73. Clarity, Mark's Devious Plan and A Productive Year.

Disclaimer: The story that I have written here takes on the names of real people, but this story is based in an alternate earth with some changes in its timeline.

This story does not intend to represent the celebrities/real people or make any commentary on them whatsoever. This story is entirely fictional, and it should be viewed entirely as such.

.

..

_________________________

..

.

Recap of the Previous Chapter –

Mark sees Eva walking on him and is excited for another possible threesome. After a pleasure surprise from Salma, they cool off in the bath with Mark getting a massage and then a final happy ending (⁠◠⁠‿⁠◕⁠) after which the chapter comes to an end.

.

..

_________________________

..

.

– Quote of the chapter –

~ Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold ~ Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather.

.

~ Eva's POV ~

.

Date: Monday, 17th September, 1990.

.

Location: In Mark's private residence at the Eidolon HQ.

.

Time: 04:32 pm.

..

.

Eva had woken up after the scrumptious meal she had shared with Mark and salma. Salma had already left for the acting classes and she couldn't see Mark anywhere.

So after making sure she was dressed appropriately, she decided to see what he was up to. She found him in the office, hunched over his work desk as he wrote something.

It looked like a letter, she also noticed that the typewriter was in use. She didn't bother him and just moved over to see what he was writing now.

They had a conversation about what other books or comics he wanted to release this year. She wanted to know as he had already released quite a lot with –

The first volume of «The Vinland Saga», two volumes of the «Legends of Runeterra», the first volume of «Halo», the Comic series of «Naruto» and «Doom» and the third volume of «Resident Evil». There was also the «My Hero Academia» comic series that was also in production.

1990 had been a super productive year for Mark and Eidolon Entertainment. But she didn't want Mark to feel pressured that what he had done wasn't enough but it didn't look like that would be possible for sometime now.

She knew about the works that were in the pipeline that Mark was thinking of releasing this year.

There was the third volume of «Ben 10: Vilgax's Return», that would tie up the teenager arc and end with a face off against Warlord Vilgax and also explore the magical side of Ben's world with the Gwen and charmcaster.

There was also the fantasy animal training fighting comic series/visual novel called «Pokemon», it was a weird name but Mark decided on it so it was not her place to say anything about it.

Another that he hadn't been personally working in much was a Epic fantasy genre visual novel series called the «World of Warcraft» or just «Warcraft» for short. Melissa was currently working on it along with Chris Metzen, a recent graduate who he had plucked straight out of highschool.

His raw talent and passion alone was carrying him through. Mel had been guiding him along on how to write better storylines and was basically polishing his work. The second draft would be ready in a few months time.

Then there was Mark's first ever venture into the post apocalyptic genre with a visual novel called «Horizon: Zero Dawn». She didn't know much about it, but Mark said that it would have a female as the main protagonist and would feature a truly bizarre world.

So despite Mark finishing the production and release of Knives Out, he wasn't done with the year just yet. Just the five she had known about from him would be enough to keep him busy for the rest of the year and now he was again working on something new. He just never stopped working.

She took the first page of the draft to see what he had been working on. It read —

[The Beauty and the Beast]

She read the summary to find that it was the story of a prince who is magically transformed into a monster (the beast of the story) and his servants were also transformed into household objects as punishment for his arrogance.

She found the punishment to the servants a bit excessive but rolled with it as it's only a medieval era children's fantasy story. Then there is also Belle (the beauty of the story), a young woman whom the prince imprisons in his castle in exchange for her father's freedom.

To break the curse, the Beast must learn to love Belle and earn her love in return before the last petal falls from an enchanted rose or else he will remain a monster forever.

It is a fantasy movie that Mark had designed to be an animated film and it was slated to be produced and released by next year. She thought it would be a good thing to start their new animation studio with but it was maybe a bit too ambitious compared to a cartoon that was the safer play here.

It was definitely something she would have to ask Mark about. She waited till Mark was done with writing the letter and then asked, "Mark didn't you say that your next movie is going to be «The Killing Joke», so why go for an animated movie now?"

"Not that I want to question your judgement here, but Jon and Todd are almost done with location scouting and photography. You can't tell me that you're going to do an animated movie now." Eva finished exasperated, but she had a smile on her face as she knew that there was never a boring moment with Mark. But she still felt like Mark was taking on too much on his plate too soon.

