Chapter 78: Overexposed

Something rather... odd, cropped up when the returns for the opening weekend of [Tyler Kingstone: Under the Lights] came back.

When the second day came back with a $7M return... a steep drop-off from the previous $15M on the opening day, Joaquin and the employees of his production company were thrown for a loop.

Worse still, the movie barely made over $3M after the third day, hence bringing the cumulative returns of the opening weekend to $25M.

The natural knee-jerk reaction to those metrics, not just from Diamond Productions, but also the executives at Vinewood Records and Tyler himself, was utter confusion and a good dose of panic.

Afterall, for as little investment as the tour movie had been, its budget had ended up ballooning well over $50M dollars due to its promotions alone.

Moreso, when one factored into consideration all the extra steps Joaquin had taken to suppress the movie his older step-brother had produced.

That said, in an effort to find out what exactly was going on, it didn’t take long before Diamond Productions analyst and PR teams came back with a nugget of information neither Tyler, the executives at Vinewood Records or Joaquin himself could’ve ever anticipated.

Overexposure.

Tyler Kingstone, was so overexposed, he had triggered the ’Jude Law’ effect.

An effect that had been termed after a celebrity whom had appeared one too many times, in too many movies in a single year, it was practically impossible to have not seen or heard about him.

And unfortunately, in an industry where celebrities often thrived on a sense of mystique to keep the general public intrigued in what they might be up to, Tyler’s back-to-back appearance in the media had done him no favors in keeping that mystique.

From his hit song at the beginning of the year, to all the music festivals, variety shows, talk shows, podcasts and the likes that he’d attended, all of that had fed into a level of overexposure Diamond Productions and Vinewood Records had failed to take notice of.

Sadly, with the heavy promotions of his tour movie, the production company had only served to add more fuel to an already raging fire, hence completely blowing the lid off the whole thing.

Added to that, Tyler’s controversial nature had also done no favors in helping his image, hence feeding into the current scenario.

To that effect, there was a lingering sense of public fatigue not just from the general public, but also... Tyler’s fans themselves, most of whom hadn’t even realized just how burnt out they were from having to put up their appearances as his die-hard fans.

As a result, asides from the initial day the movie landed in theatres, most of them had felt reluctant to go for another viewing as they usually had to prepare so much and spend quite a few of their resources just to ’fit’ in with their cult of sorts.

Naturally, what ended up happening, was the need for a palate cleanser.

A palate cleanser that had presented itself in the form of [Silver Comets].

A fairly unknown cast, a familiar but exceptionally well-executed story and such high-frequency music, it stuck with them long after the credits had rolled.

As one would expect, it didn’t take long before people flocked towards the original, musical-comedy drama and its praise spread via word of mouth like wildfire.

A scenario that had not just Joaquin, but Tyler and the executives at Vinewood Record sweating buckets as the inevitability of what was to come.

Yet, completely oblivious to their predicament, Vrael Productions was currently jubilating after seeing the returns on the opening weekend for [Silver Comets].

When they’d earned $5M two days ago, they’d already been ecstatic that they weren’t just going to break even, but potentially make a good box office surplus before the end of the week.

However, when the returns on the second and third day came, each at a respective $8M and $12M respectively, they had been equal parts stunned, and overjoyed.

It had to be remembered that [Silver Comets] had been produced on a budget of $12M, of which Niall’s $2M investment had gone solely into the marketing of the movie.

As a result, an opening weekend return of $25M was nothing short of amazing.

More than that, judging by the predictions the production company’s analyst had made, the movie was set to cross well over $400M before the end of its theatrical run in cinemas.

If it did in fact manage to do so, not only would Henry recuperate all the losses he’d made these past couple years, but he would also have more than enough to invest into other things that could push him way ahead of his brother in the stupid game their father had put them up to.

Afterall, for as much as Henry hated the whole idea of it, hell would have to freeze over before he’d ever allow Joaquin to inherit and ruin the legacy his father and their ancestors had built due to his incessant pettiness and greed.

That said, asides all that, the man was already planning to dish out bonuses to his employees and the cast of the movie... but not until he figured out whom the rats amongst them were.

Sure, he wasn’t certain whom they were just yet, but he knew for a fact that he would find out with just enough probing and digging around.

It was one thing for them to have slipped through the cracks during the timeline of the movie’s production and pre-production.

It was another to reward traitors whom wouldn’t think twice before sabotaging a movie everyone else had put their blood and sweat into.

As for Niall and Midnight Avenue, they were the ones benefitting the most from the success of the movie... at least on the publicity side of things.

To that effect, it was only natural that the former band was already planning out how to capitalize of the exposure they were getting, moreso since they already had a bunch of great songs they’d recently produced and was on-track for release come early next year.

In any case, asides from that, Niall was also set to get his 12% share of the movie, as was Victor whom was also set to get his...

... the kind that would make not only him, but Niall himself a multi-millionaire when all was said and done.

And this wasn’t even including the fact that he had all the IP rights to not just the movie, but most of the songs used in them, hence... all of those returns from the streaming was bound to be monopolized by him.

However, just as Henry was planning to reward the crew and cast, Niall was much the same.

And though the media seemed to be having a jolly good time trying to inflate his ego and get into his good graces by keeping him in the spotlight after boycotting him all this while, the young actor was far above all that rubbish.

It was also why, asides from the singular interview with Starlight Magazine, and the AFI Fest Panel that he’d been a part of, Niall had refused to participate in interviews, talks shows and all the usual hullabaloo Hollywood liked to throw upon an actor when they’d finally managed to break out.

Naturally, his decision was bound to spark some form of controversy or the other, but honestly, Niall could care less.

Afterall, he knew for a fact that with the sort of career he was building, it would be in his best interests that he stayed out of the limelight unless it was absolutely necessary, lest he became overexposed.

And speaking of his of career, everyone at Feyre Publications were feeling rather giddy as the days slowly went by.

Given how much PR [Silver Comets] was getting, they were looking for the right moment to capitalize on it.

Which was why, when Vrael Productions dropped their appreciation post after crossing $100M in the Box Office following the movie’s first week in theatres--a staggering difference from Diamond Production’s movie which was now currently struggling to break $40M--they equally announced the release date of [The Spire of Fate].

1st of November, 2017.

As one would expect of several eager fans whom had been patiently looking forward to the second installment of the book, their excitement knew no bounds.

But as if that wasn’t enough, the publication company equally announced that merch would be available for purchase on that very same day at select stores, information that only served to amp up said fans even more.

Unsurprisingly, their spree of excitement managed to trigger yet another wave of interest from the general public in Niall Parker, this time, due to his literary ventures.

Naturally, that led to a situation where people were beginning to wonder how in incarnation he’d been kept out of the spotlight for so long if he had been this talented and resourceful.

By some stroke of luck... or maybe it was just fate, AFI Fest began releasing newer soundbites and short clips from the movies that had been screened and interviews that had happened at their festival.

In one of these short clips, was an interview with Niall that seemed to have given the audience the answer they were looking for.

One that instantly, set a fire, not just under the ass of Niall’s former agency, but most especially, under the ass of an already wary agent.

An agent that went by the name of Presley Callow.

Advance Chapters are available on Patreon!

/Caer07