Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

Chapter 165 Inner Demons

“You are talking about [Leap in the Sky] right?”

Omar asked, looking at Sofia and she nodded with a grave expression on her face. 

“Yes, but not just that. [Boys Club] and [Laws of the Land] are also going to be released around the same time. [Leap in the Sky] might be our biggest competitor but there are others who could slow us down too.”

“It seems like we have too many movies to fight with.”

Omar chuckled, thinking that luck was not in their favour. 

Out of all these, [Boys Club] was a movie by a pretty well known director and it was his venture in his new production house he had opened with all new faces in the movie. It was a huge risk in Omar’s eyes and going by the trailer, it looked average. 

At least he hoped it would turn out average. 

As for [Laws of the Land], it was a full blown western movie with horses, cowboys and angry men but there was not a lot of chance for this movie to do well at the box office, even if it looked good. The trend of cowboy movies was long over and it mostly only attracted niche audiences that obviously won’t fill up the whole theatre. 

The director of this movie was only making it due to his love for cowboy action movies and nothing more. 

‘These are just small fishes. The big shark is [Leap in the Sky].’

The movie had Night Hawk studios behind it, well known for their aggressive marketing campaigns and it even had big leads, so it was already attracting good attention from the audience. 

“Didn’t [30 days of Happiness] also have something to do with Night Hawk? I heard rumours like that.”

Sofia suddenly asked, making Omar nod his head in agreement. _.

“Yeah, Leo was doing this project with Night Hawk before but they had a falling out. That’s when my investment firm came into the picture. Actually, Rodrigo Burke was the producer of [30 days of Happiness] and now, he’s producing [Leap in the Sky].”

Leo and Aiden had told everything about Rodrigo to Omar, so he knew what had happened. Surprisingly, Harold Wood was the lead of [Leap in the Sky]. 

He was the same actor who Rodrigo wanted as the lead of [30 days of Happiness] instead of Aiden. 

Rodrigo must have tried hard to get a good script quickly to make a movie in order to make Harold star in it.

“If that’s the case, then he won’t be happy that a movie that won in Toronto got out of his hands.”

“Yeah, he’s a petty type of person. He is surely holding a grudge and would do everything in his power to make sure that his movie crushes ours at the box office.”

“Yeah, then we need to be pretty good with our marketing to stand against Rodrigo and Night Hawk.”

Sofia said with a determined expression and at that moment, Omar shook his head. 

“We need to be better than good. Doing the bare minimum will not get us anywhere, especially when we have a good movie with everything great about it. It’s your last chance, right?”

Even though it might come off as rude, Omar didn’t hesitate to say it and for a second, Sofia’s eyes did waver a bit. 

“You do know you are being too casual.”

“I’m just trying to be straightforward. Even if I say the reality in a roundabout way, it won’t change.”

There were a lot of reasons behind Eternal life studios current situation but one of the reasons was strictly Sofia. She had chosen a lot of wrong movies as the CEO to produce and distribute. 

Of course, there were good, successful ones but the overall record wasn’t good. 

One of the reasons so many of their movies had flopped was because they did the bare minimum and just thought that the content would win. A good movie would eventually be successful. 

But reality was often not the same. 

Sofia leadership was a big problem behind their current misery. 

“Look, I want [30 days of Happiness] to do good. I have seen Leo and Aiden bet a lot on it and I don’t want to remember it as a flop ten years later. That’s why, Eternal life needs to give their best. You know you would be able to revive if this is successful.”

Omar looked at Sofia and she frowned but didn’t say anything. His words were very blunt but they were right. 

‘It’s really my last chance.’

Sofia thought in her mind. 

As a CEO, she felt responsibility for the employees and like Omar said, if this worked, they might actually be able to revive, chase their former glory again. 

Sighing, she opened her mouth. 

“I know. Eternal life movies would give their all to make sure [30 days of Happiness] becomes a big hit. Even if I have to give away everything, I will make it a bit.”

“Now, we are on the same page.”

Omar smirked as the meeting between them began for real. 

***

“In one sentence, it has a lot of potential that was wasted.”

When Aiden heard that, his expression shook for a moment. He had readied himself for any criticism that Richard would give him, especially because he knew that being so high level meant that he would be able to pinpoint things that could be better with his story. 

But even Aiden was a bit stunned hearing that. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. 

“I mean.” Richard sighed. “There’s a lot of potential I see in this. A lot but you are showing your characters as victims. I have been in Hollywood as a screenwriter. I know how it feels but you are trying to make your characters victims in order to portray them as morally better persons.”

Richard said, standing up and pulling out a copy of the manuscript that Uncle Sam had sent him. He sat in front of Aiden and sighed. 

“Look kid, I will explain it in detail. What kind of character do you think Rocco is?”

“An asshole.”

Aiden gave a one word answer after thinking for a bit and Richard finally smiled. 

“True. He’s an asshole but he’s a main character and his friendship with Harley really shows but maybe due to that, in the end of the novel, you really gave him all sorts of reasons behind his actions to make him morally right.”

“I did.”

“That’s where it went wrong. When I was reading the novel, I felt that Rocco was like a demon. Do you have demons?”

“Ah?”

“Demons. Everyone has. Inner demons. Rocco for me is that demon.”

Richard explained with a very serious tone, making Aiden think more and more about it. He had created Rocco as a bad guy, an alcoholic who doesn’t give a damn about things. 

Because of his attitude, he had gotten into troubles a lot of times, almost jeopardizing his career and family. When Aiden thought hard on it, it does seem like that at the end of the novel, Aiden had provided a lot of reasons behind his actions. 

“You are saying I should not give reasons?”

“Let people judge him. As the author your job is narrating. Readers are going to think of a single story in many ways but give them that freedom.”

Richard said and Aiden couldn’t help but nod. In his mind, he was still thinking of Richard’s interpretation of Rocco as a demon that rests in everyone. 

Everyone wanted to do what they wanted, without caring about anything. Get a lot of money and do anything with it. 

In a way, Rocco was a representation of it. 

“Can you explain a bit more about the demon part?”

Aiden asked and Richard sighed but nodded. 

“Think of it like a guy mocking you in a bar. A lot would not say anything, scared to start a fight and some would fight. But Rocco is someone who won’t just fight. He would break the head of the guy who mocked him. Law? Police? He knows them but he doesn’t fear them or care. It’s because he had cancer. He knows he don’t have a lot of days to live, so he don’t give a fuck. In his state, he became a complete demon from an asshole.”

“Right but ain’t that dark?”

“It is, especially because one expects a cancer patient might be seen in a bright light but ain’t that what’s unique about <Behind the scenes>? I liked it because it was real but you ruined it for me in the end.”

Richard clicked his tongue, like he was seriously annoyed by it. He had read a lot of books these days and only <Behind the scenes> was any good in them and Aiden had ruined the end parts of it. 

He certainly didn’t enjoy it as a reader. 

“Give me a chance. I will change it.”

“Huh?”

Richard looked at him with a raised eyebrow hearing that. 

“It’s just a draft. I can make changes.”

“You sure you won’t ruin it more?”

“No, please trust me. I think I have the idea now.”

Aiden said with utmost sincerity. 

The short conversation with Richard had somehow cleaned up his mind. At first, he was trying to give moral reasons for the actions of his characters but he now realised that explaining the actions doesn’t change them. 

He needed to let the readers judge the action. 

It was then system notifications appeared in front of him. 

[Your writing skill has advanced to Level 7 from Level 6. A huge amount of experience has been given due to making a breakthrough.]

[Congratulations on achieving such a feat.]