July 15th, 1979
"Okay, these are the studios that are interested in your next project. I've highlighted the ones with the most money, the ones with the most popularity, and then the ones who are offering the best deals."
James was meeting with his agent. After, the movie ended Dan told him that he really needed to get an agent because there would be many potential deals that they could get him.
Dan wasn't wrong. If he didn't have an agent, it would have been so much more difficult to contact this many studios. Even if he did try to do it himself, he definitely would not have been able to organize all the deals so well.
"Okay, what are the best deals?"
"Well, these are offering the most money, but this one just wants your screenplay, they don't really want you to work on it."
"I see."
This was another thing that James had to worry about. He wasn't entirely sure if he even wanted to be hands-on with the next movie, but he also wasn't sure if some of these movies would try to change his script.
It would be very disappointing if they messed something up. Also, what if he gave them the screenplay, they messed up some visual effects, and it ruined his reputation? Or, better yet, they changed the screenplay and it became tacky. There were many ways that they could mess up his movie and it could ruin plans that he had.
"Well, I don't really care about the money or how much control they give me. All I want to know is that they are professional and they have enough ability to execute my project well. Please look into the best studios and which ones have the most capability for "Predator."
"...Okay, if you say so."
My agent wasn't the happiest about this because he gets a percentage cut from my deal, so if I take a deal for less money that means he gets less as well.
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James had also recently purchased a new office space, where he could work on his comics and that could act as a creative space.
The most important aspect of this space is that it was very open. As soon as you entered, there was a large open room, with a huge window that spanned most of it. It had one bathroom, one bedroom, and one small kitchen. It was meant to serve as a small office building to hold a few cubicles, but with James' recent profits of Aliens, he could use it all for himself.
James didn't have to do much renovation, as most of the previous furniture was already moved out. The only thing he did end up doing is replacing the rugs with hardwood floors.
Now was going to be the only time for James to think about his future plans. So far, he had the IPs of Alien and Predator, but what other series could he get? James doesn't exactly remember when certain movies came out and while he does have a good memory concerning movies, because of his constant hours editing films, it's not perfect.
Of course, there are some easy movies to remember like the Marvel series, but then how does he get those IPs? He could wait until they go bankrupt, but how long is that going to take? Right now it's still 1979, while 1980 was right around the corner, it would be a long time until he would be able to afford Marvel.
Then as soon as he bought the company, it wasn't as if he could make any money off of it, there was a reason they were going bankrupt. Sure, he could make some movies, but he needed even MORE capital to do that. Then he would be in the same situation as the current owners.
James could wait until then, but over the years Marvel also sold a lot of their stories, like X-Men.
Even if, James waited for some opportunity to buy Marvel, where would he get the money? How many comics would he have to sell? How many movies would he have to work on?
Anyways, James knew that he needed to remember all the most profitable works of his past life and get started on them right away.
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After 2 weeks, his manager would get the studio names.
"Okay, so these are the most qualified studios, with the best visual effects team right now. These are the movies they've done so far that have gotten the most acclaim. Which of them looks most satisfactory to you? I can arrange a meeting at any point, but I suggest picking fast because they might change their mind and work with someone else."
"Hmm," James put his hand on his chin and looked at the films that have been worked on by these studios. Not all of them were impressive, but the most important thing was the potential of each of these studios. The criteria that were most important for these studios are having a good special effects team, they had a good vision for movies, and a good director.
If they didn't have a good director, this could be offset by James' comic which had many key scenes in it. But, if they didn't have the special effects then James wasn't sure that they could find one through outsourcing. So options were very limited.
But, James did manage to find two which met his criteria. He chose the one that offered the best deal, in his opinion. It appeared that he was going to have to get involved in the movie after all.
The name of this studio was Larper Studios.