88. Trying To Save A Doomed Industry. (I) (R-18)
Disclaimer: The story takes place in an Alternate Earth with a slightly different timeline of events. So people may be born early, some may be born a few years later or maybe not at all.
This gives me more freedom to write characters as I want, also the characters in my story are obviously not an accurate portrayal of their characters.
Please remember that this story is a wish fulfillment story set in Urban Hollywood with some Fantasy elements because of the system's shenanigans so please don't take it too seriously.
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Author's Note: Thank you all, I really appreciate all the suggestions and ideas that I have gotten in the previous chapter. I won't be able to list all of them here, but here are a few honorable mentions.
• The 1st Idea – The idea for Mark to buy sports teams in the future and turn them into stars through marketing. The people have an emotional attachment to their favorite sports team so will allow Mark to earn a larger fanbase who will support Eidolon.
• The 2nd Idea – The idea of Mark supporting and helping the good people in Hollywood who were either exploited or straight out SA'd. Also to help the comedians from being bullied by big corpo like Dave Chappelle, etc.
I am thinking of making Mark start a comedy channel of his own where all these comedians will be given a platform and not exploited.
• The 3rd Idea – The idea to create OC superheroes/villains inspired by the myths and folklore of countries like China, India, Japan, etc. Or even creating new OC supers belonging to that country to facilitate the entry of Marvel content into these countries.
A great example of this would be the Indian Spider-Man, the Box Office of Across the spider-verse in India was quite high.
• The 4th Idea – The idea of a True Martial Artist being reborn in Marvel's China or some other Asian country. Living a normal life taking on modern sensibilities and morals but later on remembering his past life where he was not exactly a bad person but did very questionable things due to the different morals of the Murim (Chinese cultivation) world.
He will re-learn the Martial Arts from his past life and will be quite strong (not Thor/Capt. Marvel/hulk level) but might eventually get there or not depends on you guys voting. Also I have yet to decide whether he turns into a hero, Anti-hero or villain, again this also depends on you guys voting.
• The 5th Idea – The idea of creating an OC mutant – She will awaken her powers while giving birth to her daughter. Her powers being flight, super strength, durability and psychic empathic sense with a range of 10 km. She will be very strong to the average thug but she doesn't want to be a superhero as she wants to be a good mother for her daughter. But due to being empathic she can't ignore people in distress.
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Recap of the Previous Chapter –
The previous chapter started off with a POV of Anne after she got up the next morning from her "special" night with Mark. She has her breakfast and shops for a dress to wear to the event. After a light lunch she heads to the event where she sees Mark open the event with performing Experience.
It is her first time seeing him perform live and she is blown away by his skill, charm and onstage presence. After that there is an auction whose proceeds went to the charity. When the auction was over the final act of the event began, it was Mark singing and dancing – Tous Les memes. The song he chose to woo Paris with.
It was an instant hit and he got a standing ovation, after heading back to the hotel he worked on Horizon while Salma and Anne talked. Later when talking to them he reveals some of his plans to them for the future, how he planned on expanding in the future until he was sure his foundation was solid enough.
After Paris he performed in Berlin and Switzerland, where he met up with andrzej the author of witcher who was under his employ. He discussed Polish folklore and myths, and helped him come up with the basic premise of the story sooner. It was done with the intent to speed up Andrzej's progress.
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– Quotes of the Chapter –
If you want a thing done well,
Do it yourself.
– Napoleon Bonaparte.
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~ Mark's POV ~
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Date: Monday, 1st October, 1990.
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Time: 07:25 am
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Over Six days.
More than a hundred and forty four hours..
That's the amount of time it took for him to take care of his business in Japan and this was after he had already sent people to set up the meetings and take care of the paperwork in advance.
Thankfully the marketing tactic they cooked up for the tour worked because despite a significant decline in the domestic box office of Knives Out in North America. The cumulative box-office of the movie was doing well enough to not hinder his future plans.
