My Hollywood System

Will was sipping on a cup of tea, with his legs folded elegantly as his other hand held a tablet where various articles were on display.

At this point, Will could say that he was slowly getting addicted to the taste of tea. It always freshened him up no matter the circumstances.

'Maybe the brit inside me is stronger than the American side.'

Will chuckled at himself after thinking that.

Knock

"Come in."

As soon as he heard the knock, Will immediately gave permission to come in. A rugged old man with a somewhat messy look yet sharp eyes entered his office.

Will immediately unfolded his leg and stood up, so as to not seem rude to the guest. After all, for Will, James was still one of the best directors of Hollywood in his previous life.

"Welcome, Mr Cameron. I have been anticipating your arrival."

James' expression looked somewhat annoyed and there were eyebags under his eyes. Right now he looked more like a panda than a human.

"Yeah, okay. If you are done with the pleasantries, let's get down to the business."

James said in annoyance. He already hated the attitude of people in Hollywood who spilt sugar from their words but held a knife instead of a tongue in their mouth.

And this young lad, who hadn't even hatched out of his egg was trying to give him pleasantries. James' annoyance lies more in the fact that Will had asked him to come to his office instead of personally coming to meet him when he was the one who requested the meeting himself.

Will just smiled at James' behaviour without paying it any heed.

"I read the script of [The Terminator] and I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed. I am very excited about the work and would be very happy to get the movie under Dream Vision's investment."

Will said bluntly. Since James didn't want to talk in a roundabout manner, Will would be more than happy to oblige.

James gave a sceptical look to Will. He was very unsure about all the current development. And if not for the fact that Will had established himself in Hollywood and didn't lack movie ideas, James would think that Will was trying to steal his project.

Even right now, his thinking lies along the lines of Will trying to either scam him or tie him to a deal where he would take control of most of the movie.

"Is this related to June? I heard she's your girlfriend. Are you investing in the project because of her?"

James asked, his tone clearly rough and would sound rude to most listeners.

Will shook his head.

"Nah. It's not anything related to June. It's about the movie itself. I think [The Terminator] has a lot of potential and would be a big hit. I want to be a part of its success. I am very confident about its storyline. If my hunch is correct, the movie is going to earn a lot. Trust me, I would get whole different marketing for the movie depending on the final product."

Will was saying the truth. Forget about his world's box office. Just taking the potential of the story alone, there was a high chance of it being a hit rather than a flop. Since the first Terminator came out in the 1980s, there would be a big technological difference between the original terminator and this world's terminator, with the latter being better than the former in many aspects, including the graphics and VFX.

The way Will termed it out, James almost believed him before getting his guard up again.

"Let me get something straight first. I am not going to let anyone get involved in the direction or the story. Everything would go according to me."

James again put his point bluntly. He had literally risked everything for the movie and didn't want a third party to suddenly join and ruin it by their involvement. If he was going to accept Will's investment, it would only be on the condition that nobody gets involved in the story or the direction.

Will chuckled at James' face hearing that. He was well aware of James' nature. Even in Will's previous world, James was famous for not getting along with most of the directors. His antics weren't something just anybody could handle.

Even Will felt offended by his unnecessary hostility, but Will wanted [The Terminator] to be a part of Dream Vision Studios, and hence he promised himself in his mind that he would bear with the old guy for a bit longer.

***

Tap Tap Tap

Will was continuously moving his hand from the keyboard buttons to the mouse. He was currently seated in front of his computer and was editing some parts of the movie himself. Since the laptops couldn't handle the burden of such editing, he was using the computer in his bedroom to do the work.

After a while, Will limped back into his chair with his head dangling backwards.

His hair was falling backwards too, giving a view of his broad forehead. He was wearing computer glasses behind which lay his tired eyes, dead closed.

Sigh

Will sighed as he took out the glasses and rubbed his forehead, still in the same position.

Traces of dissatisfaction can be seen on his face as he suddenly sad up again and wildly ran his hands through his hair.

"What am I missing…"

He muttered slowly. He felt that something was amiss in the movie, but couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was.

