Capítulo 41: Chapter 41 - Name with a story
After 6:00 pm, the Home Alone crew started arriving at Eric's home.
It had turned dark by the time Eric, who had been chatting with chef Vanessa in the kitchen for a while, returned to the living room and looked around. He was surprised to find that, in addition to the Home Alone crew, there were more than a dozen pretty girls in various colorful dresses.
"Jeffrey, where did these girls come from?" Eric went to Jeffrey Hansen and asked curiously.
Jeffrey smiled and said: "After Home Alone was done, Nicole Frank was hired for a campus comedy. When the girls from that set heard that he was going to a party organized by the Home Alone director, they accompanied him here. As for the reason, you probably don't need me to explain it."
Eric smiled as the girls were obviously here for him. However, he did not mind. Other than two or three women, Home Alone's crew consisted mostly of men, which would quickly make the party really boring.
Moving to the center of the room, he clapped his hands to get everyone's attention: "Everyone, I'd like to say a few words."
The living room quickly quieted down and everyone turned towards Eric.
"First of all, I hope everyone's having a good night. Today's party is to celebrate Home Alone's success. This success is not mine alone. It belongs to all of you here today, without whom I would not have been able to complete the movie so fast. So once again, I thank every one of you."
He finished and slightly bowed to the crowd, who responded with a round of applause.
Eric slightly motioned them to quiet down, then said: "Of course, a simple thank you cannot be enough. Home Alone achieved such an amazing box office result, and it's all thanks to all of your hard work, so I specially prepared dividends for everyone. I hope we'll have the opportunity to cooperate again in the future."
Eric finished, and along with Hansen, started distributing the already prepared envelopes to the crowd. Eric had written the names on them in advance so there would be no fear of mixing them up.
The cheques varied between 200,000 $ and 500,000 $ depending on one's position or contributions. Although it seemed trivial when compared to Home Alone's box office, this was equivalent to several years of wages for the crew members who had only mingled in the low-budget independent movie circle of the industry. Their annual incomes were at most in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Of course, Eric hadn't forgotten about the main actors. However, their dividends would need to be more generous and would have to wait until he received his profits from Columbia.
Some people may think that since the filming was done, and the crew had already received their payments, so why did Eric distribute those huge sums of money? Well, although it wasn't written out in a contract, there were unwritten rules in this business, and giving away generous dividends to the crew after a movie hit it big was one of them.
In his past, because of the expenditure grossly exceeding the initial budget of the Titanic, James Cameron initially gave up his dividend. However, once the movie unexpectedly hit it big leading to the Fox making quite the profits, he was rewarded generously as well.
After distributing the cheques, Eric announced the official start of the party and moved up to the 2nd floor with Jeffrey Hansen.
"Jeffrey, this is yours, it should be enough to buy Firefly back." Once the two men reached the second-floor balcony, Eric took out an envelope and handed it to Jeffrey. The cheque amounted to 3 million $. It was what the man deserved, without him, the shooting of Home Alone would not have gone so smoothly.
Jeffrey Hansen took the envelope and stroked it a few times before unhesitatingly giving it back to Eric.
"Huh?" Eric was puzzled by the move.
"Eric, I've been thinking a lot about it these days, and even if I were to get Firefly back, it would still be impossible for me to grow it the way Solina would've wanted, so… so I have a request."
Eric laughed: "Jeffrey, what are you hesitating for? Please just say it."
"You said you were going to start a film company. Let me join you, I might not be a good director, but I can be of use as a producer."
Eric raised his eyebrows in surprise. He initially had this thought too. He also wanted to completely take over the crew that Jeffrey's wife left behind.
However, he felt that the man was slightly obsessed and would not let go of his late wife's company. Also with Home Alone's success, Eric wouldn't have any problem creating a new crew, so he had put away his initial thoughts.
But now Jeffrey had actually brought the matter up of his own initiative.
"Jeffrey, I actually wanted you to join my studio and help me. But I thought you wouldn't want to part with Firefly studios, so I didn't bring it up."
Jeffrey listened to Eric's words but he did not relax. Instead, he said: "Eric, actually, this wasn't my main request. What I hope is that… that your new film company will also be named Firefly. I know that it's probably a bit too much, but… I'll help you as a producer… I won't take any share of it, just a salary would be enough. I hope you will think about it…."
Eric realized that the man still hadn't let go of his attachment with his wife's studio, and was just trying to continue the name and legacy through him.
This moved him slightly, and Eric quickly made a decision. He wasn't too concerned about the company's name anyway. Originally, he just thought of doing things along the lines of Disney, Warner, and Fox, and name the company Williams'.
At least it was a great name and this one had an emotional story behind it.
"No problem Jeffrey, I'll just name the company Firefly then. I also quite like this name to be honest."
Jeffrey raised his right hand slightly and was still thinking about how to convince Eric. When he heard Eric's words, he was surprised and said: "Eric, what did you… You agreed?"
"I agreed, of course."
"That… Thank you very much, Eric, I will work hard for you, I…" Jeffrey didn't know how to express his gratitude. He opened his arms and grabbed the youth in a bear hug.
Once they separated, Eric gave him the envelope back: "It's just a name, Jeffrey, I wouldn't have refused you anyway. Now take this, you deserve it."
Jeffrey kept declining so in the end Eric directly put it in the man's suit pocket: "Jeffrey, although there's a relatively large age gap between us, we are still friends. And like I said, isn't it just a name? Take the cheque, these are the fruits of your labor. So stop saying such silly things and increase the distance between us. I'm still going to need your help to put all my heart in creating more miracles."
After some more persuasion, Jeffrey eventually accepted the envelope. The two of them discussed a few things about the studio and the preparations for Eric's next film. They then returned to the party downstairs and announced the establishment of the new Firefly film company. The original crew of the company was overjoyed when they heard this.
They had already glanced at Eric's generous bonus and thought highly of him. But the crew that was left behind by Jeffrey's wife was aware of his desire to redeem Firefly. So most of them decided to keep following Jeffrey, while some felt more compelled by Eric.
Now, however, the two concerned parties had made the best decision they could have hoped for. Everyone was relieved and the party's atmosphere warmed up and became more lively.
...
While he was laughing with the cameraman Nicole Frank, Eric turned around holding a goblet. He had noticed a girl wearing a red high-forked dress approaching him deliberately trying to trip, and judging by the direction, hit him headfirst.
"Stop!" Eric quickly shouted with a wry smile, lifting his left hand in front of his body, putting a stop to the girl's move.
The pretty girl subconsciously halted her steps and stood a little awkwardly a meter from Eric. Some wine had inadvertently spilled from her glass as her movements had abruptly stopped. Her face held the embarrassment of being seen through.
"Miss, if you want to strike up a conversation, you can simply say hello. Please don't spill wine on me. This is actually my last suit. If you ruin it, I'll have no choice but to go around meeting everyone shirtless, which would surely be embarrassing."
The girl who initially felt embarrassed started laughing after Eric's words: "Mr. Williams, you're really funny."
"Of course, I specifically practiced attracting the attention of pretty girls." Eric joked: "So, you are?"
"You can call me Lucy, Mr. Williams."
"Lucy, that's a nice name, let's go over there and talk." Eric pointed to an open space not far away. To avoid the other passionate or eager girls in the party, Eric wisely chose a temporary companion.
At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh a little. If Annie, that stubborn girl, was here, he wouldn't have these problems. He wondered what she was doing in at this moment. According to the time difference between the east and west coasts, it should be early morning in New York right now.
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