[At Renner Studios - California]

“Can we zoom in to the engine with the next scene? Without that, I don’t think it’s going to look complete…” Ian talked to Steffen who had his eyes on the computer.

It had been a week after the date and the little moment that Ian and Raelynn shared. Nevertheless, the director hopped on to the world of work and Hollywood right after it.

“Ian, Mr. Smith is here,” Niko said while walking inside the editing room.

Ian stood up muttering thanks and walked away to meet Mr. Smith. Walking inside the blue-themed office, he walked around the office and sat down.

The man in front of him was dressed in a rich suit, and the smile on his face explained the friendly treaty for why he was there.

“Good to see you again, Mr. Smith. After the Christmas party, how have you been?” Ian asked.

“Ah, times have been the same for me, Ian. I mean, working and waking. What more?”

Ian chuckled at the statement. “Yeah, what brought you here?”

Mr. Smith was another shareholder of Renners Studio. The main factor of concern was how even the other investors were practically under him and Ian had no idea why the man was even here to meet him.

Ian had guessed a lot of reasons why and he couldn’t wrap his finger around a single legitimate reason why Smith was there to meet him.

“Straight to the matter, I see. I want to talk about the future of Renner Studios-”

“What?” Ian was shocked by the question. Although he didn’t even allow Mr. Smith to complete the question, he knew what was yet to come. “Haven’t I shown enough proof of what I’ve been doing?” Ian asked sternly.

There was a lot at stake if Mr. Smith withdrew from the deal he has with Renner Studios.

‘Stop the crazy thoughts, the man hasn’t even started to speak yet’ Ian thought to himself.

“Well, at the Christmas party, that was when we first heard how Mason has been trying to retire for quite some time now. I didn’t even know that my company was aware of it. I was on a vacation before and uh… Let’s just say the details aren’t important.

“What I wanted to ask is, no matter how good you’re in the industry or good with making movies, what we saw in the studio is Mason. He worked day and night to make the studio a hit, and his retirement means that… What guarantee do we have with the future of the company?” Smith questioned right away.

“Well, Mr. Smith. I can’t tell you what exactly can you expect with the future of Renner Studios, but I can assure you that my work or my plans would remain the same. If I’m not getting it clearly, is this a way of you saying that you don’t trust me with the company?” Ian asked back.

At the same time, the conversation was disturbed by the ringing of Smith’s phone.

“Oh, Mason…” He said and answered immediately.

Of course, not before walking out of the room.

-

5 pm - Renner Studios

The studio was filled with Ian and several editors who were already working on t scenes.

There they have been doing color correcting, and sound editing to everything that includes the rest of the movie to be completed.

“Light blue, or should it be white?” Steffen asked looking at the screen.

“As it’s like a little effect, I’d say go with white. Ethan, how long would it take for you to complete the rest of the scene? It’s already 5 and we have just a week more to complete everything and recheck with scenes,” Ian asked while he was standing in the back.

Ethan, who was a blonde man turned to look at him while touching his hair and answered, “Give me thirty minutes. I guess, the coders must be here by tomorrow so that we could complete setting up the rest we need help with.”

“Yeah, okay. I’m going home then, also don’t forget to check the interview, at 8 with Diesel and Walker. They seem to have gotten some light even before the movie, which is a good thing.”

“Yeah,”

“Sure thing, boss”

“Okay, Ian!”

Voices came after him as he walked down the aisle of the office so that he could reach the elevator.

Seeing the lady in front of the elevator, a smile was drawn to his face.

“Good to see you again, Rae,” Ian walked behind her and smiled.

She was taken aback by his appearance but reacted as she’d normally, “Nice to see you too. I thought you would be spending the night with them, like yesterday?”

“Nah, too tired. I have some documents to take care of. After all, Mason left everything for me, and I don’t have much time to catch up unless I come to the office too early. Anyway, how about we grab dinner and I can drop you home?” Ian asked with a cheeky grin.

It had become something regular. If they both work together and spend late nights, they’d grab dinner and head home.

“Sure, I’d love that. Thank you. I’m planning to start the auditions on Monday, would that be fine?” Raelynn asked making Ian’s eyebrows raise in question.

“Monday is in three days, are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“The documents are already on the way to the agency, Ian. and I think I’m more than ready to do this, don’t you?”

They both got into the elevator while Ian pressed buttons to get into the car park.

“If you think so, and Mr. Smith, did you see where he disappeared after the conversation?”

Rae looked back at him with her large eyes and frowned. “He walked away. I and Niko were confused but we thought you guys are done with the conversation. He went with a frown as well, I’ve no idea what it is about,” she said.

“It’s okay,” Ian whispered while putting his hand around her waist.

-

The next big thing that was going to happen with the Renner Studio was the sequel of Batman.

Raelynn was in her apartment, highlighting things from the script and trying to get ready for the auditions. The script in her hand was heavily detailed but perfectly written and what she was able to get a grasp on was how the character of batman and the vibes were played similarly to the first movie.

The plot of the movie follows vigilante Batman, police lieutenant James Gordon, and district attorney Harvey Dent who form an alliance to dismantle organized crime in Gotham City. Their efforts are derailed by Joker, an anarchistic mastermind who seeks to test how far Batman will go to save the city from complete chaos.

Besides the script, there were script notes which she thought were important. On the top of the notes, there was the message that was given through the movie to the audience. The Dark Knight was majorly about lies. It's about the lies we tell ourselves in order to live and interact with other people. For Ian, he sees deception not as an inherently malevolent destructive force, but as a tool.

In the script, she noticed what the movie says about society. Although it wasn’t very directly portrayed there was a subtle way of showing what The Dark Knight says about the society we live in. Batman believes society can be stable on its own and tries to be that extreme example of stability and in-corruption for people to look up to and model themselves after. In reality, however, morality is not so black and white.

The next thing that was written was how Batman, the symbolic and archetypal figure is representing the individual who might take justice into his own hands in order to keep people safe.

The list of the things that she gathered throughout the script, and even by watching the first movie was huge, meaningful, deep, and truly something. In a way, she was stunned about her boyfriend—the man she’s dating, and in another way, she was proud of what they were able to pull off with the movie.

“This is truly fucking something,” she whispered to herself as she roamed her eyes through the letters one by one, over and over.

But there was a single question left by the end of the paper.

- What makes Batman special from other superheroes?

“And I think I know what makes Batman the most remarkable and relatable superhero….” She sighed before answering to herself, "It is that he is complicated, just like all members of humanity. Instead of being a superhero to admire, Batman is a superhero that inspires because he teaches audiences that it doesn't take a perfect person to do good things.”

‘I’m ready to create a good movie,” she said to herself before putting all her stuff away so she could sleep.

-

A/N; VOTE! Read advanced chapters on -Patreon.com/TC_L. tysm!