My Hollywood System

Chapter 52:

As Amanda had proven herself from the interview, Will didn’t hesitate in hiring her.

Will had already talked with Jason and had all the necessary papers to hire a CEO and any other employee ready with him, all he needed to do was input the name and designation of the person in the offer letter, including their salary and commissions.

The salary Will offered was quite the amount, being $2 million annual income. It was way above average for a firm such as Dream Vision Studios, but Will had made her sign an 18 months bond contract. It was mentioned that her salary wouldn’t increase during the contract period, and it can only be reassessed after the contract has ended.

To which Amanda gladly agreed as it was already a lot of salary, but Will knew it would seem less after [Sherlock Holmes] started earning, that’s why he made such a contract. It also included the deductions and such, but still, it was a big amount. Currently, Amanda is Will’s highest-paid employee.

After appointing her and getting all the necessary documents signed, Will didn’t dilly dally and started discussing the company’s current structure and future plans. All the existing employees of Krown Studios were made to sign similar bond contracts like Amanda, and their pay was way above what they were receiving earlier.

According to Will, this was a way to boost their morale in the long term while getting the best performance out of them, along with their loyalty to the company.

As it was evening, everyone prepared to return home. Before leaving, Will was in a meeting with Amanda telling her about his next movie. She was against the idea as soon as she heard it was based on Sherlock Holmes.

“Will, this is too risky! A 90 million dollar Sherlock Holmes movie? Tell me you are joking.”

Ananda said, looking at Will while shaking her head. She knew her boss was a bit eccentric. All geniuses are, but such an idea was on the level of being a lunatic.

“At least listen to my proposal.” Will smiled, already expecting such a reaction. “I have already completed my script.”

He passed on a thick document in front of her, and on the front page, the title [Sherlock Holmes] was written in bold.

It was the script that Will had painstakingly typed for days.

“So, this is really not a joke?”

Amanda frowned and opened the first page of the script.

“Of course not. Just read it, and I’m sure you will like it a lot. There’s a reason why I want to do a Sherlock Holmes movie.”

“And what is that?”

“I find Sherlock Holmes one of the best characters ever written in fiction, but its legacy was never well maintained. The books are classic, but there’s no good cinematic movie made on it.”

“It’s because of what happened to the last one. You must have seen that one?”

She was talking about [Detective Sherlock Holmes] and Will had indeed watched it and had even laughed. It was not like the movie was a detective comedy, but it was so badly made that it made him laugh.

The background looked out of place, and the actor playing Sherlock Holmes has completely ruined the character.

Moreover, he had been given stupid punch lines that looked more cringy than cool. Even the story lacked any sense of mystery and flowed quite badly.

Overall, it was a total disaster. In fact, it got so much heat that no director or producer felt confident enough to consider any more Sherlock Holmes movies or a series.

To Will, this was going to be a good challenge, and he was excited about it.

“I did watch the last one,” Will replied, “But our movie is not based on it. I have the whole vision. In fact, I won’t be lying if I say that the whole story, scene by scene, is in my mind.”

Amanda stared at him for a moment before asking. “How confident are you?”

Will smiled, “There will be multiple challenges, but I am confident.”

“From the scale of [Detective Sherlock Holmes] to [The Blair Witch Project], how much?”

Will thought for a moment, “If the vision I have for this movie becomes a reality… it will get three times more on box office than the [Blair Witch Project] ‘s lifetime box office.”

Amanda pursed her lips, “Alright, give me the script. I will go through it tonight.”

Will nodded as he passed over the file, “Yeah, please do. Tomorrow, we will have a board meeting about this.”

“Oh? Alright,” Amanda nodded and left the office.

Will also packed up soon and left for his apartment.

About four hours later, while he was watching a football game, his phone suddenly beeped, indicating a notification.

From:[Amanda] (a few seconds ago)

[It’s good. Let’s discuss this with others tomorrow]

Will smiled a little upon seeing the message.

‘Let’s get this finalised as soon as possible.’

…

“90 Million?! On Sherlock Holmes?!”

The boardroom of the Dream Vision Studios was suddenly enveloped in a pin drop silence.

The board meeting had begun just a few minutes ago, and Will had revealed the first project.

He waited for almost a whole minute before someone finally spoke up.