The songs he performed had become quite the hit with the people and he made new fans, increasing his fame and visibility, which in turn helped attract more people to see his movie in theaters.
His respectful manners, charming persona and ability to communicate fluently with the fans and reporters in their local language had really helped in earning him a lot of respect and new fans.
He had spent millions of dollars on this marketing tactic to build the brand of Eidolon and grow his own personal brand as Marc Spector and; now he could finally sit back and take a breath.
After having that talk with Anne and Salma about taking it easy, he understood that he needed to start delegating tasks, especially so he wouldn't be sweating himself with taking care of the small stuff.
He had already done so with making Eva in-charge of managing the day to day activities at Eidolon and the way Nina had handled the IP buyout task really impressed him. Making her one of the forerunners for the Executive position.
But Eva was a temporary fix, having to fire his secretaries had put a lot of pressure on Rose. Thankfully Eva had told him about a new hire who was really proving herself to be a good fit for them. Mark had been really going all in on expansion because of two reasons.
He wanted to accomplish as much as possible before he attracted too much attention to himself and also so that he could legally avoid paying taxes. Right now the thing he needed the most was capital, so giving away millions of dollars to the IRS felt redundant.
He had already spent around $61 million on acquiring different IPs and buying GWG. Around $70 million to buyout Marvel Comics, $100 million on acquiring a 61% stake in Hanna-Barbera.
Mark also planned on offering Steve Jobs around $100 million for Pixar along with a special clause that Mark knew he could never say no to. As for the money he spent in Japan.. it was even lower than what he had expected.
Even though he was on a flight back to the USA, he couldn't help but recall the events that happened on his visit to Japan and all he did and would be doing in the future to try and save a doomed industry from its unfortunate end.
It didn't show any signs of decay now but he knew the problems had already taken root. Problems that would eventually snowball into creating a 28 billion dollar sweatshop, at least it would if he hadn't decided to do anything to stop it.
Even now he wasn't sure whether what he did would make a change but he knew as his money and influence grew, so would the chances of him being able to save this doomed industry.
After all, having money is the best superpower one can have in the modern world.
As Batman had so succinctly and fittingly put it, when asked about his superpower.
"I am rich."
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First Day of Japan Visit.
Date: Tuesday, 25th September, 1990.
Time: 6:02 pm.
He had just got off the flight with his entourage of Salma, Johnny and their teams; and were making their way to the VIP lounge to wait for the Japanese rep arranged by Universal, when he heard his name be called out with a faint asian accent.
"Mr. Specter."
Turning around he saw a beautiful, Japanese lady dressed in professional office wear.
"Ah, are you our translator and guide?" He asked just to make sure after seeing her hold a sign with his name.
"Yes, sir. I am Yuriko Adachi." She had a well practiced smile on her face, it seemed genuine nonetheless.
"Welcome to Japan, Mr. Spector. I hope you have a pleasant stay here with us and if there is anything I can do for you please don't be hesitant to ask me. I am at your service." She bowed her head and respectfully greeted him.
"Please call me, Mark. Your English is really good with almost no accent." Mark said in fluent Japanese as he nodded and gave her one of his standard eye smiles.
"Waa! haii. M-Mark-sama." She replied in Japanese unconsciously, surprised to see him speak so perfectly. He had the pronunciation pat down and spoke just like a native speaker.
"Rose, how's our schedule looking?" He asked, turning his head back towards her.
"Well, sir you guys need to be at a small round table interview with Japanese directors and journalists in about 50 mins for around an hour or two."
"Directors?" Johnny's interest was piqued.
"Yeah, basically the idea is to show the interaction between you guys to the public and the directors want to see how different filming is in Hollywood compared to here." Rose explained as she moved forward and shook hands with Yuriko and introduced herself.
"Hello, Ms. Adachi. I am Rose, Mr. Spector's personal secretary."
"Hi, Ms. Rose. I will be in your care." she replied acknowledging them being both under Mark's employ.
