My Hollywood System

by Cui Shi yi

1 - 242

3. 65

My Hollywood System #Chapter 65: - Read My Hollywood System Chapter 65: Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Chapter 65:

/DreamNote/

There's no ntr. Y'all panicking for no reason. Now don't make me write another note about this.

…

"Are you joking with me, kid?"

Ewan asked as his eyes shook after hearing what Will had to say. For the first time today, his focus was not on the wine.

He knew that Will was a screenwriter along with being a director. Everyone associated with Foxstar in some way knew that Edward Friedman's next movie screenwriter was Will.

But from writing horror and romance movies to working with one of the most acclaimed directors? This wasn't something Ewan was able to take in without some doubts.

Will smirked seeing Ewan react like that. Now that he had finally obtained the attention, he could start the main topic.

"Why will I joke about it? The initial title of the movie is [Birdman]. I just had a meeting with Simon yesterday, and he has already had a few actors in mind regarding the main character."

[Birdman] was an Oscar-winning movie in Will's world and was a movie he had liked a lot. Micheal Keaton's performance had earned him lots of awards, while the movie's screenplay was one of the best.

It had cost him a lot of FP to buy this script, but he felt it was worth it.

It was not like Will didn't want to direct this movie by himself, but some sacrifices always needed to be made, and [Birdman] truly suited Simon Vercetti's style.

That's why he liked it so much.

To prove that he was not lying, Will took out his phone and showed him the phone number of Simon Vercetti. Every single doubt dissipated from Ewan's mind after checking that.

The young man in front of him wasn't lying at all, and his words were clearly implying something.

"What's the story about?" Ewan asked, and Will shook his head.

"Why should I tell you?"

At Will's refusal, Ewan wasn't able to say anything. He was treating Will as a kid just because there was no reason for him to associate with him.

But now that there was a major reason to get on good terms with him.

"What do you want? You wouldn't approach me like this without wanting me to do something, right?"

Ewan asked directly, opting not to go in a roundabout manner. His drunkenness was gone, and he looked pretty serious.

"I have a role for you."

"For [Birdman]?"

Ewan's eyes were hopeful for a moment, but Will's next words quickly brought it down.

"Not yet." Will laughed. "It's for a movie I'm directing, [Sherlock Holmes, it's one of the major roles, and I'm pretty sure you would be great for it."

"I don't want to work with someone other than Simon."

"I know you want to have a shot at winning an Oscar by working with Simon, but you have not done any movies in nearly 2 years. Aren't you a little sluggish from not being on screen for so long? Who knows if you do well, it might impress Simon."

Ewan didn't say anything for a while after hearing that. Will was basically telling him that he would recommend him to Simon Vercetti if he worked on his movie.

As the screenwriter, Will indeed had some voice, which could surely help Ewan a lot.

But he was not someone who picked up just any role. Unlike many other A-listers, he didn't want to play the main character every time. He wanted to play a wide variety of characters, and he didn't mind even if he was a supporting character if it was interesting.

"I can't just promise that I will work with you."

Ewan slowly said, carefully thinking of his words.

"I am not asking you to promise. Just let's have a meeting about it. Tomorrow, 11 AM in the Dream Vision office." Will said. When he saw that Ewan wasn't giving any reaction, he added, "Trust me, you won't be disappointed by this role."

"Okay, I can at least do that."

Just like that, Will got the villain for his movie.

For record, in the future, Jared would punch Perry out of frustration after he saw the public reaction and box office numbers of [Sherlock Holmes].

In the next two days, Will went through seven meetings with both Ewan and his agent. After the second meeting, he knew Ewan wouldn't say no to the role.

After all, the role was well made, and Lord Blackwood had his own personality and was not a villain who simply got overpowered by Holmes.

Ewan was sure that he could bring out the reserved insanity of the character, and Will was happy with him.

In the end, he signed Ewan Rees for 7 million dollars. Levi Richards had also agreed to play the role of Watson, and they had negotiated an amount of 5 million dollars for his role.

Just like this, Will had most of the major characters cast. The only issue was about the lead role of Holmes, and for that, Will wasn't going for a major actor but Micheal Robert Elrod, an unknown guy.

After hearing that Will had an unknown guy in mind as the lead, Foxstar tried to object to it, but Will fought back, saying there wouldn't be a better lead than Robert.

They fought for a while about it, and even James tried to change Will's mind, but it was for nothing. After negotiations failed, Will proposed to at least let Robert audition for the role, and if he wasn't good enough, they could reject him.

Just like that, many of the Foxstar's executives, including James Dankworth, reached the theater that was booked for a day just for Robert's audition. Even Spencer Miller, Foxstar's chairman was here, and it was the first time Will was meeting him.

As Spencer was outside America for a while for some business meetings, Will wasn't able to meet him before.

When Will met him for the first time, he shook Spencer's hands with a confident smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Miller."

Spencer Miller was an old man who was almost reaching his 70s, but his body was still fit without any problem. It was because he had regularly exercised since a young age and his intense drive towards his work every day had kept him still working as the chairman of Foxstar.

He looked at Will and smiled at him.

"Likewise. I have been hearing about you a lot these days, but meeting you is making me realize again that you are still a young man."

"Are you the type to judge a person by age, Mr. Miller?"

"Not really. Just age is a good indicator. In your case, it works for you. After all, an old man can never get the title of a young genius."

Will nodded his head at those words, and Spencer smirked before asking.

"Why do you think I came here for this audition?"

Will raised his eyebrow at this question. He had thought that Spencer had come here just to make sure that Will didn't choose someone without any skill for the role of Holmes. But now, he felt like there was some other reason for it.

"I don't think it's just for the audition."

"I'm a busy man. There are a thousand things I need to do, and I can easily skip an audition like this. The reason I came here is because of you."

"Because of me?"

He asked, wondering what the old man in front of him was hinting at. Spencer took a breath and explained.

"One of the major reasons I was able to become the chairman of one of the Big 6 film studios without any backing is because I invest in people. Film studios shouldn't invest in movies, but the people making them, and I follow that."

Will finally understood what Spencer was saying and fully agreed with it.

"So, you are here to see if you can invest in me?"

"Yes, there's no lack of talent in Hollywood. Every year film schools have a lot of graduates, but how many of them go on to direct a movie? But despite being a dropout, you made 200 million out of almost nothing." Spencer said like he was impressed. "I have not seen somebody like that in my 40 years in Hollywood."

He turned his head to look into Will's eyes before continuing.

"That's why, when you agreed to cooperate with Foxstar, I was interested to know where you will go. You even decided to direct [Sherlock Holmes, a franchise with a bad past but with the potential to be something big. All this made me pretty interested in you. Even now, I'm curious to know if this actor you have selected will be any good."

"He will prove it."

Will said with confidence in Robert's abilities. He had been talking to Robert a lot in the past few weeks and he knew how hard he had worked to get the role right.

"Let's see about that. If I think he is perfect for the role, I can assure you that there won't be any objections due to him being unknown."

Will made a surprised expression. He was prepared to still get some objections, but Spencer's words ceased all his worries.

"You are being too nice to me." He said, hoping to know the reason.

"I'm always nice until I'm getting the desired results. If you think getting an unknown actor to play Holmes will make the movie a hit, do it. I don't really care. Just make sure…." His words trailed off for a bit as Spencer smiled. "That you don't disappoint me."

Before Will could reply to those words, Robert appeared with Amanda beside him. He was already wearing one of the costumes that was prepared for [Sherlock Holmes].

As people's eyes fell on him, they couldn't help but get more curious about the audition.

…

/DreamNote/

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…

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Chapter 66:

The reason people were curious about Robert was that he fitted the costume very well. In Will's universe, Robert Downey Jr was already 43 when the first Holmes movie came out.

Even the original director of [Sherlock Holmes, Guy Ritchie, had felt that RDJ was too old for the role.

It was only because his body was still in shape that RDJ was able to get the role. But in this parallel world, Robert was only around his 30s, making him fit the look very well.

Even the executives who had come here to reject him blatantly were now thinking of waiting till the audition.

"Robert, you look good."

Will walked up to him and patted his shoulders. On their left, two staff members were putting up a table for the audition.

The scene Robert was going to perform was one that would come quite early in the movie. It was the first meeting between Holmes and Mary Morstan, a governess and the woman Watson wanted to marry.

Will felt like this was the best scene to show Robert's acting chops and his strong grip on the character of Holmes.

"The costume is a bit tight. Otherwise, I'm fine." Robert said with a smile.

Unlike their first meeting, he looked a bit more confident. Will had tried his best to give him sufficient belief that he could nail down the role, and he was happy to know that it had worked well.

"Get used to it. You will be wearing it a lot from now on."

"Those guys there don't seem like they want me to."

Robert pointed at the group of executives that were talking among themselves with a sour look on their faces. James was in between them too and was glancing at Will for help.

"They won't say anything after you prove yourself. You have worked hard, and it's just one scene. Do your best."

Amanda chipped in and gave a confident smile. Will also nodded his head.

"Yeah, just focus on your acting. Leave everything else to me."

Will and Robert bumped fists, and he moved to take his position. There were two actors from a theatre group that Will had hired for today, and they were going to say the lines of Watson and Mary, respectively.

As Robert walked away from them, Amanda looked at him and asked.

"I saw you talking to Spencer Miller. What was the old man saying?"

"You know him?" Will asked, looking at Amanda, but she shook her head.

"A little bit. Never met, just heard."

"He told me he will decide whether he wants to invest in me or not after the audition."

Amanda made a weary smile hearing that.

"I wonder if that's a good or bad thing."

"We will see about that."

As he said that, Will felt the eyes of Spencer on him.

Robert was sitting at the table, and his eyes were closed. There were three glasses of wine on top of the table, and it was prepared to keep the scene's authenticity.

In the distance, a camera was recording, and one of the staff members was holding the slate. Will and the executives from Foxstar were watching from a distance.

As the sound of the slate came, the scene started, and Robert opened his eyes, his aura changing a bit, now similar to the aura of Holmes.

He was not Micheal Robert Elrod now. He was the great yet a little crazy detective Sherlock Holmes.

"Holmes!"

"Hmm."

As a familiar voice came out, Holmes raised his head to look at his dear friend, Watson. Besides him was a lady who was his girlfriend, Mary.

"You're early," Watson said in a deadpan voice, though there was a hidden surprise in his words.

"Fashionably." Sherlock corrected.

"Miss Mary Morsten." Watson introduced her as Holmes smiled, standing up to kiss the back of her hand.

"Oh my goodness. What a pleasure." Sherlock rose from his seat and said this in a gentlemanly manner after kissing the back of the hand of the lady, "For the life of me, I don't know why it's taken him so long to introduce us properly."

"The pleasure is mine," Mary said, sitting down.

Sherlock and Watson followed and took their seats, respectively.

"It really is quite a thrill to meet you, Mr. Holmes. I've heard so much about you. I have a pile of detective novels at home… Collins, Poe." Mary said.

"It's true." Watson agreed.

"It can seem a little far-fetched, though, at times. Making these grand assumptions out of tiny details."

Sherlock glanced at the ceiling while replying, "That's not quite right, is it? In fact, the little details…." His eyes were not back on Mary, "..are by far, the most important."

"Take Watson…"

"I intend to."

Sherlock smiled at that quip and added, "See his walking stick? A rare African snakewood. Hiding a blade of high tensile steel. Few were awarded to the veterans of the Afghan war, so I can assume he's a decorated soldier. Strong, brave, born to be an adventurer. and neat, like all military men." Each word that escaped his mouth was made more meaningful with his hand gestures.

He said, then his hands moved towards his pockets.

"Now, I check his pockets. Ah, a stamp from a boxing match. Now, I can infer that he's a bit of a gambler. I'd keep an eye on that dowry if I were you."

"Those days are behind me." Watson immediately added. Slightly embarrassed…

"Right, behind you." Sherlock continued in an indifferent tone, "It's cost us the rent, more than once."

"Well, with all due respect, Mr. Holmes, You know John very well. What about a complete stranger?"

Mary asked after a slight pause, "What can you tell about me?"

"You?" Sherlock stared at her as if having expected such a question.

"I don't think that's…" Watson tried to change the topic, getting a bad feeling.

"I don't know that that's…." Sherlock repeated; he too knew what was coming.

"Not at dinner." Watson nodded.

"Perhaps another time," Sherlock added.

"I insist." Mary was quite firm.

"You insist?" Sherlock was a bit taken aback.

"You remember we discussed this." Watson reminded Sherlock of something.

"The lady insists," Sherlock replied to him.

After bickering with Watson, Holmes moved his chair towards Mary, put his hand on his chin, was lying on the table by his elbow.

Staring at her, he spoke, "You're a governess."

"Well done," Mary said, unimpressed.

"Yes, well done. Shall we… Waiter!" Watson tried to close the conversation.

"Your student… It's a boy of eight." Sherlock ignored their remarks and added.

"Charlie is seven, actually," Mary replied.

"And he's tall for his age. He flicked you with ink today." Sherlock added.

"Is there ink on my face?" Mary asked Watson, slightly embarrassed.

"There is nothing wrong with your face," Watson reassured her.

"There are two drops on your ear, in fact. India blue is nearly impossible to wash off." Sherlock added, pointing his finger at her ear with a flick of his hand.

He then continued, "Anyway, a very impetuous act of that boy, but you're too experienced to react rashly, which is why the lady for whom you work lent you that necklace."

He smiled, seeing Mary's astonished expression.

"Pearls, diamonds, flawless rubies. Hardly the gems of a governess. However, the jewels you are not wearing, tell us rather more." Sherlock continued with a corner of his lips slightly curled up.

He looked down at her fingers as she tried to put her other hand on top of them.

"Holmes!" Watson called out, trying to stop the inevitable, but Sherlock was unaffected.

"You were engaged. The ring has gone, but the lightness of the skin where it once sat suggests that you spent some time abroad, wearing it proudly, that is until you were informed of its true and rather modest worth, and then you broke off the engagement and returned to England for better prospects."

Sherlock remained silent and turned towards Watson, "…A doctor perhaps?"

This made Mary stare at him and throw the wine in the glass on Sherlock's face. Sherlock on the other hand, wore a smug smile, which came from the confidence in his skills.

Watson lowered his gaze, and on the other hand, Mary too did the same while saying.

"You're right on all counts, Mr. Holmes, apart from one." There was a long silence as Sherlock continued to stare at Watson as the lady then continued, "I didn't leave him. He died."

There was a silence, and Mary left the table.

Sherlock glanced at her and let out a sigh. This turn of events was somewhat unexpected, even for someone like him.

"Well done, old boy," Watson said, without looking at his friend and stood up, then followed Mary.

Sherlock then continued to stare at the plate in front of him as the scene came to an end.

A weird silence shrouded the theatre as the scene came to an end. The eyes of all of the executives looked like they would pop out.

James ended the silence as he started laughing hysterically. Besides him, a lady muttered, "This is exactly how I imagined Sherlock Holmes to be."

That was maybe the thought in everyone's head. As [Sherlock Holmes] was one of the biggest projects of Foxstar, every one of them had read the script.

The way Robert had acted was exactly like how they imagined Holmes to be.

Even Amanda, who was against Robert at the start, looked convinced and was clapping for the performance.

As she started clapping, everyone around her began to do the same. The sound of it broke Robert's immersion, and he looked around before glancing at the executives.

"Hahaha, Will."

Spencer walked towards Will while laughing, and he looked back at him.

"Mr. Miller, what do you have to say now?"

"Nothing much. I'm just feeling very happy that I was right about you. It seems like you are someone who can really be invested in."

…

/DreamNote/

Read 2 chapters of the new original novel, Versatile Superstar on Pat reon for free, it's free even for the unpaid users.

Read upto 12 advanced chapters of My Hollywood System and 9 chapters of Versatile Superstar on pat reon by supporting me.

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…

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Chapter 67:

"What did you decide?"

Will asked as he put aside a folder in his hands.

Right now, he was in his office at the Dream Vision Studios. He had come a bit early because he would meet Robert here today.

Yesterday, he gave the contract to Robert and told him to give him a call as soon as he went through the entire contract.

The main reason why Will didn't waste any more time about this was due to Spencer Miller's help. The latter was very impressed by Robert's acting skills and had assured the other executives of the company agree with Will's choice of casting Robert' as Holmes.

Robert, on the other hand, was also very excited about this. He was even ready to sign the contract then and there, but Will told him to go through the whole contract first and even consult a lawyer about this. He didn't wish for the former to feel tricked in future, mainly because he had informed the former about something new in the contract.

And early this morning today, Robert called him, saying that he was ready to sign the contract. Usually, Will would have told him to take it slow, but he, too, was quite excited this time.

Not only because he was signing someone talented like RDJ, but also because this person was going to be the first actor of his agency.

"Here." Robert put the contract in front of Will while taking a seat.

"Are you satisfied with it?" Will asked.

"Yes." Robert smiled, "Three movies. I was shocked when I read these two words."

Will nodded, "Yes. That's the change in the plan we have. Three movie contracts for two million. 500K for the first movie, 650K for the second movie, and 850K for the third movie."

(A/n: stop adding.)

He was sure that Foxstar would want to create sequels for [Sherlock Holmes] after seeing its box office numbers and knowing how much Robert's prices would go up in the future, he was happy to sign him so cheaply.

"Yes. I have signed it." Robert smiled. He was very satisfied with the contract terms. His current income was barely a couple thousand dollars, and that too wasn't constant. This contract was a heaven-sent opportunity that he must not mess up.

"Great," Will smiled, "Before we shake hands and celebrate, Robert, do you remember the thing we talked about?."

"Yeah, I do."

Will had already explained everything to him, and Robert had also thought it through.

Will was talking about signing Robert as the first artist of Dream Vision's agency. Although they have not registered the company or gotten an official name, Will wanted Robert to sign a special contract that would bind him to Dream Vision.

He was just someone who he couldn't afford to lose.

After [Sherlock Holmes, Will planned to launch his agency officially.

"Your contract with MCA has ended, right?"

He asked, just to ensure they don't have any complications later on.

"Yeah, no need to worry about it. My contract ended a while ago, and there were no talks of renewing it, and I don't think MCA wants me."

Will gave out a wry smile hearing that.

'They don't want you currently, but they will want you in the future.'

He had a good relationship with MCA thanks to Uncle Ben, and they were the ones who had helped him sell his script. It was not wrong to say that his career would not have started so smoothly without Uncle Ben and MCA.

Even in [Sherlock Holmes, some of the actors he could get were due to MCA.

He didn't want to sour their relationship, but it was inevitable because of Robert. After he got famous, the chairman of MCA would surely be upset.

'Ah, sigh, I will handle it when it comes.'

Thinking about that, Will took out a contract and moved it towards Robert. Robert took out his pen and signed it without wasting his time reading it.

"You didn't even bother reading it?"

"I don't have to. I trust you enough."

Saying that he flashed a smile and shook hands with Will.

"Let's create a blockbuster."

He added, and Will nodded his head.

11:35 AM.

24th March 2011

Leavesden Studios, Leavesden, Hertfordshire, England, UK.

"Mr Evans, it's a pleasure to meet you finally." A middle-aged man in a classy formal suit put his hand forward for a handshake.

Will obliged and shook his hands with the person in front of him, "The pleasure is all mine, Mr Wilson. Thank you for letting us shoot here."

"Well, I don't say no to money," Mr Wilson, full name Nicole Wilson, replied with a chuckle.

They were currently at a sound stage in the Leavesden Studios.

Nicole Wilson was the manager of sorts for the studio and the person with whom the contract discussions were done.

Most of the paperwork regarding the contracts was handled by Amanda and the other staff of the Dream Vision Studio. Right now, they were going to shoot a scene after the prologue of the movie, and it would be shot at the [221B Baker Street]. However, since that location is entirely fictional, they will be using a sound stage at this studio.

Sound stages are basically large, soundproof rooms or buildings with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical filmmaking and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or television studio property.

[IMAGE]

The empty stage was currently fully designed into a 19th-century apartment and was almost true to the descriptions from the book.

After having a small chat with Mr Wilson, Will headed towards the camera section.

"Are you ready?" Will called out a young man.

The young man raised his head and smiled, "Yes."

He was Anthony McCarthy. Will's new Assistant Director.

Although Will would direct the whole movie, it would be quite presumptuous to think that he could handle all the work. This movie was going to be on the whole another level, way beyond the [Blair Witch Project, and this was why Will hired an Assistant Director who will be helping him with minor work details that he might miss.

And right now, he had come here to tell Anthony about his first task.

"Do you have the permission papers?" Wil asked.

"Yes," Anthony pointed at the table nearby, "I made three copies."

"Good," Will nodded, "Take the perms of the Old Royal Naval College, and we will be using that place to shoot the streets outside Baker Street."

"Alright," Anthony nodded.

Will then pointed in a direction and added, "For now, go and talk to Richard. Is he ready for the shoot? And tell the patient actor to come too. We will be starting with their scene."

"I will be right back," Anthony nodded.

"Alright," Will glanced in another direction, "I will go and check his progress. You go and bring Richard."

Anthony nodded and headed towards the makeup section, where the actor who will be playing Dr Watson, Levi Richards, was reading his lines while getting his makeup done.

Will moved towards the direction he was staring at earlier. Just as he had taken a few steps, someone called him out.

"Will!"

Will turned around and found Jeffery walking towards him.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I think we should keep the colour palate quite greyish to give it the 19th-century vibe," Jeffery said with a thoughtful expression.

Will nodded, "Yeah, you're right. But be careful with the limits. We don't want to give the stereotypical vibe, and we also don't want to make it feel too modern, and it needs to give the vibe of a dark, detective story."

"Got it." Jeffery nodded, and then following Will's gaze, he was surprised at the scene in front of him.

"You're making him work hard." he smiled while staring at the front.

Will nodded, "The whole movie is lying on his shoulders. He needs to understand the fact, and I think he kinda likes this martial art."

"Is this karate? Or Kung fu?"

"Nah, it's called Wing Chun."

"Wing Chun? Did the Sherlock Holmes in the stories know martial arts?"

"In the stories, Holmes is described as an expert in Baritsu." Will replied, "It's an old English martial art which was created by combining elements of boxing, jujitsu, cane fighting, and French kickboxing."

"Then why Wing Chun?" Jeffery asked.

Will smiled.

They were currently looking at the corner of the studio, where two people were practising martial arts.

One was Michael Robert Elrod, the actor who will be playing Sherlock, and the second person was an old Chinese man in traditional kung fu clothing.

Both of them were currently practising, and Micheal was fully focused on the poses, unaware of the two people discussing him.

"Wing Chun is a type of Kung Fu, but it's not something commonly seen. Because it's a self-defence type of Kung Fu, this one requires strong arms and legs. However, it also has a unique softness and relaxation in its moves. It fits perfectly for the movie, especially with the actor who's playing Sherlock."

"Yeah," Jeffery nodded, "I can see him enjoying the practice."

Will nodded. Just then, both of them sensed someone approaching from the side and turned towards them.

"Richard is ready." It was Anthony.

Will smiled, "Let's start rolling the camera."

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 68:

"It seems you have a lot of rooms to let."

Sherlock said while following the prison guard as he looked around the now-empty prison. The prison was more of an underground dungeon with most of the prison cells open, opting out for Sherlock's current question.

"We had to move the prisoners, sir." The guard said without looking back as he walked forward, "Otherwise, we are gonna have a riot. He has a peculiar effect on the inmates. As though…"

His words trailed off as he stopped and looked at Sherlock, who was looking back at him; the prison guard continued warily, "As though… He could get inside their heads."

Sherlock stared at him for a while then replied sarcastically, "I'm sure I could find my way from here…. If you've other duties to perform."

"Much obliged, sir," The officer said hurriedly as he prepared to leave, "Thank you, sir."

He said his final farewell and left.

"If any man has an ear, let him hear."

A murmuring sound was heard as Sherlock walked towards it.

"I stood upon the sand of a sea and saw a beast rise up having seven heads and ten horns. Upon his heads were the names of blasphemy. They worshipped the dragon, which gave power. They worshipped, saying, "Who is like unto the beast?" The beast which I saw was like a leopard…. His feet were of a bear, his mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority…"

Sherlock directly looked through the bars with his eyes deeply looking onto Blackwood in amazement and curiosity.

"I loved what you have done with the place," Sherlock said while looking at the carvings on the prison wall. They were filled with stick humans, dragons and beasts.

"So glad you could accept my invitation," Blackwood said without turning around.

"I just have a small point of concern," Sherlock said calmly with his hands behind his back as he looked towards Blackwood.

"How can I help?" Blackwood smiled lightly.

"I'd followed the murders with some interest. While my heart went out primarily to the victims' families, I couldn't but notice a criminal mastery in the stroke of your brush." Sherlock remarked with both his hands inside his pocket.

"You're too kind-" As Blackwood tried to say something, he was cut off as Sherlock continued.

"However, by comparison, you work in the crypt…" Sherlock let out a sigh as he continued, "Was more akin to a finger painting."

Blackwood, who was talking with his back lying on the wall with a small cultist book in his hand, finally turned around and looked at Sherlock as he said, "So now you're curious as to whether there is a larger game afoot."

"Either that or umm…. Shortly my friend would pronounce you dead, and I thought I could keep him company." Sherlock said as he looked at Blackwood.

"Your mistake is to imagine that anything earthly led to this moment. Your error of judgement is to assume that I'm holding the brush at all. I'm merely the channel." Blackwood said while looking into Sherlock's eyes.

"Well, my only wish is that I caught you sooner. You see, five lives might have been spared." Sherlock commented with emotion.

"Cut!"

Will said as the scene came to an end. It was one of the most intense scenes where Lord Blackwood challenges Sherlock that three more lives will be lost, and there wouldn't be anything he could do about it.

The shooting currently was taking place at one of the oldest mansions of London. It was quite big and had become a spot for mediaeval themed shooting. It even had an underground dungeon which Will used to shoot the current scene.

Will walked towards the cameramen and his team and told them to replay the scene; after confirming that the scene was caught perfectly, he commanded everyone to move on to prepare the next scene.

"Director Evans."

Ewan walked towards Will as he mentioned his name.

"You can just call me Will. Yes? What is it? Was there a problem?"

Will asked while looking at Ewan.

"I just thought I should give you some respect now that I'm working on your movie. No, everything was fine. There is just this one suggestion I had." Ewan said as he looked at Will.

He had gained a lot of respect for Will ever since the shooting started. All of Will's movements, gestures and commands looked so experienced and perfect that people would doubt he was just 22 years old.

Although the age gap and experience gap between himself and Will made it a lot easier to talk to him and put out his ideas.

"Yeah, go ahead," Will said with a smile, "I would consider it if it's something good.

"The thing is, in my opinion, Lord Blackwood's character is a lot deeper, but its portrayal seems rather tame. I want to add a bit of a variation to it… like making him crazier. Otherwise, he's currently giving the vibe of a villain who is easily forgotten. Can I improvise some of his dialogues so that people will get more idea about his backstory?" Ewan asked as he waited for Will's opinion about it.

Lord Blackwood was a great Sherlock villain because he was more intelligent than most people but not smarter than Holmes. Although he was a great character, he certainly lacked an edge and was more of a quiet villain in the original movie. Although he was supposed to hide a lot of madness behind his quiet mask, it wasn't portrayed in the film. Otherwise, Blackwood was more a Joker-like character.

"It's a good idea, and I don't mind implementing it as long as it's not affecting the quality of the movie. And in my opinion, it would increase the quality rather than decrease it. So sure, tell me about all the changes you want. I would help with what changes we can make and which ones we can't." Will smiled and said.

Ewan's portrayal of Lord Blackwood was totally different from Mark Strong, the original actor who had played Lord Blackwood, and it was expected since they were both totally different characters. But Will felt like it was way better than the original, and he even felt like it was a little tragic that they wouldn't be using him in the sequel, and he would die by the end of the movie.

"By the way, this Robert guy. Man, his acting is great. I don't know how he was still hidden in the industry for so long." Ewan commented during his talk with Will. His impression of Robert has increased dramatically throughout the shooting, and he felt quite the synergy when his dialogues with Robert came.

Will just smiled as he knew this was bound to happen sooner or later, just things are tougher at first. After all, the first time is always unpleasant.

After that, they continued to talk about what changes they could make and how it would look on the actual screen.

[IMAGE]

Crack* *Crush*

A crushing sound came out as Sherlock kept twitching his eyes irately.

"London's so bleak this time of the year."

Sherlock's eyes shot open as he heard a female's voice from behind him.

The owner of the voice took the crushed walnuts from the basket and stood up as she said, "Not that I'm pining for New Jersey. I much prefer to travel in winter."

Sherlock adjusted the book that he had in his hand as he raised his upper body slightly, leaning on his hand as he blinked his eyes towards the woman intruder.

