Hollywood: Head-Hunting System

Hey, it's theramenlord, I'm really sorry for not uploading the past few days, I was actually focusing more on my other stories and taking a break from writing this Hollywood story as I don't want to get stuck in a writer's block.

Anyways I'm glad to say that I'm back to making public posts but they won't be too often as I am writing six stories now. Yes you read it right, I'm writing 6 Stories, 4 of them are my own initiatives and 2 are commissions from my kind patrons Haze and Rycork.

As I mentioned before I wasn't slacking off but rather focusing on writing other stories.

If you're interested in finding out what those stories are you'll find a brief description of their plot at the bottom of this chapter. There is currently –

An Ironman fanfic, a Naruto fanfic, a Harry Potter fanfic, a DC fanfic and finally ASOIAF fanfic available on my patreon and Kofi the link to which will be available at the bottom of this chapter in the Author's thoughts section.

The first 2 to 3 chapters of these will be made available to be read for free before they are posted on webnovel.

Anyways within any futher ado, here's the long awaited chapter.

..

_________________________

..

~ Quote of the chapter ~

"When you are on the way up everyone roots for you because your climb reminds them of their dreams."

"But when you are at the top everyone tries to tear you down because your success reminds them of what they gave up."

"So, dont. Don't give up, because as long as you don't give up on your dreams, you've never truly tasted defeat."

..

--------------------

..

.

Date: 23rd, March, 1991.

.

Time: 08:32 pm.

..

.

Last time in chapter 121. Learning from each other and an Elaborate Plan —

As for what that plan was, it was simply using the reverse psychology of the human mind. Despite his advice he didn't actually want Warner to do Animations because the [Batman Animated Series] was one of the most celebrated and successful animated TV shows of all time.

If they really made it like in his past life, then it would not only help Warner build a new animated media series. But also increase their revenue through reviving their merchandise sales that had been dwindling recently, allowing them to keep themselves alive and avoid bankruptcy for a while.

Now Continuing —

Mark was finally on his way to Hall Room 3, it had been a long day, and he looked tired, but on the inside he was actually brimming with energy. Still, he had to keep on the facade of an overworked and slightly exhausted director who was running himself haggardly trying to manage everything by himself.

If he didn't have his peak human body, this facade would have been his reality, but thankfully he was blessed with his system. Though in the recent months the challenges he had been facing were growing in numbers and with them so did his joy.

At first, he thought that maybe he was being weird. Why was he enjoying these hardships? It was after a bit of introspection and deep thinking done while meditating did he realize the answer. It was something so simple that he had overlooked it at the start.

But the answer was staring him right in the face, it was two of his favorite quotes/phrases in life. "May you live in interesting times," and "Nothing ever worth having comes easy in life." Everyone wants to live life on easy mode, but what they fail to take into consideration is that life on easy mode is terribly boring.

So much so that people unconsciously actively go out of their way to seek conflict just so that they can experience something interesting to color their dull, boring life. He didn't want to live a boring and easy life, it was the reason that he kept trying out new things to challenge himself with.

Another thing these sessions of meditation and introspection had awarded him with, was a heightened state of "awareness" of himself. He realized that even though he never considered himself to be a "good" person, rather, he always judged himself as a lawfully neutral entity.

But now that he became wealthy, he found himself putting an increasingly greater amount of his wealth into charity.

Was it for an ulterior motive?

For sure, as at first he had only started doing so to get a tax rebate. But as he saw just how much good he was able to do for the people, the ways in which his actions and decisions were changing the lives of the people for the better.

He came to an understanding that he was in fact a "good" person, now he wouldn't call himself a saint by any stretch of the word. But between good and evil, he could now make the distinction that he definitely fell on the side of good.

Obviously he had some dubious character traits like being a hedonist, a hypocrite, a womanizer. He was a man filled with the sin of greed and lust, but he also had a lot of redeeming qualities that made up for it.

The reason that was finally able to make this distinction was money. People say that money or rather "power" is nothing but an amplifier, in the sense that it just brings out the reality of a person. Before, he wasn't grossly wealthy, but he still helped out relative to his means.

