My Hollywood System

Chapter 64:

After the Oscar award ceremony was over, Will felt like his hands were hurting from clapping too much. But it was not yet over.

The awards have been given, but the celebration was still just starting.

One of the major parts of Oscar was the after-party that would happen after it. Many movie corporations and sponsors of the events would organize after-parties.

And Will had also been invited to a few of them.

Truth be told, rather than the ceremony, he was looking forward to the after-party. After all, it was the place to make more connections and today; there were other reasons for him to go to an after-party.

“Will, I’m sorry. But I can’t go to the after-party with you.”

As they were on the way to their car, June slowly said to him. Although she had enjoyed the prestigious event, Will could see that she was a little exhausted.

“Is there any reason?”

“Yeah, I have an audition tomorrow, and I need to look my best for it. If I go to the after-party with you, I won’t be able to wake up in time.”

Will made a confused expression at that and said.

“You are having a lot of auditions these days.”

“Yeah, the agency is pushing me because of my growing popularity. This audition tomorrow is even for a lead role.”

June nodded with a smile, and Will didn’t object more. He was happy that she was taking her dream so seriously. But her expression did seem a little odd to him.

He wanted to ask about it, but he didn’t push and decided to ask about it later. They got in the car, and Will got off in a nearby five-star hotel.

One of the after-parties was happening here. Foxstar actually organized it, and because of their relationship, he had gotten an invite.

He showed the invitation to the staff and got on the elevator to the sixth floor where the after-party was happening. Foxstar studios had bagged three awards.

The best editing, cinematography and best-adapted screenplay awards went to Foxstar.

Though these awards were technical, it was still a matter of great pride, and they weren’t shy to show it off.

When Will reached the after-party, he saw many celebrities talking and chatting among themselves. Some of them looked drunk, while some of them were flirting with the other gender.

No one wanted to go home alone today after all.

As Will made his way in, a familiar face recognized him and waved at him.

“Hey, Will, come here!”

It was James, someone who had been in regular talks with Will over the casting of [Sherlock Holmes]. Will smiled and walked towards him.

“James, congrats on the awards.”

“Thanks. We are quite happy with them, and our Chairman was just here congratulating the winners, but he left with some other people to discuss some stuff.” He said, then not finding anyone besides Will, he asked. “Where’s your date?”

“She needed to leave early.”

“That’s too bad. But it’s also an opportunity to meet new people. You are new to Hollywood, but here, people keep moving on from stuff to always look for something different.”

As James said that, Will just smiled in response. He knew what he was hinting at, but Will wasn’t the type to do this sort of stuff.

But it seemed like James was bent on showing Will a different side to Hollywood. He suddenly called a young actress over to them and introduced her to him.

“Will, meet May Warner; she’s been working in Hollywood for years and started as a child actress in a Foxstar production.”

“Hello, Mr Evans. I have heard a lot of stuff about you, and you can call me May.”

May pushed out her hand in front of him, and he shook it with a smile. He knew who she was.

After all, only a small number of child actors were able to stay relevant in their adulthood. May was one of them.

While shaking hands, his eyes unconsciously wandered to her low cut dress, which showed all her right curves. When she noticed his eyes, May couldn’t help but feel a little proud, but Will was thinking something completely different in his mind.

‘She’s another one of the child actors who directly went to a sexy image to cast off the child actor curse.’

Many child actors don’t stay relevant after reaching teenage and puberty in Hollywood.

Many of these will try to change their image and May in front of him as someone who started wearing more short clothes and even posed for an underwear brand to shake off her innocent child actor image.

As Will was thinking of that, James praised him in front of May, thinking of himself as some wingman.

“Will here would be directing a movie for Foxstar soon. I can’t say much, but in next year’s Oscars, his movie might win some awards.”

Obviously, James’ words were the reason for alcohol and him trying to sell Will to May, but it certainly worked as her eyes shone.

“Is that so? Then, Mr Evans, do you think I can get a role in it?”

She said, giving him an ambiguous smile.

“Maybe. If you pass the audition, then I think there will be a role for you.”

He had said it with pure intentions, but May took it wrong. She leaned at him seductively and whispered.

“Do you think we can hold a private audition tonight?”

‘Son of a banshee! Why are you taking it the wrong way?’

He thought in his mind and just wryly smiled. Somehow, he managed to shake off May and James and looked around the room.

Many famous actors, producers, directors were already talking in small social circles. Will didn’t try to approach them, and instead, his eyes kept looking for someone else.

Finally, after a while, he saw the one he was looking for.

‘Ewan Rees’

He was the main reason why Will was at the after-party.

He was an actor in his early 40s, black hair with an imposing aura around him and popularity which not only made him famous in Hollywood but all over the world. In the last five years, he had only done four movies, but they were a big hit.

The reason why he was so slow was because of his pickiness. He would only work with certain directors, and for this reason, he had changed three agencies in the last five years.

He will simply fire an agent if he fails to get the role he wants. And this had already happened a lot, and due to that, he was still on the free-agent market.

His antics reminded Will of Leonardo di Caprio who had fired a lot of agents to work with Martin Scorsese, and it was something well known in Hollywood.

Even now, Ewan was not bothering to socialize and was simply sitting alone, drinking wine in silence. Many people tried to approach him, but he simply shrugged them off.

“Hello, Mr Rees.”

Will said as he sat down next to him. Seeing his approach, which one can easily be inferred as arrogance, Ewan raised his eyebrow.

“You are that young director who shot it big. What are you doing here, kid?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

Will said, getting straight to the point. The longer he tries to be overly polite, the quicker Ewan will tell him to leave.

“I am at this party for the wine, not for any business. If you want to have a meeting, contact my agent.”

“I will if he manages to get you a role in Simon Vercetti’s next movie by this week. Otherwise, he’s gonna get fired too.”

Simon Vercetti was one of the most acclaimed directors in Hollywood who had won 2 Oscars before. There were rumors that he was itching to work on his next movie, and Ewan wanted to work with him no matter what.

That was something that everyone in Hollywood knew.

“That’s true. Anyway, I think this introduction was enough. Let me drink in peace, and maybe, one day, when you are a good enough director, maybe I will fire people to work with you too.”

Ewan said with a laugh, but his tone was one that was telling Will to leave. But he stayed seated and suddenly said,

“That’s too bad. Cause I wanted to talk about Simon. We were in a meeting just last week, and if our talk was a bit nicer, I was going to recommend you as the lead in his next movie.”

“What did you just say?”

Ewan stopped drinking and looked at him with both shock and confusion. He didn’t know if the young man in front of him had too much to drink or was simply trying to get his attention.

“I think you heard me quite well. Let me introduce myself again. My name is Will Evans, and I’m the screenwriter for Simon Vercetti’s next movie.”

The reason why Will had asked Amanda to get a meeting with Uncle Ben was because of this.

Simon Vercetti was one of the highest-paid directors, and he used to belong to MCA before opening his own production house.

Still, he had good connections with MCA, and Will used those to get a meeting with him to show one of the scripts he bought from the system.

Simon was looking through a plethora of scripts to shoot his next movie, and Will was trying to use this opportunity.

Fortunately, the meeting went well, and he was now the screenwriter for his movie.

…

//DreamNote//

Rank 1 in powerstone ranking this week = 1 extra chapter on mondays!

It begins from today.