Dreams of Stardom (Hollywood SI)

I felt ecstatic. Seeing the people around me clapping as if their lives depended on it was amazing. I know most people clap more enthusiastically at premieres because of the cast and crew's presence, but it still felt wonderful knowing that the film we had spent so much time perfecting had resonated with viewers.

I turned towards the movie's writer, Evan Spader, who looked close to tears. I could understand that sentiment. Your first movie is always special. I still remember attending that first screening of [The Sixth Sense]. The audience's reaction was just as moving for me as it seemed for Evan right now.

I gently clasped his shoulder and pulled him in for a brotherly hug. "You made a great movie, Evan," I said before releasing him.

"We made a great movie," he corrected me with a grin. "Don't forget that you are a co-writer on it as well."

I inclined my head in acceptance.

"I just can't wait until the day I get to direct one as well." Evan said wistfully.

"All three of your songs came out very well," I praised him. "I'm sure you'll make a banger of a feature film whenever you do."

The three songs Evan had directed were 'Bad Guy,' 'Closer,' and 'We Found Love.' One notable thing about these videos was that each was among the most beautiful sequences in the entire movie. Every shot seemed well thought out and pre-planned, as if Evan was competing with Stephen Daldry to create something better than him. And as they say, competition breeds excellence.

"I'm proud of you both," Dad put his arms around Evan's and my shoulders. "I don't even care what the critics have to say about it, this is one fabulous piece of cinema."

"Thanks, Dad," I said. Evan echoed his own gratitude before Mum came over and hugged us one by one.

The next hour or so passed in a blur as multiple people came over to congratulate us on the movie.

"Seriously, Troy," Emma Watson gave me a deadpan look. "You had to include that song in the movie?"

Ah. It didn't take a genius to figure out which song she meant. I had gifted 'All of Me' to Emma on her birthday, so it's obvious she would feel a little possessive about it. I shrugged. "Not my fault you didn't want it to remain exclusively between us."

I wanted to say something mean like, 'at least I could make money out of it now.' But I resisted the urge.

She bit her lip in thought before asking, "How many of them are about me? Because I could see some references, like in the first song there's a line, 'Might get shot by Dad,' was it?"

I laughed out loud at that reminder. That was definitely about her. 'Bad Guy' was originally written by Billie Eilish. I had changed the lyrics to make it from my perspective, and Emma's father's warning about his gun collection wasn't something you'd easily forget.

But other than that, I hadn't made major changes, and where there were changes, they weren't about Emma.

"Don't think too much about it," I said emphatically to my ex. "They're not about you or me, they're made to fit the story of the movie. 'All of Me' fit perfectly in it, that's why I added it, not to have some sort of twisted retribution."

Emma didn't look convinced, but thankfully she didn't argue further. Or more accurately, she couldn't because someone else joined us.

"It was a wonderful movie, Troy," Barry Meyer, the CEO of Warner Bros., said after stepping beside me. He offered me a handshake, but I didn't take it, simply raised an eyebrow.

Barry's smile froze on his face when I made no motion to even recognize him. Beside me, Emma was growing nervous by the second. The awkward silence stretched on for a few moments before I finally relented and shook hands with him.

Sensing the discord between us, Emma stepped back and said, "I have to get going, Troy. It was nice to see you, Barry."

Barry gave her a polite nod before she left the two of us alone. From behind Barry, I could see Dad giving me a worried look. He pointed towards me, silently asking if he should join us. I discreetly shook my head before looking back at Barry.

"Really?" he asked. "You're still mad about that?"

"Yes," I enunciated clearly. "I don't like being backstabbed by people I consider friends. And I used to consider you a good friend. You said that my salary was too high compared to my co-stars. I agreed to reduce my pay for that. And then you got greedy and wanted more. That's not how things work with me."