"It's fine Eva. This is just a draft for a movie script also it's not like I will be the one directing it. My complete focus is on «The Killing Joke» I promise you." Mark replied, turning to her, as he explained his intention with the script.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I got anxious thinking that you might be taking too many things on your plate at once." She apologized for questioning his decision and explained her reasons as she moved closer to him.

"Shh, it's fine, honey. It just shows how much you care and I love seeing you get worked up about me. But have a little faith in your man, okay?" Mark replied with an easy-going smile as he drew her in for a hug.

"I always do, after all to me your like Superman, Mark. But, just like Lois Lane I just can't stop worrying about you." She replied with a pout as she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"But why animation Mark? Why so soon? I know you bought off Hanna-barbera but they are still in the adaptation and training phase. It still feels a little early for going into making films. Don't you think so?" She asked trying to change the topic and get on to business.

"Well it is but after…" Mark began to explain what happened after he had finished his lunch. Obviously he left out his conversation with Vani.

.

..

.

~ Flashback ~

A few hours ago

.

After the "fun" he shared with his two lovely ladies. Mark was struck with a vision of clarity, well he did cum three times in the last 2 hours. His thoughts subconsciously went to the incident of last night, he started thinking deeper about it.

Despite him sharing lunch with the two, he wasn't really present. His thoughts were elsewhere, he took it from the very beginning and recalled the box office ranking data for the first week of Knives Out's release.

– Weekly Box Office Ranking – (Sept 6 - Sept 13)

1. Knives Out - $104.32 million – by Eidolon Entertainment.

2. Ghost - $8.9 million – by Paramount Pictures.

3. Presumed Innocent - $5.4 million – by Warner Bros.

4. Darkman - $5.2 million – by Universal Pictures.

5. Flatliners - $4.3 million – by Columbia Pictures.

6. Young Guns ll - $3.9 million – by Twentieth Century Fox.

7. Taking Care of Business - $3.64 million – by Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture.

8. Problem Child - $2.8 million – by Universal Pictures.

9. Die Hard 2 - $1.3 million – by Twentieth Century Fox.

10. My Blue Heaven - $0.96 million – by Warner Bros.

When he looked back on the production/distribution studios, it finally hit him. He couldn't believe he didn't see it at first glance, it was so simple. But maybe that's why his mind didn't connect the dots earlier.

He looked at the rankings and tallied up how many films the respective studios had in the top 10.

Eidolon Entertainment – 1

Paramount Pictures – 1

Warner Bros – 2

Universal Pictures – 2

Twentieth Century Fox – 2

Columbia Pictures – 1

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures – 1

Now at first glance it might seem like there were no odd ones that stood out. But on a closer inspection the clear culprit was Disney and it wasn't even his biases against that abomination of a movie studio talking.

Even though Paramount only had a single movie on the ranking after checking with Vani he found that «Ghost» was actually the highest grossing movie of 1990 in his previous life.

So Paramount was out of the list of Studios that would likely be behind the incident. The next likely culprit was Colombia as it had also only one with only 1 movie on the ranking.

But his gut feeling told him that Columbia was also most likely innocent because it was only one year ago that they had been bought out by Sony.

So they were more focused on improving themselves than going after a fledgling studio like his own.

Whereas the Walt Disney studio was growing despite it being in a financial crisis recently, it had become one of the Big Six. It was only under the leadership of Michael Eisner had they been able to turn around the disastrous sinking ship that Disney had become.

So them losing so badly to an open coming new film studio must have hurt their ego. Mark had heard of Micheal Eisner before in his previous life.

He was infamously known as a tyrant and he was called the "King Of Disney'' before by the people of Hollywood and press. And how he was known to rule over the company with an iron fist.

Marks still wasn't fully certain though as his prediction about Disney being the one behind trying to frame River as a drug addict was only at around 60 to 70% but that was enough, he knew what had to be done.

He was done trying to play it safe, thinking about how not to step on any toes of the Big Six Studios. Wishfully thinking they would just leave him alone for at least the first few years of his career as a director and Studio owner but he now realized how naive he had been for thinking so.

The Big Six didn't maintain their hegemony by being passive herbivores. They were the apex predators of the Hollywood food chain with powerful media houses behind them.

Thankfully Disney had yet to buy their own media channels that would allow them to paint a bad picture about him and his movies.

But He wouldn't retaliate immediately though, no, he would slowly whittle down the empire Eisner had been working so hard to build and it would all begin with him stealing their biggest hits from the upcoming decade.

