Ch-20

"Do you agree to these conditions as laid out by this contract and the remuneration of $250,000?" A judge asked me with an almost incredulous expression on his face.

Asshole. He didn't have to state my compensation for the Sixth Sense out loud. He was probably jealous that I, a 9-year-old, was earning from this movie more than what he probably earned for an entire year.

Steve and Kathy took quite some time negotiating my remuneration with the producers. At first, they were offering me only $100,000, but Steve argued that my role was almost equivalent to that of the protagonist Bruce Willis and should be paid at least a million. They argued and discussed and finally agreed on a compensation of $250,000.

"Yes sir." I answered the petty man, absolutely refusing to call him 'your honor'. Yeah, I can be petty too.

"Very well, your trust deposit amount has been set at 30%, just as last time," He grumbled and signed the contract as the officiator, passing on a copy each to Steve and Barry, who had come representing the production team.

Taking our contracts, we made a hasty retreat from the courthouse.

"It was good we could work it out so fast," Barry smiled at Dad and me.

"A pleasure doing business with you Mr. Mendel," I said in a pretentious voice.

"Oh, our business has just begun kid," Barry answered then turned to Steve, "I'll email you a list of approved voice coaches for his accent correction in a few hours. Get him started as soon as you can so he can get at least a month of training before the table read in December."

Steve nodded, "We'll do that. Anything else?"

Here Barry turned to me, "Speak only in the American accent till the shooting begins. It will be easier for you this way."

That seemed to be a reasonable request so I nodded in assent. People have done much worse and crazier things for a role like losing or gaining tens of pounds of weight, shaving their heads or whole bodies even, and whatnot. Speaking in a different accent for a month seemed tame enough.

"Good. Oh before I forget, here is the script for the movie. I must remind you again not to share it with anyone," Barry took out the script from his messenger bag and handed it to Steve before bidding us farewell.

"Let's head home." Steve indicated the script in his hand, "You get started on this while I begin my work on Harry Potter. I have to prepare for meetings with Disney, Warner, Columbia, and Paramount to pitch the idea for the movie."

"Columbia and Paramount? Didn't you say you wanted to keep it to Disney and Warner?" I asked in curiosity.

Steve pulled out the car from the parking lot as he explained, "Paramount has been with me for a long time. Sherry Lansing, the current CEO, takes care of people. Even when I came back after a long break, she was the first to offer me the chance to continue working there. I can't forget that. As a courtesy, I will give her the chance to make a fair offer. After that, it's all business. Similarly, I know a few people at Columbia, so the more studios that are in contention for the option to produce Harry Potter, the better it will be for us. Whoever gives the best terms will be the studio of my choice."

I nodded in contemplation, "What about the script? Made any progress?"

"I told you it will take at least 6 months for that. I am just pitching the idea with the book sales figures, which have been astronomical so far. Then I have to keep in touch with Ms. Rowling to make sure that any change I make in the Harry Potter universe doesn't affect the future stories. I also have to get in contact with a VFX company to see what is feasible to show on screen and what is not before including it in the script. Then there are set designs and other things to keep in mind while writing the script." Steve finished his explanation.

"Wow. I didn't even know so much went into writing a movie script." I commented, "Are you sure you want to write the script yourself? I mean, I know you are good but you already have a lot of responsibilities as a producer."

"I want to write the first movie at least. That's partially because the production hasn't begun so I have time. If we do make it into a series of movies, which I fully intend to, then I'll have to get someone else to continue from the second movie onwards." He explained his reasoning which did make some sense.

Later movies of Harry Potter were all released within 10 years of the first one. This means that some of them began production before their predecessor was even released. That would hardly give Steve, as the producer, much time to work on the script.

"What about the director?" I asked when another thought came to my mind, "I mean will you direct the film?"

"Oh God no!" Steve chuckled, "Being the producer and scriptwriter is good enough for now. I was thinking maybe Steven Spielberg. You know the director of ET, Jaws, and Jurassic Park."

That's a really good idea. Steven Spielberg would make a fantastic movie that's for sure. But we know he won't come cheap. From what I remember, he charged a good percentage of Gross box office for making Jurassic Park and ended up earning more than anyone else for that film. And that list includes Universal Studios.

"He's a good one. If he disagrees for some reason, you can get the director of [Home Alone]. That movie is great." I said as innocently as I could.

While many people think that Alfonso Cuaron and David Yates were the best directors for Harry Potter, I would have to disagree here. Chris Columbus started such a grand movie franchise with little to no visual background. All others had to continue an already going series, but for Chris everything was done from scratch, and for movies shot in the early 2000s, the first two movies were every kid's favorite. And I couldn't think of a better person to start the series.

"You mean Chris Columbus?" Steve asked in wonder, pondering over my suggestion.

