Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

“I believe that we are thinking of this wrongly. Our approach lacks patience.”

Ava’s voice fell in the room, silenting all the opinions that were coming from different people. Eyes quickly went to her as she began to explain her reasoning. 

“I do feel like the future forward is franchises. Maybe it’s already the present, but we can’t take an approach like Dream Light pictures. In the first place, they have an abundance of source material and the idea of a shared universe only came when their first superhero movie managed to connect with the audience. They laid the groundwork first instead of thinking of the future.”

Her words were precise and the man presiding over the meeting felt like she already had a plan in mind. He was another executive who was given the task to crack the code of franchises for the studio. 

“So, do you have a better plan than just going for a comic series adaptation?”

“I do.” She said, “First of all, I think we should study the market first, especially in the case of franchises. What was the last franchise to come out in Hollywood?”

Ava asked and a guy sitting adjacent to her replied. 

“Superheroes. Dream Light pictures launched their superhero universe. There’s nothing after that from what I know.”

“Yes. Hollywood has been rehashing their already existing franchises for years. Even superhero movies have become saturated at this point. It has a lot to do with how hard it is to launch a successful franchise.”

“So, are you saying that we should give up on it?”

A sharp voice came out as Ava looked in front of her. Alberto was sitting there with a smile that looked rotten and crooked to her. 

“I never said that.” She countered. “I’m just saying that there’s a fundamental reason why we failed in creating a franchise. It has a lot to do, having no patience and thinking too far ahead too soon. Weren’t you the executive producer on the action adventure franchise that was shelved, Alberto?”

Ava asked, firing back at Alberto. He was someone who always tried to ensure that she had it hard. She had no reason to act soft. 

Frowning, Alberto shrugged. 

“I was but there were creative differences between me, the director and John Strampton. He wanted too much control over it and the project was already doomed when we shelved it. It wasn’t my fault but the actor and director.”

A few people recalled the event that had happened three years ago. They have announced the project with a lot of pride. It was hailed as a leap in the adventure genre of the films. 

When it had shelved, there were articles laughing at the studio for being too overconfident. 

“I’m not going to go into whose fault it was but you proved one of my points. Actors. If we want to make a franchise, we need to cast actors who aren’t all powerful. There will be creative differences sooner or later as we all know the majority of the A-listers like having control on the characters and story. Especially action stars.”

Ava said in a tone that was confident and stern. She was preparing for this since a meeting was called. 

The studio’s plans were no secret from her and she knew that it was the way for her to gain more influence and power. If only she could do it right. 

In her attempt to get a better sense on why franchises do so well, she had found out that a franchise doesn’t necessarily mean a famous star leading it in the lead role. 

A few franchises would even make the career of an unknown actor. They do it by focusing more on the character than the actor. The character was the star in them and the studio controlled it. 

“So, what are you proposing?”

“I think we should try to move slowly with it and focus more on the story and the characters rather than the star associated with it. At the same time, it’s better to try this approach out with a relatively smaller budget movie which we could use to launch a franchise. The budgets would obviously increase if the first part is successful but for that, we need to make a solid movie. It’s better because the risk is extremely high of creating a successful franchise. We need to start small.”

People whispered with each other when Ava said that. A few people just looked to be in some thought. Alberto snorted in annoyance but he didn’t say anything to her. 

Ava’s words were clear yet they were in a language that studio executives liked. Trying to minimise the risk while working towards making a good movie. 

If it turned out successful, then there was a high chance that the profit margin would be great. 

“There was already an idea for a superhero universe though. Do you think the company should give up on it?”

The executive presiding over the meeting asked. His tone surprised a few people as he was asking a question purely to get an honest opinion from her. It meant that the opinions she expressed have been taken in high regard. 

“No, even in franchises, superheroes franchises are the top. The profit they generate in a year is unprecedented. We can’t give up on trying to move in that genre. But currently, there’s too much superhero fatigue among the people.”

Ava said after thinking for a bit. 

This year, superhero movies haven’t performed as well as they have hoped. Dream Light pictures haven’t gotten a billion dollar movie for the first time in five years and even other superhero movies unrelated to them have performed sub par. 

“I saw the plans for the original ideas for the franchise. They were good but not too different from what other studios have tried to do. We don’t have any source material, so I feel like it’s more important that we plan at least the first movie and the world a bit more.”

Ava had told Aiden about it because she had seen the initial plans. Her plan was to give him a lead role in the first movie. But her plans have changed a bit after seeing the current market trends. 

There was more discussion on the topic after that. It was basically a meeting to decide a major part of the company’s plans moving forward and everyone gave their opinions on how they should do things. 

All the people present were veterans who have spent their life in Hollywood making and producing movies, so they have a good sense of what they could do. Though, one thing was clear that Ava’s plans have been recognised by everyone. 

As their plans have failed before, it was much better strategically to start with a smaller franchise while developing the superhero one in the background. 

After discussions, it was decided that they wanted to take a very different approach to the whole superhero genre. Though, there were already a lot of plans for the smaller franchise that everyone agreed with. 

Surprisingly, even Alberto seemed fine by it. It looked like he didn’t find anything to pick on. 

“So, we are going to start taking pitches for an adventure fantasy setting and if we like something, it will be greenlit. Then, we can truly move forward.”

***

The theme or the central idea for [The Black Saint] was very simple. It was the transformation of a guy to become a crazy, psychopathic individual. 

The journey to truly become Kai. 

To do that, the narrative focused a lot on Kai’s life and mentality. The growing feeling of wanting something more and missing something in life. A lacking sense of something exciting in life and the insomnia to make all of it worse. 

Though, there were more reasons for Kai’s first murder. Even without what was going on in his mind, he was treated badly just by everyone in his life. His co-workers, girlfriend and even his landlord. 

He was also someone who was living at the bottom of the city’s hierarchical ladder. So, corruption and inflation directly affected him. 

So, he had felt liberated after his first murder. 

That night, he had slept soundly, feeling himself to be someone different. It had worked wonders for him. 

But he hasn’t gotten his purpose at that point. The purpose is to find out the way to be a god. 

He had found that purpose when he had visited a comic book shop that was close to his house. The shop owner was one of the people that was nice to him 

The owner liked talking about philosophies and one day, he had a discussion with Kai on one’s purpose in life and godhood. 

It was an extremely important scene in the movie. 

“Are you ready? We already have the set ready.”

“Yes, let’s get started.”

Aiden said as he looked at Zavier, then the set with slightly hollow eyes. A breath leaked from his mouth as closed his eyes to transform.