110. New Order, Sharing Secrets, This Is The Way and Re-negotiations.

Disclaimer: The story takes place on an Alternate Earth with a slightly different timeline of events. Therefore, people may be born earlier, later, or not at all. This gives me more freedom to write about the characters as I want.

Additionally, the characters in my story are not accurate portrayals of their real-life counterparts. Please remember that this story is a wish fulfillment tale set in Urban Hollywood with some fantasy elements due to the system's shenanigans, so please don't take it too seriously.

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Opening Author's Note: I am glad that I was able to upload this chapter on time while actually I am a few hours early but I guess that is better right? Anyways I will just do my mandatory patr. Eon plug and be on my way thank you for reading.

If you guys want to read ahead of the public release or if you guys like my work and would like to support me then please do subscribe to my pat reon it really helps me out, as it reduces the amount of work I need to take on and can focus more on my writing.

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To join you can just Google my name — theramenlord and then pat reon (no spaces) the first or second link will bring you to my page. Oh yeah I forgot to mention but this quite the happy moment (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠) for me as my patr. Eon page is finally visible on Google search.

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Or you can get link to my pat reon from the author's note section at the bottom of the chapter. Anyways I hope you have a beautiful day}

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Recap of the Previous Chapter –

Mark reminisces about his plan to crush DC and how he used Overwatch to stop the merger of Time and Warner. In doing so, he ensured that Warner would slowly head into decline. The other businesses that now knew about Time and Warner's broken deal also weren't trusting of Warner.

After that, Mark headed in for the event and introduced 3 new comic series - One Punch Man, God of War, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. These three, along with the three from the previous year, would form the Big Six of Eidolon for this year, and he also thanked the audiences for supporting his movie by re-watching it so many times.

He also told them about the new Marvel Multiverse, how it will be divided, and that he will personally be in charge of writing the stories for Marvel Ultimate. This allowed him to earn a lot of favorability points from the comic book fans present there. After that, he had a short Q&A and then ended the event with a public viewing of the charity event that he held in honor of Knives Out.

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~ Quote of the Chapter ~

"This Is The Way."

"Wherever I Go, He Goes."

"I Can Bring You In Warm, Or I Can Bring You In Cold."

"What Means More To Me Is Honor. And Loyalty. And Character."

"I Like Those Odds."

"He Means More To Me Than You Will Ever Know."

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~ Few weeks back ~

[Nvidia].. [Crown Consortium]..

After finishing college, he found work as a director at LSI Logic and after that a microprocessor designer at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Huang himself recently had thoughts that AMD's way of thinking was behind and felt his voice went unheard.

It was stifling but he was still new so he sucked it up and worked there and he thought that he would be working there until they laid him off or he decided to leave out of sheer boredom.

But sometimes life has a way of playing with us, it did the same with him when he received an open offer letter from [Nvidia] a new technology company headquartered in Mount View, California, and incorporated in Delaware.

It is a software and fabless company which designs and supplies graphics processing units (GPUs) that would shape the future of computers and video games.

Mission Statement: NVIDIA's mission is to develop high-performance computers that scientists, researchers, artists, and creators from around the world use to create the future and improve lives.

It was started by [Crown Consortium], it was an ambitious project to make the chip that he had only begun to dream of. After getting hired there he had met many like minded people, most of the staff was young but highly talented.

Almost 60% of them were poached from some of the best tech companies in America, with just its hiring style he inferred that Nvidia must have made quite a few enemies in the industry. Not that he would have to worry about it, as he was only here to do his absolute best and let his creativity flow.

Unfortunately though the goals regarding the Gen 1 chip were already stated clearly and couldn't be changed. When they asked why as they felt it was too basic and not ambitious enough, all they were told was that the goal was set by the founder.

And only he himself could change it. But the most astounding thing they heard was that the founder who came up with the idea for a separate chip that would handle the graphical computation wasn't actually an industry insider.

