4
"But why?" Ton asked, leaning against Walter who threw his arm around him to hug him as they sat on the deck of the Big Lake House with their feet in the water, Ianto nearby with Hawk who was still not as able a swimmer as Ianto would have liked. Maisey was a natural.
"Well … 'Give me Hope' is now a success in every sense of the word, watched in over fifty countries, some with voiceovers of course. My spin off 'Hope Flows' is becoming almost as successful and it has even floated about that the studio does not want to push it as much a the original as they do not want to upset the new stars with mine about to overtake it. Dale is in my spin-off but like me, he does cameos in the original which is what gets the spin-off more exposure as well. Dale has tasted the power of fans, now knows the real money is in the love of the fans … not the work you put in. He doesn't realise... the work you do in is FOR the fans. He thinks that if he gets rid of me the spin-off will be his as he is the only one with as much screen time in the spin –off … maybe even swallow the original series or something."
"But… only because you let him" Ton scowled "You shared and he is being greedy."
"Exactly. He wants my spot. He is saying nasty things and telling huge lies trying to make people think he is the nicer one of the two of us … then he will get it all and I will have to leave." Walter sighed.
"But will you?"
"No. No… yes … well sort of. You see, Taddy was naughty and added some clauses to the contracts me and Babs sign each season. The last three seasons they have been hidden in the words and never noticed or removed. If I leave, I take the shows with me. I own them, they are my creative property, not the studio's so if they tell me to jog on … they lose everything and I will be free to sell the show to another studio."
"Power in the words" Ton looked at Walter with interest "And will you?"
That's why Bruce is helping me with Ashton, Demi and some others. You see … you can have you own studio too. Curt and me are in the process of quietly getting our own studio certified and on paper so when I walk away with everything we can immediately resurrect it under the umbrella of the new studio … Phoenix Films." Walter smiled softly "The movies I want to do will now be able to be done … the studio can't block it anymore. This has given us this opportunity to pull away from the old format and start redesigning the show into what I wanted it to be all along."
"Not a spin-off?"
"No. Better .. a reboot."
Ton nodded as he understood more than people realised and Water smiled happily as he waited for his Taddy to tell him the next move.