Dad had negotiated hard with Barry Meyer and Alan Horn. Warner wanted 15% of [Echoes of You], and we were adamant on the original 5. Finally, everyone had agreed on a 10% cut for Warner, leaving me with the remaining amount after deducting distribution expenses. From a distributor's point of view, Warner was still earning on the lower end because any other big studio would easily take 15% at the very least. The problem was that I absolutely hated how they'd acted, keeping creative control hostage over our profits.

Unaware of my internal thoughts, Barry smiled. "Would it be okay if I apologized again? How about we discuss our next project together?"

I gave him a skeptical look. "What project?" I wanted to say out loud that there will be no more projects between us, but I didn't want to antagonize him more than I already was.

His smile widened. "We have a distribution deal for your next two albums as well, remember? And you wanted a non-Potter role with us. So how about this? I'll give you free rein to look through our upcoming project list, and you can choose whatever you want. In return, how about we work on another musical as your next album and film after we are done with [Half-Blood Prince]?"

"This one hasn't even been released yet," I pointed out helpfully. "We don't know if this film will be a hit."

Although I may have said that, there was no way this movie would be considered a flop. Trade experts had estimated the film to make upwards of $50M in the opening weekend alone in North American markets, which was double the budget of $25M. That, when added to the fact that my album had received rave reviews from music critics and had already sold all of its half-million initial run albums, was enough proof that the film would also be a hit in the long run.

"That doesn't matter," Barry said confidently. "I liked the film and I want to make another one. I'll give you complete creative freedom to make it about whatever you want."

"I'll think about it," I said evasively, but if Barry had even an iota of grey matter, he'd understand what I really meant. As long as I had someone else to work with providing a similar deal, I would never choose Warner for any of my future movies.

"There's a saying in Hollywood," Barry continued undeterred. "Strike while the iron is hot. Your music is hot right now. We don't know how long that will continue. All it takes is one unfortunate encounter with a hidden paparazzi outside a restaurant that could derail everything."

That was a cryptic message. Or was it a threat? I didn't care if he set a whole fleet of paparazzi behind me. As long as I didn't do anything illegal, what's the worst they could do? With that thought in mind, I took my leave to meet others invited to the party.

As I greeted Roger Ebert, one of the most prominent film critics ever, something dawned on me.

The more I thought about it, the more my fears were confirmed. How did Barry know about the hidden paparazzi? I hadn't revealed that information to anyone. I hardly think anyone beyond my family and Rihanna would know about that. So unless Barry had talked to one of the paparazzi on the scene, he shouldn't know about it. Unless...

Fuck! Rage coursed through my veins as I made the connection. Yet, I kept a serene face on as I greeted other people. This was too much. I wanted to take my revenge right then and there, but I also knew that I couldn't do anything without solid proof.

"Troy!" Emily greeted me enthusiastically by engulfing me in a tight hug. I momentarily forgot about my rage seeing the ecstatic look on her face. "Thank you so much for letting me do this film."

Standing beside her, Robert Pattinson nodded in agreement. "Yes. This was an amazing film, and I'm grateful to be a part of it."

"You both are super-talented actors," I said seriously. "If not me, someone else would have discovered you. It was only a matter of time."

In a few years, both of them would have hit it big thanks to [The Amazing Spider-Man] and the [Twilight] series. Although, I wasn't sure if the timeline would still play out as it did originally. My presence had already changed their lives a lot, their futures could also change because of...

And suddenly an idea sparked in my head. A perfect way to take my revenge on Barry Meyer. Not to mention, it could make me quite a bit of money if it played out just like in the original timeline.

I excused myself from my fellow actors to seek out my trusty assistant who was also in attendance at the premiere and the after-party.

"Tobias," I said urgently. "I have a task for you."

"Oh?" he asked curiously.

"Get me the complete adaptation rights to the Twilight book series. Not just one or two books, but the entire series."

He nodded slowly. "I can do that. Do you want it to be your next film?"

"No," I declined that idea. It may be a hit film series commercially, but no one could deny that it wasn't a good one at all. "I just want to produce it. I don't care how much you have to pay for it. I'll pay even $10M if that means I get the adaptation rights to the entire series of books, even those that haven't been released yet. I'll even agree to pay the author a cut of the revenue later on."