No, it came from Marc Spector. It was a name he was quite familiar with already. Almost everyone in America was, and how couldnt they be when the man's debut movie had already taken the industry by storm, with his very first movie earning a whopping 850 million dollars at the box office.

The number cruncher at their office said that he would easily make at least 350 million dollars in profit from the box office alone. As for how much he would make from merchandising and sales of VHS tapes that was a bit harder to calculate but even that should be in the millions.

The man was firmly entrenched in the entertainment industry so the question that had been bugging him was why? Why would such a person be interested in graphics cards or even in the tech industry?

And now that he finally met him he understood the proverb was only too true - necessity was truly the mother of all inventions. The meeting started off great until that particular question.

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking? Why are you trying to create this chip?" He asked, feigning politeness due to his station of power as the owner of the company.

But he was a little taken aback by Marc's stance on being treated as an equal rather than a superior.

"You guys don't have to call me, sir. Just Mark is fine. Also don't hesitate to ask me any questions. If it's something that can't be shared I will let you. As for why.." He sat up straight in his seat as he began explaining.

"It's because I felt there was a dire need for something like in the market and because almost nobody was making an earnest attempt at it." Mark said in an upset tone.

"Jensen you've worked at AMD before, currently they are the only one's except for us who are in this field. What are your thoughts on them? Do you think they will try something like what we are over here?" He asked, turning towards him.

"Umm, they probably won't pivot for a few years at least unless we succeed and they try to copy our success." He was happy to be asked for his thoughts on the subject matter. He thought for a second and then gave his honest opinion.

"When I was there I had tried to pitch something similar but I was just the new guy and nobody would really listen."

"Thank you for sharing, Jensen. Now back to the why." Mark thanked him and then continued his explanation.

"As I have said before, even our only competitors are a few years behind us."

"Now, let's look at it from a consumer's point of view."

"I own a film studio and video game studio as well. So, we need better computers, so that our VFX and editing of our films are better. We would also be able to make games of better quality. As the one we are currently working with just doesn't cut it anymore."

"So, I looked for something better, but instead found that there is nothing in the market that can solve this problem."

"The next step was to do a survey. We asked many business owners to see if they also faced the same problem, and would want a solution to this problem."

"And it was the same, people are willing to pay top dollar for a graphic chip like the one I asked you guys to focus on. So by creating Nvidia, I won't just be able to solve my problem sooner. But also earn money."

"So I thought, fuck it. Let's do it ourselves."

"And here we are." He finished his speech with a shrug.

"But before, we move on though. Jensen, your story of not being heard, reminded me of the new organizational structure that I wanted Nvidia to use."

"Idea's, Innovation and Creative thinking. These are the things we must cultivate and nurture here at this company if we truly want to shape the future; and it can't be done in an isolated environment."

"So instead of a horizontal organizational structure, I propose we adopt a flat organizational structure."

"From now on there won't be any exclusive meetings with directors or VPs, but rather any employee is allowed to join and pitch in their ideas to current problems being faced by the team."

"This will lead to a free flow of information in the company like never seen before. Everyone will be in the know about what's being worked on, how and by whom at all times."

"They will realize that their voices are being heard and understand that their opinions matter. Obviously for these contributions everyone will get their due credit, and be compensated fairly."

His words caused an explosion amongst the people, it was something that was very rarely used in companies but maybe it was just the thing that they needed.

"Any other questions." Mark asked, turning to look around the room.

"Yes, Marc, if I may?" An Asian woman raised her hand to ask a question.

"Go ahead." Mark replied with a nod.

"Why aren't you allowing us to go with the gen 1 that we designed and are adamant at following your previous requirement." She asked the question that had been on everyone's minds.

"Ms. Lin, am I right?" Mark asked to see if you remember her name correctly.

"Yes." She replied with a nod as she sat down.

"Well, Lin. It's because sadly, currently there is no demand for the kind of chip you are trying to create." He replied in a regretful tone.

"And I don't mean to demean your ideas or your hard work you guys put into this thing but what you have created is essentially a Swiss army knife."

"Something that can do almost everything but unfortunately what the customers need right now is just a good chef's knife."

