章 41: 41. A Productive Day at Eidolon.
Disclaimer: The story that I have written here takes on the names of real people, but this story is based in an alternate earth with some changes in its timeline.
This story does not intend to represent the celebrities/real people or make any commentary on them whatsoever. This story is entirely fictional, and it should be viewed entirely as such.
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Recap of the previous chapter -
Mark takes Sofia to his office to hear her out. She tells him about her past, how her brother died in a kidnapping incident gone wrong, how she and her siblings were sent to America by their parents and the hardships she faced after coming here.
Mark patiently listens to her and then asks about her proposition. She requests him give her a chance to play the role of Marta in Knives Out. Mark rejects it on the basis of her having zero acting experience and thick accent.
He offers a deal where he will provide her with a monthly allowance, paying for her tution but in return she must remain loyal to him, follow a proper schedule and try her best to become a movie star.
She agrees happily despite Mark stating that she won't be able to date anyone but him until she completes three movies. Mark sings "Maybe it's okay", and offers lunch to her. She agrees and they have lunch together, Mark cooks chicken fried rice, which she really enjoys.
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~ Third Person POV ~
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Date: 2nd May, 1990.
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Location: in Eidolon HQ.
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Time: 12:28 am.
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Janet was leading the tour group back to the buses that would drop them off at the nearest stop to their home. She was thinking that Mark's song, Come Thru, was one she had heard before.
He told them that he wrote it after finishing highschool when he was feeling down and alone. But, "It's you" was definitely about a guy they met in NYFA, he was very indecisive and not that good of a judge of character and suffered a lot of heart break because of it.
She would have to talk with him about releasing singles of his songs, he would never agree to an album but singles wouldn't hurt. It could even become a new marketing angle to attract more eyes to their movies.
Just over a week remained before they started shooting and the pre-production work was finished, the second round of auditions were almost done as well. She couldn't wait for the shooting to start, it was gonna be their first feature film, a monumental first step in their careers.
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Sofia was on an inter-state bus, it would take her to texas and then she would be on another bus to Miami. She had been given 1000 bucks, Mark had advised to hire a small truck for bringing along her belongings.
He really showed genuine care for her, that was easy for her to see.Though he had asked her never to speak about their deal to anyone else. When she asked what she should tell her siblings.
He gave a clever half truth, she was to tell them that she was dating a rich guy in Hollywood who was paying her for her tuition and rent. That this mysterious boyfriend had promised her work in Mark's movies as they were friends.
Her siblings had almost finished their school year so they wouldn't like the sudden shift but it had to be done. She wouldn't be at peace if they were left on their own. She was now the eldest and they were her responsibility.
Mark had packed a box of fried rice for her to eat on the way. He also reminded her that a professional dietician would be hired for her when she made it back.
So she should enjoy all the cheat meals she could cram in because once her new schedule began, cheat meals would be a rare occasion in her life.
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Evelyn was having a field day, she signed a new talent, an actress, one Salma Hayek. Ms. Hayek had been discovered by Kevin and Wendell when they were going through the audition tapes for the applicants for Marta's role.
After finding out about her details and finding that she didn't have an agent, Kevin had immediately called her to snatch the new talent they had just discovered. And she was so happy she did, after seeing the tape, her acting skills were top notch, with some experience she would have no problem winning at the globes'.
She had signed up, Salma with a junior agent who was working under her. Salma was just starting out, but she knew that she could make it and with Mark boosting her career, it would skyrocket.
She had to give her credit, she was very sociable and had street smarts. The moment that she told her that Mark wanted to meet her in his office, the minx jumped at the chance.
She was currently shopping for an outfit appropriate for the occasion, she didn't shy away from asking for advice to impress. As she knew that they were friends, she had very subtly implied that Mark liked his woman available, waxed and submissive.
They had already gone to a premium spa and had gotten a Brazilian wax done. Now they were shopping in the mall looking for Salma's outfit for the night, she had already gotten a pair of new lingerie for herself to surprise Mark with.
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Meanwhile Kevin and Wendell were going through the rest of the applicants. They were almost done as well, they had filled most of the characters played by the Thrombey family.