The woman sat down in front of him and threw something in front of him, "Here I brought you these, all the way from Syria. I found these exquisite dates in Jordan and your favourite…. Olives from the Cyclades. I thought we might have a little tea party. And while I was setting the table, I found this: A file with my name on it."

As the woman was browsing through the file, Sherlock sneakily got up and opened a shelf. Looking at the contents, he sighed in relief and closed it again as he picked up the basket filled with walnuts.

"The theft of the Velásquez portrait from the King of Spain. Missing naval documents lead to the resignation of the Bulgarian prime minister scandalous affair ends the engagement of… perhaps to both Romanov princesses."

The woman closed the file and looked towards Sherlock, he threw a walnut in his mouth and replied calmly, "I'm simply studying your methods…. Should the authorities ask me to hunt you down?"

"But I don't see my name on any of these articles." The woman, Irene Adler, said with a light smile.

"But your signature was clear." Sherlock retorted as he went near her and picked up the locket hanging on her chest, "Is that the Maharajah's missing diamond?….. Or just another souvenir?"

"Let's not dwell on the past…. Shall we?" She said by making a face that didn't leave room for any compromise. Sherlock just stared at her weirdly.

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 69:

[Sherlock Holmes] set was mostly bustling with life, with everyone busy with their own duties. Many of their scenes were shot in the studio, while some of them were scheduled to be shot in real-life locations.

Although those scenes would also be sent to a studio to give it the feel of the 1890s.

Today's scene was the same as they had come to an open location to shoot the scene where the police would capture Holmes and Watson after wreaking havoc at the docks.

It was a short scene that happened just before Holmes was taken to the Temple of the four orders.

Filming devices had been placed far away from the prison gates, on the pavement leading to it. The camera crew was adjusting the devices for the last time.

Jeffery was communicating with the lighting engineer, Tyler George, to ensure the lighting and exposure. Anthony was listening to their conversation attentively. He had finished doing all the tasks that Will had given him, so at the moment, he was free enough to stay with Jeffrey to study from the latter's shooting techniques and experiences.

Everyone in the crew was busy with their own things. Those who had finished their tasks for the moment were taking a break, standing far away from the camera.

There were many extra actors gathered today because the scene featured a lot of prisoners and guards. The costume and makeup team was doing their work with them to make them look like menacing criminals.

Dream Vision had contacted a local British talent agency for them and gotten every extra for a low price.

Robert, Levi Richards, and other leading actors were also chit-chatting together. Ewan was sitting alone, reading the script alone.

Seeing this type of atmosphere, Will felt like it was a great day for shooting.

"Jeffery."

After smiling at the sky, he walked towards Jeffery, who had finished speaking with Tyler.

"Will, I think we can start it in ten minutes," Jeffery said, coming close to him.

"Have you decided on the camera angle? I want you to take a long shot before doing a medium one and then a close-up to both Holmes and Watson's faces. And one to show the prisoners too."

"I was thinking the same. Although I reckon we should do an alternate take from that angle." Jeffery pointed his finger to the place where the actors were talking. "We can choose one of these later."

"Yeah, that's good."

"Don't worry, Will. I know what to do."

"I trust you."

After saying that, Will glanced at the place where the actors were talking. It looked like a peaceful exchange of words.

'It's fortunate that there's no power struggle.'

Usually, it was common between actors and actresses to have a power struggle, but that was not the case here. It was mainly due to the nature of the actors involved with [Sherlock Holmes].

Levi Richards was having a comeback and was not interested in useless power struggles. It seemed like he had mellowed out a lot after getting a family.

He was happy with his role as Watson and tried his best to make it look cooler.

As for Ewan, his whole focus was on his character, and he was the most proactive with new ideas to make Lord Blackwood more menacing.

'If there was a power struggle, Robert would have surely lost out.'

Will thought in his mind.

As Robert was now involved with Dream Vision, Will tried his best to look out for him. But he seriously lacked in popularity, and that was something that could only be developed over time.

As he was thinking about that, Ewan suddenly walked up to him.

"Will, I have some ideas about the ending. Do you mind hearing them out?"

"Yeah, what ideas?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I thought maybe we should add one more fight scene in the end. Although the climax is pretty good, I feel like it leaves a lot of gaps that we could fill. After all, a great ending will satisfy the viewers more."

Ewan said and waited for Will's answers. Now that he was involved with a project, he wanted to increase its quality or at least the quality of the character he was playing.

Luckily, Will nodded his head.

"I was thinking about it anyway." He replied, "But the fighting scene you talked about, I am not quite sure about that. You see, the script was already almost 130 pages long, and because this is more of a detective story than an action flick, I am not quite sure about adding an extra action scene."

"But wouldn't it add some flavour to the story?" Ewan insisted a bit more.

Will stared at him for a moment and asked, "Well, Ewan, Describe Henry Blackwood to me. He is the character you're playing; tell me what your understanding of this character is."

"Um…" Ewan answered after thinking for a few seconds, "Arrogant. Egotistical. And… Callous?"

Will nodded, "What else can you tell?"

"He likes to brag?" Ewan replied.

Will nodded, "Yes, your understanding of the character is pretty close. Not only does he likes to brag, but he's also insidiously reclusive and considers himself more intelligent than Sherlock. Also, he is very intelligent and has a talent for science and illusionment, specializing in physics and biology, which you should know after reading the script."

Ewan nodded, "So we can't add action?"

"We can," Will nodded, "But it won't be what you were thinking. We can add a bit more of swordsmanship, which Blackwood is an expert in; in fact, he can even hold his ground against Sherlock."

Ewan thought for a moment and asked, "So, a sword fight at the end?"

Will stared at Ewan without saying anything.

"Hm…?" The stare confused Ewan. 'Did I say something wrong…?'

He knew he was already pushing the limits by making suggestions, but he couldn't miss any opportunity in front of him.

"I think there will be some changes in the script." Will suddenly said.

"Hm? So you will be adding the sword fight?"

Will shrugged, "I will have to revise the script for that. In fact, Blackwood is also a good marksman. Maybe we can have some cowboy-type of stand-off. But that's not what I am talking about."

"Then?"

Will smiled at him, "I will let you know if I revise the script."

"Oh.."

Will nodded and stood up, "Alright, let's prepare for the next shot."

Ewan nodded and headed for the makeup room.

Will took a mic in his hand.

"Everyone! Get ready for the next shot."

As he put the mic back, his mind was somewhere else.

An idea had clicked in his mind while he was chatting with Ewan, and now he wanted to consider it because it might give the story an extra edge.

'Ewan's acting is pretty good. The edge he's giving to Blackwood's character is much more menacing and threatening than Mark Strong, the actor who played Blackwood on Earth.'

'What if… Blackwood survives?'

He was playing with this idea since he had seen Ewan's portrayal of Lord Blackwood, and he felt like it was quite good. Maybe he could even make a return in the sequel?

After all, there were not many Sherlock villains like him.

Playing around with that idea in his mind, he began directing the next scene.

Will worked all day on the shooting of [Sherlock Holmes, and in the evening, he went back to his hotel room. But his work has not ended yet.

Although he was shooting for [Sherlock Holmes, he was still keeping an eye out on [17 again]. The shooting of it had already been completed, and it was entering the post-production and promotion phase.

The media team of [17 again] even wanted Will to promote it as his current fame was quite good, but as he was busy with the shoot, they could only give up on it.

After talking with Edward Friedman for a bit about the expected numbers on the opening day, Will called June.

It was hard to handle both work and love life but talking with June was something he liked a lot, and they would make sure to call each other in between breaks.

But these days, June was acting quite odd.

"June, you look off. Is there something in your mind these days?"

He asked as he stared at her face. They were doing a video call, and he could clearly see that June looked tired for some reason.

It even felt like she was losing weight.

"No, everything is fine."

She shook her head and replied.

"Your face looks weak. Are you not eating properly?"

"It's not that. I'm currently aiming for a lead role, and the director said that I would be perfect if I can lose a bit of weight."

June said, and before Will could ask anything more, she changed the subject.

"How's your shooting going? Can you get me an autograph from Ewan Rees? I'm a big fan of his."

"Uh, yeah, I can get it."

Will had a lot of things to say, but June kept talking about something or the other and didn't give him an opportunity to talk at all.

In the end, when the call ended, Will couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong with June.

'What's happening? I feel like I should meet her…'

If he could, he wanted to take a flight to see her, but he was on a tight schedule, and as a young director, he couldn't leave. Otherwise, he would be called irresponsible if it got out.

He just decided to meet June the first thing after the shooting ended.

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 70:

/DreamNote/

My cat

…

6th April 2011, 10:43 A.M.

Little Lever Street, Manchester.

"Action!"

The crowd slowly parted, and the camera focused on Sherlock, and slowly, Watson walked over to him and passed a conical paper bag of chips, "Here you are. Why that certain fish and chips store," Watson glanced back at the supposed store, "I don't understand."

Holmes took a chip, and while chewing, he replied, "Well, there's a particular beer they use in the batter. A northern stout, to be exact."

"You know, Holmes," Watson began to say as they walked through the crowded street, "I've seen things in war I don't understand. In India, I once met a man who predicted his own death right down to the number and placement of the bullets that killed him."

Watson was walking at the front, and Sherlock was following him.

The camera was at the other end of the crowded street, focused on the two.

Watson looked at his walking stick, placing it carefully on the uneven, dirty road as he continued, "You have to admit. Holmes, that a supernatural explanation to this case is theoretically possible."

By now, they had arrived at the end of the street, as Sherlock replied, "Well, agreed. But, it is a huge mistake to theorize before one has data." Sherlock stopped and stared at Watson; he added, "Inevitably, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

One might notice in this scene that both Sherlock and Watson are much taller than anyone else. This is because they are now standing on about 1 feet high platform and are also wearing quite brighter clothes compared to the rest on the street. This helps them get into the focus of the camera and makes it much easier for the audience to focus on the two main characters.

They resumed walking, taking a turn to the next street.

"That said, I believe Adler's midget is the key to this." Sherlock continued to speak and showed something held in his fingers to Watson. It was a hand clock.

He raised it infront of his face and continued to examine it.

"Right. Scratches around the keyhole where the watch is wound. What does that tell you?"

Watson replied, "The man was likely a drunk. Every time he wound the watch, his hand slipped, hence the scratches."

"Verrry good, Watson." Sherlock put down the watch, "You have developed considerable deductive power of your own. Hm." Sherlock brought the clock closer to himself, and staring at it; he added, "Let's see now. There are several sets of initial scored–"

"Pawnbrokers Mark." Watson interrupted.

"Excellent." Sherlock replied without removing his gaze from the watch and added, "Most recent of which was M.H.'," Sherlock squinted his eyes and paused, "M.H. M.H. is for…?"

Watson continued to walk forward, and he paused; Sherlock also raised his head.

The camera was now behind them, and it recorded as they raised their heads and spoke in unison while staring at a shop sign.

"Maddison and Haig."

The camera at the front was now rolling.

They glanced at each other for a moment, with Watson smiling lightly.

It turns out Sherlock had already figured out everything, and they were walking to this shop all along.

Sherlock put the watch down while saying, "They should be able to give us some address."

With a slight smile on his face, Watson watched Sherlock head into the store.

Looking at the road for a moment, he raised his head again and stared at the back of walking Sherlock holmes.

"What a coincidence."

The camera from behind was rolling as Watson stepped up and followed Sherlock.

In front of him, Sherlock paused his steps, he had his hands in his pocket, and walked backwards as Watson began to say, "One thing you failed to deduce from the watch, Holmes."

"Really? I think not." Holmes replied in a matter of factly voice.

They were now stepping into the shop, which actually turned out to be another crowded alleyway, with few women standing on the side, and kids playing.

"The time." Watson added emphasis on his voice, "I have to get back, Holmes."

"Hm. Taking tea with the in-laws." Holmes replied with indifference.

Before Watson could respond, however, a woman in rags, held a smoke pipe, suddenly interrupted them and walked forward, "Reckon you future, Sir?"

"Absolutely not," Sherlock replied without pausing his steps and continued to walk.

"No, thank you, Ma'am," Watson said.

The woman, a fortune-teller, pointed at them while saying, "You will have to hear what I have to tell."

Sherlock continued to walk, and without turning back, with his face slightly tilted to the right, he replied, "We have no need," He turned sideways while continued, "of your lucky heather, gipsy woman."

The camera was once again at the corner in front of them.

Watson just shook his head as he continued to walk.

Just then, the woman walked forward, while Sherlock had paused his steps, and she said, "Even if it's to do with Mary?" She pursed her lips and put the smoke-pipe in her lips while turning her attention towards Watson.

Sherlock, too, turned his head towards Watson.

Mary was Watson's fiance.

Watson paused, now a slight frown forming on his face. He was standing mere inches away from the camera, the confusion and surprise on his face after hearing the woman's last words were rightly captured.

The woman walked up, now a little smug, taking one long step, and she was slowly beside Watson.

Watson turned around, but before he could say anything, the fortune-teller woman took his hand and stared at his palm with a frown on her face.

"Oh. Oh. I see two men. Brothers. Not in blood. But in Bond."

Watson glanced at Sherlock, who was staring at the fortune-teller.

"What of Mary?" Watson asked the fortune-teller.

"M for Mary, for marriage." In a surprised tone and expression, the fortune-teller added, "Oh, you will be married."

Watson nodded his head, "Go on."

"Oh." The fortune-teller frowned again while staring at the former's palms, "I see patterned tablecloths and, oh, china figurines."

The camera captured Sherlock raising his head and narrowing his eyes.

"..and, oh, lace doilies," The fortune teller said in a grimacing tone.

"Hm. Doilies." Sherlock repeated while staring at an unknown place. As if lost in his thoughts.

"Lace doilies." Watson put away his hand while turning his head towards Sherlock, having suddenly realized that Sherlock must have paid this woman to rip him off, "Holmes? Does your depravity know no boundaries?"

"No," Sherlock said without looking at him, still staring at something in front of him.

"Oh, she turns fat." The fortune-teller added in another grimaced tone, and with a disgusted expression while imitating as if she was touching a long beard, she added, "And oh, now she has a beard!"

"What of the warts?" Sherlock asked, looking straight.

"Oh, she's covered in warts!" The fortune-teller added, her weirdly frowning face showing clear signs of 'scam' and disgust.

"Enough," Watson said.

"Are they extensive?" Holmes emphasized, his voice now a bit louder.

"Please, enough." Watson topped the former's voice.

Sherlock walked forward while staring at Watson, as the fortune-teller too stared at the latter with a deep frown on her face while puffing the smoke pipe.

"It's the most pt prediction Flora has made in years," Sherlock said, "And precisely the reason why you can't find a suitable ring."

"Do you have my money?" Watson asked, now a bit irked.

"You are terrified of life without the thrill of macabre," Sherlock said.

"Do you have my cut from the fight?" Watson wasn't having any jokes as he was straight right at Sherlock.

Two cameras were closely capturing each of their expressions and actions, from light squinting of eyes to the outbursts of the words.

"Admit it," Sherlock said.

"Give me my money!" Watson said.

Both of them were adamant on their own.

"Give me my money!"

"Admit it!"

Both shouted, and Watson pursed his lips, "Holmes."

Sherlock looked into his eyes and noticed the former was smiling.

He turned around and noticed a shop with a poster.

[Madison Haig. Large Selection Of Ring For Every Wallet.]

"I see," Holmes whispered.

Holmes turned around and took out two receipts of paper from the pocket of his coat.

Watson took one, "Thank you."

Without saying anything else, he went inside the shop.

"Cut!"

Will said, and Anthony beside him smiled as the scene ended. He walked to Jeffrey and watched the scene on the camera.

The scene had come out great, and there would be no need for another take.

"Will, want another take?"

Levi asked, and Will laughed while waving his hands.

"No, it's perfect. Good job, everyone! Let's take a 10-minute break and get to the next scene."

Everyone cheered hearing that, and Levi walked back to his agent. On the other hand, Robert walked up to him.

"Will, are we really shooting the fight scene tomorrow?"

"Yeah, why? You are not confident?"

The fight scene Robert was talking about was one that had happened at the beginning of the movie. It was one of the coolest scenes in the movie and portrayed an image of Holmes that could stand up for himself even while fighting.

This was the last important scene before they could move to the ending.

"No, I'm confident. In fact, I'm even beginning to like wing Chun a lot. I'm asking so I can prepare for the fight scene, and I actually have a request."

"What request?"

"I want to do the fight scene myself like a real fight?"

Will's eyes widened hearing that. They had called on a ferocious-looking boxer to shoot the fight scene, and it was already commendable enough that Robert was doing all his stunts himself.

But this request was too extreme.

"No, I can't do that, Robert. What if you got a serious injury? The whole shooting will stall."

"I already talked about it with Master Lan, and he said I will be okay. In the first place, we would be following a script, and just the punches and kicks would be real."

For the record, Master Lan was the martial artist that was training Robert.

"Still, an actor's face is the most important thing for him. It won't be ideal if you get any facial injuries as we still have the ending left."

"Makeup would handle that."

Will was at a loss of words hearing that. What Robert was saying would surely elevate the level of the movie a lot.

It would be as iconic as Heath Ledger asking Christan Bale to punch him in the interrogation scene in [The Dark Knight].

'What should I do?'

Will pondered on it.

As a director, he was happy that Robert was being proactive in his role and was even trying to break the barriers in acting. At the same time, he was scared that he might ruin his face in the fight scene and would take a few weeks to recover.

'This might actually help his career, though. The media would love this if it came out.'

Will suddenly thought of that.

Compared to his alternate life self, he was not famous and had no background to elevate the movie's status. So, a crazy thing like this might actually help the movie's publicity.

After all, both the media and the film fraternity love actors who go to every length for their movies.

That's why, in the end, he eventually agreed.

"Okay, let's do it like that."

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 71:

"Are you sure we should go with Robert's demand? You do know it will complicate things if he gets hurt."

Jeffrey reminded Will again. Almost all the scenes have been shot with just the fight club scene and the ending.

There was an uproar on the set when people heard that Robert wanted to fight the boxer for real. Most thought that it was a good but risky idea as this would add a realistic edge to the scene but had the risk of halting the shoot for weeks if some incident happened.

Will had agreed to the idea after Robert's persuasion because most of the time, the director and not the actor came up with such ideas to make the film realistic. Usually, the director would have to pursue the actor to do the scene, not the other way around.

Will looked at Jeffrey, who had asked if it was fine to go with what Robert had asked. He then shifted his gaze towards staff members preparing the set and Anthony, who was busy talking with the extras involved in the role and directing them on how to do what and what the scene was like.

Just for this scene especially, they had hired a famous wrestler of this world. He looked like a show-off giant hunk who could shatter any tables and glasses with a single elbow strike.

"Don't worry about that since the decision is already made. Robert can take a punch or two, and trust me when I say this; this will help a lot later on as an advertising stunt."

Will reassured Jeffrey. Jeffrey didn't talk anymore about this matter. The director had the final say in such issues, and Jeffrey was just worried that in case of an incident, the whole shoot might get delayed and would cost more than it was supposed to.

After all, every extra day they stayed in London, it cost them thousands of dollars for the whole crew to live here.

As this matter was solved, Will started talking to Jeffrey about how he wanted to shoot the scene.

There are a few ways one can build tension in a movie scene through music, pacing and camerawork. One of such scenes was the fight scene in [Sherlock Holmes].

These scenes were used to build tension and highlight the characters' individual traits. However, it had to be shown cinematically within a structure that leaves one with a feeling that they now understand the character better and look forward to a similar scene in the same style.

The scene switches from Sherlock saying something inappropriate to Watson's fiance, which changes his emotions and leads to the reason why he is fighting in the next scene.

It's linked by using a J edit where the next scene's music fades in slowly with a loud thud. The crowd shouts, introducing the next scene. The atmosphere changes with the use of colour, music and camera movements with close-ups and shots through the crowd both by the ring and further back.

This builds Sherlock's character for the audience, as one can see that he's not particularly fighting, just keeping his mind occupied. This all changes, when he sees Irene Adler strategically, placing a handkerchief, linking him to the character, but directing where the scene goes next.

"Remember to make a hand sign when you want us to stop the scene. A bit of risk is good, but I don't like being a careless gambler."

Will was currently giving directions to Robert and telling him not to be careless during the shooting.

David Garrick, the wrestler in the scene, was also a nice guy, and he kept telling Robert to give him a sign as to when to stop fighting. He didn't actually want to hurt a person who wasn't even a wrestler.

"Alright, everyone, it's time to shoot the next scene."

The preparations were complete with all the setup in the place and the extra's placed outside the ring in Anthony's direction. The Cameramen and the shooting team were ready as everyone got in position. The scene where the actual fight would take place was before Sherlock sees Irene Adler, after that, they would make a scripted K.O. move by Sherlock Holmes, which was one of the cool points of the movie.

"Action!"

Will gave the signal, and the scene began with Robert– Sherlock smashing on the side of the ring.

The extras outside the ring started shouting as they were directed to and made the atmosphere more lively and fight club-like.

From here on out, the fight with David Garrick and Robert would be real until he sees Irene Adler.

"Heh, C'mon."

David gestured with his hands, and Robert went ahead to throw a punch, which David easily parried and punched towards Roberts's abdomen. Robert backed off and avoided the punch, and as he was about to make his move, a heavy feeling struck on the right side of his head, and before he could make out what happened, his vision blurred, and he passed out.

"Miss Roberts, as much as the image of an innocent actress, is ingrained in the mind of the audience regarding you, this movie needs the lead actress to look sexier and more open."

Terry Thompson was one of the established Indie directors of Hollywood. Currently, he is in the process of auditions for his new movie. The movie's budget was low, and that's why he wanted the actresses of the movie to look as sexy as possible.

In Hollywood, if someone wanted to earn, either they had to have especially good talents or especially sexy actresses. Terry was the type who took advantage of the latter. He had less budget, so he took small-time actresses and basically made a strip show out of them.

"I don't mind it; after a bit of make-over and look change, I would look sexy enough. So it shouldn't be a problem."

June said nonchalantly. Every bit of skin shown in Hollywood guaranteed more popularity after all. It was not like she was asked to be nude.

"No, no. I don't think it will work that way, and your image can't be changed just like that." Devin Perry, the producer of the movie, said. He smirked and said, "Maybe there is some other way you can help us."

June looked at him apprehensively as Devin immediately cleared his throat.

"It's not what you are thinking. Actually, the film is a little tight on budget. You can ask your boyfriend to invest a bit in the movie. What do you say? It will be a win-win for the both of us."

Everyone knew that Will was a multi-millionaire right now and that June was his girlfriend. As his girlfriend, she could at least get him to invest in their movie, which would increase their budget and popularity.

June's face hardened a bit as she heard that.

"No, I can't ask him to do that."

She gave a straight answer, and Devin couldn't help but ask.

"Can't he do at least that much for you?"

In fact, if June asked, Will would do it. But June didn't want him to do it, and she wasn't in a relationship with Will because of his money.

"Thank you for your offer, but I'm afraid I can't take it."

June left after saying that.

As she got out of the studio, her agent, John, was waiting for her. She told him what happened and he couldn't help but sigh.

"Consider this a common occurrence as everyone knows you're dating a multi-millionaire."

John had long since changed his opinion about Will and now thought of him as a successful director. He no longer objected to anything that June decided and mostly just gave advice to her when necessary. Otherwise, he would have been kicked by the MCA long ago.

"I get where they are coming from, but I don't want to use Will's name and fame to get myself roles. I want to stand on my own and get roles based solely on my capabilities."

June said in a determined voice.

In one of the tallest buildings in Los Angeles, the office of Z studios was located. As one of the Big 6 studios of this world, they were high in the hierarchy.

Currently, in the office of the chairman of Z studios, Chester Sullivan, a meeting was taking place.

All the important heads of the various departments were here. The meeting was to decide which one of their movies would be released in the latter part of April.

"So, any suggestions?"

Chester asked, his eyes looking around. He was the type of chairman to ask ideas from his subordinates most of the time and let them do most of the work.

"I think we should release [Sleepless in L.A.] in this period. It's a romantic comedy, and Jared Morgan is a huge star, and this role is his rediscovery as an actor. I'm pretty sure it will go well."

The head of the distribution department, Mobil Rodriguez, said, and besides him, The PR department head also nodded his head.

"Yeah, out of the movies we have, this one's the safest, and although the female lead isn't very famous, she's pretty enough, so if we send her to some talk shows with Jared, it will be enough. ICM wants to change Jared's image before getting him more projects, so they are willing to help us market the movie too. We can even create a fake publicity stunt saying they are in a relationship."

"What about the other movies releasing at that point? I heard Foxstar was going to get a movie out at that time?"

"It's a movie by a horror director. Against a rom-com, it won't work."

Mobil said and shrugged his shoulders.

Hearing that, Chester felt the same too. He looked around again and asked.

"Anyone have any other ideas?"

No one said anything, and he smiled in satisfaction.

"Then, we will go ahead with [Sleepless in L.A.]."

….

/DreamNote/

This was the bonus chapter

It's a new week. The rankings are reset. You have another chance to earn yourself a bonus chapter.

Vote with your powerstones, from all your accounts

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Chapter 72:

23 April 2011,

It has been more than a month since the shooting of [Sherlock Holmes] started. And as time ticked down, the shoot was almost about to end.

The hype about Will and Blair Witch was starting to die down as new movies and scandals had taken away the majority of the public interest. With that said, Will was still mentioned in talk shows and Hollywood news from time to time and people would end up speculating what the star rookie director was up to.

Even the matter regarding Will and June's romance had disappeared as these things were common in Hollywood.

"Okay, it's time to shoot the last scene."

Everyone started preparing for the last scene of the movie, as it was in the apartment where Sherlock and Watson lived, it wouldn't take much effort and preparation to shoot it down.

It was the scene where Watson and Mary enter the apartment, only to see Sherlock hung by a rope. It was an experiment by Sherlock to come up with a theory as to how Lord Blackwood survived even after getting hung.

As Will gave his signal, the shoot began with Levi Richards and Mia Allison, the actors playing the role of Watson and Mary respectively entering the iconic 221B Baker Street.

Mary asked Watson that does he really thinks that Sherlock has come to terms with Watson moving out. Watson reassures her by reminding her to look at the ring Sherlock had given them.

Everything was going perfectly fine with the shooting as the cameraman accurately shot the scene. The next scene started right after.

The scene went as follows– Watson would open the door to Sherlock's room and would stand dazed for a second, after which Mary enters the scene and gasps seeing Sherlock hanging by a rope.

In this particular scene, the actress who was playing Mary, Mia Allison, instead of gasping, laughed every time she saw Robert hanging there. And because she laughed, everyone else would end up laughing including the cameraman as it was funny to be seeing Robert hanging there like a doll.

Will didn't reprimand anyone as this was the last scene of the shoot and they had the whole day free, so he just smiled with everyone else.

When Robert saw people laughing at him again and again, he demanded to put himself down and in reply, the guys who were managing the ropes pulled him up even higher instead of lowering it, making everyone chuckle. Robert looked towards Will with an indignant eye and Will just laughed out loud at that.

"Cut."

After many errors, they were finally able to shoot the scene as the shooting officially came to an end.

"Alright, guys. It's a wrap. The shooting has finally ended, and if everything goes well, we'll be flying back to America tomorrow."

Will said as everyone cheered. Some people were clapping while some people just continuously cheered and enthusiastically talked to their colleagues.

Some people were just happy that they had become a part of such a high budget movie. Some employees from the previous Krown Studios were even crying tears of happiness. Right at this moment, nobody cared about how the movie was, how much it would earn, or even if it would be a hit or a flop.

All they cared about was that they had become a part of a big movie.

As everyone was wrapping up, Will made a few calls here and there and after some time, clapped his hands to gather around the whole team.

"I'll be throwing a party at White Ruby Hotel, everyone is invited. I would really appreciate it if you guys can take some time to come and enjoy the party."

Everyone cheered again at that. For reference, White Ruby Hotel was where Will had called Robert the first time to make his offer and leave an impression on him. It was a famous 5-star Hotel which boasted luxurious facilities and a price normal people can't afford.

Friday, 25th April 2011. White Ruby Hotel

The party was in full swing in a private hall that Will had booked in the hotel.

Everyone from Dream Vision studio and the people involved in [Sherlock Holmes] were present. Will had even invited Benjamin, James, Spencer and other such individuals too.

Spencer Miller had some work and didn't come due to some work but he had sent a message from James that he would definitely come to the next invitation Will sends.

Everyone was busy drinking and celebrating the wrapping up of the movie. The atmosphere was filled with Joy and social statuses and such seemed non-existent here. Still, people who were acquainted with each other had formed groups and were chatting amongst themselves.

