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The meeting with Reggy, who was the CEO of BeePlus went well. Although the entire conversation started rather quirky, it shifted to being comfortable for how easy Ian was to talk with.
The first few conversation statements were hesitant and something that Ian had expected even before going there, but then, somehow he managed to talk through his problems and come up with the best solution, which was Ian buy off the entire network.
"... No, I can't do that, Ian. Look, I appreciate you listening to all the hard times I went through but this is something I can't accept. Selling the entire OTT was never in my plans, in fact, I'm even ready to stream any of your new movies or series, but selling off the entire thing- I can't do that." He rejected Ian's proposal straightaway.
"Hm… You know what, no matter what I say right now, you'd reply with the same thing. I know I'm not the first one to offer you such a deal, and I wouldn't be the last either. But if you think—" The entire conference room went into a pin drop silence. " –If you think that you still want to continue this, sure go ahead. But trust me, you did not listen fully to my deal, and you'll regret it."
Ian said and stood up with a smile. Offering his hand, he wanted to bid goodbye to the man who wasn't smart enough to make a great deal with Ian.
"What's the deal about?" Mr. Reggy asked.
His grey eyes were dancing with curiosity as Ian sat back in his chair.
"Your position as the CEO would remain the same. But I'd want the company under the studio of Renner's. I'll redesign and basically turn the entire OTT into how I picture it. With the assurance of the platform reaching the top 5 within two years, I'm offering you a permanent job," Ian said strictly.
Mr. Reggy looked as if he was asking thousands of questions at once. His eyes were focused on the desk that stood between Ian and him, and even Ian let him think clearly, giving him the necessary space without uttering a word more.
"What's your price? How much do you plan on buying BeePlus for?" Reggy questioned after more than five minutes of silence.
Ian, who kept tapping on the screen below the desk, raised his head in question.
"Come again?" he couldn't simply hear what the man in front of him was asking.
"How much do you value OTT? I want to know the price before I think of anything more—" He took a short breath before continuing. "Honestly, if I'm being smart here, what you offered me is something that can secure my retirement, which I'm planning in 10 years. But this place, this company, is special to me. I'm not ready to let go of it yet," He said after thinking a lot which made Ian nod in understanding.
"I understand your point. And as I've said, I'll be on my journey to build my OTT platform. For your question… Well, I think I'll go now." Ian said and stood without mentioning any numerical values for his question.
From the look of the old man, he knew that he was in an interior battle.
Nevertheless, Ian shook hands and left the building premises thinking of more solutions to rely on and get his own OTT streaming platform.
"I'd start from scratch if I have to," Ian thought while getting onto the back seat of the car.
-
"....That didn't go well?" Mason asked, noticing Ian's neutral face.
His thin lips were formed into a line, and the excitement whenever a good thing happened covered his eyes was missing.
"Yeah, the old man is stupid. Leave it at that. I have an instinct that he would contact again—"
"What makes you say that?" Mason questioned back. He was leaning in his chair, his arms were on the components of the chair, and he looked tired himself, considering how his tie was not neatly put, unlike every day.
"I saw how he talked. He was expecting that I'd settle for something like letting a movie or a series distribute through it, but I didn't. Also, his assistant was fed up already, I'm pretty sure it can't go for more than three months."
Ian said confidently as he took a seat in front of Mason.
"So, uncle, you went through it? What do you think?" Ian questioned.
"I thought a lot of things, Ian. But it depends on if you're planning to direct the movie or not. Also… I wanted to ask about opening slots for a new producer."
"Uncle, are you-"
"No, not yet. But I think it would be better if we could find a co-producer to help me work with so they could easily train themselves for the future. I feel quite light considering how you have the majority of the shares." Mason said with a smile.
Within the past few weeks, Mason had made arrangements to sell his shares to Ian but keep 10% for him. And apparently, Ian was the major shareholder of the studio, also he longer needed anyone else's approval—which was something the readers always asked for.
But, Ian was not a person who had taken Mason's existence just for his advantage. Although two years ago, Ian was new to this world, his mind, heart, and soul always wandered in and out of movies.
Even in his previous life, he was an actor who was keen on his career.
Nevertheless, the passion Mason showed for his job was something Ian couldn't easily let go of. Yet, he had to face reality.
"Hmm… I won't stop you uncle but take it easy. Back to the script, what do you think?" Ian asked.
They went on to discuss the script, and everything else related to the Marriage Story. Simply, the two-hour discussion was worthy and interesting.
-
It was 3.30 pm.
Ian was currently on his way to the theatre where the premiere of the movie Avatar was supposed to happen.
It was the first day of the preparations, and to be quite honest, even Ian was feeling the thrill while driving to the premises.
He parked his car in front of the vast theatre and walked inside.
"Nice to see you, Mr. Renner!"
"Mr. Ian Renner is here!"
"Oh, hello!"
He was greeted by people who were on both sides of the theatre.
Lucas was at the corner of the stage, sitting while jotting things down in his notebook. Ian walked towards him while acknowledging the people he met while on his way.
"How is it going, pal?" Ian faked an accent and asked, making Lucas snicker.
"We're acing it. Innit'?" Lucas said while looking at his assistant who simply chuckled.
The rest of the evening went by while Ian watched the preparations, and measurements participated in discussions, and talked with the others about who and who they had invited.
The decorations were something they paid extra attention to. Since the entire premiere was going to be huge, considering Goofy was a part of it, and the entire movie is a big budget movie, Ian agreed to every best suggestion with the decorations considering how big actors, actresses, directors, producers, heck even many powerful people were supposed to come.
-
Two days after the evening of premiere preparations.
Ian had one of the best days in his week– a rest day.
After working back to back and traveling around everywhere, days where he got to sit straight and think about the future while planning about different probabilities, were just wholesome.
The curtains of his room were open, and the stars shining afar brought him new thoughts to process.
The sun set a few hours ago, and Ian had the best nap in three weeks.
Closing his eyes, he went through his mental library. For the nth time, he got literal goosebumps seeing all the scripts, director notes, and every little detail for all the masterpieces.
That was his motivation; his motivation to stand up, grab the laptop, and start typing the next big script.
One of the biggest inspirations that made him create movies back to back, without a pause, without any looking back was how he had hope and a teeny tiny bit of responsibility layered at the thought of his memory library.
As a man who always loved movies, he thought that he was blessed with the library.
Yes, he wanted to create his movies and make things huge in the industry, but for that, he wanted a stabilized position that could give him so much freedom to experiment later on—with no guilt, even if things go downhill.
Nevertheless, without thinking more, he went on searching for his laptop, to start writing the next plan he had in mind.
[...] After stretching his hands above his head, he brought them back to the keyboard, and wrote the title of his next movie.
HOME ALONE 2.
And then, the rest of the night went by in an exhausting blur.