Chapter 116

[ r/Hollywood gossip]

[Posted by OrangePanther]

-I don’t know why Matthew Collins is being vilified. All he’s done is promote family values at the MCA, almost as often as he’s promoted Family Members, true. But at least the message was good?.. no? I’ll shut up now.

[u/tcululu. replied]

-Just when I think, this sub has an original joke, I find it’s a standard nepotism joke from google images. Well, to be fair, Hollywood is all about corruption, so I guess we can add plagiarism to its jokes as well.

[u/KlyIsTheBest. replied]

-I’ve lost all hopes for the sub, I just browse through it for the occasional really funny ones.

[u/Mash_Potatoes. replied]

-Matthew Collins must be crying tears of blood, for his greed right about now.

[u/MimicReads. replied]

-This is just another example of the underbelly of Hollywood. It’s not all sunshine and roses as it is made out to be.

[u/AKOA. replied]

-The real MVP of this whole situation is Will Evans, I am damn sure that he got the article in The Tribunal published. Man’s been on fire since his debut.

[u/LuciferMorningstar replied.]

-Will Evans is almost like an unstoppable bulldozer this year. He hasn’t stopped making waves ever since he showed up, and now just when people thought his reputation would take a hit, due to MCA’s accusations of backstabbing, my man pulls out their own skeletons and nepotism is now front and centre.

[u/OrangePanther OP. replied]

-I know right, and apparently, he’s bought off marvel comics, I loved their comics back in the day, too bad they bungled FF4, hope he makes good use of the Comics, they have lots of potential.

***

The internet was a mosh pit of speculation, memes, theories, and conspiracies about what happened between MCA and Dream Vision. Thousands upon thousands of memes, about the MCA employees’ mass migration to Dream Vision, were posted online. Some came very close to what happened, some didn’t, but one thing was certain, Will’s image in Hollywood had weathered a storm and come out of it brighter than it was before.

Will himself was preparing to attend his meeting with ICM CEO, Lucius Wolf, on the top floor of the ICM office, by West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles California. He had just arrived by the pier side office building and had been guided to the office of the CEO, and he was going through the document that he’d brought along with him, containing the final statements of the deal he wanted to close with the ICM.

Knocking once on the door of the office, Will stepped inside. Lucius Wolf, a tall African American man, with grey hair, and a very deep, soothing voice greeted him. “Good Morning, Mr. Evans! It is wonderful to finally meet you. I loved [The Blair Witch Project] by the way, and [Sherlock Holmes] was magnificently executed, too bad we couldn’t have worked on that together, we’d have already been partners.!” He said, getting up and shaking hands with Will. “Please, take a seat, what would you like? Tea? Coffee? Or something cold?”

“Tea, with two sugars, would be wonderful!” Will replied, with a nod of his head.

“Ah, you British do love your tea!” He commented, and pressed a button on his intercom “Evelyn! Send in two cups of tea, please, two sugars. Thank you, Evelyn” He requested, and cut the connection. “I would like to, first of all, inform you that Jared Morgan’s agent had views and opinions that did not align with the interests of ICM, we would have loved nothing more to have started work with you back then, maybe you’d have avoided the fiasco with the MCA entirely. But as they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty, so let us look to the future.”

“It is all in the past Mr. Wolf, there is nothing to clarify about then. I would be delighted if we can close the agreement about [500 days of Summer] and maybe establish a working relationship between our companies.” Will replied.

“About [500 days of Summer], Mr. Evans. ICM is ready to lease any A-grade actor from our roster for a fee of 2.5 million dollars and that is very clearly indicated in the contract that I see you’ve brought along with you. I will sign it right now if you like. This meeting is not about that, this is for another proposition that I have for you if you’re interested.” He bluntly informed Will, and he was momentarily taken off guard, by the straightforward acceptance of the contract terms. 

Before Will could reply, the door to the office was opened, and a woman with blonde hair and business attire came in, with two steaming cups of tea. “Ah! Thank you, Evelyn! Place the cups right here on the table, that would be all!”

She placed the cups on the table in front of them and took her leave. Taking a sip from the delicious Tea, Will nodded and said “I am listening, Mr. Wolf.”

“Well, as you’d probably know, ICM is a subsidiary of OP Studios. Our parent company has recently launched its RBO program. Do you know about it?” Lucius Wolf asked.

Will nodded, it was a recent endeavour from OP Studios. “I’ve heard that it’s a television network, launched by OP studios and ICM.” He replied.

“That would be correct, Mr. Evans. You see, we are facing an issue with the content of the network. While it has a fair amount of viewership, it isn’t able to attract new viewers solely on the basis of the content it provides. Most use it to watch old reruns of Movies and Shows. ICM and OP studios would like to invest in you specifically, developing a show for RBO to air on its network.”  

“Why me, Mr. Wolf? There are many talented artists and scriptwriters that will give you a good plot for a show, so why me?” Will asked as he handed the final documents of [500 days of Summer] with a pen to the man in front of him, indicating that he’d talk about the proposition as soon as the deal was signed.

Understanding the gesture, Lucius Wolf nodded, took the pen, gave a cursory final glance at the terms in the contract, and signed his signature with a flourish on the document, indicating the closing of a deal between ICM and Dream Vision. He then looked at Will and said, “Will, I have to be honest with you. In under a year you have managed to build yourself an image that is very rarely seen in Hollywood. ICM and OP want to be a part of that. And RBO intends to use that image while providing quality content that not only attracts new viewers but makes them stay. People are watching movies, just because your name is attached to it. And we want to take advantage of that.”

Will pondered the information he’d been given. Frankly, he thought it was too good to not have a caveat, but seeing the situation he has to admit, it also shows a certain honest down-to-earth need from the ICM for their television studio. He could understand their motives behind the blunt proposal. 

“Mr. Fox, I would love to work on a project alongside your company. Dream Vision and ICM working together would make for a fantastic selling point for the public, especially after the MCA fiasco. But, it would have to be on hold, for now. I am working on a project that I cannot abandon. Once the project after [500 days of summer] is complete, I will be able to take up any other projects.” He replied. 

Another reason for Will rejecting the proposal, was because his system wasn’t working and wouldn’t work till after [Liberty City] was shown in cinemas, and he wanted to put all his efforts into that project.

“I see.” Wolf looked a little put out at the rejection but carried on nonetheless “In that case, we could at least set something in the books for our teams to go over, I would very much appreciate a promise of collaboration in the future.”

“You have it, Mr Wolf.” Will acknowledged.