"I am not saying that your idea is bad, instead the thing is.. it's too good. It's actually ahead of its time. If we try to implement it now I am almost certain that we will suffer failure due to a lack of want from the industry and the market."

"Maybe when the software has caught up and there is a higher demand for these kinds of chips we can again start working on them but for now I request you to see my vision and work on a much simpler chip."

"A chip which can do just one or two things very well and that thing right now is a dedicated 3D graphical computation chip and that's exactly what I want you all to focus on for the moment."

"Mark, can you please explain how this new organizational structure would function?" He asked, unable to hold in his curiosity.

"Of course, it's very simple actually, first of all there will be an internal transparency of the work that's being performed by everyone in this company." It was this organizational flexibility and transparency that turned Nvidia into one of the best cheap designing companies in the world.

"So even the lowest level employees can see what Jensen here is doing and he can in turn see what everyone else is doing."

"As for the workflow structure and how it will be divided amongst you all. It will be divided on the basis of your specialization and interests."

"Like right now we are designing the NV 1 chip. It will be divided into smaller sections and you can decide on what section you want to work on. For now it is a first come first serve basis, but later on the better performer will get their first pick."

"Also I will be naming some group leaders who will be managing their groups. These would still be very loosely tied together with an emphasis on maintaining the flow of information."

"This is so that we can easily pivot when the industry needs change like how you guys suggested for our chips to work on rendering polygons and quadratics rather than the traditional triangle."

"If we were also very into the software game it might have worked but we are not so we can't just ignore them and do whatever we want or else our chips will be incompatible."

"So stick to triangles for now. If any new developments happen you'll be notified as soon as we hear of it."

"Your deadline for the NV1 chip is this year, every week that you achieve it fast will increase your bonus."

"Marc, why is Nvidia a fabless chip design company? We could fabricate them ourselves well." Jensen couldn't help but ask.

"Because I believe in specialization. You guys will be designing the best graphic chips in the world and TSMC is in-charge of fabricating them."

"Crown Ventures owns a certain percentage of stake in TSMC and is one of its earliest investors."

"So, TSMC will also give the topmost priority whenever we outsource production to them."

After that eye-opening experience with Marc Spector, that led to an entire upheaval in their organizational structure. Their computers had also been updated with new software that would allow every member to observe what the other person was doing.

Newer, stricter rules against taking work home were implemented as well. As well as a heavy penalty for revealing company-proprietary information. Before leaving, Mark told them that their shelved idea for the NV1 chip could be used for next-generation graphic chips.

He also told them that he was looking forward to seeing Nvidia graphics cards advance the PC's performance capabilities and make it the best console for gaming and more.

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George couldn't help but feel grateful towards Marc; he had been watching the young man shoot his new film on set. And it was truly an eye-opening experience. The lengths to which he would go to get the best shot were unbelievable.

He was setting up more Writer's room with the IWA to improve the script for the first movie of his new trilogy and they had recently finished the script and he'd decided to name it [Phantom Menace].

As he looked at the perfected script on his hands, he couldn't help but want to call Marc, and thank him for his help, and he decided to do just that.

Ring ×4

"Hello, George?" Mark said as he picked up the call on his personal cell phone.

"Yes, it's me, Mark." George replied, grinning.

"How have you been? Is the script complete?" Mark asked, as he could feel that George was in a good mood.

"I'm doing much better; thanks for asking, especially now that the script is done and dusted," came his reply in a jovial tone.

"Well, I am glad to hear that," Mark replied, happy that plans were slowly coming together.

"Thanks, Mark, for lending me your writers; they're really something else. I really couldn't have done it without them."

"I will let them know about your high praise." Mark chuckled as he said further, "Howie and Lee especially would be jumping in joy."

"Also, I'm sorry, I had to leave the shoot early. But I must say you definitely set a new standard with your stunt choreography."

"Well, I can't take all the credit for that; I had some really talented friends helping me." Mark replied as he remembered how much help the Japanese stunt directors proved to be when he was choreographing Bruce's fight scenes.

