Chapter 182 | War!

Mason Striver, the producer who had been working on the Renner Studios for so long, was sitting in his good ol' chair, one place which gave him peace, at home.

He had a hot cup of cappuccino in his hand, and in front of him, the slow beam of the fireplace gave him thoughts that intrigued his inner peace of mind and left him thinking more and more about what bothered him.

It was about Ian. The son of his very best friend, whom he thinks now is his own. At times like this for how much he cared, his inner thoughts slap him for doubting him in the first place. But talking or thinking about the future would do nothing. Plus, he had a lot more serious problems in his hand to think about considering it might even affect the future of Ian Renner.

Which was, Jeff Sanson. The name of the man itself made Mason's gut feel heavier than it usually does.

As he took a sip from his cup, his thoughts went back to reasons over reasons and incidents over incidents.

The main reason there had been going a cold war brewing beneath the murky waters of Hollywood between Ian and Jeff was because of how powerful Jeff really was, and his companies clutches in every corner of the industry.

In Ian's terms (previous world's) he technically is the CEO of Disney, and one of the board members, which naturally gave him a lot of power to control the inside-out of a #1 company in the world. Goofy in this world owns a staggering 43% of Hollywood, 10% of the US Major Media houses and have quite a lobbying power in the US government.

Goofy had its fingers in every aspect of the film industry. No newcomer in the industry, be they an actor, a screenwriter, or a mere sound engineer, could avoid dealing with the media giant. Their paths were bound to cross one way or the other, even if it was for the most menial of things.

Even copywriting of scripts, and the various unions were quietly controlled by the company, fueled and spurned by their constant support to the members of the government. Their lobbying activities motivated politicians to turn a blind eye to the growing monopoly of Goofy over the industry.

The company's more continuous and aggressive acquisition of most new studios in the industry, whichever proved to be profitable, allowed them to dominate the market.

Their quiet ownership of Major National news channels like RedBo TV, Fox, MSNBC etc, allowed them to manipulate the public in their favor, distracting them from the more unsavory practices and methods they resort to, in order to acquire that control.

Mason, who was aware of each one and every powerful reason that backed up Jeff came to think of what could possibly happen in the future.

"I'm worried for the kid," Mason finally mouthed his thoughts out, and his wife frowned at his words.

"Ian? Honey, why? Is he in trouble?" she asked back curiously interested in what the old man had to say.

He straightened up in his seat and got closer to explain where his mind is at.

"I think I know what Ian is up to," he said and paused which made his wife nod and allowed him to continue what he was about to say.

"Well, Ian bought off a few small media houses and he has gained a significant share in a few major ones like ABC news and Sky news. And, with all that, he's making acquisitions of businesses. He has even made a break into politics using Christopher Grey, and through him, into a lot of the members of the state senate."

The average reaction for something like that big was shown through his wife's face and Mason again sat back and sighed loudly.

"He is encroaching on Goofy's territory. But, I don't think he realizes the scope of their control over the industry."

"That's… huge," she said while her expressions explained a whole lot more.

"Yeah, it is."

"Why are you worried?" she asked back.

Mason sighed again. "I'm afraid that Ian is gearing for a commercial war for Hollywood. And, uh…" he hesitated before completing. "I think Ian is stepping up in a game that he doesn't know the depth of. He might lose."

"Why? I mean, what do you mean?" She had a nervous feeling that spread across her heart. "Would you get involved?" she asked.

Mason stayed silent for a while, without answering nor denying.

In the end, after a couple of minutes, he gave in. "Ian doesn't have anyone else looking out for him. So, I have to help."

-

[Blueberry Restaurant - Gregory Way]

The surroundings looked elegant with the white theme that spread across the entire restaurant. The silent yet little whispers that were shared among the people, made Niko who sat across the restaurant comfortable under the gaze of Keith, his date for the night.

"...And you don't support the MMA's? Wow, the first person who live in Beverly Hills and doesn't support MMA's."

"Now, you're exaggerating it," Niko said and shook his head.

The smile they both shared explained a lot about how the date has been going so far.

