Manhattan, New York.

In a dimly lit room, a man who looked like an evil necromancer at a glance was furiously typing and drawing something on his computer.

His current appearance, which consisted of a loose black t-shirt, black trousers, messy hair and an unkempt beard gave off an impression that he was some beggar from the slums.

He was Carson Duckstein, an independent director who was almost 37 years old. His current appearance can be blamed on 2 things. Firstly, lack of work, and secondly, lack of sleep. Although he was a workaholic, what use was it when he didn’t have any work?

All these years, every movie he created barely made the break-even. And the worst thing was, he never got any actor he wanted to work with, frequently ending up with half-assed and fringe actors. Be it bad luck or misfortune, Carson had never been able to come out from the hoard of other independent directors, always being stuck at a place where he thought he didn’t belong.

Currently, Carson was making a storyboard for a movie he had been offered recently. Usually, he won’t compromise his sleep for such a thing and would only work during the daytime. But this time, the movie and the company that offered him the movie were both special.

Carson was one of the directors who had been invited to direct [500 days of Summer] by Will. When he first received the invitation, he almost couldn’t believe his own eyes and rechecked the mail twice just to see if it was spam or was mistakenly sent to him.

After he wrote back to them, he got a confirmation mail with proof of Dream Vision’s stamp, making his heart thump loudly. Carson was sure he wasn’t the only one given such an amazing opportunity and that’s why he decided to give up on his sleep to make the best storyboard possible. He was even provided with the movie script, which he couldn’t help but admire every time he thought of it.

In Carson’s eyes, although he was the older one, he felt that Will was way above his leagues. After all, he was someone who had gotten high up in Hollywood based on his own abilities. And he was even younger than most directors, making him stand out amongst the normal crowd of directors.

Having been working in independent movies with fringe actors, Carson didn’t want to lose out on this heaven-sent opportunity. That’s why he was willing to sacrifice everything in order to grab this opportunity and direct the movie, which might be his last hope of getting a break in Hollywood.

*Ring* *Ring*

As Carson’s thoughts started drifting, his cellophane rang. He immediately picked up his phone and answered the call in a hurry.

– Is this Mr Duckstein? I’m Alexia, Mr Evans’ personal secretary.

Carson gulped. It has finally come! The call that he had been waiting for.

“Y-yes. I’m Carson Duckstein.”

Carson answered while trying to sound as confident as possible, which backfired with him stuttering on his first word.

– Mr Evans wants to have a meeting with you, what would be a preferable time? I will arrange a meeting accordingly.

Alexia, the secretary, asked Carson.

“Anytime is fine with me.”

Carson said hurriedly, clicking his tongue again. He was talking so fast that he would seem impatient and could end up ruining his impression. He just prayed that Will at least talked to him once. He was confident in his directing skills, but just the thought of talking to big shots made him anxious.

***

*tap* *tap* *swipe*

In his office, Will was currently playing a game similar to Temple Run from his precious world. Instead of monkey-bat like monsters chasing him, there were various kinds of giant snakes chasing him with the character running around here and there, jumping and avoiding obstacles as he desperately kept running, without an end goal.

Will somehow felt that many strugglers in every kind of industry were playing a game like this with life. Just managing to dodge dangers and making sure that they stay safe, without an actual goal in mind as to where they want the happy ending of their game.

*Tringg* *Tringg*

At that moment, the telephone on his working table rang. Will kept playing the game as he put the telephone on his ear and grabbed a hold of it with his shoulders as he answered the call.

“Yes, what is it?”

“It’s Carson Duckstein. He has arrived at the office and is currently waiting for his meeting with you.”

The person who called was Alexia and she was currently informing him about the arrival of one of the directors that he had picked based on their abilities that he himself had judged through their movies.

Will suddenly remembered how Carson’s direction of the movie was great but most of his movies were ruined by average or bad actors. Even the plot of most of these movies was average, and Carson’s effort at improving little scenes into something good was clearly visible, making him a valid choice amongst the other directors of his calibre.

“Send him in.”

