After Aiden won the million dollars, the crew took a break for the shooting as everyone needed some time to process what they had seen.
Aiden moved to the backstage where Wade and Tom were already waiting for him.
"What had happened to you back then?"
Wade asked, staring at Aiden's face. One of his hands was on his shoulders as he shook it with excitement. Tom stood next to them smiling equally.
From time to time, he would mutter something like "This is a great episode. I never expected this", to himself.
"Nothing happened. I just tried to do my best."
"And won a fucking million."
"Not like I'm getting that."
"Yeah, but do you think it's something of a small feat? 'The Million Dollar Game' is a big show, the top rated game show in America. You winning the million dollars would have caught social media on fire. We are going to benefit so much from it. Even if we use a million dollars on your marketing, it won't have this effect. Moreover, your style of playing…"
Aiden tilted his head as Wade tried to gather words.
"What about my style of playing?"
"It was too cool." Wade said.
"You gave the impression of a suave spy who's negotiating with the villain with complete control over the situation, at least that's the impression I got."
Tom added and Aiden thought about it for a bit. He did give that type of impression. He guessed that it was probably an effect of using the Lucky coupon.
He had felt like nothing could go wrong with him. He could go jump off a high rise building and he would get saved no matter what. An inner sense of confidence has engulfed him at that moment, making him feel invincible.
He had to say that Luck was almost a superpower.
"Anyway, your style of playing would just get you more fans when the episode airs. I'm pretty sure they are going to edit the episode with you in the focus." Wade muttered, then an idea struck his mind. "It's better if I have a talk with the producer about it."
Saying that, he left Aiden and Tom alone to go find the producer with a bushy beard.
As Wade left, a lot of eyes have gathered on him — Staff members, crew, celebrities that were appearing on the show alongside him, and a few producers.
All looked at him.
It was not like they weren't glancing at him before. Most people were looking at him with either admiration and jealousy since he had won a million dollars.
They weren't approaching because of Wade's large frame but now that he was gone, a few people decided to approach Aiden.
It was a group of producers who were working on different shows for Panther TV network.
They came to Aiden's side while smiling.
"I was very shocked seeing you do so well on the show. You do look like the smart type. I'm Jack Leecher, the producer for 'Relationship Issues'."
One of the producers said, handing Aiden his card. The others followed suit, congratulating him and introducing themselves and their shows.
Aiden easily guessed that they wanted to get a better relationship with him and invite him to their shows, thinking that he had a knack of doing well in them.
'I don't mind a few connections.'
He thought and took the cards but didn't respond positively to their offers. He can't agree to anything as without the Lucky coupon, he would at best be average in a reality show. Until it's about acting or singing.
'He don't look like the type to give in to flattery.'
One of the producers thought and looked at a guy with brown hair.
"Actually, this guy, Gary, is the producer of X-Star. You were a contestant back then, remember. I don't know if you two ever met."
Gary's expression cracked a bit as he awkwardly tried to shake Aiden's hand.
"No, I have never met him before."
Aiden said, making an expression of realisation. He had only met Marlo from X-Star and the contestants would probably only meet with the producers if they enter the grand finales.
So, he never met Gary.
"Yeah, when I saw you on X-Star, I knew that you were going to be a star. We focused a lot on you because of that."
Gary said and Aiden smiled.
"Is that why you edited out episodes to make it look like I like Rachel?"
"Ah, well… that was an old thing. A trick you might say." Gary hesitated to talk. "In the end, you did get more attention because of it."
Aiden didn't say anything to that and as the atmosphere started becoming awkward, Gary quickly added.
"Well, I'm getting a new show actually. It's basically about celebrities trying to survive in different climates with survival experts. We are thinking of a wide range for the program—"
"I'm sorry but I'm really busy the next few months."
Aiden quickly interrupted him and Gary stubbornly refused to give up.
"Can't there be any free schedule?"
"I am in the middle of the shooting for my Zetflix series. After it ends, I was thinking of taking a break. You see, I have been working nonstop for a long time. My body can't take too much pressure. So, I can't do a reality TV show."
His answer was precise and no one was able to say anything back. Gary's expression wasn't good and the other producers also understood that it was happening due to Gary editing Aiden's scenes in a proactive way when he was a powerless contestant.
But now, he is a celebrity. A true one that only seemed to be going higher and higher.
Aiden left after that, saying he wanted to drink some water and rest. After he was gone, the other producers turned to Gary.
"You reap what you sow."
"Shut up. He's forgetting that no one in the industry is untouchable. He's fine since he's taking the right steps but once he takes a bad one, he will start having it hard."
***
After the shooting for 'The Million Dollar Game' was over, Aiden quickly went back to the set of [Sherlock of the Shadows].
It was already August and the shooting was on the final act.
Phineas had divided the series into three acts with the first one being the introduction, second one being the middle and the last act was the one where Finn would get a good grip on his powers, solve the mystery of the suicides going in the town and become a bigger part of the supernatural world.
The ending itself was a box full of surprises, having many things in it. It was written keeping in mind that Finn was still a teenage detective and was new to the supernatural.
When Aiden returned to the set, he had goals in his mind.
He wanted to give his all to the character and try to reach better dimensions with it. The shooting of the last two episodes was the hardest with a lot of action scenes.
Here, Aiden's boxing training was coming into play.
Even if it wasn't a lot, Aiden was able to do them himself and the production crew was keeping care of any injuries, so it was mostly safe.
Most of the fight scenes were shot keeping VFX in mind, so they were pretty different from what Aiden originally had in his mind.
[Character list:
*Finn Wheeler
-80 percent affinity
-You played the role with the perfect mental image of the character. The nature of your immersion helped you bring out the emotions in the most raw manner.
-You have maxed out the affinity.]
That's what the character list was telling him about Finn. His affinity was maxed out, confirming that Aiden was doing a great job with the role.
He had also been satisfied till now with his performance but he also wanted to go past it. It was getting harder and harder for him to level up his skills as time was passing and he knew that being content with the affinity won't help his cause.
When he had asked Jeremy about it, the old man had thought for a bit before speaking.
"I think that sometimes your acting gets better on its own but you need to sacrifice for it. An actor tries to keep a connection with the character and then plays him keeping his mental image in mind. Mind controls the body but the best acting comes out only if you give in to the character."
"How?"
"Surrender." Jeremy had said. "Try to not just think like the character, breathe like it. Embrace his strength, insecurities and even… fears. Until you do that, you won't reach that zone that humans could rarely imagine. Though, you would need a therapist after that. I knew a guy who was playing a psychopath and he started breathing like the character, his co-stars started getting death notes from him, written in blood."
Aiden obviously didn't want to reach that level where he becomes a criminal but he did want to try out breathing like a character.
Being so good that the character becomes synonymous to you.
For experienced actors, it comes from a state of experience and sharpening of their methods but Aiden was the most unique actor in the world.
He didn't need experience when he had immersion and there was only way for him to truly breathe like the character.
'Embrace the fear… powers… ghosts.'
He thought, making a decision to truly leave a mark on the character of Finn Wheeler.
…
