August 2003, Universal Studios, Los Angeles

  “Troy!” The old man behind the table stood up and walked over to me as if we had known each other our whole lives. Then he proceeded to shake my hand vigorously.

  “Ron,” I greeted with a fake smile. “o meet you again.”

  “Of course,” Ron nodded magnanimously after separating from me. “I was so disappointed you left early during [Billy Elliot]'s post-Oscar party. I had po discuss more projects with you and your parents.”

  “I had to start shooting for [Harry Potter] then,” I said.

  “Ah, yes. How’s that going?”

  “We just finished shooting the fourth movie st month,” I replied versationally as Ron led me toward a huge couch, which already seated three men.

  “That's great to know,” Ron nodded. “Troy, let me introduce you to the people who hold the reins of the film we are talking about today. Meet Zayder, James Gunn, and Richard Rubihe trifecta of director, writer, and producer.”

  Not letting this ce slip, I shook hands with all three of them. Snyder and Gunn were in their mid-thirties, while Rubinstein was even older than Ron Meyer. Then I introduced Tobias, who was standing behind me silently for the most part.

  “You are much taller than I had imagined you to be,” James Gunn was the first to break the silence. “Ever since I got to know you were ied in the film, I nning something for a young boy, but now I’ll have to revamp my pns.”

  I shrugged, not seeing how that was my problem.

  “It won’t require that much tweaking as James is hinting at,” Zaterjected.

  “It will!” James retorted. “Given how tall he is, Troy pass for a 16-year-old as well. Then we give him a small romance arc, which would make the story all the more pelling when the life of a cute girlfriend is at stake.”

  James and Zack started bickering and boung ideas off each other as if no one else was even in the room.

  Tobias, who was standiween Ron and Richard, asked aloud, “Does that happen a lot?”

  “Yes,” Richard replied. “More than we’d like.” Theuro Zad said, “If you two are done, we at least brief Troy on the basic idea you two have cooked up?”

  Realizing their folly, the two filmmakers quietened before Zack gave the go-ahead to James, who cleared his throat loudly. “Yes. So the story begins like this. You will py Will, a teen boy, whose exact age is yet to be firmed. Will lives with his father, sister, and stepmother, Ana. Ana is a nurse who witnesses some weird things at the hospital. Will witnesses some simir things at his school—things like people getting out of trol and stuff like that. Then he es bae and has a fight with his stepmom. His dad tells him to go to his room and grounds him, but he escapes through the window and hangs out with some friends all night. Meanwhile, his sister turns into a zombie and kills his father. They attaa, but she escapes and runs to the driveway to get the car. tally, Will was ing back just then. Ana forces him into the car. He was very vocal about how that’s all bullshit until zombies attack the two from everywhere. These zombies include Will’s family and the friends he hung out with just a few ho. So Will shuts up and asks Ana to hit the gas.”

  James Gu into exquisite detail about the story, and I couldn’t help but be spellbound by his narration. Some people just have that natural storytelling gift that enraptures their audience, and Gunn was one such man. He added the character of Will so seamlessly into the story that it didn’t even feel out of pce. In fact, it gave the story a mueeded emotional factor that the inal film cked in some pces. Heck, I remember that the most emotional part was the killing of a baby zombie, while Ana, who was inally the main character, didn’t have aional e to anyone. She lost her entire family, and it didn’t eveo affect her in any way. That’s what happens when men write female characters—either they fet to add genuiions, or they go overboard with melodrama. But this time, they bahe story well because they made me the protagonist, and the story focused on my growth.

  My character, Will, was given a plete arc: his mother was killed by a gunshot in front of him, making Will mortally afraid of guns. So when zombies started popping up everywhere, he stayed as far away from guns as possible. He also harbored some rese for Ana for repg his mother, but eventually, when a zombie attacked Ana and no one else was there to save her, he grabbed the on and shot the zombie's brains out. The ending wasn’t finalized yet, but it was okay.

  What they told me erfect character arc. Even if I hadn’t watched the inal film or known about Zayder’s direg prowess, I would still have accepted the film based on this alone. So obviously, I didn’t take much time to give them a reply.