Jeffrey was in really high spirits as he was continuously drinking and was toasting to others to make them drunk too. After a while, Jeffrey, Robert and Levi were even dancing together with weird movements, with Rachel (The actress who played Irene Adler), Mia, and Emilia (Jeffrey's wife) awkwardly yet happily keeping them company.

Will just laughed seeing the joyous atmosphere. With two wine glasses in his hands, he walked towards Ewan who was standing at one side alone, with a light smile on his face, formed due to the pure joy the others were showing.

Will got near him and offered him a glass of wine, which he accepted with a smile.

"Thanks."

"I had a talk with Simon Vercetti yesterday, and he had agreed to meet up with you. He'll contact you soon regarding the meeting."

Will said as he sipped the wine from the glass while looking towards the happy crowd, instead of Ewan.

Ewan's eyes widened for a moment before he chuckled lightly. He never expected that the bait that Will had thrown to catch him would even feed it to him. But since had said it, it means his long wish to work with Simon would finally be fulfilled, because he was confident that Simon would pick him for a role as long as he let him audition.

"Thanks, man. That means a hell lot. Not gonna lie, you turned out to be a lot better than the agents I've fired till now, haha."

Ewan laughed as he said that. It was true, he had gotten a lot of agents and fired a lot of them too just because no one was able to get him a role in one of the Oscar director's movies, but Will was able to do it.

"Haha, true that. Why don't you make it a reality?"

Will laughed and said meaningfully, to which Ewan just looked at him in a confused manner as he raised his eyebrows.

"The thing is, I'm preparing a startup for a talent agency, and an actor like you is something that I am really in need of. Of course, the decision is yours but I would like you to consider it."

Will didn't beat around the bush and directly said what he wanted. In his previous life, there was a taboo that a film studio and talent agency can't be owned by the same person/entity, but in this world, there was no such thing and many studios also had their own talent agencies.

"Haha, you're getting bolder and bolder. Your ambitions are getting so high that I would have shrugged you off without any consideration if I didn't know any better."

Ewan laughed and said teasingly, which was in fact the truth. After all, his nature made it hard for him to talk with and made him want to throw away anyone who seemed to be wasting his time.

"If you don't know, I'm banned from many agencies including the big shot ICM. That's one of the reasons I work solo. You'll only attract unnecessary attention with me."

Listening to Ewan's reasoning, Will became excited inwardly. Because Ewan hadn't straight out rejected the idea which left room for discussions.

"I guess we have some things in common after all. Even though I don't like ICM and their ways, we are supposed to get into a bitter relationship sooner or later."

Will replied, trying to empathise with Ewan. One of the most common ways to rope in people was to be able to empathise with them, and Will was a natural at it.

"There are more chances I will storm out of your agency just because you weren't able to get me to work with someone I like."

Ewan said. At this point, both were basically discussing their points as to which Ewan would join or not, without saying it out loud.

"I am more than willing to take such risks when I'm trying to rope you in."

Will chuckled and said. Sounding like a shrewd merchant from mediaeval times.

Will was willing to go to a certain extent as long as Ewan didn't demand anything too unreasonable. If he was able to rope Ewan to his agency, then Ewan and Robert could make up the front of his agency after the release of [Sherlock Holmes]. After all, his company needed some successful stars to rope in the strugglers.

"Your offer is interesting but I would have to decide when I'm not drunk."

Ewan chuckled and poured himself another glass.

"Then, let's have a meeting in two days. You can visit the Dream Vision office and look around."

"Why not tomorrow?"

"I am doing something important tomorrow."

Will said and thought about June. She had almost stopped talking to him a lot and they would just text from time to time.

He knew that she wasn't taking care of herself and something was weighing down on her mind. That's why their relationship has become a little stale lately.

But tomorrow, he wanted to talk to her and find out the reason behind her strange behaviour.

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Chapter 73:

3rd May 2011.

The movie [17 Again] was ready to be launched, and the distribution company decided that it would be released on 10th May. The promotions were going on in full swing, and most of the general audience already had heard about the movie or watched its trailer on various social media platforms and MeTube.

They had even done an OTT deal already.

The marketing team had made the main cast, attended various talk shows and reality shows, went as far as to use Will's name on every promotion and had even asked Will to do an interview as they were trying to squeeze out every bit of Will's popularity for the movie.

Will had agreed to all this as this would have a win-win effect for both his image and the movie. And he himself wanted the movie to do well. The box office estimate was $40 million for the first week only, which meant that they would be able to break even and recover the cost of the movie.

The final box office estimate was around $120 million, and Will felt that the movie would easily get that much, but the amount after that wasn't predictable. As Edward just wanted to make some profit, every single penny after the break-even would be considered a win for him.

The hype about [17 Again] from the audience was rather one-sided. People who liked Rom-com were eagerly waiting for it to come out, while many people criticized it as a nonsensical and wish fulfilment movie. To which Will couldn't deny, as it was a wish fulfilment movie, but a well made one.

Today, after waking up and freshening up, Will didn't go to Dream Vision Studios and instead went somewhere else. He had taken a break from work today and had a different plan for the day.

He headed towards a theatre that was booked for the audition of a small budget movie by some B grade director.

Ever since he came back to Los Angeles, June hadn't been picking up his phone, and there was no contact for a few days. She was clearly trying to avoid him. Will had gotten her current location by using his connection in MCA as they informed him that June had gone for some audition with her agent.

After coming near the theatre, Will parked his car outside and got out of the car. As he headed towards the theatre, the crowd around him started to increase as people recognised him. Most of them were actors and staff members from the director's team, and they started whispering amongst themselves.

As the ruckus started to increase, Will decided to ignore it and head inside, but he heard a familiar voice calling out to him that made him stop in his tracks.

"Will?"

Will turned around and saw John, June's agent. He was surprised to see Will on here, but soon, his expression shifted from surprise to that of knowingness when he saw Will's worried expression.

"John? Where is June?"

Will asked immediately, to which John responded.

"She's currently in the middle of an audition."

"Then I'll wait for her." Will frowned and said. He had decided to meet June today at any cost, and he would do it.

"I don't think you should wait here. The paparazzi would be here any moment if you keep standing here."

After the news of Will's second movie already being shot came out, the paparazzi and media had been paying extra attention to him and his every move. So it would be a bad idea to wait for June here; there would be all sorts of rumours and speculation just related to his relationship with June, forget about the relationship with the director who was doing the auditions.

"If you would still like to wait for her. We can go to the cafe nearby, and you could talk it out with June when she is done. I understand that you're uncomfortable since she has been ignoring you recently."

John suggested. He was not against Will's and June's relationship anymore and considered Will as someone who could bring changes to Hollywood; for that particular reason, he was extra cautious with June and every matter related to Will.

"How do you know that June has been ignoring me? As far as I know her, she wouldn't tell this to anyone."

Will asked curiously and raised an eye, to which John just smiled and said.

"It's my job to take care of my artists, and I would fail at my job if I couldn't even notice that the artist under me is troubled."

At a nearby cafeteria, Will and John were sitting opposite each other as John ordered a cappuccino for the both of them.

"What's going on with June? She hasn't been picking up my call at all, so I couldn't know even if I wanted to."

Will asked, his chin lying on both his hands.

Sigh*

John sighed and started narrating everything to Will.

"June has been a lot depressed lately."

"What?" Will paused for a moment, "Why? Did something happen?"

"Well, how should I put it…um, let me be straightforward on this. I think she has an inferiority complex."

Will frowned at that, and although he got the context, he still asked.

"What do you mean? Inferiority complex? From what?"

"From what I've heard, you're directing a big movie and have already gotten a company. Even though [The Blair Witch Project] helped June in her career, it really wasn't too big of a boost. Apart from that, the only good role she got in a movie was [17 Again, which was also possible due to your help. So…"

'So she is feeling left behind…'

Will completed John's sentence in his mind. It was true. Will wasn't paying much attention to June due to having work and being abroad, but that just made her feel the gap between them even more, and now she was in a phase where she was doubting her own capabilities and was conflicted about the question that did she deserve Will with how she was currently?

Although Will himself would never say anything, it couldn't be said about people and the media. Sooner or later, questions would arise regarding whether she was just leeching on Will and was being a gold-digger even though she knew Will from the time when he barely had anything.

"Have you read what the tabloids are writing about you and her these days?"

John asked suddenly, and Will shook his head. From his pockets, he pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

He passed it on to Will, and he was shocked after looking at it.

'Will Evans and June Roberts – How much longer will the relationship go for?'

Will read the article in his mind and couldn't stop himself from feeling infuriated.

The article had compared their relationship to the other famous relationship in Hollywood that had mostly ended in a breakup after engagement or marriage.

It also pointed out how June was not even a B grade actress. Rather than an article, it felt like an attack.

As Will threw the magazine away, John frowned again.

"June is a proud person. She's happy for your success, and I had even seen her praying for it, but it's inevitable that she would feel left behind. Her career is moving slowly, and yours is just moving like a bullet train. You can surely understand how she's feeling, right?"

Will slowly nodded his head, hearing those words.

It was not like there was a problem with her. He was the anomaly here.

"This is my fault. Purely mine. I should have tried to focus on her a little more." He muttered, almost in a tone that said he was angry with himself. "Is this the reason why she's looking so weak these days?"

"Yeah, she's been going from one audition after another. She's been preparing for different roles every day, hoping to at least get a better role. Because of that, her health has been really bad, and she's not even eating much."

Another frown formed on Will's face. But John was still not finished.

"Yesterday, a producer asked her if she could get some investment from you. They are not outright saying it, but they are basically saying that if you get investments from your boyfriend, we will give you a role. It's the worst behaviour, but this is like it in the B and C grade film circle."

In Hollywood, there were circles for everyone, and June had still not broken into the A grade circle, and as John didn't have that many resources, he could only get her auditions in these types of movies.

It was not like the movies were bad. Many of them would be a sleeper hit sometimes, but the atmosphere was certainly not very good.

"Thanks for telling me all this, John. It's a huge help."

"No problem. I just feel like you should have a talk with her."

"I will."

As Will said that, he suddenly saw June entering the cafe. He stood up as she noticed him.

"June, how did you know I was here?" John was a bit surprised.

"I heard a commotion, and some actors were saying that they saw you here, so I was looking around."

She said with her eyes glancing at John, asking what he had told Will. But he was deliberately not looking at her.

Seeing this, Will sighed before grabbing her arm and walking to the door.

"Will, what are you doing?"

"Let's get out of here."

"But I need to wait for the audition–"

June stopped talking as Will turned back suddenly. He smiled towards her before sighing.

"John will handle all that. It's been so long since I have seen you, and I want to spend some time with you."

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Chapter 74:

"Where are we going?"

June asked, sitting beside him in the car. She knew that Will must have a lot of questions regarding her strange behaviour. But she didn't know how to break the ice.

"You will know."

"Okay. Well, I'm sorry. I am acting strange these days. It's because I am doing a lot of auditions and in one of them, the director–"

"Don't worry about it. As I said, we can talk after I stop the car."

Will interrupted June mid-sentence and said. There was a strange expression on his face, and June was worried, seeing him like this. But she still sat quietly.

He drove for a while, and suddenly, he parked beside a restaurant. Seeing the familiar restaurant, June couldn't help but glance at Will.

"It's the Lakeside restaurant. Remember I called you here to talk about [The Blair Witch Project]?"

"Yeah, but why are we here?"

"I just thought it would be a good place to talk. Especially with the memories associated with this place."

June nodded her head, and they walked inside. Fortunately, the waiter didn't recognize him. Though, he did glance at him a few times, finding them quite familiar.

They soon got a seat close to the window and sat down.

"What do you want to order?"

Will asked, but June shook her head. Slowly, she parted her lips and said.

"I think we should talk before we eat. I know you have questions, and let me explain myself. I was not ignoring you or anything. There were just a lot of auditions I needed to prepare for and…"

He stopped her from saying anything more by waving his hand.

"John already told me everything."

"What?" June yelped in a louder tone this time.

"How you felt inferior because I was moving too fast in my career, how you felt like you weren't enough, how the tabloids were bothering you."

"Will, I…"

June hesitated to speak while cursing John in her mind. She had told him several times not to tell Will anything, but her agent had betrayed her in the end.

"I know you are angry at John but don't be. It's good that he told me because I know you would have never told me the truth."

June didn't say anything hearing that. Her expression dimmed, and she sighed after a moment of silence. Lowering her head, she spoke after a minute.

"I… I just didn't know what to say. Yes, I was bothered, and sometimes I felt like I wasn't equal to you; I felt like I didn't deserve you. It was like I was chasing your shadow and failed in it."

Will didn't blame June for her thoughts. Other girls in Hollywood would indeed feel like they had hit the jackpot after getting him as a boyfriend.

They would even use every opportunity to get him to help them in their career. With him being a director, he could at least give the lead actress role in his movie.

But June hadn't said anything like that, neither did she ask for any favours.

It was because she wanted to stand on her own. She was too proud of a person to rely on Will, especially when everyone thought that she would use her connection with Will to get better roles in Hollywood.

"Still, June, you should have told me about it. Nothing good comes out with not speaking up. In a relationship, communication is the key."

Will voiced out with a little bit of anger. He wasn't happy with himself because he had not noticed June's growing inferiority complex, yet he chose to ignore it. However, he still felt she could have at least said something.

"I know that. I'm sorry, but I just felt like I would be able to get a lead role sooner or later, then I can talk about it with you."

He sighed, his anger released. There was no point blaming anyone here. It won't solve the situation.

Glancing around the restaurant, he smiled weakly and asked.

"Do you remember the first time we met?"

"Yeah."

"The first thought in my mind that day was that I was meeting with a beautiful girl. Though, I never expected things to go so fast, it almost felt rushed."

June nodded her head to that and chuckled.

"Yeah, even I was shocked. It happened so fast that I felt like I was making a mistake. After all, we had only known each other for a little over a month. But it just felt right."

Will agreed with her and said, "Yeah, cause I know that the relationship is different. It's not like I never had relationships in the past. Maybe because of that, the paparazzi articles never bothered me."

He had a few relationships before transmigrating to this world, and even the previous owner of this body had exes. But June was still the best among every girl he knew.

He continued his words seeing that she was listening intently.

"It's just I know that you are not with me for money. I know you better than anyone else, so there's no way that thought will cross my mind. Those paparazzi articles are bullshit, and I will even sue them first thing tomorrow morning."

The last line wasn't a baseless threat. Since he had read the article, he was always going to sue the company.

Hollywood celebrities had a history of suing paparazzi, so Will won't even be the first on the list.

"As for you feeling inferior, I know the feelings won't go away easily. But I also know that you are a great actress and you will be one of the leading actresses in the whole of Hollywood one day, earning millions from just one role. This will happen with or without me supporting you!" He sighed before adding. "And I know you feel like the distance between us is growing, and I will be honest, I plan to direct and produce even more movies from now on. So, it's inevitable that anyone with me might feel it more and more. But I'm not going anywhere or changing into someone else. I'm still here with you!"

As Will said all that in a serious tone, June couldn't help but feel a warm feeling. A little bit of clarity returned to her as she found herself silly for worrying over such stuff.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I made you worried, right?"

June asked as her face relaxed to a brighter tone, and at the corner of her eyes, he could spot droplets of tears.

"More than that, I thought you would break up with me. It was pretty scary."

"I will never."

She chuckled, and for a moment, she didn't say anything, slowly thinking of something in her mind. After a while, June brightly smiled and opened her lips.

"You know, I will become that top actress one day, and at that time, I will make sure you can rely on me."

"There is a lot of noise around this project since it's the first time we will see you as a romantic hero. But how do you see this movie, and why did you think this was the perfect role for you?"

Jared smiled brightly hearing that question. He was currently in an interview with one of the leading celebrity magazines, 'Hollywood Now'.

This was a part of Z studios and ICM marketing plan for his movie, and it was working well for now. There was a genuine curiosity about his image change, and he enjoyed every moment of it.

"I always wanted to do a romantic comedy after going through so many intense roles in different movies, and [Sleepless in L.A.] seemed like the perfect film. The main character has everything in his life, but he still spends sleepless nights because he doesn't have any love. I feel like it was a charming but vulnerable character, and this suits me a lot."

The Reporter smiled at his answer and went on to the next question. But this one made Jared's face furious, and he could barely conceal it.

"There are rumours that you were in talks with Will Evans for a role in his next movie before signing this movie. Do you regret losing out on it as it is being touted to be a big project?"

The Reporter had asked this question mainly to get a headline out of Jared, and unfortunately, he even fell for it.

"Regret?" Jared laughed, shaking his head. "I was actually happy I didn't get this role. Will is a good innovative director, and his first movie did well, but I think it's pretty soon for him to direct a multi-million dollar movie."

"So, by your tone, it seems like you rejected the role contrary to what we heard."

Jared nodded, and the Reporter couldn't help but smile, thinking about the article he would write.

"The role was good enough, and I feel that Will's scriptwriting ability is top-notch, but we couldn't come to a common ground, and I rejected the role."

"But apparently, Ewan Rees is now playing that character?"

Jared's face contorted hearing that. He finally realized that the Reporter was trying to throw him into the fire.

He could downplay Will, and seven out of ten people would even agree with him because the latter still had a lot to prove.

But he can't say anything bad about Ewan, a more experienced and famous actor than him. Otherwise, he would just face the wrath of the latter's fans.

"Maybe he liked the character more. Anyway, I'm pretty sure Ewan would play this role very well. Next question, please."

He quickly said and urged the Reporter to go ahead with other questions. The Reporter sighed, moving on with the next question but secretly thinking in his head that this much was enough for a headline.

…

/DreamNote/

Hi y'all, I think there's a misunderstanding between us regarding last week's bonus chapter. There was a mistake in the chapter note, because the first chapter of the two uploaded wasn't of Saturday, but of Sunday itself. There was no chapter on Saturday because of shab-e-barat, neither on webnovel, nor on -.

However, I had some miscommunication with my editor and he misunderstood my words, thus writing something else in the chapter end-note, and because I was in a hurry, I didn't read the note. By the time I came to know about it, it was already too late because many of you had read it. I apologise for this misunderstanding, and of the two chapters I uploaded on Sunday, the second chapter was the last week's bonus chapter.

…

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Chapter 75:

Early in the morning, Will slowly opened his eyes, rubbed them and sat upon the bed.

Turning his head, he glanced at the peacefully sleeping June.

They had a great date last night, roamed the city, had a sumptuous dinner, and had a good time in bed together.

They were much closer now than they were ever before.

Over time, Will was sure their relationship would mend. Although, yes, he did agree with what June said to him last night.

Both of them had progressed very fast, but Will didn't have any issues with this. What mattered to him more was their happiness, and this was why he was there with her for a long time.

In the ever-changing currents of the showbiz industry, it's not easy to maintain a low profile trustworthy, secure relationship, and both of them didn't wish for the worst to happen.

After all, a relationship happens with trust and belief. They trusted each other and believed in themselves to not create an untieable knot in this relationship.

Drinking a full glass of water, Will went to freshen up.

June had also woken up by the time he came out and changed his clothes.

"Good morning," She whispered, still cuddled on the bed.

Will moved and sat beside, "Good morning, you should get up now; it's already past 8."

"Hm… let me sleep a bit more." June closed her eyes and cuddled a bit more.

Will shook his head with a smile and added, "Well, I will have to leave soon. They are working on [Sherlock Holmes] movie themes, and I want to see everything to the end. Also, the [17 Again] should also be coming out soon; gotta prepare for that too."

June smiled, "Don't forget me in all this."

Will pecked on her forehead, "As if."

June narrowed her eyes, "You think you will get away just with this?"

A few hours later, Will entered his office.

The next few months were going to be very busy because two movies he is associated with are going to be released, back to back.

First, [17 Again] will be released very soon, and then, after a few months, [Sherlock Holmes] will be released.

Right now, the post-production will begin, with Jeffrey's wife, Emilia, leading the editing of the movie. After working together on [The Blair Witch Project, he trusted her style a lot.

For this project, she even had a team assigned to her by Foxstar as the scale of the movie was way higher than a camcorder horror movie.

This also meant that the soundtrack of the movie needed to be added. They had already decided on one, and it was by a female composer called Tracy Connolly. She used the initials TC as her stage name.

The soundtrack of [Sherlock Holmes] was very important because it was pretty good in the original. Almost at the level where one can say it's the soundtrack of [Sherlock Holmes] after playing it.

Will even felt like it was pretty underrated in the original.

To maintain its quality, he went through 9 trial tracks by different composers before deciding this one by TC.

The main reason was that it was a little similar to the original one in the vibes, making listeners excited slowly.

Another thing that they started was beginning the marketing for [Sherlock Holmes]. As it was an adaption from a classic and not an original, Foxstar wanted to create some hype for it at least a month before the release.

That's why they slowly leaked some set images, especially of Rachel as Irene, Ewan as Lord Blackwood and Levi Richards as Watson. Seeing these huge stars in a movie together, the topic created a buzz among various movie forums.

And just hours after this 'leak', Foxstar revealed the title of their next movie. Until now, it was all under wraps, but as soon as it was announced that a new Holmes movie would release in just a month, the public went into a frenzy.

They were getting a Holmes movie after more than a decade! At most, many people wondered if it would even be any good, but the famous actors' set images were enough to make them hopeful.

It especially reached the top of real-time search rankings on Sparrow, the Twitter of this world.

One of these tweets was by a famous movie critic @CriticCye. Below his tweets about the announcement of [Sherlock Holmes, many people were commenting furiously.

-A new Sherlock movie! Is it an April fool's joke??

-No, it's true. There are set photos, and I know Ewan Rees was making his comeback soon, but I never thought it would be a Sherlock movie.

-Oh my god! I still remember the disaster I watched back in my childhood. They ruined Watson hard!

-Just hoping it won't be as bad as the last one.

-I'm actually excited for this one. Set leaks look fabulous, and it at least seems like it's London of the old.

-I'm more excited for Rachel. Which role is she playing?

-You all know that this is a huge production. Around 80 million dollars is being spent on just this one film, and Foxstar is really going all out on this one. I hope Hollywood finally gets a well-deserved franchise!

-It's not Foxstar! You all blind fucks ignored Will Evans as the director? Don't tell it's a detective horror?

-Sherlock is going to hunt zombies and fight ghosts in this one? Let's go!!

-Let me tell you something. My friend working in Foxstar told me that Will Evan's Dream Vision is fully producing the movie. It doesn't have any other stockholders, so he's basically pumping out every bit of money he got from his first movie.

-He sure is confident!

-Who is playing Sherlock, though? Ewan or Levi didn't look like it.

-Yeah, they have not revealed the lead yet. I guess it's another big star, and they are going to reveal it in a few hours?

-I can't wait!!!

Basically, everyone was talking about it. Soon, the media got a sniff of it and started posting articles all over the internet.

Most of the earlier ones just contained the basic information revealed by Foxstar officially and set images.

But there were many important questions still hidden, like who was playing what role? Who was Holmes? Why is Will suddenly directing a Holmes movie? And why had it gambled almost all of his income?

To find the answers, the media started using all sorts of contacts to at least get a little bit of information. In just a day, an article was published in Entertainment weekly.

It had a clickbait title, and it instantly became a hit. The article was as follows.

[The biggest gamble in Hollywood feat Will Evans, Micheal Robert Elrod and a franchise that could be a dream.]

Just yesterday, Foxstar revealed arguably the most awaited of their releases this year. [Sherlock Holmes] – a movie that is a bad stigma for every moviegoer in the 90s now being revamped with a high budget of 80 million dollars.

After the announcement of this, Holmes fans went wild, anticipating the movie's release they never thought they would get. Every studio in Hollywood knew the franchise level. In the last decade, no one was courageous enough to take up the topic of what it could become.

Then came a wonder boy, Will Evans. Someone who made 200 million dollars out of almost nothing. An innovative movie that broke norms and gave rise to a flurry of young filmmakers wanting to do the same.

But after the wondrous start, the time came for his second project, and he took a gamble. He betted literally every penny he earned from his first movie into a project that might really break or make his career.

On top of it, he amassed a group of actors that could easily pull a crowd to any movie—especially Ewan Rees, someone who's the pickiest in choosing a project in Hollywood.

But it didn't end here.

Apparently, the lead of the movie. The actor playing the lead is an unknown guy, Micheal Robert Elrod. Will liked him and was a fan of his acting in short roles he had in his career which gave him the iconic role.

It is almost baffling that Foxstar was okay with this.

Maybe they weren't, but they saw the same thing the young director did in the unknown guy—some kind of spark – something that only directors can see.

Anyway, in any case, it's a gamble, and maybe, it's the biggest gamble seen in Hollywood in the last decade.

Blockbuster or bankruptcy – There's no middle ground for Will Evans from here!

After this article was released, it was read by over a million people in just a day. After knowing that Will had spent every bit of penny on this project and had gotten an unknown actor to play Holmes, people were baffled and confused; some even found it funny.

This was never seen before, and it had come from a director who was far from graduating film school last year.

But whatever it was, people were indeed curious.

That's what Foxstar and Will were aiming for. Will the movie really work? Or it's curtains down on Will's career.

Those questions were in every movie fan's mind, and every day, they just increased.

…

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Chapter 76:

Foxtar and Dream Vision had begun the promotion of the [Sherlock Holmes] movie.

Making a great use of the media, they had focused on creating a buzz for the movie, and have even released two different posters of the movie by now.

One of the posters had Robert standing at the front, donning a embroidered Black frost coat, high pants, leather belt and standing with his hands in his pocket, messy hairstyle and a slight smirk, showing great confidence.

Behind him, stood Levi Richards, with his chin and one eyebrow raised, he wore a black bowler hat, a gentleman's suit, and brown leather gloves. He had his walking stick on his shoulder and his lips pursed a little. It gave off a more calm and dependable vibe.

The poster alone showed a lot of chemistry among the two.

Another thing was the faces of Rachel as Irene Adler and Ewan as Blackwood in the background.

When the movie posters were released, they also released individual posters of most of the actors, and unexpectedly, more than the movie poster, the individual posters created much more buzz.

Especially the one of Robert's.

He had a titled black hat, small black glasses lowered on his nose, his head was leaned a bit forward, so his eyes were staring at the front above the glasses, his expression was much more serious, with close to his mouth was the iconic smoke pipe with light smoke enveloped around it, and the addition of the overcoat added an even more mysterious charm to Robert.

On the posters were big words – Sherlock Holmes

And below it, were – Micheal Robert Elrod

To keep the buzz on, they soon released a mini clip of Robert and Watson's chemistry. The clip raised the expectations of the viewers by a lot, and it had enough to make everyone interested in the movie, without revealing much about the plot.

"…next we will prepare the trailer and release it to the public. The movie will be released in the first week of June. We will release the trailer next week, and start with the talk show visits by the actors."

The marketing head of the Foxstar Studios, Denice Smith, explained the plan to the others in a dimly lit meeting room.

In the room were Will, James, and a few other members of the marketing team who were responsible for the marketing and advertisements of the [Sherlock Holmes] movie.

"We need to show Robert as the main lead." Will said, "He has the least amount of fame in the whole cast, that's why I want to put a bit more focus on him."

"But don't we want to get audience by using the name of the others like Richard or Rachel?" Someone suggested.

Will nodded, "Of course, we want that, but what I am trying to say is, we must not undermine the role of Robert in this. Don't forget, he's the main character, and he's the focus of this whole film. At the end of the day, he's the one who has the potential to attract most of the viewers."

Denice thought for a moment and added, "We can reveal more behind the scene clips?"

James leaned forward and spoke, "Um, that has a chance of revealing too much of the plot, we can't do that. And we can't use the same scenes in the clips either. What we need is something which will be much more relatable to the audience, and something we can do without risking the revelation of too much scenes."

As he said, something clicked in Will's mind.

"I have an idea," He said, attracting everyone's attention, "Let's call the police."

"…What?" Everyone was confused.

"Why the police?" James asked in confusion, sounding out everyone's thoughts.

Will cleared his throat and said, "Haven't you heard of the campaign that the government is planning to make? We can contact them and collaborate with them."

For record, the government was trying to do a campaign to promote security among the public amidst increasing crime rates. Will's idea was basically to use the government to promote their movies.

After all, a character like Sherlock Holmes would surely attract attention. And was perfect for this type of campaign.

"How so? Oh wait, a promo based on Sherlock Holmes?" Denice asked with a thoughtful expression.

"Exactly." Will nodded, "We can have it like this: due to the sudden rise in crime, the police contacts Sherlock Holmes. And we can add, coming to the cinemas, and promote a bit."

"Hm…" Denice lightly nodded, "We can do something like this, but this one needs to have a very clever script."

Will nodded, "A simple one will do too, what we need is attention, and this promo will be enough to bring it up."

James nodded, "Alright, let's get in contact with the authorities. Let's hope we get something out of this. But how much do you think it will cost?"