"Sir, please follow me. I will lead you to your hotel, it's where the meeting is set up as well."
"Sure, let's not waste time."
While they were on the way to the hotel, Rose met up with some people from Eidolon who handed her a few files and reports while explaining how their work was done.
She gave them a satisfied nod and praised them for their efficiency, telling them to look forward to the reward. Mark had told her that if she found their work satisfactory, she was free to assign them bonuses.
It was his way of delegating her some work and showing his trust by involving her in these things. After tying up things on this end, she immediately left to hand over the files to Mark so he could look them over and think up a game plan.
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Mark was drying himself off after a cold shower when he heard a knock on the door. Thinking that Rose might have already returned with the reports, he swiftly put on a robe and made his way to the door.
But a surprise was waiting for him out the door, a pleasant one nonetheless.
"Sal?" Mark was surprised to find her outside his room, he thought she was too exhausted to want "it."
"Hi, honey." She went straight in and closed the door behind her.
The moment the door was closed, she turned around and went in for a kiss.
Mark didn't know how long they kissed for, he was glad that "fire" that usually burns out in a romantic relationship still burned hot with his lovers and with the help of HK it will always keep burning unless he messed up.
It's a thought that brought such relief to him that can't be bought even with the money in this world and he got to buy in with 160 HP.
'and it was absolutely worth it.' he thought to himself as he hugged her close, his hands snaked lower till they reached her butt. It felt so soft and squishy yet it was still well toned, they moved backwards slowly while still kissing as both knew where this was leading.
♦[R-18 CONTENT STARTS]♦
He couldn't wait for his base of power to be established so he could be more laid back and start a family.
Just imagining Salma putting their baby to sleep while he sucks the nutritious milk out of his latina wife and fucks another one into her couldn't help but make him even harder.
"A quick one?" He asked with a roguish grin.
"You and I both know you're never quick with it." she teased back, opening the knot holding the robe together.
"When the desert is so delicious, I like to take my time eating it. Savoring it."
"Well, we have a meeting in 25 mins so let me blow you. It will take the edge off for me." her hands inside his robes and roamed all over his body, tracing the contours of his muscles.
"Are you okay with me not being able to return the favor?" he asked bluntly, not wanting to bear around the bush.
"Of course, I enjoy you eating me out. But taking care of you and pleasuring you brings me more happiness." She stepped back and took off her earrings, leaving them on the nightstand not wanting to scratch up Mark's legs by mistake.
"You just sit back and look handsome, Mark. I'm going to take care of you." She moved her mouth down his neck, lapping gently at the slightly red bruises that were starting to form, his skin while soft and supple felt very hard to damage or break no matter how hard she bit.
Not thinking too much about it she continued her descent, pressing her soft lips against his solid chest, sucking gently on his nipples, and kissing down his abdomen as he moaned his praises and soft whimpers at her pleasant ministrations.
She gently shoved him and he sat down at the edge of the bed as she kneeled on the ground as she continued kissing down Mark's well-trained body until her lips met the cloth of his boxers.
She leaned back, the sight of his covered shaft alone made her cunt clench in want. Salma reached up, pulled down the boxers, dropping them to the floor. She nearly let out a wanton moan at the sight of Mark's throbbing cock.
Seeing those huge balls of which made her the most delicious treat in the world and the way his foreskin stretched so tightly around his red cockhead made her heart skip a beat.
She found Mark, in all aspects, but especially his cock, to be gorgeous.
"I missed this so much," She said despite it being less than 2 days since she had it in one of her holes, as she breathed over his cock, making it twitch.
She grasped it in her hand, feeling it so small in comparison to Mark's tool, the warmth of it seeping into her palm, its heady musk making her swoon as she kissed the tip.
"Fuck!" He hissed and she could tell that he made a conscious effort not to buck up and against her hand.
Salma ran her thumb across a thick vein on Mark's shaft, sliding her palm along it until she circled her hand around his head.