But it was easier to chalk up his help or generosity to him being in a good mood or some other bullshit he told himself to dodge the topic. But, now his wealth allowed him to cause even greater impacts, helping hundreds of thousands of people.

It became increasingly difficult for him to run away from the truth, a truth that maybe he had known all along but kept sealed inside because he didn't want to face it. He always made excuses for every good deed he performed, justifying it to himself by saying that it would help him out in the future.

But the plain fact was that he felt conflicted by his wants and his morals, it was a fact that he wanted a harem of women around him that loved him for himself. He wanted wealth beyond people's wildest imagination, he wanted to be so powerful that he would be untouchable.

Above the law, above the rules that bound the masses.

But it was also a fact that he hated cheaters, he didn't like people who stole from others. He never lied or hid his true intentions from his lovers. Eva always knew when he was going after a new woman or if there was a woman he found interesting.

But these two emotions were conflicting, he knew he had no right to take the high road after the things he had done or even the things he planned on doing in the future. But he promised to himself that he would never knowingly harm an innocent person for his own benefit.

That was a line he wasn't willing to cross.

He would never exploit his customers to make a quick buck, he wasn't here to scam people, but rather to build a legacy that would be remembered for generations to come.

"Sir." He heard Monica call out to him, she was waiting for him outside the door of Hall Room 3.

"Moni, were you waiting for me?" He asked as he stepped towards her and slid his arm behind her back, snaking it down to grab a hold of her curves, as he drew her towards himself.

"You and anyone else," *ah,* she shuddered and let out a shaky breath,"that you mentioned for Rose to call in."

"I see." He looked around the corridor, happy to find it to be empty, he lowered his mask and kissed her on the lips.

"Come. Let's go in." He said as they broke apart to breathe, Mark just pulled up the mask and went in. She waited a few seconds and followed.

Upon entering, he saw a small raised platform for the speaker and seats curving around said platform. Before it were the seats, of which every next row of seats were higher than the one before it to ensure that everyone in the audience could easily see the speaker.

There was also a wide step that ran in between the rows, it was big to comfortably accommodate those who didn't feel like sitting. There were even bean bags for those who wanted to lounge and relax, which he saw a few people doing as he entered the room.

The first row was filled with his department heads, his closest collaborators and friends old and new. He saw Spielberg and Lucas in there as well, probably waiting for him to finish with his speech to get in their time. Right beside the steps that led up to the small stage, he saw Rose standing beside James and Arnold waiting for his arrival.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting for long." He said casually as he walked up to them.

"Didn't wait long." Arnold said while James told him how he spent time talking with River who was now sitting in the second besides Siddharth and Rycork.

It was nice to see his friend make new friends, it showed that he was slowly getting over the shadow of that traumatic experience.

"Great, let's head up and give them the news." He said as he gestured for them to follow him.

"Hey! How are y'all doing? I hope you are doing well."

"I am sorry for dragging you all out here, away from the party celebrating our film. But there is something important that I need to tell y'all about." Mark said, in a serious tone, it caused many of the people who were sitting more laid-back to straighten up.

"I've decided on our next film, I know it's abrupt, but the situation is a bit of time sensitive."

"Don't worry, I will not be asking you all to cut your vacation short for this, as the pre-production work on this film will only be starting from May."

A hand went up from within the crowd. He recognized the man, it was Hyuga Tobirama. A new production designer who was hired alongside Siddharth and Philippe.

The trio had done excellent work, bringing his vision for a gothic and somber G̶o̶t̶h̶a̶m̶ Stygian Springs to life.

"Yes, Tobi-san?" He asked.

"Sir, we'll be getting our well deserved. But what about you?"

"Don't you think you should be resting as well? We all know just how hard you've pushed yourself while working on this film. You need a break as well." The concern was clearly reflected on his face.

Many people nodded at Tobirama's statement, internally Mark was happy to see them care about him as well.

James, who was standing behind him, couldn't help but feel a little jealous, seeing the respect and care these people had for Marc. The way their eyes shone when Marc got up on the stage told him just what kind of leader Marc was to them.

"I will be fine, Tobi. To be honest, a month-long break is enough for me. And don't forget, I am still just 20 after all, I can afford to push myself a little."

"Anyways, how many of you here have seen the Terminator?"

