Hollywood What If Chapter 6
[Note: As I said last time, I apologize if I made a mistake regarding the Hollywood industry. I will surely make another mistake no matter how many times I research it].
For a movie with a budget of at least 30 million dollars, the higher-ups of New Line Cinema attended the meeting with utmost concentration.
"Before we start, I just want to ask something," Robert Shaye said, and everyone stopped what they were doing.
Robert was the CEO and founder of New Line Cinema. He had built the company from the bottom up into a top-tier production company, just below the Big Six. Naturally, everyone in the company respected him.
"Kazir Grey, I read your script."
Because Arnold Kopelson was interested in the script, Robert Shaye read it as well. He realized something.
"Are you sure you don't need any help?" He asked jokingly, quite seriously to be honest.
"About that..." Kazir Grey scratched his head.
"I was kind of depressed when I wrote the script. I recently divorced my wife, she cheated on me..."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Robert Shaye quickly understood.
There have been writers who hit the charts after writing a story when they were depressed and broke. Even J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter when she was broke.
"No problem."
Truth be told, Kazir Grey didn't care about the divorce. He gave up his house just to get the settlement over with.
'It's a good thing I have an excuse.'
"Then... I read the last part, I can see you hate your wife very much." Robert Shaye laughed. The last scene was horrible. He got goosebumps reading it.
For a script to give him goosebumps, Robert Shaye knew that the script was at least promising.
"Hehe, no, not at all." Kazir Grey never denies or confirms. After all, the movie was from the near future and he just copied most of it.
"Okay, let's start the meeting."
Kazir Grey was invited only because he was the scriptwriter. However, he understood that his position and opinion were irrelevant at this point. The purpose of this meeting was to make sure that the movie would be approved. New Line Cinema would finance half of the budget, while the other half would come from investors interested in the film.
They decided that the actual budget of Se7en would be 33 million dollars.
Kazir sighed with relief when he heard that the board of directors had approved the making of Se7en.
David Fincher, who was sitting next to Kazir, was also excited and happy. David's agent negotiated with New Line Cinema and his salary was $1.5 million. Since he had experience in making a big-budget movie, the company entrusted Se7en to him.
Now the preparation of the movie officially began.
After Kazir received his payment from New Line Cinema, he decided to enroll in a well-known gym in California.
"Whew, whew, whew..."
He was panting after using the treadmill. He was sweating a lot and felt like he was going to faint. He sat down on the bench and rested.
"Are you okay?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine."
Someone approached him because he looked like he was going to faint.
Kazir looked up and his eyes trembled slightly as he recognized the person in front of him.
The woman was definitely beautiful. She was in her 20s, but she looked young and blooming.
"Excuse me, but are you Jennifer Connelly?"
"I'm surprised anyone would recognize me." She smiled beautifully.
"No, no. You are a famous actress. Of course I know you. By the way, I like Career Opportunities and The Rocketeer. You are really beautiful in person."
Especially "Career Opportunities", Jennifer Connelly was a goddess in that movie. God damn gorgeous!
The young Jennifer Connelly is the bomb! Of course, even in the 2010s, Jennifer Connelly was still a goddess.
"Thank you." She smiled. She was happy that someone appreciated her.
"Well, be safe and take care of yourself. You look like you're killing yourself." She left, knowing that Kazir was okay.
'... Did I just see it right? Jennifer Connelly asked me if I was okay.'
That made Kazir happy. After all, he knew that famous actresses like Jennifer Connelly usually have an arrogant attitude.
It was surprising that Jennifer Connelly was actually a nice person. Maybe Jennifer Connelly was just worried because Kazir was panting like crazy.
He chuckled and decided to run another mile on the treadmill. Tired, he left the gym.
"Hollywood, a place that surprises me every day."
He would never get tired of this city.
Kazir returned to his small apartment and showered. He rented this apartment for half a year. The location was quite dangerous because it was near a crime-ridden area. However, Kazir chose this apartment because the rent was affordable.
It didn't take him long to clean himself. He left his apartment and called a taxi to take him to the New Line Cinema.
"Good morning, Kazir."
"Good morning, David."
David was the director of the movie and his presence was important in polishing the script. Now that their movie was in the making, it didn't take long to hire people.
There were three writers besides Kazir, of course Kazir's position was much higher than the other writers because he owned the script.
'It is fortunate that I have a salary as a screenwriter.'
A thousand dollars a week was definitely not bad.
"Then let's get to work, everyone."
After greeting everyone and confirming that all the writers were present, David Fincher announced the start of their work.
[Jennifer Connelly]