Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

‘Umm, all three of them are interesting choices.’

Aiden thought, analysing the three studios that they have finalized in his mind. As he had a share in the movie, Aiden was being very careful as different distribution companies would have different marketing strategies and resources for them. 

If they choose the wrong one, the movie could fail at the box office, even if it was praised a lot by people in the film festival. 

In the past, there were surely cases like that and now that the market was more volatile than ever with people wanting to see more high budget, cgi filled movies that are a spectacle. 

Because of that, even small budget movies are not able to work. Especially because people could watch a good TV show or movie in their home now. 

‘Searchlight media is a studio that at least won’t get us a loss but the film might not reach its potential then. They already have too many movies. Owl studios are good but they hold a very weird record with half their movies being successful and half being total disasters. Last is Eternal life movies. They have a good record but their last five movies are big flops. They are on verge of bankruptcy, so this might be their last chance.’

After thinking everything in his mind, Aiden looked at Omar and Wade to ask a question. 

“Are we going to market the movie for the Oscars?”

Hearing that question, Omar was surprised for a bit but he soon understood where Aiden was coming from. The last three winners of People’s Choice Awards at Toronto had gone on to win Best Picture at the Oscars, with the cast getting nominations. 

“I do want to but I’m pretty sure they are going to reject the movie in the main categories.” 

Omar gave out his verdict and Leo who was silently listening to the whole conversation raised his eyebrows. 

“Why?”

“Because we don’t have a lot of connections. Even if movies that won in Toronto got awards during Oscars, they all belonged to big studios like Zero International and Titan studios.”

Aiden said and everyone in the room nodded. Award shows were more complicated than people think, especially Oscars. 

“So, what do you think we should do? Just give me your honest opinion.”

Omar asked and Aiden didn’t spend a lot of time thinking of a reply. 

“I think we shouldn’t actively go for Oscars. If we win the People’s Choice Award, then the attention would be on us but we very well know that we won’t get big nominations, so it’s better to focus on getting a good box office right now and then, eventually do PR to win awards at other award shows like Golden Globes.”

“So, you are saying to go with…”

“Eternal life movies. They are the best in my eyes.”

Aiden said and as he knew that he needed to explain the reasons behind his decision, he took a breath and explained. 

“Actually, Owl and Eternal life both are fine choices. Both of them are giving us a good deal and have a good PR that could help us bag some awards, but I went with Eternal life just because they have nothing to lose.”

“You are going to take advantage of the fact that they are desperate and we are their last choices. They would probably pour everything to make [30 days of Happiness] a success.”

Wade said, his voice getting brighter by every word. 

“Yeah, that’s my opinion. Though you could discuss more among yourselves. I only know a little about the film business.”

Aiden looked at Omar and said but it seemed like the decision was already made. 

***

After the meeting went on for more than 2 hours, they finally decided on Eternal Sunshine as the distributor for the movie in North America. 

Obviously, Omar needed to do more negotiations with them but that was not something Aiden needed to care about. 

He knew that Omar was a pretty good negotiator. 

At the same time, The Toronto film festival was also coming to an end slowly. It has already been 10 days since the festival started and on the 11th day, the award ceremony was finally going to happen. 

Throughout the film festival, Aiden was pretty tired as everyday, he would do one interview after another with most of the reporters asking the same kind of question. 

It was very exhausting after a few times but he needed to still maintain a smile. 

At the same time, whenever he would get time to watch a movie, reporters would surely follow him around, trying to ask questions. These were the reporters that were unable to get an appointment to do a private interview, so they had no choice but to follow Aiden around. 

This was only happening because at the moment, Aiden was the lead of one of the few movies that could potentially win the People’s Choice Award. 

Due to that, he even joked with Wade that he was experiencing what A listers go through on a daily basis in advance. 

Just like that, the award ceremony finally came. 

“Oh, god. I’m so nervous. I feel like I would make some clumsy mistakes due to how nervous I am. I even nearly tripped on the red carpet.” _{ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​}

Katie muttered, sitting next to Aiden. Around them, a lot of celebrities that have attended the film festival were present. They were chatting among themselves and a few of them had even talked with Aiden and Katie, very appreciative of their movie. 

“You are already done with the red carpet. You can calm down now.”

Aiden said, trying to assure her but she shook her head. 

“No, I can’t. What if we won the award today? I might slip on my way to the stage. That’s how nervous I’m. A movie that I’m one of the leads of is on the verge of winning a prestigious award. I just can’t seem to calm down.”

“Well, if you really fall, then, we will make an interesting picture in the newspapers the next day. Trust me, being a meme is a pretty great way to get famous.”

Aiden chuckled and Katie just glared at him, clicking her tongue. At that moment, the phone in Aiden’s pocket suddenly rang. 

He quickly took it out, afraid of causing a disturbance in the award ceremony and saw that it was a call from Uncle Sam. Looking around him, he guessed that the award ceremony still had a bit of time to start. 

“Katie, I need to take this call.”

“Ah, okay. Just don’t take too long. The ceremony will begin any minute.”

He nodded and strodded off towards the lounge area where he could talk peacefully. On his way, he picked up the call and Uncle Sam’s voice came out. 

“Hey, Aiden. Did you already win the award?”

“No, it hasn’t begun yet and you do know that there’s a lot of chance I won’t win. And are you drunk? You sound a bit weird.”

“Yeah, I got expensive wine as your movie is going to get an award today.”

Aiden shook his head hearing that. His uncle had a habit of celebrating things even before it happened. 

It was one of his old habits. 

“Well, Uncle, like I said, there are other good movies here too. Anyone could win the award.”

When he said that, Uncle Sam went silent for a moment before frowning. 

“Try to believe in yourself a bit more. If it was some other award, I won’t be certain but balloting is something that only takes the audience’s opinion to decide the winner and from what I heard, your movie undoubtedly created a place in the audience’s hearts.”

“I know that, uncle.”

Like that, he talked to his uncle for a while in the corridor. It was just a normal talk but when he got off the call, he suddenly heard footsteps coming towards him from a corner. 

Aiden thought that it would be a staff member but soon, someone surprising came out. 

It was Aaron Hart. 

‘Why is that crazy bastard here? He even has a whole bottle of wine in his hands. Was he drinking it in the lounge area?’

So many questions went up in Aiden’s mind when he saw Aaron Hart approaching him with a bottle of wine in his hands. There was a faint surprise in his eyes as he didn’t expect to see Aiden here. 

His steps were a bit staggering like he would fall any second and his eyes were clearly drunk.

“We are meeting after a long time.” He said, staring at Aiden. 

“Yeah, it’s been almost a year.”

“Is it? Time is passing by too quickly for me these days. Anyway, I watched your movie.” Aiden raised his eyebrows at that. “It was bad. It’s too early for you to take lead roles. Try to spend some years doing small roles first and hone your acting. Hollywood has too many people like you.”

At that blatant insult, Aiden didn’t say anything straight. It was because he was examining the situation. There were no other people in the corridor and there was a wine bottle in the hands of Aaron. 

‘It’s bad news. He’s a mentally crazy If I go by the rumours. He’s even drunk. Even before that, he has a history of hitting people. I don’t want to repeat the stabbing incident again.’

He thought in his mind as Aaron Hart walked close to him. 

“Hey, why are you not saying anything? Are you dumb?”

“I’m not but it seems like you are pretty drunk. You should go find your agent and attend the award ceremony.”

“I will do that later. You know from the first time I saw you, I never liked your face. It carries an arrogance that I don’t like. I feel like changing its shape for a bit.”

At that, Aiden sighed and glared at Aaron.

“Don’t go there, you psychotic bastard!”