My Hollywood System

Chapter 160:
Conference Room, OP Studios.

“So, as I said, the entire premise of the show, [Friends], is about six friends, who live in New York in the 90s and go about everyday life. That includes romance, friendship, marriages, jobs, etc. The idea is to make the whole thing relatable, and funny at the same time.” Will said as he ended the pitch he presented to the gathered executives from OP Studios and ICM.

Amanda had been crucial in making the meeting happen.

He had to brainstorm the contract details for the temporary collaboration between their firms, and her expertise in navigating the corporate side of the pitch was essential if he wanted to remain crucial to the success of the show after the idea was presented to the people in the conference room.

“The idea certainly has merit, but are you sure about this sitcom? Is it? Since it needs a live audience, what about the action scenes? Won’t it have any of that? Performing action sequences live in front of an audience will be difficult.” Michael Williams interjected.

Will looked at him incredulously for a second, and replied “Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? There is no action throughout the show. It is not meant to have any action at all. It is meant to be funny and relatable. It’s a situational comedy, a sitcom. And the live audience is, essentially, to gauge the reactions of the people to certain jokes, and their responses. We can then tweak the script or situations based on their feedback.”

He could understand why Michael Williams had asked about action sequences in the show, as this world did not have the concept of a TV show that didn’t operate on some direct conflict or mystery, or action.

The entire idea of a relatable sitcom was new, and just like how [Friends] had introduced the idea, in his previous reality, Will wanted it to retain the honour of doing so here as well.

Richard Persons nodded, looking a little excited over the prospects of the idea that Will was proposing, and as he asked.

“To be frank with you, Will. The idea of a live audience is certainly lucrative, could you give me a brief example of the kind of scenarios that the show is going to portray. I will have to agree with my company’s CEO, that the lack of direct conflict or an overarching plot seems a bit difficult to grasp.

How the show is supposed to hold the audience’s attention after a certain number of episodes in the show, it could eventually seem that we’re trying to sell the audience on the boring lives of six people, why would they care about the lives of these people?”

Will thought over the question and replied.

“That’s the charm of the show. I want to portray the life of six friends in New York while making it comedic, witty, and funny. I want to tackle everyday problems that people face and reel them in with familiarity, rather than conflict. The main conflict in the story isn’t some giant labelled ‘enemy’, rather it’s their own feelings and emotions.

The audience, over a period of time, will see the development of each of my characters, as they learn, adapt, and tackle problems that Hollywood, in general, hasn’t tackled yet. We don’t need a big ‘enemy’ to make a good show, or tell a good story.”

Will could see that he had convinced the shareholder of OP Studios with that. But for some reason, Michael Williams seemed annoyed. He didn’t know if he’d done something wrong, and frankly, he didn’t care.

It was then that Lucius Wolf interjected.

“Okay, I can see where you’re trying to go with this, but could you clarify why you want a three-season contract from us? We could let it go for a test run for one season and then decide if we want to continue with the show like we usually do. Why the three-season clause?”

Will looked at Amanda, as he let her handle that question. She nodded to him and said.

“[Friends] is a Dream Vision, OP Studios, and ICM’s joint production. But ultimately, Dream Vision intends to hold onto the proprietary rights for the show. We are providing the licensing rights to RBO, for them to stream the show on their platform. The three-season contract clause is essentially a way for us to guarantee that the show stays alive for a minimum of three seasons. The idea is fairly new to the industry, we would like to stay afloat for three seasons before we decide on extending that contract further or not.”

That was a half-truth that Will had decided to provide them with. In essence as a way to mollify them. He intended to use the already established fanbase of the RBO program, and entice them into watching his show.

Eventually, after three seasons, once his own Platform, Netflix, was up and running, he would withdraw the streaming rights from RBO and stream the rest of the show on his own platform. Holding onto the proprietary rights would keep that nice and legal for him.

“Okay, I suppose. I can understand that you’re treating the entire show as an experiment on our platform. What about this clause here? It says ‘The immediate casting of the show will be decided upon by a team from Dream Talent Agency’. I think we should have the opportunity to use some artists from our agency too.”

Michael Williams cut in a little harshly. Actually, he wanted to use actors from ICM mainly so that he could maintain shadow control over the show, which was only possible if their artists filled the casting.

Will stared at him for a few seconds and replied, “You can go over the finer details of the contract with Amanda later. Unless you’re giving the green light from your side for the pre-production of the show to begin, that is.”

He could see Amanda nodding slightly beside him.

“Actually, you can consider the project given the green light by me. You have a remarkable history in Hollywood, and your record reflects that. I am sure, [Friends] will provide similar results.”

Richard Persons said pleasantly, cutting off all other arguments from Michael Williams for the moment.

*****

White Ruby.

This restaurant has almost become a playground for Dream Vision and DTA employees. The manager of the hotel had given a membership card to most of the department heads of DTA and Dream Vision.

They would come to this place for most of their personal meetings and enjoy the high-quality food for a lower price than regular customers.

Currently, an unusual guest was sitting with two other people in this very restaurant. It was a black and skimpy man.

Marcus Brown was finally recovering as signs of buffing were showing around his face and body. While overall, he still had a very skimpy look.

The other two people sitting with him were Jeffrey and Jennifer. They were currently having lunch as they talked about Will’s next project.

A script was put on the table near Marcus.

It was the script that Will had prepared for Marcus to make his comeback. Will was sure if Marcus made a popular movie, his past would be dug out and the media would try to attack him. The best way to retort to this situation was to make a movie where his exceptional performance leaves no room for anything else to be said.

Will wanted to take out the script to Marcus personally, but he didn’t have much free time on his packed schedule. So he sent Jeffrey and Jennifer to deal with this issue.

The movie that Will had selected for Marcus’s return to Hollywood was a movie from his previous world named ‘Hitch’.

It was a movie in which a famous slapper from his previous life acted. The movie was about Alex ‘Hitch’ Hitchens, a professional dating expert, who helps men woo the women of their dreams. However, a gossip columnist soon begins to challenge everything he thinks he knows about romance.

“We are in talks with Foxstar for this movie. They have demanded the script and would most likely half-produce the movie with Dream Vision if they like the script. They would also be the distributors.”

Jennifer said as Marcus excitedly nodded his head while eating the food. He ate like he hadn’t eaten properly for ages. Even though the current role and deal were important to him, the food still took a large portion of his attention at the moment.

“Yeah, I just hope that the new hatchling doesn’t flap his wings too hard. It won’t make him fly, and would get dirt on him instead.”

Jeffrey said. He clearly had a bad impression of Foxstar’s new chairman.

Currently, Will has decided to work with Foxstar due to Spencer’s request. He wanted to give the old man some face as they had known each other since the start of Will’s career.

Apart from Foxstar, Dream Vision was also trying to get into a partnership with Z studios for Leo’s next movie, [Catch Me If You Can]. Will’s aim was to expand his contact and influence to expand, and the best way to do so was to work on projects with the big six.

Kron Studios had also shown their interest in the movie as Leo was currently considered a star after his first movie.

Without people realizing, Will was slowly becoming the goose who laid golden eggs for the big six, making them dependent on him with his projects spread in almost every studio.

Even Mega Works wanted another partnership with Will, even if it was a small one.