Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

Chapter 399.A Special Meeting

Samuel did like the modified script that Aiden showed him but he still didn't agree to help him talk to Olio right away. It was only after two days that Aiden received a call from him, saying that he thought hard about it and Aiden's idea looked the best if they wanted [Hex] to be popular. 

Aiden was obviously happy to know that. 

Both of them decided to arrange a meeting with Olio to talk about them. On one of the days that the crew was taking a break during the London schedule, both Samuel and Aiden met him in his hotel room. 

For the record, Samuel also lived in London due to his wife being a Brit. 

When Olio met Samuel and Aiden, he was confused as to what they wanted to talk about that needed a meeting.

The two of them didn't even know each other well a week ago, so them coming together suddenly was a surprise. 

As soon as the meeting started, Aiden explained to him that he modified the script of the first half to something that could become its own standalone movie and that Samuel liked it a lot too. 

Hearing this, Olio felt angry at first as he had thought that this discussion was already over. But Samuel tamed him down.

"Olio, at least read the script first. Trust me, you won't dislike it. Even my father would like it if he was alive. Just give it a chance."

Olio frowned hearing that but in the end, he nodded, picking up the script to read it. As a fast reader, he didn't take much time to complete it as he also just glossed over the parts that weren't changed. 

While he was reading it, Aiden kept thinking that asking help from Samuel was the best thing. Maybe he was the only person Olio would listen to on the topic of [Hex]. 

It showed that he respected him and his father a lot. 

After reading the script, Olio was in a deep thought, similar to Samuel when he had first read the modified script. He wouldn't say he didn't like it. 

Having written all of his movies, he knew what a good script looked like and this was certainly one of them. 

But Aiden's idea wasn't something feasible in his mind. 

"Look, this is good. I won't lie but I'm still firm on the fact that we can't go with two parts for the movie. Moreover, I don't want the fans to think that we changed the plot."

Samuel quickly countered that sentence as soon as he heard that. 

"My father would have wanted to have modifications. At least in the stories taken from the first two volumes. I told you about how he said he could have done both of them better. If there's problems with fans, I would try to give interviews to explain our situation." 

"Will they even accept it?"

"They will if the movie is good and you only make good movies." Aiden said. "If they don't, then I will accept every criticism. I won't run away from it as all of this is my plan."

Olio fell into a thought hearing that. Both Aiden and Samuel looked too confident on their stances and it made him feel like his viewpoints weren't strong enough. 

Moreover, one part of him as a director also didn't want to lose out on so many good scenes and adding modifications and editing it in a certain way would surely amplify them if they did go for two parts for the movie. 

Not like it's not done before. 

But the main problem wasn't even Olio. It was investors — Titan studios and in the centre of it was Alberto Dundley. 

"Even if I agree, how are you going to make Alberto agree with this, Aiden? The modifications won't take much to shoot but it would inflate the budget and would need a change in marketing budget too as there will be two parts."

"I have already thought about that. It's less likely Alberto would listen to me." Aiden said. An image of Alberto mocking him after listening to his idea came to his mind. "The budget will be a problem too with him but we don't have to only take permission from him. He's the executive producer but there are other producers too. In the end, Titan studios are producing it in house, so a lot of eyes are on this project. We could go past Alberto and talk about our idea with the people who have more authority than him. Let's have a presentation."

A movie doesn't necessarily have to only credit one person as a producer. Normally, there will be lots of them with different roles and expertise. Sometimes, even distributors would come in as producers or actors who were going through the profit sharing module. 

Anyway, something like this would need more than just Alberto agreeing to it. 

So, Aiden's idea was simple. To have a presentation with the top authorities in Titan studios and let them decide for themselves. 

If he works out, it's fine. If it doesn't, then Aiden won't hang onto it. 

Hearing that, Olio said that it wasn't as easy as it sounded but Aiden simply shrugged and replied that they could still try. 

The three of them talked more about it. In fact, Aiden stayed till dinner and only at midnight returned to his room to sleep.

As for Olio, he agreed to it. 

***

An internal meeting to discuss something important about [Hex]. 

When Alberto was first informed about it, he thought that some problems had come up during shooting. But after checking, he found out that the shooting was going at a rapid pace and there was nothing wrong with anything. 

They were well on schedule and looked to be finishing in one more month. 

So, this sudden meeting was unexpected. He asked Olio about it but he refused to say anything, only telling him that he would know in the meeting. 

Alberto hadn't concerned himself a lot with the shooting since it started, so he only knew things from the reports that his assistant would give him. 

Until now, he had been happy with the progress but suddenly, he felt concerned. 

What was going on? Why did Olio want to have a meeting with top authorities in the studio? Why won't he tell him anything about the issue? These questions roamed his mind and troubled him. 

As [Hex] was one of the biggest projects in the studio with a top priority, a meeting was quickly arranged. 

Most people who were free attended it and even Ava was there. Aiden and Samuel were also attending it obviously. 

Alberto was asked a lot about the meeting but he could just remain silent. When the meeting started, Olio finally revealed what was going on. 

"Thank you for coming here everyone. The reason I called for this meeting is because I think [Hex] needs screentime to fulfil the vast potential it has."

Hearing that, a member of the board quickly asked. 

"What do you mean? We could easily have it end at 2 hours 20 minutes. Big budget movies of that length are becoming the norm these days."

A few people nodded at that but Olio shook his head. 

"No, that's not what I meant. I don't think that much length is enough."

"Then, what's the ideal length in your mind?"

"Five hours after sufficient cuts. The movie would easily be that long."

Whispers started taking place hearing that. A movie of that length — No one was going to go watch such a movie as the majority of the audience weren't that free. The attention span in this age was also just decreasing. 

"We can't do that." Alberto said, making his presence known to everyone. "A movie like that will fail. We talked about it before, right."

"We did but recently, I was given an idea on how to deal with this."

"What idea?"

Alberto raised an eyebrow. 

"The idea to divide it into two parts. I know it looks strange at this point as we could simply opt for a sequel like expected but the first movie itself could go for two parts."

Everyone started talking to each other hearing that and the atmosphere soon turned to something akin of a fish market. No one was trying to suppress his or her voice anymore as there were simply too man

questions. 

Expecting it already, Olio quickly calmed them down by clapping his hands loudly and proclaiming, "Everyone, I know you have questions but everything will be explained shortly. I didn't come here without a proper plan."

"Olio, we understand that but the idea of two parts? Isn't it suicide as the first half of the script is pretty... well let's say plain."

A female department head asked as she looked straight at Olio. She was one of the few in the room who had read the script written by Olio. 

"Yes it is plain but it's been modified by Aiden here."

As soon as everyone heard that, heads turned towards Aiden. The expression of Alberto here was priceless as he looked at Aiden with a bewildered look.