"I really can't wait to see it on the big screen. People are going to lose their minds when they see you ride that bike off of the roof of that building."

"Uff, about that.. Hmm, how do I say this? They won't actually.." Mark replied, acting hesitant.

"What you mean, they won't! That's like the high point of Bruce's character in the movie."

"Yeah, well, it will be part of the director's cut and not be available for public viewing."

"And why is that?" He was confused by Mark's reply.

"Well the excuse that will be told to the public is that the stunt was scrapped because it was a bit too over the top for a serious crime drama film and didn't fit the feel of the story as a whole."

"And the truth?" He asked again, curious to know the reason behind Mark's decision.

Mark fell silent for a moment; he had been waiting for this, after all. So he was gonna perfectly milk the moment. He had been subtly guiding their conversation towards this question from the very beginning. 

After years of studying human psychology from books and testing it on others to see what worked and what didn't. He had found a few tried and tested methods that helped foster trust and friendship amongst two people.

One of them was sharing secrets. The bigger and more important the secret seemed to be, the keeper. The closer they would feel to the one who shared the secret due to the display of trust.

Mark wanted to foster a good friendship with Lucas because it would help him when would try to acquire Lucasfilms from him later down the line.

"George, can you keep this between us?" Mark asked hesitantly, as he was about to share something big.

"Of course." George replied, as he considered Mark a good friend now.

"You remember what I said about Arthur Fleck being inspired by a popular character." Mark said, seeing if he could connect the dots.

"Yeah, you said that he is inspir–."

"It isn't just inspired; rather, it's my version of the character." Mark said, 

"Commissioner Gordon, Brooke Gordon and Bruce, whose last name nobody still knows.. that's for the public release."

"The director's cut is more blunt about it, with even the names of the characters being the same as the source material." He finished explaining the truth of the situation.

"Wait, why even bother then? Doesn't this mean that it will never see the light of day?" George asked, wanting to know why Mark would waste his resources like that.

"Nope. Just until the day I can get the detective from the brother's." Mark replied a little cryptically because he knew even phone calls could be taped.

"They will never hand him over." George said back, as it was the obvious thing.

"Then I guess I'll have to buy the brothers themselves." Mark gave his rebuttal.

"Do you even have that much saved up?" George asked, feeling interested in Mark's ambition.

"I'm close, but as time goes on, their value keeps dropping; at a certain point, I'll easily be able to buy them." Mark replied, revealing part of his grand plan.

"Well, better make you move because I heard Eisner wants to enter the comic book industry." George said wanting to inform Mark about the rumor he heard.

"Ah, don't worry about it. Soon he'll have much bigger problems to focus on than a small, dying comic book publishing company." Mark replied with a chuckle.

"Oh.. by the way, George, can I ask for a favor?" Mark suddenly changed the subject, as he didn't want to reveal to George what he had planned for Eisner and Disney.

"Of course," He replied enthusiastically, as he felt indebted to Mark for his help with the script.

"Well, you see I was thinking about writing a novel based on Star Wars." Mark said, hoping that George would be open to the idea.

"Hmm, tell me a bit more about it." He asked, as he knew Mark would come up with a great story.

"Well, it will be on an original character of mine. I will be focusing on expanding the lore of the tribe he belongs to that has already been introduced through different media."

"In terms of time period it will be set around 9 to 10 years after the battle of yavin."

"Hmm, you gave this a lot of thought.. Do you have a name for your book?" He asked, wanting to hear more about it.

"Yeah, it will be called [The Mandalorian]. I want to explore the lore of the Mandalorian, though I have a different vision from them being just super commandos."

"If you do give me permission, I promise to give you the first look so you can tell me if any changes need to be made. We can discuss it between us, and the book won't be published unless you're okay with it."

"So, it's more like a collaboration?"

"Yeah."

"I can certainly do that, but what if we disagree on something?"

"George, if you don't like my work, just claim that it is not part of the Star Wars canon. I won't mind at all." Mark replied calmly, as he knew that George would like it.

