My Hollywood System

Chapter 110:

“What!?” Jeffery’s voice contained the barely veiled fury and incredulity at the demand set forth by the MCA.

Trying to gain control of his rage, Jeffery took a calming breath looked at the face of the agent and then at the director of the movie, slowly trying to comprehend the insult as well as the blatant unprofessional clause that they tried to set, and then he spoke, in a clipped tone. “I hope you realize that you’re asking us for ten percent box office share, on top of a fee, for an actor that just broke through the A-list rankings, right? There are many in that category that will, frankly, perform better, at a much lower price. Every time before now, Reagan Norris has been cast at a fee, not a cut of the box office. You must understand, we cannot accept this.”

Jacob looked like he was chewing through a lemon as he said “That clause was put forward by our CEO himself, we believe that Reagan has the potential to be the best of the best, and the CEO believed that for an actor like him, after our shared history, a percentage of the gross is the perfect incentive for us to lease him for work here.”

Jeffery and Carlson couldn’t believe that the CEO of MCA, could be that egotistical and petty.

“Are those the final terms for this deal?” Carlson asked.

“Yes, I believe those are the final terms, that last clause is non-negotiable,” Jacob affirmed.

“Then, I am sorry to say, we respectfully reject your terms, we cannot in good faith let this insult be set aside, we hope that we can work more amicably in future opportunities, have a great day.” Jeffery dissolved the meeting with the bland statement of platitudes, his mind working in overdrive trying to contain his fury and rage.

Seeing that the meeting had reached its conclusion and that he was no longer welcome in the office, Jacob Woodsworth packed up the documents, buttoned up his suitcase, gave a final nod with the polite nod to the two angry businessmen in front of him, and took his leave.

While actors in the upper echelons of the A-list category occasionally did ask for shares in the box office, it is generally backed up by their incredibly renowned acting prowess. And even then, Production companies generally frown on actors asking for the percentages of the gross. There have many instances where actors demanded similar terms to act in various high budget films, and in retaliation production houses attempted, what is generally known as Hollywood Accounting, by tallying up the accounts in a way that on paper, the movie would have earned nothing, giving the actors who demand such shares next to nothing as payment for their work. Jeffery knew that he couldn’t attempt Hollywood accounting for that was something, Will wouldn’t resort to, he couldn’t help but think of the sweet retribution he would have gotten had he gotten away with it.

Reigning in his more destructive thoughts, Jeffery decided that he needed to inform Will of the new developments.

********

Having sold over 10 million copies, ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ at around 7.99 dollars a copy, grossing around eighty million dollars worldwide, in just under a month. While Will knew that the books were bound to make a good amount of money, he had underestimated how much his own fame and renown, along with the impeccable quality of the books would go in boosting the sales of the book. As an author, he himself had received sixteen million dollars from the cut, and Will was extremely happy with those numbers.

There were many critics that gave extremely positive reviews on various sites, ranging from those that were purely literary in nature, to those that were following Will and were involved in Hollywood as well.

On Sparrow there were many users that had decided to post their own comments like –

[ AnnaMarie

@Rogue_marie

I don’t like fantasy books. This is my one time I have to go against it. Harry Potter is in my top 2 favorite books of all time. It’s amazing with all the unique things that you see around the magic world. You will have to think again when you chose a favourite book.

10/10, would recommend]

[ ItsPatsy

@Trish_talk

One of the best book series ever!! Charming and Witty, you just cant put the book down.

you should all give it a read ]

[ WiggleWiggle

@prettygurlwiggles

It’s very good because I enjoy it and it makes me wanna read it a lot and see what happens next.

Waiting for the next installment, luv you Will!]

[ PriyankaC

@itsPriyaBitch

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is one of my favourite books in the Harry Potter series. Reading this book has made me crazy about Harry Potter and I wish to be one among the magical community. I can’t imagine how thrilled I would be if I get a letter from Dumbledore saying that I am admitted to Hogwarts! What can’t that man, Will Evans, do!??? ]

Will was reading through many such comments on Sparrow of fans that had read his books while waiting in the backstage for the radio show host, Joe Slogan.

