After the launch of [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets], Will’s popularity just kept on increasing. The sales of the book were already crossing milestones that no one other children's books have touched, and even the sales of the first book, [Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone], which had stagnated over time, had started showing signs of growing.
Will, who had just woken up and came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, was fixing his hair backward while standing in front of the mirror, as his phone rang.
[ Incoming call-
Terry Warden]
It was a call from Terry, from the Warden publishing house. Will, who was still just in his towel that was tied around his waist with nothing else covering his body, picked up the call with his slightly wet hands.
"Hey, Terry! How's it going?"
Will asked, although he already had a good idea as to how Terry was.
As expected, a cheerful Terry replied from the other end.
– How else can I be? I am doing great, thanks to you. How are you?
“I am fine too. Just came out from the bath and was about to go and prepare myself for work.”
Will replied as he held his phone between his shoulder and ears. He started arranging the bedsheets and the pillows as he talked. Since June was mostly absent these days due to her own movies and ads in various parts of America, Will was comfortably enjoying the solo life in his house in Beverly Hills.
‘I should really buy a house here now.’
Will thought as he remembered how he was still living on rent in such a high-class area. If people found out that Will was living on rent after making billion-dollar movies, then the stigma of a miser would be hard to wash away.
– Oh? Is this an inappropriate time to talk with you? I will call you later if you are not free right now.
Terry proposed after he heard that Will was getting ready for work.
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Say, what did you call for?”
Will waved it off as he got to the point.
– About that. First of all, congratulations on the success of your second book. Although I feel that you aren’t really shocked about all this ordeal, so you must have already guessed it.
Will laughed as he heard that.
“Haha, I should congratulate you instead. You did a great job with the publishing and marketing. I am a fan already.”
– Okay, that's enough. Don’t let me climb so high that falling down won’t even leave any chances of survival. Well, I have called you to ask if you were planning to do any other books in the meantime. Harry Potter is all well and good but other books from this series won’t come out before another six months. You can try to diversify your fanbase, and I am sure you would be able to come up with a new and fantastic idea.
Terry offered. Will wasn’t just a golden chicken in showbiz, but also in his writing. So the chances of his books failing were much lower than any other books.
“Ah, well about that. Give me some time and I will think about it. I still have many projects in my hands, so I will give it a thought when I am not as busy. Thank you for asking though.”
– It’s fine, it’s fine. I just wanted to ask whether you are open to the idea of writing another novel later on. Since you’re going to think about it anyways, I will stop annoying you now. Tace care, young one.
“See ya.”
Will gave a short reply and hung up the call.
***
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The acquisition and the shifting of Marvel Studios was in full swing. All the employees had already shifted to the new office that was just beside Dream Vision. Apart from that, there were many new people joining from the endless amounts of interviews taken online and offline.
Dream Vision was also employing many software developers for the comic book app that Will had suggested. Will had also appointed the old CEO’s secretary as the new CEO.
Formerly, Will had offered the CEO’s job to Stan Lee and the latter immediately disagreed by saying he was very happy being the creator head and doesn’t want to become a CEO that couldn’t even prosper the company. He added that he was more suited for his current job and as long as Will doesn’t interfere with the creative team's work unless absolutely necessary, everyone will be happy.
Will already knew from his past life that Stan wasn’t a man that ran after money, he was someone who dreamt of one day seeing his characters come to life. His passion was his work and his reward was his work getting recognized.
Will didn’t force the CEO's job on him either. He added another title to Stan’s job, making him the Creator and Editor in chief of all Marvel comics. Will had also added a clause where Stan would get 1% of the company’s profits on an annual basis, and he won’t be liable for any losses. When Stan Lee learned about it, his eyes went red as he had a hard time controlling his overflowing feelings.
After that, Will had learned from the people working there that Ross was a good candidate, so he appointed him as CEO for a trial period of three months, and if he managed to work everything off, then he would be given the CEO’s position officially.
With the newly found freedom, Stan Lee was already making his characters’ comeback as the old characters slowly started returning. He couldn't be any happier about getting to see marvel animation and the upcoming [Spiderman] movie.
On the other hand, [Liberty City] was wreaking havoc at the box office. In its four weeks of screening, it had managed to earn a total of $303 million domestically and $187 million at the international box office. Making it stand at a grand total of $490 million. A whole month of screening was still left, so it was easy to speculate that the movie will enter the giant’s zone of half a billion soon.
The employees of Dream Vision couldn’t be any happier about it. But the happiest were the people from famous Media and Tabloids, as they had gotten content after content ever since the monster named Will had stepped his foot in Hollywood.
Jeffrey had already done a detailed background check and was now slowly buying the shares of Jixar Animation Studios as the shareholders from the company were starting to liquidate their shares.
[Friends] cast was personally going to be handled by Will as he wanted the main cast to be perfect. To find the exact actors to play the roles, Will had started a talent scout from DTA and was personally checking the profiles of every struggling actor in LA.
The original actors from [Friends] had contributed to almost half of the comedy themselves. The whole ordeal of Matthew Perry’s role being gay was derived from Jennifer Aniston’s misunderstanding of actually thinking that Matthew was gay.
Apart from this, there were tons of jokes that were actually very impromptu and just happened with the flow of the story.
Heck, the actor who played Ross had directed quite a few episodes himself.
For all these reasons, Will wanted the cast to be as original as it possibly could get.
If Will ended up finding even one or two of the original cast, the other roles could then be auditioned for.
***
Jixar Animation Studios, Headoffice.
Currently, Will and Amanda were sitting inside the office of the chairman and CEO of the company, Jerry Leopard. Dream Vision had already bought the majority of Jixar’s share and the other half was with this man. He still hadn’t sold his shares yet and neither did Will want him to sell them, as he was necessary for the studio, and a lot of equipment was designed by him.
From what Will had dug about Jerry, Will already could guess that Jerry was quite a talent in his field.
“You see, the company is doing quite well currently and I would like to invest more in my current movie that I have planned instead of yours. You can give it a go and check it yourself.”
Jerry said, a bit of arrogance seeping out of his words. Will just smiled at it. Although he was talented, Jerry was still young, and couldn’t control his pride after his successful entrance into the market. It was normal, but not something Will would like to handle.
After watching the short clip that was the start of the movie and hearing the storyline from Jerry, Will shook his head.
“The story is average and the screenplay is even worse. The only thing good about it is the animation, but you would need a good story to back up the good animation. I have better plans, both for myself and you. Don’t forget, I have bought 52% of the company and am now technically the chairman. You just have 30% shares in your hand while the other 18% will be bought by me sooner or later.”
Will said, being as blunt as possible. He continued.
“Since Jixar is going to be a part of Dream Vision, I wouldn’t want it to fail. I am going to invest more in the studio and hire better screenplay writers. As for animation movies, we will eventually do them too as I have a lot of plans for those. But currently, the priority is the Spiderman Animated Series for Marvel. I have already talked to Toon Network, and they have agreed to air it on their television as long as they like the initial presentation. Which they most probably would.”
Toon Network was a famous kids' TV channel that aired all sorts of cartoons and anime.
“Start the Spiderman series and invest yourself into it. I’ll hire the necessary amount of writers or any other kind of staff that you need.”