August 2003, Universal Studios, Los Angeles

  Rian couldn’t believe his luck at all. Not only had Troy Armitage read his script, but he liked it so much that he wao meet as soon as possible. Si was gettihat night, Rian drove over to Troy’s big Beverly Hills home the very m. He was a little intimidated by the opulence of the pce, but he curbed that thought. He khat if he were successful, he could have a simir pce of his own. Maybe not today, but definitely someday.

  “Rian!” Troy walked over in a loose t-shirt and very fy-looking sants to meet him, shaking his head enthusiastically. “It’s so great to meet you again.”

  There was a stark trast in how Troy's behavior had ged within a day. But then agaierday, Rian was just a faing Troy, while today he could be a business partner.

  “Same,” Rian said awkwardly. He didn’t know why he was ag like this with a kid of all people. He had eve Gee Lucas that oime, and he was much more rexed then than now.

  “Let’s vene in our meeting room, shall we?” Troy turned around before remembering something. “Oh, this is Roger, my head of security. He’ll sit in the meeting with us. Hope you don’t mind. I would have preferred my assistant Tobias to be here, but he seems to be out of ission at the moment.”

  Rian owards the well-built man standing a few feet away from Troy, who nodded back deftly.

  “Alright,” Troy said ohey were all seated, after Rian some refreshments which he deed politely. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? I want to make this film called [Brick] with you, and I’ll fi provided you let me py the lead role. Is that okay with you?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Rian couldn’t help but blurt out before realizing it came out a little wrong. “I’m a hustler. Wherever I go in Hollywood, all I face is reje. So if you’re me a ake the film for real, I would say yes even if you weren’t the most suitable actor for the role. But that’s the best part, you are very good.”

  Troy smiled before shaking his head. “You don’t know that for sure. To date, all you’ve seen are my kid-tric roles. My first supposedly mature role is currently under iation at Universal, where you saw me yesterday.”

  “I’ll make it work somehow,” Rian said fidently. “I’ll work with you and all cast members, as long as it takes to get the characters right.”

  Troy silently looked at Rian before nodding. “I believe you. To begin our discussion, first of all, I’d o see some of your other works. Advertisements, music videos, short films, anything you may have directed before this?”

  Rian had been to so many of these meetings that he had e prepared for this. He took out a DVD and ha over to Troy. “This is my plete short film colle.”

  Troy nodded while pg the disk aside. “We’ll see it ter. question, how much cash do you o make this film?”

  Rian found that he liked Troy's blunt approach a lot.

  “Half a million dolrs,” Rian winced a little while saying those words. “I know it’s a lot, and I’ll try to cut it down to 400k–”

  “Don’t,” Troy interrupted. “Don’t cut it down. I don’t want to make some cheap-ass film. I want the viewers to have the best viewing experience. My fans expect me to deliver quality films, and I won’t promise on that. A good story will take you nowhere if the produ value is poor. You get what I’m saying?”

  “Okay,” Rian agreed. “But we’ll have to recalcute the budget again if we go that route.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Troy assured him. “As soon as my assistant Tobias is back from wherever he is, sit down with him and discuss this whole thing. Prepare a fresh budget for everything required. But not too much. At max, try to it up within a million dolrs. If it goes beyond that, I won’t be able to do this because I am produg another film that I have already itted to, and most of my liquid funds are earmarked fo that.”

  Rian’s eyes widened. He had been fearing that Troy would dee half a million, and here he was Rian double that amount.

  “Now that that’s decided, question: how much do you want for the script and dire of the movie?”

  Holy, Rian would have do for free. But now that Troy was …

  “How about,” Troy tinued when Rian didn’t speak for a few moments, “I offer you 100k, 10% of whatever profit I make, in addition to the right of first refusal for your hree inal scripts?”

