[At The Cube Pictures]

Mason Striver was in the office room of Angela Bird, the wife of the CEO of Cube Pictures, Jackson Corealla.

"It's so good to meet you in person, Mr. Striver," Angela acknowledged him with a polite smile.

"So are you, after a long time meeting for something related to your next project, hits nostalgia and at the same time, good to see you back," Mason replied with a smile.

Although Angela Bird and Mason had never worked together, they had met once or twice—that too, for some meetings when it was the time when Angela was working in the industry.

"Yeah, feels nice to start something fresh, and Mr. Renner?"

"Oh yes, Ian should be here at any moment, I think he spent the night in the VFX editing room considering how much work he decided to do yesterday, so what are your plans with Resident Evil?" Mason questioned.

"Well, as I said, it would be an adaptation from the script, and I would be writing it. I'm almost done with the script too, and yes, the rest… You're aware," She said.

Since Ian was busy with the Avatar project, Ian and Angela had a conversation during the shooting of Avatar, regarding the Resident Evil project, which she had wanted to work since so long.

After she read the book, she wanted to make a come back in the industry. Therefore, she discussed the details with Ian, and they both agreed it to be a joint production of Cube Pictures and Renner Studio.

From what they agreed upon, Cube Pictures would invest more considering it was the CEO's wife who was directing the movie.

"Excuse me, I'm late," Ian said walking inside after seeing an accepting smile from Angela.

"Ah, no problem, Ian. Heard you were working hard on your new project," Angela commented.

"Yeah, these days, quite busy with that. Since it's the start, I need to check around a lot, and it's going great actually. How have you been? And hello, uncle," Ian said while taking a seat.

Mason smiled and nodded while Angela replied, "I have been great."

"Yes, then let's start the discussion. My end of the deal is pretty short and straightforward. The IP of Resident Evil would be under Ian—Renner Studio, but the movie would be yours to do anything as you please. But again, I'd like to talk about the royalties. And, I'm ready to help with whatever because this would be another project under Renner Studio which I'd work as the producer," Mason said while leaning back in the chair.

"Yes, sure, we'll discuss the royalties at last. The pre-production will start next week, and we'd talk about the time to schedule a time regarding the audition," Angela said with a smile.

"The set is already being made?" Ian questioned.

"Yes, it is. And the thing I wanted to discuss, is the story. You mentioned that you have suggestions for the story right? Can we discuss them now?"

"Well, the thing is, I have plans for Resident Evil, more like I had them ever since I wrote the novel—"

"What kind of plans, if I may ask?"

"I think Resident Evil would do much better in another franchise. And, I don't want to risk anything by over-sharing, so let's just give it the benefit of the doubt. And regarding the movie…."

Ian started to explain to her the negative critics that the original world movie had gotten. Critics like how it was poor in action, and how less scary it was, were some severely disappointing reviews that the movie had gotten.

What he had in mind was different, he wanted Angela to produce a movie that could change the whole idea Ian personally had in mind about the movie. After that, he would do what Resident Evil did better, a video game franchise.

Furthermore, Ian discussed the creative planning, and mainly the plot. The discussion went on for a few more hours, considering they had to describe every little detail that Angela had in mind and Ian's suggestions.

Ian wanted Resident Evil to be a more frightening movie than the one to exist in his mind. He wanted the perfect entertainment, horror-thriller adventure as he felt while writing the novel.

"Also, there are some iconic things I want to mention to adapt for the movie. The characters like Wesker, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, Chris Redfield, and Leon, should be very similar to how they were in the book. This would be something that I have plans for, so these subtle things… It'd be great if you can maintain them for the movie," Ian said.

Angela nodded her head in understanding. She cleared her throat after a while of silence, and asked, "If you can tell me about them, I'd try my best in regards to that. I think the book itself provided a lot of clear descriptions about the characters."

"Yeah well, Wesker… His iconic sunglasses would be something that people would admire, such as Jill Valentine's hair, Clair Redfield, and Chris's appearance…. And Leon, I want the man to be like a badass just as in the book. It shouldn't be exaggerated, but it would be great if his personality is subtly shown enough to get a glimpse of it. And then, the acting…. I'd love to join the auditions, but I don't think my schedule would be clear at any moment considering I have more plans, like a new movie I have thought of—"

Both Angela and Mason said, 'Oh' together.

"Well yeah, since I know you'd go with A-grade actors, the acting would not be much of a problem. The other thing is the stunts, since this is an action, thriller, and horror game, the things like the stunts would be great if taken properly," Ian said. Although he wanted to point out every single thing coming to his mind at the moment, he couldn't.

He couldn't let the woman in front of him think that he was belittling what she had achieved. So, he remained without explaining further.

"Well, yeah, we both are on the same page. And something I admired about you from the start is how clear you are, anyway, about the actions…."

The meeting ended with Mason retaining the Resident Evil IP but selling the Resident Evil movie-making license, at the cost of royalties on each movie. The royalties are to be based on box office percentages.

Walking out of the office, Mason's thoughts were clouded with something else— 'Will she be able to successfully execute the project considering how long she hasn't participated in directing?'.

-

A man wearing a leather jacket, with a pair of denim walked down the stairs. Around him, there were people—inside a grocery store. Some were talking, some others were picking grocery items, and there was even a girl and a boy, flirting in the middle of the store.

The man was none other than Ryan Gosling. His eyes were calm and he was silent while pushing the cart where it included milk, eggs, and some other stuff.

He kept walking to reach his destination, which was the fruit sale, and suddenly he was taken back by what happened.

*Slap!*

A short girl who wore a yellow dress came out of nowhere, and the slap landed on his right cheek. It reddened due to how strong the slap was.

"What the f–?!" Ryan saw the lady and stopped the word which was about to slip off.

"Oh yeah?! I saw the way you were talking with that woman over there! Hey woman, this is my boyfriend?!" She yelled, making pairs of eyes turn toward Ryan.

He looked around in embarrassment. "Shhh…"

"What shush?! Is this how you promised to treat me?!" She shouted again.

"That's my mother!" Ryan lost his shit considering how many pairs of eyes were focused on them.

"Cut! That was a good shot! Ryan, well done! Take a few minutes to have your lunch!" The director who sat behind the monitor said, making everyone nod and whisper among each other.

"Well done, boy!" Tristan said enthusiastically.

Tristan was Ryan's agent. Ever since Ryan acted in La La Land, his famous points increased in millions. He got many requests from famous directors to star in movies that they were doing. Many movies he got requested were Rom-coms.

After his agent went through everything, they finally agreed on 'More than Life' which was also a rom-com. Yet, the story and the director were both promising in his career, therefore they agreed on it. It had already been two months since the shooting started for the movie.

"I didn't expect you here today, anything new?" Ryan asked after taking the bottle of water and chugging it down.

"Yeah, Murphy called in the morning," Tristan said, making Ryan's eyes widen.

"Murphy—Ian's assistant right?"

"Yeah, Ian is asking for a meeting it seems, I was thinking of arranging time in your schedule since you're working on just one movie for now," Tristan said while a slight smile played on his lips.

"Why would you even ask me?! Just do it!" He said and chuckled.

"Haha… Knew it, just wanted to see your reaction in person."