The time is 1982. Richard is now seven years old. His appearance is more mature than his peers, resembling a 10-year-old.
Over the past two years, he has been dedicated to daily exercise and consuming nutritious foods. It kept him fit and healthy and contributed to his increased height.
Additionally, Richard honed his acting skills by participating in numerous stage plays following the success of his initial performance in 'The Little Lords', gaining recognition within the Broadway community.
Numerous stage plays emerged specifically to showcase his talent. These ranged from productions where he portrayed a child character in the lead role, to ones where he took on significant supporting roles.
Be truly talented, and the world will revolve around you.
Simultaneously, his reputation as an author continued to soar. During this period, he completed the last three books of the Ocean series, titled "Finding Dory," "My Ocean Stories 2," and "Finding Nally," all of which achieved substantial success, maintaining his status as a prominent children's novelist. Furthermore, Richard authored three additional short story compilations, namely "The Animal's World," "My Little Friends," and "My Feather Friends."
His novels "E.T." and "The Land Before Time" grossed over 200 million books sold combined, solidifying R.R. Jackson's position as one of the most celebrated and popular children's authors in America and worldwide.
Last year, following the success of
Being someone who could foresee the future, he recognized the importance of a man named Ari Emanuel.
So, when he was introduced, he made his preference known to his parents, even though they had thoroughly vetted and questioned him before giving their approval.
After gaining fame, numerous production companies approached him for his work. All of which Ari adeptly handled.
One day, a call from a production company called Amblin Entertainment. The caller was Kathleen Kennedy, who claimed to be Steven Spielberg's assistant. Richard recognized the woman instantly and asked his parents to listen to what she had to say.
She contacted him regarding E.T.
She explained, that the compelling nature of the story caught Steven's attention. Richard knew the big fish took the bait.
After all, it was this movie that surpassed STAR WARS in box office earnings and made Steven a household name.
After some deliberation, Richard and his parents arranged a meeting. Richard, accompanied by his mother and Ari, went to Amblin Entertainment, situated on the backlot of Universal Studios in Universal City, California.
Kathleen Kennedy personally met with them and was surprised to see Richard. Despite knowing from the media that he was a 7-year-old boy, it hadn't really sunk in until that moment. This caused her to reassess him as a natural-born prodigy.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
"Hello, Mrs. Jackson, Mr. Emanuel, and you too, Mr. Jackson. Nice to meet you," she greeted them professionally.
"Just call me Richy, Ms. Kathleen. It's embarrassing if you address me like that; it feels like you're calling my father," he said with a lovely smile.
Kathleen thought he was polite and well-spoken for his age, and she ushered them into a conference room where he saw two men. He identified one of them as Steven Spielberg and surmised that the other must be Frank Marshall, the two who founded Amblin Entertainment. Steven and Frank showed the same expression as Kathleen after seeing Richard.
"It's unbelievable! A boy of your age can write a story like that, isn't it, Frank?" Steven said directly.
Frank nodded, smiling. He knew Steven had a childlike temperament, and that's what made him successful—his childlike imagination.
Richard knew that too, and he had read and heard rumors that Steven was quite jovial outside of his work.
"What can I say, I am a rarely found talent," Richard replied with a mischievous smile.
Everyone was taken aback by his response, especially Kathleen.
"Richard!!!" glared Hanna.
Everybody laughed, including Steven Spielberg, but he became somewhat absent-minded for a moment as he thought of something.
After the pleasantries, they went straight into the heart of the subject.
"Richard, we want to adapt this story into a film, and I'll personally direct it. So, what do you think, and for how much are you willing to hand over the copyrights of this story?" Steven said sincerely.
"Nothing," Richard said calmly.
Steven was about to say something, then he realized what Richard said and was dumbfounded. So were Frank and Kathleen. They had to double-check what they heard.
"Did you say nothing?" asked a baffled Frank while looking at other people who came with Richard.
Hanna and Ari sat there calmly, as they had previously had a talk.
Ric was amused at the sight of their shocked expressions. He smiled and said, "I don't want to sell my story. Instead, look at this."
Before they had time to recover, he handed them some papers. When they read them, they found it was a screenplay script. As they read further, they discovered it was the script of E.T., which left them shocked.
Steven recovered and asked, "It's a nice script, although some changes need to be made. But don't tell me you wrote it?"
Ric nodded, which again left them speechless.
"Damn, what a monster," cursed Frank under his breath, losing a bit of his composure.
Steven, confused, asked, "Then are you selling this script?"
"I will sell it, but I have some conditions."
"What are they?" this time it was Frank who spoke.
This time, Ari took his cue and said, "The conditions are simple: my client gets the role of the boy and enjoys a 10% share in the profit."
Frank was somewhat taken aback by the condition but rejected the second condition.
"200,000 USD for both the script buyout and acting remuneration."
"5% share in profit and 100,000 USD. That's our final offer," Hanna replied this time.
But it was rejected again by Frank. So, they went back and forth a few times and finally settled on a 2% share in profit and 150,000 USD upfront.
Finally, the meeting was over, and Richard talked with them for a few minutes about the necessary things.
Richard remembered that E.T.'s preparations started in December of 1981 in his past life.
And now, the Movie couldn't even start due to not getting the adaptation right.
So this time, preparations began in the second week of February 1982, and on March 23, 1982, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial started shooting.