“About that, I actually have an offer for you. More like, it’s an offer from Will.”

Susan raised an eyebrow as soon as he heard the name of Will Evans, one of the current hot commodities of Hollywood.

“And what exactly is this offer that you are talking about?”

Susan asked, a bit interested. She didn’t want her date to turn into a business deal, but she knew Robert better. If he brought it up during the date, it means that it was something important.

“Well, Dream Vision is currently looking for a lot of employees, and one of the designations up for the grab is that of an assistant producer. It’s a known fact that Dream Vision is trying to expand its current workforce, at least by twice what it already has.”

Robert said as he took a sip of his wine. Will had told him about the [Friends] series and it was Robert himself who had talked about Susan, to which Will said to get her to a meeting with him.

Susan, who was already aware of the current situation of Hollywood, and how big studios were wary of the dark horse named Will Evans, was trying to come up with measures to somehow drag him down. So right now, working with Will Evans could be taken as using a dual-edged sword, without a handle. It would either hurt you or your enemies.

“Will is about to introduce a new series called [Friends]. It’s going to be aired on RBO and he is currently recruiting the staff and team for that series. He would like to take you on board as the assistant director of the series. For now, if you want me to proceed, just tell me and I’ll arrange a meeting between you two.”

Robert said, looking at Susan’s face for any possible reaction. Being the businesswoman and experienced producer in Hollywood that Susan was, she didn’t show any particular change on her face, even in front of her boyfriend.

“Yep. You can go ahead and tell him to arrange a meeting. It won’t hurt to talk it out once, would it?”

And just like that, their topic shifted to sweet nothings of lovers as their date proceeded.

***

Miami, Florida.

Of the thousands of people that lived in Miami, was one normal high schooler named Billy. He had been a fan of comics and animated series ever since he was 6 years old. He would regularly watch the TV shows that aired on various cartoon channels and would read comics of various types.

His favourite of all time being the superhero comics from Marvel and DC. In simple words, he was a huge fan and would usually keep track of all the happenings related to the two comics.

Recently, Marvel’s ownership was changed and everybody expected huge changes to arrive. And they did arrive! A piece of news confirmed that an app for reading comics would be launched by Dream’s Marvel soon and it would be accepting beta testers in the near future.

Today was the day that the beta program would be launched and Billy was nothing short of being excited. All he wanted was to get a chance to become a beta tester and see what features this app had to offer.

Luckily, his form for beta testing had actually been accepted and he was just waiting for the app to be launched on the website.

After an hour, the wait was finally over and the app was finally here. It had the iconic red and white logo of Marvel as its app thumbnail. After clicking on the app, an animation would pop up with stars and cameras jumping around, as ‘Dream’s Marvel’ was written in a stylish font. With the [Dream’s] part being smaller and just adobe the white-colored Marvel text which was on a red background.

After starting the app, he saw just three to four comics available on it. And the first one was named ‘Spiderman’.

Billy clicked on it and dived into the world of a nerdy newspaper photographer who was also a part-time superhero.

***

Dream Vision Office, Santa Monica, California.

Susan Levin had come to meet Will Evans after having a talk with Robert. When she agreed for a meeting, Will immediately told Alexia to set up a meeting with her.

Currently in Will’s office.

“So it’s basically the lives of six friends, and their stories as they go through various phases in their life. It will be what I call a ‘sitcom’; a situational comedy. Sometimes sweet, sometimes funny, sometimes emotional, and sometimes absurd.”

Will was trying to give Susan an idea as to what [Friends] was, and how he wanted it to present itself to the audience.

“So, I get the gist of everything. But I don’t understand something. Why me? Aren’t you working with OP pictures for this project? Don’t they want to have their own assistant directors at least?”

Susan asked, a bit confused.

“It’s because I didn’t let them. I am giving them the show itself, for three whole seasons. I won’t be giving up any rights to them that could cause me any potential threat later on.”

Being the smart woman that she was, Susan immediately understood the meaning behind Will’s words. There were high chances that there would be more seasons and Will didn’t want it to continue getting aired on Netflix.