"Nah, I have faith in your storytelling ability. Just let me know if you're going to be using any of the existing characters from Star Wars."

"Of course, I will give you a heads up."

"It was great talking to you, George. But I gotta go now, as I need to get back to writing more stories for my Marvel Ultimate, so I can create a nice stockpile for a rainy day."

"I will write a rough draft for volume 1 for the Mandalorian soon and send it over for review."

"I'll be waiting. Bye, Mark." George replied, feeling content with the development.

"Bye, George." He said this as he cut the call.

"Marc, thanks for coming in. I hope you liked our small gift at the nominations." Ron said as he met up with Mark at the bottom lobby, it seemed like he was waiting there to give Mark a warm welcome.

Though it was mostly to ensure that none of his idiotic nepo executives did anything to mess it up again this time in one of their stupid dick measuring contests.

"I did, and though it was unwarranted, I still do appreciate the support, Ron." Mark replied in a calm yet slightly happy tone.

"Hey, you're like a friend to me now. I just want to have a good working relationship, you know." Ron said as they entered the elevator. "We could all win together in this. This pie is big enough that we can share and still have our fill."

"A pie analogy, seriously, Ron? You should check your health." Mark replied with a sassy joke as he stared at his fat belly.

It was mostly a psychological test to see if Ron was just faking being more respectful to him, or if you really wanted to foster a positive working relationship.

He led them towards a meeting room and stopped outside its door. "Come, Mark. The rest of the board of directors at Universal is just behind this door, ready for a renegotiation. I just hope you'll give us a fair chance."

"Wow, I can't believe this; you're speaking so nicely to me, like we are equals." Mark replied as he tried again to get a rise out of him. 

"Last time, I came here. I still remember the kind of welcome I had."

But he could see that Ron was not falling for his tricks, unlike the stupid executive from the previous time. He was very calm and steadfast, not taking even the slightest offense at his words.

"Ah, that guy has already been fired, Marc. So, please let bygones be bygones, and let's start this relationship anew." Ron replied, trying to show their sincerity.

"I don't have any problem with you, Ron. You've always treated me with courtesy, if not respect, but I don't mind that. After all, my father always told me - A man must earn the respect that he deserves with his own action."

"And I guess I have done just that with the success of my film. But with it, I also earned the attention and greed of others who think they can have a share of what's mine." Mark replied, not veiling his stance.

"Well, I think what we have to offer might interest you." Ron replied with a smile.

"We will see." Mark replied and entered the room as Ronald Meyer, CEO of Universal himself, who had come out to welcome him, opened the door.

"Ah, I see some familiar faces." He said this as he entered the room.

"Please sit, Mark. Hear our proposition." One of the directors spoke up as she politely gestured for him to take a seat.

"Well, go ahead, Ron, surprise me." Mark sat down on his end and looked at Ron as he spoke.

"I'll get straight to the point then: Universal wants to renegotiate the marketing cut for your future films." He replied bluntly.

"But I thought our deal was to leave that out. I would pay for my own marketing, and you guys would be the ones to just facilitate it on my dime."

"What was the reason you gave me last? Oh yeah, it was because you thought that my movies wouldn't be profitable enough to justify spending so much on marketing." Quite a few of the directors winced at Mark's statement because it was true, and it called them out on their shamelessness and hypocrisy.

"So what's changed?" He leaned forward and rested his head on his tented fingers.

"Well, you proved yourself and just how profitable your movies can be. Knives Out has become the biggest commercial hit of the year, earning over 850 million dollars."

"So..?" Mark shrugged, pretending not to understand.

"Mark, you've got to understand that of these 850 million, around 500 are from NA. As your marketers and distributors, we will only get around 20% of the total; that's just 170 million."

"Whereas you'll be taking 300 out of that 500 million with your huge 60% cut, and that's just from NA; if we mix in international, then your total goes above 400 million dollars." Ronald said with a sigh, knowing that they lost at least more than 100 million that they could have made if the BOD just believed in Marc.