His cock was already weeping with precum and she pulled his foreskin back, pumping her hand up and down his fat cock and lubricating the shaft with his own precum.
After a few more strokes she let go of his cock and gently cupped his balls, enjoying the weight of his balls in her small palm as Mark let out a breathy gasp at her actions. She leaned in and kissed them as she sniffed them like it was a drug.
Salma sighed softly as she said, "The only time I ever regret us being so busy is when I'm taking care of you."
"I'd love to take my time, play with your balls while I pump your cock, take it in my mouth, let you fuck it, until drain your mouth-watering cum down my throat. But I guess a quick blowjob will have to do for now."
With that, she slipped her mouth over the head of his cock, leisurely lapping at his red cockhead, the taste of his salty-sweet precum making her eyes roll to the back of her head.
She adored his strong taste and she knew she was addicted already and needed her fill for the day.
She took her time, savoring him in her mouth, letting her spit accumulate and run down his length as she took him deeper and deeper, gagging loudly and purposefully.
She knew he loved the sounds she made as she struggled swallowing his thick cock, he loved to see her gag on it, the contraction of her throat giving him immense pleasure.
"Sal.. argh, baby, y-your mouth feels so good." He groaned, as he kept his hands to sides trying to keep himself from reaching out and grabbing her head.
He wanted her to do it at her own pace, he moaned again as he felt himself reach the back of her throat. Looking at the wall clock, he saw that he still had about 20 mins before the meet n greet.
Salma hummed on his cock and kept her pace, slobbering over him, worshiping it with her soft tongue, her plush lips and wet throat. Spit and precum dripped down her jaw and fell on her breasts yet she paid no mind to the slick mixture on her jaw as she devoted her attention to throating her man's cock.
There was no better place for her to be, she glanced at Mark seeing his face scrunched in pleasure, moaning how good her throat felt, bringing her satisfaction that not even being famous did.
As she spent more time with her man, she realized how her love and respect for him grew stronger with time. She knew that every man has his flaws, for him it was his lust, she knew if it was someone else in Mark's place if his power and money.
He could have almost anyone he wanted to warm his bed for a night, but Mark wanted to form meaningful relationships. She knew she meant alot to him, the way he consoled her for not being able to be with her while pursuing Anne brought a smile to her face.
The face that Mark was even willing to accept Anne's daughter as his own, even further strengthened her belief that despite his shortcomings. Mark was a good man, even if he would never admit or accept it.
Her thoughts broke off as she came back to the real world as the pressure of his cock in her throat overwhelmed her, the musky scent of it, and the tangy taste had her panties soaked through and ruined by her own slick, she thought she might cum right then and there without having to even touch herself.
Salma stopped massaging his balls and moved her hand back onto the base of his cock, pumping up and meeting her plush lips on their descent as she wanted to taste his cum on her tongue rather than have him shoot it down her throat.
After a few more minutes, she could feel his thighs tremble a little as he started bucking his hips forward in time with the bobs of her head.
"S-sal, your mouth, its so fucking good, baby—baby I'm going to come, I'm going to come, here comes your treat!"
"Make sure not to spill any."
"Ofk-ckos" she tried to say without removing his cock from the mouth.
She felt his cock throb in her grip as sped up again, wet gags erupting from her mouth as she took him in and out of her throat over and over until he finally erupted with a growl.
Thick sludge-like cum poured out of his cockhead and filled her mouth rapidly forcing her to swallow down the tart and fruity spunk. The taste was potent and she had heard most women found the taste of a man's seed repulsive.
Maybe it was because of the many sessions with his cock in her mouth and throat that made it an acquired taste or maybe her Mark was just built differently but she loved the taste of his cum and whenever she drank it, it always had her cunt aching to be filled to the brim as well.
When he finally stopped grunting and coming, Mark's left hand rested on her head as she took the time to meticulously clean his cock up, lovingly running her tongue underneath his foreskin and along his shaft, swallowing down any remnants of cum she found.