More than half the people in the audience had raised their hands, seeing the number, Mark felt glad because if it was on the lower side. Then it would be awkward explaining things to the crew to have them catch up, especially in front of James.

"For those that haven't seen it, let me catch you up."

"Terminator is a sci-fi horror movie about a robot assassin sent by Skynet, a rogue AI from the future. Its sole purpose is to kill John Connor as a kid, who is foretold to be humanity's savior and the last hope of the resistance."

"We will be making its sequel. Terminator 2. Its working title for now is T2."

"This is a great opportunity for us to work with special effects that go into making sci-fi and a more action oriented film."

"It will really help out in the next two films planned to be released in '92 and '93 which will be an action movie and the other hopefully a sci-fi." He said hopefully while glancing at George Lucas.

"I know this came out of nowhere, but the decision to film T2 was very last minute. I met up with James Cameron and decided on it half an hour ago."

"Also, I would like to make something clear, I won't be the lead on this film. Instead, I'll be co-directing this film with James over here," he said pointing at Cameron.

"He will be the main director. So it's his vision we will be trying to achieve, this time."

Seeing the skeptical and sour faces of his crew members like he had forced them to eat an entire lemon, he couldn't help but chuckle. But then ceased his fun to put their fears to rest, "I know that James has a certain reputation with his style of directing, but we only have a month, and it's impossible to put together a great crew in that time."

"So, I decided to enlist your help, but I was very clear that I won't tolerate any disrespect towards myself or my crew. It's why I've decided to co-direct this film with him, and my job will be to serve as the crew coordinator."

"So you won't be dealing with James, at least not directly, now knowing this I hope that I convinced you guys to join me on this trial."

Many of the crew members were touched by Mark's care for them, after working on the Killing Joke together. They more than anyone else in the world knew exactly just how good of a director Mark truly was.

Normally, people with such skill and accomplishments were haughty and egotistic, things which didn't even come close to describing their director.

He was personable, kind, caring, patient, understanding, always willing to hear and defer to the experts' opinions, and never took himself too seriously.

They couldn't believe that for their sakes he would be willing to co-direct with a director like James Cameron, who hadn't even proven himself yet with a blockbuster.

If it was Steven Spielberg or George Lucas, they would have understood, as they were prestigious and highly acclaimed directors in their field.

But James only had his original Terminator to call as a big success, the rest were just lackluster.. The man was claimed to be the absolute worst.. A nightmare of a director to work with.

If it hadn't been for Mark's assurance, none of them would have even wanted to work with a man like James, even if they were paid extra. But Mark's words and actions had won them over, so they decided to trust their director one more time and see where he took them.

They had an internal discussion of a minute or two and then the department heads in the front row turned back towards him and picked up the mic as they said, "We are in."

"Great!"

"So, James, do you have any questions for my crew?"

"You said that these are some of the best people in their fields, people that you have hand-picked and selected from across the globe.. But are they truly exceptional, like you, say?"

"Hmm, I guess the Killing Joke wasn't enough to build up their resume, fine, how about this.."

"Can everyone who didn't get an offer from other studios to leave our crew and join theirs please raise their hands?"

"Marc, isn't it the opposite way around?"

"Nah, trust me, I know my crew and I know the kind people that work in Hollywood. Take a look for yourself."

"Hmm? It's impossible!" James exclaimed in shock, because as he turned, he didn't see a single hand raised. Out of a crew of what looked like around 70 people, not even a single person had raised their hands.

"I hope you are ready, James, I'll show what the best film crew in Hollywood can achieve." Mark replied with full confidence.

"I can't wait to start." James replied with an excited grin, as he turned towards Marc and gave him his heartfelt thanks.

Mark just accepted it and told him to prepare for the script revision stage. He then explained that he will assign the members of the IWA who'll be helping him improve on the script or to plug any glaring plot holes.

James nodded his head in understanding, he thanked Mark for all the help he had provided him. After doing so, he and Arnold took their leave, wanting to finally enjoy the banquet now that their tense business had finally been completed.

Seeing the two leave, Mark told the crew that they were free to do whatever it is they wanted for the night. After his announcement was over, he saw that he was approached by River, with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas following close behind.

"Mark, are you okay?" River asked in a concerned tone.