'After all, revenge was a dish best served cold.' Mark thought to himself as he thought about his next step and in his moment of clarity he came up with a diabolical plan.

'Vani, could you please pull up a list of Disney movies from 1990 to 2000? List them in ascending order with their budget and box office listed as well, while you're at it.' Mark asked as he pulled out his notebook from the hidden safe.

[Of course, Mark, here is a list of animated movies released by the Walt Disney Company from 1990 to 2000, arranged in ascending order by box office earnings.]

[The budget and box office figures are approximate, and keep in mind that these numbers are as of my knowledge cutoff date in August 2023.]

[1. The Rescuers Down Under (1990) –

• Budget: $30 million

• Box Office: Approximately $47.4 million

2. The Great Mouse Detective (1992) –

• Budget: $14 million

• Box Office: Approximately $38.7 million

3. The Rescuers (1992 re-release)

• Budget: N/A (original release in 1977)

• Re-release Box Office: $71.2 million.

4. Beauty and the Beast (1991) –

• Budget: $25 million

• Box Office:-

— Domestic (51.5%): $218,967,620

— International (43.8%): $186,043,788

— Worldwide: $424,967,620

5. Aladdin (1992) –

• Budget: $28 million

• Box Office:-

— Domestic (62.7%): $217,350,219

— International (37.3%): $129,126,076

— Worldwide: $346,476,295

6. The Lion King (1994) –

• Budget: $45 million

• Box Office:-

— Domestic (41%) – $312,855,561

— International (59%) – $450,600,000

— Worldwide – $763,455,561

7. Pocahontas (1995) –

• Budget: $55 million

• Box Office:-

– Domestic (40.9%): $141,579,773

– International (59.1%): $204,500,000

– Worldwide: $346,079,773

8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) –

• Budget: $100 million

• Box Office: Total Approximate $325.3 million

— Original Release Box Office: $101.34 million.

— Re-release Box Office: $224 million.

9. Hercules (1997) –

• Budget: $85 million

• Box Office: Total Approximate $252.7 million

— Original Release Box Office: $99.11 million.

— Re-release Box Office: $153.59 million.

10. Mulan (1998) –

• Budget: $90 million

• Box Office:-

— Domestic (39.6%): $120,620,254

— International (60.4%): $183,700,000

— Worldwide: $304,320,254

11. Tarzan (1999) –

• Budget: $130 million

• Box Office:-

— Domestic (38.2%): $171,091,819

— International (61.8%): $277,100,000

— Worldwide: $448,191,819

12. Fantasia 2000 (2000) –

• Budget: $85 million

• Box Office:-

— Domestic (66.7%): $60,655,420

— International (33.3%): $30,219,150

— Worldwide: $90,874,570]

After going through the list, he immediately identified the glaring weakness. The one movie with which Disney would make a huge breakthrough and make a name for themselves as the best animated film studio in Hollywood before Pixar came along to steal that title forever.

They had a great run at the box office last year with the Little Mermaid, earning around $96 million at the Box Office on a $32 million budget. But that was nothing in front of the gold they would strike upon that would be an unassuming little fairy tale about a - "Beauty and the Beast."

Grossing over $248 million on a budget of $30 million, it would become the smash hit that would carren Disney's image and box office into becoming the giant that it would be in the future. But this was where Mark planned to cut it off.

At first he thought just buying out Pixar and Marvel before Disney could ever even get the chance of getting their grubby hands on them would be enough. But now he wanted to stop Disney from ever even having the chance to become the behemoth it would be one day in the future.

And it played out perfectly with his current preparations; he already had an animation studio – «Hannah-Barbera» that was undergoing a metamorphosis process. They were upgrading their hardware and software and even training up their staff to be able to work efficiently on new stuff.

He was thinking about creating (stealing) some low budget animated movie/TV show to adapt. But this new development with Disney, had really dropped a gold mine in his lap.

While he was writing the draft for the beauty and the beast movie, he asked Vani about the key players of the movie in his past life. He wanted to immediately hire them to start working on a polished script using his draft and work on the songs as the movie was actually a musical.

'Vani could pull the information about the script writer of the «beauty and the beast» and also the information about the key players of said movie.'

[Of course, Mark, here is a list of the key players who played an important role in the production phase of the Beauty and the beast.

Screenplay by — Linda Woolverton.

Directed by — Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise.

Story by — Brenda Chapman, Chris Sanders & Burny Mattinson.

