Kapitel 33: The Gift

"You better be joking, grandpa!" Alexander's brows were visibly twitching for not knowing how to react to the sudden revelation.

"I'm not joking? In fact, we should head over there right now. The real tour isn't over after all." Sullivan was always happy to see his grandson's reaction to presents. Like any other elderly, he cherishes the well-being of his blood-related younglings.

It makes them remember the youth they had long forgotten and the great potential under their innocence.

Alexander's innocence has long passed with all the R-rated movie ideas he is pitching for Creed films but Sullivan can always interpret his grandson's maturity as innocent as he wants.

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The duo was now on the doorstep of the wide building and Alexander was quite intrigued about the gift that his grandfather has in store for him.

The sight of the gift box was already impressive that it makes one wonder about what is inside.

Without further delay, they went in and looked at the surprise.

It wasn't empty as imagined with recording rooms, dubbing rooms, and editing rooms. The first floor's configuration wasn't that different from the San Fernando shop but it was much more kitted out to be formal.

Along with the comfort rooms and the miscellaneous areas, there was still a lot of extra space to move about.

If the Creed HQ was all about the company's office management, then this building's first floor could be considered as its hub of manpower.

It could be considered a post-production area for Creed films. Alexander could even tell that most equipments was advanced versions of the San Fernando Valley counterparts.

The aforementioned Miss Kidman and Young Damon were mingling in the area posing for supplementary photos to help diversify the film propaganda.

Future Mrs. Cruise and Jason Bourne weren't too relevant at the moment, so Alexander had to put them in the background and take in the new place.

The place could also be considered as the pre-production area. It had enough square feet and space to be considered a medium filming studio.

There was a secure room for the camera, lighting, and sound equipment. The guard there was too engrossed in his job that he can beat those England statute guards. It even had traveling conveniences with a big opening to let vans temporarily enter.

The other spacious stations had much more complicated stuff with the special effects team utilizing it.

The special effect technician from the Home Alone films was at the helm of that department.

They weren't testing explosives on the place due to safety and noise reasons but the modeling stuff.

A huge worm body, weird tongues, and a clampy head monster were being planned and semi-constructed.

Alexander recognized the thing from one of his script pitches. It was the more mainstream and equally hideous worm monster for the up-and-coming Tremors movie.

The team wasn't versed with digital effects like Digital Field and ILM but they can at least make do with practical effects.

AD 2 to AD 5 were lingering around the place with all the filming magic they would use from this department.

'It Follows', 'Parallel', and 'Happy Death Day' are other Creed Film productions set to be released this year, after all.

AD 1 and other no-name directors that had great background but had limited chance to break out into the mainstream was also in preparation to produce films that would fill up the 1990 schedule for the film company.

Codenamed '$3,000', 'Paranormal Stalker', and 'Mutant Pizza Eaters' are enough to tell about Alexander's ambition for that year.

The directors and the special effect crew were also screened by Sullivan to be money conscious without compromising the quality.

With Sullivan and Alexander being named as executive producers for all the productions, the old and new Creed's synergistic film capabilities should be enough to ensure that would be achieved.

The entire building also had some unfinished construction places for future expansion but the whole thing was clearly tricked out from a store.

Alexander was always awed by his grandfather's efficiency and the scale of what the old man has done in just a few months was already impressive.

"Is this the gift, grandpa? If it is, then I gladly accept."

"Actually, this isn't your gift but just some excess stuff that the other building can't accommodate. But you can consider these as side gifts." Sullivan explained to the boy's chagrin. The old man was a cheapskate in life but was a big spender when it came to gifts for his grandson.

"The true gift is right upstairs." Disregarding his grandson's gaff, the old man pointed his finger to the flight of stairs on the side.

If the entire first floor was just a side gift worth millions of dollars with the packaging gift box worth about the same, then the true gift must be extremely precious.

Alexander was too used to the 2010's inflated industry that he didn't take into account the prospects of what the company had earned and the multitude of things that they could buy.

The dollar is un-inflated but powerful while the industry had potential but is affordable.

Currently, even with all these recent purchases and expansions, Creed Films had way too much in reserve than what they had sprinkled.

Some of the film companies, minus the low-performing ones, had powerful 1989 reserves from just their 1988 box office earnings. It could be surmised what the little company holding the unofficial box office champion of 1988 could achieve.

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The duo bypass most of the business on the first floor and reached the second floor.

It had the same area as the first floor but it had a lot of unutilized space. Also, unlike the first floor, it only had a few tens of people checking in and monitoring the condition of some bulky types of equipment and familiar techs.

The current average American may have no idea about some of these kinds of stuff but someone like Alexander had his eyes lit up when he saw them.

They were none other than computers!

Sullivan saw the boy's excitement and his old heart felt gratified. The stoic boy gave him a hug and the silence was enough to give each other their heartfelt thanks.

"What are you waiting for, Alex? You can have the entire floor to yourself. Plan how you want to lay out the place and tell me afterward. I'll have a company work out the kinks and you'll be able to do what you told me that you wanted to do." Sullivan patted the boy's head in encouragement.