The tall, old man, who looked to be in his late 40s, walked towards Ian.

“Congratulations, Ian,” He extended his hand for Ian to shake.

Ian took the hand and tilted his head to the left with a smile and thanked him.

“Shane Vanderhoof, chairman of Lycan Studio” The man introduced himself.

He looked like someone who could scare kids by saying 'it's time to pay for your bad deeds' with an evil laugh. That was what his whole appearance and vibes projected. His narrow eyes, pale face, thin lips, sharp nose and wrinkly skin added nothing but more fear to anyone who faced him.

“Nice to see you here tonight,” Ian said with a meaningful smile.

Ian knew who he was. Shane Vanderhoof, the chairman of Lycan Studio. The studio itself was a top studio that had been at the peak of Hollywood for more than twenty consecutive years. Their success was unreachable for any other studio in Hollywood currently.

From the name itself, it was easily recognizable for Ian to know that in front of him was one of the most influential people in Hollywood. He was more or less influential, if not the most.

Shane signalled for Ian to walk inside the party while he started talking about Ian’s victory.

“Two Oscars is definitely a huge success, considering we did not even know that you existed around three years ago. Congrats,” Shane said with a smile.

“Yes, I got that a lot from people ever since I got nominated,” Ian just let his thoughts out.

“With everything that you have achieved young man, I’m tempted to grab an opportunity to work with Renner Studio,”

They both talked while walking and took seats in the nearest bar.

“That is a total possibility, oh and congratulations on the movie June. The director did a good job with it,” Ian said as soon as they sat.

“Call me Shane. And yes, June totally went out and became a fan favourite in no time, such a good movie, I am actually looking forward to meeting you at the box office after a few months,” Shane said, signalling something that Ian was confused about because of how he did not know what he was saying about.

“Box office?” Ian asked, taking a sip from the drink the waitress offered a few seconds ago.

“Yes, your new movie and mine. Don’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about,” He said while raising his eyebrow.

That was when Ian remembered what Shane was talking about.

The release date for Batman Begins was already announced. With that, studios like Lycan and many others had also dates closer to the release date of Batman Begins. Lycan Studios made the third adventurous action movie, named “The Aliens’ coming out on the exact day when Batman releases. The Aliens was a part of a big franchise; a movie that was expected to earn millions right after its release. That was how confident the studio was with the idea of the movie. It in fact was one of the big IPs which Lycan Studio has.

“Ah, yes. The movie release. I’m quite excited for the movie clash date actually, I mean, what is there to not be excited about? Lycan Studio is big, and Renners just started,” Ian said, trying to get under his skin.

Ian knew people let all their anger out when they get irritated; especially when some young director indirectly challenges someone who had been working in the industry for quite a long time.

It was Ian’s plan, not to make enemies, but to know what people who reach out to him aim for.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Haha… As exciting as it sounds, let me give you a small piece of advice, Ian. Change the movie release date. You will earn much more profits if you did, and we both know why I’m saying that,” Shane said with a smile that in fact did not reach his eyes.

With the words coming out from Shane, Ian felt the threats behind every one of them.

Ian shook his head yet continued to maintain the smile not wanting to make the environment tenser than it already was. Shane kept looking at Ian with no emotions on his face.

“I will think about it, but I really have no plan on doing that,” Ian simply said.

The old man who said nothing patted Ian’s shoulder and walked away. Ian shifted his focus to the people who were talking, discussing, making deals, and simply enjoying the party.

The words that Shane said did make a little sense in Ian’s mind but he did not heed it since it was basically a threat that all the powerful people make when they see something challenging. Yet, Ian was confident in his work.

He was aware that The Alien was a part of a big franchise but Batman Begins would be a trilogy that no one had ever seen before.

Ian was aware that it would create massive changes once it got released.

Shaking his head at his thoughts, he stopped thinking about it. He was at the party not to do any sort of business.

“Ian Renner, congratulations,” Another man who was comparatively shorter than Ian came to talk with Ian with a huge smile.

After a while, people just kept reaching Ian congratulating him on the win and talking about business here and there. Some wanted to offer different kinds of deals for any future project of Ian, and some simply wanted to get to know Ian.

He kept talking with everyone who reached him, and more than an hour went by with Ian talking with almost every director and actor present at the occasion.

“So, are there any plans for you to do a horror movie? Our studio is well-known for the genre. We even released three movies last year itself,”

“That’s nice to know. And no, for now, I have no horror movie ideas in mind. Although with time, I’m sure I might come with one, oh and excuse me,” Ian said seeing Alexa walking towards him with a sly smile.

“Sure, nice to meet you, Ian,” the CEO of another studio said and walked away.

The night was getting heavy with all the heavy liquids running in their veins. Many people didn’t stay for too long but went to spend the night with the dates they brought with them.

Alexa came walking in with another actress. She was holding her hand, and a smirk appeared on Alexa’s face seeing how the director walked away right when she was about to get closer to Ian.

“Hello there, director,” Alexa said the word director in a slow whisper.

She looked stunning. Since she was a redhead, the dress she was wearing brought every beautiful feature of hers together and highlighted how beautiful she was for the night.

Beside her, there was a blonde. She was taller than Alexa. Her long neck and tanned face screamed nothing but perfection. She was wearing a long tight golden colour dress, which made her exceptional among everyone else that was in front of Ian.

“Alexa, who is this? Some manners please?” Ian questioned and asked jokingly.

“I thought you already knew, she is Hazel. Hazel eyes for Hazel, noticed?” Alexa said with a chuckle under her breath.

“Nice to meet you, Ian. Congratulations on the win,” Hazel said while taking her hand out of Alexa's to offer Ian. Hazel was visibly attracted to him. He noticed it as soon as her eyes roamed his body from top to bottom.

“Thank you, you look beautiful. So are you, Alexa,” He said and they sat at the left and right of Ian.

Hazel Graham was an A-grade actress who had hit the peak in the industry from her very first movie. It was three years ago that she acted in Merciless, which won an Oscar two years ago.

Hazel was personally a fan of Ian. Since she was busy with many other projects, her agency had asked her to finish all the movies she signed up with before taking on another project.

When Hazel got to know how good La La Land did, she asked her manager if they could arrange a role in any movies from Ian. But in return, they had said to wait a bit more before getting another role.

After the Oscars, Alexa met Hazel and was talking about how she wanted to congratulate Ian. When Hazel got to know that, she had asked if they could go together, so Hazel could meet the young director herself.

“You guys seem close,” Hazel said, seeing how comfortable they were around each other.

“Old friends,” Ian said with a smile.

“Yeah, old friends, congratulations though. It was a huge win, Ian. This is like the first-ever time the academy let a newbie director win Oscars for some reason, maybe they truly see your potential,” Alexa said.

A waiter came toward them offering Alexa and Hazel drinks.

“How about we take this conversation somewhere else?” Ian questioned with a smirk. Both the girls nodded with no hesitation.