Joe Slogan was the producer and the host of the podcast, Daily Talks with Joe Slogan and had invited Will to his studio to shoot a podcast episode featuring Will and talk about the book.

He had decided to take a break from writing the script for [Liberty City] and do something new when Amanda had informed him of the invite for the show. The show had previously been host to various famous celebrities and personalities, and Will thought that it would be a nice change of pace from the increasingly hectic schedule that he had started to pick up.

“Sir, we’ve set the room, we just need to tape this mic to the collar of your shirt, and you’ll need to wear the headsets near the large mic, and then we’ll take it from there.” A lab tech came forward and informed Will that the preparations were complete.

Will followed the lab tech into the interview room, which had a few cameras set up and in mounted positions so that the faces of both the host and the guest could be seen clearly in the video that they’d release later. In one of the leather chairs of the room was the Host himself, Joe Slogan.

Joe had a bald face, with wrinkles that made him look rugged and a well-built physique. He looked to Will and smiled and put his hand forward for a handshake “Hello, its so good to have you here. Please, take a seat and we’ll begin.”

Will nodded, smiled and took the offered hand “Its good to be here, I am a huge fan of your podcasts.”

“That’s always nice to know that a big up and coming star like yourself watches my show, shall we begin”

Will nodded, and took his seat. In front of him were a jar of hot coffee and the large headsets that would play the voice of the people speaking and the audience, should they give a call to talk to the guest of the show.

It was Will that started off the show “Hi everyone! This is Will Evans and we’re bringing you another episode of Will Evan’s podcasts, Yes that’s right, I’ve taken over the show, and we have here with us today, the man, the myth, the legend, Joe Slogan”

Without missing a beat, Joe plays along with the opening “Thanks for having me Will, how is the podcast business working out for you man?”

“I have to say, its difficult work, I might give just give it back to you, I think I like movie making better.”

“Well, in that case, I will gladly take the show back off of your hands!” Joe joked, and then diverted the attention back on Will “But movie making isn’t all that you do, is it? My son loved your book, how did you come up with the idea for the book?”

“I am glad your son liked it, I wrote it mainly because I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of magic and mysteries, and being an orphan myself, my own story was something that I thought, I could write about. Harry Potter is a character that I wrote off myself, it is about a child who didn’t have anything and was then thrown into this wondrous world, where he had to learn and match people’s expectations, solving mysteries and battling his parent’s murderer while making some very cherishable friends along the way.”

“Yeah, now that my daughter’s read it, I think I might as well, do you have any other books in the works?” Joe asked.

“Uhhm, yeah. I have a few ideas regarding Harry Potter, I am already playing around with what I want to do with the second part of the book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, you can already probably guess it will have Harry interacting with this mysterious chamber. And not only that I have many ideas that I want to bring and show to the people, my main goal is to provide artistic and quality content for the people to thoroughly enjoy.” Will replied.

“Is that why you’ve recently acquired Marvel Comics? To produce better content?” Joe once again redirected the line of questioning.

“Well, I’ve always been a fan of Marvel Comics in general, I mean back in the 60s my dad used to read the Captain America comics as soon as they came out, I was disappointed with what the movies for the studios were turning out to be, and now that I have the resources to do something about the poor quality there, I figured, why not just do it myself?” Will answered.

“I am sure most of out listeners will be delighted to hear that, why don’t we take a few questions from them?” Joe indicated that they were accepting calls from the audience at home.

The phone rang, and Will and Joe waited for the call to connect. Once it connected a woman’s voice was heard from the other side.

“Hi, I am Judy, and I have a question for Will Evans…….”

The podcast continued for well over three hours where both Joe and the audience asked many questions, not only about his future projects but also about his life before Hollywood, his relationship with June, and what other part of the entertainment industry Will was going to take a step in. While Will had answered most of the questions honestly, he had remained mysterious and aloof about the future, trying to entice the audience in keeping a close eye on his career.

Walking out of the studio after shaking hands with Joe, Will was smiling from ear to ear. That was when he got a call from Jefferey.

“Will, we need to talk.” What followed ruined Will’s good mood.

…

//DreamNote//

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