Once Upon A Time

When Yvonne reached the building of Platina Entertainment, the entire place looked deserted. Only the security personnel were there to watch over the building.

'Not everyone is as lonely as you to come to work on a Sunday, Vonny.' She chided herself and entered her exclusive express elevator.

Within seconds she reached the top floor and was greeted by her assistant, Terra Jerome. 

She looked like a strict and uptight person with her long skirt that reached her calves and a teal cardigan that covered all her assets. 

Her hair was tied into a tight low bun and she wore big chunky glasses which made her look 10 years older than her actual age.

"Good day Madame, I have prepared everything that needs your attention today." The spectacled lady paced behind Yvonne as she walked to her office.

Terra was a lot shorter than Yvonne and hence had to practically run after Yvonne to keep up with her.

She closed the door behind her after they entered the office and quickly prepared a cup of espresso while Yvonne settled behind the huge rustic looking desk.

Though the desk looked old and plain, anyone with an eye for antiques would know that the desk was a collector's item that was extremely rare and expensive.

As Yvonne went through her emails, Terra brought her espresso and also handed over about a dozen files.

"Madame these are the files that need your perusal. These were approved by the directors and have passed the ethics code of our company." Terra stood with her hands behind her back and relayed the information that was passed onto her.

Yvonne looked at the files on her desk and felt a headache rising.

'I definitely won't be done before lunch.' She picked the one on top and motioned Terra to leave.

Every year Platina Entertainment would invest in a few promising movies and those movies would always end up as huge box office hits.

Many stars from her agency and also from different agencies would fight tooth and nail to get a role in these movies because that was a sure shot way to fame.

Who in their right minds would reject a chance at stardom? Therefore they tried their best to work in the movies that Platina invested in.

The files on her table contained scripts for the movies that Platina would invest in if they received the final seal of approval from the CEO.

Platina had a strict screening process that needed to be followed before the scripts finally reached Yvonne's desk. 

The scripts first need to be approved by the editors and analysts then they would be sent to the directors in Platina.

The household directors here would judge on the basis of how well they might do in the box office and send the ones they approved to the ethics board.

The ethics board was the most important one because Yvonne would never allow a script with misleading, derogatory and offensive stories to be produced with her name attached to it. 

She prided in her St. Claire name too much to see it being dragged through the mud just for a film that might fetch her a few million dollars.

This did not mean that they would stop films with abusive language, action sequences, and 18+ scenes.

It meant that they did not condone the stories with sensitive matters like racism, domestic and animal abuse.

Yvonne was especially against the scripts that glorified r*pe just because it would eventually lead to a bittersweet love story where the woman falls for him and they have a happy ending.

Her thought behind this rule was a genuine concern.

'Young minds see these movies and learn from them. If they see that even after committing such a heinous crime they could still be forgiven and everything would be fine then that would be harmful to their state of mind.'

Yvonne couldn't stop others from making such movies but she made it a point to not let any such movie be produced using her hard-earned money.

----

By lunchtime, Yvonne was at the second script. 

This was not because she was a slow reader but because she would analyze every aspect of the story and if she did not know something mentioned in it she would research in-depth about it and only then approve it.

She had a habit of writing down pointers for the scriptwriter about the places she thought could improve. 

This extra step was done only on the scripts she would reject. This way they might improve themselves. The next time when they try in another company they might be successful over there.

Exactly at 1:30, Terra came in with a packaged lunch for Yvonne and left after neatly placing it on her table.

But Yvonne did not even look up to see who had come in, her entire concentration was on the script in her hands.

Her stomach grumbled as the aroma of deep dish pizza wafted into her nose. She looked up and saw the package on her desk.

'Terra is a godsend. I'm so hungry!' She quickly started eating her meaty lunch as she flipped through the pages.

She was done with four scripts and only one of them received her seal of approval. The rest were stamped with a big "REJECTED" in bright red ink.

The one which succeeded was a futuristic Sci-fi that was intriguing and funny. She could see that its chances of being a box office hit were higher than the other three.

She put it on the right side of the table while the rejects went on the left side. 

The ones at the center were still plenty and after exhaling loudly, she picked another from the pile before her.

----

It was seven in the evening when she was down to the last script.

Rubbing her stiff neck, she looked at the name on the file.

*The love that breaks barriers- The Emperor is mine!*

'Which idiot was in charge of naming this movie? What's with such a big name?' She huffed and flipped it open.

She felt a chill run down her spine as she turned to page one. Ignoring the ominous feeling that she felt, she dived into the script.

"Once upon a time…"