Hollywood: Head-Hunting System

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works. If you recognize it from somewhere else, surprise, it isn't mine.

________________________

Recap of the previous chapter -

Marks checks the group's moral score and is surprised to see them in the high 90s. Happy with their integrity and moral values, he decides to open up to them. He tells the group about this gift or curse. Passing off is plagiarism as a gift/curse of creative genius. They discuss the T&Cs and come to an agreement.

_________________________

..

~ Jess's POV ~

..

Date: April 15th, 1990, the same day.

.

Location: On the way to the meeting room.

.

Time: 10:48 am.

.

Kevin had told us that Mark was meeting the first recruits of his "dream team". The three writers and two analysts were being judged. She was excited to meet the writers that Mark thought were good enough to join his core team.

She had been working on the Knives Out script the previous day, and it was hell. The inconsistencies in the script were minute, but they were so many that they will be easily spotted by the pro critics, and they will come after the film for it like piranhas who have smelled blood.

She did find some bright sides, though, as it wasn't all bad. Mark had very cleverly made some small changes to the story to hint that the uncle was also an accomplice in the murder, along with Ransom.

It wasn't very obvious, but there were subtle hints, shown as the story progresses and because of those small changes, the ending of the movies changes quite a lot as well with Ransom being caught red-handed.

But then he throws his uncle under the bus, claiming him as his helper. Then, through a quick flashback scene, all the inconsistencies that bugged Blanc in the first half of the movie are shown.

These inconsistencies arose due to Ransom doing the crimes alone, but now made perfect sense now, as he had his uncle to help him all along. This already helped her a lot as it made the story more coherent and sensible, but there was still a lot to care of.

But what made her the most happy was the changed ending, now even the people who have read the book already are in for a surprise. Her thoughts came to a halt as she and Mel had arrived at the door of the meeting room with the requested beverages in hand.

Kevin opened the door for us and left as they entered. Mark was lounging on his chair, lost in his thoughts, but the sound of their arrival seemed to break him out of it.

He sat up and waved at us to come forward with a smile. He introduced us, "Jess, Mel, these are your new workmates and hopefully future friends."

"Hello, I am Jessica Lichtner, but please call me Jess." I said putting down the beverages and snacks.

"Hi, I am Melissa Cline, call me Mel, it's a pleasure meeting you all." Mel said, putting the dishes aside, and grabbed a seat.

"I am Benjamin Parker, but please call me Ben, this is Howard Stark and Tony Kushner." He introduced his group.

We all nodded and shook hands, feeling a bit close as fellow writers and future co-workers. While all this was happening, she could see Mark get up and move towards a bookshelf.

He pulled a book out slightly and a section of the shelf moved to the right to reveal a beautiful painting of Mark in his teens along with his mom and dad.

He then carefully took the painting in his hands and set it aside. Covered behind the painting was a safe, Mark inputted a code that couldn't be seen and it opened.

Of all the things she imagined it to hold. Money, jewelry, bonds, gold, etc. All she could see from my angle was folders containing paper. He took out a thick one and came back.

"It is time, guys, to launch the Immortal Writers Association in motion" he said earnestly. He continued in a gracious tone. "I have already explained my problem to them guys, and they have agreed to help me bring my ideas and stories to life."

"Now, we will be working together, so please call me Mark, Mr. Spencer is my dad." He went on to explain the process in detail.

'Wait a minute.. he told them his real name. Mark is so freaking paranoid that he didn't even put down his real name in the uni register. He signed up using a fake name, his pen name after bribing or impressing the head dean with genius.'

'I could see the look on Melissa's face, she had the same thought as me.'

"If he didn't make some kind of NDA I will be pissed. Even we didn't get to know his name till the final year of uni" she whispered into my ear leaning towards my side while still paying attention to Mark.

She whispered back slightly miffed yet happy about her paranoid friend and leader trying to learn to trust people. "and it wasn't even from him no. It was because of his mother, bless her heart, in her letters she only called him Mark with a K. Chris noticed it and pointed it out and he had the gall to play innocent and say that he thinks himself more as Marc Spector rather than Mark Spencer."

"Like the Mask he had been trying to hide behind, became his true identity." Mel replied back in a hused tone trying not to draw Mark's attention.

"You know sometimes a feel sorry for our workaholic friend." She replied back not as sneakily as she had thought because Mark left his explanation of the Immortal Writer's Association and turned to her.

