January 2005, Kloves Residence, London

  It took half of November and the ey of December to finalize the spy and the songs for our untitled musical film. The musical part was tricky because I had to ge nearly half of my song list to make it fit better with the story. Holy, it was good that I had this to work on or I would spiral bato depression. I hadn’t realized till now how much time of the day I speing/talking to Emma.

  Now only the difficult part remained before the shooting, whicluded pre-produ (beyond spy), actual rec of the songs in a studio, and most important of all, the iable talk with Evan. He hadn’t ever ht said that he would direct the film, and I didn’t have the ce to ask him bluntly if that was what he wanted.

  That left me in this perpetual state of unease around him as if I was betraying him by using his idea to make the film aing him aside at the st momeually, I couldn’t take it anymore and had to get it out of my system.

  “Evan,” I said, trying to sound casual while sitting in our living room. “Who do you think we should select as the director for our film? I was thinking Stephen Daldry, who directed [Billy Elliot].”

  Dad turo us in curiosity when I popped that question. I had already talked to him about it, and he had agreed with what I wao do. That’s why I had broached the topic when he resent on the se so that I would have someone on my side.

  Evan frowned visibly as my question dawned on him.

  “What do you mean by that?” he asked hotly. “I am direg it, of course.”

  I looked over at Dad, who seemed as if he had expected that answer all along. The worst part was that he didn’t speak oter at all, letting me hahe situation.

  Urgh!

  “We both are only 16, Evan,” I said slowly. “I don’t think you or I have enough experieo make a full-length feature film at the moment. We need someone else at the helm. Not to mention you have full-time schht now, and by summer holidays, shooting of [Harry Potter] would have begun. So you’ll have to either take a long leave of absence or postpone shooting for more than a year.”

  Evan was clearly at a loss for words. I would be too if I were in his pce. But some things are noiable. As per my initial estimate, making this film will take around 25 million, a sum that I would have to i out of my [Goblet of Fire] earnings. Given that I had earned upwards of 110 million (pre-tax) for it, I could spend that money easily. The problem was that I didn’t trust Evan enough to give him such a rge sum for his first film. Most aspiring filmmakers use less than a million to make their debut film. It would be foolish of me to i such a rge sum that could result in a box office disaster.

  “You said that I could direusic videos,” Evan said acgly.

  “That offer is still open,” I said pgly. At his fused expression, I expined, “If you don’t want someone else to direct the film, then we will not make the film right noill wait for both of us to grow up for a few years, probably when I have finished [Harry Potter] and you are doh your school. In the meantime, I will release my music album as pnned, and you direct a few of my videos. Then, when we finally make the film, I will write some new songs for it.”

  “But…” Evan began but didn’t finish. He looked away from me, p over the two options that I had given him.

  “Why don’t you choose a middle ground?” Dad spoke up for the first time.

  “What do you mean by that?” Evan asked.

  “I mean that if you choose someone else to direct the film, the music videos ihe film still be shot by you,” Dad expined. “Music videos are usually shot in one or two days, so they be finished on the weekends, not affeg your school life massively. Meanwhile, you get the credit of being the swriter and an associate producer on the film, which would be very good for your resume given ye.”

  Usually, Dad’s idea would not work because musical songs in a film are an integral part of the story and are shot in tinuity. But the way the script had been written, there were at least six songs that could be shot today, without even casting the female lead or anyone else except me.

  “That’s an excellent idea,” I praised Dad.

  “Thank you,” Dad me appreciatively before turning to Evan. “Also, if your videos are really good, I promise that I will finance your first film provided you finish your schooling and at least two years of w full-time on a film set as an Assistant Director.”

  Evan nodded slowly, taking in Dad’s very generous offer.

  “The choice is yours, Evan,” I said after a few moments.

  “Fine,” he replied after what felt like ay. “As much as I want to make the film myself, I want to see it made first and foremost. We have a very good script and song list going for us. If you release the songs, we’ll have to redo the script ter on based on the new songs, and I don’t know how that will turn out to be.”

  I resisted the urge to celebrate in joy aled on giving him a smile, “Thanks, bro.”

  “Whatever,” he said grumpily before ging the topic. “I think I agree with you that Stephen Daldry will be fine for it.”

