Three weeks later, they were still discussing and finalising items on their pre-production list.

Ian had recruited a new manager within three weeks. The new manager’s name was John Smith. He was a thirty-two-year-old man, with more than ten years of experience in the industry.

His CV explained a lot about him, but what made him take Smith as his manager was how he knew Mason for a long time.

After going through around fifty applications, in the end, it was an easy choice.

“And we need to hire a good CGI team. That is… Very important,” Ian said, putting pressure on his words.

“Sure, it is a good thing that you mentioned it,” Smith said and looked at the notes he had.

“Hm?”

“Here are a few famous CGI teams in the industry. Most of them have worked with famous movies such as June, and The Mask Off. Oscar-winning movies… If we can contact them as soon as possible, I think they’d be willing to face interviews.”

“Hmm,” Ian was impressed by how Smith had done his research. But, he had something else in his mind. “I have the previous CGI team, who worked with the studio for Avatar. Can you try and contact them? They did a fairly good job, and the teammates are much more familiar with me.”

Smith nodded. “Will do.”

“And Smith, I might need your help with finalising the budgeting,” Ian said and looked at the green-eyed man.

“No problem, let me know what we’re going to do. I can help… But Ian, I thought it’s already done?”

“I had some work to do during the last few weeks. Especially with the book release. You can simply talk to Murphy about my schedule, and uh, can you check on the set, too? Mr Lee should have contacted me a week ago, but he didn’t. Or just ask Murphy to check on that,” Ian said and shook his head with a slight chuckle.

For a moment, he forgot that he wasn’t talking to Murphy. With the manager, he knew that he couldn’t order around and expect him to do everything. It was a fifty-fifty job.

And Ian was exhausted before hiring the manager. During the past few weeks, he had to attend several media-op and do several interviews to promote A Game of Thrones.

He also had several signing events to attend, where he did nothing but sign copies and talk with the fans.

As the days passed rapidly, the generals' liking for Game of Thrones grew. And even after a month of its release, the sales kept on increasing, both digital and hard copies.

Which made things much harder for him. Although it was good news that the revenues were increasing, it meant that people expected him to appear more in his socials.

“Ah, no problem. You should take some rest, you look tired,” Smith said, concerned with how Ian was too focused on the screen.

“I will leave early today. In a month, we’re about to begin shooting anyway. So, make sure everything is in order,” Ian said and looked at Smith.

“Yes, Mr. Renner. I will be back with the updates.”

“Okay.”

Smith stood up and walked out of the office room. Next, Raelynn walked in, without even knocking on the door.

“How are you doing? You barely got any sleep last night,” she said and walked in with a cup of coffee.

She kept it on the table and went to stand in front of him. Her hand reached his hair as she slowly raked through the hair.

Ian felt a sense of comfort and ease when she did that. A good massage and a good coffee were what exactly he needed after using his brain too much.

“I’ll leave early today. I was working on a script the whole night-”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, but I feel like I shouldn’t push it too hard. I’m already doing a project right now. It’s better to focus on it,” Ian said and kept his head on her stomach.

She kept raking her fingers through his hair.

“I mean, you can’t avoid creativity, can you? But it is better to get some rest. You don’t want to get sick right now, trust me,” Rae said and consoled him.

-

[In the mansion]

As soon as Ian stepped inside the empty mansion, he was greeted with Valerie who had a bowl of soup in her hand.

From her looks, he could tell that she was concerned.

“Master, please, have this first. Miss Raelynn called and said that you skipped lunch. This soup will help you refreshen, and then have dinner,” she said and took a step forward.

“Thank you, Valerie.”

Ian said, grabbed the plate and walked to his room. He knew that he needed to have his space and get some sleep before he could start working again.

The next thing he knew was that he was in his room, eating the soup alone while scrolling through his mind library.

He opened and closed folders just to view what he could do next. He was already writing a script, but he needed to explore his options to select his next movie.

He took a bite of the soup and enjoyed the chicken flavour that was rich in the bite he took.

‘This is good

He thought and started looking more into his memory library.

Although he already started a few series back to back, he knew that he needed something more original to establish his name in the industry.

And when he has an established name, in the later years, he could simply do sequels and gain the attention of the world. But his next project after Star Wars should only elevate his director skills in front of others’ eyes.

It should also be something that he’d enjoy making.

“This is only getting harder,” he said aloud.

His eyes were closed and he was taking bite after another from his soup.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp sting from one side of his brain. He closed his eyes tightly at the sensation. It felt extremely painful as he flinched.

He almost dropped the plate, but kept it in the bed itself.

“Shit!” he yelled as he grabbed his head with both of his hands.

-

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