Hollywood (我就是好莱坞) Part I

CHAPTER 3 - THANKFULLY IT'S NOT MICHAEL CRICHTON

Jeff, owner of the italian restaurant, discovered that for several days, Eric had changed. He was no longer distracted or in a daze, he became wholly spirited. When he entertained the guests he was no longer as awkward as before and he would also occasionally casually joke with them, Jeff even once saw him skillfully tease a thirty-year-old lady on her hippie accent, and get three times the average tip as a reward.

"Eric, did something happen recently, you seem very... different ?" During a break once, Jeff could finally not resist and asked. Regarding his old friend's child, he cared very much.

"Is it that obvious ?" Eric asked, somewhat taken aback.

Jeff laughed: "It's written all over your face."

"It might be because I found a goal. You know people, once they have something they want to do, they'll become more driven."

"Oh, what goal ? Do you mind telling me ?"

"Of course not," Eric replied: "I have decided to become a director. I was writing my first script recently, it will be finished in two days." (TL: Okay so I know it's confusing since he said scriptwriter in the previous chapter, he's basically talking about his ultimate goal, not the one he will start with. And the matter of the script is explained further down.)

"Become... a director ?" Jeff was somewhat surprised, he subconsciously opened his mouth, wanting to remind him to not aim too high at the beginning, but then he remembered that this child was still mourning his father and swallowed his words.

Despite his looks, Eric had maintained his middle-aged mind, so witnessing Jeff's reaction, he just smiled indifferently. After all, this was Hollywood, every year thousands of people came here from all over the world to pursue their dreams in the movie industry, but the successfull were few, so Jeff's reaction was to be expected.

"That... When you have finished writing your script, you can show me. You have to know that in the past I also once wanted to be an actor, well my appearance was not what it is today," Jeff patted his large belly and continued: "In the past I was very handsome. I even played a small role in The Godfather, you know. Time flies."

Eric was somewhat stunned, he would have never thought that Jeff had such a past, but he quickly composed himself. This was Hollywood after all, in this world's largest movie factory, nothing was impossible. Stallone had even starred in The Italian Stallion. (TL: NSFW movie for those who don't know.)

"No problem, when the time comes you can help me by making comments." Eric replied so that Jeff would feel more at ease about this whole ordeal and he could also use external reader's point of view.

Although Eric had already revised this 1988 script as much as possible, he couldn't guarantee that there would be no flaws. As an outsider, Jeff could better help him find loopholes.

The two of them chatted for a while. As several guests entered the dining room, Eric hastily went forward to greet them.

After a day of work, Eric quickly went home, had his supper in a hurry, and proceeded to busy himself with the Jurassic Park novel and script.

The Jurassic Park novel was basically done, and it was time for the final proofreading. Eric planned to send photocopies to several publishing houses tomorrow. For the script however, he had only written the outline as there were still several points that needed to be worked on. Eric had it all planned out in his mind so he only needed two days to sort things out.

He left home the next morning at around 7:00 am, to make several Jurassic Park copies and mail them. He had noted down the addresses of some famous North American publishing houses ahead of time, even if these large-scale publishing houses rejected Eric's draft, he would not be disappointed. It must be known that North America had tens of thousands of large and small publishing houses alike, somebody would eventually take a liking to his novel. Although Jurassic Park once rushed to the New York Times bestseller list, it wasn't technically Eric's goal, what he wanted was to own the copyrights for the movie as well as the TV rights once the novel was published.