"Anything you would like to share with the class the Ms. Jessica?" He asked doing an impression of an English professor with a proper British accent. His joke let her know that she wasn't really in any trouble but it was more of gentle reminder to stop it and pay attention.

"Sorry, Mr. Spencer." She replied back sincerely.

"Now, pay attention this will be in the quiz tomorrow." Mark said ending the joke with an inside joke.

Mel chuckled hearing it and she hit her shin lightly to get her to stop and they both began to pay attention as Mark started explaining again.

"We will be putting a system in place. Basically, I will write a rough draft of the story, this will include all the big events, story arcs, characters, etc."

"You will be given this draft to turn into a cohesive story, with dialogues, character arcs, their development, side story arcs etc. I will be providing you with notes about what I want done with certain specific characters."

"But most of the time you will have complete creative freedom while writing." Mark ended with a sip of his coffee.

"Any questions?" He asked while looking at them. It was really simple so she didn't really have any ajd maybe neither did anyone else.

As he just took their silence as an answer and continued with his explanation."It will be a tough job to bring these stories to creation, but I have complete faith that we will get things running smoothly very soon."

"I don't exactly know your preference of genres or writing styles," he said at the end, while looking towards Ben and the rest.

"So, if you don't mind, please tell me your preferred choice of work. Like which genre of work you like to write about? What kind of books do you read? Let's start with me first as an example." He said, trying to set an example so it's easier for the rest.

"I don't really have a preferred genre, but if I were to pick one. I would go with Sci fiction and thriller."

"I like to keep my readers emotionally engaged in the story, with their mind fully vested in the character's journey."

"My style of writing is usually very descriptive and detailed. Something which I have been criticized for before both by the critics and casual readers. With many of the critics and my casual readers calling my chapters unnecessarily long and sometimes even borderline boring."

"But I think it's all part of the process. I like to write my stories in such a manner that anyone can easily imagine the scene written in my book clearly in their head as if they were watching a movie. "

"I think it's this crucial factor that separates the greats from the average writers. To have one's own style. This is mine, soon you'll find yours. But don't forget to have fun while do it."

"Ok that's enough from me, it's now your turn, guys. Anyone up to go first?" Mark asked with a smile, feeling jovial, to be talking about his love for writing.

Ben nodded and began, "I am Ben, I am an amateur author who has published 3 books so far. None with any substantial success, unfortunately."

"I like reading and writing adventure themed novels. I don't really care if it's in space or in some fantasy land. As long as there is a good adventure for the protagonist to go on, I am content with it."

He continued with genuine praise for his new boss. "I have read all your book's Mark, but The Boys and the Invincible are my favorites. They completely subverted the superhero trope and left DC and Marvel scrambling."

"I even heard through the grapevine that DC was looking to hire you or buy out The Boys and Invincible from you to be made into comics."

"Well, they failed, their terms were very unfavorable towards me and downright dubious. I had my lawyers deal with them." Mark explained his situation with DC.

"Yeah, I know you went with Dark Horse comics later for adaptation." He replied acknowledging Mark's decision as a wise one.

"I don't really have a style per se, but just like Mark. I also heavily lean on descriptive writing, with an emphasis on building the history and lore of the world I am writing about."

"I just don't understand why my books aren't commercially successful. I think it might be because the stories I come up with are flawed in some way, or maybe I am simply lacking that spark."

"I hope to become a better creative writer through working and learning under you Mark." He finished by saying what he was looking to get out of being employed under Mark, except for the money, that is.

Mark replied earnestly, "I will definitely try my best to help you with that, Ben."

He explained politely, not wanting to insult or demean him. "But I think you should work on your dialogue writing skills as well. I am not going to say they are bad per se, it's just that I know you can do better."

"So who's next?" He asked with a smile, genuinely enjoying this moment of getting to know his group.

They guy who introduced himself as Howard cleared his throat to bring attention to himself and spoke suavely, "I am Howard Stark, but please call me Howie, I am currently working as an editor-in-chief for the Workaholics magazine, I have written 2 works of fiction and a true events' novel based on the events of WW1."

"I love reading and writing sci-fiction and military related novels. If I am out of that, my next go would be crime thriller or psychological thriller and horror novels."

"My specialty, I would say, lies in showing character interaction and developing the relationship between characters and showing how their mindset changes as they go through life."