"It's a cooperation, not an advertisement." At James' remark, Will replied, "And if things really came to that, then we can pay a bit of an amount for that."

After brainstorming for a while, everyone came to a conclusion that it was a good idea and it would be worth a try.

The meeting finally concluded after some discussions with everyone regarding their opinions on this idea and if anyone had anything better to do to promote the movie. As no one was able to come with anything worthwhile, Will's idea was taken as the one they would go with.

By the time Will was busy in the editing and promotion of [Sherlock Holmes, It was already the third day after the release of [17 Again] – 12th May.

Just at the first day of its release, [17 Again] earned $5 million and it picked up even more from the second day onwards.

Professional critics wrote articles about it while people started commenting their thoughts on forums. Everyone had different opinions yet, the movie just got more popular.

Some reviews got so popular that the critics got their own fan following. A review by Erwin Marshal was as follows.

The characters learn lesson about appreciating family and making smart decisions. But to get there, they nevigate some tricky situations (for instance, a high school senior gets his girlfriend pregnant and gives up college to marry her and find a job, leaving him frustrated and resentful). The direction is just right as a teen rom-com.

Another famous review was by Lisa Hudson.

Even tho it's more references than actual sex/action. It's still unnecessary, considering it's a PG13 movie. A teen girl makes out with her boyfriend frequently. In one scene, a teen girl tries to seduce a guy with animal role-play. Conversations sometimes include sexual innuendoes; one guy hoards condoms because he says he has "needs."

Discussion of abstinence and why it works (or not) for teens. A teen boy kisses a woman old enough to be his mother. A teenage girl gets pregnant, and her high school boyfriend offers to marry her. Girls throw themselves at a guy, essentially offering sex. Adult couple show in bed together. A boy wearing nothing but a shield (nudity implied) walks out of a party.

This is basically a story filled with nonsensical and unrealistic plots.

Apart from the critics themselves, there were many people on the many different websites making comments about the movie.

– I love Drake Redcliff in this movie. He stayed charming throughout his every scene and even got slapped by girls and Ned several times! Haha! I also like the way he stood up in court pretending to read a letter for Scarlet and yet the words came from his heart with teary eyed saying, " …for I love you, I should let you move on." So touching!

– Excellent movie. I would recommend it 10/10 times. Funny, inspirational, message oriented. (Spoiler alert about plot)There is a reason for everything that god gives you. We just have to recognise it. If something had been taken away from your life then it was not meant to be in your life in the first place.

– The only reason I watched the movie was Will Evans. Although he played the bully, I'm sooooo in love with him 3.

On a famous talk show, 2 famous critics were invited and they talked with the host regarding various new movies and stars.

Eventually, the talk about [17 Again] came here too, which the host has been saving up as the cream for the show.

"What do you guys think about the new movie [17 Again]? The movie had received a positive reception from the people and has been raking in money ever since it's release."

The host directed his question towards Addison Atonal and Alice Atonal.

These were a husband wife duo critics who mostly had a different opinion about everything and their critics were on point. They were quite famous as Mr and Mrs Atonal.

The two of them again fought, with the husband being in favor of the movie and the wife being against it.

Soon as the talk show progressed, the topic shifted from the movie, to the director and actors, and eventually came to that one person who was trying to spread himself like a net in Hollywood.

"From screenwriting to directing and even acting. It seems Mr Evans doesn't plan on leaving anything untapped in Hollywood. Haha. I heard about his new movie [Sherlock Holmes]. What do you guys think about that?"

The host asked again. To which Addison replied.

"Of course, it won't be anything much. I agree that he made a fortune out of almost nothing by cleverly using a homemade camera, but that's that.

He nearly can't be enough to direct a franchise that has already failed in the past by big studios. He's being way too overconfident by throwing all the money he had earned in a fool's errand.

Not to mention he made some no name actor as the main lead. It's already a sunken ship I would say. "

Alice frowned at that and immediately retorted.

"Will is a talented young man and he has always delivered the best ever since his debut. I never thought he would be good at acting but see his acting in [17 Again, even seasoned veterans would have trouble delivering such a performance.

And if a movie has made actors like Levi Richards and Ewan Rees into side characters, do you think the main character would be someone who can easily be downplayed? Knowing Ewan Rees, he would never play as a side character when the main lead is worse than him.

We can safely assume that [Sherlock Holmes] is going to be an absolute masterpiece."

Alice completed her point as the camera rolled towards the host.

"Just like them, there is a clear division between the audience who thinks that the movie will be good and the audience that thinks the movie will be bad. In all this, one thing we all can agree on is that all of us are excited as to how things would turn out to be."

The host said as the camera shifted towards the show banner and signaled for a break.

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 77:

After the promotion plan for [Sherlock Holmes] was decided, it was implemented straightaway.

Even without it, many people were talking about it in online forums and almost every reader of Sherlock Holmes novels was curious to see the movie.

But after the promotions started, the discussions increased and the curiosity towards the movie reached the top.

It was not like everyone was looking forward to it. Some critics thought the movie was bound to fail because of the inexperience of the director and lead actor. Though, even those people wanted to see the movie.

If the movie was going to fail, they wanted to know how badly it would fail.

And that was enough for Will.

He knew that after people watched the movie, it would spread by word of mouth. And recently, another one of his movies was spreading by word of mouth.

It was [17 again].

In two weeks, it had earned around 70 million and had already recovered the initial cost. By estimate, it will earn around 140-150 million and that was more than enough for MCA who invested in it.

Benjamin had even called him and said that the movie had worked wonders for the agency and they were now thinking of promoting Drake as the lead figure of the agency.

Even June was in the limelight in MCA.

In just a year, she had been part of two movies which had crossed 100 million in the box office. It was not a small feat and now, higher ups in MCA were finally thinking of her.

Benjamin had told him that they would try to get her in some more movies in supporting roles while thinking of a good movie for her to be the lead of.

This was the best news for Will.

Although he had plans to get her into his agency at first, he could only give up on it for now. She wanted to stand on her own so MCA would be the best place for her.

At least unlike a certain agency, he had a good relationship with it.

[17 again] also had an effect on him and after seeing his role in the movie, he had even got offers to act as the lead in some movies.

Will was very well aware that it wasn't because of his acting. After all, his role wasn't the most complex one or something. It was that of a bully. Nothing more, nothing less.

Those studios and directors just wanted to use his popularity for the benefit of their movies. After all, he was the man who was taking the biggest gamble in Hollywood.

That line had become a tag with his movie and to promote it, Foxstar had even released another poster with the same tagline under the title.

They were promoting the movie as such, completely confident of the quality.

Like this, many days went by. After finishing the editing with Emilia, the trailer of [Sherlock Holmes] was uploaded and it got 12 million views in just a week.

The people who were sceptical about Robert were hugely impressed and the movie's tone and Holmes' quirky nature were discussed a lot.

They have included the fight scene and Holmes getting knocked up in the scene and it was one of the most highlighted scenes.

A lot of British fans were overjoyed that the Holmes in the trailer matched one in the books. They didn't care about the actor's popularity and just wanted a good Holmes movie.

The movie got a lot of support from them.

The move with police also worked out. They agreed to get him to shoot a promo but they didn't let Foxstar use their logo or anything about the movie. But it was enough.

The government was getting Sherlock Holmes and Robert was getting exposure.

The promo was basically a 30 second clip of Robert saying to be safe in Holmes style. To promote it, he and Levi Richards even spent a day solving Really small crimes with the police for a day.

Of course, they were in their Holmes and Watson character and were even wearing their costumes.

A video of Robert trying to rescue a cat from a tree even went viral.

With this, he was also appearing on talk shows and was becoming more and more popular. Dream Vision had gotten him a 'blue tick' on Sparrow and they were promoting the talk shows clips on his profile.

Especially the clip of him describing how he got knocked up during the shooting. It was truly hilarious, "Well, I tried hard to be the lead. You know cocky and all that, so I thought let's do the fight myself. Next second, I was on the ground. Best punch I ever got."

Will was happy hearing him like that. After getting his confidence, he was acting like the RDJ he knew of.

It was a great thing for him considering he wanted Robert to play the iconic role of Tony Stark in the upcoming years.

In the screening that had happened for just the Foxstar shareholders and executives, there were nothing but praises for the movie.

Even the ones who didn't like Robert as the lead or Will as the director.

Spencer had even said that he wants to invest in the sequel and they can straightaway sign the sequel contract. Will of course won't allow it.

He knew the potential the best. Unlike Spencer who thought the movie will earn over 300 million dollars, Will knew that it will earn at least 500 million.

The figure was something that only a few Hollywood movies had reached.

After the box office numbers were out, he could ask for way more benefits. And in Hollywood, it was all about benefits.

On the day of the premier that happened just for the journalists and celebrities, many people gathered.

It was just two days before the real premier but a lot of critics were called and literally everyone appeared. After all, they all wanted to know how the movie would be.

Some of them went expecting it to be bad and others found it promising, at least from the trailer.

Lucas Hunt was such the former. He was a movie critic that literally destroyed movies in his reviews, no matter the director or actor.

70 percent of his reviews were bad and he had even given bad reviews to Oscar winning directors which got him too much hate but in his views, he was only being a critic.

'I can't say it's good if I don't like it.'

That was his mentality.

He never felt that someone like Will was a good director. For [The Blair Witch Project, he praised the innovation and the acting, but completely roasted the storyline and felt it was another bad horror movie only saved by the innovative technique.

He felt like [Sherlock Holmes] would be the same.

And as soon as he saw Will on the premier greeting everyone, he went up to him and directly said.

"Don't expect a good review from me. I have already thought of one and my words won't be light."

The newbie director, only two movies old in Hollywood, just smiled and asked in return.

"What if the movie is good?"

"That won't happen. I don't expect it to be at least."

"You should keep an open eye. Maybe you might even like the movie."

After that, they didn't talk during the event. Will was aware of Lucas Hunt as he was one of the most infamous critics. He had even seen his review of his first movie and even agreed with it a little.

But [Sherlock Holmes] was different. And the next day, in his review of it, Lucas definitely kept an open eye.

: A movie which could be the start of a franchise and maybe, one of the best ones this year.

-Lucas Hunt]

That review was enough for many of his regular followers to wonder if he was paid. But knowing his past, they all assumed that it was really the movie which was good.

Like him, there were more critics too.

: Watch it, by all means, for a dazzling visual feast, but be warned, this Sherlock is more show than tell.]

: I was pleasantly surprised. It's what the world wants and deserves. Robert did a great job, although it didn't have the exact novel-image Sherlock.]

: Sherlock Holmes sets the bar for the detective subgenre in a bold, refreshingly auteur-driven manner.]

: Will Evan's self-possessed direction digs into the character with gravitas and precision, making for a reinvigorating return to basics]

: The century's biggest gamble – Will Evan's may have truly defied the odds with this one and cemented his name in the Hollywood]

: A newbie director, a newbie male lead, and a thrilling two hours of mystery and intrigue.]

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 78:

Larry Davies was a Briton who was staying in America due to his job. Although the job was tiring and made him exhausted every day, he had only one reason to bear with it every day. It was the books and novels that he had piled up at his apartment.

He was an avid reader of books and classic novels and was working just for the sake of earning enough to buy these books and feed himself to continue living and reading such masterpieces.

One of such books was the story of the famous detective that appeared in the books of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Detective Sherlock Holmes. Larry was a fan of Sherlock Holmes since his childhood and always loved the quirky yet chivalrous tales of the genius detective.

He had long since wished to watch the character of Sherlock Holmes come to life via movies or television shows, but his wish was brutally played with as no one in the film industry wanted to take on this wonderful franchise due to a previous flop movie.

That's why, the moment Larry heard about Foxstar's announcement of the release of a new movie based on the Legendary Sherlock Holmes, he didn't even have to think twice before booking the tickets to watch the movie.

After all, all he ever wished for was a good portrayal of the movie, and as it was being distributed by Foxtar and had such a big budget, he thought that it would at least be much better than the previous one.

6th June 2011

The bulk of people who had come to watch the first-day first show was surprisingly massive for an average cineplex. Or so, Larry thought as he had come for the first-day first show for many movies, but it wasn't so crowded most of the time.

There were many people who had Sherlock Holmes posters in their hands as if they were a cheerleading squad for the movie. All the people were waiting for the signal from the security there to enter the cineplex. And as soon as they got the signal, everyone raided the canteen to buy popcorn and cold drinks to eat and drink during the movie.

The prices were inflated like Pinnochio's nose as usual, but no one bothered as they burnt the hard-earned money for the momentary satisfaction and joy of watching one of their favourite characters come to life, and hopefully, much better than its existing counterparts.

After standing in the line for a while, Larry finally got his turn to burn his money– buy some popcorn. After that, he entered the theatre too and found himself a seat.

Soon, the theatre lights turned off, and the huge screen in front lit up. After some commercials and the names of the distribution company, actors, team, producer and the director were shown, the movie finally started.

And as soon as it started, Larry couldn't help but feel shivers of joy continuously speeding from his body due to the sheer excitement he felt at the start of the movie.

The entrance of Sherlock and how he thought of each and every one of his moves before knocking down one guard after the other, and then Watson's entry at the exact point where Sherlock was about to get hit, and Watson came and saved him.

'This is it. This is Sherlock…This is exactly how I imagined Sherlock to be.'

Larry thought inside his head as the movie progressed. Sherlock saved Watson from Lord Blackwood's invisible needle-like weapon in just the nick of time as Watson had let down his guard.

Larry could hear hushed and excited whispers all around him, then the surrounding calmed down again when the scene where Sherlock met with Lord Blackwood in the prison cell.

Everyone couldn't help but be terrified at Blackwood's crazy portrayal and how his face was given the VFX of a ghastly creature when he threatened Sherlock about the unpredictable and helpless future he awaits.

Even the people who had read the book started doubting if Blackwood could really use magic. The movie was just that engaging and thrilling to even fool the experienced readers.

The expressions of people in the theatre kept on changing from all smiles, to feeling excited and to feeling anxious throughout the movie. It was the same for Larry.

As the movie came to its climax and finally at its end, Larry's blood couldn't help but pump furiously when the ending hinted at the existence of Moriarty.

Everyone in the theatre felt their ears and eyes go hot as the movie ended. They had never felt so thrilled in their entire lives, and it took some time before the loud clapping finally died down inside the theatre.

Larry couldn't help but think how it was the most fantastic and fun day of his life today. He came here looking for copper and found the most valuable of gems that will stay in his heart forever.

"The fuck, man, I nearly died from the continuous adrenaline rush, fuck!"

"I know, right! Damn bro, I swear I didn't expect this movie to be such a banger when I got its ticket."

"Honey, I can't believe it! I never thought I would get to see such a fantastic movie based on my favourite book."

"I don't know. Like, for real, fantastic seems like an understatement to me now. The movie was otherworldly."

"I am damn sure I can never accept any other actor as Sherlock after this. Both this Sherlock and Watson duo felt so natural. Like hell, man. I'm still getting goosebumps, look."

"Imma come and watch the movie again with ma girlfriend. Bruh, she didn't come just due to the previous Sherlock movie was bad, but hell, she missed out on the first show, she'll forever regret it, I tell ya."

"Dude, not gonna lie. This movie deserves to get famous. I'm gonna make a post on Sparrow ASAP. This awesomeness needs to be shared with everyone."

Larry couldn't hear the continuous commotion just beside him because he was still enjoying the after-effects of the movie. The thrill inside him was like a bubbling solution begging to break free from a beaker.

'Damn, this… this is gonna take some time.'

Larry thought inwardly as he still couldn't believe he had just watched such a masterpiece.

After calming down for a while, he immediately rushed out and reached his home. Taking out his laptop, he opened his personal blog. It had thousands of followers due to the fact that Larry was a famous movie and novel enthusiast and gave accurate reviews about movies and such that helped people decide if they wanted to watch it or not.

Soon, he typed the post title.

[Sherlock Holmes] – You know what? This movie fucking discombobulated everyone!

Outside a famous theatre in LA, a couple were bickering over something.

"Jude, I am telling you. I saw the trailer of [Sleepless in LA, and I absolutely loved it! Let's go watch that."

The guy, Jude, disagreed immediately.

"No can do. Babe, I swear I really want to watch [Sherlock Holmes, and you haven't watched the trailer, but it was absolutely epic!"

Be it coincidence or deliberate competition, both [Sherlock Holmes] and [Sleepless in LA] were released on the same day. That's why the current bickering was taking place. The girl, Rose, replied in annoyance.

"Really? Now I know why you had so many past relationships that didn't work out. Like you're asking your girlfriend to go watch some detective smarty pants movie with you instead of a romantic movie?"

"No, I-"

Before Jude could come up with a counterargument, a rush of people started to come out from the cineplex. Both movies had ended, and the people who had gone for the first-day first show were coming out.

"How was the movie, babe?"

A couple came out from the theatre that had screened [Sleepless in LA]. The guy asked with slight disappointment on his face to his girlfriend.

"Uh… I guess it was okay-ish? I don't know, haha."

The girl replied awkwardly and failed to hide her disappointment too. Behind them, many such people came out, and most of them had disappointed expressions on their faces.

Just beside them was the theatre which had screened [Sherlock Holmes]. And it didn't take a genius to figure out the expressions on the faces of people that came out of the theatre.

Most of the expressions were excitement and thrill, and people didn't even hide it as they were furiously conversing with their friends and partner about the movie.

"Oh boy, oh boy. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined such a thriller, and this is the movie I had been waiting for my whole life without realising it."

"Now, we have a firm grasp of the obvious."

"Hahahaha!"

A boy joked with his friends as they all kept talking about the movie and repeating some of the dialogues of Sherlock and laughed amongst themselves.

Seeing all this, Rose, who was scolding Jude just a minute ago, put her hands in Jude's and smiled.

"Let's go watch the movie my baby wants."

Jude just smiled helplessly as they went inside the theatre, which was going to play the second show of [Sherlock Holmes] for the day.

After the movie was over, Jude and Rose came out, and Rose immediately jumped on Jude and kissed him.

"Thank you so much, darling. I would have missed out on my latest crush if you didn't insist on watching this movie. I swear the bitches that left you must have been blind; you have got a great taste."

Jude didn't say anything else as he was planning a rewatch of the movie inside his head. This time with his homies.

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 79: [Bonus Chapter]

The next day, Will directly went to Foxstar's office in the morning. He wanted to see the box office data for [Sherlock Holmes] for himself.

Reaching the building, he directly went up to Spencer's office. The old man had told his secretary to call Will directly to his office.

It seemed like he had already taken a look at the box office numbers.

Either it was a failure, or it was a big hit. There was no scenario where Spencer would call Will to talk to him, and he was sure that it would be the latter.

"Hahaha, Will. Come in."

When he entered his office, the old man was laughing.

Will guessed the results from his tone and walked up to him. Sitting in front of him, he said.

"It seems like the box office numbers are not bad?"

"They are certainly not bad. In fact, they are way over our estimates."

"How much are they?"

As he asked, Spencer just put forward a document. It was the sheet of a file containing various data of the collections in theatres all around the North American box office.

Taking a peek at them, Will's mouth couldn't help but curve up.

"15 million dollars on the first day itself."

That number was far above the estimates made by Foxstar, which were 10 million dollars for the first day.

"Yeah, and the foreign box office numbers are great too."

As Spencer said that, Will turned over the page and was stunned to see that [Sherlock Holmes] had made over 9 million dollars in the foreign box office.

Particularly in England where more than 6 million dollars business had been done.

"If it continues like this, the movie will recover the marketing and production cost just this week."

"Yes." Spencer nodded his head. "The box office figures are just going to improve with word of mouth, and I am sure the box office numbers will cross 300 million dollars."

Will just smiled hearing that. Three hundred million dollars might be the estimation of Spencer, but he knew that the movie would earn more than 500 million.

Maybe even more thanks to the lack of good [Sherlock Holmes] movies in this world.

"Anyway, I called you here not just because of the box office numbers. But also, I wanted to talk about signing the sequel rights. I think we should announce the sequel two or three weeks from now when the box office numbers are dying to create interest again. After all, the first film hinted at a sequel."

Will shook his head hearing those words. Spencer might be right, but a sequel deal now would happen, keeping the estimated box office of the first movie in mind.

If that happened, Will would lose out since the estimation wasn't as much as what the real box office turn out will be.

"No, I think we should wait a while. I think the box office numbers won't be below in just a few weeks."

"But a contract won't hurt." Spencer said, "I am just saying it to fuel the hype the audience has for this franchise, and with the announcement of the sequel, I am sure more viewers will be interested."

Will shook his head, "No, now is not the time to sign a contract. And the hype that you're talking about won't turn out as it did just now in your head."

Spencer pursed his lips; suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind, which made him change his expression.

Without any hesitation, he asked Will, "Are you… looking for any other studio?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I said," Spencer cleared his throat, "Are you looking for a different partner for the sequel…?"

Will shook his head, "No, no, it's not like that. It's just not the right time yet to sign the contract. Don't worry about it."

"Oh…" Spencer reluctantly nodded. Though he couldn't quite understand what Will meant 'the right time.'

'Shouldn't he make the best use of the moment and secure a deal…?'

It was the next day, and once again, Will was in the office to see the box office data updates.

By now, things were looking much better, and the hype for Sherlock Holmes had begun even more.

'19 Million Dollars in Northern America'

'11 Million Dollars in International.'

About 30 Million in total.

"Nice." Will smiled. The hype was beginning to increase; with just two days, they had crossed the 60 Million mark.

'If this goes on, we might touch 150 Million in the first week.'

Will thought. 150 Million was his first-week goal, to begin with. After removing the cuts of the other distributor and other shares, 150 million would bring back all of the initial investment he had given in his movie.

And after that, the rest was going to be pure profit.

And to make this possible, Will didn't leave any stone unturned.

He had taken the help of the keyboard warriors once again and had begun to influence the online trends.

The Sherlock memes had taken over the internet, putting the online trend in Will's favor.

In fact, even some of the quotes of the movie were now famous, like the one between Sherlock and Watson that happened in a carriage near the climax of the movie.

"You have a weird gift of silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion."

Even more infamous than this was the scene when Lord Blackwood faked his death, and there was someone else's corpse in Lord Blackwood's casket.

"That's not Lord Blackwood." Said Police Officer Lestrade.

Sherlock Holmes nodded while replying in a semi-monotonous response, "Well, now we have the firm grasp of the obvious."

Such marketable dialogues were used to pique people's interests, and these worked like a charm.

On the fourth day after the worldwide release of the movie, the movie crossed the eighty million mark – three times more than the expected figure for the Opening week – and this didn't even include the foreign box office, which added about 47 Million, more than half of which was from Europe alone.

By the fifth day, grossing 27 Million domestically and 12 Million internationally, the movie had reached break-even from the profits and gotten back the millions of invested money back from the box office. Not to forget that this movie had crossed the box office mark of Will's last movie [The Blair Witch Project] of the initial 165 Million by the fifth day.

The initial expectations of 300 Million dollars by Foxstar, which seemed quite preposterous to many, now seemed like an underestimation.

But this just felt like the calm before the storm because the next two days were even more intense on the box office numbers.

And on the morning of the eighth day when Will woke up after a good night's sleep, he saw the text message from Spencer about the opening week's box office earnings.

The total box office hit reached 252 Million – 173 Million in North America and 79 Million worldwide!

Now, many believe that at this rate, by the end of the box office run, Sherlock Holmes will become this year's first movie to hit the $500 Million mark – a seemingly impossible number to many.

It was an insane figure. With hundreds of movies releasing yearly in Hollywood and thousands worldwide, [Sherlock Holmes] had received the biggest opening week turnover for the year.

The Sherlock Holmes movie had officially kickstarted the start of a franchise and made everyone expectant of this new storm that had taken the world by surprise.

Robert's fame had skyrocketed, and he was instantly among the B rank celebs from being a nobody in the industry.

The fans loved his quirky acting, and his live-show appearance and fan meetings made it seem like he was literally the exact person of how he acted in the movie.

There were two other people in the spotlight, one of them being Levi Richards, who had played Dr Watson. His role as the famous detective's sidekick received critical acclaim, and it was said, and I quote, "Levi Richard's Dr Watson was a breath of fresh air, and the chemistry he held with his partner, Sherlock Holmes, played by Micheal Robert Elrod, put the movie on a whole new pedestal. It won't be wrong to say that without this Watson, this movie wouldn't have felt 'complete.'"

The last person who was under the limelight was the Director and Producer of the movie – Will Evans, now nicknamed, The Biggest Gambler and Hollywood's New Face!

It was no secret that he had gambled everything he had to create this movie, and he had won this gamble.

Will Evans, the young director, had now solidified his position in the ruthless industry of showbiz and was now the centre of attention.

Even his role in the movie [17 Again, though simple, was praised by many fans – however, it was hard to say whether it was because of his acting or the current hype he had around him.

There were many baseless rumours about him sprouting every day.

Some articles said that he was a playboy and would give actresses roles if they slept with him, while others said he was already done writing down the script for his next movie.

There were even rumours about him and Robert.

After all, it was strange as to why Will had cast an unknown face in a multi-million dollar movie. Many people thought that Robert had actually given him money to cast him, and others thought that he was gay and Robert had slept with him.

Obviously, Robert had clarified his first meeting with Will in talk shows, but that still didn't stop people from thinking about weird things.

In the end, even Dream Vision had to post a statement talking about the reasons behind Robert's casting as Holmes.

…

/DreamNote/

This was this week's bonus chapter

Earn for the upcoming week by voting powerstones daily!

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Chapter 80:

As [Sherlock Holmes] earned more and more money at the box office, it had a major effect on the release dates of the movies scheduled close to it.

Allen Pictures, one of the Big 6 studios in Hollywood, had scheduled a crime drama named [A Bullet on the Streets] just a week after the release of [Sherlock Holmes, but the movie was postponed by two weeks.

The same thing happened with Jim Parkinson, an Oscar-winning actor's new movie [Puzzling Ways]. It should be noted that this movie had already received various awards in film festivals, so [Sherlock Holmes] becoming the reason to postpone its release date was big news.

Some media networks even covered it, saying that no investor wants to face the juggernaut that is [Sherlock Holmes].

When the big fishes had decided to avoid the shark, the small ones had no choice but to do the same.

But there was one movie that couldn't avoid the direct hit.

It was the only movie that was released on the same day as [Sherlock Holmes] – Jared Morgan's [Sleepless in LA].

Needless to say, by the first week at the box office, the movie had tanked at the box office.

The public reaction was bad, with people often commenting that Jared failed to show any charm as a leading man in a rom-com. Even the female actress was just pretty with no substance.

Z studios paid a lot of critics for good reviews, but the box office was just 6.72 million in the first week.

The movie cost 30 million dollars to make, and now, makers wondered if they could even break even.

Compared to that, the first week's gross of over 250 million dollars for [Sherlock Holmes] seemed like Mount Everest in front of a hut.

Many people attached to [Sleepless in LA] were crying their eyes out and bashing their heads on the wall, thinking about the money they had lost.

Some of the investors had even decided to never work with Jared Morgan again. And when this news reached Jared's ears, he couldn't help but swear.

"Fuck!! Fuck!! Fuck!! They really think that the entire fault is mine! The script was just bad, and this role was too blank for me to do much!"

He shouted and threw the coffee mug on his desk on the wall. It shattered into pieces as Perry, his agent, tried to calm him down.

"Jared, it's just a movie. Don't worry about it. You are too big of a star to get dented by a failure."

Perry waved his hands dismissively, but Jared's expression didn't change.

"It's not that, for fucks sake! After this, no one will give me a role in a romantic comedy, much less as the lead. Investors are picky, and they don't forget. I would be stuck playing supporting roles and villain roles for a long time!"

One thing that Jared hated was being typecast, and it was something that had happened to him for too long. Even his agency hadn't helped, saying that this role suited him.

But the reality was that Jared had not one iconic role.

He had been playing villains and supporting acts here and there and had managed to touch the boundary of A-lister.

Still, no iconic roles and not once his movies had become something like a phenomenon. A movie that will be remembered for a long time.

Thinking that he suddenly thought of [Sherlock Holmes] and the time he had been given a chance to play Lord Blackwood.

"How much money did [Sherlock Holmes] earn at the box office in the first week?"

To not let Jared see the public reaction online, ICM had not allowed him to access the internet, and the only information he had was from the few news articles that Perry had shown him.

"Uh, well…" Perry's expression changed after hearing the question. He didn't know how to tell Jared this. "They earned over 200 million and would reach the 300 million mark in two days."

"What??"

"Yeah, it's been a huge hit and would probably cross 500 million at the box office…"

As those words fell on his ears, Jared couldn't help but feel infuriated. More than what he had felt at the investors.

