My Hollywood System

Chapter 207:

“The movie was an endearing story with every major and minor role portrayed equally. The actors nailed their performances. Leo as Frank Abagnale gave life to another memorable character.”

“Frank W. Abagnale Jr. may have pulled off one of the greatest hoaxes on earth.

Abagnale’s famous tale of forging checks and assuming different professional identities has captured national audiences through pop-culture adaptations, most famously in the movie [Catch Me if You Can] starring Leonardo De Le Rosa and Tom Hanks.”

“What is Catch Me If You Can?

[Catch Me If You Can] is the caper you didn’t know you needed in your life. Remember when you dreamt of living life on the run when you were a kid? Not as a dangerous criminal, but as the cool kind that only stole from the government, owned a bunch of fake IDs and switched between made-up identities with elaborate costume changes.”

“The movie production and the sound direction were on point! [Catch Me If You Can], the newest sensation among Hollywood fans, was brought by Kron Studios. Although most loved the movie, the unpopular opinion appreciates the sound management and how the movie was made~.”

“[Catch Me If You Can] illustrates the costs, rewards, and ethical dilemmas of deception and self-disclosure in interpersonal relationships. One of the many morals of the story is that money and prestige cannot satisfy the basic human need to be known and loved by others.”

Although it had barely covered forty-eight hours from the movie’s release, [Catch Me If You Can], there were many articles, tabloids, social media reviews, website reviews and so on sharing and spreading among Hollywood Fans. Nevertheless, the movie’s interest keeps getting better and better.

***

The sun was shining, making the cold breeze in the wind dilute its coldness. There was no trace of clouds, but the clear sky was a beautiful sight in itself.

The roads were busy as always, and inside the car on the busiest street was Leo, who wore a suit and had his entire focus on his phone. In the front seat, his agent was driving the car with a stupid smile playing on his lips–He was in a good mood.

“The movie got an opening of 15 million. Fifteen fucking million dollars!” The agent said, making Leo turn his attention towards him.

His agent was a middle-aged man. His name was Gary Wilson. Leo had been under the agent for quite a while, and the happiness of Leo’s success was more evident in the agent’s face than Leo himself looked.

“You look happier than me, Gary.”

“Good opening means that your stardom is there, Leo. You are not just a one-time wonder! And that’s a big stigma in Hollywood, and you finally got it off easily!” Gary muttered.

From the conversation itself, it’s clear that the movie got a good opening. Apart from the great opening numbers, the reviews for the film were positive. It seemed that, not just because of Leo’s popularity but also because the movie was genuinely that good, its opening had met the expectations of the people who invested in it. Including Leo, Gary and everyone else.

With how the numbers are going crazy, the movie would quickly spread among the fans with positive word of mouth and easily make the outcome of the movie cross 100 million dollars.

If they were lucky, and the movie didn’t slow down a lot, the task of 200 million dollars wouldn’t be impossible. But that was how good the film had been doing since the opening. This was also why both the agent and the actor inside the Kia Stinger Convertible looked happy.

“Yeah, but the thing is if I can’t even get myself off the one-time wonder tag, from what it may seem, I’m not good enough to be an actor,” Leo muttered out.

Other than every success Leo achieved for himself; many had implied that [Liberty City] was more of Will’s movie than Leo’s achievement. Despite how good Leo acted, the glory and the succession of the cinema were attributed to Will. With everything, he felt as if he got lucky with it.

“I got pretty lucky as Will also wrote the script for this movie. And it won’t happen again unless Will and I decide to work together again.”

“You’re quite talented, Leo. What type of a project do you have in mind after this?” Gary questioned, looking at Leo from the front mirror.

Leo thought about it for a minute and answered, “I’ve been thinking of trying out stuff with a few innovative directors, and what I’m aiming for… is a different script than what is going on currently. Anything is fine, to be honest. I just want to try new and different things. Take a path that would make everyone see that I won’t be under Will’s shadow.”

Gary found what he was saying kind of weird. With a slight frown drawing on his eyebrows, he asked, “Are you thinking of not being with DTA in the future or maybe moving on to a different company?”

