My Hollywood System - Chapter 228
“What is your course plan on this?” Jeffery asked, “How do you think we should begin?”
Will thought for a moment and replied, “Well, none of us is a genius on this subject, but we have money. We will hire the right people, and begin the work. Though, I plan to take an active part in this task.”
Jeffery nodded, “That’s expected. But I do worry about one thing. It won’t be easy to set up distribution channels within a few days. It will at least take a few weeks to even months. Are we not going to release any movies until then?”
Will shook his head, “No, we will release. Foxstar is not the only distributor out there, you know. We can make deals with other studios for now. And not like they won’t consider our movies. We have come a long way since the struggling days of [The Blair Witch Project]. I have a feeling there will be many studios lined up for an opportunity to work with us.”
Jeffery thought for a moment and replied, “Let’s not be too optimistic. Colt might try to pull strings to delay the release of [Hitch].”
Will smiled, “If there’s no good deal, we will just release this movie on our own channel.”
Jeffery let out a long breath after hearing this and leaned back on the chair, “I guess I was worrying for nothing. And now that this is out of the way, I want to talk about the plans you talked about regarding Netflix in the general meeting. Are we really going on with it?”
Will affirmed, “Yes, but we won’t jump right in. Netflix will take time, and from what I see, it will play a big role in the future because with the advancement in technologies, the number of internet users will increase exponentially over the coming years and another important thing will be the availability of faster internet. That will be the perfect time to make Netflix mainstream. But even for that, we need to prepare and slowly push the platform out.”
Jeffery replied, “It’s still under progress, we can begin with the plan meanwhile.”
Will thought for a moment and said, “Yeah, you’re right. We should start contacting the other studios. Wait, let me call Amanda. We can discuss this once she’s here.”
…
In Hollywood, there are thousands upon thousands of struggling actors vying to make a name for themselves, but only a few etch their mark. Yet, at the same time, many give up their dreams of stardom and go on a different path, changing their life trajectory.
Sitting in the waiting hall of the Los Angeles Airport, was one such young man.
In his hand was his plane ticket to his hometown and he stared at it with a complicated expression.
For the first time, he didn’t wish to head home. Head back to his family.
‘What am I thinking?’ He sighed.
He had struggled in the industry for the last half a decade, and had made grave mistakes like missing out on college scholarship, to pursue what now looked like a pipe dream.
He had even failed to gain roles to play as an extra, and he truly believed it was not his acting, rather luck.
This was somewhat true, because whenever opportunity knocked on his door, he wouldn’t be at home, or would ignore it.
And even now, as he sat on the bench among the hundreds of the passengers who were waiting for their flight, he was having a weird intuition.
He felt like the moment he took the flight, he would end up losing a big opportunity.
‘But what big opportunity? Most of the roles I auditioned for have already rejected me. I need to get back home and get a job. They won’t keep on sending me money.’
He was in a dilemma.
‘The ticket alone cost me a thousand bucks, I won’t be able to afford another one. Is it worth giving another shot?’
He sighed again.
And out of reflex, he opened the sparrow page where he followed many pages who will post audition alerts, and sometimes even insider news.
As soon as he visited the page, the first thing he saw was a pinned post:
[Dream Vision: [Friends] Open Audition for Main Cast! Apply now!]
He ignored the post. There were more than twenty thousands comments on the post, and there would most likely be triple the applicants.
Everything for just one role.
There was no point in applying.
He frowned and scrolled down a bit more. After a while, he went to a different page.
This time too, he saw the same post stuck at the top so anyone who visited would see the post before anyone else.
He sighed and visited a different page.
Same thing happened.
He continued to visit different pages, only to see the Dream Vision Auditions post at the top.
‘Just how many people do they want to try?’
After letting out another sigh, he closed the app.
‘These big companies have too much money. With so many people applying, they won’t even bother taking auditions properly.’
He thought for a moment, and then glancing back and forth between his phone and the flight ticket, he let out a sigh.
‘Fuck it.’
He opened his sparrow account once again, and clicked on the link.
Ding!
[Luke Newman, your application for ‘Dream Vision [Friends] Open Audition’ is now under verification. You will be allotted a schedule for the audition. Response may take time due to a huge influx of applicants.’]
He closed the phone screen, and taking his bag, he stood up and headed for the exit.
‘I better get out of here before I regret this decision, which I most likely will.’
…
Amanda was in the elevator when she received a call from Will’s office and was asked to visit the latter.
And coincidentally, she herself was heading to his office anyway, so the call didn’t affect any of her scheduled meetings.
With her was a new assistant who was carrying a bunch of files and as the elevator’s door opened and she walked out, the assistant also followed her.
“You’re fast,” Will smiled as soon as he saw her. Jeffery also gave her a nod.
“I was heading here anyway,” She replied, and turning towards her assistant, she said, “You can put them here. Thank you.”
The assistant nodded and after putting the files on Will’s desk, he excused himself.
“What are these?” Will asked.
“These are for you,” Amanda replied, “We have selected a number of actors to play as Joey, and since you wanted to audition them yourself, I have brought the final list.”
“I thought the application process was still going on?” Will asked.
“It is,” Amanda answered, “But the number of applicants is too many, it will take a few weeks to fully complete the auditions. And months before we filter them to the last few.”
Will frowned and then opening the file, he began to go through the profiles of the actors one by one.
“Have you brought their audition clips? I will watch them later tonight.”
Amanda replied, “I will send the clips to you. And now that this is out of the way, what did you want to talk about?”
Will said, “It’s about Netflix.”
“Yeah, what about it?” She asked.
“I want you to begin contacting studios as per what we discussed in the meeting.”
“Oh, I am in the sort of listing process. Once I am done with that, we will begin contacting studios.”
“That’s great,” Will smiled, “There are a few more reasons why I have called you here.” Then from under the table, he brought out two stacks of binded pages.
“A script?” Both of them blurted at once.
“Yes,” Will nodded, “This is script for [The Devil Meets Prada]”
Jeffery asked, “When do you plan to begin working on this?”
Will replied, “I want to straighten a few plans. There’s a lot to do right now. Like the Harry Potter Series, and [Sherlock Holmes 2]”
After a moment of silence, Will glanced at Amanda and asked, “I consider you’re familiar with my meeting with Colt at Foxstar Studios?”
Amanda affirmed, “Yep. Though I am more curious if they will really go all out and try to file a lawsuit?”
“If they are dumb, then maybe,” Will smiled, “I expected something like this, and the contract between us and them was designed to handle such a situation.”
“But, I am more concerned about another thing. You see, I am planning to get a distribution channel for our studio. What do you reckon?”
Amanda pursed her lips before replying, “This will take a few months. But even then, we will need someone who can helm that channel. We will have to go through another round of interviews.”
Will shook his head, “I don’t think so. We already have a great candidate.”
“Oh? Who?”
“James Dankworth.”
