When heads turned towards Aiden, everyone was confused for a while. Only Ava, who Aiden had explained everything to before the meeting, knew that Aiden had a hand in the modification of the script.
So, she just simply sat back and enjoyed it.
"What is this joke? Olio, why did Aiden modify the script? When did he become involved in the creative process of the movie? I thought you were the one in control."
Alberto lashed out on Olio and gave a blazing glare towards Aiden.
"I'm still in control but the script was modified by Aiden. He has a writing portfolio on his own. I don't think it's anything too hard to comprehend."
"It's not. Still, he has never written a script before. How can you let such a person handle it?"
"He has a good grip on [Hex] and he didn't write the script. He modified parts of the first half and I liked it. I'm pretty sure that's enough justification for the quality of the modifications."
Olio frowned and looked at Alberto. He didn't like his tone at all but he wasn't going to say anything to him in the middle of a meeting.
Other people whispered among themselves but since Olio looked very confident about the modifications, they didn't say anything.
In the end, this was still something they could reject at the moment.
"Okay, let's see it."
One of the board members, a fat man, said and everyone else nodded. Copies of the modified script were brought out and Olio gave everyone enough time to read through it before starting a meeting.
A few people asked questions from Aiden as they read.
"You have created a lot of powerful characters that weren't supposed to be in the original script? What are you going to do with them in the second half? You would need to include them too."
"Maybe but [Hex] is all over the world and doesn't stay in a single place. Moreover, these characters are originally taken from the main story. They just didn't have enough background or any details regarding their abilities or the gods they follow. We are increasing the lore of the world with this."
Aiden focused on the lore part as afterall, it was going to be a franchise poster boy. If these characters stuck, there could be spinoffs for them easily as he had already given them cool abilities.
"Won't the changes affect the power balance of the world?"
"No, they won't. Most of the changes aren't really that big. They are more to add depth to the world than anything else. Moreover, the characters that are the focus had more of a stylised power system. It looks cool but when you think about it, it's not too powerful."
Aiden explained his changes to the whole board and other executives. Throughout the time, Alberto was the only one who was very against it. Others had a much more open attitude towards it.
Alberto was focusing more on the added responsibility of making it two parts. According to what Olio told them, they would shoot both the parts at the same time as a 75 percent shooting was already over.
They were going to shoot the modified parts later on.
It meant that if the first part failed, the studio would not bother releasing the second part in theatres. There will be much more heavy losses.
On the other hand, a lot of board members focused on the profits.
"If the first part worked, the total box office gross would at least be 600 million dollars and with the second part having more hype around it, it would be 700-900 million dollars at least. That's what we predict. As a lot of the movie is already shot, there won't be a lot of additional investments either."
Olio explained to the board members and executives. More money was something no one disliked. And this sounded extremely good to their ears.
One more thing that helped was the ending of the first part that Aiden had made.
"As you read, the first part will end with a cliffhanger. This is rarely used in Hollywood movies but whenever it is, it would make hype for the second part and the marketing can hold onto it then. Humans are innately curious so most people who watched the first part will watch the second part. We will be able to get the streaming audience too who might opt for the second part in theatres after watching the first on a streaming platform."
Aiden explained to all the board members and questions kept being raised. Alberto was the one who raised the most of them and Olio and he kept answering them.
Finally after 7 hours, the meeting was over.
They didn't give a definite answer right away as there was a need for more meetings but going by the reception, it won't be a problem.
Titan studios wanted more money and they have liked the whole progress till now. Moreover, Aiden could see confidence in Olio from their side.
Maybe it was because of his track record as a director.
He was right in his thoughts as two days later, they approved two parts of the movie.
***
<Titan studios have approved [Hex] to be made in two parts, their most awaited movie of the year. The decision had come after the director Olio Fermen had a few meetings with the board.>
<[Hex] is boring in two parts — Director Olio Fermen recently announced it in a video with the first part coming at the end of the year. The second part will be released next year as the shooting of it would happen with the first part.>
<Apparently, Aiden Silvereye had gotten credit for being one of the writers for [Hex: Part 1]. The actor had come up with modifications on the set before Olio Fermen had decided to go with two parts.>
<Major changes have been made to the first part of [Hex] to make the story crisp. The changes are taken positively by the studio executives surprisingly.>
When all these articles came out, a lot of readers of the original series were very apprehensive about two parts.
Most of them didn't care that the movie was going to be in two parts. It just meant a large chunk would be adapted. Just the parts about the modifications weren't taken well by most of the fans.
With writers ruining a lot of anticipated beloved adaptations recently with modifications, anyone who was a fan of movies wasn't happy with them. They just wanted a word to word adaptation.
So, there were a lot of comments about [Hex] going the same way.
[A spy on a balloon: I was very excited about [Hex] due to Olio but now that I read there are modifications, I'm just scared. Only if the trailer and everything feels right, I will go watch it. Even then, not on the first day.]
[Flying honey Bear: This is going to be a trainwreck. I just know it. There's no other way around it after these articles.]
[Sleep is the best job: After the modification, I'm pretty sure this will fail. They won't even earn much in the first part to go release the second in theatres. Everyone hoping this to be good are just on copium.]
Both Aiden and Olio didn't care one bit about these types of comments even if they were a lot. It was better to answer them with their work rather than saying anything online.
After all, if the trailers stick with the audience, [Hex] was a movie people are going to give chances to no matter what. An entire generation has read it as they have grown after all.
It was once the top book series in a lot of countries.
They also didn't have time to focus on the comments. Modifications meant that more work was awaiting them. New scenes meant that they needed to increase the shooting days and it also meant that Titan studios had to invest an additional 50 million dollars on the movie.
New actors were also casted and old ones that were going to appear had to be given more money as their scenes were increased. Those actors welcomed this as no one disliked more money and scenes in this industry, especially actors who weren't that big.
With an entire extra month of shooting waiting for him, Aiden also started helping out Olio on the scenes that were written by him.
Obviously, as a stubborn director, Olio wanted to give these scenes his own flavour so he changed a bit in them. He modified them as he wished and Aiden just stood on the side.
His work was already over as they were going with two parts. He didn't want any creative control over the body, so he let Olio do his thing and focused on his acting.
At this point, he just wanted the movie to turn out well. It had to turn out well since a lot of the failure would be pushed on his head if the movie didn't perform as expected.