As to how he even convinced OP Pictures, one of the big six, with such a deal, was beyond Susan. Will wanted to appoint his own staff and cast behind the series, so that later on when he does decide to shift to some other platform or channel, he wouldn’t need to worry about losing out.

“I have already seen the other projects that you have worked on and have an idea of your work style, so I want to appoint you as the head of the TV production department.”

Will put out his proposal. He had already made her sign an NDA even before the meeting began, so he wasn’t scared that she would disclose the contents of the meeting that easily even if she didn’t agree to head the project.

“To be frank with you, I am very excited about the project itself. And I would be happy to head the project if you trust me with it.”

Susan said in an excited manner. Will held his hand out for a handshake as Susan shook it.

“To a fruitful future.”

***

Sunlit Cafe, LA, California.

The Sunlit cafe was a normal cafe in the eastern district of LA. It was a place where a lot of office workers, university students, and people, in general, would frequent.

The prices were affordable and the quality of the coffee wasn’t too bad either. Jennifer Aniston was a Barista in this cafe. She had a square worst face and dark blond hair. She was a film school graduate and at the age of 24, had yet to see any progress in her acting career.

She was serving a cup of coffee to a customer when a man with a rectangular face and a big forehead entered the coffee shop. Her eyes inadvertently fell on the man as a smile bloomed on her face.

“Hey, Matthew. Why are you here today?”

The guy who had just entered was Jennifer’s best friend named Matthew Perry. They both had studied together in the same high school and the same film school. They even shared the same failure in landing a role!

“Hi, Jennifer. Well, let's grab some coffee first.”

Matthew said in a somewhat bitter tone and Jennifer smiled sadly. She knew all too well the meaning behind Matthew’s smile, yet she didn’t say anything.

After a while, both Jennifer and Matthew were sitting opposite each other with 2 mugs of coffee in their hands.

“Well, are you going to say anything?”

Jennifer asked, and Matthew couldn’t help but let out an exhausted sigh.

“I can’t do it anymore. I have chased after something impossible and impractical for too long now, I can’t keep doing this. I have a family too and I need to learn someday that reality can be cruel sometimes. I am going for a job interview today.”

Matthew said and Jennifer couldn’t say anything for a while. Matthew was her only friend that she still had and that had been tagging along with her for years in the hopes of making it big someday in the industry. Heck, they rarely got extra roles, forget about supporting or main cast.

After a while, as if something clicked on Jennifer’s mind, she took out her phone and opened a website as she showed it to Matthew.

“Look at what I found!”

She said, faking excitement that Matthew was all too aware of.

The website had an advertisement about some kind of talent hunt.

[Dream Talent Agency has organised a talent hunt. Showcase your talent and maybe you can be our next Robert, Natalie or Leo.]

The advertisement was from a talent agency called DTA which had been famous in recent months. It was a company that was part of Dream International Corporation and was owned by Will.

“Stop it Jen. It’s been years already, it’s about time we both learn to accept our reality. How much more time do you want to waste by auditioning after seeing such articles everyday?”

Matthew replied, somewhat angry that Jennifer still hadn’t learnt her lesson.

“Matt, do me a favor, please? Just one last time, come and audition with me. And if nothing comes out of it, then I would never bring up acting in front of you.”

Jennifer begged with red eyes. She had always dreamt of becoming an actress her whole life, wasted years to fulfill her dream and now she just couldn’t accept how fate was being with her.

Looking at Jennifer’s face which was barely holding back from crying outright, Matthew sighed as he said.

“Okay, I have already done it so many times that it won’t hurt one more time. But remember, I would never join you in this type of fools; errand next time.”

Matthew couldn’t help but feel a sense of deja vu. It felt like he had said this line a lot of times and couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. He himself could never give up on acting and was just using Jennifer to hide his own insecurities by showing himself as the strong one.

“Really? Yay! You’re the best. I am sure this time we’ll get selected!”

Jennifer jumped from her seat as she hugged Matthew and kissed him on his cheek, who just smiled. It had been years following this foolish girl and he just hoped that one day, he could say that being her friend was worthwhile.

Jennifer inwardly prayed to god so that this time they could get selected. After all, Will Evans was famous for picking up new talents, and both Matthew and Jennifer were confident in their acting skills.