When she finished, she gave his red cockhead a wet kiss before looking up and seeing him staring down at her with an adoring look.
"That was perfect, Sal. I love you so, so much."
She purred at his words, her chest beating rapidly and her cunt squeezing against emptiness, begging to be filled and pounded by his cock.
"I love you too," she rose from the ground, wrapping her hands around his neck, "But, I'm not done with your cock yet." she snaked down one hand to grab her most favorite thing in the world.
"I'm going to ride you, I'm going to make you come so much it runs down my cunt and stains this bed."
Mark gripped her hips, pressing forward and forcing her mouth open with a fierce kiss not caring if her mouth tasted of his cum, a kiss that conveyed his love and gratitude, it left her knees weak and her toes curling in her sandals.
♦[R-18 CONTENT ENDS]♦
"Whatever you want, mi amor." he then took off the rest of her clothing and the two hopped in for a quick shower before they got dressed and headed down to the meeting hall.
It was a simple roundtable discussion, with everyone seated around a huge roundtable. The Japanese seemed happy with the arrangement as they felt the Americans wanted to talk on a more equal ground.
It was in one of the memos Mark had sent out when Universal was making preparations for the international tour. After all, this wasn't a business deal but rather a cultural exchange and opportunity to make contacts and share ideas.
Mark was big on reading and consuming "content" in his past life, making sure to watch at least 1 movie or TV show a week, while also reading books to keep his mind engaged.
It was how he got into so many different styles of content from films and TV shows that were the mainstream to anime and manga in his 20s. He was in his 30s when he discovered Webnovels and light novels, he never really understood the difference but loved reading both nonetheless.
His favorites before passing away were Overgeared, The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor and The Legendary Mechanic but his two most favorite were –
Alexander Creed: Re-Life and The Versatile Superstar.
These two were about people who got to have a second chance and tried their best to make it big in Hollywood. Just like he was trying to make his dreams come true now, sometimes he felt like he was living inside a novel as well. But maybe that just just his ego talking.
It was because of the latter of these two novels that he had tried so hard to awaken his system, only to be met with disappointment until he officially entered Hollywood and decided to walk this path once again.
He knew the creative talent of the Japanese was nothing to scoff at and with the ongoing recession and upcoming Asian financial crisis, with some elbow grease and effort he could position himself as the benevolent employer and partner who could help them out.
And in turn they will become a pillar in the entertainment empire he dreamt of building in the future. It wasn't like he could only borrow Martial Arts experts from China, Japan had a long history of Martial Arts as well.
And if he could become a safe haven for all creatives in Hollywood where they can find work without having to face discrimination. He knew the power that kind of reputation can bring.
So let's begin the talks the host said, after being done with introducing the various guests it would not be required. There was a nameplate in front of the gathered directors and journalists. After all, it wasn't feasible for anyone to remember so many new names.
"Hello, I am Kitano Takeshi. I have read a few books of yours Mr. Spector, I really like Naruto, the way you took the concept of Ninja's and the occult to create such a fascinating story really amazes me." he expressed his admiration first, happy that Mark appreciated the Japanese culture.
"But what really surprised me is your age. Did you really start writing when you were 10?" he finally asked the question that bugged him the most.
"No, it actually started when I was 9 years old." the answer made the panel of directors and journalists raise their eyebrows in surprise.
"Mr. Spector why start with a movie like Knives Out. We have heard that it costed you over 25 million dollars to make, isn't it too big of a risk to make it as your very first feature film." A journalist asked trying to get some info out of Mark.
"Well, its actually the opposite. Knives Out was one of the options with the least risk, I am an artist at heart. But as the owner of my own studio, I also have a responsibility to make the most financially sound decision."
"First, Knives Out is a suspense thriller comedy movie. Statisacally, currently suspense thrillers are top three in most watched genre of movies in North America."
"Second, my personal fame and reputation. I know it might sound egotistical but it's the truth. Over the years I have created a brand out of my pen name as Marc Spector."