Based on – Beauty and the Beast – by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont.

Produced by – Don Hahn.

Lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken wrote the film's songs.

Attempts to develop the Beauty and the Beast story into a film were made in the 1930s and 1950s, but were ultimately given up because it "proved to be a challenge" for the story team.

Now there is a small change in the events here, instead of Disney CEO, Micheal Eisner deciding to hire a screenwriter for the adaptation, it was the studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg who took it upon himself to get a screenwriter.

The pre-production was coming along nicely until a few days ago at the Executive Meeting of Disney. Eisner called out Jeffrey for approving of such a make-believe and childish movie. His mood being upset with the failure to impede Knives Out and destroy River's reputation only served as fuel to the fire.

After a long drawn out verbal spat which ended with him insulting Mrs. Woolverton's professional skills and talent. Jeffrey wasn't able to do much as Eisner's authority was not to be questioned.

According to my analysis, these people are crucial to the creation of the –

Beauty and the beast.

Screenplay writer – Linda Woolverton, Lyricist – Howard Ashman and Composer – Alan Menken. The story itself can be provided by you, Mark, quite easily with the use of a knowledge script.]

'Linda Woolverton, hmm, so she is the brains behind the script of beauty and the beast. If I can get her to join me, she would be a huge help to me.'

'Vani can you pull up the files on Mrs. Woolverton, I want to see her accomplishments for myself. Start with her part in the pre-production of Beauty and the beast.' Mark said in his thoughts as he drew images of the prince before and after the curse afflicted him.

[Sure, thing Mark, here is information about Mrs. Woolverton. She was hired to write the script for Disney Feature Animation's Beauty and the Beast, thus becoming the first woman to write an animated feature for the studio.]

[From early 1985 to 1988, two different teams of writers had taken a turn at adapting Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont's tale into a feature film, but Woolverton succeeded by incorporating her own ideas into the story, such as making the protagonist a bookworm.]

[Upon its release in 1991, Beauty and the Beast received universal acclaim, becoming the first animated film ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.]

[But here's the real kicker Mark, you remember recently you've started the second round of recruitment, right? Well she is actually one of your potential hires. After feeling belittled by Eisner she is looking for a new place to call home.]

[Someplace where her talent will be valued and respected, you being Marc Spector also helped as she is a fan of some of your works. Your movie Knives Out being such a huge success at Box Office is also another thing that is working in your favor.]

[And last but not the least you buying out Hanna-barbera also made her choose Eidolon over Disney as her prospective place of work. After all, Scooby-Doo was her favorite cartoon show growing up and it gave her the idea that even animals and inanimate objects could talk.]

'I see, thanks for the detailed information, Vani. I could wait for her arrival but it would also give time for Jeffrey to change Eisner's mind and get Mrs. Linda back on their team and we can't have that now can we?' Mark thought to himself as he stopped typing the draft and instead took a sheet of paper.

He immediately started writing a recruitment letter to Linda Woolverton and was almost done with when Eva arrived but she was very thoughtful and didn't disturb him.

Instead she began reading the summary of the Beauty and the beast he had prepared.

Finally when he completed the letter, Eva broke her silence and asked him if he was seriously thinking about doing an animated film instead of the Killing Joke…

~Flashback Ends ~

.

..

.

"So you're looking to poach her from Disney?" She said as she curiously looked at Mark.

"I'm not gonna poach her, Eva, I got good information that she had a fallout with Disney and is currently looking for a new place to work for." Mark said, rolling his eyes at her.

"I just need you to gently approach her and hand over this letter. Tell her that I want to meet up to discuss further about creating a movie on Beauty and the beast." He explained what needed to be done.

"And she is not the only one, if we want to make this film into a reality then we will be needing these two as well." He slid her a piece of paper that read two more names along with their profession.

Lyricist – Howard Ashman and Composer – Alan Menken.

Her brows furrowed as she read the names and their profession, then they eased off as she understood what Mark was upto.

"You want to create a musical animated film like the Little Mermaid?" She asked as she saw that movie before and it was the closest thing to what Mark wanted to create.

"Exactly like the Little Mermaid actually, after all Ashman and Howard worked on creating that beautiful movie. I want them to do the same for me." He replied with a grin.

"Unfortunately they are currently working for Disney but due to the delays with the beauty and the beast, things are not looking very good for them."

"These two will be the ones I want you to poach, Howard is an unfortunate soul suffering from AIDS. He is truly the heart and soul of this musical animated film I'm trying to create so having him on board is a must." Mark explained with a sad look on his face.