His eyes widened comically for a few seconds. "Are you..." He paused before nodding in agreement. "Okay."

I chuckled. It was funny seeing him change his tone so quickly. It's good that he had stopped second-guessing my business decisions.

"Good," I said. "Try to get it done before the holidays begin."

(Break)

Tobias had stopped being astounded by Troy's strange decisions after the last few years of working with him.

Initially, his business decisions might sound impulsive, but they were never wrong. Take YouTube for example. Troy spent $100M to acquire it, and just last week he had already rejected an offer to sell it for half a billion in cash, to the shock of everyone. If Troy had agreed to that deal, that would officially make him the richest actor in the world. Heck, he might as well be considered the richest actor right now; it's just that unlisted companies like YouTube with no profits to their name aren't assigned values until after their acquisition or listing in a stock exchange, whichever comes first.

So when Troy asked him to go and acquire the adaptation rights to a vampire book called [Twilight], he hadn't expected it to be so difficult. He even flew to Arizona a week before Christmas to get it done, but some things aren't that easy.

"I wish I could help you, Tobias," Stephenie Meyer, the author of Twilight, said apologetically. "But I don't have the rights anymore. Paramount does."

That was a little problem.

"The way they were adapting the script," Stephenie continued, shaking her head in disappointment. "I hated it. They completely changed the story and the characters. And then, this other supernatural film came out, [Cursed], which flopped badly, and now they don't even want to make [Twilight]."

"That's bad," Tobias said sympathetically before inching closer. "They have rights to how many books?"

"Just the first one," Stephenie replied. "That too will expire in 2007 if they don't start filming by then."

This was the perfect opportunity for Tobias to make his move. "So, if I promise you that we will keep the story faithful to your vision, would you be willing to sell us the rights to the rest of the series?"

Stephenie hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are you really Troy Armitage's assistant?"

"Yes," he nodded emphatically, turning his charm to its maximum, more like emulating Troy. "I'll be honest with you, I haven't read your book, but Troy has, and he loved it. That's why he wants to make it into a movie."

"That's perfect then!" Stephenie gushed excitedly. "There's this other producer who has met me multiple times for the rights, and I had even agreed to sell them to him in the future. The only doubt I had was that he didn't have the backing of any big studio.

"Ever since I have seen him in [Goblet of Fire], I can't help but think that Troy would be perfect in the role of Edward. If Troy wants to do it, I'll gladly agree to sell you the rights to the other three planned books even if there's no studio attached to it now. That is, if you can get Paramount to sell the rights of the first book back to you."

"Ah," Tobias muttered nervously. He debated for a few moments, thinking how to proceed. He carefully selected his next words. "Troy only wants to produce it. He'll be too busy shooting [Harry Potter] to commit to anything else."

Stephenie leaned back in thought. "Then I'm sorry. I can't sell you the rights to the next three books."

Before Tobias could ask why, she continued, "The other producer I'm in talks with has agreed to give me full creative control over the movie production. Also, I've been in talks with him for months, so I would prefer working with him."

"I can give you whatever he's offering," Tobias countered. "I'll even give you a better deal than him."

"You can't," she countered. "He has already agreed to give me 10% of revenue. Even if you can offer me more, I would still prefer him because we get along well."

This was bad. This was very bad. Tobias needed to salvage the situation, but he didn't know how because it was clear as day that there was nothing he could say at the moment to change Stephenie's mind. Unless... he could change Troy's mind. Which was an impossible task in itself. Not that Troy was an unreasonable person, but it was very difficult to get him to do a movie that he didn't want to. He had also made it clear that he needed this film at all costs.

"Let me talk to Troy about it," Tobias said placatingly. "Maybe he could find some time for this film between the next two Harry Potter films."

Stephenie inclined her head in acquiescence as Tobias took his leave.

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