"Its why made debut with this stage name instead of my real one and adapted one of my own books into a movie. This led to my fanbase of readers to turn into actual movie watching audiences."
"Another reason why I chose Knives Out as my first movie was because it was locationally restrained; most of the film is shot in the estate of Harlan Thrombey. In that one beautiful house."
"So the logistics of filming got streamlined and simplified, it became easier for us to handle.
"The only way I could have failed was if I made an objectively bad movie. But I had faith in myself and my team that the movie would be of great quality and from the reviews and strong audience support, I think you can tell if my movie was good or not."
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After that many more questions were asked it was mostly the directors wanting to know about Mark's filming process, they wished to know why he gave such importance to rehearsal but also gave free reign to his actors to improvise some lines.
They wished to know how he improvised and thought of ways to improve a scene. His thought behind the soundtrack, his style of editing, how he learnt all this so quickly.
To Mark it was a good time to expound his method and philosophy towards filming.
He emphasized how he only wanted to show scenes that will "add to the story," how everything in the story was just a prop - the theme, messaging, character arcs and motives, etc.
All of this was important to create a good story and not one could be missing.
Later on Mark expressed his desire to collaborate with the Japanese directors present on the site and expressed an effort to hire people from Japan into his company in various disciplines.
He expressed great respect from the mangakas and anime creators, all people from Nihon present could feel Mark's sincere admiration from his praise and felt proud.
After all Mark was a world class writer and for him to praise the writers and animators of their soil was a big thing to them.
When Mark expressed his desire to establish a studio in Japan and hire their people. The directors and industry insiders expressed their support telling them that they will definitely promote his studio and asked if he had handled the paperwork and company site.
Mark told them that he had already sent people over and taken care of the paperwork. He promised to provide proper incentives to anybody hired in his studio as well and was flatteringly called a generous person by them.
He also told them that he would really appreciate it if they could introduce him to a few stunt directors or Martial Artists who have that kind of experience.
Takeshi Kitano, an aspiring director, chimed in promising to introduce a few of his friends who worked in that field. After hearing this rest soon followed, Mark could tell they were trying to gain his favor.
He was pleased by this as it was working in his favor, because he might be powerful in America but that influence and power didn't directly translate to power in Japan.
Whereas these directors while not amounting to much internationally held a lot of power and sway in Japan. This meeting was to show a positive image and make them want to curry favors from him.
While he makes them help him establish a base for himself in Japan without suffering from much backlash from domestic competition.
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After breaking off the meeting he met up with Mr. Miyazaki Hayao and asked if he could meet him tomorrow in a more private setting to talk.
Hayao, who had just established his own studio 5 years back, didn't know why Mark would want to talk with him. But young gave him and his colleagues proper respect and wasn't overbearing in the slightest.
In his eyes he could see the burning ambition to make something great of himself. An ambition that found in himself later in life but he still followed through, took the risks and founded his own studio with his partners.
"We can talk in the morning, around 10 am. I am a little busy with a new project so my evenings are busy. Does morning time work for you?" He asked testing to see how Mark would react.
"It's totally fine, Mr. Miyazaki. Where are we meeting?"
"How about at my studio?" He found Mark's Japanese to be very smooth and natural.
"You mean Ghibli?!" Mark asked, a bit excited.
"Yes. I see you excited." He said with a pleased smile.
"Why wouldn't I be, I wasn't joking when I said I am a fan of yours, sir." hayao almost blushed in embarrassment over Mark's honest admission.
"Thank you. I will try even harder in the future to create a movie that will amaze you, Mark." He made a promise to Mark and himself.
Mark just smiled and nodded and told me that he would be there for a meeting, sharp at 10 am. After which he left to meet up with Salma and keep his promise to blow her mind, thankfully because of his peak human body he knew wouldn't blow out his back trying to achieve this.
— To be continued…
In the next episode of Blue L–
*Cough* *Cough*
I meant in the next chapter of Hollywood: Head-Hunting System.
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