"No.. I'm not at 100%, but I'll be fine."

"After I'm done with the Oscars, I plan on cutting off all contacts for at least a week and just relaxing as my real self. To live as just plain old Mark and not as the Spector."

"Maybe I'll watch a movie, read a few books that I really have been wanting to, or even go to the beach.. I haven't really thought about it, to be honest."

"I'll be fine, River. It's okay, to not be okay."

"It may be, but it doesn't mean it has to stay that way. You need to rest, Mark."

"I will call Eva, if she tells me that you came back to work too soon. I will cancel my trip and come back to hit you on the head."

"Okay. Kay. I promise, I will enjoy my break fully." Hearing that seemed to put River at rest, as he knew just how seriously Mark took his promises.

"Will you see me off?" River asked with a smile.

"What kind of question is that? Obviously, I'll be there." Mark replied, with an upturned eyebrow, at River's weird question.

"Yeah.. my bad.. Thanks, Mark, for everything." River said as he drew in Mark for a hug, feeling emotional.

"It's what friends do." Mark said after they broke the hug, with a carefree shrug, because to him, he didn't do much. But to River, it felt like Mark changed his life, for the better.

River had a grateful smile on his face, as he gave him a nod and left, next up were Steven and George who had come up to meet him regarding some business. With Steven, Mark could guess that he wanted to talk about Jurassic Park, as for George he wasn't so sure.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting." Mark said with a sheepish smile.

"It's fine, though I must say, I didn't think you would take over filming T2, I heard it will cost over a 100 million dollars."

"Even for you Marc that's a big ask, a huge risk, you don't even know him."

"Is there a question somewhere in there?" Mark asked jokingly.

"Why help him?" George finally asked.

Mark let out a sigh and explained. "I saw a version of myself in him, one with no capital, but with the talent and skills to be great."

"Unfortunately, failing to achieve that level of success, and now he has nowhere to go. Nobody believes in his vision."

"I think if I were in his shoes, I would want to have someone believe in me." Mark said with a far-off look in his eyes, reminiscing about the times when he was struggling to be accepted into the role of film director.

"I believe in you, Marc." George spoke up with conviction, like he was trying to say something more.

"Thanks.. George." He replied.

"Mark, I have made up my mind," — Mark's eyes widened slightly, as he understood what George was trying to insinuate — "would you please direct the next Star Wars movie for me?"

"It would be an honor and my genuine pleasure." He replied with a huge grin, and they shook hands to signify their partnership.

"Wait, when is this movie gonna be filmed?" Steven asked because he needed Mark's help with filming Jurassic Park.

"Hmm, I guess sometime around '92 or '93." Mark replied, looking up in thought.

"You're already filming T2, so you are going to take a nice long break till next year, right? Will you have the time to help me in filming Jurassic Park? I would love to have your input on that." Steven asked for his because like the others he was also blown away by Mark's film. So, he wanted his opinion and suggestions so he could make the film even better.

"I will definitely be there to help you out in any way I can, Steven. But I am not stopping after filming T2."

"The Killing Joke was my sincere attempt at making a thought-provoking character driven story."

"But, now, it's time for some action." Mark replied with a sly grin.

"What do you have in mind?" Steven asked, intrigued, he couldn't wait to see what kind of movie Marc would make next.

"I am going to redefine what action and stunt movies can be."

"I think you already did, your fight scene as Vigilante will go down as one of the best fight scenes ever to be filmed." George said with a pat on his back.

Steven agreed and said, "For sure. The dialogues were absolutely fantastic, I can tell people will be quoting them for years to come."

"Which was your favorite?"

"It's hard to pick a favorite, if I were to pick from Bruce's dialogues it would have to be: Please I kindly request."

"That one actually gave me goosebumps.." Steven agreed and then asked Mark.

"By the way, Mark, how come you never told me that you could act?"

"I wouldn't call that acting, it was just a little cameo. Nothing much." Mark waved them off, he was glad that they liked it, but knew that he still couldn't act, but thankfully his charm was able to carry him through those short intense scenes.

"Mark, I didn't get to say this before, but I can't thank you enough for getting me the set I had been fighting for.. If it wasn't for you, Universal would have never approved of me filming there."