"I don't know his name, but I like his movies. And this movie is for kids, like [Home Alone] so it should work." I suggested, "As for screenwriters, you can get the writer of [Forrest Gump]."

"Eric Roth," Steve murmured.

"Just a suggestion. I don't know what either of them are working on right now or if they would even be interested in Harry Potter," I commented offhandedly.

I don't remember if Eric Roth did much work on any other script after Forrest Gump, but that movie was good.

"I'll think about it. Hey, now that we've signed [The Sixth Sense], why don't we celebrate? I know we celebrated last week for [Sex-ed] but this is your first big-budget film!" Steve changed the topic.

"I am not in the mood for celebrating much," I murmured mostly to myself but in the limited space of the car, Steve heard it loud and clear.

"And why, pray tell, is that? Now that you mention it, whenever I am home, all I see you do is tinker with your guitar and more recently your piano. Don't tell me you've had your first breakup already." Steve joked.

"What is it called when friends go through a breakup?" I asked Steve, "That's what happened."

The instant worry on his face was telling enough that he had guessed the situation somewhat, "What happened son?"

"Nothing much," I said in a sad tone, "I told Evan about us moving to England next year and he hasn't spoken to me since. Don't worry too much, he'll probably come around in a few days."

Steve still looked worried but didn't broach the issue again. He couldn't do anything about it.

(Break)

Days passed by as life went on. My daily schedule became even busier than before because of the newly started daily dialect lessons. I started speaking in the American accent full-time for practice, be it with my parents or classmates. The school became even worse because news leaked in the school about me joining a big film production opposite Bruce Willis.

The thing is, even the media didn't know that I was starring in the film. That left only one possibility. Evan. I know I should be mad at him for betraying my trust like that, but I wasn't. He was angry and feeling betrayed so he retaliated. I don't know whether he was regretting it or not, but I didn't confront him and let it be. If this little revenge assuages some of his anger, I don't mind. The contract was signed after all, so what was the harm?

The only little problem was that the children around me went crazy. They wanted to talk to me about acting or getting them a role in the film or to get Bruce Willis' autograph for them and so on. I did what I had been told by my parents. Keep a good, positive image. So I smiled, made some empty promises, and politely nodded my head.

But as they say, not everything goes as planned all the time.

"Lookie who we have here. Our new celebrity!" A snide voice tore through the locker room.

It was just after PE class and at the moment I was changing my clothes when I was surrounded by a group of three pre-teen boys.

Like every normal classroom, our class had a resident bully. Jeff was the self-appointed leader of this ragtag group that mostly tried to harass people but was rarely successful. The reason was simple, the teachers actually gave a damn, and any sort of serious bullying was punished severely.

So Jeff and company became creative. They would always pull back before things could go too far. So I didn't worry too much standing there in front of the three buffoons, just a little self-conscious about my state of undress.

"You need something, Professor Snape?" I asked jovially to the group of taller boys. That was another issue. I was on the shorter side in my class and for my age. This was strange knowing that my bio-dad was taller than 6 feet and my bio-mum was tall enough herself for a woman. Jeff, who was the tallest boy in our class, physically towered over me.

One of the lackeys, let's call him Dumb, giggled at my remark. 

"I can see that someone has read the book," I smiled at Dumb, "You are good, dude. Anyone who reads Harry Potter cannot be bad."

Meanwhile, Jeff and Dumber looked confused before Jeff tried to regain some semblance of control, "We are not here to joke. You," He jabbed a finger towards my chest dramatically, "have become arrogant. Tell everyone which film you are working on or with which actor. And Jessica was telling us just yesterday how you will be going to Oscars this year!"

"Who?" I asked in confusion. I had no idea which Jessica he was referring to because there were two girls named Jessica in our class.

Jeff smugly turned to his lackeys, "See, he doesn't even know kids in our own class. That's how arrogant he is!"

"That's not what I meant," I tried to defend myself, but he cut me off.

"And what's with the fake accent?" He demanded hotly. "Are you trying to be a proper American like us? You'll remain a dirty colonizing Brit."

"Dirty colonizing Brit?" I was amused by his words more than anything. "Do you even know what colonizing is?"

In my head, he was just a little kid, probably spewing whatever he heard at home or wherever, so I didn't take him that seriously. I should have, because he didn't like my dismissive attitude.

"I'll tell you the meaning of colonizing. Grab him."

Before I realized what was happening, the lackeys took hold of one of my arms and dragged me down. I kicked and shouted but to no avail, they were much stronger than me. Next, I knew, Jeff kicked me hard in the chest.

"Jeff, don't do this. You'll get expelled from school," I let out between moans of pain.

Clearly, my words had no effect on any of the three. I just braced myself for the next few minutes.

______________________________

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