  “I’ll arrange a meeting with him ter this week,” I said. “But first and foremost, we have to get the songs recorded. Would you like to e along to the studio for my first session?”

  “Not today,” he shook his head. “I have a big assig due tomorrow.”

  “But you’ll be free to e with me to Sundan two weeks, right?”

  “Yeah,” he nodded with a grin. “I won’t miss that for anything. My friends are so jealous that I get to go and they don’t.”

  “Enough talk, boys,” Dad interrupted. “Troy, we will be te for the rec session if we don’t leave soon. Doug is very particur about tardiness.”

  I nodded as I got up to get ready.

  Dougs Saunders was the music producer Dad had selected for me to rey songs. It was quite an enlightening versation that followed when I floated the idea with Dad to get me a deal with a music record bel.

  (Fshback)

  “Only a naive or desperate person would approach a record bel if they have enough funds of their own,” Dad said as a matter of fact.

  I had heard that record bels trap musis in long-term predatory tracts, but I had no idea how.

  “Expin this whole record bel busio me as if I’m a five-year-old with no knowledge of the musidustry,” I asked.

  Dad ughed at my phrasing but did as I had asked a into a detailed expnation.

  “I did some research when I rodug the first [Harry Potter] film. We had almost included a song in it that Chris bus loved, but left it out at the st moment because the record bel was being a dick with their demands.”

  He shook his head in reminisce, “Anyways, what these record bels do is that initially they will bear all the costs of rec sessions, music videos, everything, but in exge, they give you only 15-20% of what they earn. So if your album earns them, say, a million dolrs, you will get only 200k at max. But if you were to record and promote your songs on your own, leaving out the distribution part, it may cost you around half a million initially to record an album and promote it, but over time, you earn much more than you ever could with an outside bel. Not to mention, you will retain full rights to your songs for eternity.”

  I nodded as I uood what he was getting at.

  Essentially, music bels were for those poor souls who couldn’t afford to spend half a million dolrs to make and promote their own albums. I could. So it made sense for me to create a record bel of my own.

  (Fshbad)

  (Break)

  “You are te,” said Dougs Saunders in a no-nonseone. He was in his thirties and had a very pale plexion. That, when added to his dark eyes and hair, made him look quite like a vampire. He had been a music producer for more than a decade and had worked with a lot of renowned artists like The berries, and The Spice Girls.

  “I’m sorry, Doug,” I smiled sheepishly at him. “I have no excuse.”

  He shook his head before motionioward the rec booth we had rented for the week. “Let’s not waste any more time. We’ve recorded all the harmonies as you wanted, now all that’s left is your vocals before we finalize the songs.”

  I nodded once before taking a seat ihe rec booth, while Dad sat outside beside Dougs, both older men wearing headphoo listen to my uping vocals.

  I had spent many days with Dougs going over each song and what exactly I wanted from him and his team of musis. Initially, I was a little skeptical about giving over the reins of my work to someone else, but Dad vinced me that I couldn’t do everything myself all the time.

  The biggest reason I agreed to work with Dougs eventually was that he was not averse to using EDM in songs produced by him. A lot of traditional music producers do not like the use of any form of eleic musiot all my songs included EDM, but a few did—like the one I was rec at the moment.

  I wore noise-g headphohat blocked out most of the sound from my surroundings befiving a thumbs-up to Dougs. He shot me an okay sign before the music started pying in my headphohe music that pyed out was exactly as I had envisioned. I had to give kudos to Dougs for recreating the exact thing I had done using my home music system, only better and more professional sounding. In this song, vocals mattered a lot less than the background music, which was mostly EDM.

  As the music reached the correct point, I started singing.

  (We Found Love - Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris)

  ~: Yellow diamonds in the light

  Now we're standing side by side

  As your shadow crosses mine

  What it takes to e alive

  It's the way I'm feeling I just 't deny

  But I've gotta let it go

  We found love in a hopeless pce

  We found love in a hopeless pce :~

  With each passing moment in the song, I got more and more engrossed in the singing. I even fot that I was rec in a studio. I just sang with passion—a song that I probably loved in another life so much so that I remembered the lyrics even in this one when I started writing a darack.

  “How was that?” I asked Dougs after finishing the opening verse.

  Only then did I realize that Dougs and Dad looked as if they were in a daze.

