Hollywood What If

Chapter 13

"500 thousand dollars..."

Tom Rothman touched his chin as he read the proposal. To be honest, the script had some good points, but it also had some drawbacks. The protagonist was an awkward high school kid. Even the ending was questionable. 

"He danced?"

Tom Rothman shook his head. 

Fox Searchlight Pictures followed Miramax's business style. Which was to buy small-budget films and release them in minimal numbers of theaters.

Of course, Miramax also makes its own movies. But it usually had purposes like participating in the Oscars. 

At that time, Quentin Tarantino had only made two movies, 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'Pulp Fiction'. He was not that famous yet. 

Quentin Tarantino was discovered by Harvey Weinstein, who was the CEO of Miramax. In a way, Quentin's movies were one of the main sources of income for Miramax. 

Anyway, Miramax prefers to buy plausible movies that could bring profits. 

'Fox Searchlight Pictures is still in its infancy. I can't risk it by investing in a movie that doesn't have a good return.'

Tom Rothman was not confident that the script would make him money. He was a businessman, not an artistic person. Besides, the script was not even for an art film, it was a comedy.

'If I'm going to invest. I prefer to invest in movies with high production costs. They usually have greater profitability.'

The cases of small-budget films that made millions were a minority.

Avatar, Avengers, and Titanic, each of those movies cost over a hundred million dollars to make. Their profit was over a billion dollars as well. That's the usual situation. 

"Let's put this on hold. I'll wait for Se7en's appearance before I contact Kazir Grey." 

He nodded and called his secretary to send the script to the script library. Perhaps this movie would be profitable once Kazir proved himself in theaters. 

Another week passed and Kazir began to understand that his efforts were fruitless. No movie companies contacted him. 

"Just to be sure, I visited every movie company I know. Unfortunately, no one seemed to take me seriously."

Kazir shrugged. He had already accepted that this would happen. He was not an amateur who would sulk about such things. 

"If they don't want to invest, I'll find another way. Like I did with Se7en. I sent the script to David Fincher just to get it made.

Kazir was not discouraged. Instead, he came out of his apartment and walked a few yards. There was a phone booth near his apartment. 

He entered the booth and frowned when he noticed that someone pissed inside. 

"What the hell is wrong with these people?"

As expected from the area where gang fights usually took place, even the phone booth was disgusting. It seemed that the phone booth was not maintained at all. 

In the end, Kazir decided to look for another place. He could not stand the smell. 

"Hello, yes. Brother, this is me, Kazir."

Kazir cut all ties with his family after he left 6 years ago. His father didn't agree with his dream of becoming a director. 

His father said that Hollywood was full of vanity, drugs, sex, and crimes that corrupted the mind. In a way, his father was right. 

But Hollywood was also the king of entertainment. It was a city of dreams and hope. Every year thousands of people came to Hollywood to become famous. No one could deny that fact. 

"It's a miracle you called me. I thought you had forgotten you had a brother."

Aaron Grey rubbed his forehead. When he heard that Kazir wanted to talk to him in person, he decided to get out of bed and book a ticket to Los Angeles just to meet him..

"I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."

"No..."

Aaron smiled bitterly. To be honest, he was just shocked that his younger brother contacted him after six years.

"How is your work? I have seen your movies. How can I put it? They are pretty horrible. Hey, how about making a comedy instead?"

Kazir Grey's shooting style usually revolved around noir films. He liked to use bloody scenes and dark themes. 

However, after no success in his past life, Kazir decided to leave his usual shooting style. This time, he wanted to make action movies. 

"Well, about that..."

Kazir combed his hair and placed a script on the table. 

"This is?"

"It's my script. Brother, I need your help."

Aaron took the script and read the provisional title.

"Dynamite? Kazir, don't tell me you called me about this script?"

Aaron flew from New York to Los Angeles because he wanted to see his younger brother. But he realized the real reason Kazir had contacted him. 

From the East Coast to the West Coast. Just to see his brother, whom he hadn't seen in years. 

"That's one of the reasons."

"What are the other reasons?"

"I miss you, brother."

"Don't give me that shit! It gives me the creeps!" Aaron rubbed his shoulders in disgust. 

Of course Aaron missed his brother, but to hear him like that was a little scary. 

"I can't believe I flew all the way to Los Angeles just for this." 

He sighed. 

Well, Aaron missed his younger brother too, and he wanted to see him again. They had a close relationship when they were young. 

But Kazir didn't contact him after he left home to pursue his dreams. 

Since then, the only way Aaron could support his brother was by watching his movies... Which was a little disgusting and scary. 

'This is a comedy movie.'

When Aaron read the script, he realized that his younger brother wanted to change his style.

"Okay, let's talk about the script later. I want you to tell me about your life here in Los Angeles. I haven't seen you for years, so of course I'm interested in all the shit you've been up to." 

He dropped the script on the table. He already had an idea why Kazir had contacted him. 

To be honest, he was not angry. He was glad to see him instead. 

"Where should I start? Ah, I'm already married."

"What?"

He was shocked. 

"But we got divorced, so I'm single again."

"What?"

He was shocked a second time.