Chapter 25 - Promotions and Publicity

"Yesterday, a shocking gambling contract was signed between the famous author of Jurassic Park and 17 Again, eighteen-year-old prodigy Eric Williams, and Columbia Pictures of the Coca-Cola Group."

"It was reported, Eric Williams after filming 17 Again, in just fifteen days, wrote and directed a low-budget comedy of one hundred and forty minutes titled Home Alone. Eric Williams reportedly relied on the paycheck he received as a starring actor, as well as his royalty fee from Jurassic Park to accomplish this feat. Regardless of what the quality of the film might be, this makes him worthy of the 'genius' title."

"After viewing Home Alone and deliberating, the Columbia executives were unanimously optimistic. According to insiders, Mr. Blount Cohen, President of Columbia Pictures had even wanted to buy the entirety of the copyrights for 10 million $. However, Eric Williams refused this offer that would have made him one of the youngest multimillionaires in Hollywood, and instead proposed a completely insane gambling contract."

The article was detailing the two sides of the bet, and analyzing the possibility of Eric winning it. The author was obviously an insider and had included a series of data of similar box office comedies in the past. He estimated that with Home Alone, Eric's chance of losing was more than 80%.

Home Alone neither starred a celebrity cast nor had any investors. Among such good but low-budget comedies, only a few could make 2 to 3 million at the box office, most would just make a million. Therefore, the possibility of Home Alone breaking the 50 million mark was very low. The author even concluded by saying that Columbia would most likely never 'allow' Home Alone to pass that mark.

People liked to talk about all kinds of things, but their favorite topics would be, geniuses (the ones that were so out of their reach that they couldn't even feel envy), tragic heroes, and conspiracy theories.

The Los Angeles Times article had directly or indirectly, touched upon all three subjects, stirring the public sentiment. Even before the 20th Century Fox's 17 Again publicity stunt, people had begun to develop an interest in Eric. This could be seen by the sudden jump in Jurassic Park's sales.

Now, the appearance of Home Alone was like a bomb. The public's interest in Eric had exploded, which meant that sales and the ratings would too. Within a few days, he had already received dozens of requests for interviews. Jeff, who hadn't contacted in a while, suddenly called to inform that some people had come to inquire about him at the restaurant. Eric realized that he caught the attention of the paparazzi.

Meanwhile, after the publication of The Los Angeles Times article, the 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures seemed to form a tacit understanding, as the promotions of 17 Again and Home Alone started in full swing.

Carter Hunt, the head of the Distribution Department on Fox's side had some regrets about refusing to watch Eric's Home Alone. However, as a professional, he quickly got over his mood and after discussing with his peers at Columbia, launched a simultaneous publicity campaign. With these two giants joining forces, the results could well be imagined.

...

"Annie, how's the situation, can I go home?" Eric quickly asked his girlfriend coming through the door. He had been hiding at Annie's and hadn't gone home in a week.

Aniston shook her head, she put the groceries bags on the coffee table and said: "I drove past your home, there were at least seven or eight paparazzi keeping watch on your neighborhood. Fortunately, they didn't realize I was driving your car, otherwise, they would have certainly come after me, which would have been terrible."

Eric sighed. Thanks to the two giants united publicity campaign, Eric had become one of the most popular figures in North America. Even across the Atlantic, British newspapers had started to pick the subject up. Eric knew how things worked in this industry and immediately hid at Annie's place since receiving Jeff's phone call last week. The two studios promoting the movies were enough, the rest would just rely on the quality of the films itself. So, he didn't bother going out and getting interviewed by the paparazzi, not to mention, he wasn't certain they would write things as he stated them.

Although Eric promptly went into hiding and the paps hadn't been able to interview him, they had still dug around and his whole life from his immigration from England, his school's grades, to even his time passed at Jeff's Italian restaurant was laid bare for the public to feast on. Aniston was relishing in it all, teasing him from time to time.

Then, a tabloid published about his alleged love triangle between Drew Barrymore and an 'unknown actress'. They apparently got this from some members of the 17 Again crew, and the story was vividly written, even inferring that Drew's turning over a new leaf and joining a rehab center were all for Eric's sake. Once that article came out, a certain 'unknown actress' had made Eric sleep on the sofa for two days in a fit of jealousy.

...

Michael Klaus was so excited, he could barely sit still. The two giants' high-intensity propaganda for the two movies and Eric caused the sales of Jurassic Park, which had already exceeded 100,000 weekly sales, to skyrocket again. In the second week of November, Jurassic Park finally reached the top of the New York Times' North American bestseller list with sales of more than 250,000 copies. According to the current sales trend, breaking through 1 million copies this year wouldn't be a problem.

After calling him a few times to no avail, Michael Klaus learned of Eric's whereabouts from Penny Marshall and directly visited Aniston's place.

"Hey, Michael, how did you know I was here ?" Eric asked as he let Michael in the house.

"I was actually thinking of calling the police since I couldn't find you anywhere. But it turns out you were hiding here…" Michael Klaus was about to say something when he saw Aniston coming out of the bedroom and shut his mouth.

"Michael, this is my girlfriend, Jennifer Aniston. Annie, this is Michael Klaus, the publisher of my book."

Michael and Aniston greeted each other before Annie left for the bathroom.

"Hey, Eric, is this the actress that was mentioned? I still like Drew though, she was really cute in E.T." Once Aniston's figure disappeared, Michael started gossiping.

Eric gave Michael a cup of coffee and whispered: "Michael, keep talking about this if you want Annie to throw you out, even I don't dare mention Drew's name now."

Michael Klaus realized Eric wasn't kidding and very decisively changed the subject: "Eric, Jurassic Park is now selling so well, don't you think you should start writing a sequel ?"

Eric shook his head without hesitation, the Jurassic Park copyrights were already in his hands, although he had used it as collateral for the lawyers, he wasn't worried. He didn't have any time to waste on writing a sequel.

"The fiction is already a complete story, and I think there is nothing else to write about, Michael."

Michael Klaus wasn't discouraged and quickly followed: "Well, do you have any other work ?"

Eric shook his head again. Earlier, he had been incredibly busy, and once he had finally completed Home Alone and signed the gambling contract with Columbia, he gave himself a break. But because there were only a few days before the release of the movies, he had to follow the crew around during the promotion. Fortunately, the two companies had reached a compromise and decided on a uniform promotional tour schedule, so Eric didn't have to run around ragged.