He had a chance at being a part of a movie that would earn 500 million dollars. Till now, he had not seen [Sherlock Holmes, but by the script, it was really good, and even the role offered to him was great.

But he had lost the role because Perry had told him that the Director was too arrogant and inexperienced. He had even said that the movie would surely tank at the box office and history would repeat itself.

But the exact opposite had happened.

'If only I was not greedy for the lead role… No, if only Perry had not convinced me to not do this movie…'

Jared thought about the various 'What Ifs' in his mind and frowned before clenching his fist.

Seeing his expression, Perry quickly tried to explain.

"Jared, listen to me… I know the role…"

"You asshole!!"

Before Perry could even finish the sentence, Jared had punched his face, making him fall to the ground.

The next day, a tabloid published an article 'Jared Morgan punched his agent after knowing [Sherlock Holmes] box office numbers'.

After the second week, the box office collections of [Sherlock Holmes] reached 478 million dollars in total and had long since recovered every single production and marketing cost.

Seeing this, movie analysts had already predicted that it would run for at least 20-30 weeks and would earn around 800-900 million dollars at the box office.

They were almost thrice more than the initial estimates, and every day, Dream Vision's office seemed to be in a party fever.

Will had already announced bonuses, and the staff was just happy that they had a huge hit under their belt.

But not all people were happy with their success.

Z studios were particularly flabbergasted by the phenomenal success of [Sherlock Holmes]. After all, they were the ones who originally had the rights to the franchise.

When Amanda had bought the rights, some executives were happy to get 'free money by selling junk. But they didn't know the junk would ultimately earn so much money.

The cherry on the top was that their movie [Sleepless in LA] had failed, and a movie whose rights they had sold had become a worldwide sensation.

Reportedly, Josh Booth even fired the guy who had made the deal of [Sherlock Holmes] rights. He had even called lawyers to see if they could make a claim on the rights by hook or crook.

But there was nothing they could do legally.

They had lost the rights to potentially a billion-dollar franchise. And every week, more salt was getting sprinkled on their wounds.

Two weeks collection: 478 million dollars.

Three weeks collection: 623 million dollars.

Four weeks collection: 705 million dollars.

As the fourth-week collection came out, Foxstar hosted a success party for the movie. Every employee of Dream Vision and Foxstar was called. Even some prominent actors, directors and musicians appeared.

Robert, Ewan, Levi and Rachel were the stars of the night, and they were all surrounded by people.

Robert, in particular, was asked to dance by a lot of girls, and many directors and producers wanted to talk to him to discuss a movie.

He was a little awkward at first, but he nevertheless enjoyed the attention.

But as the night was moving along, one name was nowhere to be seen and that was Will, the extraordinary Director of the movie.

He was sitting in a room, far from the party, discussing the sequel contract with Spencer Miller.

"Will, I know what potential it has, but 42 percent shares in the North America Box office and 20 in foreign is too much. We won't be able to earn much with this ratio."

Spencer argued, but Will was not going to listen to the words of the old man.

"You know that my movies are worth the price. [Sherlock Holmes] is already Foxstar's most profitable movie in the last ten years, and it's nowhere near finishing its run at the box office. Moreover, this contract will be for the two sequels. Not just one. If the next movie did better than the current one, then the ratio will just increase."

As Will explained that, Spencer's expression changed. He had tried to share the investment for the next movie, but Will wasn't willing.

He wanted full control over the movies under him, and it was basically his way to control Foxstar's influence.

"But you won't be directing the sequel, right?"

Spencer countered.

"The script is written by me, and I will complete it soon. I can bet that it would be better than the first movie, so you don't have to worry about the quality. As for directing, I will find a good enough Director."

"It's not that easy to find a director who can direct a multi-million dollar project."

"I know, but Hollywood has a lot of talent, and I'm not going to just hand over the movie to someone whose skills I don't trust. Moreover, the share ratio is also because of Robert."

"What?"

Spencer made a confused expression while Will explained with a smile.

"His brand value is of an A-lister now, and it's still increasing. You must know that Robert had made a contract with Dream Vision and is under us now."

Spencer's expression hardened. Will was basically telling him that Foxstar had no direct control over the franchise. The contract they had done was for only one movie.

It was because of its scepticism that it had become a major mistake.

If Spencer rejects Will's offer, the latter could just go to some other distributor. Right now, every studio in the Big 6 wants to associate themselves with the Holmes franchise.

In the end, Spencer had no way but to nod his head.

"Alright, Will, you got me this time. I accept the terms."

…

/DreamNote/

Que. What can not hurt Chris Rock?

Ans. Will Power

Chapter 81:

The following day, after freshening up, Will directly opened his laptop and started going through the top articles. Most of them had a new top headline.

[Sherlock Holmes] sequel officially declared to come in 2012-13.

In recent weeks, [Sherlock Holmes] has become the biggest dark horse. It's the birth of a new billion-dollar franchise, and the audience is welcoming it with their arms wide open. After the abysmal failure of the Z Studio's [Detective Sherlock Holmes] in the 90s, no other director took on the challenge of directing such an intriguing yet tough movie.

On the other hand, the star rookie director, now called by many names such as the biggest gambler of Hollywood, Hollywood's New Face, etc., took on this adventurous task and delivered a movie so amazing that the audience's faces have gone 'Wow'.

Yes, not only had he cleared his name of being a one time star in Hollywood, but he also proved his worth by delivering another blockbuster on a whole different level than his previous one. All the accusations from the critics who said he can only direct a movie in the first person were proven wrong by his masterpiece and precisely directed movie, [Sherlock Holmes].

From the set to shooting, editing, music, and even the actors, everything went in such a flow that it was hard to point out any flaws. The movie had crossed the $700 million mark, which nobody had crossed in the last three years and its box office was still in counting. Fans have been waiting for news regarding the sequel as the first movie's climax clearly succeeded in teasing the audience with a sequel.

And today, Foxtar has officially announced the sequel of the movie. And not just one, but two sequels. One will be released in late 2012 or early 2013, while the other's release date is still unofficial, but it's predicted to come around 2016.

With this news out, fans out there can take a breather and have the peace of mind that they will be getting sequels to this masterpiece, and Will will continue the franchise.

Such types of articles were everywhere, and the audience was going wild. There were even creations of Sherlock Holmes Fanclubs dedicated to the movie [Sherlock Holmes] and the team. Almost everyone in the main cast had had a popularity boost, including Levi Richard, Rachel and Ewan.

Two weeks ago, Ewan had even signed a role for the movie [Birdman] by Simon Vercetti. Robert was one of the people who enjoyed the most significant boost, and he directly became an A-lister.

His fan following increased every day, and his social media gained an immense follower boost. By the time it was the end of 4th week, he already had more than a million followers on Sparrow.

Everyone was very impressed with his acting in [Sherlock Holmes, and many fans went as far as to curse the whole Hollywood industry for not giving a chance to someone like Robert before.

If anyone was considered top in this popularity boost ranking, Will Evans would be the mastermind behind this project.

His social media got even more followers than Robert. Many articles wrote him down as the life changer for struggling actors and said that Will tended to defy odds and bring new faces to Hollywood.

Will was currently seeing the millions of new follower notifications on his laptop and couldn't help but chuckle. These past few weeks have been too hyped. As soon as Will had crossed the $500 million mark, he had received a new notification from the system.

[Congratulations on reaching the $500 million in the total box office in less than six months of screening.]

[Achievement Unlocked: Meant for success (2).]

[Rewards:

50 million fame points

Consumable – [1917] Script ]

Ever since that day, Will wrote down the script for the movie [1917]. It was a great war epic movie that had even gotten an Oscars nomination. Will had decided to write down all the scripts he got from the system, no matter whether he directed the movie. All scripts were for blockbuster movies, and there was no harm in selling the script to someone capable who could direct it.

He had even planned to be the movie producer, although it was still undecided to whom he would sell it.

Will brought up his status screen from the system to look at the total FP.

[Name – Will Evans

Age – 22

Skills – {Advance Directing} {Intermediate Acting} {Intermediate Instrumentalism}

Fame Points – 56,330,000

Inventory – {Empty}]

He had a whopping 56.3 million FP, which was worth $563 million. He had spent a million FP just on the [Birdman] movie script, which he sold to Simon Vercetti for $1 million, a $9 million loss on his side. But he didn't mind that since he did it to acquire Ewan, and he was successful in it.

To begin with, all Will wanted was to become this world's biggest Hollywood star, someone who leaves an untouchable mark in this world's Hollywood. Earning can be considered a side goal.

Will had made a shell company with the help of his lawyer. Although the lawyer kept asking what it was for, Will never revealed it. He made this company make fake accounts of the conversion of FP to Dollars so he could pay the income tax and doesn't end up ruining the economy of the world and get the FBI after him.

He had already withdrawn 2 million FP, which was $20 million in real life. The transaction was pretty simple, with him getting it directly in a new bank account that had unknown and private origins. Although he didn't know how it worked, the system had assured him that there wouldn't be any problems regarding the origins.

June had also gotten the lead role for a movie and had been busy preparing for it in the past few weeks. Although her lonely phase had ended and she was again living with Will. Will had rented an apartment in Beverly Hills due to the constant paparazzi pestering and planned to buy a plot and build his own house here in Beverly Hills as soon as he received the Box Office income.

Will had been busy with Dream Vision and a few interviews. Although he mostly rejected all interviews and only took on a few of them.

Will was now being treated as a role model for the young generation. After defying all odds and getting out of being a one time wonder in Hollywood, Will had convinced many people that his time period in Hollywood wouldn't be short or dull.

His impression of a director who got lucky with a homemade video had changed entirely and now taken a drastic turn of him being a genius young director.

Even though his role in [17 Again] was pretty much antagonistic, he was still being hailed as a superb actor, mostly due to the popularity boost from[Sherlock Holmes].

Two more weeks went by with the media and Hollywood in a total frenzy as another groundbreaking news came out.

In front of Will was another notification.

[Congratulations on reaching the $1 billion in the total box office in less than six months of screening.]

[Achievement Unlocked: Entrance of the Supreme.]

[Rewards:

Consumable – [Harry Potter] Book Series.]

Will's eyes went wide, and his heart started beating out of his chest. [Sherlock Holmes] had crossed a billion dollars in the box office. It almost seemed unreal.

But after calming down, it only felt natural since there was no Sherlock Holmes in this universe, and the people got to taste it for the first time. The more shocking part was the reward from the system. It came out as a total shock.

Will had previously checked for the script of Harry Potter movies, and every one of them was at least 10 million FP. To think he got the whole book series in one go and not the script. It was truly a fortunate event.

Will summarized that the book's worth was just too much that the system didn't give any additional rewards such as FP. Will didn't even get anything from acting as it wasn't a big role and wasn't anything worth mentioning.

Just when Will was about to check the Harry Potter book series, his phone started ringing.

[Incoming Call]

[Spencer Miller]

It was from Spencer. He had probably gotten the news about the box office and wanted to inform Will as soon as possible. The box office counting would usually come after some time, but as it was a major mark in Hollywood, everyone had been waiting for [Sherlock Holmes] to reach $1 billion after seeing the $952 million collections from last week's box office.

Will picked up the call and didn't even get a chance to speak as Spencer's voice came from the other side.

– Haha! Boy. We did it! You're truly a terrific kid. [Sherlock Holmes] grossed $1.1 billion in the box office.

"Yeah, I know."

– Huh? I just received the call from the authorities; it's not even public yet. How do you know?

"I mean, I knew it would cross $1 billion after seeing last week's box office."

– Oh…. so that's what you mean. Anyways, it's a really big achievement, young lad, show some enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I'm just too happy and sorry for the dull reaction."

After that, the news was made public, and the whole entertainment industry was stunned.

A 22-year-old boy had made a billion-dollar movie. This news started spreading like wildfire and soon became a hot topic on the internet forums.

The rest of the day, Will was so busy picking up congratulation calls from Benjamin, Jeffrey and the others that he couldn't even peek at the [Harry Potter] book series.

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Chapter 82:

It took two days for Will to get over the spectacular success of [Sherlock Holmes]. After two days, he was already thinking about the future.

Although the media was still busy praising the movie and the number of invitations he had received for parties exceeded 100, he was in no mood to hang on to it for long.

[Sherlock Holmes] was his best success, and he was very proud of his efforts, but he felt like if he got too proud of it, he would lose the chance to do something bigger.

Currently, his mind was already thinking of his company and how to make it even bigger.

His ambition was to make Dream Vision one of the Big 6. Even the head of it, and it won't happen with just one movie.

That's why, early in the morning, he called Jeffrey and Amanda to the conference room to talk about the company's future.

The two of them were the most trusted people around him, and he needed them for his ambitions.

So, as the meeting started, Will laid out his plans in front of them.

"First of all, we need to move to a bigger building. Our current workplace is too small, and we will expand a lot from now on. Second, we need efficient people in all departments and better equipment. Dream Vision can't stay as a one-man company always."

When it had started, Will had just acquired a company to produce a movie for himself, but now after the success of [Sherlock Holmes, he was going to make it on the level of Foxstar and Z studios.

Amanda understood where he was heading and agreed.

"Will, then we would have to recruit many people and renting another place will cost us a lot too depending on how big a place you want. We would need a clear vision of where we want to head our company."

Hearing her response, Will felt like Amanda already had given some thought to it.

"It looks like you have some ideas?"

"Yeah, it was pretty apparent when you talked about a talent agency. You were just waiting for a big success and [Sherlock Holmes] already gave you that. So, with money in your hands, you can do a lot."

Jeffery was the only silent one in their conversation, and when Will looked at him, he scratched his head.

"Jeffery, don't you have any thoughts?"

"I don't know much about business, and the only thing I learned in college was how to operate a camera." Jeffery laughed.

"But you do know about Hollywood?"

"That I do. I can help you connect with people that you can cooperate with. Other than that, I need to know what is brewing in your head?"

Jeffery looked at him with squinted eyes. Knowing Will, he already had everything planned out and only after he is sure of the success that he would tell it to them.

Will coughed a little and finally unveiled a little of his plan.

"I want to produce 4-5 movies in the next one year."

Amanda's eyes widened, and she hurriedly asked.

"Will, there's not much time left in the year. Maybe half a year. We can't release this many movies in such a short time. And what do you mean produce?"

"I'm not saying to release them this year. We can just shoot them and release them later. And yes, I'm going to produce it. Dream Vision needs to produce its own movies now as I can't direct all of them."

As Will explained this, Jeffery asked a question.

"So, you will oversee these movies as a producer?"

"No, you will be my producer, Jeffery."

"What??"

For a second, Jeffery thought Will was joking. But when he glanced at Amanda, she didn't look surprised like she was already expecting this.

"Amanda needs to manage the company, and I'm busy with my own things. I need someone to produce movies, and you are the only right candidate for this."

"Why me?"

"Mainly because you know movies, you are someone I trust with my money and can you even think of someone else who I can entrust with this job."

Jeffery was not able to reply for some time, contemplating Will's words, but in the end, he nodded his head.

After all, there was no reason to reject.

"So, these 4-5 movies? Where are they going to come from?"

"I'm going to write them. I already have ideas and have completed one script called [1917]. We are going to get directors and make a whole production to shoot them all."

"Oh, that's why we need to expand the company and get better equipment."

Amanda added, to which he nodded his head. Next, he explained about the type of building model he wanted.

As a major part of his business would also be his talent agency, Will wanted half of the building to be for the agency. The first two floors can be the production studio, and the next two can be the talent agency, with the fifth floor consisting of offices for Will, Amanda, Jeffery and conference rooms.

Jeffrey pointed out that a five-floor building was going to cost a lot to rent, but Will had no worries over money.

He was going to get at least around 350 million dollars from his shares out of the 1.1 billion dollars for [Sherlock Holmes]. Though, the money was still going through tax deductions.

In the future, when [Sherlock Holmes] stopped running in the theatres, he would get a little more share.

Moreover, he had a lot of money lying around, thanks to the FP conversion rate.

"We would also have to hire a lot of people for all the departments, and Amanda, did you make the list I told you too?"

"Yeah, and it seems like we would have to fire some people."

Amanda said with a wry smile.

When the pre-production of [Sherlock Holmes] was going on, he had asked Amanda to keep an eye on the department heads and other prominent staff members.

Although he had not fired any people when he had bought the company, he still had doubts on whether they could be efficient enough.

So, he had made Amanda keep an eye, and she had found a lot of people who were not really good at their work, and there were even some people who would leak out information.

They would have to fire those first and remove them with more efficient ones.

"Looks like hard days are ahead of me."

Amanda said, thinking of the word she suddenly had. From going through real estate offices to select a building to manage hiring interviews.

"Yeah, but it will only be for a while. After we go through a stable period, you can take a break."

As Will said that, she shook her head.

"No, this is actually what I wanted. I have always wanted to be the CEO of a company that can reach the top, and I feel like Dream Vision is the one. Anyway, do you have a person in mind to head the talent agency? I can't handle that too, you know."

"Yeah, I have one person. I would need to have a meeting first, though. And Jeffrey, I want you to handle DTA for now."

For the record, DTA stands for Dream Talent Agency. This was the name that Will had decided on for his agency.

"I can do that for a while. But I'm not really good at it."

Jeffery answered honestly, thinking of his inexperience.

"We have to announce Robert and Ewan's association with DTA next week as [Birdman] announcement will happen then. You will just have to act as the interim head."

"Then, it's okay."

Thinking of it a little, Jeffrey found it a little absurd. He was the first one to tell Will that his plan of an agency was ridiculous, but now he was going to act as the interim head of it.

Things were also different now. Will had a big success back then, but it was not comparable to [Sherlock Holmes].

After that, Will talked more about both the studio and talent agency. He had a clear plan in mind for it, and with Amanda's points, the plan was becoming better.

It was decided that the talent agency would hold auditions from all over Hollywood to find talents, and for the hiring of the management positions in Dream Vision, Amanda was going to handle it.

She had a lot of connections in this sense that she could exploit.

It was only in the evening that the three of them left the meeting room.

For a while, the staff in Dream Vision wondered what the meeting was about and even the head of the departments were curious about it, but no information was given.

The next day, the 'purification' of Dream Vision started with 19 people given expulsion notices, including two heads of big departments.

…

/DreamNote/

2nd chapter, as promised.

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Chapter 83:

Keyes Real Estate, Blvd, LA

In a big office on the twelfth floor of a thirty storey building, three people were sitting around a big table – two on one side and the third on the other.

Above the table was a big projector hanging through the ceiling. This projector was flashing a map on the wall behind the third person.

The map was of the LA city.

"Santa Monica." Said the third person on the other side of the table. She was a shrewd looking middle-aged woman with pointy glasses right at the tip of her nose.

In her hand was a laser pointer, and as she sat on her seat, she used a laser dot to point at a spot on the map projected on the wall.

She then used her mouse to zoom the screen of her computer; this also zoomed in the map on the wall as it projected exactly what was going on in the monitor.

She hovered the lased dot over a location in the map while saying, "This is Santa Monica. The best office location in the whole city of Los Angeles. It is home to the campuses of MovieCon Studios, Alpine, and Moon Entertainment—all drawn by its beachside location and innovative business scene. You can put your company right in action at this spot, taking advantage of our private offices and all-inclusive amenities to settle in quickly."

While halfway through her words, she turned around and looked at the two people sitting on the other side of the table.

One was a middle-aged woman, and the other was a young man in his early twenties. And with how the middle-aged woman glanced at the young man for his reaction, it was clear to this woman who the boss among the two was.

She focused on the young man and added, "This sprawling workspace, perfect for creative teams, offers open, brightly lit lounges and amenities including screening rooms, business classrooms, event spaces, and filming equipment. You can take advantage of these perks while building your team in a private office, complete with your own conference rooms and brainstorming areas."

The young man nodded and asked, "How does the renting process work? What I need are at least five floors worth of office space."

"Five floors?" The woman nodded, "No problem. You can get it here. But you haven't yet told me what you're planning to buy the whole space permanently, or do you wish to rent?"

The middle-aged woman sitting beside the young man replied this time, "For now, we will be going for the rental way. At least for the next one year, this is the plan. Also, Alicia, we will be going for the lower floors if possible, and another thing is, we want the less crowded building."

Alicia, the shrewd looking woman, nodded, and after zooming in and surfing through the map for a few minutes, she zoomed in a bit more and hovering the laser over it, she said, "Well, this place is perfect. There are not many big companies in this building, and the one which already is, has declared bankruptcy, so they will be emptying the building within a month or so. You will have almost everything here, except there's one catch."

"What?"

"Well, it has six floors." Alicia replied, "And the owner wants to rent out the whole building to only one company; that's also why there aren't many people going for this building because most businesses don't need more than one floor. Six floors are usually for billion-dollar companies, but they already have their own building."

"Six floors…?" The middle-aged woman frowned lightly and glanced at the young man sitting beside her, "What do you think, Will?"

Of course, the young man sitting beside her was Will Evans, the new hotshot in Hollywood.

And she was none other than Amand, his company's CEO.

Both of them had come over to look for a better and more spacious office building, especially since they would also add the Talent Agency.

With the influx of new staff and employees, the current office space wasn't going to be enough.

Therefore, they had come to one of Hollywood's best real estate agents to look for a better office space to rent.

"Six floors is alright." Will nodded, "What's the normal rent?"

"For this one, it's $2.5 per square feet per month." Alicia replied, "With the total space of 55000 SF per floor, and with six floors, it will be… almost a million, including all the taxes."

"A million per month?" Amanda frowned, "We will rent for a whole year, at $2 per SF."

"$2?" Alicia shook her head, "No one in the whole of LA will go that low; how about you look at the whole place first, and if it fits, I will arrange a meeting with the owner, and then you can negotiate with them."

Will nodded, "When will the meeting be?"

"Well, we can go to this building right now. And the meeting can also happen today itself if you like the building."

Will thought for a moment and nodded, "Alright, how far is this… Santa Monica?"

"A few miles west." Alicia stood up while replying, "Let's go?"

"Sure." Will nodded and stood up as well, Amanda following him shortly after.

While Will was looking for a new location for the Dream Vision office, June was following her own story.

Right now, she had just stepped out of her car and was with her agent, John.

Standing in the parking lot, she was staring at the high-rise building in front of her.

As John locked the car, he walked up to her and opened his phone.

"Well, I have informed them. The Director will be there; let's go." He said.

June nodded and gulped.

Looking at her reaction, John sighed and said, "Don't worry, you got this. This is just a script reading session for now. You already passed the audition anyway."

June nodded and stepped forward, heading towards the building in front of her.

John also took a deep breath, and crossing his fingers, he followed, hoping for the best outcome.

He has been trying his best to get a movie role for June in the last few days, but it hasn't been easy.

For one reason or another, the directors and producers have been rejecting June, not even bothering to give her a chance to show her skills properly.

But the indie movie industry was just like this.

And because of this, it had been really hard for John, especially since she was his only client, and her success and work was directly proportional to how much he would earn.

Another reason why he was worried was that in the last two big projects of June, he hadn't been the one who brought them, so he didn't get any share from those films – which were the Blair Witch Project and 17 Again – both of which were box office hits.

Both of the movies were brought to her by Will, and now, John wanted to prove himself too. He was, after all, her agent, not Will.

Although he didn't hold any ill intent towards Will, in fact he was even thankful since it was going to be easier for June to find roles in the future with her recent success, but now, even getting a single script reading session has become very difficult, getting role offers was a long shot.

After days of grinding and looking for work, he had finally managed to convince one of the independent movie directors to consider June for the role.

Although the latter was very hesitant for some reason, he relented in the end because bringing June into the project might help his project commercially, but this was just John's assumption. He didn't know the exact reason why the Director changed his mind.

The audition was also successful, and June got a role in a movie that might do really well in film festivals.

Walking a few steps ahead of him, June was about to step into the building.

Before the entrance, she lightly paused and took a deep breath.

'You will nail this role.'

She said to herself and pushed open the glass door of the building, with John following her in shortly after.

"Wait there. I will ask if everyone is here." John gestured to her to sit on the sofas arranged for the visitors and went to the reception.

June slightly nodded, and following his words, she took a seat on the sofa.

A few moments later, John returned, and while sitting in front of her, he said, "The director is in a meeting, he will be free in a few minutes, and then we will go."

June nodded.

John stared at her and then looked around them to see if anyone was eavesdropping; he then leaned forward a bit and said, "Hey, June, are you alright?"

June nodded, "Yes."

"You remember what I said on our way here?"

"Yes."

"Alright, don't forget it. People might try to pick a fight with you but keep your calm. They want to rile you up and then paint you as the wrong one; that's why think before how you will react to whatever the others say."

June nodded, "I will."

Just then, one of the building staff came over, "June Roberts?"

"Yes," June raised her head and nodded.

"Please follow me; the Director is ready to see you."

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 84:

Santa Monica is a beachfront city in California, and it is approximately 15 miles away from Los Angeles. Will had already rented out the building after talking to the owner and got all six floors of the building for the rate of $2.25 per square foot per month after negotiation.

Will rented the whole building for a year, and the total amount came to $9 million, including the maintenance cost. Will had checked other real estate and found out that it cost him really low as no one was going below $31 per square foot annually. To Will, it had only cost him $27 per square foot annually, which was quite the deal.

As Amanda handled the renting process, they were currently in the middle of moving Dream Vision Studios to this new building.

Will had tasked Jeffrey with buying new and top-end equipment as there was minimal equipment in the existing Dream Vision Studios.

Amanda had gotten busy with hiring new staff as there was a lack of staff after kicking out almost 15 people, and they needed more staff than ever when they wanted to expand the company now.

As all this was going on and everyone was busy doing their parts, Will had gotten busy writing down the first Harry Potter book. As he had the whole series in his inventory, he had decided to write down every book slowly and publish one book at the gap of half a year and then another one after another half a year.

But it was taking time to write down everything as Will was changing a lot of things in the book. By a lot, he meant a LOT. He had basically changed 'Harry Potter' the protagonist of the book. Although he was the same character, his situation was changed a lot from the actual book.

He still had the mysterious past of the Potter family, but he wasn't a naive 10-year-old bullied his whole life and was still pure and naive. He had been changed into a cunning yet caring character, which gave a different feel altogether.

Will had even changed Hogwarts itself. The whole Hogwarts was turned into something that was like a modern academy structured and run over by magic science. Although most of the story plot still remained the same, most of the character settings had been changed or at least tweaked a little.

Some would say that he was changing the whole point of the legendary masterpiece, but that masterpiece never existed in this world, so it was Will's fan fiction that would come out as the actual Harry Potter of this world. Not to mention that it was not the 2000s but the 2010s; the reader base is different.

His plan was to keep releasing a book every half a year, and when its popularity reached its peak, he would start the production of the first movie, hopefully much better than the original due to the time gap and technological advancements.

Will decided to give a more profound character to Ron and made sure that his character or dialogues won't get stolen by Hermione, like in the originals where his character was pretty good in the books, but they changed it in the movie where all his dialogues were played by Hermione, making him look like a dumb bloke.

Dumbledore's character was revised again, and Will was confused as to what to make out of him. Dumbledore came off as a character who was incredibly nice for an old man but wasn't nice enough to decide where he would sacrifice everyone just for Harry. In the end, Will decided to leave Dumbledore as it is and decided to leave hints in the story that Dumbledore wasn't as simple as he made himself out to be.

As Will finished his first draft of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, he re-read it to find any errors.

"What are you doing so early in the morning?"

Will felt something squishy rub his back as two soft arms hugged him from behind. The owner of the voice was June, who had woken up and seen that Will was busy on his laptop.

Will smiled as he turned back slightly and kissed June lightly on her lips, after which June cooed and snuggled into his embrace. She was wearing white-coloured a lacy nightgown and looked quite the feast for Will's eyes.

"What do you think?"

Will asked with a smirk, to which June raised an eyebrow as she had rarely seen Will being smug about something.

"Are you writing another script for some movie?"

June asked curiously.

"Close, but Nah. I'm writing a children's book."

Will replied, to which June made a shocked expression.

"Are you kidding? There must be a catch."

June asked after seeing that the smugness still hadn't left his face.

"Well, it's not exactly a children's book, I guess? It's suitable for all age groups, but yeah, mostly would target young teens, and it's a teenage fantasy after all."

Will's reply again stunned June. She was confused as to why Will was an author when his popularity was already reaching a new height just because of his directing.

"Why are you writing a children's book? You do know that writing a novel and writing a script are two totally different things, right?"

"I know that. I have had the idea for this book for a while now, and don't worry, writing a children's book would positively impact my reputation as long as it is good."

"You sound pretty confident that your book would be 'good', eh?"

June said teasingly, and Will just closed the laptop and threw her on the bed as he pinned her hands with his and looked deeply into her eyes.

"What do you think? Is my confidence bad?"

June felt a shiver run down her spine, looking at Will's dark black eyes as she said.