  While the 10% profit offer was more than generous, the right of first refusal was a difficult thing to sign away for a writer like Rian. Just like some actors sign a three-picture deal when signing their first film, writers are also offered simir cuses in their tracts. This means that for the hree inal scripts Rian writes, Troy would have the first right to produce the film. If Troy says no, only then Rian take the script elsewhere. It might lower the writer's future remuion a little, but it also serves as a safety for the producers. If the first film doesn’t work ercially, the sed, third, or fourth film might cover all those accumuted losses. Also only produced spys are sidered for this. So if Rian wrote a terrible film, passed it off to Troy, and Troy rejected it, and the film wasn’t produced by anyone else either, it wouldn’t t as Rian’s film for this purpose.

  “I’ll include a 10% profit deal for you in each of the inal films written and directed by you,” Troy spoke suddenly before Rian could ter him. “The actual price of the spy will be decided ter.”

  “Deal!” Rian didn’t have to think too much about it. No one offers a new director 10% profits just like that.

  “Not so fast,” Troy cut his celebration short. “I haven’t seen your short films yet. Wanna watch your work with me and tell me what your thought process was while filming?”

  “Sure,” Rian accepted that easily.

  (Break)

  “Close the window,” I said to my assistant-cum-manager as he sat beside me in the car. “I don’t want some paparazzi snapping something they shouldn’t.”

  “You’re being paranoid. It's not like we're having an illicit affair here,” Tobias ented but closed the window heless.

  He looked a little displeased, so I asked, “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I just think you shouldn’t take up so many projects oer another. Especially with inexperienced directors who could make very bad movies and ruin your career after [Harry Potter],” Tobias said grumpily.

  Logically, Tobias wasn’t wrong. Stephen Chbosky, Zayder, and Rian Johnson were all ued directht now. Many so-called superstars refuse to work with a director uhey’ve proven themselves. One big example I recall is Tom Cruise refusing to star in [The Shawshank Redemption], only tret it ter.

  “And I’m telling you again that you’re wrong,” I said emphatically. “Seriously, man, this is turning out to be the best trip to LA ever, as far as my work is ed. By this time tomorrow, I will have sigwo new film tracts. And by this time year, all three films will have been shot—if everything goes perfectly, that is.”

  Rian Johnson’s tract, which he had agreed to sign after sulting a wyer, was the same as I had offered him yesterday. I could have offered him only 100k or nothing at all, and he would have still accepted it. I k. But I didn’t want him to feel resentful of me ter in life. I learhat from J.K. Rowling’s tract. Dad hadn’t told me when it happened, but Mum told me ter how Dad decided to pay Rowling a oime 10 million to make sure she remained helpful in future film produs. With my meta-knowledge, I could have told our swriter everything he wao know, but a siatement from Rowling could tarnish Dad’s image forever.

  Simirly, I didn’t want Rian to walk away from me and seek out another prducer when he was doh our deal. People rarely abandon successful colborations if everyone is earning good money. And I’ll make damn sure our colborations are successful, and everyone es out on top.

  "As soon as the papers are signed, I want you to sit down with Rian and sketch out all the details, just like you did with Chbosky," I said to Tobias. "I'll fly back to London, after signing the two tracts. You e baly when a basic produ pn and budget is made."

  "Sure, boss," He nodded.

  The car came to a halt soon, and I got out, followed by my orusted employee. The home we had stopped in front of was a modest two-story house with a perfe. A perfectly normal w-css home.

  “Troy,” Roger said from the driver's seat, gaining my attention. “I have some personal errands to run. It won’t take long. If you don’t mind, I e ba 30 minutes or an hour tops to pick you up?”

  “Sure, go ahead,” I agreed easily. “Just keep your phone on.”

  “Will do, boss,” he saluted me mogly before driving off to do God knows what.

  "Is that your actic?" I asked Tobias. "Calling me boss."

  “It wasn't until now," he grinned before looking ptive. "Why does he have errands in Los Angeles? He’s British.” His tone was full of suspi as we walked up to the door.