Only Meg remained, but he had hope that this next applicant would fill that role perfectly. They had seen her audition tape and her performance was spot on, acting like a two faced selfish person just suited her.
She looked so innocent yet when she acted her subtle expressions and body language filled her with this image of wrongness and deception. They asked her to introduce and then act in the provided scene.
"Hello, I am Jennifer Connelly. I am 20 years old and I have acted in five movies till date. Thanks for providing me with this opportunity." She bowed and curtsied at the end of her intro.
She was given the scene where Meg calls Marta requesting her to come back and give them the inheritance. Her expressions were a little off but that was just her nerves getting the better of her.
She performed really well, better than the others who applied for Meg's role. They sent her through, with a side note of focus on the expressions and testing the nerves in the final auditions.
With that their day was over Kevin wrapped things up and went to meet Janet as she should have been done with escorting the tour group out of the premises.
Janet had been on her way to the cafeteria when she ran into Kevin and Wendall. Kevin asked her how the fanmeet went and what was the surprise Mark had planned for them.
When he got to know that Mark had performed live for them and even sung two of his original songs. One of them which they had never heard before, Janet tells him that she had already recorded the event so he could watch it later with the rest of the group later.
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Sarah was waiting outside Mark's office, he had called her in for a small talk. She had finished dividing the budget according to the scenes that will be shot on the day of the shooting. She had even included the actors salary to be paid when calculating the total.
They were in the green, even with her increasing the total cost by 10% to have a safety net. She had been told by Mark's new secretary that the new hire, Ms. Jacobson had gone in before her.
~ Flashback 15 minutes ago ~
Nina had been called to Mark's office. Before joining Eidolon she had done her research about him and all of it came pretty good. So she decided to jump ship from Silver Pictures to Eidolon.
She had met with Mark once before in private and had a brief conversation with him before he decided to hire her for the job of supervisory producer.
Mark had called her in, he was writing something on his typewriter. He didn't have his mask on and she finally got to see his face. All the employees at Eidolon had signed a special agreement that they can't reveal any details about Mark or record his unmasked face, if they ever get to see it by chance.
He briefly looked up to see her enter and told her to take a seat and went back to writing. After she took her seat across from him, she expected for him to make a power play and make her wait on him as he kept writing. She had seen how when men get a little wealth and power in their hands,it swells their head.
Her internal monologue was interrupted by his question, he hadn't really stopped writing still. She requested him ask again as she didn't hear what he had said and Mark glanced up at her from his typing. Embarrassed for not paying attention.
His fingers still hadn't stopped, he looked her in the eye this time as he asked her what it was that she wanted out of working for him, except for the agreed upon salary.
His eyes went back to the typewriter as he continued his work. Nina took a moment to gather herself before she began giving her answer. She told him that she was looking to grow with the studio and eventually become one of its executive producers.
Mark stopped typing after hearing her answer, he told her that it's a very ambitious goal. But he liked ambitious people, he encouraged her by letting her know that she could become the vice president of production of studio Eidolon.
He told her that he wouldn't hold her back due to her race or gender and that the only thing he cared about were results. He gave her a list of books and asked her to discreetly try to buy their movie adaptation rights.
Nina looked at the list and it was filled with names like IT from Stephen King, Cider House Rules by John Irving, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R.Tolkien and a few more.
He told her to focus her attention, especially on Lord of the Rings. He gave her a 10 million dollar limit for LotR's adaptation and a 5% of North America box office earnings as compensation.
He told her to negotiate an offer of up to $20 million dollars to completely buy out the LotR IP if possible, if not then the previous offer was to be made. She was stunned for a moment by the amount of money Mark was willing to throw at these IPs.
He told her that he had another task for her, he explained to her briefly about Sarah's situation and her talents. He asked her to help Sarah learn the ropes as a producer.
Because she will be her apprentice as once she became president of production at Eidolon she would need someone talented and competent to take over her relieved responsibilities.
Nina was a little emotional but she held back and asked him if he really thought she could really achieve that goal. He said without any hesitation that he believed in her potential and conviction a hundred percent.