After some struggling, he had decided that maybe it had something to do with the editing, and so he was rechecking everything himself. But nothing seemed amiss from the editing, yet that feeling of something lacking in the movie stayed.

After hours of struggling, something finally clicked in his mind.

Thinking back to the first iron man movie, he remembered what made the movie so special wasn't just the entire movie, but the end credits scene when the movie was about to end.

As soon as he thought that, he didn't waste any more time as he got up from the chair and ran towards his phone which was in the other room.

He was just wearing a three fourth below his waist and was entirely naked otherwise as he got his phone and dialled Amanda's contact number.

After a ring, Amanda picked up the call.

"Hello, Amanda?"

– Yes, Will? What made you call so late at night? Everything alright?

"Yeah, everything is fine. How was Charlie's selection match? Did it go well?"

A happy Amanda replied in a cheerful voice.

– Yes! It went great and he has been selected as the team's captain too! But don't tell me you called so late at night just to ask about Charlie's selection match. What's the matter?

"Ahaha, well. Call Ethan's agent and let him that we would need Ethan for some unfinished shoot. We need to reshoot some scenes. Ah, and also, try to look up a good game development company and contact them. I need all this done as early as possible."

– Alright. Got you, now sleep and let me sleep too. I'll do the work first thing in the morning.

Although Amanda had a lot of questions, she knew better than to speak them out. She was well aware that her questions would be answered soon, by Will's actions instead of his mouth.

"Alright, thanks! I couldn't ask Alexia for this because of the contract clause, and you should know I trust you more with such stuff. Alexia herself is busy dealing with my other works."

– Yeah yeah, I know. No good night.

"Good night."

According to a secretary's contract clause, the employer can't ask for the help of the secretary after her defined work period, and Will wasn't much close to Alexia to ignore that clause. On top of that, he treated Amanda more as his first secretary than Alexia.

After putting his phone on the table, Will jumped onto the bed and slept in the same posture he had jumped in. Since June was out of the city for a commercial ad, he had the whole bed for himself.

***

Roseline Bar, East Street, Los Angeles.

Inside the dimly yet colourfully lit bar, Los Angeles's nightlife was at full display.

Young and old people alike were coming and going, dancing and drinking like there is no tomorrow. On one side, there was a counter at which the bartender kept serving shots after shots of various kinds of alcohol to the middle-aged man that had been drinking for the past hour.

The bartender, Judy, was an old man who had basically worked in this bar his whole life. Recently, the man in front of him had become a frequent customer at the bar, and always drunk a lot.

"What happened? You had been coming here a lot recently. Is it a break-up? Crying about a breakup? Or did your wife leave you for some other man? Getting sad about such things at this age isn't good. You look like my younger brother right now, and trust me he was a pathetic man."

The old bartender said and the other guy couldn't help but raise his head. With drunk eyes and a gibberish tone, he muttered a word.

"Was?"

"Is… He's now behind the bars after attempting to murder his own wife. I am worried about their pet dog, who must be feeding him these days?"

The bartender said as a chuckle escaped from the drunk man.

"Nah, I am not as pathetic as him… yet. I had just faced huge losses in business due to someone."

As he said that, the TV in the private room that was separated from the bar showed Will Evan's pictures and reported that Dream Vision's recent movie [1917] had finally crossed $100 million at the box office.

"Ah, how life changes so fast."

The bartender said in an emotional tone as he glanced at the TV.

"What do you mean, old man?"

The drunk man enquired.

"Nothing, this Will kid used to be my neighbour and lived in a rented apartment in the nearby building complex. Now see his life. He has got it good. But I gotta give it to him. He worked real hard to get where he is today. Wish I had a kid like that, life would be so much easier."

The drunk man looked a bit surprised when he heard it.

"Really? What more do you know about Will Evans?"

"Why do you ask?"

The old man asked curiously.

"Nothing, he is just someone I admire. I would like to meet him one day."

The old man nodded his head contently. After all, there was no reason to not admire someone like Will. What he failed to notice was the ominous smile of the drunk man.

The drunk man was none other than the CEO of MCA, Matthew Collins.

...

//DreamNote//

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