Meanwhile, George looked puzzled, as he hadn't heard of this before.

"Even Universal wasn't able to get the filming approval and just rejected my request. How did you do it Mark?"

"What is this about a set you've been fighting for?" George finally spoke up, unable to hold in his curiosity.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this before." Steven said with a sheepish smile with an apologetic look on his face.

He had an excited grin on his face as he recounted his experience to George. "What happened was that I found the perfect place to shoot Jurassic Park at, it was supposed to be the site where over 70% of the film would be shot."

"At first, Universal agreed, but later on backed down when they were rejected by the local government."

"I requested them to try leasing the land or trying to improve relations first, but the executives weren't interested, saying that it wasn't worth the effort." He looked a bit angered by Universal's dismissal.

"So then what happened?" George asked, engrossed in the story.

"Well, I talked about this to Mark and then a few weeks later I got a call from Universal stating that island Kauai has been cleared for us to film on."

"How did you do it, Mark?" This time, it was George who asked, curious to know how Mark is able to solve an issue that even made Universal raise its arms in defeat.

"I bought the island." Mark replied nonchalantly.

"What?!" "Tell me you're joking!" The two exclaimed, surprised by Mark's wealth and willingness to spend what must have been an absurd amount of money.

"Well, at least a part. It's a long-winded and complicated answer that I won't bore you guys with. In simple terms, I didn't just simply offer them, but rather an opportunity that they just couldn't reject."

"How much did it cost you?" George asked.

"Just the land or all in total?" Mark asked back.

"Wait, you are real going to reveal that..?" Steven asked, a little surprised.

"Of course, we are friends, aren't we? If I can't even trust you guys with a secret, then who else can I trust." Mark replied seriously.

They didn't say anything in reply, but Mark's trust towards them and his honesty just raised their favorability towards himself.

"The total cost came out to be around $23.4 million, but that's just the down payment and the early-stage cost of constructing the theme park." Mark said, explaining where the money was actually being spent on.

"Theme park?" George asked, surprised.

"Yeah, [The Jurassic Park], it is going to be a prehistoric theme park, with the added novelty of being the place where the film Jurassic Park was actually shot on."

"The idea came to me when I thought about how to convince the local government to allow me to buy the land, and also when I thought about how we are going to be spending millions of dollars making sets for the movie."

"So, I thought we might as well make it a full-blown theme park and earn money off of it. And the best part, it will be almost completely owned by us."

"So that was the opportunity you mentioned before.." Steven replied with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Yup." Mark replied with a pleased smile.

"But what about the dinosaurs?" Steven wanted to know how Mark would solve the issues on how he was going to show a fake dinosaur and at least fool the visiting children into believing that it was real.

"High-tech advanced Animatronics. It's one of the newest creations of my think tank [Engineering Marvels]. Daniel Big, the lead inventor on the project, is about to become one very rich guy, along with three others who worked on this project as well."

"Woah, that amazing Marc! Can we see these Animatronics when they are made up?" Steven asked excitedly.

"Of course. Bring your family as well, we can make it into a nice picnic trip in Hawaii."

"Marc, can I ask you something?" George asked, feeling very curious.

"Sure, go ahead." Mark replied with a shrug.

"How.. rich are you?" He hesitated a little as he asked his question, because he knew it was a very private thing.

Mark himself didn't know the answer to it, he had bought off the stakes into huge Fortune 500 companies when they were just starting up. And now that the companies have gone public, his stake in them has diluted slightly, but it has also made him billions. 

He took one at his status page to check his current wealth. 

[Current Net Worth: $10.9 billion. «New»]

It took all his self-control to not gasp at that number, it was mostly tied up in assets, and he didn't have much liquid capital left. But he could easily take a loan against his shares and easily put in billions when the Asian financial crisis finally starts in a year.

All his preparations to build up his wealth were for this, if he wanted power then it would be this historical event that would decide his fate. Success meant he would have the power to get whatever he wanted to create his entertainment empire now. 

Thankfully he was financially secure enough that failure didn't mean defeat but rather just a small setback, as he would have to delay his plans by just a few years. But it was something he was trying to avoid like the plague. 