"So how much are you looking for?" Mark asked casually.

"We need the marketing cut as well, so a total share of 35% minimum." Ronald sighed again, knowing that Mark wouldn't agree so easily.

"I can do 30, but that's the highest I am willing to go." Mark replied in an unexpected act of generosity. 

"So you agree?!" Ron asked, shocked yet excited.

"If I do, but first you must agree to a few conditions of mine." Mark replied nonchalantly.

"Please take it easy on us." Ron said, cracking a joke to clear the tension in the air.

"Nope, you guys," He said, gesturing to the board, "wanted to play easy, wanted to play it safe, but now that you see the profits, you want a bigger share of the pie."

"Unfortunately, that's not how business works, my friend. If you want a bigger cut from the profits, then you must be willing to take a bigger risk as well." Mark said, admonishing them as if they were children.

But then he grew serious as his tone hardened. "It was I who took that risk. I spent over $20 million just to advertise Knives Out in NA, and then another 30 million dollars for international marketing."

"So, tell me, Ron, and please be honest." He said this while staring him straight in the eye.

"If you had the marketing cut for Knives Out and I asked you to put down 20 million dollars for NA marketing last year, would you do that?" He asked, daring him to try and lie to him. 

If Ron really did lie so blatantly to his face, then he would immediately call off this meeting. Thankfully, for the two of them, he wasn't foolish enough to do such a thing.

"Yes! Of cou–." A director tried to speak up but was immediately shut down by Ron.

"Shut your damn mouth." Ron barked, scolding the person who tried to speak over him and even dared to try and lie about it. From what he had seen, Marc was a man of principles, and he hated being lied to.

"Ignore him, Marc. As for your question, I couldn't have allotted 20 million dollars for NA's marketing." He said with complete honestly, but it was what he said next that surprised Mark.

He took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh, as he had made up his mind to be completely honest and forthcoming in his answer to Mark. Hoping that the young man would see his sincerity and return it in their deal.

"Firstly, because you were an unknown and too risky to place that kind of bet on, this was something that was mutually agreed upon by the board and me. Universal has faced a lot of losses in the last few years and we just couldn't afford such a risky deal."

"And the second because we have a hard and first rule of not investing more than 20% of the production budget into marketing. So with Knives Out's production budget being 30 million dollars, the most allotted it would have been 6."

The directors assembled in the room looked at him in shock because he had just given up their hand and told the truth; this would make the negotiations going forward even harder for them.

They were angrily glaring at him, not caring even if he was in a higher position in the organizational structure. What he just did was foolish because any businessman would just tear them apart now that he had shown their hand and shown how weak they were.

"Thank you for being honest with me, Ron. I truly appreciate it." Mark replied sincerely.

"A good and healthy working relationship cannot be built on the foundation of lies and deception, after all."

"But if you guys are going to play hard and fast with your rule of not going above 20% of the production budget for marketing, then I guess the deal will have to be called off."

"But if you can make an exception to the rule for my movies, then we might still have a deal."

"How much above are we talking about?" Ron asked with the faint hope in his heart that maybe his sincerity and being forthcoming with Marc might actually pay off and save them.

"It's not actually a percentage, but rather just how much would be needed to properly advertise a film. For example, we're currently working on a comedy film that would be a holiday special for Christmas."

"We are working on the sequel at the same time, but for now, let's focus on the first part alone."

"It's production budget for the first movie is around 10 million but according to our calculations it's marketing should also be around 10 to 15 million dollars for North America."

This statement from Mark caused shock amongst the board of directors because he was suggesting putting in an equal amount of money in marketing as part of the production budget, especially for such a low-budget film. 

They all collectively thought that there must be some kind of catch that they were missing. But at least this time, they were smart enough to keep their mouths shut and not speak out of turn.

"But thankfully, we don't think it will need any international marketing and will just do fine as it is with the help of word of mouth."

"So, yeah, in North America, I would suggest 10 to 15 million dollars. I know that it is equal to or even greater than its production budget."