  “I love the idea,” I said with a huge grin. “Let’s do this.”

  “Perfect,” Ron Meyer, who had been mostly silent for quite some time, spoke up. “Shall I taother to finalize your terms then? I was told that she was listed as your manager on the SAG website.”

  “Nah, Tobias here will represent me,” I said fidently. “It’s not official yet, but he’s my manager going forward.”

  “Perfect then,” Richard spoke up. “We get this out of the way right now. Zack, James, I believe you have a script to perfect?”

  Getting the btant hint, Snyder and Gunn stood up in unison and made a hasty retreat from the room. My remuion had nothing to do with them, so it would be weird if they were here while we discussed the terms.

  “I guess we offer you 1 million and call it even,” Richard rolled out the first offer.

  “e on, man,” Tobias tered. “Don’t insult us like that. Troy has a very dedicated fan following, and he will bring a lot of audieo the theaters. Any petent producer would start the offer at 5 million.”

  “Yet, you fail to mention that most of his fans are underage, thus uo wat R-rated movie,” Ron Meyer tered. “I cur with Richard about the 1 million pay. You’ll get to py a plex character in a grown-up film, and given that our budget is only 25 million, we’re already you 4% of it, which I believe is more than fair sidering our ensemble cast.”

  As no other actor in the film was a big established star, they probably paid everyone below half a mil, maybe even a quarter. From their budget’s point of view, their offer was generous. But when a budget is small and incapable of paying actors, there’s always recourse in the form of dividends.

  “We accept that,” Tobias said. nned for this sario extensively during our flight here, so he knew which points tue. “If you provide us with some tangible dividends.”

  Richard frowned and looked like he was about to say something scathing, so Tobias interjected, “I’m not suggesting an absurd amount. We’ll take it only if the film is a success at the box office, just like Troy did with [Billy Elliot]. Listen, Roh know that if Troy did a teenage film right now, he could easily get five million from any other studio, and I don’t want to lower his rates by accepting just o sets a pret. I know you think Troy’s fans won’t e to see this film, but I think otherwise. So let’s wager. We’ll get paid with dividends only if the U.S. box office gross exceeds 50 million and the worldwide gross exceeds 100 million. If either of these ditions aren’t met, we’ll happily just take 1 million and won’t say another word.”

  “This is my IP!” Richard growled lowly. “I was the inal producer of the film. I won’t give you my share of profits that easily.”

  “Rich,” Ron interjected before Richard could say anything else, shaking his head. Seeing that Richard was silent, Ron closed his eyes for a moment before nodding.

  “Alright,” he said after a few moments. “5% if your ditions are met. Don’t worry, Richard, your pertage will remain the same. But I have a dition of my own. Why don’t you do a cameo for me for free in another of my films?”

  “Okay,” I didn’t have to think twice about it. “Which film and how many days will it require?”

  “It’s a film called [Master and ander], featuring Russell Crowe. It—”

  “No,” I shot down the idea immediately. “Anyone else but Russell Crowe. I will never work with that man in my life. This is a deal breaker for me, Ron.”

  Seeing my expression, Ron backed down and asked softly, “Did… something happen with him?”

  I shook my head. “Maybe I’ll tell you some other day. Ask for anything else.” Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. “How about this: I’m produg and starring in a teenage film called [The Perks of Being a Wallflower]. It’s currently in pre-produ and will start shooti year. I give Universal the right of first refusal to distribute the film.”

  Ron nodded slowly. “That’s a good deal, but I’ll have to do some research to determine a fair price that we both agree to. What’s the estimated budget?”

  “Around 15 million,” I said. “Excluding my fees, of course.”

  The budget was only 10m, but Ro o know that. I'll earn my sary for [Dawn of the Dead] one way or the other.

  “Of course,” Ron nodded. “Alright. Give me two days, and we have another meeting then.”

  “Deal,” I said, standing up to shake hands with him and then a grumpy-looking Richard before exiting the room, Tobias hot on my heels.

  “You fot that I was supposed to lead the iations?” Tobias asked pointedly.

  “Don’t worry, you did good,” I remarked. “But you didn’t have all the cards like I did, so I had to step in.”