“Will, 90 Million… is too much.” It was Jeffery. His team was now a part of the Dream Vision Studios and Will had offered him a position on the board member’s table.

And as he spoke, someone else quipped.

“It is a lot. And in a Sherlock movie? No one will invest in that.”

It was Mark Peirce, the Head of the PR Department. He was part of the old company and was offered a position on the table due to strong recommendations from others, his years of experience and connections he had made over the past few years.

“The last movie was an utter flop, and even that didn’t have this big of a budget. Also, how will we even score the funding for this movie? From actors to producers, I don’t think anyone would be willing to take such a big risk. If this movie flops at the box office, it will be the end of their career…”

He took a slight pause before continuing.

“…And for our studio. We’re still new to the market; let’s take one step at a time and start with low budget movies. Once we get our name out there, we will be able to score enough funding for such big projects, though I would still object to it because of the risk factor. It’s too high.”

Will spoke, “I will be the producer.”

“You will….?” The others frowned.

Jeffery cleared his throat and asked, “Will, that’s 90 Million. It could literally be everything you got from the horror movie. Are you really planning to throw away all of it in one movie that the whole world thinks will be a flop?”

Will nodded.

This made Mark frown. He tried to explain.

“Will, please understand. We’re a new studio, and this will be our first project of any kind. This project will be how the company will be stepping into Hollywood. We can’t do this project. The chances of it being a flop are simply too high. In fact, even if you make it really good… wait, you will be making it?”

Will nodded, “Indeed. I will be the director.”

Mark cleared his throat, “Will, I am not doubting your ability or anything, you did a phenomenal job in your horror flick, but this kind of movie is a whole different level of production. We can hire a director, you know?”

Will frowned, “Mark, do you know why I created this studio?”

“To create movies…?”

Will shook his head, “I could create movies on my own; why would I need to buy out a studio? Well, let me tell you. It’s so that I have full control over everything in a movie’s production, from day one to the day its posters are plastered outside every cinema hall.”

Mark nodded, “I understand that. But, you’re jumping from 55k to 90 Million budget. It’s hard to believe if this project will ever be a success. In case you don’t know, last year, only three movies had more than 70 Mil budget, and all of them were directed by the top directors of the world.”

Will nodded, “I know that.”

“Well, then, let me take the dip and be honest here. You’re not at the level of handling a big project like this. If we go like this, we might go bankrupt before we even start properly.” Mark added, “Also, as I was saying earlier, even if you direct a perfect movie, a thousand times better movie than the shit show that came a decade ago, it’s highly likely to be a flop.”

“Why?” Will asked.

“Well, pretty simple: the notion in people’s mind.” Mark replied, “There has never been a successful Sherlock Holmes movie, and now if you ask any random person walking down the street about their thoughts on a new Sherlock Holmes movie, they will give only one response: Why is someone making it?”

“Will, more than 80% of America thinks no one can make a good Sherlock Movie, and the rest of the 20% are toddlers, give them a few years, and they will say the same.”

Will remained silent and looked around at the table, indicating if others had anything else to add.

He wasn’t surprised that none of them spoke. It was just their way of indicating that they somewhat agreed with Mark’s words.

Mark may have sounded negative, but that’s what his thinking process was. He had been in this industry long enough to have a grasp of what was good or bad for the company. Not to mention that he was a pessimistic person – ending to seeing the worst aspect of things.

It may not have been an inherent character, but after so many years in this super volatile industry where nothing ever goes as planned, Will couldn’t blame him for his opinion.

And since no one spoke, Will started with his response.

“90 Million is the maximum figure,” He said, “It’s taking all the risk factors in note, but I think there’s a chance this movie might compete on a lower budget. However, that’s not the main point.”

“Just because the old movies directed by sloppy directors with wrong casting failed to make an impact on the audience, you can’t think that any future movie will fail – that’s formulaic thinking. And, formulaic thinking is the antithesis of art.”

“The public has an appetite for anything about imagination – anything that is as far away from reality as is creatively possible.”

Will paused for a moment, and then he added.

“I just want to say this: I have every second of the movie etched in my brain, and I will travel down to hell and wrestle this film away from the Devil if it’s necessary to make this a reality.”

…

//DreamNote//

something serious happened in my family so couldn’t write anything yesterday.

…

2 Chapters tomorrow if we get back to Rank 1.

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