HWI 583

Hollywood What If Chapter 583

Kazir stepped down the stage. The sound of students clapping their hands echoed, although Kazir was not sure if they appreciated his speech or if the students were just happy that Kazir was done with his speech.

Anyway, Kazir didn't care much. He already said what he wanted to say. Weather they felt it or not doesn't matter. Kazir did his job.

He went down and found Erica crossing her arms and shaking her head, perhaps disappointed? She was amused but also felt bad about the students.

"What do you think of my speech? It's pretty great, right?" Kazir couldn't help but chuckle. Kazir knew that he was truthful about what he said in the latter part of his speech.

"Sir, I think you destroyed their dreams of becoming movie directors." She honestly said and sighed.

"They are already adults. They should understand that it's not easy to become successful in the entertainment industry. We can't babysit them."

"Well," Erica Mendez glanced at the students who were still clapping. Most of them had serious expressions, while the remaining were happy that the graduation ceremony would end.

"It's indeed true that you woke them up from reality. They will probably remember it. Having a successful career in Hollywood will be tough. They need connections/networking, talent, luck, opportunity, and work ethics. Talent and work ethics are simple, almost everyone in Hollywood had those two factors. But connections need time to be fruitful while luck and opportunity are the hardest things to find."

Indeed, having a successful career in Hollywood was never easy. These students were too innocent if they believed that they could become successful just because they graduated from UCLA. No fucking way.

Once they stepped into the real world. The society would destroy their egos. They would realize that their grades and performance in school were nothing compared to the truth. These students have to compete against hundreds of thousands of people who have the same or better talent than them.

It was better to say the truth now, better now than later. Or else these students might lose hope.

So Kazir might as well pep talk to them about what they would experience, especially those who were interested in working in the entertainment industry. This industry was treacherous.

To be fair, if his speech made them lose hope, then they might as well find another career. Because the entertainment industry was a dirty place and weak-minded people wouldn't survive in that place.

Even good-hearted people witnessed some stuff in Hollywood that they couldn't fathom was possible despite the U.S.A. being the representation of freedom and opportunity... Perhaps the country was just hiding its dirty laundry.

Well, there was a rumor that a certain President's family was part of a certain flight log. So yeah, rumors rumors, allegedly, allegedly, the flight log couldn't be trusted, the owner killed himself in the prison cell, conspiracy, conspiracy, blah blah blah.

Kazir slipped his hands into his pockets, he touched his wallet that had a few hundred dollars and some credit cards.

His gaze lingered on the students who stopped clapping. They were now waiting for the last part of the graduation ceremony, where their names would be called, and they had to go to the stage and accept their diplomas.

“You know, Erica,” he said after a pause.

“Hollywood isn’t just about talent or vision. It’s about perseverance. I'd spent five years being a nameless director before I got my first success. It wasn't easy at all. I was so depressed, I was at the worst part of my life, but I overcame them. It depends on how much shit you can take before you break, or if you break at all.”

Actually, added to his past life, Kazir had been a nameless director for over four decades at least. Imagine how painful that was.

Erica gave him a sideways look. She knew about Kazir's story, especially about his ex-wife and the betrayal he experienced. She was Kazir's assistant and she didn't have a choice but to learn and understand his life. Honestly, she was impressed with Kazir's determination. She would break if she experienced what Kazir experienced.

“That’s... not comforting at all. You're just further showing that Hollywood is tough.”

Kazir smirked.

“It’s reality. I’ve seen brilliant people crushed, and average ones thrive just because they outlasted everyone else. If my words today make even one student think harder and prepare better, then it’s worth it.”

“Let’s hope they were listening,” Erica nodded thoughtfully.

.........

......

...

Nothing much really happened in May, except about the Sri Lankan Civil War and the Lisbon Treaty. This month, Kazir followed his schedule loyally since it was not that tough to do.

His job was easier compared to the times when he had a movie to take care of. Thankfully, Ninja Assassin had already been done, and Grey Pictures was just waiting for its release, which was on November 25. The company was just doing some weak promotions in the beginning to not waste its promotion budget.

Aside from that, Kazir also attended business meetings. Also, the company was finalizing the contract regarding the TV network that would broadcast Modern Family. Many TV networks were still showing their cards to collaborate with Grey Pictures.

Kazir also checked the progress of Wall-E. The production speed of Wall-E was faster than he expected. If things continued like that, this animated movie might be released next year around November or December.

Since we're talking about May, of course, we couldn't forget about the new movie releases this month.

In the first week of the month, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were released.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was a Romantic Comedy distributed by Warner Brothers that grossed over $128 million.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a superhero movie based on comics that was distributed by 20th Century Fox that grossed over $487 million.

Both Marvel Studio and 20th Century Fox didn't expect that this movie would perform well considering that only Wolverine(Hugh Jackman) was in the movie who was part of past X-Men cast.

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[I feel better now, I still have a clogged nose, but still better than yesterday.]