  “What about—”

  “Let’s get home first,” I interrupted him. “We don’t know who’s listening here.”

  (Break)

  Staying in LA without my parents, Emma, or Evan was a little daunting. I had a nice pce to stay at our home, so that wasn’t the issue. The issue was that I didn’t have anything worthwhile to do. My dearest Loki also didn't seem in the mood to py as he was sn peacefully in his bed. Also, I didn't feel like going out aing mobbed. This is LA, fod’s sake. People expect to see celebs here. If I were in London or even New York, it would be much easier to get by unnoticed.

  Ron had said it would take them two days to get bae, which meant two days of uninterrupted boredom. God, I’m already losing my mind.

  “Why don’t you read a book or something?” Tobias suggested as he walked down from his room, all decked out to go out for a night of fun.

  And that’s what I hated even more. Even if I were willing to go out, I couldn’t even go out to one of those VIP clubs LA has because I’m 14 and don’t want to give the media any ce to specute that I’ve lost my marbles.

  “So easy for you to say when you have the ce to go out for a night of fun,” I snarked. “God help me if y someone home tonight; I’ll kill you.”

  Tobias scoffed. “Get in line, buddy. Your mother would be the first oo kill me if I brought someone where her cute little baby could be corrupted.”

  “Oh, piss off,” I threw a cushion at him, which he deftly caught and tossed back.

  “I’m serious,” he said. “Read a book or something.”

  Then suddenly, an idea popped into my head. “What about that script the guy gave us today? You still have it?”

  “I do, but really? Most of these scripts are pure trash.”

  “Just give it to me, man. I o kill some time.”

  Tobias sighed before running back to the guest room he was occupying aurning moments ter with a thick spiral-bound script.

  “Here you go,” he said, handing it to me. “Just don’t stay up all night. I may be te.”

  I waved him off as I read the title of the script and was transfixed. Holy shit! I know this film. I’ve seen it! It’s one of the best mystery thrillers I’ve ever watched. And the best part was that the film was made on a sh budget. Thanks to this film, the lead actor and the director shot to fame.

  The film I was talking about was her than [Brick] by Rian Johnson. The same man who would go on to direct films like [Looper], [Knives Out], and [The Last Jed. The st movie divided the i with its portrayal of characters, but ohing everyone could agree on unanimously was that the dire and visuals were mind-blowingly good. Just like Zayder, Rian Johnson was a director with a very distind accimed visual style. It would be a shame to let this opportunity slip by.

  Just to be sure, I speed-read the whole script to firm it was the same film I remembered, and sure enough, it was. I got up from the seat I was occupying, walked over to the elephone, and brought it back with me. Without wasting any time, I quickly dialed the phone number of Rian Johnson, which was mentioned in the script.

  Ring Ring

  I could hardly wait for the phoo be picked up.

  (Break)

  Rian had lost all hope of getting his film made, at least in Hollywood. He was so desperate at this point that he was meeting with any and all film executives—from big to small studios, to indie producers. Hell, he had even approached a few big actors. No one was off the table for him. If anyone was willing to fihe film, he would have said yes.

  Unfortunately, it seemed like he would have to do what he was most relut to do. His father had offered to pool money with some friends to finance his first film, but the uainty of the project was the problem. He couldn’t say for sure if the film would be successful, and he didn’t want to risk losing his parents’ money. Big producers with industry es make money off a film years after it’s been released. But first-time producers find it hard to sell a film at a profit because they ’t afford to take a loss in the short run and wait for future gains. So, they sell the movie ht to the highest bidder.

  Still, making a film was more important to him at the moment than w about potential losses. He had decided that he would call his father the m. Just as he had made the firm decision in his mind, his ph.

  “Hello?” Rian answered hesitantly. It was a little te in the evening, and he wasn’t expeg any calls.

  “Is this Rian Johnson?” an oddly familiar voice asked from the other side.

  “Yes,” he said, still hesitant.

  “Rian, this is Troy Armitage. I read the script you gave me today, and I loved it. I want to work with you on it. When you e by my pce at the earliest?”

  _____________________________________

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