"No, it's something that I find sexy."

She bit her lips seductively after saying that as if inviting him to come and eat her.

Will let go of her hands, stood up and cleared his throat.

"Well, last night's session was enough. We both have our share of work to do and have busy days ahead of us."

June just pouted at that, and Will laughed. After a while, he printed out 2-3 drafts of the book and gave one to June.

"Read and tell me how it is. I'll go shower till then."

After that, Will went to shower. After freshening up, he came out with a towel tied to his waist.

"So… How is it?"

Will asked while blowing his hair with a hairdryer.

"I have read the first chapter, and the start is at least interesting. Yet again, I've discovered another layer of my onion. How much more are you hiding in that brain of yours?"

Will just chuckled at June's pouty remark and started dressing up.

"By the way, do you have a publisher in mind for this?"

June asked as she, too, was preparing to go for a bath.

"I won't be hard with my current reputation. I'll take Amanda's help to introduce me to some publishers. And even if it doesn't work with them, there is always the option of self-publishing."

"No, no, don't do self-publishing. It will cost a lot if you do that, which would be a waste of money."

Will just shook his head as he replied.

"I won't be wasting money if I eventually earn more money from the book."

June just stared at him for a while, thinking where he gets his confidence from, after which she just smiled bitterly and kissed him on the cheek before entering the bathroom.

Will knew where she was coming from, but he also knew what Harry Potter was in his world. Even if some people call it a lucky fluke for JK Rowlings, it was still a great book.

To be honest, it was one of the best-planned book series. JK Rowling had the whole story planned before she sat down to write the series. For example, in the first novel, there was a scene where Snape would ask Harry some questions during his class.

Years later, many people had found out that his questions had a hidden note in them.

It was pretty shocking to Will when he found this out, but this is just one thing that makes the movies so good.

Since this world didn't have many masterpieces in the literature and Hollywood industry, he was confident that the book and movie would earn almost the same as the original world, unless there was a factor he forgot to take into account.

Moreover, if his plan worked, he was sure that he would have yet another series that would cross 1 billion dollars at the box office. Just thinking about so much money was enough to make him feel like his efforts were worth it.

Sometimes, he feels like he's being greedy, but the truth is that human society was formed around money, and the only way to reach the top was to have money.

'I need to write scripts and go through the audition tapes for DTA too.'

Jeffery had already posted a notice that they were recruiting actors and actresses from all age groups, and more than 1500 resumes had come in the short span of 2-3 days through the online portal.

Thinking of his tough schedule, he sighed. But at this point, he was already a workaholic.

…

/DreamNote/

Read next 12 chapters on /dreamthree

Chapter 85:

As [Sherlock Holmes] was wreaking havoc in the whole Hollywood industry, Will decided to use this opportunity to launch his talent agency.

Dream Talent Agency was announced by Will and released to the public with their main faces as Robert and Ewan. At the same time, Ewan's next movie, [Birdman] was announced by Simon Vercetti.

Around that time, Will did an interview in which he revealed that they already have more than 1500 applications just from LA alone. Apart from that, they have also started taking in online auditions via recorded videos which the participants were sending to them through the official website from all over the world. In the end, Will also announced that he would fly all the selected candidates to LA with all expenses coming from his own pockets.

At one point the site even crashed and Will had to recruit more IT professionals to solidify the foundation of the site and give it a better UI.

DTA was already in talks with various studios regarding Robert's next role. As the news about everything related to his agency started circulating, the general audience went into an uproar.

It caused a lot of reactions from various people and the media. There were already various Hollywood Times and Hollywood Daily articles reporting about how Dream Vision had changed its office location and had also invested in a talent agency.

Some articles took a step further and started discussing how this move was to counter ICM as they reportedly had a clash with Will Evans before. Although, all these were baseless rumours without any proof to back it all up.

On a famous internet forum, people were continuously in a debate regarding various situations.

– ICM is going to get it good, they poked the new 'big deal' of Hollywood.

– Dude, Will is still like a young hatchling in front of ICM. Don't just say anything you want.

– How long do you guys think Ewan would stay in DTA? I would say around 1 year at most since he has had a history of having a fight with almost all his previous agencies.

– 1 year? You must be kidding. I would be surprised if he lasts 3 months.

– Sheesh you guys be talking just anything when you should be discussing the masterpiece known as [Sherlock Holmes].

– True that. Bro, I love Michael Robert. He was just perfect, not gonna lie.

– He was good. But without Levi Richards, his role wouldn't look that cool. Our Watson was just way too cool. Now I feel funny about how they ruined Watson so much in [Detective Sherlock Holmes] all those years ago.

– Y'all forgetting about ma boi Ewan. He literally gave me the chills with his acting. I'm sure Blackwood would make a comeback.

– Feels like Will used all his potential to make the best movie he can.

– The guy above me needs to buy a brain. These people always are like Will this, Will that, One-time star and whatnot. He already proved you wrong, just wait and see. I have a feeling it's the rise of a new era of Hollywood. Just make sure you don't die before seeing it.

– [MOD: tc ] Guys at least maintain the minimum of decorum while chatting Mxkskskakkakakksk

Dream Group's Office, Emerald Tower, Santa Monica.

On the topmost floor of the newly formed Dream Group's office, Will was seated on a chair with Amanda and Jeffrey seated right in front of him, with a glass table separating them.

Behind Will, one could see a glass wall giving views to the beautiful ocean and Santa Monica city.

Two of the six floors were still under renovation. The hiring process for acquiring new staff was also going on with many applications coming in and making it hard for the Human Resources team to cope

Most of the team for the employee positions had been hired and the people who had been selected in the first round of auditions would need to go through a second round and if they passed, they would need to go through an interview and one more round of auditions to get selected.

Will told that he would be present there himself for the third round to oversee the auditions. He also gave Jeffrey a list of people he could recruit.

"Your meeting is scheduled at 12 pm, please prepare yourself."

Amanda reminded Will and he nodded his head. Around Will, Amanda acted more like a secretary than the CEO of his company, which reminded Will that he needs to get a secretary to do his miscellaneous work and he can't always depend on Amanda for everything.

In the conference room, Will was meeting with Jennifer, Benjamin's daughter. She was as beautiful as ever, although this time around, the frilly yellow dress or that girlish vibe was nowhere to be seen, instead, it was replaced by a woman entrepreneur like atmosphere. She was wearing a low cut black dress and had a leather bag in her hand, looking like a fashion model.

The reason she was here was due to her occupation. She was an agent in the free market and had been in the industry for some years now. Although she was offered an agent position in MCA, she didn't accept it due to wanting to stand on her own instead of getting a career served to her on a golden platter.

In this world, there was an exam held every year if one wanted to be an agent in Hollywood, Jennifer had come at the top of her batch in the exams.

As Will knew Benjamin wouldn't leave MCA for his talent agency and even if he did Will would lose out an important connection to MCA, so he decided to opt-out for someone else as the head of DTA.

After recalling that Jennifer was also an agent and was someone very strong-willed and determined for success, he couldn't help but think of considering her for the position. After all, her situation was the same as his previous life, but in her case, she stood up for herself and left her dad's shadow behind while following her own path, while Will wasn't able to get rid of that shadow before he died.

"You have gotten pretty big that you don't even get time to meet now."

She started out directly with a snarky remark and Will could just shake his head.

"You do know how things go in this industry. I'm pretty sure you know how busy I'm. I don't even get time for myself."

"Whatever you say."

Jennifer said and gave him a sharp look. Will of course knew that this was just how she acted, though her real intentions were never like this. And he didn't call her here for this.

"Anyway, we can bicker all our lives. Let's get down to business first."

"Sure."

Her air again changed as Jennifer composed herself. After that, the interview started.

"I have a habit of getting to the topic straight, so I will be honest. The reason I scheduled a meeting with you is that your record is great. Three actors and one actress in five years of careers and every one of them got elevated in their careers under you." Jennifer made a proud smile but Will's expression changed. "But what was the reason that you were changed eventually? That speaks of problems."

"The reason isn't because of me. Mark, my first actor, was really undisciplined. He got a supporting role in a war drama but spent all his money on girls and parties. He was not serious enough. The same thing happened to my second actor. Gwen, the actress that I worked with for more than two years got pregnant during shooting with the director. She left Hollywood and married him. My last actor, Andrew, was a peculiar case. He was pretty serious in his acting but was not able to take setbacks. His family was rich so he ended up taking over their business in the end due to stability."

Will nodded hearing her explanation but then asked.

"Doesn't this say that you don't have a good eye for people?"

"No." Jennifer shook her head with utmost confidence. "All of them were good actors, even excellent. What they lacked was discipline and fear of failure. I can get roles for them but I can't interfere in their personal life too much. An agent needs to stay within certain boundaries."

Will asked a few more questions regarding this and Jennifer always answered with a surety. It seemed like she had prepared for every kind of question.

"What do you think talent is?"

"It's hard to say but I do know we see talent wrong. Acting talent is just basic. In the end, we are making stars in Hollywood and not actors. We need to see the whole package while selecting actors which means talent, determination, ambition and sometimes even luck."

She then gave an example of a famous actor, Donald Wilson. He was a pretty ordinary actor but due to his luck, he had been a B-Lister for years and had been a part of some famous movies.

Even when his career is hit by one bad movie after the other, he would act in a good one in the end and save it.

Will was pretty satisfied with most of her answers and went on with some more basic questions which Jennifer answered with ease.

In the end, Will asked.

"What do you think I'm interviewing you for? Which role in my agency?"

"That is something you have to tell me."

"Any guesses?"

"As your agency is just starting, you probably want me to handle an important position. Due to my record and maybe also because of our relationship."

Will nodded his head hearing that and then explained.

"Well, I want you as the head of DTA."

…

/DreamNote/ ?Important?

There will be no bonus chapters in the month of April. Ramadan starts from now, I won't be able to write 2 chapters of MHS in one day because of the busy schedule.

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Chapter 86:

Jennifer was surprised after hearing that. She had expected an important position like a senior agent in the agency, but she never thought that Will was considering her for the company's CEO.

Seeing her reaction, Will immediately tried to come clear.

"It's not like I would offer you the position without any prior assessment. I will give you the role of senior agent for a while and judge your performance, and if your performance is up to par, then I will make you the CEO of DTA, of course with a reasonable salary backing it."

"I will need some time to think this through. Give me a few days, and I will give you a reply."

Jennifer said that as she contemplated.

The main reason Jennifer was a free market agent was because she dreamed of opening her own agency. And since she was offered a position that would basically make her the head of the agency that she had always dreamed of being, she obviously wouldn't decline it straight away.

And another thing was, she didn't want to sound like someone who rushes their decisions, that is why she asked for some time to think about it.

Will, who already knew what she was thinking and what her dream was, couldn't help but inwardly chuckle before he added.

"Jenny, it's good that you need time to think. But don't take too long. You know that some opportunities only last for a limited time, yet cause a lifetime of regret when you miss them."

Jennifer's eyes widened hearing that. She clearly understood the hidden meaning behind that message, 'take your time to think about it, but don't take too long or else you will miss this opportunity,' that's what Will was trying to indicate.

After a bit more discussion, Amanda handed over a copy of the duties that Jennifer would have to perform as a senior agent. The meeting concluded after that.

After Jennifer left with the promise of giving a reply to Will as soon as possible, Will had another meeting scheduled right after. It was a meeting with the new A-lister and the star of a billion-dollar movie, Micheal Robert Elrod.

As the never-ending popularity of [Sherlock Holmes] was still at its peak, Robert kept receiving offers from many movie companies regarding many types of roles. Most of them were offers for the lead role, and it was a really big deal for Robert as he had never received two side role offers at once, forget about the many lead role offers.

Even though he was overwhelmed by the current popularity, he decided not to let it get over him. In almost all of the interviews he had given till now, he mentioned Will's name and thanked him every time for recognising him and having trust in him.

As Robert was already a part of DTA, all his future movies were to be selected by DTA as well. From the 50 or so scripts that DTA has received for Robert's role, Will had been transferred some of the best ones, and Will had gone through all of them personally to select a movie for Robert.

"Welcome, Robert. Glad to see that you are doing well."

Will said as he looked at the current Robert. The recent success and lack of stress had made his complexion much better, and the way he dressed was all selected by professional fashion experts on Will's request, so he looked like a neat gentleman.

The reason Will had assigned a fashion expert to Robert was because the latter was lacking a lot in the sense of fashion when compared to Ewan, and since Robert and Ewan were the faces of DTA, Will had said that they couldn't compromise how he looked on various occasions.

The movie that Will had selected was an ordinary mystery drama starring a secretive, dark yet lovable police officer as he apprehends criminals and solves cases that no one else could. The script was pretty well written and was quite detailed without any obvious plot holes, and it was intriguing enough that it would catch the attention of many without making any effort.

The movie was by one of the Big 6 studios, Kron Studios, also known as K Studios. Although it was also a mystery/drama, the vibe and plot were totally different, and Robert would have to give his best not to lose his name. But Will decided to provide him with this role as a challenge as the movie had the potential of earning a lot, especially since it was by one of the big six studios, and it would cement Robert's impression as the main lead in many people's minds.

"Haha, Will. It's really nice to be in the spotlight, although it has its own fair share of troubles; I at least know why people still don't want to come out of it."

Robert said with a weird chuckle, to which Will simply replied.

"Yep, and if you want to keep that spotlight, you need to work hard for it. Here, read the script. I am thinking of agreeing to this movie for your next role. Tell me if you like it."

Will gestured to him to sit and handed over the script. After some time, when Robert had read some pages of the script, he couldn't help but feel excited.

"I like this a lot. Although the character is different from Sherlock Holmes, I think I would be able to play it. And if possible, I want to add varieties for myself so that people don't think I can only do one type of role."

"That's a good attitude to have. Well then, take your time and read the whole script, and tell me if you are ready to do the role or not."

Will said as he started typing something on his laptop. Robert looked at him working and couldn't help but smile.

"Times like these, you make me feel younger than yourself. And as for the script, consider it a yes from me, although I would still like to read the whole script."

"Oh, by the way, I've another movie planned for you. It will be written by me, and the shooting will start at the end of the year. I'm telling you just so you can prepare early and don't take any roles in that time period."

Will said as he remembered how he would write a movie script starring Robert. Robert just said he wouldn't take any movie roles on his own and would only take those DTA recommends him to. After some small chit chat, Will said.

"Haha, okay then. See you later, Robert. You should meet Amanda on your way out; she has something to say to you."

Will reminded, to which Robert laughed.

"I already talked with Amanda. She just wanted to say sorry to me because she didn't trust me earlier for the role of Sherlock Holmes, and she asked for my autograph too, saying her children love me and want an autograph. This recognition almost feels surreal, haha."

Will chuckled, and after that, Robert left Will's office.

The Pink Door, Seattle, Washington.

The Pink Door was one of the famous Italian restaurants in Seattle. A 23-year-old, fair looking girl with brown hair and black eyes was taking orders from the people on the tables and passing the orders to her fellow colleagues on the counter.

As she was coming back with some ordered food in her hands, she couldn't help but stop in her tracks as she saw the news going on the television plastered on the high wall. Some of the show hosts were talking about the formation of a new agency in Hollywood.

Although mostly these TV channels don't pay attention to the formation of a new agency, this time the case was different as the agency belonged to the new hot topic of Hollywood, namely Will Evans.

The hosts couldn't help but mention his name every time and talk about how Will was becoming a famous player in Hollywood.

"Hey, hurry up, will you? We have already waited long enough."

The customers whose food the girl had in her hand started shouting at her, bringing her back from her trance as she hurried towards them and served them their food.

"What's going on, Natalie? Recently, you haven't been paying attention at work. Is there something bothering you?"

The manager of The Pink Door asked the waitress, Natalie. He touched her shoulders with his hand, and his eyes contained a hint of lust. Natalie shook his hand off of her shoulder as she said.

"N-no. I'm sorry about the earlier incident, manager. I promise it won't happen again."

It was not the first time the manager was trying something on her. But she had no plans to let him have his way with her.

Seeing the disgusted look on Natalie's face, the manager's expression turned ugly as he shouted.

"Who do you think you are kidding, bitch. I have had enough of you. Go and collect your wage from the counter, and no need to come back to this place from tomorrow."

As soon as he said that, Natalie didn't wait as she rushed out of his office and started cursing him.

"That fucking old fart. Can't he see his own age for once? Fuck, Should I give it a try at DTA too? Although I have given up on acting, I still can't let it go, huh."

Natalie chuckled bitterly as another sigh escaped her mouth. She jumbled her hands on her head and made a mess out of her hair. After calming down, her eyes looked to be in a state of fluctuation as she tried to come to an answer.

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 87:

In Will's office on the 6th floor, Jeffrey and Will were discussing the [1917] movie's script.

"You know, as long as a war movie is well made, it always earns a lot more than your average everyday movie due to the nationalism sentiments and such things."

Jeffrey said. He had a lot of experience in Hollywood and was someone who was easily able to come up with answers most of the time as long as it was related to Hollywood.

The reason why Will thought of him as the Doraemon of Hollywood.

"Yep, it is like that."

Will replied to which Jeffrey continued.

"But this movie is kind of different than a typical war movie. It focuses on the story of two soldiers. Not to mention, throughout half the movie Blake seems like the protagonist but he dies and Schofield takes over. Why is it like that?"

Jeffrey asked with a clearly confused voice.

"That's the charm of this movie. From the beginning, both of them are the protagonists of the movie. Both are equally the main character. After Blake's death, Schofield takes over the role of delivering the message, and this is the unique part of the movie."

Will explained.

[1917] was a movie based in British warring times. In the movie, Germany had set up an ambush for the British army and 1600 soldiers' lives were at stake. The protagonists of the movie, Tom Blake and William Schofield were given a mission to deliver the message about the ambush to Colonel Mackenzie.

Through many hardships they reach and Schofield almost dies on the occasion of a blast, but Blake saves him. After some time they find a German plane that was shot down by an allied aircraft. Blake and Schofield save the burned pilot from the plane and Blake persuades Schofield to get some water.

As soon as Schofield turns back, the pilot stabs Blake. Schofield immediately shoots down the pilot who dies immediately. Schofield comforts Blake as he takes his last breath, promising him to complete the mission and then write to Blake's mother.

After this point of the story, Schofield basically takes on the role of the main character and after many struggles, he succeeds in delivering the message and saving many people, including Blake's brother who was a lieutenant in the army. He gives the dog tag and Blake's ring to his brother and asks for his permission to write to their mother, to which, Joseph, Blake's brother, agrees. The movie ends with Schofield resting under a nearby tree, looking at the pictures of his wife and children.

The movie was a rollercoaster of emotions and was very engaging from the start to finish. Both the main actors of the movie were a new face in Hollywood of Will's previous world, yet the movie succeeded in getting Oscars nomination and even won the award for best cinematography.

And that's the reason why Will wanted Jeffrey to be the cinematographer of the movie. If things went well, even if he didn't get an Oscars, he would still be able to at least get a nomination.

"One more thing… Is there a reason how you are from a British background?"

Jeffrey asked as he scratched his head.

Will laughed at that as he replied.

"There isn't much reason behind it. It's due to me being a half Britisher. My mom was a Britisher so I wrote it in the British background."

This was half true. Will's mother in this world was indeed a British woman but he was making British movies like Sherlock Holmes and 1917 because he got their script from the system, which he can't really tell anyone about. Heck, even Harry Potter is going to be British.

If this trend kept on going, Will would be labelled as a true Britisher by the media, even though he really wasn't one. Although, he didn't really care about the media and their baseless rumours.

As the talk continued, it finally came to an important topic.

"I want two new faces– new actors from DTA to play the roles of the protagonists of the movie."

Will said to Jeffrey, to which the latter replied.

"It's a nice idea. But according to the script, what I am estimating is that the budget will be quite big, it may even cost more than [Sherlock Holmes, so it will be quite the risk to make two new actors play the lead roles."

Jeffrey announced his concern on the matter. It was obvious that taking in new actors for such a movie, especially where there were no prominent side characters that they could recruit famous actors for, like [Sherlock Holmes, would be a huge risk.

"We are not going to succeed in the market if we are afraid of risks. And remember that risks always comes with rewards. As long as the movie succeeds, we will have two more faces that could become the pillars of DTA."

Will said as he went through the list of actors and resumes that had passed the second round and interview. The reason Will wanted to be present in the final round of the auditions was also due to this. He wanted to pick up the most prominent actors himself for the roles of Dream Vision's future movies.

"Well, as you say. Sometimes I really want to curse you for getting my heart rate up by taking so many risks, but I have also enjoyed the pleasant surprises that came from those risks, so I have learnt my lesson. As long as you are confident in it, even if the movie flops, I would support your idea."

Jeffrey said while rubbing his head and smiling tiredly, to which Will just laughed at. Jeffrey had become like an old friend with whom Will would consult many things but mostly did what he wanted.

Seattle, Washington.

Natalie Bergmann, the waitress who recently got kicked out of The Pink Door, was setting up a camera on her computer to shoot a scene for the auditions of DTA. She was a former student of Lawrence Bee Acting School.

Lawrence was a prominent actor who was mostly a legend in 70s Hollywood. He had gotten a lot of awards and before his death, he had set up a film school.

It's been two years since she had graduated from it but she had not been able to get any good roles in Hollywood. Worse, she has often been criticised for having a blank appearance.

A director had even said she was neither too pretty nor too sexy.

That had heavily lowered her confidence and in the end, she had taken a job at a restaurant to pay her bills. But these days even that was hard.

Her roommate had gotten married last month and left, so she was the only one living here now. It was hard to even pay her rent.

As the camera was ready, she took a look at the mirror and shifted her hair a bit. Looking at the mirror, she tried to smile. Natalie gave off the vibe of a girl next door, someone that people would easily forget after one encounter.

She was going to record a famous scene from one of the movies that got popular in 2005. It was a scene of a fantasy movie called [In the Land of Dungeons] where the lead heroine had lost her lover and was standing near his dead body.

It was basically the story of a princess and a knight who would run away from the revolters after the empire fell. Together, they would find themselves in an old dungeon with dark spirits.

The story would pick up the pace there with the knight turning the princess into a capable mercenary, eventually becoming lovers.

In the end, the knight will die and this was the climax scene.

It was a pretty emotional but a standout scene.

She started the recording. And even without applying a menthol tear stick, her eyes first saddened and then a flood of tears broke out. She repeated a famous dialogue from the movie which was as follows.

"You said you will be with me until death does us apart, and hence, I shall follow you in the afterlife, if there is one."

It was a pretty cheesy line but it was perfect with the story development and received a lot of fans. The heroine stabs herself after saying that, with a drop of blood flowing from the corner of her lips, she dies with a smile with her head on her lover's chest.

Natalie kept acting for a while and after the scene ended, she stood up and stopped the recording.

After a bit of editing, she could send it to DTA.

'I hope I pass.'

She thought in her mind.

If she doesn't pass the audition, she won't know what to do. DTA was her only option as she needed an agent to even survive in Hollywood. She had one before but he had left her after finding a job in a big agency that had not found her talented.

'It's really my last chance.'

She was 23 this year and her family had been forcing her to do something in life. Otherwise, she could just take a drama teacher job at a local high school or something.

As she sighed, the image of Will passed through her mind. He was younger than her and without any background but in just a year, he had made a place for himself in Hollywood.

Now he was even playing in multi-million dollar deals and establishing businesses.

She wondered what it would be like if he fancied her. She would get roles in major movies and it would be fine even if she had to date him.

After all, in Hollywood, it was pretty common and Will didn't have any major scandals or bad rumours about him.

But in the end, she shrugged her shoulders and frowned. It was just a fleeting thought after all.

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 88:

As time started to pass by, the box office of [Sherlock Holmes] started slowing down. The main reason was that all the potential audience had already watched the movie. Still, it succeeded in earning $2-$3 million every day for which many movies would struggle.

After almost a month of the recruitment process, Amanda had succeeded in gathering most of the required staff and most of them were promising candidates that she had handpicked amongst the ones that passed the interviews.

As the site posted that the recruitments are closed, many people started asking for internship opportunities. Due to [Sherlock Holmes] recent popularity, many film school graduates wanted to be an intern at Dream Vision.

Amanda had taken in a few promising candidates as interns and they had been promised an employee re-assessment as long as they prove themselves useful in the following year. All the interns happily agreed to that condition.

DTA's first round of auditions started with a total of more than 5000 resumes and audio clips from all around the world. Not to mention this only increased the workload of the team and came as an opportunity to test the candidates that have been newly recruited.

Amanda told them to pick the promising ones while disqualifying the ones that weren't good or ones that just sent for trolling. Although most of them were serious applications. And then Amanda told the existing team to reassess the decisions of the new recruits.

As they were still on the trial period, Amanda had full rights to kick them out if they didn't work properly or just laze around. As this news was made public to all employees, everyone worked extra hard to get on the browny board of Amanda.

Amanda was continuously busy with all the work, and as the workload increased with the increase of business size, she had to get a secretary for herself. Will agreed to this decision and even asked Amanda to recommend someone to be his secretary. After all, he had been relying on Amanda for everything that a secretary should be doing and he was already bitter about it.

Amanda agreed to send the resume of the best candidates that she could come up with, after all, Will was a hot commodity right now and not just anyone could qualify to be his secretary. After all, a secretary was someone who had access to many of the secrets of the person or organisation they are working for.

Even though they had to sign a non-disclosure contract, some still breached it and it could cause irreparable harm to the employer. That's why Amanda went through her whole life's memory lane to pick out the best people she could think of for the job. After all, there weren't many people who were trustable and had a deep understanding of the Hollywood industry.

After a day, Amanda did come up with someone. It was someone whom she had worked with before. She was an independent woman and was someone who would work hard for something they wanted to achieve. Amanda had a deep impression of her because of how she behaved around her previous employer.

She was the secretary of a famous actress and had worked with her for years. She left working with that actress because she was falsely accused of leaking information. Even though she won the court case, it came out that the actress had leaked the information herself to an outsider when she was drunk.

She was kicked out of the job because of the actress's ego, which affected her career. Even though she was proven innocent, she had gotten an unwanted scar in her career and hence, had been acting as an agent in the market.

Amanda had told all this to Will and Will immediately agreed to meet her. After all, people who had suffered without doing any crime were the ones that either became vengeful to the whole society or grateful to the one that lends a helping hand on time.

Will wanted to become the latter for her. Although it was like taking advantage of someone and made him somewhat guilty, he couldn't think of a better way to get a more loyal subordinate.

Knock* *Knock*

"Come in."

Someone knocked at Will's office door and Will told them to come in without moving his head, as he continued to type furiously at his laptop.

"Excuse me."

A mellifluous voice entered Will's ears as he subconsciously looked up, only to lose his soul for a second.

A girl so beautiful that only in fantasy stories would she appear, that's how Will would describe the girl in front of him.

With an imp-thin body. She had mercury red hair that tumbled over her shoulders and saccharine sweet lips. They were soft. Her posture and getup screamed elegance. She looked to be in her early twenties and donned a businesswoman-like attire.

After a moment, Will regained his spirits as he said.

"Have a seat."

"Thank you. I'm Alexia Eagleheart."

Alexia sat down as she introduced herself. Will looked at her curiously, as if asking why she was here, and she replied, as if enlightened.

"Amanda told me to meet with you. I thought you were informed."

Although Will didn't show it, he was internally surprised. When Amanda had told him about Alexia, Will had gotten the impression that she was someone at least middle-aged.

Alexia handed her resume and Will opened it to take a look. What surprised him was her age. She had been working in the industry since she was 21 years old and was already 26 years old with 5 years of experience backing her up. To Will, or to anyone who saw her for the first time, she would look like she's 22-23 years old.

After some basic formal introductions, Will started the interview by directly hitting her sore spot.

"You are here to give an interview for my secretary's position. But you were kicked out by your previous employer with the accusation of leaking her personal information. Is that true?"

Will looked at her from behind the file he was holding, to which she replied confidently.

"I was proven innocent with a massive victory from my side. Although I won't mention who was actually guilty, my previous employer had leaked that information herself to a third party. I was hired as a secretary and performed my job to the best of my capabilities."

Will already knew it. Amanda had already testified that she was a good choice and that she was the best Amanda could come up with. Winning the lawsuit didn't matter as her career was ruined one way or the other. Amanda could empathise with her as a fellow woman in the industry and wanted to help her.

"What's your best selling point? If you had to pick one of your qualities."

Will moved on to the next question without elaborating on the previous issue.

"I've got good lips."

Alexia said and Will subconsciously looked at those flower petal-like lips and smiled. What she meant was that she was pretty good at keeping secrets and keeping her lips sealed. It was funny coming from someone who was accused of leaking secrets but that just spoke of her confidence.

After some more questions, Will asked another question.