He said that he will now call Sarah and tell her the same and to treat her well as she would her responsibility from now on. She just nodded her head in agreement.
~ Flashback Ends ~
Sarah entered Mark's office, she immediately took in the other occupant. Her facial features told her that she had a Jewish background. She approached the desk and took her seat besides Ms. Jacobson.
Mark told her how Ms. Jacobson now Nina, after they got to know each other, would be mentoring for her future job position. Mark asked her if she was alright with the decision or if she had any complaints.
She shook her head and asked if Mark had any other task for. Mark replied with a no and told her that she had the rest of the day off. She left the office with Nina discussing their future workload and responsibilities.
She requested Nina to join the group for the evening as they were screening Mark's fanmeet and Q&A session. Nina agreed straight away as she wanted to know more about her boss.
Her current image of him was a dedicated and hardworking man knowing his worth, trying to make it in the big leagues of Hollywood.
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The group had gathered to watch the recording of the fanmeet in the small theater. They had even brought popcorn and snacks and a few other employees had also gathered here after learning about the gathering.
The core film crew of Mark's were very curious about Mark as they hadn't really interacted much with him and wanted to see his interaction with his fans.
The lobby was soon half way filled and the lights went off and the video came to life. They watched Mark imparted his philosophy of time and effort. Time one needed to invest time into learning and mastering their craft, reaching as close to perfection as humanly possible.
They learnt how Mark had devoted over 18,000 hours of his life from the tender age of just 10, to become a writer.
Mark revealed how he wasn't seeing any growth in himself as a writer so he decided on making movies as he had always been in love with movies and even inspired by them to write books.
I hadn't really ever thought of it like that said Melissa as she had been somewhat envious of Mark's writing talent but she never realized just how much he had sacrificed to get that good. 18,000 hours was equal to 750 days, it was equal to over 2 years of time spent on just writing.
This level of grit and focus along with his genius creative talent allowed him to become one of the most renowned authors at just 20 years of age. Her admiration for him only increased, so did the other employees'.
This was actually Mark's plan to show off his good side to them, to make them think of him in a good light and paint a good image of himself in their mind. Manipulation 101.
The crowd clapped along with the fan's on screen after witnessing Mark perform "Come thru," with its endearing message it made them empathize with Mark even more and think of him as someone they shouldn't think bad of just because he was their boss.
The last song, "It's you," just stole the show. The females in the crowd were very emotional after seeing Mark's soulful performance and were asking after the screening where they could buy the album or song.
It was quite fair to say that Mark made a lot of new fans this day from his film crew, fans who hound him everyday till he released his songs to the public in singles.
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Mark had just ended a meeting with Jon Favreau and Todd Phillips, his first A.Ds'. He provided them with the story boards and asked their opinions on the best sequence to shoot this movie in.
After some back and forth it was decided that movie will be shot in sequential order of the film plot except for Harlan's death scene that had to be shot earlier as they didn't want to have Mr. Plummer engaged in the shooting for too long.
The props and decor were completed and Jon and Todd had gone through the estate proper with the DOP to see where they could take the shot of the opening scene. The artificial fog would have to be added in later in post but the opening shot the sun was even out had to be taken just right.
They had decided on cooler blue and green color palettes for the opening scene with Harlan's death. And then a gradual shift to yellow and red as the movie progresses to give it more life and vibrancy despite it being a crime thriller.
He was waiting for the last meeting he had planned for today, one with a beautiful mexican beauty, Ms. Salma Hayek. She was scheduled to arrive in just a few more minutes, he had already taken a bath to freshen up to relax the tension and stress of today.
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{Author's Note: This was an experimental chapter actually, it was completely in the third person perspective with very few dialogues. It helped me capture what the different characters were doing in the story. Please let me know in the comments how you liked/disliked this Third Person POV chapter.
The next chapter is going to come out on Thursday, which is 2 days after the release of this chapter. It is also going to be a R-18 chapter, so be patient my fellow men of culture (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
Once again, thanks for reading my work. I am entirely motivated by interaction, suggestions and feedback. So please leave a comment or review and I will probably write faster.
If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. Slurp some nice ramen and I hope you all have a beautiful day
Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 2 days.}
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