Chapter 69: Sabotage

If Niall had been following the recent discourses on the internet for the past month... at least those specifically tailored to what was happening in Hollywood, he would’ve been rather surprised to find himself constantly cropping up in conversations here and there.

First, it had just been a few buried posts across several social media platforms.

Then it gradually became a bit of a talking point, one that did a good job of garnering a fair number of denizens’ interest.

Not enough to make him stand out in the crowd amidst several of his mainstream industry peers, but just enough to constantly keep him in the minds of people who managed to stumble upon said posts.

What led to this though, was actually pretty straightforward.

After the overwhelming success of [Hello, Goodbye], a song that had now accumulated a little over seven hundred million streams on GrooveBox, people--especially indie artists--naturally got curious.

For a fact, Niall was an independent musician much like them.

Yet, he was an independent musician that had released two hit songs, not in succession to one another, but so far apart, it was enough for the general public to have forgotten he even wrote a song.

For several reasons, this was rather detrimental to the chances of an indie artist keeping themselves relevant in the industry, more so since most indie artists lived and died by their self-promotion, or lack thereof.

Yet, despite all this... despite not immediately coasting off of the success of his first song to populate the market with several songs in the months that followed it, he had still managed to reach an even higher stream count with his next song.

That wasn’t the kind of incidence people in the same field as him would ever characterize as luck.

Rather, it was an incident that had them truly wanting to dig deep into Niall Parker’s past to figure out if he had some cheat code of sort they could learn from.

And in the process, it really didn’t take long before people began stumbling into the other things he was involved in.

It was also as a result of that very realization, that yet another budding artist couldn’t help but make a post of a Jeddit space for indie musicians called j/Indie Artists.

-

HOW THE HELL IS NIALL PARKER STILL ’INDIE’?!

The other day, I got rather curious as to how and why [Hello, Goodbye] got so popular. So, naturally, I went down the rabbit hole of researching... only to be forced to question my work ethic, ’cause what the fuck is this Niall Parker guy on?! More importantly, the fuck do you mean he’s an indie artist?!

He not only stars in a hit movie two years ago, but also goes viral for a while due to said movie, only to simultaneously release a book alongside it, drop the masterpiece that was [Polaroid] a couple months later, dip for a while, and then release yet another masterpiece in a little over a yearjust after.

Then as if that wasn’t enough, it’s announced that he not only acted in a movie during that time frame, but was also the writer of said script! And that’s not considering his previous work way before all these.

The whole thing’s just so insane, I really can’t seem to wrap my head around how he’s managed to remain ’indie’.

-

At first, the post had barely gotten any upvotes, or interactions for that matter. Clearly, it was indicator that Niall wasn’t a popular topic a lot of people generally discussed on the community.

However, after about two hours or so, the first few comments trickled in;

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Linkin Bark: Simple answer? Hollywood’s purposely suppressing his feats. Honestly, I’ve seen shitty influencers with more articles to their name than I have Niall. And that’s really saying something.

Billie Eyelash: It is quite crazy, not gonna lie. Apparently, he’s also releasing another book later this year. Honestly, I’m more in awe of how he hasn’t collapsed from all the work alone thus far.

50 Pence: Probably one of those dudes who probably can’t sit till if they ain’t doing something @Billie Eyelash.

Dua Leaping: Low-key, he’s got me wondering these past few days if I’m just a bum and a phoney. Still rooting for him though, nonetheless.

David Bowtie: Don’t forget he’s also the writer and main composer of every song in that movie OP. Dude is a legitimate beast of some sort. I’m honestly just waiting on them to release that teaser.

The Weekday: [Silver Comets],was it? The premise seems rather cookie-cutter I’ll admit. Will give it a try, though. I quite like musicals.

Miley Virus: Oh @David Bowtie?! That alone has got me pretty interested in the movie. Would be nice to see if Niall has more of where those bangers came from...

-

True those last comments, a good chunk of individuals had been waiting on the teaser drop for [Silver Comets].

Given the movie had been announced, most had a feeling the movie’s actual release was bound to be in six to nine months.

For a fact, they were also right.

Afterall, at that very moment, Henry and his team of marketing executives were reviewing the ideal dates to release the movie’s teaser and subsequent trailers.

"So, what are we deciding on?" the CEO asked, his palms interlocked as he sat at the head of the table.

Having already collated their findings, the employees briefly skimmed through the data one final time before presenting their conclusions.

Then, after a couple of seconds,

"Judging from the internet’s reception to last month’s announcement, we figured it’d be best to drop the movie’s teaser next week." one of the employees said as he reviewed the statistics on his tablet.

"I agree. Retention for the movie’s still remarkably high at the moment, largely thanks to Niall’s song, so we can afford to hold off on releasing the first trailer for a while." another employee added, her glass-framed eyes lifting from the report in front of her.

"How long’s a while?" Henry asked, his expression curious.

"Two months." the employee replied, nodding with certainty.

Processing that for a moment, Henry nodded in acknowledgement.

If that was the case, they wouldn’t need to produce a third trailer.

Afterall, if the first trailer was scheduled for July, they could simply push the final trailer to late September, just a couple weeks ahead of the movie’s premiere in the second week of October.

That way, they could maintain audience retention without stretching beyond their marketing budget.

Besides, revealing less while showing just enough to bait and hook audiences would only heighten anticipation for the movie.

"That’s great to hear. Means we’ll be able to put the remaining funds toward driving up the advertising even more." Henry remarked thoughtfully before asking;

"Any competitors we’ll have to deal with at the box office?"

"Anyone that might require us to reserve more screens than we’ve planned in case they suddenly gain traction?"

"None that we know of..." one of the men from the PR team thoughtfully replied as he reviewed the hard copy in his hands.

"Yeah. So far, it’s just been a couple indie movies here and there. Nothing that feels particularly threatening, based off our research." he added as he flipped to another page of the report.

Several others quickly checked their own documents to confirm.

Before long, they were nodding in agreement.

"Well then, if that’s the case, I guess we can lock those dates in." Henry gestured while leaning back in his chair with a satisfied smile.

To that, everyone nodded in agreement, similar expressions settling on their faces.

Yet, about ten minutes later, after the meeting had adjourned, one of the employees quietly made her way toward the restroom.

Making sure she wasn’t being followed, she stepped into one of the stalls and dialed a certain number.

No sooner had the call gone through, she spoke before the man on the other end could;

"May 6th for the teaser, July 8th for the first trailer, and September 20th for the final trailer."

In response,

"Good job. That’s what I like to hear."

Before the employee could even ask when she’d be receiving her payment, the line went dead.

Meanwhile, on the other end of that abruptly ended call, Joaquin calmly set his phone aside before reaching for his landline.

As soon as his secretary answered, his voice came out clipped and decisive;

"Janet. Inform the marketing and PR team that I want the teaser and trailers for Tyler Kingstone’s movie released on May 6th, July 8th, and September 20th."

"Alright, sir." a smooth, professional voice replied without so much as a hitch.

Almost instantly, Joaquin returned the receiver to its cradle.

Then, slowly twirling in his chair, a thin, calculating smile touched his lips.

[Silver Comets] may have already captured the attention of a fair number of people, but attention was a rather fickle thing in Hollywood.

If something even more appealing to a particularly rabid demographic happened to arrive on those exact same dates...

People would inevitably gravitate towards it instead.

That, was exactly what Joaquin was counting on to utterly sabotage his brother’s movie before it ever had the chance to flourish.

Advance Chapters are available on Patreon!

/Caer07