"You yourself should be aware of how good looking you are. Doesn't that cause you problems?"

Will asked another question. This wasn't one of the questions he had prepared, but it was something that he asked out of genuine curiosity. Saying that Alexia was beautiful would be an understatement, she could outclass many Hollywood actresses. But sometimes having something in access caused more problems than praise.

"Why do you think I only have the record of working with just 1 person, that too an actress? Even after the lawsuit, there were many men who wanted to recruit me, but those were just after my body. And I am more interested in being a successful woman than a successful sex toy."

Alexia replied with a smirk. To which, Will immediately questioned her again.

"What makes you think I won't go after your body?"

"You can try if you want. But I already know you are not the type of person who would do that. And you already have a girlfriend too. A certain someone had bet their credibility on the fact that you won't even touch me."

Will just chuckled hearing that. Amanda had bet her credibility on the line due, that just went on to show how much she trusted Will. As Will had already gone through all the questions and Alexia had replied to all of them with confidence and assertiveness. There was no doubt left in Will's mind regarding Alexia's capabilities. How would she actually work? That only time could tell.

After some formalities, Will sent her out and called Amanda to his office. He told her that she can hire Alixia as his PA and she could start working as soon as she was ready. Somehow, Amanda was really happy, looking like a kid who had helped out a friend in need and now was feeling proud.

Amanda also informed Will that Jennifer had joined DTA as a senior agent and was now directly under Jeffrey, the temporary head of DTA.

"Talking about Jeffrey, that guy is really something. He had managed to coax a lot of agents from the free market and even some other agencies to join DTA. Most of their resumes are currently under the supervision department and we could recruit them as soon as they are done with their interviews."

Amanda informed Will during the talk and Will was surprised that his Doraemon was still at full throttle even though he wasn't much experienced in the Talent Agency's market.

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 89:

As the audition process went on, 3000 out of the 5000 people were eliminated and only 2000 moved on to the interviewing and the final round. It was concluded that only 2% to 3% of these 2000 people would be selected as DTA actors.

After all, DTA was going for the quality over quality method. They would focus on 40-50 newcomers and try to get them roles in various movies, be it minor or major roles. Since these were the people that had gone through 3 rounds of auditions and made their way in getting selected into DTA, they would at least be talented at what they did.

The majority of them would get minor roles in Dream Vision movies, and those that had over the top talent would surely move to a better spot in Hollywood like this. Will wasn't even that worried about DTA as he was more focused on trying to get out the best of movies. As long as he kept making movies that became popular, the futures of the actors working in DTA would be secured.

And this way, DTA would just get better. It wasn't like Will would just let them work in his movies, working in his movies was more like a backup for those that wouldn't be able to settle with other studio movies even after having talent, Will would just get them to work in his movies and would try his level best to make the best out of each of his movies.

His plan was to get a lot of good actors when they were still unrecognised, get them to work in his movies and try his best to make his movie a hit. Will would never produce or direct movies that he wasn't confident in, at least not with these actors. This would secure both his, and the actors of DTA's future.

Alexia had already been appointed as Will's personal secretary. Neither Dream Vision nor DTA would be paying her. Her job was to work for Will solely, and she would receive her salary directly from Will.

6th August 2011

Alexia entered Will's office as Will gestured her to sit and then handed her the manuscript of [Harry Potter: The Sorcerer's Stone].

"This…?"

Alexia took the manuscript and read the title.

"It's my book, a novel that I'm writing. I want you to find a publisher for it in America, it would be better if you don't reveal my name before the contract is signed."

Alexia gave a surprising look at Will but immediately subsided her expression and asked.

"We would still need a pen name if we are not going to reveal your name."

"Use Evans W. as the pen name, not like it's not my name, just a bit jumbled up."

Will chuckled as he said that, and Alexia nodded.

"Read it a bit and tell me how you like it. The patent for this novel is already approved, so there is no risk of art theft."

Will said as he saw the curious expression on Alexia's face and her holding back from taking a peek at the manuscript.

"Okay then, excuse me."

Saying so, Alexia got busy reading the script, and Will started typing on his laptop. He was currently managing his shell company's account. Although he could just hire someone to do the account, he couldn't trust anyone but himself with it. After all, all the transactions and records were fake, and although the system ensured total security that there wouldn't be any problem, taking measures in advance wouldn't hurt.

During the writing of Harry Potter, Will had realised that talent mattered a lot. He didn't have much talent in novel writing, and just because he was experienced with scriptwriting, he was able to complete the whole book with much effort. But Will didn't want to sacrifice any quality, and hence he came to a decision.

Opening the system shop, Will looked at the skill in front of him.

[Skill Purchase]

[Advanced Writing (Package)

Includes the following in the package as sub-skills.

Scriptwriting (Advanced)

Novel Writing (Advanced)

Lyrics Writing (Advanced)

Article Writing (Advanced)

Covers all the writing basics, including persuasive writing, narrative writing, expository writing, and descriptive writing.]

[Cost – 1,000,000 Fame Points]

[Are you sure you want to purchase this skill?]

[Yes] [No]

Will select the 'Yes' option. His head suddenly felt light, and he almost staggered on the place. After calming down, he looked at Alexia, who was still busy reading the script and sighed in relief.

He was using the FP on skills because he wanted to withdraw all the Fame Points as the real-world currency. Since he was in the process of expansion, he wanted to go all-out and use his resources to his best. This was also why he was doing the accounts of the shell company since he would be withdrawing a big amount; although he was scared of the government and stuff, he decided to believe in the system and take it out with some precautions.

A lot of knowledge about mediaeval writing and modern writing had just been implanted in his brain like it always existed there. This just solidified Will's belief in this fantasy-like system and made him want to take out all the money.

But before that.

[Skill Purchase]

[Advanced Musical Arts (Package)

Includes the following in the package as sub-skills.

Multi-Style Singing (Advanced)

Multi-Style Composing (Advanced)

It covers all forms of musical terms a filmmaker should know, including the following.

Instrumentation.

Rhythm and Tempo.

Melody and Harmony.

Dynamics.

Chords.]

[Cost – 1,500,000 Fame Points]

[Are you sure you want to purchase this skill?]

[Yes] [No]

Will selected 'Yes' again, and he was prepared not to stagger this time. Still, the light feeling that his head felt again was like he was on drugs and couldn't think properly for a moment. After a while, his head calmed down, and again, information regarding music and each and every one of its basics were ingrained in Will's head like they always existed.

It was truly magical and fraudulent, and Will felt somewhat guilty for the artists who worked their whole life to develop and shape out their talents. But he also felt a sense of empathy towards them as he could feel how much hard work and determination it takes to write, sing and compose a song.

The reasons as to why Will decided to buy musical skills. First of all, he had already gotten the skill [Intermediate Instrumentalism] a long time ago. And now, when he bought the writing skill, it also came with [Lyrics Writing, reminding him about the [Intermediate Instrumentalism] skill to Will.

As a filmmaker, Will needed to have the basic musical knowledge he already had. But if he had advanced knowledge about such things, he might end up making some movies better than their originals. After all, there were a lot of musicals that would make a fantastic box office in this world.

The third reason as to why he bought the skill was because he felt like he should buy it. He was about to empty up the system currency and wanted to use some of the FP in useful skills.

[Script Purchase]

[500 days of Summer – Script]

[Cost – 30,000 Fame Points]

[Are you sure you want to purchase this script?]

[Yes] [No]

Another 'Yes' and another 30k FP went just like that.

As Will thought that much, he brought up his status screen.

[Name – Will Evans

Alias – Evans W.

Age – 22

Skills – {Advanced Directing} {Intermediate Acting} {Intermediate Instrumentalism} {Advanced Writing} {Advance Musical Arts}

Fame Points – 53,800,000

Inventory – {Empty}]

Will had 53.83 million Fame Points left that he immediately decided to withdraw, lest he took a liking to some other skill which would just increase his arsenal without much practical use.

[Do you want to withdraw 53,800,000 Fame Points as USD?]

[Yes] [No]

As soon as Will selected 'Yes', various notifications came to him. Not just from the system but also on his phone.

[$538,000,00 has been transferred to your bank account ending with XXXX]

This was the message that he received on the phone. It was so obvious that there wasn't even a sender or source name as to where it came from, it just came to him somehow. It was like the last time he did it. Although there was no trouble, Will still kept a fake account of the money and even paid taxes on the money.

But Will didn't have the time to think all that as the notifications in front of him sent him into a trance.

[System Upgrade conditions have been met.]

[Initiating system update quest.]

[Quest – Write, Produce and Direct an Original movie with your own original soundtrack that had never existed in your previous world or this world.

Quest Clear Conditions –

Earn $100 million dollars from your own original movie during the first four weeks of its run.

The system will remain non-functioning during the quest duration; you can use the existing Skills.

All the Fame Points collected can't be used to buy skills or be withdrawn during this period of time.

Quest Clear Rewards –

System Upgrade

Quest duration – 8 Months

Quest Failure Penalty – The system upgrade would stop. You would still be able to use the existing system.]

Will looked at the notifications in front of him, and for the first time ever since he transmigrated into this world, he lost his composed attitude and became slack-jawed. Things were taking a turn that he never expected.

…

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Chapter 90:

Alexia was finally done reading the manuscript, and as soon as she took her eyes off of the manuscript, she saw Will, who was sweating profusely, and his whole face was red as if he had a heart attack.

"Will? What happened? Are you alright?!"

Alexia got up hurriedly and went near Will. She took out her napkin and cleared the sweat from his forehead, and poured some water into a glass from Will's office. As she was about to make Will drink some water, he gestured with his hands to make her stop.

He took the water glass from her hand and gulped down every single drop, heaving a sigh, he finally said something.

"Yeah, I am fine. Don't worry. And don't give me that look. I definitely wasn't having a heart attack, and I am still way too young for that."

Will said teasingly to lift up the atmosphere, although his meek and tired voice didn't help much in this situation.

"Are you really fine? Let me call a doctor to check on you at least."

Alexia still seemed unconvinced and had a worried look on her face. Will just smiled, seeing that and said.

"No. I said it's fine. Just leave me alone for a moment; I would like some private time to think about something."

Will said as Alexia just sighed.

"Okay, I will go. But be sure to call for me if you need me with something."

"Yeah, definitely."

As Alexia was about to leave the office, Will stopped her.

"Arrange for the third round of auditions. I had promised Jeffrey that I would be present seeing to it myself."

"Most certainly."

Alexia left his office, and Will was finally alone.

"Haaah!"

Will let out an exhausted sigh as he summoned his system screen again.

[Quest – Write, Produce and Direct an Original movie with your own original soundtrack that had never existed in your previous world or this world.

Quest Clear Conditions –

Earn $100 million dollars from your own original movie during the first four weeks of its run.

The system will remain non-functioning during the quest duration; you can use the existing Skills.

All the Fame Points collected can't be used to buy skills or be withdrawn during this period of time.

Quest Clear Rewards –

System Upgrade

Quest Duration – 8 Months

Quest Failure Penalty – The system upgrade would stop. You would still be able to use the existing system.

Time Remaining – 242 days 23 hours 52 minutes 19 seconds remaining]

No matter how many times he summoned his system, be it status screen, shop or just skill description, only this window popped up.

'So it's either I complete the quest before the due date and get an upgraded version of the system, or I simply wait till the Quest duration runs out, and the existing system functionality is restored. Haaah, Sigh.'

Will let out another sigh as the frown on his face deepened. For some time, he was totally confused, and after a while, he understood what was going on.

'The system is testing me.'

It was Will's assumption, which he thought was the truth most likely. The system was trying to test Will and see if he was even worth having the system. After all, from the time of his transmigration till now, all he did was use the system's resources that were at his disposal and create movies without making an effort to make his own originals and such.

Anyone at Will's place would have done the same, so Will thought of one more possibility, and that was that the system was designed to make this quest at some point to test out Will's potential. After all, it clearly said that some kind of condition had been met and that's how this quest was initiated.

'Is it perhaps related to the withdrawal of all the fame points?'

Will wondered, then immediately shook his head at that thought.

All the Fame Points collected can't be used to buy skills or be withdrawn during this period of time.

This point clearly proved that this quest could have initiated when he had fame points, and he wouldn't even be able to use it.

'I dodged a bullet here, huh.'

Will thought, after all, if he hadn't taken out all the fame point and the quest had initiated, he would surely face more difficulties than he would face now after withdrawing all of it.

'It's either related to the skills that I purchased or the script that I bought.'

The former was less likely, as he bought two massive skills back to back. On the other hand, the latter seemed entirely plausible and made a lot of sense.

'It's the sixth skill that I received from the system, and Harry Potter was a novel series instead of a script.'

So basically, after he received five scripts for the system, the quest would have initiated when he received another script via achievements or bought another script from the system.

'Good thing I decided against buying a lot of cheap scripts.'

Will thought. At some point, he had thought about buying a lot of scripts, writing them down and selling them. It would give him a lot of small profit, but he decided against it and just bought scripts when it was absolutely necessary.

If he proceeded with his earlier plan, he wouldn't have been able to make [Sherlock Holmes].

But even right now, the situation didn't seem much favourable to him.

What the system was proposing was simple to decipher.

'Prove yourself and get a lot more powers from me.'

Writing down an original script and making an original soundtrack was in no way an easy task. Will was already praising the Will from an hour ago for being decisive enough to buy the skills that would be helpful now.

The only reason he was able to make two movies in a year was because of the system. A normal college dropout won't be able to do it by himself.

After all, from the system, he could just buy scripts. What he lacked in talent, he was able to buy them as skills from the system. But now, the story was different.

He had all enough skills a person in the Hollywood industry can dream of, so he was asked to make things a normal film school dropout would laugh at.

'Something feels off.'

Will felt like something was wrong with him. He found out what was wrong after seeing his face on the reflective surface of his laptop.

'I am smiling.'

He was smiling. To be accurate, his face was red, and his lips were twitching as if suppressing his excitement.

After getting everything served on a silver platter, Will was asked to eat up. If he wasn't even able to do that, he would be a failure as a human. Hence the challenge somehow seemed thrilling, and his heart was pounding. Although he knew it was not an easy task, he was still thrilled at the thought of surpassing the own limits that he had created for himself due to having a system.

'First, I need to calm down. What am I? An eighth-grader?'

Will chuckled as he stood up, filled another glass of water and gulped it down.

Will picked up the telephone at his working table and dialled a number.

"Hello? Jeffrey? Can you come to my office right now?"

Jeffrey was currently seated in front of Will and was waiting for him to talk up.

"It's about what I asked you to do a few days ago."

Will said. Jeffrey made an enlightened expression and smiled.

"Yes, the talk went smoothly. They agreed to sell the company. In fact, they are eager to sell it. After all, the owner of the company isn't profiting much from it."

"Great! Please proceed with the deal. I want to acquire the company as soon as possible. Make sure that news about it doesn't spread, at least until all the company rights are in my hands."

Will said with a pleased expression. Another big step in his career was going to be taken right now; he didn't want to mess it up.

"Haha, don't worry, Will. You'll have the company's papers in your hand soon. Although I still don't know why you even bothered to get this company. You are truly unpredictable."

Jeffrey chuckled at the end of his sentence. It was true that most of Will's moves were unpredictable. But Jeffrey had learnt to believe in his decisions.

"Oh, by the way. One of the comics that they're publishing is earning quite decently for being a comic. The owner just agreed to sell it because you offered such a huge sum. I heard they are having difficulties in distribution these days."

Jeffrey said. He himself had analyzed the company and found out that the company was worth a bit below what Will had offered them. Basically, Will had offered a better deal to the company, an offer they can't refuse.

"They just don't know what they are losing. 'You never realize the value of something until you have lost it', truly an ironic quote."

Will said, and after some thinking, he remembered something and asked.

"The third round of auditions for DTA will start soon, right? I would be present myself too. Did you contact the persons I gave you a list of before?"

Will was talking about the list he had given Jeffrey as a personal recommendation for DTA recruitment.

Jeffrey made a face as if he suddenly remembered something and said.

"Yes, I was about to tell you about it myself, and some of them have already agreed to join. But…"

"But what?"

Will asked curiously, and Jeffrey replied.

"It's Marcus, the guy that acted alongside Zach and June in [The Blair Witch Project]. He had apparently gotten into drugs after his career failure."

Will was shocked to hear that. Apparently, Zach had been able to get some roles for himself in ICM and was able to raise his level in the industry bit by bit. On the other hand, Marcus had been on a downward slope and ended up with drug addictions due to career pressure.

"Sigh, it's truly a waste. I'll tell Alexia to set up a meeting with me. For now, you should just focus on the acquisition of that company."

Jeffrey nodded and said as if he was truly perplexed.

"I really don't get what you see so important in that company. What was its name again? Ah yes, Marvel Comics."

Will just smiled lightly hearing that.

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 91:

If Jeffrey had asked the same question on the earth of Will's previous life, he would have been able to gather quite a lot of weird gazes.

'What do you even see in Marvel Comics?'

It was funny yet ironic to Will. It had broken all records of Hollywood, and Avengers: Endgame was something that had grossed the all-time 2nd ranked most earning movie at the box office. Only behind Avatar.

Just the brand value of MCU was something well above anything in Hollywood.

After spending some time in this world, Will was finally getting caught up in everything in this world. He had found out many of his previous life's actors working in small movies; some were even famous, like Scarlett Johansson's counterpart, Scarlett McJohn.

Franchises like Marvel and DC comics also existed in this world. But although Marvel was in existence and had a good fan base since the 1940s, it had been struggling against DC comics of this world after the 2000s. It had been pretty close before that, but in 2000, Marvel Comics decided to take a step forward and get a lead.

Marvel had co-ordinated with a medium-sized studio and made a superhero movie to make some extra profit and gain a lead from DC. They used one of their most famous superhero families and made [Fantastic Four: Marvel's first family].

But the movie ended up failing, sending Marvel Comics into the very depths of despair.

It was pretty funny to Will that even in this world, a franchise like Fantastic Four was a failure in cinema.

Marvel suffered a lot of loss, causing DC to get ahead of Marvel and become the absolute ruler of Comics in this world. Currently, in 2011, most of Marvel's market belonged to DC.

Marvel comics was now on the verge of bankruptcy, and only the history attached to it was helping it stay afloat.

On the other hand, DC had sold its movie rights to Allen Studios, one of the Big Six Studios.

Allen studios had created a series based on Superman back in 2003-2004, and it was even a hit amongst the audience, but it barely managed to make a break-even for Allen Studios because of all the money spent on its high-level production budget.

Just the VFX took a lot of money, and Allen felt like it wasn't worth spending on it.

They still had all the movie-making rights of DC, apart from Batman, but they hadn't tried to make another DC movie or series yet after its first one. Entirely due to the scope and earnings of the previous series.

Batman's rights were with a mid-sized studio called Zin Studios. They had bought the rights way before Allen bought the whole DC rights, but they never were able to release the movie in cinemas.

In the end, the studio sold it directly to DVD, and a copy of it could still be bought. But the movie wasn't able to make much profit.

On the other hand, Marvel had become something like an untouchable existence that the people in the movie industry didn't want to try touching, just like [Detective Sherlock Holmes].

Everyone knew there was scope, but no one was willing to spend so much money on it. Hollywood was still in the romantic comedy and teen movies phase and hadn't realised the potential of science fiction and superhero movies.

Ever since Will learnt about all this, he had told Jeffrey to go and buy off the whole Marvel Comics with all its employees and such. Not just the movie rights but the whole company, which would give Will more freedom to work with. Since DC's rights were already sold, Will decided not to put his leg in that franchise yet.

In the future, maybe he will try to buy the rights. But for now, his hands were tight.

He had already told Jeffrey to get the Batman rights from Zin Studios, which seemed quite plausible as Zin studios was still a small studio and would want to get rid of the rights of a movie they wouldn't be able to produce with their budget.

As long as Will acquired the company, he would have a lot of blockbuster movies in his pocket.

Most of this stuff was getting handled by Jeffrey and Will's lawyer, Jason Grace so that the acquisition of Marvel company and Batman's movie rights goes smoothly.

As this world's marvel was currently going through hard times, the company's current valuation was $14 million. Will had offered $20 million, which was a lot more than its current valuation, making all of the company shareholders agree to it and liquidate their shares, making the acquisition process pretty smooth.

As for the acquisition of rights for Batman, it was sold at $4 million. Although it was a considerable amount, it was worth it when Will knew the value of the Batman franchise alone. It included the Iconic 'Joker' after all.

With characters like Robin, Batgirl, Bane and Riddler, Will could just make a Batman franchise. Kind of like how Fox tried to create an X men franchise in his world.

Obviously, he won't make the same mistake as them and ruin the franchise.

Will had big plans for his superhero ambition, and he won't let any mistakes happen. If everything goes as planned, he will be one of the wealthiest people in the whole world.

Natalie Bergmann had gone through the first and second rounds of the audition and was currently in the DTA office waiting for her interview process.

When she had gotten the notice that she had passed the first round, she had leapt in joy. Then the second round happened and she managed to prove her acting skills again.

Now, only the interview was left to get into DTA.

If she passed the interview, she would be hired by DTA as a trainee actor and would then proceed to the third round, which will decide whether or not she gets a role in a movie immediately.

The third round was a special round to select a few extraordinary candidates who are good enough to debut in a movie directly. Others who normally passed the interview would be assigned an agent, and their agent would get them movies based on their capabilities.

This was proposed by Will, who was looking for two new faces to star in [1917] and some new actors for [500 days of summer].

Soon her number came for the interview round, and she was told to enter a room. The room was more like American Idol's audition set, and the interviewers were seated in front with an ample space where Natalie was asked to stand. She had to remain standing throughout the interview and show her best self if she wanted to get selected.

The interviewers were all high ranking agents, and employees of DTA, one of them was Jennifer.

"Why don't you have any success till now in this industry? What makes you different from the stars around your age that have made a name for themselves by now?"

One of the interviewers asked.

It was one of the most common interview questions in the acting field, and hence, Natalie replied easily.

"Luck. They had sufficient luck to get opportunities, and I didn't."

Everyone wrote down something on their notepad, and another interviewer asked a question.

"What would you do if you can't get a good role even after joining DTA."

"If I get a role, I won't see if it's good or not and will play it to the best of my capabilities. Efforts are recognised sooner or later."

The others continued with their questions, and Natalie kept replying decisively to each of them.

In the end, Jennifer asked a question, too, as she was the highest-ranking employee amongst the interviewers.

"What's one thing you won't do for roles?."

"Being a slut."

Natalie answered without a hitch, and Jennifer just smiled. She personally liked her a lot. Her looks were on point and gave a nice feeling.

Moreover, her acting was pretty good, and she was proud. She had come here after lots of struggles, so ambition was obviously there too.

If only she got good roles, she could get a good career in Hollywood.

'She might be one of those who might pass the third round and directly get a role.'

From what Jennifer knew, Will was currently planning to produce two movies. One would be a war movie with majorly only male characters, something that Natalie was obviously disqualified for.

For [1917, she already had 2-3 good male actors in mind. One of them was even so good that Jennifer had heard of him in the free market.

As for Natalie, Jennifer felt like the second movie would be quite nice. She had no information about it aside from knowing it was a romantic comedy.

'She might be able to get a supporting role in that…'

She thought in her mind as the interview went on.

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Chapter 92:

The second round of auditions and interviews for DTA was already over. 47 out of the 2000 people were selected from the interviews to proceed to the third round of auditions. It was rumoured that Will Evans himself would be present for the third round, and he would directly pick the ones that did well for the next movies that he would be producing.

It was a very good opportunity, especially after considering Will's current popularity. Anyone who worked in his movies would directly have a big leap in their career. Hence, everyone was quite nervous and some were even continuously wiping sweat from their forehead.

As the day progressed, the amount of work Will had to put in increased dramatically. He wanted two of his movies to go into the pre-production stage as soon as possible. He would focus on them for now and would think about the system's quest later on.

Today was the first day of the third round of auditions. The location for the audition was at the DTA office itself in one of the big empty rooms which was specially designed with auditions and green screen scenes in mind.

On one side of the room, a rectangular table was placed behind which, three chairs aligned. Will was seated on the middle chair with Jeffrey and Jennifer seated on his left and right side respectively.

"Are there any interesting prospects?"

Will asked in a low voice, to which Jennifer replied.

"There are quite a few. Most of the people that have come this far have something unique to offer. You will see for yourself soon."

Will just nodded and didn't say anything.

Soon, Jennifer gave a signal to the audition staff, and the first person came in.

The guy who entered had a pale face and blonde hair, which was quite a weird combination.

His name was Marshal Chambers, 24 years old, and he was one of those that Jennifer held quite high.

His skin was as pale as a vampire's and he had light blue eyes which gave him an overall handsome look. In Hollywood's language, his looks were 'something that would sell well.'

"He's pretty good."

Jennifer whispered inside Will's ears. Will raised an eyebrow for a moment, afterwards, his face went to his usual poker face.

All the actors were required to play out scenes from different scripts that Will had written especially for the auditions. So no one could say that they had prepared for this and not for that scene.

Some of the scenes were even from [1917] and [500 Days of Summer].

'He is trying hard to not show his nervousness.'

Will thought, his eyes scanning Marshall.

He looked to be quite nervous as Will was personally presiding over the audition.

In the rounds before this one, he didn't know any of the judges and just performed confidently. But stakes were quite high in this round.

Marshall was someone who would keep an eye on the rumours in Hollywood. As he had been a struggling actor for a while, he knew the value of information.

And the current rumour in the market was that Will was going to produce some movies. If he did well in the audition, maybe he would be able to get a role in his next.

That easily created pressure on Marshall.

He had been given a scene in which he was on a bus and a killer would suddenly sit next to him and take a gun to threaten him. A staff member was going to act as the killer and Marshall had to show a range of emotions going from being surprised to being scared.

As the staff sat next to him and Will signalled it, the audition began and Marshall started his performance.

Maybe it was because of him being too nervous, but Will felt like his performance was quite stiff. It wasn't bad but he would need a lot of polishing.

After his performance ended, he just told him to go and that the results will be told later.

"What do you think?"

Jeffrey asked after Marshall left.

"He's handsome but too stiff. His acting will be pretty limited, at least with his current skills." Will gave out his verdict and Jennifer nodded.

"Yeah, I think we can invest in him and get him to work in romantic comedies and commercial movies. With his face, he's bound to attract an audience, especially a large female following. He could take the idol path easily and we can send him to talk shows a lot as he's not a bad speaker. Maybe, after a few years, he would be ready to do more serious movies."

"You have already stemmed a path for him?"

Will asked, a little surprised. Jennifer's analysis was clearly not something that she had made in a minute.

"He's one of those I have an eye on."

Will didn't say much after that and just thought that in the future, Marshall could easily play the lead or a supporting role in some high school movies like [High school musical] or [Mean girls].

After that, there were a few more actors and actresses that came through but rarely did anyone impress Will enough to make him think that he could be the lead in [1917].

An actor from Belgium named Tarabi impressed him a little. He was 26 years old but his looks and vibes didn't suit any lead character in [1917, so Will just put his name in the back of his mind, thinking he will use him later.

On the other hand, quite a few actresses were to his liking. He was also looking for a new actress to play the role of Summer in [500 days of summer].

He wanted someone who could give a guy the vibe of 'she's the one'. A fresh, young vibe and at the same time, someone who is also a little complex.

But he hadn't yet found someone like that. Quite a few actresses he showed were quite pretty and had good acting skills, but they were still lacking one or two things to be summer.

'I really hope I find the right candidates today.'

Will checked his watch and it was 10 minutes to lunch. One more audition to go.

"You have not got anyone to play Schofield and Blake yet right?"

Jeffrey asked as he saw Will checking his watch.

As the cinematographer of [1917, Jeffery was also quite invested in the movie and was trying to find someone who can play Blake or Schofield.

"Not yet. We have a lot of guys still going. Let's hope we find someone."

"Yeah, if we can't, are you going to go with more established actors?"

"No, I want [1917] to announce the next two big things in Hollywood."

Jeffrey didn't say anything after that and on his side, Jennifer saw the name of the person that was going to come next and gestured to Will.

"I think the next person will surely impress you."

He nodded, checking the name of the next actor. Renly Warren was an English actor who had just come to Hollywood a year ago.

He was young, only 22 and had a few small roles in some movies. According to Jennifer, he was one of the best from the lot that passed the second round.

'Let's see how he is.'

As Will thought that, Renly came in, sporting a smile on his face. He looked at the people sitting, his eyes particularly stopping before Will.

Will felt a nice, strong yet elegant aura from Renly. It was something that only directors would feel, a vibe that was telling him that he was not like other actors.

"Hello, my name is Renly Warren and I'm an actor."

He introduced himself shortly and Jennifer gave him a short scene to do. Every actor was given 2 to 3 scenes to prepare and this was one of those that was given to Renly.