"Now, if I were to ask you to do that for my other movie, which I am personally working on, which would probably be rated R."

"Then it wouldn't make sense, as it has a 60 million dollar production budget, but I am still hoping to invest 20 to 30 million in North America's marketing."

"But that's around 33% to 50% of the production budget into marketing.." a director muttered under his breath, feeling that it would be a loss-making deal. 

As R rated films had a really hard time making the money back because they could only be watched by people over the age of 18. Anybody under 17 required that they be accompanied by their parents or adult guardian.

The film contained some kind of adult material, like adult activities, harsh language, intense graphic violence, drug abuse and nudity.

"And the last of my movies that is currently in production and slated to be released this year is an animated film."

"Its production budget is somewhere around 25 to 30 million and we have planned to spend around 15 in marketing so that it can reach all the people that it needs to reach."

"Again, this goes beyond your hard-and-fast rule of never exceeding 20%. What you guys fail to understand is.. that the times are changing."

"Nowadays, people don't just go to the movie theater to see random movies just because they feel like watching a movie on a weekend. I know before, they used to head to the movie theater and later decide what movie they were going to watch."

"But now they go to the theater because they already have a specific movie in mind that they want to watch and they go to watch that particular movie."

"So tell me, if you don't advertise your movies properly, and they don't reach the target audience, then how are you expecting to make money out of it?"

The board of directors were silent in front of his question because they were slowly realizing their folly. They wanted to spend as little money on the movies as possible and expected to make as much as the rest.

"Making a good movie is very important, but advertising it so that it reaches the correct audiences is just as important, if not more so."

"Here is a thought experiment: What if Leonardo da Vinci buried the Mona Lisa after making it? Do you think he would have still been considered one of the greatest artists in the world?"

They all shook their heads in rejection. Mark was expounding on the importance of advertising to the board. It was important because it would make their losses from their bad movies even bigger and make them realize just how important good movies were and what the source of guaranteed good movies – HIM.

"Exactly, he would just remain an unknown painter from Florence, born in a small town called Vinci; it is only because his painting reached millions of people around the world that he is acknowledged as one of the greatest creative minds to have ever lived."

"With the changing consumer habits, businesses also have to change and adapt to survive in the market because it is a highly competitive environment."

"So, my non-negotiable condition is that Universal will need to advertise my film the way I tell it to."

"Absolutely, we give you our word." One of the directors tried to speak up.

"Stop! Hear me out first. Before you give me your word, that doesn't mean anything." Mark ruthlessly shut him down.

"Now, what I mean by that is if I tell you to put in $20 million for a particular movie."

"I need you to put in that amount for the marketing budget of that movie. But most important of all, how that money is going to be used to advertise the movie is for me to decide."

"Obviously, there will be an upper limit on the marketing budget, but it will be way higher than what you have here now."

"Don't you have any faith in us marketing your movie? We are one of the Big Six of Hollywood." Ronald finally spoke up, trying to make his case and have Universal not look as incompetent as Mark was turning them out to be.

"Frankly speaking, Ron. Old-fashioned and outdated is what this company actually is. You guys don't understand how the advertising movies really works nowadays."

"It's one of the reasons why you can't sell your movie, well other than their poor quality that is and also why you can't drive the audiences to watch your movies in the theaters."

"Last year, Universal produced 6 in-house movies and theatrically released over 19 films. Among these, if you exclude mine and add up their box offices together."

"Their value will still be a little less than 850 million dollars. My one movie alone earned the same, if not more, in box office than all of your movies combined, and you mean to tell me that you know how to advertise and market?"

"So, tell me, Ron, if I give you that marketing cut, what can you give me?" Mark asked back after giving them his conditions and asked for an incentive to even consider their offer.

"A higher cut from the universal profits from Jurassic park."

"You think I care about that. That's still at least a year away and we haven't even begun filming it yet."

"Who knows how good or bad it's going to be and you want me to give you a bigger cut from the profits of the movies I'll be making this year on the promise that you will be giving me a better cut for a movie that hasn't even been released yet?"

