Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

Chapter 200.100 Million

Standing inside the recording booth, Aiden was feeling the music that was coming out from the speakers. The sound of guitar and piano was harmonised together and it was giving off a great feeling.

Taking a deep breath, Aiden focused and started singing.

"I often wonder what we are."

"Are we the story or just stage pelts?"

"Birds in the sky or the ice that slowly melts."

"Oh, life is a story…"

"Sometimes short, sometimes lengthy."

"It can be one of sadness or of glory."

"We never know what it's gonna be."

"But that's just our destiny."

He is currently recording 'Life is a story' for his album. When he had first made it, the song only had guitar as the instrument and Aiden's voice was everything. It was because he didn't have the necessary equipment back then nor the experience.

For his album, he had created it again and this time, he had added other instruments in it and even added a bright part to make the song even better.

He knew that the song wasn't something that was going to top the charts as ballads like this rarely works. 'Lost in the Sky' was just an exception and they don't happen everyday.

One thing he was sure of was that whoever would hear it would surely find it nice.

It was a great addition to his album.

"I don't know if life is written in the stars or the palm of our hands."

"Maybe, the answer isn't in these lands."

"But I know one thing for sure."

"Oh, life is a story…"

For this part, Aiden focused on trying to create a bit of an echo effect in his voice. With the instruments supporting his voice thoroughly, the song was coming off great.

[You have gained experience.]

[You have successfully recorded the second song of your album. You are progressing well to achieve a great achievement.]

Those were the notifications he received after coming out of the recording booth. The sound engineer was smiling as he looked at him.

"I think this would be good enough."

Tom, who was sitting beside him, also nodded his head. He was present in the whole recording.

"Yeah, it's way better than the first few sessions you did."

"It's been a while since I sang it. So it took time getting used to it. Anyway, I'm glad we could get it over with. I think I could sleep well tonight."

Hearing that, the sound engineer tilted his head and asked.

"You are leaving for LA tomorrow right?"

"Yeah, I will be there for a month and a half. It's going to be a hectic schedule as Jesse is known to finish his movies pretty quickly."

Aiden said. As he was leaving tomorrow, he had tried hard to finish the recording of 'Life is a story'. Thankfully, it had ended on time.

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks. I think I will need it."

Aiden said and smiled. He really wondered how it was going to go with the shooting. He had practiced the character of Andrew a lot but he needed to know if it was enough to overshadow Seth.

***

Outside the Los Angeles International airport, Aiden was coming out of it with Wade and Tom following him. Both of them were accompanying him on the shooting.

"I think they said that they were going to send a car but I don't really see anyone here."

Tom said, looking around and Wade took out his phone.

"Let me call them."

It was at that moment that Aiden heard a familiar voice. He turned his head to look at the person who was giving off a bright aura.

"Aiden, here!"

It was Dustin Redford who was standing beside a van. His agent that Aiden had met before was also there.

"Dustin, what are you doing here? Your flight just landed too?"

"No, I came here yesterday. The crew was going to send a car for you so I said I will go pick you up. After all, we are going to work together on the movie now."

Aiden just nodded at that and quickly placed their bags on the back of the van before sitting into it. Dustin's agent was the driver.

As Aiden was thinking that Dustin was too friendly, the car took off.

On the way, Dustin talked about what he had done when he had reached here yesterday. His meeting with Jesse Ross about the character and even having a talk with the main lead, Seth Douglas.

When he talked about him, Aiden was very curious.

"What's he like as a person?"

"Umm, you could say that he's polite and nice. He mostly talked about the movie and we didn't deviate much from that." Saying that, he looked at Aiden. "I heard that Seth got the role due to SGA and Jesse wanted you."

"Yeah, but we can't do anything about it. Anyway, I'm finding the role of Andrew more interesting by the day and have no intention of acting bitter due to not getting the lead role."

Aiden said, shrugging his shoulders.

While it was true that he was angry and frustrated at most, those emotions have turned into resolve as time had passed by. He still had the intention to give a way better performance than Seth.

But he wasn't fixating on him too much.

If he cared more about his acting than his, then he won't be able to do justice to the role. Moreover, one more thing had happened that had made Aiden way more confident.

Just as [30 days of Happiness] has crossed 100 million dollars at the box office, he has gotten a few notifications.

[Your movie [30 days of Happiness] has crossed 100 million dollars at the North American box office. You have achieved a huge feat.]

[Congratulations on your first successful movie as the male lead.]

[You have gained a lot of experience.]

[You have advanced to Intermediate Grade 4 from Intermediate Grade 3 in acting skill.]

[Your charm has increased.]

[The probability of you reaching a 'Breakout scene' on your own has increased.]

These notifications have made him very happy and given him the confidence that he could put forward a great performance as Andrew Kingston.

A performance that would be better than any role he had done till now.

***

After they checked in their hotel rooms, Aiden had a whole free day ahead of him before the shooting would truly begin. Dustin wanted to roam around LA and do some sightseeing so Aiden just joined him.

Both of them were actors from New York, so LA was something that they would visit just for work and shootings.

Even Aiden had never truly taken a day off to sightsee LA before. So it was a nice change of pace and he also got to know a bit more about Dustin.

Apparently, his father was a Broadway director and he had started his career there before eventually coming into movies and series as he liked it more. Though, his father still wanted him to focus on theatre more.

The next day, the shooting for [Disconnected] truly began.

"Put that camera down there. Don't drop it while running now."

"Check for students who might be lurking around. Last time, I was working here. Some of them interrupted a shot."

"Hey, where's the assistant director?"

Like every filming crew, this one was noisy and busy too. Staff members were running around and the crew members in higher positions were ordering them around.

Jesse was planning how to shoot the scene with the cinematographer while Aiden stood in some distance listening to their conversation while glancing at his script from time to time.

"I think we should go for a side angle shot first with Mark just walking by and entering the bar. Then him, rustling around from a top shot."

"That's a good idea but then in the next scene, the main point is just going to be the conversation. This movie is really just about the characters and the situations they found themselves in. The tone needs to be very subtle in its heavy approach. Remember, the movie isn't about a billionaire but on the themes of loyalty, jealousy and human nature."

"I know Jesse. We have had discussions on it for months now."

Aiden kept an eye on both of them talking and just looked around the campus. They were shooting in a small college in LA that was going to be portrayed as Harvard University.

Interestingly, Black Line Cinema and SGA both had tried to get permission to shoot in Harvard but they were rejected because Harvard didn't allow any filmmaker to shoot in the campus since 1970.

Aside from this, they were also going to be shooting in a few different campuses, mostly meeting rooms and restaurants.

'My first scene is only going to be shot around Lunch.'

Aiden thought and at that moment, he heard some noises and turned his head, only to come across Seth Douglas walking in with a man who looked to be his agent.

It was Aiden's first time seeing him in person as he was staying in another hotel. The first thing that he did was to check his status.

___

[Seth Douglas] [29 years]

[Acting level: Intermediate Grade 4]

[Special skill: None]

___

'He's the same level as me.'

Aiden thought, not being too surprised. After all, Seth had worked for a few years in the industry now and had a lot of experience.

In the first place, he had thought that his skill level would be higher than his.

But as it was the same, Aiden took a sigh of relief.

'As we are on the same level, I have a lot of chances to beat him.'

He thought in his mind.