  I shrugged as I rang the doorbell. “Beats me. I don’t scrape through my employees' lives.”

  “Troy! And Tobias!” Stephen Chbosky opehe door after a few moments and greeted us enthusiastically. “It’s so o see you again, Troy. And you for the first time, Tobias. e on in.”

  To help with pre-produ, Tobias had been in touch with Chbosky for months. They had been exging updates on the spy via email. With just emails and a few calls, Tobias had created a plete produ pn along with a budget, detailing everything we’d need for the film. All the steps I, as a producer, would o fulfill before shooting could begin—like location scouting, casting, e designing, and so on—had beeiculously listed, making my work a lot easier. This was the biggest reason I found Tobias to be an invaluable employee and why I had told Mum in no uain terms that I wouldn't fire Tobias after his one-month probation was over.

  After exging pleasantries, Chbosky didn’t waste much time before leading us to his study. As soon as I ehe room, I knew I had stepped into the space of a madman. Everywhere I looked, I saw ses cut out from a ic book stu the walls. Not just that, these ses were strikingly simir to what I remembered seeing in [The Perks of Being a Wallflower]. I walked over to the sketd pulled it off the wall. It was the se where the three main characters, Charlie, Sam, and Patrick, were going through a tunnel in their pickup truck, with Sam standing in the back, her arms outstretched, the wind ruffling through her hair, her face full of bliss.

  “Wow,” I whispered unknowingly. I picked up the sheet o the one I had just seen. It was the se from the climax where Charlie is doing the same, feeling the wind in his hair, but then crouches down to give his girlfriend, Sam, a kiss through the pickup truck windht at that moment, I khis film would turn out great.

  “This is perfect,” I said to Chbosky. “Exactly what I wanted in the film.”

  “You show your appreciation by increasing my sary,” he quipped cheekily.

  “Ha! ry,” I grinned back at him. “Don’t worry, though. If you make a good film that earns well, I’ll make sure to pensate you accly. But for now, let’s foaking a great film. Have you given some thought to actors other than me?”

  We talked for quite some time, discussing various aspects of the film. The bad news was that it would take Stephen a good part of the year to perfect the script. The good news was that it didn’t bother me much, as I po shoot two films between now and then—films whose scripts were almost plete and just needed some minor tweaking.

  I was ready to go home, but there was just otle problem. Where the fuck was Roger? He was not answering his phone.

  (Break)

  She just knew she was on the verge of a breakthrough. Most people think A-list celebrities are beyond their reach, but that’s not true at all. You just have to be proactive and know when to strike while the iron is hot.

  Calling her a stalker was a bit insulting, in her opinion, but she had the skill set of one. She had been part of all the paparazzi circles long enough to know when and where a star would be in LA. She wasn’t a paparazzo herself, but no one could stop her from joining their online group. For months, she waited and waited for her orue love to e to LA. He had been in London mostly, but she knew he would e to LA eventually. At one point, she even pted flying to London, but she didn’t have enough cash.

  Now, it seemed her good day had finally arrived. Troy was here in Los Angeles and had been spotted outside the Universal office. Rumors were flying wild about his film, but she didn’t care about that. What did it matter what film he did ? If her pn was successful...

  It hadn’t been too difficult to get the es of Troy’s car. He mostly used just one Mercedes while in LA, and once she had the number, all it took nting a tracker on the car. It may sound easy, but that was the toughest part. The car was rarely parked outside. It was only luck that this oime, the car was being driven by someone else. She didn’t know who it was, but she had seen Troy’s driver before, and this wasn’t him. Whatever the case, she took advantage of the situation when she saw the car parked a little away from a famous club.

  Then all it took was trag where the car went. She was hiding behind a bush when she saw Troy’s car speeding past her. Luckily for her, the windoen, and she caught a glimpse of Troy inside. Just what she had been waiting for. She had doensive resear simir properties of celebs and their security systems, and she knew just the fws to exploit.

  _____________________________________

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