It was a scene that was only written for this audition in which Renly had to act as a retired soldier talking about his sins and the people he had killed to a priest.

"You are going to confess everything you did to a priest while he silently listens. Did you understand?"

Will asked and Renly nodded his head but before Will could signal the start of the scene, he raised his head and asked.

"What type of accent does the retired soldier have?"

"Accent?"

"Yes, where's he from? His name or birthplace wasn't written, so I wasn't able to prepare for it. But I at least want to know."

This was an interesting question.

Accents were a part of acting and they were as important. For example, if you are acting as a British character, you need to have a British accent. Many actors fail in this aspect and it takes away the belief factor from the character.

If a character who is from Texas can't speak in a Texas accent, then people would really not believe he belongs from there.

Accents are really subtle and every place has a different one. Renly asking about the accent just meant that he had also taken it into account while preparing for the character.

'He's really different.'

Will thought, now looking at Renly seriously.

…

/DreamNote/ ??

There was no chapter yesterday because I am currently very sick. Ramadanjobwriting has taken a big toll. Sorry guys, but please don't forget to vote, today is weekly reset. I am trying my best to recover, please take care of your health too.

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Chapter 93: [Resuming Daily Updates!]

A/n: Recommended to read previous chapter

…

Renly had struck Will differently than the rest of the candidates. There was clearly a noticeable gap between the usual candidates and him. Apart from his looks, he stood out just in his mannerism and behaviour. The way he processed things and acted towards them was on a different level when compared to the other rookies.

After all, many people were given the script to act out on, but Renly was the first one to ask which accent the character he was going to play had.

Just this short question elevated his opinions of the judges by a lot.

"The character is a brit. If you have your answers, proceed with the audition."

Will said in a plain voice that succeeded in hiding all his emotions.

Renly smiled slightly after getting to know the character's accent, and then, the star who was going to play the role of the pope gave a signal to Renly to start with his act.

"A soldier's life is as sinful as criminals. And today, I am here to plead guilty to the sins that haunt me every night."

Renly started out his acting. His expression displayed bitter sorrow as if he himself didn't believe he had committed a sin but was well aware that he was a sinner.

"I've taken the lives of those close to me on the order of the Empire. I have taken the lives of innocent people whose only crime was being prisoners of war."

Renly's lips and eyes kept trembling as a teardrop can be seen in his eyes as he looked at his own shaking yet scarred hand.

"These hands that are shaking now never hesitate to take the lives of someone's son, father, husband or brother. They never differentiated between anyone and simply kept following orders that were etched into this sinful brain."

At this point, Renly started to even stutter as if choking on his own words and his trembling hands started coming near his face. Looking at them with an angrily shaking eye and gritted teeth, Renly formed a fist.

"Yet, here I am today, pleading guilty for my sins and expecting God's forgiveness, for I must eliminate anyone and everyone that stands in the path of the Empire's glory. For I must commit to these sins until the very day I embrace my own death. I seek forgiveness for the sins that I have committed and the sins that I will commit henceforth."

Renly's eyes which were red from crying started to show a resolve that spoke that he wouldn't let anyone stand in his path to the conquest of the great Empire.

"Okay, that's enough."

Jennifer said as the audition came to an end. The whole thing about asking for forgiveness for his own sins was just the prelude to actually showing his devotion to the Empire that he was a part of. The Empire that he had committed so many sins for. It was a pretty deep character of someone who wasn't a sociopath or psychopath and clearly felt guilty for killing others, but he was someone who was willing to live with the guilt of all of his sins for the future of the Empire he belonged to.

All in all, it was the portrayal of war filled world's extremely patriotic general. As Will was trying to come up with his own movie ideas on the side, he had even thought of this scene that could be rather impactful if done well. Although it was just one of the many ideas, he had thought of and kept thinking of for his future movies.

Renly still had red eyes from the acting earlier, yet the atmosphere around him was totally different, and he was smiling again as if all the acting before was a total farce…. Which it actually was.

"You can wait outside. We will announce the results after everyone's auditions are done for the day."

Will said and gestured to Renly towards the door. Renly walked out with a smile as if satisfied with himself, unlike the other contestants who had long faces when they went out after giving the auditions.

"We got our first lead for [1917]."

As soon as Renly left the room, Will whispered to Jeffrey, to which the latter just chuckled. Indeed, Will only had eyes for the best.

The contestants for the third round of auditions were sitting inside a big lounge of DTA headquarters.

It was a room with tables and chairs on the side, and the middle of the room was mostly empty, with some of the people forming a group of 2 or 3 and talking silently amongst themselves.

The room's atmosphere looked rather gloomy considering the fact that it was filled with youths that are always energetic. All of them had come here for the 3rd round of auditions and some of them had already given their auditions and were waiting for the results.

Naturally, people who had already given the audition had gotten a crowd after them asking questions like how the audition went and how the judges were, or even which role or scene they were asked to play out. As it wasn't forbidden to share information, the DTA staff didn't stop anyone from sharing their experiences.

But it was soon made clear why there wasn't a rule that restricted others from sharing their experience. Some of the contestants simply refused to tell anyone what happened with them inside, and some who were generous enough to try to help weren't able to help as there wasn't really anything special that one could take note of.

Everyone who had come out had long faces and was nervous because the results would be announced later, and the judges themselves never showed a reaction that people could make out to be 'good' or 'bad'.

One of the girls who couldn't handle this nervousness ended up crying. This just ended up making the contestants more nervous and agitated.

The same was true for Natalie Bergmann. She was very conscious and nervous about the current situation she was facing. As more people went in and came out with the same dull or sad expressions, her heart started beating loudly. She started thinking about whether or not she would be able to leave any impression on the judges or embarrass herself in front of the big shots.

Another contestant came out, and what made him stand out from everyone else was that he was smiling lightly. Although the smile he carried was subtle, it was still noticeable enough to make people jealous or even more anxious than they were before.

The contestant that came out was none other than Renly Warren, and even the judges didn't say anything obvious or even showed any signs of it; he himself felt it deep inside him. The fact that he had managed to do well somehow. That's why the smile crept up to his face without him intending to make it.

"Hey man, did you get selected? How were the judge's reactions?"

Obviously, some people tried talking to him, especially after seeing that he wasn't at least sad like the others. What was funny was that the person who called him big bro seemed much older than him, almost 26-27, while it was clear that Renly was only in his early twenties.

Instead of others' gazes of jealousy and envy, Natalie had a totally different reaction. Her eyes were filled with admiration, and her heart had calmed down a bit after seeing that someone seemed to have done well, and the situation wasn't as hopeless as it seemed. She felt like Renly had already gotten a role and hoped that there were some roles by the time her turn came. After all, even if the results weren't getting announced right away, the decisions of the judges were getting formed the moment a contestant came out of the auditioning room.

As an actor, Natalie took pride in her acting skills and didn't degrade herself before others. Although her heart had calmed down a bit, the nervousness was still there, and it would only go away after she was done with her auditions.

The fact that Renly had gotten a role wasn't just Natalie's thinking. Everyone thought exactly the same. And that's why everyone wished what Natalie wished for, that at least there should be some roles left for them that they can get.

The lounge was filled with feelings of nervousness and anticipation as people whose auditions were remaining waited for their turns to come.

As the audition proceeded, only 2 to 3 contestants could leave an impression on Will, one of them being Renly. Although the others were good at basic standards, they would still need a lot of polishing to get shaped in the industry.

There was another half Korean half American girl who was able to leave an impression on Will. Her name was Charlotte Woo. Her acting was top notch but what actually stood out about her was her confidence. After acting the script she was given, she even asked Will to let her show her dance.

Will had an instinctual feeling that Charlotte would have been popular as a K-pop idol. Still, since this was Hollywood and her acting was good enough, as long as Will was able to make movies suitable for her, she would get much more popular than she would have gotten as a K-pop idol.

As only a few auditions were left, Natalie Bergmann's turn finally came. Will, who was writing down notes about the previous contestant, was the last one to see her face. As soon he took out his head from the file in his hand and looked towards her, his eyes seemed like they would pop out of their sockets.

'It's her!'

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 94:

'Natalie Portman!'

Will's mind froze as soon as he saw the next contestant's face and a name from his previous world surfaced in his mind.

Will immediately flipped a page of the file he was holding and saw the information about the contestant right in front of him.

'Natalie Bergmann? Even her name is similar!'

Subconsciously, Will's heart started to beat excitedly in his chest as he started reading about her.

'23 years old, single. No successful roles yet. A graduate of a big film school. Does odd jobs currently. The last audition she gave was a year ago, so she probably gave up on acting and decided to give it a shot again.'

Will read her resume and kept thinking in his head. She was someone who was clearly going through tough times. On top of all that, she was orphaned recently, just like Will, leaving no one to look after her.

Although she looked a bit thinner than Natalie Portman, she definitely looked exactly like her.

"Hello, what's your name?"

Jennifer asked and Natalie replied.

"I am Natalie Bergmann, I am from Seattle, Washington."

'Yes! Definitely her!'

Natalie introduced herself and Will shouted in his thoughts. Even her voice was the same.

It was definitely the same person, again with different circumstances. As Will had been busy recently with various things, even though he went through some resumes, he mostly skipped all as he had a team for checking that, and hence, he had decided to just see the actors directly today. Which led to this situation right now.

To think that he left such a diamond in the dust. And this sudden encounter just added to the surprise, not to mention it was a welcomed and pleasant surprise.

'I am blessed.'

Will truly felt that way. There was no other explanation for such a big hotshot's alternate version coming to him themselves. He already had it as his top priority to secure most of the celebrities from his previous world that he can get, and a big part of Hollywood directly landed on his lap. Not to mention they are here to join his agency! He doesn't even need to convince them or coax them into joining, they had directly come themselves to join.

It was a situation where he could say that he didn't have to lose even a penny and he got a profit of millions.

As Will was thinking all this, his facial expression remained the same, unsurprised and calm. It had become a habit at this point. To act nonchalant in every situation, was the best way to live in Hollywood.

"Act out this scene."

Will said as staff handed over a script to her on Will's special instruction. It was the ending scene of [500 days of Summer].

On day 488, Summer visits Tom at his favourite spot in the city. He tells her he left the office and notes that she got married, which he cannot comprehend as she never wanted to be someone's girlfriend. Summer says she got married because she felt sure, which she did not with Tom. When he says he was wrong about true love existing, she counters that he was right about it, just wrong about it being with her. She tells him she is glad he is doing well. Tom wishes her happiness.

This was basically the scene.

"Uh, who would play tom?"

Natalie asked. As there was a clear conversation with tom. And that can't be done alone, so she would need someone to recite the lines for her.

"I will do it."

Will said as he got off his seat. The staff immediately ran around to bring a bench to sit at. After all, Tom's favourite spot was a bench and this scene was at the exact same place.

Natalie looked unsure as if she couldn't comprehend what was going on. Jeffrey just smiled, as he knew how passionate Will was about work. Not like it was the first time he was acting out a scene with one of the contestants.

Although they tried to stop him when he tried to do it first. They understood later that he was only doing scenes that absolutely can't be just 'recited', they needed to be acted out.

Will went and sat on the bench, while Natalie read the script.

"I think I am ready."

Natalie said as she looked nervously at Will. Will just nodded his head and stood up to act out his role.

Suddenly, Will's vibe changed and it turned into someone who looked tired and exhausted from life, someone who was just living and someone who had lost something precious to him.

"Hey."

Natalie said as she started playing her role of Summer.

Will looks at her flabbergasted as if he didn't expect someone to be near the bench he was about to sit on. He didn't know if she came just now, or was always sitting there, or if she was merely his imagination.

"I always loved this place, uh…"

Natalie hesitated and then suddenly lowered her head. She had forgotten the script due to how nervous she was. She couldn't believe that she messed up at such a crucial time.

The staff around her sighed and looked at her as if she was done for. After all, everyone thought that it was a game over if you mess up even once in such an important situation.

'Ah! Well, now I am gonna seem like either a hypocrite or a lecher. Sigh."

Will thought inwardly as he signed. There was no way in hell that he was going to let go of Natalie, so he was going to give her another chance, which would create various types of questions and speculations amongst his staff.

'Well, fuck. I will see to it later. For now.'

He looked at Natalie who had her head down, almost on the verge of crying.

"Hey, what are you doing? Reread the script and there's no hurry, okay?"

Will said as he smiled and again sat on the bench. Natalie again looked at him with wide eyes that were wet from the tears that were about to flood a second ago.

'He is so nice. *Hic*'

Natalie thought as she looked at Will, totally in a trance. Someone from the staff came running with the script in his hand, handing it over to Natalie, which she accepted clumsily as she was still trying to get her head around the situation.

"Hey."

"…."

"I always loved this place, ever since you brought me."

This time, she got the script right and acted as if she was really not in a studio, but somewhere else, sitting on a bench, talking to her ex-lover.

"What's not to like?"

Will asked. There was an awkward silence, like in the real movie as they really got into the script and started acting out their parts.

"So… I should probably say congratulations."

Will said, and Natalie replied with a light smile.

"Only if you mean it."

"In that case…."

Will didn't say anything. The two Judges, Jennifer and Jeffrey, and the whole staff were looking at Will and Natalie. Especially Will's Awe-inspiring acting, watching it in the flesh was something like a whole new level of 3D movie bingeing. They had seen it the whole day from time to time, and it brought the same amount of surprise every time.

As they played out the role, Natalie kept getting better and better with every dialogue to the point where one would forget that she was Natalie and not Summer.

"You never wanted to be anyone's girlfriend, and now you are….. Somebody's wife."

"Surprised me too."

Natalie replied to Will's comment.

"Okay, that's enough."

Will said as he smiled brightly at Natalie.

"You can wait outside with everyone else. We'll announce the results soon, only a few contestants are left."

Jennifer said and Natalie nodded her head, giving a last glance at Will, she finally walked out.

"Haaah!"

Will heaved out a loud sigh as he stood up from the bench and stretched his back. He went back to his seat and Jennifer looked at him with teasing eyes.

"What, Jenny?"

Will scoffed and she chuckled while asking.

"Are you interested in her…?"

It was a question intended to ask if he was interested in her in 'that' way. Jennifer's question contained a bit of hidden jealousy which Will failed to notice.

"Nah. I have June."

"Oh… then? Do you know her from before?"

Jennifer asked again.

"Nope. She's just a good actress, I would say."

Jennifer didn't ask any more questions and they proceeded with the auditions.

Only two people were left, and they were just like the others, talented yet unpolished.

In a famous book publisher's house, a young girl of 7-8 years of age was reading a book with great interest. She was the daughter of Terry Warden. Terry Warden was the owner of one of the biggest book publishers in America, and his daughter was an avid reader of all genres of books.

Currently, April Warden, the daughter of Terry Warden, was reading a draft sent to her dad and her eyes were sparkling continuously.

The title of the draft was, [Harry Potter: The Philosopher's Stone].

…

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Chapter 95:

April Warden, who was engrossed in reading [Harry Potter: The Philosopher's Stone] didn't realise when the time ticked by as it was almost evening by the time she finished the manuscript. Her eyes were already a bit hazy because of her young body continuously reading for hours, but her face was lit up, and her expression spoke volumes of her excitement.

She stood up and put the manuscript between her hands as she ran off towards the living room. Her father, Terry Warden, was sitting on a sofa, doing something on his laptop. Terry Warden looked to be in his late 40s and had a white trimmed beard.

"Papa!"

April climbed the sofa from the side sneakily and threw herself at her fathers, strangling his neck with her arms as she happily rubbed her face against his.

"Oh, my little angel. How was your day today? Did you do your homework? You didn't annoy your nanny, did you?"

Terry laughed as he said that. He immediately closed his laptop and stopped what he was doing. For him, his daughter mattered more than anything or anyone in this world. He took her in his arms and made her sit on his lap as he looked at her with affectionate eyes.

"Uh-huh. I was being a really good girl; you can ask Carla."

April said as she stroked Terry's beard with her little fingers while she held a manuscript.

"Is that so? What's this? You were reading from the new manuscripts again?"

Terry asked as his gaze finally landed on this daughter's other hand, which was holding a manuscript. He was well aware of his daughter's interest and love of books and couldn't be happier about it. He saw that she was holding one of the drafts that he would take home so his daughter, who loved books, could read it.

"Yes!! I came to ask for the second volume from papa. Please give me."

April asked with puppy eyes that melted Terry's heart.

"There is no second volume. It's one of the unpublished drafts."

Terry informed her, and April's eyes shined like she had gained enlightenment. April was a very smart kid for her age and already knew the process of drafts being selected for publications or getting rejected. Her non-existent dog ears and tails wiggled as she snuggled onto Terry and asked.

"Papa, please publish this novel. Pretty please? I love you so much."

Terry was surprised. Although he knew that April liked reading, he knew she was a very picky reader and mostly threw away these drafts after reading the first chap if they weren't good enough. He would tell his junior editors to pay special attention to such books.

Although most of the work was done by the junior editors, this was the case with the drafts he brought home for April to read.

"Do you like this book?"

Terry asked to confirm once again, and April's expression lit up again.

"I absolutely love it. Harry Potter is so cool."

Another shock. This was the first time Terry saw April being this happy about reading a book. After all, she only got this happy either when she had ice cream or when they went to visit her grandmother.

Originally, he wasn't going to give much thought to any of the manuscripts he bought for his daughter to read. He usually brought many and then sent them back to the junior editors who would take care of everything else.

But right now, his daughter's reaction towards this certain book piqued his interest.

Terry has been in this business for almost 20 years now. For the first ten years, he worked in a big book publishing company in America, and later after he had learnt many things, he started his own publishing company. Over the years, he slowly climbed his way to success.

Last year, two of his author's novel's got into the top ten of the New York Times best-seller list. One of the books was even offered a chance to become a movie from one of the big six studios, and it was currently under pre-production with Z studios.

As he kept climbing higher on the stairs of success, the time that he spent reading books or drafts was seriously becoming non-existent. Hence, as he had less work for today, he decided to give a try to the novel that his daughter had taken so much liking to.

Everyone from the auditioning staff was still quite shocked after seeing Will's preferential treatment of Natalie. After all, Will was known to be impartial and even as someone young, he didn't lose his head around beautiful people.

Not to mention that Natalie wasn't particularly beautiful. Heck, Will's secretary was enough to outshine every other woman Will had met. Yet, Natalie succeeded in getting preferential treatment from him.

Although there was a lot of room for gossip and rumours to spread, they would all be absurd as long as the fact remained that there were more beautiful and curvy people in the auditions than Natalie unless Will had a particular preference for women.

As everyone was busy discussing what had just happened, the topic of the discussion had an extremely satisfied expression on his face.

Will was currently pleased. He was able to find another good actor for the role of Blake in [1917]. His name was Elijah Thomas, and he was a native American actor who was still young and looking for his break. He had a great vibe about him and was very proficient in acting. Will didn't even have second thoughts as he made a note for him being one of the leads of [1917].

Will was able to secure three lead roles for his next two productions and couldn't be happier about it. The fact that was mostly the reason for his smile was the surprising yet pleasantly welcomed acquisition of Natalie Bergmann.

Will had decided that Natalie would play the role of the female lead in [500 days of Summer]. Jennifer and Jeffrey didn't object to it as every actor Will selected today had some kind of special trait with them that was marketable. Jeffrey was kind of unsure about Natalie, but Jennifer was able to tell that Natalie was an extremely good actor. She just got nervous and ended up messing up the first time.

That's why everyone from the staff was just talking about her messing up and Will giving her a second chance instead of talking about how well she did the second time around.

"Have you thought of any good directors for your next movies? And what about distributions deals?"

Jeffrey asked from where he was seated. He was right in front of Will, in his office. Will and Jeffrey were discussing the future of his upcoming two movies, and Jeffrey had asked an important question related to that.

"I have a director in mind for [1917] at least."

Will said as he thought about the sleepless nights he spent researching all the important people of this world's Hollywood. He can finally say he had at least caught up to most of the people. He watched a lot of movies from this world and now knew about most of the accomplished directors and their work styles.

"Oh, is that so? Which director are you talking about, though?"

Jeffrey asked with curiosity flickering in his eyes.

"I am talking about Lucas Amspoker. I want you to contact him and give him a proposal from me, asking him if he is interested in directing the movie. And don't worry about DTA now. I think Jenny would be ready to take over as head sooner than I expected."

Will spoke out his thoughts. Jennifer was taking her job quite seriously, and although she was a senior agent, she was doing most of the things an agency head should be doing and keeping his eyes on. As she already had expertise in this field, she was obviously a better choice than Jeffrey, who was from a completely different faction of Hollywood.

"Lucas Amspoker? Alright, I will give him a proposal from you. I have wanted to work with him for a long time. Ahaha."

Jeffrey seemed excited by the name that Will had given. After all, Lucas was an Oscar-nominated director. He was quite popular and hadn't directed any movie this year.

"Take this too."

Will handed over a document to Jeffrey, which he accepted with confusion in his eyes. But as he kept on reading, his eyebrows that were knit together slowly eased up, and soon his eyes were wide with surprise and excitement.

"T-this…?"

"It's an analysis of the ways that [1917] can be shot in. The movie isn't easy to shoot, so I would recommend reading what I have analysed so far for its cinematography."

Jeffrey kept reading the document and his eyes just became wider and wider as he exclaimed.

"Will, this is genius!"

"Give a copy of this document to Lucas too. This might make him interested."

Will said without reacting much to the praise.

"Will…. Don't tell me you have a talent for cinematography too.."

Jeffrey acted as if he had sensed hidden danger and looked apprehensively at Will, to which Will just laughed.

"Don't worry. I am not going to take over your job."

"Yeah… you have much better and more important things to do. Phew."

Jeffrey continued on with his fake act of apprehensiveness as he sighed in relief that Will wasn't going to take over his job.

After a while, both Will and Jeffrey laughed together at his act. If anyone saw them right now, they would be genuinely perplexed seeing this friendship that transcended all social norms of age and levels.

…

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Chapter 96:

"Are you going to direct [500 days of Summer] yourself?"

Jeffrey asked Will. Earlier, Jeffrey believed that Will would direct most of his movies, but that impression changed when Will asked him to look for other directors for the [1917] movie. So Jeffrey was unsure whether Will would direct the movie himself or get other directors to direct it.

"Well, my earlier plan was to direct it myself. But seeing as to how my current circumstances are, I don't feel like directing it. I'll ask Alexia to send a few invitations to some of the directors that I think can direct the movie. I hope that the movie comes out well, as the storyline is something I like very much."

Of course, there was no such thing as Will being moody about directing a movie or not. It was solely because of the system's sudden quest to create his own original movie. He needed time to think about a plot and write it down as a script. Then there was also the matter of composing his own original soundtrack and such thing, which was just an extra amount of effort that Will had to put in.

With such a task baring its claws at Will, he just couldn't focus on directing other movies. He was going to be the producer, and these weren't movies that won't do well without his directing. This world didn't lack good directors, so Will was just thinking of focusing on something else instead of these movies.

"It's fine either way, I guess."

Jeffrey said as he had promised himself never to question Will's decisions.

After a while, Jeffrey left the office, and Will called in Alexia.

"Here is a list of directors that I think would be good for directing [500 days of Summer]. Please get in touch with them and send them a formal invitation."

Will said as he handed over a tablet device to Alexia. Alexia took a look at it, scrolled through it, and then asked.

"Anything else?"

"Actually, yes. Contact Spencer Miller's secretary and ask him to arrange a meeting with Spencer for me."

"Okay, I will do so. As a reminder, today is the day that you planned to go and meet Marcus Brown."

Alexia reminded, and Will just smiled. He didn't need a reminder as he already remembered that he had to meet with Marcus today.

Will and June were driving towards a rehab centre located in the east of LA. It was where Marcus was brought to after he was caught taking drugs.

Getting found out while taking drugs, Marcus's career as an actor was practically over. Especially when he was just a young seedling and not someone who was established in the industry. He didn't have any sort of backing, and nor did he have a godfather looking after him.

Thinking about this, Will frowned inwardly. Will remembered the innocent face of the guy who was so excited about getting a lead role and immediately asked first to inform his family and sign the contract later. He was a cheerful and humble guy, unlike Zach, who had an arrogant and playboy like attitude.

Sigh*

"Hey, look here."

June, who looked at Will deep in thought, asked him to look towards her.

"It's not your fault, okay? Just like it wasn't your fault when I was self-deprecating myself. You can't control everything in the world in the way you want. And remember, we will get Marcus out of all this. So don't blame yourself. Promise me you won't."

They had already arrived in front of the rehab centre, and Will had stopped the car. Looking at June, who was trying to comfort him, he just smiled weakly.

"Yeah, I know it's not my fault. But I can't help but feel bad about it anyways, as you said. We will get Marcus out of here, even if it's just for a selfish reason like clearing away my guilt."

June beamed a smile at him as they walked out of the car after Will had parked it.

"Hello, how can I help you today?"

A receptionist with formal dressing asked as soon as Will and June entered the Rehab centre.

"Uh, we are here to visit one of the patients here. His name is Marcus Brown."

Will replied as he looked at the receptionist. The receptionist's gaze finally shifted from June, who was in front of Will, who spoke from the back.

"W-Will Evans??? I m-mean, welcome Mr Evans. Are you looking for Marcus Brown? I will lead you to his ward."

The receptionist kept stuttering in front of Will. Will was the man of her dreams; although he was younger, he had made a name for himself solely based on his own capabilities. Not to mention he was fucking handsome.

"No need for you to bother. We have a prior appointment set with Mr Evans and Marcus. Sorry for making you wait; please follow me."

A senior doctor who had come out asked formally and led the way for Will and June towards the ward where Marcus was kept at.

Soon, they reached a room where the doctor stood outside and said.

"You can go meet him in there. Please notify us if you need something."

"Thank you. Let's go, June."

Will thanked the doctor and entered the room with June. The only person inside the room was Marcus, who looked as if life had been sucked out of him. The man with a healthy physique and handsome face was nowhere to be seen as a person without many muscles backing his bones was all that was left of Marcus Brown.

"…Marcus?"

June unconsciously said, her eyes in a state of disbelief. After all, Marcus was someone who had worked with her, and she herself knew how kind and enthusiastic Marcus was. Seeing him reduced to this state made her feel unsettled, and her heart ached.

Marcus, who was seated on a bed looking down with his lifeless eyes, slowly raised his head when he heard his name. And as soon as he saw the two people standing in front of him, his eyes first went wide with shock, and then they showed all kinds of emotions as they gradually dimmed and droplets of tears formed, soon falling right on his face.

Will moved forward and hugged him a bit, causing him to cry even more. After a while, Will and June were sitting on a chair as they waited for Marcus to calm down.

"I never thought that you would come to see me."

After finally calming down a bit, Marcus said in a low voice. What he said was true. For him, Will and he had the same starting point, but Will rode so high on the waves of success that Marcus thought he would never look back at the people he worked with when he wasn't anything much.

"Why do you think that?"

Will asked him, and Marcus looked up at him, his eyes red from crying.

"You got everything one could ever wish for in Hollywood. Why would you look back at someone like me? Or at least that's what I thought until now."

Marcus chuckled bitterly at the end of his sentence.

"Why are you in this condition? Just…why?"

June asked this time, in a voice that carried sympathy and anger towards Marcus for not taking care of himself.

"Uh. I am not smart like Zach, and he was quick enough to sign up with ICM and managed to secure his future for a certain period of time. On the other hand, I wanted to do some indie movies to hone my skills. And then, the director and producer kept shouting at me and harassing me for no reason. I was getting stressed day by day."

At this point, Will had somewhat guessed the overall story. Still, he waited for Marcus to continue.

"One day, one of my co-workers, who was acting in the same movie with me, gave me a pill. He said it's a medicine to relieve stress. And my mind was already clouded, I had somewhat guessed back then that it was drugs, but I still took it. One time led to another, and then without even realising it, I was in a drug cycle that I couldn't escape even if I wanted to. At some point, even my family gave up on me and reported my drug habits to the narcotics department."

Marcus slapped his forehead with his hand as he looked down and regretted his life decisions.

Sigh*

Will and June sighed together. Will could say that he should have taken better care of them, but life didn't work like that. All he could do was provide a map for others and make their way easier; he couldn't guide them step by step into every alley and corner himself. After all, he had his own life to live, with his own goals and worries to care about.

"How is it now? Your situation."

Will asked in simple words. After all, Marcus's career was over the moment he took drugs for the second time. Because once someone takes it, they wouldn't even realise until they have lost everything. But Marcus was still young. Although life was hard, it gave second chances to many people. And according to Will, Marcus deserved a second chance. After all, Will couldn't forget the moment when Marcus said he would first inform his family and then sign the contract. Such a guy can never be wrong, only circumstances can bring him into such an adversary.

…

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