Samuel Davidson
The son of the author of <Hex>. He was the one who had completed the famous series after his father had passed away. A lot of people have felt like the ending wasn't good as the original author hadn't written it while a lot of the readers were happy about how it had ended.
The views were conflicting but they were always going to be in such cases.
No one liked another author taking over in the middle but there was no choice. Aiden felt like Samuel was very brave to complete his father's work.
After all, it wasn't an easy decision knowing that people might not like it. Some readers actually wanted the novel to remain incomplete as they didn't want anyone else to touch it but the publisher needed to complete it.
That's why Samuel came on board.
'He's a good writer himself. Probably a brave person too. He started writing<Hex> a month after his father died due to cancer.'
Aiden recalled a few novels he had read of Samuel.
He was mostly a children's book author and had also delved into graphic novels and other stuff. He was one of the veterans of the industry and a really talented individual.
"Apparently, he's on the set today as he was free. He helped out Olio a lot during the scripting phase. You could even say that without Samuel, <Hex> won't take the form of a script. That's why Olio treats him well."
Tom muttered, explaining all the information he had gotten out of one of Olio's assistants.
"When you work together, you are bound to get close." Aiden said and Tom nodded his head.
'I should go talk to him.'
Aiden thought to himself. It was common courtesy to do that but he also had something else in his mind. He had brought out the modified script with him today, so maybe he might as well get some feedback.
Anyway, Samuel looked way more approachable than Olio.
He waited till Olio was busy in something before walking towards Samuel. He was just sitting and looking around the set when Aiden called him.
"Hello, I don't think I have introduced myself."
Samuel raised his head hearing that and was surprised for a second to see Aiden there. He immediately stood up and gave out a smile.
"No, you have not. I was going to introduce myself to you actually. Was looking for you. Thank you for giving life to Blaze."
"That's my job. Your father created him with a lot of care. I always felt that when I read <Hex>."
"That he did."
Aiden shook hands with him and sat down next to him on a chair. Samuel started talking about how Olio had shown him a few scenes that they had shot and although post production work hadn't been done on them, they looked very neat to him.
He praised Aiden on how he was already looking like Blaze and he really imagined him like this from the start.
Aiden was thankful for his words and after a while, he began the topic of the script.
"By the way, can I ask you something about the script? I heard you were helping out Olio in writing it?"
"Yes, I was a consultant on it. Are you having trouble on some part?"
Samuel asked, raising one of his eyebrows. He looked straight into Aiden's eyes as he shook his head.
"No, it's not that. I was just worried about the length of the script and how half of it won't even make it to the final edit. The movie is already going to be more than 2 hours and western audiences don't like to watch movies longer than that."
"That's true but while we were making the script, there was no way around the length. A more tight script was our idea too but the power system and the world background is too big. A normal audience who never read <Hex> would have a hard time without all the exposition."
He explained and it was true too. During the writing of the script, Olio also knew about these things and had taken it upon himself to provide a good movie in the end that would be liked by the audience.
Even if the script was too long, he already knew the scenes to remove from the final edit.
The exposition was also done smartly without it feeling like info dumps in the story. Olio and Samuel have followed the basic 'Show, don't tell' rule.
"I understand that but I have an idea around it."
Aiden said and Samuel blinked his eyes, wondering about this idea.
"What idea?"
He asked and Aiden explained his conversation with Olio and his idea on doing two parts instead of just one. Sometimes, filmmakers would do that when the movie they were making was just too big.
Though, sometimes the second part gets cancelled if the first doesn't work.
Aiden also told him how Olio rejected his idea before talking about the modified script he prepared because he still wanted to go for two parts instead of just one.
"I do understand that I might be interfering with the vision of your father and what he wanted to do with <Hex> but I really felt like a lot of scenes would be left out if we don't do it this way."
Aiden said, showing Samuel the modified script. At first, he didn't know what to say. He did know Aiden was a writer and good one at that but he wasn't expecting him to make a modified script out of it.
Still, he was curious to know how it would be. What changes had he made? If he made it worse? Or actually better?
"Let me read it."
He said, taking the script in his hands and slowly going through it. At first, he didn't see many changes but as he slowly read, he saw some changes. A few more fight scenes and more character developments.
Aiden hadn't done anything significant to major and popular characters but he had added a lot of depth to the small characters that would die or won't appear much as the story unfolds.
They were good changes.
As he read, Aiden was called to do a few scenes. He told him to keep reading and went away. Samuel just nodded, too engrossed in the story of the first half.
Till the middle part, there were significant changes that took the story ahead in different ways. New Povs were shown and the whole script had a new layer of mystery to it.
But the best thing he felt was the climax. Aiden left it on a cliff as the truth of the prophecy that bound the whole story came out. It was done in such a way so that the audience would have no choice but to watch the next part to satisfy their curiosity.
'It's good. I feel like the changes should be tamed down but it's a great script on its own that completely nullifies the boring parts from before.'
Samuel thought in his mind as Aiden returned to his seat. It was just as the children's book author finished reading the script.
"You read it?"
"Yeah, I just finished it." Samuel nodded and turned towards Aiden.
"How did you like it?"
Aiden asked and got a bit nervous. He knew that Samuel would be someone who would know the story of <Hex> best. Apparently, his father had written the whole story for him as a birthday present and later published it.
His opinion was probably the most important out of anyone.
"It was good. You are a good writer."
"Thanks." Aiden smiled hearing that, then asked. "Now, do you think your father would have liked the modifications?"
Samuel didn't answer the question right away. Thinking of his father, there were a lot of memories in his mind but out of all those, one of those best described him.
It was a memory from the time when he had been writing the seventh volume of <Hex>. The previous volume had become a bestseller but as he was having trouble writing it, he was reading the whole series again.
It was then that he became angry. Samuel had asked why and his father had promptly replied.
'Why are you angry? You noticed a publishing mistake in the first volume?'
'It's not that. A writer grows as he writes a novel. As I'm reading this right now, I feel like I could have done so many parts better in the first volume. I'm pretty sure the second one is like this too. I never thought about the whole story before writing it, so these problems are common. I can't even rewrite it now.'
On that whole day, his father had been angry and ultimately, drank his favourite scotch before sleeping. Playing that memory through his mind and glancing down at the script in his hand, Samuel made a smile.
"I think yes. He would have loved them. You are really a good writer, Aiden."
