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 G.o.dfather, 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 Jura.s.sic Park novel and script.
The Jura.s.sic 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 Jura.s.sic 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 Jura.s.sic 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.
"h.e.l.lo, what can I do for you ?" Just as he stepped into the printing shop, a somewhat thin black female clerk warmly welcomed him.
Eric pulled out the ma.n.u.script from his bag: "I would like to make a few copies of this."
As the black girl looked at the thick stack of paper, her eyes lit up slightly and the smile on her face grew brighter: "Sir, can I take a look ?"
"No problem." Eric handed over the ma.n.u.script.
The black girl did not pay attention to the content, but counted the number of pages: "There"s more than 300 pages, but I"ll count it as 300. A full copy of the ma.n.u.script would be 30 US dollars, how many copies would you like sir ?"
30 US dollars ! Eric"s mouth twitched slightly, he sighed at how expensive that was. He only had a few hundred dollars left and that was after asking for his month"s salary in advance.
After bargaining back and forth, they finally settled on the price of one hundred US dollars for four copies. Once the money was payed, the black girl politely gave Eric a cup of coffee, then took the ma.n.u.script and began copying.
Eric held his cup of coffee in a bored manner as he looked at the black girl operating the machine. It would probably be done in half an hour and wouldn"t in the way of his waiting job. Although it only gets busy after 10 at the restaurant and even if he knew that Jeff would definitely not deduct his wages even if he was late, friendship was friendship, and work was work. Eric was aware that if he wanted to maintain his current relationship with Jeff, he shouldn"t slack off.
About ten minutes later, the printing shop entrance darkened a little. Eric looked up and saw a brown-haired white man carrying a bag stepping into the shop.
The man was about 40 years old and one meter seventy in height. In spite of this, he appeared very st.u.r.dy, sported a brown stubble, had an aquiline nose and wore gold-rimmed eyegla.s.ses. His forehead was slightly bald and his entire person was exuding a gentle feeling.
"Welcome sir, can you wait a minute ?"
The brown haired man gently nodded and politely greeted Eric as he sat down next to him. The black girl temporarily stopped the work at hand and quickly poured a cup of coffe to the newly arrived guest: "Sir, I will be done with the other customer in about ten minutes, please accept this coffee in the meantime."
The man thanked her as he received the cup. His eyes followed the black girl as she manipulated what seemed to be ma.n.u.script and his eyes moved slightly. There were only three people in the shop and he couldn"t help but look at Eric.
"If I might be so bold as to ask, is that ma.n.u.script yours ?"
Eric nodded: "Yes, it"s a novel I just finished. I"m making several copies."
"You look like a high-school student, it"s really impressive for someone your age."
"Thank you, this is actually my first novel, so I don"t have that much confidence."
"No, one must believe in one"s self. … Would you mind me reading it ?" Saying that the brown-haired man pulled out a business card and gave it to Eric: "I have a small publishing house, you see."
Eric received the name card and took a look:
Michael Klaus, "The Night Elves" Publishing House Manager.
Eric"s eyebrows jumped , thankfully it"s not Michael Crichton. Eric couldn"t help but scold the westerners" lack of creative names. He remembered that in Eric"s high school, there were already two guys called Jake, and two girls called Jessica, and that was in his grade alone. If you considered the whole school, the students with the same name were many. Some didn"t even bother giving their children a proper name, Robert Downey had only lazily added "Jr." next to his son"s.
Anyway, letting the man look wouldn"t do any harm so Eric gave him a freshly photocopied version. The opposite party received it and looked at the book"s t.i.tle: "Jura.s.sic Park, very interesting name."
Eric faintly smiled but did not say anything. Michael Klaus also didn"t comment any further and started to read. The more he read, the more Michael"s casual look gradually became serious. Although he had just praised Eric, but taking his age into account, he didn"t think that such a youngster could write anything worth mentioning. In his past business dealings, those best-selling authors were almost all men full of experience and their knowledge was as vast as the sea.
After quickly and carefully reading the ma.n.u.script in hand, Michael earnestly reorganized the somewhat scattered and in disordered pages as he looked at Eric. His eyes were full of surprise, excitement, and determination.
"Young man, can you tell me your name ?"
"Eric Williams." Eric wasn"t a hypocritical person so he truthfully answered. With his past life experience, there was no way he wouldn"t understand the change in Michael"s expression. Although he didn"t plan to give Jura.s.sic Park to a small publishing house, but getting acquainted with Michael Klaus wouldn"t do any harm. If Jura.s.sic Park got rejected by these well-known publishing houses, he would at least have a backup plan.