But he recovered and had an optimistic smile as he said this, "Tell him that we are willing to provide him with the best medical care out there. The bill will be on us and everything that he would need to recover from his condition will be taken care of by us as well."

"The work hours will be kept low and he can even work for home or we can build a music studio close by."

"I see, don't worry, Mark. I will talk to them and express our sincerity in recruiting them for a movie. Hmm, anything else that I should know of?" She asked as she thought about how to approach them without coming off as rude.

"Well, I heard that Howard pitched the idea of an animated musical adaptation of some fairytale to Disney. But he was rejected, so tell him that if he would consider joining then we can even collaborate in creating that into a movie if he comes to join us at Eidolon." Mark replied as he remembered reading that Howard had pitched the idea for Aladdin but was turned down by Disney.

"Oh yeah, another thing, tell everything that I just told you about recruiting these three to Kevin as well. And take him with you when you go meet the three of them. His people skills should really help in winning over their trust and they might even agree to join us." Mark replied with a smile.

"Okay, I will take care of this for you. Now show me the letter you wrote for Linda." She said Mark turned her around and sat her down of his lap and raised up the letter to her eyes, saying, "Go ahead, give it a read."

—

From: Mark Spencer.

(Eidolon Entertainment)

To,

Linda Woolverton.

Dear Linda,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am Mark Spencer, the owner of Eidolon Entertainment, and I am writing to express our strong interest in having you join our team as a screenwriter. We have been following your remarkable career closely, and your talent and achievements have not gone unnoticed by us.

Eidolon Entertainment is currently embarking on its second round of recruitment to further strengthen our creative team, and your name has consistently surfaced as a highly regarded professional in the field.

Your track record of successful screenwriting and the creative spark you bring to your work truly stand out. We are excited about the possibility of having someone of your caliber on board with us.

Your unique storytelling abilities and the impact your work has had on audiences align perfectly with our mission to create captivating and thought-provoking content.

We believe that your writing style and creativity would be a valuable addition to our team as we continue to develop and produce innovative and engaging projects.

I would love the opportunity to discuss how we can collaborate and how your skills and vision can contribute to the future success of Eidolon Entertainment.

If you are open to exploring this possibility, please feel free to reach out to me at my personal phone number 213-555-3890.

Thank you for considering this offer, Linda. We are genuinely excited about the potential to work with someone like you and we look forward to the possibility of you joining Eidolon Entertainment.

Your talent would undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our newly established animation studio. Once again, thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Mark Spencer

(Owner)

Eidolon Entertainment

---

"Hmm," Eva hummed to herself as she finished reading it.

"Was it too formal?" Mark asked with some hesitance.

"Well, it does feel a bit stiff but it's okay. You don't know her personally and are trying to establish a professional relationship. So the tone you set in the letter was fine, but never mentioned any of her big achievements." She replied as she slowly broke down the points that stood out for her.

"Well it's because for now she has only worked as a screenwriter for a few cartoon TV shows and nothing on the big screen." Mark replied scratching his nose with a shy smile.

"So that's why it felt a little stiff, you praised her but it wasn't for the heart as for someone like you writing for a TV show is nothing big. Hmm, we will definitely have to rewrite this so that it comes off as more sincere." Eva nodded to herself as she turned around and said the last line looking Mark in the eye.

"Of course, but I need to leave for the promo tour tomorrow so let's complete it tonight. Now I must really get back to finishing the draft for the beauty and the beast." He kissed her temple and had her standup as he went back to writing the draft.

"I will see you tonight then, bye, Mark." As she kissed him and left for taking care of her own work.

.

..

.

..

.

{Author's Note: And… Cut.. Had to rewrite half of this chapter, hence the extra delay. This was only supposed to have Mark scheming about taking over Disney movies but then I thought I should cover what Mark's team had been working on in the background as well so the rewrite was inevitable.

Here we see the 5 more works (novels/comic series) that will be coming out by the end of 1990. Making this year Mark's most productive yet with a total of 10 different creative works and even his first movie being filmed.

But next year is going to be even more crazy for Eidolon. Keep reading to find out.

Anywhos, moving on, thanks for reading my work. I am entirely motivated by interaction, suggestions and feedback. So please leave a comment or review and I will probably write faster.

If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. Slurp some nice ramen and I hope you all have a beautiful day. (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 2 days.}