The My Hollywood System
Chapter 95

April Warden, who was engrossed in reading [Harry Potter: The Philosopher's Stone] was unaware as time passed because it was almost night time when he finished the script. His eyes had already been a bit fuzzy as his young body continued to read for hours, but his face shone, and his expression revealed his excitement.

He stood up and placed the script between his hands as he dashed towards the living room. His father, Terry Warden, was sitting on the couch, doing something on his laptop. Terry Warden looked to be in his late 40s and had a white beard trimmed.

"Dad!"

April climbed up the sofa from the side silently and threw herself towards her father, strangling his neck with his arms as he happily rubbed his face against his face.

"Oh, my little angel. How was your day today? Are you doing your homework? You're not bothering your nanny, are you?"

Terry laughed when he said that. He immediately shut down his laptop and stopped what he was doing. To him, his daughter was more important than anything or anyone else in this world. He hugged her and made her sit on his lap as he looked at her with affectionate eyes.

"Uh-huh. I'm being a very nice girl; you can ask Carla."

April said as she stroked Terry's beard with her little fingers while holding a manuscript.

"Is that so? Whatisthis? You read the new script again?"

Terry asked as his gaze finally landed on the other side of this princess, who was holding the manuscript. She is well aware of her daughter's interest and love of books and is very happy about it. He saw that he was holding one of the concepts he was going to take home so that his daughter, who liked books, could read it.

"Yes!! I came to ask papa for the second volume. Please give me."

April asks with puppy eyes that melt Terry's heart.

"There is no second volume. It's one of those unpublished drafts."

Terry told him, and April's eyes shone like she had gained enlightenment. April is a very intelligent child for a child her age and already knows the process of selecting a draft to be published or rejected. Her dog's non-existent ears and tail swayed as she curled up to Terry and asked.

"Papa, please publish this novel. Please the pretty one? I love you so much."

Terry's surprised. Although she knew that April liked to read, she knew she was a very picky reader and mostly threw away these drafts after reading the first chapter if they were not good enough. He would tell his junior editors to pay special attention to such books.

Although most of the work was done by junior editors, this was a draft case he brought home to read in April.

"Do you like this book?"

Terry asked for confirmation once more, and April's expression returned bright.

"I like him a lot. Harry Potter is so cool."

Another surprise. It's the first time Terry has seen April so happy to read a book. After all, she was only this happy when she ate ice cream or when they went to visit her grandmother.

Initially, he would not think too much about the manuscripts he bought for his daughter to read. He usually brought a lot and then sent it back to the junior editor who would take care of everything.

But now, her daughter's reaction to this particular book caught her interest.

Terry has been in the business for almost 20 years now. For the first ten years, he worked at a major book publishing company in America, and then after he learned a lot, he started his own publishing company. Over the years, he slowly climbed the path to success.

Last year, two of her author's novels made the top ten of the New York Times bestseller list. One of the books was even offered the chance to be a film from one of the six major studios, and is currently in pre-production with studio Z.

As he continued to climb higher up the ladder of success, the time he spent reading books or drafts became nonexistent. Therefore, since she had less work to do today, she decided to try out a novel that her daughter really liked.

***

Everyone from the audition staff was still quite surprised after seeing Will's preferential treatment of Natalie. After all, Will was known to be impartial and even as someone who was young, he did not lose his mind around beautiful people.

Not to mention that Natalie is not very pretty. Heck, Will's secretary is enough to outperform every other woman Will has ever met. However, Natalie managed to get preferential treatment from him.

Although there is a lot of room for gossip and rumors to spread, everything will be absurd as long as the fact remains that there are more beautiful and grooved people in auditions than Natalie unless Will has a special preference for women.

Will is happy at the moment. He was able to find another good actor for the role of Blake in [1917]. His name is Elijah Thomas, and he is a young Native American actor looking for a break. She has a great vibe about him and is very adept at acting. Will didn't even think twice as he noted that he was one of the main cast [1917].

Will was able to secure three lead roles for the next two productions and couldn't be happier about that. The fact that most of the reason for her smile was the surprise but gladly welcomed acquisition of Natalie Bergmann.

Will has decided that Natalie will play the female lead in the [500 days of Summer]. Jennifer and Jeffrey don't mind because every actor that Will chooses today has some sort of marketable special trait. Jeffrey is a bit unsure about Natalie, but Jennifer knows that Natalie is a very good actor. He was just nervous and ended up messing around for the first time.

That's why everyone from the staff just talked about his mistake and Will gave him a second chance instead of talking about how well he did it a second time.

***

"Have you thought of a good director for your next film? And what about the distribution deal?"

Jeffrey asked where he was sitting. He's right in front of Will, in his office. Will and Jeffrey are discussing the future of his two upcoming films, and Jeffrey has asked important questions related to that.

"I have a director in mind for [1917] at least."

Will said as he thought about the sleepless nights he spent researching all the important people in the Hollywood of this world. He could finally tell that he had at least managed to catch most of the people. He watched many films from this world and now knows about most of the accomplished directors and their work styles.

"Oh, so? Which director are you talking about?"

Jeffrey asked with curiosity radiating in his eyes.

"I'm talking about Lucas Amspoker. I'd like you to contact him and give him a proposal from me, asking if he's interested in directing the film. And don't worry about the DTA now. I think Jenny will be ready to take over. as chief sooner than I expected."

Will expressed his thoughts. Jennifer takes her job quite seriously, and even though she is a senior agent, she does most of the things that an agency head has to do and keep an eye on her. Since he already had expertise in this area, he was definitely a better choice than Jeffrey, who was from a completely different faction of Hollywood.

"Lucas Amspoker? All right, I'll give him a proposal from you. I've wanted to work with him for a long time. Ahaha."

Jeffrey seemed pleased with the name Will gave him. Lucas is an Oscar-nominated director. He is quite popular and has never directed any film this year.

"Take this too."

Will hands a document to Jeffrey, which he receives with confusion in his eyes. But as he continued to read, his fused brows slowly subsided, and soon his eyes widened in shock and joy.

"I-this...?"

"This is an analysis of how the picture was shot [1917]. This film is not easy to make, so I would recommend reading what I have analyzed so far for its cinematography."

Jeffrey continued to read the document and his eyes became wider as he exclaimed.

"Will, this is genius!"

"Give a copy of this document to Lucas as well. This might interest him."

Will said without reacting much to the compliment.

"Will.... Don't tell me you have cinematographic talent, either.."

Jeffrey acts as if he feels hidden danger and looks at Will anxiously, who only Will laughs at.

"Don't worry. I'm not taking over your job."

"Yes, there are a lot of better and more important things to do. Phew."

Jeffrey continued with his false fear as he heaved a sigh of relief as Will would not take over his job.

After a while, Will and Jeffrey laughed together over his actions. If anyone were to look at them now, they would be completely confused to see this friendship that transcended all social norms of age and level.