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Chapter 8 - Chapter 8: The Final Preparations

Thank you '๐—ช๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ก๐—ด๐—ผ' for subscribing on $10 Tier on my patreon.

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"What? I get 5% of the box office?" Martin was stunned. "Aunt Nancy, are you joking? Do newcomers usually get this kind of deal?"

Nancy burst into laughter, clutching her sides as she recovered from Martin's reaction. "You can thank your dad's investmentโ€”and your Aunt Nancy's negotiation skills."

"Not to mention, Mr. Eisner believes in you."

"But keep in mind, this is a one-time exception. If you continue in this industry, remember you're still a newcomer. Don't get ahead of yourself."

"I understand." Martin nodded earnestly, but he couldn't help asking one more question. "Are you sure it's a box office share and not a profit share?"

In Hollywood, the difference between a box office share and a profit share is huge. Profit shares are notoriously tricky, with studios often using "creative accounting" to show losses on major films. Can you believe even Harry Potter was claimed as unprofitable?

But box office shares were a safer bet.

"Relax. I've got it covered. And remember, your dad isn't just any outsider investor. He's experiencedโ€”he even invested in Jurassic Park back in the day."

"Then I feel totally secure," Martin grinned, doing some mental calculations.

In the original timeline, The Parent Trap grossed around $92 million with a budget of $15 million.

If he got 5% of that, he'd be looking at around $4.6 millionโ€”a huge sum, especially in the 1990s.

And he was confident that, with himself starring in the film, it would do even better. That's the demon charm talking.

---

November arrived quietly, and Kung Fu Panda hit the shelves.

Random House decided to hold back on revealing Martin's identity as the author. They planned a joint marketing campaign with Disney, set to begin in June, one month before the movie's July release.

When the time came, both companies would simultaneously promote Martin as a "prodigy writer" to generate massive public intrigue.

---

At school, Martin's friends were gathered around him as he said his goodbyes before heading off to join the movie set. Lindsay Lohan and Mark Zuckerberg stood beside him, with their towering classmate Johnโ€”the former school bullyโ€”standing guard behind Martin like a personal bodyguard.

Lindsay Lohan: "Martin, I'm so jealous! You're off to be a movie star. I wish I could act in a movie, too."

Mark Zuckerberg: "Martin, you're really going to be in a movie. This is amazing! My best friend's going to be a star. Oh, hey, can I get your autograph first?"

Lindsay Lohan: "And mine too!"

The two eagerly pulled out brand-new copies of Kung Fu Panda from their backpacks.

John glanced at the three, scoffing to himself. "Ha, so childishโ€”all three of them."

But inwardly, he was thrilled. "With Martin gone, I can be the big boss again!"

"John, John, what are you thinking about?" Martin's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Uh, I'm here!" John immediately straightened up, looking almost soldier-like. His obedience had become a reflex around Martin.

"John, while I'm away, you're not allowed to bully anyone, got it?"

"Uh, right, no bullying."

"And if someone else is getting bullied, you need to stand up for them."

"Right, stand up."

"Remember, you're not some villain who picks on the weak. You're supposed to be a hero."

"Right, a hero."

For some reason, every time John looked into Martin's bright blue eyes, a sense of loyalty surged within him, washing away any mischievous thoughts.

Martin smiled, nodding in satisfaction at John's eager obedience. For a demon like Martin, "persuading" someone was never difficult.

---

Meanwhile, at J.P. Morgan's investment office, Grant and Nancy were having a sibling conversation, one seated and the other standing.

"Nancy, when is filming set to start? I hope you can keep the schedule tight. I don't want Martin missing too much school." Grant sipped his wine and looked at Nancy expectantly.

"I'll make sure he has a tutor on set. His schoolwork won't suffer too much. But honestly, Grant, I never thought you'd let him go into acting. Hollywood's the most chaotic place on Earth when it comes to fame and fortune."

Grant set his glass down and replied with a smile, "Martin's a lot like you, you know. Dad was dead set against you entering the film industry, but you stubbornly charged right in, didn't you? Remember how furious he was back then? What was it he used to say?"

"We're a 'family of financiers!'" Grant and Nancy shouted in unison, both breaking into laughter.

"If I hadn't softened him up over the years, you two would probably still be feuding!"

"Hmph, like I care. That old man was always so stubborn." Nancy rolled her eyes, recalling her father's rigid, overbearing attitude that still frustrated her to this day.

Grant shrugged with a chuckle. "That's exactly why I don't want to be a rigid, overbearing father. If little Martin wants to try his hand at being a star, let him. Plus, he's a boyโ€”he'll have it easier than a girl would."

"This industry is full of people who 'play for both teams,' you know," Nancy reminded him.

