HWI 13

Hollywood What If Chapter 13

"500 thousand dollars..."

Tom Rothman touched his chin while reading the proposal. To be honest, the script had good points but there were some cons too. The protagonist was an awkward high school boy. Even the ending was questionable. 

"He dances?"

Tom Rothman shook his head. 

Fox Searchlight Pictures followed the business style of Miramax. Which was to buy small-budget films and send them to theaters with minimal cinema numbers.

Of course, Miramax creates its own films too. But it usually had purposes such as participating in Oscar. 

In this era, Quentin Tarantino had still only made two movies which were 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'Pulp Fiction.' He was still not so famous. 

Quentin Tarantino was discovered by Harvey Weinstein who was the CEO of Miramax. In a way, Quentin's movies were one of the main sources of income for Miramax. 

Anyway, Miramax prefers buying plausible films that could bring profits. 

'Fox Searchlight Pictures is still starting and I can't gamble it with investing in a film that doesn't have a good profitability.'

Tom Rothman was not confident that the script would bring him money. He was a businessman, not a person who had artistic value. Besides, this script was not even made for an art film, it was a comedy.

'If I'm going to invest. Then I rather invest in high production cost movies, they usually have bigger profitability.'

The cases of small-budget films earning millions were a minority.

Avatar, Avengers, and Titanic, each of these films cost over a million dollars to be made. That's the usual situation. 

"For let's put this on pending. I'll wait for Se7en's performance before I contact Kazir Grey." 

He nodded and called his secretary to send the script to their script library. Perhaps this film would be profitable once Kazir proved himself in the theaters. 

Another week passed and Kazir gradually understood that his endeavor was fruitless. No film companies contacted him. 

"Just to be sure, I visited every film company that I know. Unfortunately, it seems that no one took me seriously."

Kazir shrugged. He already accepted that this would happen. He was not an amateur who would sulk over such a thing. 

"If they don't want to invest, then I will find another way. Just like what I did with Se7en. I sent the script to David Fincher just to make the filming happen."

Kazir was not disheartened. Instead, he came out of his apartment and walked a few meters. There was a telephone booth close to his place. 

He entered the booth and frowned when he realized that someone peed inside. 

"The fuck is wrong with these people?"

As expected of the area where gang battle usually happens, even the phone booth was nasty. It seemed that the phone booth was not maintained at all. 

In the end, Kazir decided to find another place. He could not stand the smell. 

"Hello, yes. Brother, this is me, Kazir."

Kazir cut his ties with his family after he left 6 years ago. His father didn't agree with his dream of becoming a Director. 

His father said that Hollywood was full of vanity, drugs, sex, and sins that corrupted the mind. In a way, his father was right. 

However, Hollywood was the king of entertainment as well. A city of dreams and hope. Every year thousands of people would enter Hollywood to become famous. No one could deny that fact. 

"It's a miracle that you called me. I thought you already forgot that you have a brother."

Aaron Grey massaged his forehead. When he heard that Kazir wanted to talk to him personally, he decided to get out of bed and book a ticket to Los Angeles.

"I'm sorry if I caused you trouble."

"No..."

Aaron smiled bitterly. To be honest, he was just shocked that his younger brother contacted him after six years. 

"How's your job? I watched your films. How should I say it... They are quite gruesome. Hey, how about you make a comedy movie instead?"

Kazir Grey's shooting style usually revolved around Noir Films. He liked using bloody scenes and dark themes. 

However, after no success in his past life, Kazir decided to leave his usual shooting style. This time, he wanted to shoot PG-13 movies. 

"Well, about that..."

Kazir rubbed his hair and put a script on the table. 

"This is?"

"It's my script. Brother, I need your help."

Aaron grabbed the script and read the temporary title.

"Dynamite? Kazir, don't tell me you called me because of this script?"

Aaron flew from New York to Los Angeles because he wanted to see his younger. However, he realized the real reason why Kazir contacted him. 

From East Coast to West Coast... Just for his brother whom he didn't see for years. 

"That's one of the reasons."

"Then what're the other reasons?"

"I miss you, bro."

"Don't give me that shit! It gives me creeps!" Aaron rubbed his shoulders in disgust. 

Of course Aaron missed his brother but hearing him like this was a bit appalling. 

"I can't believe that I flew to Los Angeles just for this." 

He sighed. 

Well, Aaron missed his younger brother too and he wanted to see him again. They have a close relationship when they were young. 

But Kazir didn't contact him after he left the house and pursue his dreams. 

Since then, the only way for Aaron to support his brother was by watching his movies... Which was a bit concerning. 

'This is a comedy movie.'

Reading the script, Aaron realized that his younger brother wanted to change his style.

"Okay, let's talk about the script later. I want you to tell me about your life here in Los Angeles. I never saw you for years, of course I'm interested in all of the shit that you did." He dropped the script to the table. He already had an idea why Kazir contacted him. 

To be honest, he was not mad. He was happy to see him again. 

"Where should I start? Ah, I'm already married."

"What?"

He was shocked. 

"But we divorced so I'm single again."

"What!?"

He was shocked for the second time.