I forgot how to act or give emotions with my face and body. Did you even see how I tried the first time?”

“Hey hey, it’s all good. Listen, Andrew. It is inside you, I know it. Take your time, try to feel the character, if you walk we can even go for a walk. Don’t think too much into it, think it this way,” Will started to explain and Andrew kept his focus on his words.

“Voice acting is all about understanding the character and giving the action through your words… Remind yourself how you trained to act, it is inside you, Andrew. Take five minutes, let’s try again after that,” Will said and patted Andrew on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” He said.

After five minutes, Andrew stood up and started doing a quick breathing exercise of inhale and exhale.

“Feel it, Andrew,” Will said with a smile which broke off the focus of Andrew.

“Haha.. I’m sorry, I’m just… Nervous,” He said with a chuckle.

“It’s alright, give your best, are you ready?” Will asked.

They quickly started the scene again. Will was playing the character of Flash Thompson, a bully of Peter Parker. He was using his bully character in [17 again] for reference.

“You do NOT talk to her! How many times have I gotta tell you that? Do you listen when I talk? Hey! I asked you a question! Do you LISTEN when I’m talking to you?!” Will said the lines of Flash.

“Huh? Sorry, I wasn’t listening,”

Will acted as if he was Flash. He walked in front of Andrew and fake punched him.

Unsurprisingly, Andrew bent down as if he really received the punch. Andrew groaned and touched his ribs and mouth.

“Next time you’re gonna pay, puny Parker, you are gonna pay,” Will continued.

“Will a credit card be okay?” He said and acted as if he was spitting blood. Just like how it was in the script.

Will clapped, feeling content with his progress.

“I did it!” Andrew whispered to himself which was audible to Will.

Will felt like that was almost perfect and could be improved if Andrew put in the right amount of effort.

“Now that’s what I was talking about,” Will said and shrugged, showing he knew it all along.

***

A mansion which looked rich from the outdoors rested in Beverly Hills which was owned by Scarlett McJohn. She was the clone of Scarlett Johanson who was from Will’s previous world.

She was someone who struggled her way through to be an A-lister after years of grinding in the industry; that too, without anyone’s help. But, one man changed her life to a certain extent.

A man who treated her well at the beginning but changed with time. It was her agent. She fell in love with him and couldn’t control her urges. They slept together after a few weeks, and then he changed.

A few months into their secret relationships, she found out that he had been sleeping with other actresses. The relationship became bitter and unpleasant for her to commit. She wanted to get off the relationship for a while yet the guy was blackmailing her.

“Didn’t I send you money just three days ago?”

“No, what… How dare you? No!” The phone hung up and angrily she clutched it in her palm.

What the guy had against her, was some videos of what she thought were ‘sweet’ moments in their relationship. The sex. Ever since the attraction felt deep, she wanted to spend time with him. But one thing led to another and now he threatens her saying how he’d release the videos they took while having sex.

He wanted money, and she had been placing enough in his mouth. Yet, he kept calling her every three-four days to ask for more. He never had enough.

She tried to gather evidence against him, it was an utter failure. Since she did not want to let things go out of hand, she refused to go to a lawyer. Out of everything in the world, she was disappointed how she couldn’t even find a single piece of evidence, to get rid of the man completely.

The car pulled up in front of her mansion, and a man who looked to be in his middle age came in, and knocked on the door.

Scarlett knew who he was. She refused to open the door knowing what would come next.

“Open the goddamn door! I just need to talk,” The man yelled looking at the windows that were attached to Scarlett’s bedroom door. “Alright, bitch. I will give you 24 hours more, I was just passing by anyway, prepare what I need!” He yelled and walked away.

Scarlett watched him drive the car back and pull off the street. She looked scared and angry. She had a diamond-shaped face, prominent cheekbones and a narrow chin with perfectly sculpted lips. Other than her beauty features, she was furious.

‘I can’t believe I fell for such a scumbag!’ Scarlet yelled to herself and propped on the bed.

‘Even my friends had abandoned me.’

She thought. Her last two movies had flopped badly and she was slowly slipping in the ranks. Moreover, her agent had a lot of influence as he was one of the higher ups in Jenkins.

At this moment, she didn’t know what to do.

…

//DreamNote//

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