"Hmph. With me backing him, I'd like to see anyone try to mess with him."

As J.P. Morgan's head of investment banking, Grant wielded a powerful network of connections; he held the purse strings of countless wealthy clients.

"Alright, alright. Martin's not just your sonโ€”he's my nephew, too. I'll make sure no lowlifes get close to him."

"Perfect, Nancy. I'm entrusting Martin to you. Now, let's discuss the investment. How much do you need?"

"At least $7.5 million. I estimate the total budget for the film will be around $15 million, and Disney's only willing to cover half. Plus, they insist on handling distribution."

"Those greedy hyenas!"

"Hey, Grant, you're not backing out now, are you?" Nancy raised an eyebrow, looking ready to argue.

"Of course not. For my dear sisterโ€”and my dear sonโ€”I'll gladly invest $7.5 million," Grant said, spreading his hands. "Just keep an eye on that money, Nancy. It's not a lot, but I don't like being swindled. I have no interest in becoming one of those fools who throw cash at Hollywood for nothing."

"Relax. As the producer, I'll keep the budget under control."

"By the way, Random House only gave us eight months. That means we have to release the movie by next summer. If we miss the deadline, they'll move forward on their own. Time's tight. When can Martin start filming?"

"Are the preparations complete?"

"Absolutely."

"Then tomorrow. Martin already took today off to say goodbye to his friends."

"Good, tomorrow it is."

[๏ปฟโ€ขโ€”โ€”โ€”โ€ขโ€”โ€”โ€”โ€ขโ€”โ€”โ€”โ€ข]

๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™– ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™จ ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™œ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™จ๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ค ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ ๐™ข๐™š ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™Ÿ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฎ. ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ž๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ ๐™š ๐™– ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ก ๐™™๐™ž๐™›๐™›๐™š๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š!

๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ:

โ€ข ๐™…๐™˜๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ

โ€ข ๐˜ผ๐™๐™ข๐™–๐™ง๐™ž๐™Ÿ๐™–๐™

โ€ข ๐—๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฏ ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ

๐—”๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป, ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ:

โ€ข ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฐ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€: ๐™‚๐™š๐™ฉ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿด๐Ÿฑ+ ๐™–๐™™๐™ซ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š๐™™ ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™–๐™๐™š๐™–๐™™ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™š๐™ก๐™จ๐™š.

โ€ข ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฐ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜-๐—ข๐˜‚๐˜: ๐™๐™š๐™˜๐™š๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™– ๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™˜๐™ž๐™–๐™ก ๐™จ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™–๐™จ ๐™– ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ!

๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—น๐˜† ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜€ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€๐—ผ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ๐˜€ ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†. ๐—œ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚'๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐˜, ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ท๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜‚๐˜€!

๐Ÿ‘‰ ๐™…๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ: ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™š๐™ค๐™ฃ.๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข/๐™‚๐™ค๐™™๐™Š๐™›๐™๐™š๐™–๐™™๐™š๐™ง

๐Ÿ’ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ก๐™จ๐™ค ๐˜ผ๐™ซ๐™–๐™ž๐™ก๐™–๐™—๐™ก๐™š: ๐™ˆ๐™ฎ ๐˜ผ๐™™๐™ซ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š๐™™ ๐™๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™‹๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ฉ! ๐™๐™ฃ๐™ก๐™ค๐™˜๐™  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™š๐™ญ๐™˜๐™ก๐™ช๐™จ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ค๐™ก ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง $30โ€”๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™– 10% ๐™™๐™ž๐™จ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ฉ! ๐™…๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ช๐™จ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™ค๐™™๐™š: ๐—š๐—ข๐——๐—ข๐—™๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—”๐——๐—˜๐—ฅ.

๐™’๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ค๐™› ๐˜พ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ๐™‚๐™‹๐™ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™—๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐˜ผ๐™™๐™ซ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š๐™™ ๐™๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™‹๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ฉ, ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™š๐™›๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š ๐˜พ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™š ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š๐™ก๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™€๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ก๐™ž๐™จ๐™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™๐™ช๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ-๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™–๐™˜๐™˜๐™ช๐™ง๐™–๐™˜๐™ฎ, ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ฃ๐™ช๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™™๐™š๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ž๐™ก. ๐™๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ค๐™ก ๐™™๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ช๐™ก๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ง๐™ž๐™ซ๐™–๐™ก ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™›๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐™๐™ช๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™จ, ๐™—๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™–๐™˜๐™˜๐™ช๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š!

๐Ÿ‘‰๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฝ: ๐™‹๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™š๐™ค๐™ฃ.๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข/๐™‚๐™ค๐™™๐™Š๐™›๐™๐™š๐™–๐™™๐™š๐™ง/๐™Ž๐™๐™ค๐™ฅ

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