HWI 111

Hollywood What If Chapter 111

"Hello, Kazir! How's your day going?"

"Scarlett, you should keep your voice down. It's disturbing my concentration."

Kazir massaged his forehead when he heard Scarlett Johansson's loud greeting.

"Wow, so this is the editing room... It's too dark in here."

Two weeks had passed since the party at Walt Disney. Filming of Taken had officially wrapped a few days earlier, and Kazir had already begun editing Taken.

He hired Rector, the editor of Napoleon Dynamite to edit the movie together with him. They checked every films, saved footages that they would possibly use and combined them into a movie... It was not that simple actually, the time they had to spend on doing this was not simple.

Rector and Renner Hector are different people, their names were a little close, but that was all.

An editor like Rector didn't have any credits other than Napoleon Dynamite. All the movies he edited never went to theaters. They went quickly to the videotape market after editing. So Rector cherished his accomplishment of editing Napoleon Dynamite. It gave him confidence.

And now that Napoleon Dynamite II has been released. People who hadn't seen the first movie bought the videotape. As the editor, his name was on the opening and closing credits. That was something to be proud of.

When Kazir Grey was looking for an editor for his current project, Rector did not hesitate. He agreed and signed the contract.

He was so excited that he stayed up all night on the first day of work. Because of Rector's enthusiasm, Kazir had no choice but to follow suit and stay up all night as well.

... It had been three days since he had a proper rest. Kazir Grey was therefore sensitive to noise and light. The life of a director in post-production was terrifying. If shooting was exhausting, editing was a sleepless venture.

Scarlett Johansson sensed that the people around her were tired, so she obeyed them and kept her mouth shut...for a little while. She was curious about the editing room, so she decided to enter it... Only to see abominations.

"K- Kazir, I thought you were a person who cared about your health. What is this then?"

She was stunned when she saw the tall tower of cup noodles and pizza boxes. They were like two Leaning Towers of Pisa.

"Scarlett, I don't have time to leave the room. So I can only order these things."

Kazir sighed. They had a schedule to keep. As much as possible, Kazir wanted to finish the post-production for a month. Fortunately, Kazir had the whole movie in his head, so he didn't spend any time experimenting. Although he did have to add a few easter eggs for the next upcoming movies in the Continental Cinematic Universe.

Overall, he did a good job.

"I think you need to eat right! You said I need to eat healthy food, and so do you! Let's go, we can eat somewhere."

"Scarlett, I have things to do. What about you? Have you finished dubbing your scenes?"

"I'm done for today, an underage actress like me has to follow strict working hours. Unlike you, Mr. Grey, who looks like a panda."

"All right, all right. Just leave the room when you're done exploring. Don't touch any buttons."

"What am I? A child?" She pouted.

"That's right."

"Geez! Don't change the subject! You need to eat something healthy."

She was irritated and kicked the floor. Principal Grey was a stubborn guy.

"...I'm hungry for some vegetables."

Kazir recalled a certain dish called Sushi. Unfortunately, he had to continue working.

"Um, Kazir... How about we finish work for today? My wife keeps calling me."

The editor, Rector, smiled bitterly and apologized. Because he was working too hard, he forgot to talk to his wife.

"Is that so? I don't mind. Let's take a break."

They left the studio at 4:21 pm.

"Where are your parents?"

"They are busy. Salvatore dropped me off at the studio. He left after that because he has a job to do. Probably something to do with your movie."

"Maybe."

Four of his clients were working on Taken, and Salvatore hoped the movie would be successful.

Salvatore's clients were: Kazir Grey, Enzo Park, Scarlett Johansson, and Brianna Evans. These people were his main source of income, so he was working hard.

'I think this time he is trying to get in touch with Warner Bros. My influence at Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox are getting better after the release of Napoleon Dynamite II.'

One month after the release of Napoleon Dynamite II, the film had already grossed $153.55 million.

Even though his position on the project was not that high, the money he earned was already over $1.4 million. His job as the screenwriter and executive producer of the movie already brought him this insane amount.

'... Unfortunately, my influence is not enough to convince Chairman Eisner.'

Their first meeting was quite good, but Michael Eisner felt it was too early to fire Harvey Weinstein.

Also, Kazir Grey was too irrelevant to ask for a big favor. Michael Eisner was not sure that Kazir Grey was worth the deal.

Of course, Kazir didn't sell the Meet The Parents script to Walt Disney. Although Walt Disney wanted to buy the script for $3 million, Kazir decided to keep it for now. Once Taken and The Hangover 2 were released, the Big Six would definitely buy his scripts, even if they looked like trash.

Taken will come out this year, while The Hangover 2 will come out next year, maybe around March or April.

"Hey, where are we going to eat?"

Since Scarlett was new to the place, she decided to follow Kazir. She let him choose where to eat.

"We're going to a Japanese restaurant."

"Okay." She nodded, quite curious about Japanese delicacies.

Kazir looked at her.

"By the way, who's going to take you home?"

"My mom. She said she would call me around 5:30. So I thought I'd play in the studio for an hour."

"Kid, you should focus on your studies instead."

He rubbed her hair and the little girl screamed and pushed his hand away.

"Don't mess up my hair."

She growled.

"... Alright." Kazir chuckled and left the child alone.