"I focus more on the human side of my work, so I feel I somewhat lack the world building skill in writing my novels. I hope to improve on this, hopefully Ben can help to get better at this as it is his specialty." Howard said at the end, looking towards Ben for affirmation.

Ben just nodded his head and said, "of course Howie, we are friends now, and I am always happy to help my friends."

Mark smiled seeing them getting along, "while I am happy to see your budding friendship we must keep this going, Tony, you are up."

"Don't worry, just tell us whatever you feel comfortable sharing." Mark said, trying to assure him, knowing Tony to be shy and introverted.

Tony spoke in a soft voice, "I am Tony, I mostly like reading Historical fiction and period dramas, with Shakespeare's work being my most favorite."

"I love writing about the journey a character takes throughout the story, how it changes them as a person. How they grow, overcome their challenges and finally find peace with their lot in life or keep struggling valiantly till the very end."

He spoke with a fond smile like he was talking about himself going through life and experiencing hardships and growing from them and eventually becoming his own person.

"I see, all three of you are very different in your preferences, I like that. We can cover more ground that way. Now that I know what you guys like, I will try to focus my future stories to be of said genre."

"Focusing on adventure for Ben; military sci-fi for Howie and historical fiction for Tony. Here is a list of story ideas I have provided their brief summary and the genre it falls under," he said, passing them a file each, except for Ben.

It was the list of stories that he was going to plunder in the future. "Please find which one interests you the most amongst these, and let me know which one you would like to work on with me."

"Except you Ben I already got a task for you, here take this." Mark said, passing him the draft for John Wick, which he wrote this morning.

"Here's the list of story ideas the Mark passed on to them to choose from —

1. Mass Effect - (Military Science Fiction) - to be written as a series.

2. Elden Ring - (Dark Fantasy) to be written as a series.

3. Warcraft - (Epic Fantasy) to be written as a series.

4. Dark Souls - (Dark Fantasy) to be written as a series.

5. God of War - (Action Adventure Mythological Fiction) to be written as a series.

6. Uncharted - (Adventure Mystery) to be written as a series.

7. Halo - (Military Science Fiction) to be written as a series.

8. Red Dead Redemption - (Action Adventure Old West Fiction) to be written as a series.

9. Mistborn - (Epic Fantasy) to be written as a series.

10. The Night Circus - (Fantasy Romance) to be written as standalone.

11. Prince of Persia - (Fantasy Action Adventure) to be written as a series.

12. The Hunger Games - (Dystopian Science Fiction Adventure) to be written as a series.

13. Dragon Age - (Epic Dark Fantasy) to be written as a series.

14. Mission Impossible - (Spy-Espionage Action Adventure) to be written as a screenplay.

15. The Martian - (Survival Science Fiction) to be written as a standalone.

16. Percy Jackson - (Adventure Mythological Fiction) to be written as a series.

17. Ready Player One - (Science Fiction Dystopia) to be written as a series.

18. All System's Red - (Science Fiction) to be written as a series.

19. Project Hail Mary - (Apocalyptic Science Fiction) to be written as a standalone.

20. The Matrix - (Apocalyptic Science Fiction) to be written into a screenplay.

21. The Way of Kings - (Epic Fantasy) to be written as a series.

22. Naruto - (Action Adventure Fantasy) to be written as a graphic novel series.

23. My Hero Academia - (Superhero Adventure Fantasy) to be written as a graphic novel series.

24. Vinland Saga - (Adventure Epic Historical Fiction) to be written as a series.

25. Attack on Titan - (Post Apocalyptic Dark Fantasy) to be written as a series.

26. Death Note - (Psychological Crime Drama Mystery Thriller) to be written as a series.

{Author's Note: And thats a wrap phew this chapter was a monster to write for me at end. I just couldn't decide what franchise to include and what not to so i came up with this compromise.

For now these are 26 IPs that Mark will try to write as books or screenplays. They will later go on to be adapted into Movies, TV shows, Games, Comics, etc.

This will be a long journey, this is only the books part of the IPs i have covered the movies that Mark will make may or may not be listed here. Its a surprise.

Thanks for reading my work. I am entirely motivated by interaction, suggestions and feedback. Please leave a comment or review about what you liked or disliked about my book.

If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. I hope you all have a beautiful day.

Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 2 days.}