5th November, 2007
{1st Person POV, Oliver}
I was currently inside the bathroom, taking a warm shower. It just feels amazing.
No matter the season, a warm shower always makes me relaxed.
But I can't enjoy or have nice things, at least for now. After all, I wanted to get to the top of the entertainment world.
But for now, I couldn't sleep well at night. Not until I made a reputation for myself.
And that's why last night I searched up the names of different actors from my world.
It seemed they existed, albeit with slight differences in the way their names were spelled.
This was great news, really. I could now contact them and get them in my movies.
Speaking of actors and movies, I searched up stuff about Keanu Reese. It seemed that he started his career in filming when he turned 20, just like back in my world. However, the thing was, shortly after his first movie, in which he was a side character, was released, his father was arrested for buying and using drugs.
His career ended before it could even start. He didn't get many roles after that, but he somehow managed to find odd jobs and some roles here and there. None of them were enough to make him rise to stardom, though.
On top of all that, he had to take care of his mother, who fell into depression and tried to commit suicide. Keanu was able to stop her, and now she meets with a psychiatrist. And there's also his little brother, who was only 7 years old when his father was arrested.
Keanu Reese went through quite the stuff.
And I felt bad.
So, I was now more motivated than ever to make him an A-lister. Seeing him miserable just fucks with my brain, because while his acting skills are just 'okay', he's a really nice person.
However, a noise that I was quite familiar with scared the fuck out of me.
[Ding!]
[Extra content downloaded!
User can now use the following functions:
Watch the movies before buying them
Read about how the movie was made
The cast and crew attached to the movie
Financial milestones achieved by the film
'Animation Director' has been unlocked
Option to buy Musical Scores is now available
Option to buy game scripts is now available
Option to buy Online Video scripts is now available
New skills have been added for the new entertainment Industries available
New features that have been added:
Genre specific wheel spins
Discount on the cost of scripts
More milestone achievements
More quests
A Status window
New categorisation option: Budget
New movies released in your original world after your transmigration will be added regularly]
I nearly fell on the floor because of the system! That's just how unprepared I was!
The system had said that it would take 3 days to update, but when it did, it had a new message, which read [There is some new extra content. Does the User want to download it?]
[Yes]
[No]<--
And I clicked on [Yes]
Keep in mind that I wasn't able to access the system, which was JUST updated, until the extra content had been added. So, I had no idea what came with the update and what was part of the extra content.
To be honest, I was a bit overwhelmed at the amount of things on the screen. There was just too much stuff.
I had to slowly and one-by-one read the features and stuff I was able to do now before I properly understood it all.
However, what intrigued me the most was the fact that I was now able to watch a movie before I purchased its script, as well as the option to buy Musical Scores.
That was something I had really wanted to do. After all, franchises like Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Harry Potter wouldn't be the same without their iconic music.
And the addition of new movies from my world after my coming to this, something which the system confirms was transmigration, a clue as to how my previous world currently was.
If the system was able to bring the movies after I got here as part of the table of content, then that meant that my world's time was flowing at about the same time flow as this world.
To support my hypothesis, I looked at the movies released in 2023, which was when I got here
Looking at the movies, the list had only been updated till August, 2023.
This did indeed prove that both the world's basically had the same flow of time.
I died back in February, 2023. That means the list was updated till 6 months after my death. I got into this world in April, 2007. Currently 6 months, nearing 7.
So, this world was ahead by a week or two, give or take.
Though, there appeared to be quite a few movies that were highly anticipated by lots of people, which turned out to be huge money losers. For example, The Flash, The Little Mermaid, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Fast X, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and the last one to this list, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1.
Quite the year 2023 is.
Anyways, I have to meet Keanu to finalise the contract.
I spent way more time in the shower than I should've.
I got out and changed into my business suit, and left the house.
***
{3rd Person POV}
Inside a room of the SkyMount studios building, there sat Keanu Reese, dressed up properly for the contract discussion.
His first meeting with Oliver didn't feel real to him, it felt more like a dream. Oliver talked about changing his future and improving his career and whatnot.
At the time, Keanu scoffed at the idea, thinking that the success of 'Halloween' might have gotten to his head. He asked Keanu to bet his career on himself, a single person. But how could he? He had finally gotten some spotlight after playing the lead role in 'Across the Stars', and now Oliver wanted to throw all that hard work and reputation away?
Oliver assured Keanu that if he read the script of 'The Departed', he would understand where Oliver got his confidence from.
At first, Keanu didn't touch the script. But after a few hours, his curiosity got to him, and so, he started to read the screenplay.
From the first page, Keanu was engrossed in the story and the characters. From there, he finished reading the entire script in less than 2 hours.
Keanu finally understood why Oliver was so confident in his ability to alleviate Keanu from a C-rank star to an A-lister. The plot was amazing, and the characters were compelling. And that ending left him satisfied, which he thought wouldn't have happened.
Later that day, he emailed Oliver, saying that he had accepted his deal.
And today, he was here to sign onto the film.
However, Oliver hadn't arrived at the arranged time. Keanu got a little anxious.
'What if this was a prank all along?', 'Did he fool me?' Such thoughts filled his head.
Soon after, the door to the room opened, which caused Keanu to flinch.
He turned around to look who it was, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
Oliver had finally arrived, and with him, another person who looked to be in his 40s. He was bald and had black rimmed eyeglasses. He appeared to be holding some kind of document in his hand, which Keanu assumed was the contract.
"Sorry for making you wait." Said Oliver, with an apologetic smile.
In response, Keanu smiled too, albeit awkwardly. "Ah! No no, it was nothing."
Oliver sat on a sea-green coloured sofa, opposite to that of Keanu. The lawyer sat besides Oliver, and put the documents on the black coffee table in between the two sofas.
"Anyways, let's get started, shall we?" Asked Oliver.
"Yes." Answered Keanu.
The lawyer explained the details of the contract, as well as the salary of Keanu, who would get $250K for the movie.
'$250K?!' Keanu thought.
He wasn't a big star, so for him, $250K was a pretty large sum of money, even though it was far lower than the other actors in the film.
After signing the contract, both Keanu and Oliver shook hands, a start of a friendship that would last a long time.
Keanu Reese would look back at this day as the one that changed his life completely, and him forever grateful to Oliver.
~~~
A/N - Here's ch 18! I had quite a lot of fun writing this, but I also nearly fell asleep.
I know that the last few chapters have been quite text heavy with not much going on, but I like it like this.
Also, BIG NEWS! I'll be now doing TWO CHAPTERS per week rather than just one!
Why? Because this volume still has like 20 chapters to go, and yet, its taking ages! I'm only at chapter 18 after FIVE months! At this rate, I won't even reach chapter 40 by the end of the year!
So yeah, that's my reasoning. Also, the first chapter will be uploaded at any time in the week, but the 2nd one will always be on either Saturday or Sunday. This new rule also applies to this week.
So yeah, enjoy.