"Eh, I doubt it. Imagine sitting with almost the right hand of Ian Renner and sharing the same diner table. I have no idea how you think my statement is an exaggeration."

Keith was a blonde, with bright green eyes which almost shook Niko when he first saw him. For a first date among the duo, it wasn't going that bad.

"The two sentences have no connection, Keith. So, let's talk about you now, shall we?" Niko said and put his spoon down as he smiled at the man who raised his eyebrow in challenge.

"Sure, what about me?" Keith asked.

"You're a social media influencer, how is it going for you?"

"Eh, free products, fame, nice people, mean people, making a living to put food in me, and it's something I truly enjoy. What about you?"

"Same. The position I've in the Renner Studio is something I've dreamt of. I'm glad we both are in places we truly enjoy,"

"Even right now,"

The two of them clinked the glasses together.

"And, I may have a question for you," Keith said with a smile creeping up his face.

"That is….?"

"This Friday, Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Lions. At Studio Decor. Five thirty, what do you say?"

Keith's eyes were literally shining as Niko reciprocated it.

"Is this how you normally ask on second dates? I mean, it kinda is working.."

-

[On Set]

Raelynn had a smile spread across her beautiful face and the beautiful reason for it was how happy she was for how good she had done so far with the filming.

"I can't believe how the shot came. I had expected it to go on for an hour more at least just like how the first three shots were. Oh Gosh!" Raelynn said as she opened the phone and quickly the phone unlocked it for her face recognition.

Niko was seated behind her, on the table and Raelynn was practically in between his legs. Now on her phone.

"Wait… Hold on, pretty please, is that Ian and You on the screensaver?" Niko asked loud enough for Raelynn to hear and before anyone could else hear, he coughed even more loudly.

"What… the… fuck?!" He tapped on his chest actingly as several pairs of eyes were on them.

Raelynn didn't answer but rolled her eyes, and gestured her hands so that everyone went back to what they were doing before.

"We've to start shooting, time is up!" she shouted and everyone went back to their positions quickly as possible.

The scene that they were trying to take was with Keanu Reeves as the principal and him being on a call and making himself look like a complete idiot, while on the other end of the call is Ferris Bueller with his friend.

Somehow, the scene was harder than it looked to take, especially considering how there was chaos to create.

"Mr. Reeves, in this shot, the dialogues of the opposite person who is supposed to be in the call with you would be read aloud, and, show the arrogance at first. You know, I got this in my hand, I know who you are. We'll take one and see how it goes, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. So, let's start in two, can you adjust the board over there?" Rae started to set the background perfectly for the cameras as Keanu went on and started to read the lines to himself—over and over, which is not a very fun activity for your information.

….

"...And action!"

The clapperboard 'clapped' and the shooting started shortly afterwards.

"Ed Rooney?" Keanu who acted as Rooney asked in a professional voice as his eyes were away from the camera.

"Huh! This is George Peterson!"

"How are you today, sir?" Rooney asked.

"Well, we've had a bit of a bad luck this morning as you've heard already."

Keanu raised both his eyebrows, rolled his eyes, and his lips formed into a thin line before continuing. "Yeah, I heard. And…" He sighed and rolled his eyes—again. "I'm all broken up, boy! What a blow?!"

"Yeah, it's been a tough morning, and uh, we've got a lot of family business to take care of…"

While the dialogues were ongoing as said, his eyes shifted from left to right as if he were listening closely to what was being said from the other end. Also, his face was a bit far from the ground which signaled that he wasn't exactly brought up by the lie.

"Yeah, sure… I'd be happy to. Yeah, you- you- uh… You just produce a corpse and I'll release Sloane. I wanna see this dead grandmother first hand-"

"CUT!" Keanu dropped the action and looked at Raelynn. "With the final dialogue, I want to see a little smirk on your face, like… 'Let me catch your lie' and the first few talking on the tele phone must look a bit more natural. Your eyes look as if they are being shifted forcedly. Can we take it again?" Raelynn said while Keanu listened to her closely.

He ticked off everything she said and took every word to his mind. He'd do a better job next time, he thought.

"Okay, sure."

-

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