  “Hello?” I asked again, a little irritated. “Were you even listening to me sing?”

  Doug looked sheepish for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, sorry. It was amazing. I just didn’t expect you to sing like that. I probably should have stopped you earlier, but I thought it would help loosen up your voice a little.”

  “What do you mean by ‘sing like that’?” I asked.

  “You sang as if you were perf on the West End,” he said as a matter of fact. “Don’t get me wrong, you were excellent, but pop music is much more restraihan musical theater when it es to emotions and vocals.”

  I nodded. “Okay, the's do it again until I get it right.”

  Dougs nodded once befivihe go-ahead to start again.

  (Break)

  January 2005, Warner Bros HQ, Burbank, CA

  I sat opposite WB CEO Barry Meyer as he and his group of executives listeo my newly recorded album, each wearing their respective headphones. On my right, Dad sat with a bored expression, while on the left, Tobias looked nervous. The three of us were the only ones not wearing headphones because we had already heard the full album multiple times while discussing the film iail over the st week.

  Tobias shifted closer to me and whispered, “Are you sure they’re the right studio for this job? I don’t recall any musicals made by them retly.”

  “Let’s just wait for them to finish,” I whispered back. “Also, it would be better to voice your s when we’re not in their office.”

  Looking properly chastised, he went back to his inal position. Perfect timing, too, because just then Barry Meyer removed his headphones. It hadn’t been enough time for him to have listeo the entire album, which was around an hour long, so he must have stopped iween. As soon as he did, the other executives followed suit, some very relutly.

  “So?” I asked Barry curiously. “What do you say?”

  Barry smiled genially. “I’m a man of my word, Troy. It may have been years sihat day, but I haven’t fotten my promise. I don’t eveo discuss this with the others to know that this film will make a lot of money. From what little I heard, this is one hell of an album. I’ll definitely finish it ter, but for now, let’s talk details. To begin with, your script.”

  “What about it?” I asked.

  “Are you sure it was written by you and your brother?” he asked. “Because it’s very good. Initially, I was a little skeptical, but once I realized how it ects to the songs, it made a lot of sense.”

  “Thank you,” I nodded in gratitude. “Most of it is Evan. I just helped him ect the songs iory. Stephen Daldry has agreed to direct, and he made some suggestions that we’ve incorporated into the script.”

  “You must be proud of your boys, eh Steve?” Barry turo Dad, who didn’t look thrilled with the dire of the versation.

  “Very proud,” he said simply. “Now we get to the point?”

  Barry’s smile widened slightly as he shifted the topic again. “I saw your other two films personally at an internal sing st week, and I have to say your choice of films is very good.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled, but only on the surface. He was starting to irritate me by going around in circles. I had the feeling he was testing our patience.

  I had sent copies of [Brick] and [The Perks of Being a Wallflower] to all the major Hollywood studios, hoping to secure the best distribution deal by bundling them together. Disney, Sony, and Paramount didn’t show any i. Fox and Universal made offers worth sidering.

  Fox offered 20 million upfront and 15% of all gross revenue, from theaters to home media. Universal’s options were either 25 million upfront with no residuals, or a 10 million advance plus all profits after dedug a 15% ission.

  Warner Bros, though, made the best offer: 25 million upfront, plus 25% of gross revenue from both films iuity, after they have recovered that 25m.

  If this were a blockbuster like Star Wars, the Fox deal might have made more sense since 85% of profits would far exceed 25% of gross revenue. But for small-budget indie films expected to gross under 100 million (like Bribsp;and Perks), the extra 15 million upfront from WB more than pensated for the pertage difference.

  While I had verbally agreed to Warner Bros’ offer, we hadn’t sighe tract yet because I had a bright idea: remind Barry about a promise he made a few years ago to finance a mid-budget film for me. Now, with my third film in the mix, it seemed like the perfect time to cash in on that promise.

  “ we please get to the point, Barry?” Dad said, his tone a bit heated. “I have another appoi in an hour. We talk about pleasantries and film choices some other time.”

  “Okay, I’ll get to the point,” Barry nodded pinly before looking directly at me. “I’ll agree to let you make this film just the way you want, as long as you agree totiate your [Harry Potter] sary.”

  “What?” I asked, surprised. I hadn’t expected this at all.

  _____________________________________

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