Decisions

"Hey, James," Sidney said.

"Oh, hello there. Have you been doing well?"

"Yes, I've been fine, but apparently not as well as you. Hey guys, this is James Harper. He was the screenwriter for Alien and was part of the production as well. He even helped me get cast, which I'm still grateful for, and I think he's been working on another movie as a director with Arnold Schwarzenegger."

"Hello, nice to meet you, James. My name's Chevy Chase."

"Peter Yates, nice to meet'cha." They both said as they shook James' hand, making sure not to spill their drinks.

"James. What were we talking about?"

"Ah, well actually I called you over here to distract them from that, but it appears you've failed miserably," Sigourney said.

"Hahaha. It appears we are both trying to recruit Miss Weaver to join us in our production." Yates said.

"Yes. Miss Weaver has been getting quite a lot of attention, not just from us, but everyone now knows about her appeal. I suppose it is thanks to you though James, your movie excellently accentuated the talents of Sigourney."

"Oh, well the best way to resolve this is just for her to join my next work then, right?"

"Oh, please, James not you too."

"Haha, I'm only half joking."

"Wait, what work are you doing though?" Sigourney said.

"Ah, I probably have to tell you in private because it kind of concerns you."

Sigourney quickly pulls James aside.

"How does it concern me? HA! Is it the Alien sequel?" Sigourney whispers, putting her hand above her mouth.

"Yes, but it's nowhere near confirmed, I just wanted to ask if you were interested, now that I've seen you," James said, also putting his hand above his mouth.

"Well, yes, I'm interested!"

"Oh, really, I thought you wouldn't be now that you've had a ton of offers."

"Sigh* Listen, I'm 30 years old now. There aren't too many lead roles that I'm getting any time soon and I need to take advantage of every year I have. Yes, right now, I'm getting roles, but none of them are gonna be close to what I can get out of an Alien sequel. What, I'm maybe gonna play the second or third lead if I'm lucky? Also, it's not as if people are lining up to pay me tons of money. I would much rather work with you guys again. You and Cat."

"Oh, right. Well, I'm not sure if we would be working with Dubois again, it would probably be with another studio."

"Oh, well, that's disappointing. They were so good. Why not?"

"Ah, yeah, they are kind of busy with bigger studios now. They blew me off with Raiders of the Lost Ark-

"OH, with Harrison Ford."

"Right, I think they are gonna be busy with that and they are gonna be busy with much bigger projects after that. I just need to ask them if they plan on continuing with the Alien series or not. If not, they can choose to hold on to it for another few years conceding their right."

"Oh, so it really~ isn't set in stone."

"Yeah, don't get your hopes up. Although, I doubt they would be vindictive enough to do something like that, and they would get no benefit from just holding the filming rights. If anything, they get passive income just from the ability to be the main producer. They can choose which studio gets to film the sequel and they get a percentage of the box office. It seems to benefit both parties if they allow another studio to film part 2 and if they want to film a part 3 afterward they can still do that."

"Wow, sounds really complicated. I don't really get all that Hollywood contracts stuff. I just let my lawyers handle that. Just tell me yes or no, or when we can film."

"Haha, okay, I'll try to handle it as fast as possible then. I'll let you know soon."

"When is soon?"

"I'll tell you what, if I think I won't be able to give you a positive answer promptly, I'll call your agent."

"Well, why don't you just call me instead? Here's my number." Sigourney says as she writes her number on a tiny notebook she had in her purse.

*Riiip*

She rips out a sheet of paper and hands it to him.

"Call me."

James takes a second before saying;

"Yeah, I'll let you know. About the movie."

"Sure."

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There were many more celebrities at the party, but James wasn't too interested in meeting much more of them.

He was already tired from talking to so many people, and he figured he could always go to other parties to meet them.

Right now he wanted to go home, lay in bed, and think about his next move.

He needs to call Dubois studios, to see if they are still busy with Raiders. Then it's completely up to them to allow James to film part 2 with a different studio. If they don't allow him to, then there is nothing he can do but wait until their time limit expires or they finally decide to make it themselves.

He decided to meet with Dubois sometime in the coming weeks if their schedule allowed it.

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April 7th, 1980

It, luckily enough, only took James one week to get a meeting with Catheryn.

The studio hadn't changed much, except for the fact that it was filled with a lot more equipment and set pieces. It looked like they were packaging them for different projects.

James was seated in the Dubois' familiar office, with a large meeting table.

"James." Someone called out.

When James looked in their direction, he saw a beautiful woman opening the door.

"Hello, how are you?" Catheryn said.

"I'm better, now that I've seen you."

"Oh, c'mon, have a seat."

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Catheryn and James shared some pleasantries before their "formal" meeting, catching up very quickly.

But afterward, it turned very serious.

"Let's get down to business," Catheryn said, no longer smiling.