Since it would delay his plans for the formation of the MCU by a few years as well, and that wasn't something he would allow to come to pass.

"Keep this between just the three of us, okay?" They nodded at his requests and gave their assurances that their lips were sealed. And this lie detector from CE skill didn't ring which meant that there weren't any falsehoods in their words.

"Don't freak out, but I got a few billion dollars.. though most of it is tied up in assets." He replied calmly, though the two that heard him weren't calm in the least bit. They hadn't even registered the rest of his words after he said a few billion dollars.

"Damn!" The two exclaimed and then Steven couldn't help but ask to sate his curiosity.

"Mark, how did yo—?"

"The thing is Steven, it doesn't matter if one earns millions or hundreds of millions of dollars. If they can't properly invest their money, it will just waste away."

"Simply said it was thanks to the compounding effect of early investment, a lot of studying, a whole lot of planning, and some luck."

"I would recommend you guys to invest your money into Crown Consortium as well. But don't take my word for it, have your financial advisors look into our publicly available financial statements and quarterly earnings."

"Mark, do you own the [Crown Consortium] as well?" This time it was George who asked him.

"Just a part of it." Mark replied, he didn't lie just downplayed his involvement and ownership of the thing. 

"It was started together with a bunch of friends led by Nic, obviously. It was funded by the money I had been saving up from my job as a writer, and the rest is history."

While Mark was having this conversation with Steven who was thankfully of Mark being so trustful of them and so forthcoming with information. The man had made up his mind he had millions of dollars saved up for establishing DreamWorks. 

But now it felt like it would be better to invest it so it could grow even larger and be of more use to him in future when he would eventually establish his own studio. Meanwhile, George was looking at Mark like he was his hope and good retirement option.

He had a daughter now, and he wanted to spend more time with his family, but his responsibilities at [Lucasfilms] and [Industrial Lights & Magic Studios] were just eating away at his time.

He knew he still had a passion for filmmaking but the task was just getting more and more time consuming and time was the one thing he didn't feel like he had enough of right now.

So, he had been on the lookout for potential buyers, but he was suffering from success as his life's work [Star Wars] was too valuable and at the end of the day it would probably be bought up by one of the Big Six studios.

As they were the only ones who could afford it, but he felt apprehensive in his heart about that notion. To him Star Wars was like his first love, his own child and even though he would always choose his family over it. It didn't take away from the fact that he loved his work and wanted to do it justice.

But if he wasn't able to find any potential buyers that would be able to continue his work in the future. Then he would have to sell it to the highest bidder, even if they didn't have what it takes to create Star Wars.

Though, he knew that he couldn't be hasty while making this decision. But currently in his mind, Mark was the number one prospective successor he would choose, if he ever decided to sell Lucasfilms and the ILM studios in the future.

Marc had the money to fairly compensate him for the sale and also the talent and the drive to do his work justice, by leading it to new heights in the future.

After giving it some thought, he decided that based the performance of his upcoming movies he would decide whether to let Marc be in charge of not just filming the first prequel film but rather the entirety of the prequel trilogy of Star Wars.

It would be on the basis of how well his first Star Wars movie performs at the box office, he would keep a vigilant watch over his filmmaking process and not pass any premature judgment as every artist has their own creative process.

And if Marc succeeded, which he was almost certain that he would, then he would happily hand over the keys to Lucasfilms and ILM to Marc, of course for that right price that is.

– To be continued...

TheRamenLord: Hello, here I'll be posting a few lines explaining the stories I'm currently writing if any of them interest you let me know in the comments I'll try to start posting them on webnovel soon as well.

Ironman fanfic – An OC transmigrated as Tony Stark before the MCU officially kicks off, he has a special power gifted to him by his benevolent R.O.B (me). Why? It's because the world he is in, isn't the MCU but rather a combination of Marvel comics and a few other IPs (secret).

Harry Potter: Wizarding World — A Harry Potter gamer fanfic with a focus of game elements and exploring the other Wizarding communities, exploring, learning new kinds of magic, etc. Harry is the MC with the power of the gamer.

The DC and ASOIAF fanfics are still in the works so I can't provide any details. But if you would like to be an active participant in my ASOIAF fanfic then head over to my patreon and become a free member to vote and read my work.