Normally, people would crop out scenes from movies and just post them on MeTube for some views. Sometimes, some people would even try to post entire movies on it, but in the end, they would get copyrighted.
Studios or large companies would send a strike, and it would be taken off soon.
Like that, a random user carefully cropped the scene that he loved the most in [Disconnected]. It was the scene in which Aiden learnt about Mark's betrayal and confronted him.
Just the sheer satisfaction one would get after watching the scene was a lot, and as soon as it was uploaded on MeTube, it got viral.
It was a time when a lot of people were still wondering whether they should watch the movie or not, and this clip gave them the reason to check out the movie for themselves.
A lot of users on Skygram and Sparrow also uploaded the clip, helping it to reach more and more people.
Various videos of it emerged and due to that, even sending a copyright strike was hard. In the end, Zetflix itself released the whole scene on their MeTube channel, trying to cash in to get the movie more popular.
It got over 1 million views in just a few days, and a lot of people connected to it.
[Intelligent Zombie: Wow! That clip is sick. I love the whole scene. I wasn't going to watch this movie, but I feel like I should now. It looks very interesting.]
[Morgan Lockman: I watched it last night. Aiden killed it with his performance. I really liked his character. He was the only guy who was likeable, and I would be surprised if he didn't get a few awards for it.]
[Tom Cruiser: Always loved Aiden as an actor more. His music is too bright for my tastes, so I hope he focuses more on his acting. His eyes are too expressive. Want him to act in more grey or villain roles, to be honest. Maybe even try a few action movies. Doing your stuns is the greatest kick you will ever get. I'm talking from experience.]
[Mia Lover: The scene gave me chills even if I don't know what is going on here. The last part was great, and that little smirk at the end. Definitely watching the movie.]
[My little sister: I honestly don't know what type of weed SGA and Black Line Cinema were on when they decided not to include the greatest scene in the movie in the theatrical release. They surely don't know what will sell, or they were very high and were thinking that they were making a masterpiece.]
Like that, more and more commented under the video, and the watch hours on Zetflix just kept increasing.
A week after the release of [Disconnected] on Zetflix, a big thing happened.
It reached the top spot in Top 10 movies in America while trending in over 50 countries on Zetflix. As soon as it happened, articles soon came up.
<[Disconnected], the movie rejected in theatres, finds a newfound audience on Zetflix and becomes the top movie on it. The whole saga shades serious light on what is going wrong in Hollywood.>
<Director Jesse Ross is happy with the love his movie is receiving on Zetflix. He decided not to go after Black Line Cinema and SGA anymore because his movie eventually got accepted by the audience and announced a new project which would be completely independent.>
<Black Line Cinema lost out on what could have been one of the summer blockbusters of the year due to their negligence and arrogance. [Disconnected] is a movie that is surely going to be studied in the future — Both for its content and the drama surrounding it.>
***
"So, how's it?"
Aiden asked, looking up at Ava, who was sitting in front of him. His eyes stayed at the earphones that she was wearing for a second longer.
He was sipping on a coffee that he didn't really like, but Ava had brought it for him, so it was rude to complain.
Currently, Ava had her eyes closed, and her expression was serene, devoid of any emotions or excitement.
After a second, she opened her eyes and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and replied.
"It's pretty good. Way better than I expected it to be. It's almost like a ghost is screaming in my ear, but it's not unnecessarily loud and feels like something that would just give people chills."
She said with a smile, and Aiden's expression finally brightened.
"I tried to give that impression. It seems like it worked well."
"It worked great. How did you even come up with it?"
"Well, I just did when I was going through the script of [Sherlock of the Shadows]."
Aiden blatantly lied. He had no way to explain that he had made a track because of getting inspiration from seeing actual ghosts. In a way, it was his way of trying to face the ghosts that he was having nightmares about by letting that experience be developed as a track.
He was just glad that Ava had liked it.
Both of them were currently sitting in a cafe outside Zetflix's office. Aiden was here because today was the day of the script reading session of [Sherlock of the Shadows].
The whole cast was going to be here and he was going to meet them for the first time.
When Aiden was hanging outside Zetflix's office, he had seen Ava and she had asked him for coffee. During their talk, he had mentioned the track he had made recently due to [Sherlock of the Shadows], and she had asked to hear it.
For the record, the track was simply named 'Ghosts Vol 1'.
"Even if you say that this work is very impressive," Ava said, looking up at Aiden with interest evident in her eyes. "I feel like you have a lot of things that you don't show to people. Just some weeks ago, you changed the fate of a flop movie."
Hearing that, Aiden just smiled, "I just use the chips in my hand."
"So, I'm just one of the chips in your hand?"
"I only know you who had connections in Zetflix. I didn't have anyone else's number."
Aiden shrugged, thinking of the whole ordeal. After he had watched the director's cut of [Disconnected] and heard about Zetflix buying up the rights, a plan had formed in his head.
He had immediately dialled Ava, whose number he had gotten at the Oscars after-party and told her about the director's cut and what had gone wrong with the movie and how he had a good plan to make the movie a hit on Zetflix.
She was the only person who could influence Zetflix that he knew of. Being a director of Titan studios meant that she had a lot of powers, especially with her working on a project with them.
Ava had listened to Aiden and had told him to send her the director's cut.
After watching it, she realised the potential the movie contained.
She had immediately told the executive in Zetflix who was handling the deal about it and told them to get the director's cut at all costs. It was smooth sailing after that as Ava applied the marketing tactics that Aiden had suggested to her.
The idea of using critics who had bashed the movie before to create curiosity was given by him. It was very quick after that as a lot of people checked it, and as the content was good, it spread like fire.
A lot of people were shocked that a movie could have such a difference based on editing alone.
Due to that, it was now the number one movie on the platform, and praises were still coming in.
"Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for that. You did a huge favour on me."
Aiden said with a smile.
Ava could have simply rejected him based on the fact that [Disconnected] was a big flop. It was not like they knew each other a lot either.
Still, she had helped him out.
"Don't worry about that. I don't think it's a favour at all." She said, "Zetflix was struggling with subscribers and no popular stuff for a while and [Disconnected] helped a lot. We also got it for such a low price. I'm pretty sure Black Line Cinema is cursing their luck at the moment."
"They deserve it." Aiden laughed, and Ava nodded.
"They do. Anyway, the point is it's me who should be thankful to you. I've been in this industry for a while now, but I have not seen something like this."
Ava looked very impressed with Aiden and after thinking for a bit, she said.
"Call me if you are in trouble next time. You don't have an agency or a big backing, so you will come across tough situations no matter what."
"Are you going to back me in the industry?"
Aiden raised an eyebrow. Though his tone was like he was asking it in a joking manner.
"I will until we are working together," Ava said seriously. Then, a smile appeared on her face as she added. "Don't worry, I'm not like Franco Li."
He ignored the hidden meaning of that sentence and nodded. Having some connections in the industry was always a good thing.
Suddenly, Ava looked at Aiden's phone, which was on the table. The audio recording of the track he had shown her was displayed on it.
"By the way, I think you should show that soundtrack to Phineas. We still have not decided on a good soundtrack, so if Phineas liked it, I would make sure it's selected as the background track for the show."