“No, of course not,” Leo said and shook his head. “It’s not about that; it’s more about creating my own identity. Robert got over Will’s shadow because he has a lot of charisma, but I’m more reserved. So, I want to create my identity by taking on different projects and trying out various new things. And currently, as I’m doing pretty well financially, it’s not about money for me anymore. It’s about the art, the art which I can pursue calmly.

***

In the meeting room, Will, Amanda and others were seated while looking at Will without breaking the focus.

In front of everyone, Will stood powerfully and confidently, showing some figurines and t-shirts. Among them, there was also another merchandise for the people in the room.

“This is the product prototype,” Will explained, showing them the screen in front of them.

Dream Vision had finally managed to successfully make a one-year contract with the bespectacled guy’s company with whom Amanda had a meeting the other day, Ray Orchid. XYZ company agreed and made a deal for products with quality material for Dream Vision’s merchandise.

After the discussion with Ray and Amanda explaining how she expected things to be, they had given the company a chance after they had another meeting with the new products Ray presented. Amanda loved the quality of the t-shirts and other materials, so they got the contract with the chances of it being renewed if everything went well after its first year. In fact, it would be one of the most incredible deals the XYZ company has signed off so far.

“We will give out these figurines and merchandise to the winners of the quiz competitions we will hold in the issues of the next comic. So it would be something that could attract the people who are already in love with the comics and the characters.”

The people at their seats nodded, looking at Will and understanding what he was talking about. Merchandising was a great way to promote their brand, considering how people get attracted if something was from a free giveaway. This was also the plan of Will so that people would start to talk more about the comics and everything related to them.

“And the next thing I want to talk about is the venue. We will hold a social media event to distribute the gifts, so where would it be and when? During the event, kids also could participate in an obstacle course to win great awards and a meeting with Andrew. The character of Spiderman is someone who adores kids. So, we need Spiderman; Andrew to work more among the kids. The kids who are already obsessed with Spiderman would bring their parents to the theatre, not once but several times. And this is huge marketing plus point from our perspective.” Will explained.

Even in Will’s original world, Spiderman was loved more by the kids who were actively enjoying the character of Spiderman. The actors like Tobey, Andrew and Tom in the previous world were loved equally if not more by the kids than the adults. Will knew that if he succeeded in establishing the bond between the character and the fans, it was pretty easy for it to continue receiving its support for years.

This was why Will stressed the fact that they needed Spiderman to work among the kids.

“Yes, and the next thing is about the Billboards and Hoardings with posters of [Spiderman]. This is also an equally important part of marketing. I’m sure everyone knows how much of an audience is attracted to it, and more than that, it shows how big the movie itself is,” Will then talked about the posters.

Dream Vision was partnering up with Mega works again for [Spiderman] distribution, and currently, they were even making deals with studios in other countries to let [Spiderman] get straight releases everywhere. So at the same time that Will was explaining the marketing and promotional plans, the arrangements for these projects to launch were not for a single country but for every country where the movie would be launched.

Although live facts like Andrew not being in every country were present as an issue, other marketing proceedings like the posters were possible and are on the task list.

The meeting continued with the discussions of everything related to the promotions.

In the end, Will questions Amanda, “Yes, so, did the Super Bowl agree to show the [Spiderman] teaser?”

“Well, they did. But the thing is that Super Bowl asked two million dollars for a 30 seconds spot,” Amanda said aloud for Will to hear.

Hearing the words which came out of Amanda, everyone else in the room started to whisper among themselves. Then, most of the present staff talked about how it was a lot for just a 30 seconds teaser.

“Two million for thirty seconds is a lot. Is this acceptable?!”

“I don’t think Will should agree on this! 2 million… Is it worth it?!”

“Did she just say 2 million for 30 minutes?!”

“Wait… What?! No way! That sounds ridiculous!”

“Oh wow… She just said…!”

“Hmm… We could easily negotiate it to 1.5 million; if the Super Bowl agrees to give Dream Vision a better offer in the future compared to others, it’s pretty important to make connections,” Will said, making all the whispers come to an end.

“It’s still a lot, Will,” Amanda said, processing what Will explained.

“It’s still worth it,” Will replied.