"Yep.. think about it, Mark. Merchandising, theme parks, video games, toys, etc. whatever we make that's based on the Jurassic Park IP."

"We will be giving you your fair share and that share is going to be much much higher if you are willing to give us the marketing cut."

"Also we need the marketing cut to be at least 15%. Rather than the 10 you just mentioned."

"Hmm, Counterproposal. How about this year? Eidolon and Universal share the marketing budget for my movies 50–50. But the profits of the marketing cut will be shared 80–20 in our favor, and in the next year I'll give the 15% marketing cut that you asked for."

"But that will be only for movies whose marketing budget costs exceed 33% of the movie's production budget."

"Mark, could you please give us a moment to discuss among us, if you don't mind?" Ron asked politely as he thought about how to make the directors understand the importance of this deal.

"Sure I can even leave the room if you want." Mark replied nonchalantly, confident that they would accept his offer for it was a fair one.

"No, that's fine, it won't be needed." Ron replied as he turned around towards the other directors and whispered starting the conversation.

After a few minutes of hushed discussion among them, Ron turned towards Mark and said, "Mark, we would accept, but we have two small conditions."

Mark gestured for him to speak up by shrugging his shoulders indicating that he didn't mind listening to him. 

"Mark, please don't take it as an offense.. but we want to exempt ourselves from participating in the marketing budget of the Killing Joke."

"We can do the marketing for you, like Knives Out, but we think it's too big of a risk for us to put our own money into it."

"You know Ron this is exactly what I meant when I said that you guys are too afraid to take risks. I really don't know how you guys ever become businessmen."

"That's fine, I guess more money for me." Mark replied with a nonchalant shrug, internally though he was very happy that he wouldn't have to share more profits of at least one of his movies. 

"I accept this condition, tell me the next one and let's get this deal over with, I have a lot of work to get back to." He urged them to hurry as he had to get back to writing the next few chapters of the Avatar and the God of War.

"We want to see the production budget of your movies through an audit team so that we can verify its authenticity." Ron replied and immediately cringed inside because of how bad it made them look. But he knew he to suck it up and be shameless sometimes if he wanted to be a successful businessman.

"You suspect that I would raise the production budget of my movie so that the marketing budget won't go above the 33% threshold of the production budget." Mark replied unveiling the suspicion causing Ron to wince uncomfortably at how bad it looked for them to be so suspicious of their business partner.

"Good now you are truly thinking like a businessman. I like that." Mark's reply surprised him, it also helped him understand that Mark took business and trust separately.

"Then I would also like to form an audit team on the share profits that I will be receiving for Jurassic Park from Universal."

"After all, it won't be just the box office. You've also promised me merchandise, video games and even a cut from the theme park. It needs to be verified closely."

"Of course and as promised that cut will be raised from the initial 10% to 20%." Ron replied with a smile, happy to have swung this deal as it would make him look even better as a leader in front of the shareholders in the Annual General Meeting that's coming up.

Obviously Mark knew about it and allowed this deal to happen for this very reason because later down the line when he decided it was time to buy Universal it would be Ron who would help him facilitate this deal because of their good relations.

"Well, it was a pleasure doing business with you."

"My team will be in contact with you and will get the paperwork signed soon."

"Ron, I want to get the marketing of the Killing Joke started as soon as possible, hopefully by March as a plan to release the movie in the summer."

Ron nodded happily, giving Mark an ok gesture, promising him that it would be done just like he wanted it.

— To be continued…

In the next episode of X̶-̶M̶e̶n̶ '9̶7̶

*Cough* *Cough*

I meant in the next chapter of Hollywood: Head-Hunting System.

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Word Count: 6849 words (after excluding the disclaimer, opening Author's Note and the closing Author's Note.)

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{Closing Author's Note: I am glad that I was able to upload this chapter on time while actually I am a few hours early but I guess that is better right? Anyways I will just do my mandatory patr. Eon plug and be on my way thank you for reading.

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