My Hollywood System

Chapter 87:

In Will’s office on the 6th floor, Jeffrey and Will were discussing the [1917] movie’s script.

“You know, as long as a war movie is well made, it always earns a lot more than your average everyday movie due to the nationalism sentiments and such things.”

Jeffrey said. He had a lot of experience in Hollywood and was someone who was easily able to come up with answers most of the time as long as it was related to Hollywood.

The reason why Will thought of him as the Doraemon of Hollywood.

“Yep, it is like that.”

Will replied to which Jeffrey continued.

“But this movie is kind of different than a typical war movie. It focuses on the story of two soldiers. Not to mention, throughout half the movie Blake seems like the protagonist but he dies and Schofield takes over. Why is it like that?”

Jeffrey asked with a clearly confused voice.

“That’s the charm of this movie. From the beginning, both of them are the protagonists of the movie. Both are equally the main character. After Blake’s death, Schofield takes over the role of delivering the message, and this is the unique part of the movie.”

Will explained.

[1917] was a movie based in British warring times. In the movie, Germany had set up an ambush for the British army and 1600 soldiers’ lives were at stake. The protagonists of the movie, Tom Blake and William Schofield were given a mission to deliver the message about the ambush to Colonel Mackenzie.

Through many hardships they reach and Schofield almost dies on the occasion of a blast, but Blake saves him. After some time they find a German plane that was shot down by an allied aircraft. Blake and Schofield save the burned pilot from the plane and Blake persuades Schofield to get some water.

As soon as Schofield turns back, the pilot stabs Blake. Schofield immediately shoots down the pilot who dies immediately. Schofield comforts Blake as he takes his last breath, promising him to complete the mission and then write to Blake’s mother.

After this point of the story, Schofield basically takes on the role of the main character and after many struggles, he succeeds in delivering the message and saving many people, including Blake’s brother who was a lieutenant in the army. He gives the dog tag and Blake’s ring to his brother and asks for his permission to write to their mother, to which, Joseph, Blake’s brother, agrees. The movie ends with Schofield resting under a nearby tree, looking at the pictures of his wife and children.

The movie was a rollercoaster of emotions and was very engaging from the start to finish. Both the main actors of the movie were a new face in Hollywood of Will’s previous world, yet the movie succeeded in getting Oscars nomination and even won the award for best cinematography.

And that’s the reason why Will wanted Jeffrey to be the cinematographer of the movie. If things went well, even if he didn’t get an Oscars, he would still be able to at least get a nomination.

“One more thing… Is there a reason how you are from a British background?”

Jeffrey asked as he scratched his head.

Will laughed at that as he replied.

“There isn’t much reason behind it. It’s due to me being a half Britisher. My mom was a Britisher so I wrote it in the British background.”

This was half true. Will’s mother in this world was indeed a British woman but he was making British movies like Sherlock Holmes and 1917 because he got their script from the system, which he can’t really tell anyone about. Heck, even Harry Potter is going to be British.

If this trend kept on going, Will would be labelled as a true Britisher by the media, even though he really wasn’t one. Although, he didn’t really care about the media and their baseless rumours.

As the talk continued, it finally came to an important topic.

“I want two new faces– new actors from DTA to play the roles of the protagonists of the movie.”

Will said to Jeffrey, to which the latter replied.

“It’s a nice idea. But according to the script, what I am estimating is that the budget will be quite big, it may even cost more than [Sherlock Holmes], so it will be quite the risk to make two new actors play the lead roles.”

Jeffrey announced his concern on the matter. It was obvious that taking in new actors for such a movie, especially where there were no prominent side characters that they could recruit famous actors for, like [Sherlock Holmes], would be a huge risk.

“We are not going to succeed in the market if we are afraid of risks. And remember that risks always comes with rewards. As long as the movie succeeds, we will have two more faces that could become the pillars of DTA.”

Will said as he went through the list of actors and resumes that had passed the second round and interview. The reason Will wanted to be present in the final round of the auditions was also due to this. He wanted to pick up the most prominent actors himself for the roles of Dream Vision’s future movies.

“Well, as you say. Sometimes I really want to curse you for getting my heart rate up by taking so many risks, but I have also enjoyed the pleasant surprises that came from those risks, so I have learnt my lesson. As long as you are confident in it, even if the movie flops, I would support your idea.”

Jeffrey said while rubbing his head and smiling tiredly, to which Will just laughed at. Jeffrey had become like an old friend with whom Will would consult many things but mostly did what he wanted.

***

Seattle, Washington.

Natalie Bergmann, the waitress who recently got kicked out of The Pink Door, was setting up a camera on her computer to shoot a scene for the auditions of DTA. She was a former student of Lawrence Bee Acting School.

Lawrence was a prominent actor who was mostly a legend in 70s Hollywood. He had gotten a lot of awards and before his death, he had set up a film school.

It’s been two years since she had graduated from it but she had not been able to get any good roles in Hollywood. Worse, she has often been criticised for having a blank appearance.

A director had even said she was neither too pretty nor too sexy.

That had heavily lowered her confidence and in the end, she had taken a job at a restaurant to pay her bills. But these days even that was hard.

Her roommate had gotten married last month and left, so she was the only one living here now. It was hard to even pay her rent.

As the camera was ready, she took a look at the mirror and shifted her hair a bit. Looking at the mirror, she tried to smile. Natalie gave off the vibe of a girl next door, someone that people would easily forget after one encounter.

She was going to record a famous scene from one of the movies that got popular in 2005. It was a scene of a fantasy movie called [In the Land of Dungeons] where the lead heroine had lost her lover and was standing near his dead body.

It was basically the story of a princess and a knight who would run away from the revolters after the empire fell. Together, they would find themselves in an old dungeon with dark spirits.

The story would pick up the pace there with the knight turning the princess into a capable mercenary, eventually becoming lovers.

In the end, the knight will die and this was the climax scene.

It was a pretty emotional but a standout scene.

She started the recording. And even without applying a menthol tear stick, her eyes first saddened and then a flood of tears broke out. She repeated a famous dialogue from the movie which was as follows.

“You said you will be with me until death does us apart, and hence, I shall follow you in the afterlife, if there is one.”

It was a pretty cheesy line but it was perfect with the story development and received a lot of fans. The heroine stabs herself after saying that, with a drop of blood flowing from the corner of her lips, she dies with a smile with her head on her lover’s chest.

Natalie kept acting for a while and after the scene ended, she stood up and stopped the recording.

After a bit of editing, she could send it to DTA.

‘I hope I pass.’

She thought in her mind.

If she doesn’t pass the audition, she won’t know what to do. DTA was her only option as she needed an agent to even survive in Hollywood. She had one before but he had left her after finding a job in a big agency that had not found her talented.

‘It’s really my last chance.’

She was 23 this year and her family had been forcing her to do something in life. Otherwise, she could just take a drama teacher job at a local high school or something.

As she sighed, the image of Will passed through her mind. He was younger than her and without any background but in just a year, he had made a place for himself in Hollywood.

Now he was even playing in multi-million dollar deals and establishing businesses.

She wondered what it would be like if he fancied her. She would get roles in major movies and it would be fine even if she had to date him.

After all, in Hollywood, it was pretty common and Will didn’t have any major scandals or bad rumours about him.

But in the end, she shrugged her shoulders and frowned. It was just a fleeting thought after all.

…

//DreamNote//

I am seeing quite a lively response from the harry potter changes which I have initially decided to make. Well, I have only one thing to say to everyone: You will not be disappointed.

Don’t forget to vote 🙂