Will said as he stopped playing the game and hung up the call.

*Knock* *Knock*

Soon a doorknock was heard, which was followed by the arrival of a shabby looking Carson after getting Will’s permission to enter.

As soon as Will saw Carson, he couldn’t help but be bewildered. It was common sense to look one’s best self when going for a meeting or an interview. But Carson here was dressed normally and his eyebags made him look like a sleep-deprived monkey that had become closer to being a panda.

“Take a seat.”

Will gestured to Carson to sit down on the chair in front of him, to which Carson obliged.

“Good morning ….. Carson Duckstein? Although your morning doesn’t seem to have turned out that great.”

Will said as he stared at his appearance. Carson scratched his unkempt beard as he said embarrassedly.

“I didn’t get much time to prepare and I had something to show, so I thought I would do the grooming after getting the deal.”

Will was surprised to hear his reply. Not because of how he thought that the person didn’t give much importance to his appearance but how he sounded when he talked about getting the deal. It was almost like he was so certain in his skills that he would get the deal. It was even weirder coming from a director that hadn’t had a break in the industry yet.

But that’s what improved Will’s impression of Carson. After all, Will himself was no one to talk to. He carried himself around with confidence even when he was just a film school dropout without any movies or any kind of success backing him. It was the same for other people.

People who believed in their talent and were confident about it were the people that made it big sooner or later. Otherwise, there is no lack of talented people, but they lack the confidence to bring out their talents and show them to the world while being confident about them.

Having scored some brownie points in Will’s eyes unknowingly, Carson brought out some storyboards immediately and started showing them to Will, even without him asking for them yet.

“These are some of the ideas I have been working on ever since I got the script.”

Carson said as he continued on his own.

“This movie talks about a basic concept called expectations versus reality. It starts off with the typical rom-com setup and soon delves deeper, showing how these scenarios aren’t realistic and completely destroy the happy go lucky rom-com plot, which in fact, is a hooking point of the story, instead of being the bad part. But the thing depends on the director on how he portrays these scenes. I am quite confident I can work this up to my level best if I get a chance to direct this movie with some good actors backing it up.”

Carson finally concluded and realised he had been talking alone without giving a chance to speak to the other party. Realising that he had made a mistake again, without intending to, he cursed himself in his mind as cleared his throat.

“Ahem…. So ….yeah. This is basically what I have thought of so far.”

Will chuckled suddenly and laughed openly for a while. He had never seen someone so passionate about directing a movie and he somehow felt a connection with Carson as a fellow director.

Apart from Carson, there were three other directors that had been sent an invitation to direct the movie.

One of them was an old player in the industry, with many hit movies backing him up, although he hadn’t made any spectacular movies in his recent years. The other one was a rookie who debuted with a hit movie recently, and the third person was someone recommended by Jeffrey. He was someone who had made a lot of thriller movies and had made a hit rom-com last year.

Will had already met with the first person and he had thought that the firsts person should better retire, as he wasn’t very optimistic and seemed to have rusted with time. The other two he had yet to meet were taking their time deciding whether they should accept the invitation or not. Some part was also a waiting game meant to make Will desperate to hire them.

Power struggles were spread around every nook and cranny of Hollywood after all.

Apart from these three, the fourth person was Carson, who had succeeded in greatly impressing Will, just with his burning passion alone. Although there were some things that Carson would need to work out on, especially his appearance. But those were minor things compared to how good of a director he was.

“You know what, I ain’t gonna beat around the bush. You got the movie. A few things you need to note is that the actress of the movie is already decided and she’s someone who will be doing her debut movie. She is from DTA. We will get a top actor to perform the role of the male lead. Of course, you can recommend it if you have someone in mind, but the final decision depends on Dream Vision. With that said, welcome onboard. I hope for a successful movie.”

As Will started and finished what he had to say, Carson first got excited and then his expression turned so emotional that he seemed like he would cry at any moment. Thankfully, he held back.

And hence, Will succeeded in procuring a director for his second movie just on the first day after his break.