14 Making a Movie

After negotiating with Stardust, we finally reached an agreement.Stardust agreed to acquire the rights to adapt Toy Story into an animated feature film. Instead of an upfront payment for the rights, they opted to offer 12 percent of the movie's profits. It was a risk, as my compensation would be directly tied to the success of the film. Considering how well Toy Story did back in my old timeline, or was this another world? Ahhh... it was all very confusing to think about. Ever since I realized that I might be in a world of a popular sitcom, I had become a bit paranoid about what else this world had in store for me.

But getting back to the point, I was confident that the movie would have at least some success. The compensation not only covered the theatrical release but also extended to profits generated from merchandise and other related revenues. The contract also acknowledged my position as a creative consultant, allowing me to actively contribute to the development of the script, characters, and overall narrative.

We started working on the movie after the contract was signed. Chris laid out the development timeline, and it was very ambitious, aiming to finish the movie in three years. The pre-production phase involved extensive planning and conceptualization, including storyboarding, character design, and early animation tests. Given the complexity of 3D animation, this stage required careful attention to detail to ensure a solid foundation for the rest of the production. I would be heavily involved in this stage, as it was here that the script, character development, and the overall narrative would be fine-tuned to set the stage for the animation process.

In the storyboarding sessions, we visualized the flow of the narrative and sketched out key moments and character interactions. Drawing from my memory of the original movie, I provided ideas to the artists on how the characters looked and acted, contributing to the production moving ahead of schedule.The people I met and worked with genuinely loved what they did and I found myself learning a lot about the movie-making process.

During the initial months of pre-production, my visits to the studio were frequent. However, as the pre-production phase concluded and the second book was released, my visits became more sporadic. It was during one of these rare visits that Chris approached me.

"How are you, Danny? You look tired," he asked.

"Yeah, been busy with school since I'm taking an extended leave, you know, for the tour," I replied. Chris seemed happier than usual, so I inquired, "You look excited, what's up?"

"Danny, you won't believe who's interested in voicing Woody," Chris exclaimed.

Curiosity piqued, I leaned in. "Who?"

Chris grinned. "Tom Hanks."

I blinked, processing the information. "Tom Hanks? Seriously? That's incredible!"

I had jokingly suggested to Chris previously that Tom Hanks should play Woody again, just as he did in the original. I didn't think he would be interested this time.

Chris laughed at my dumbstruck expression and continued, "You know I'm not new in this industry, right? I called in a few favors after you suggested casting Tom Hanks, sent the script to him, and it turns out Tom liked the story and wants in."

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Absolutely. We're in talks with his team, and things are looking positive," Chris assured me.

"And you might have helped him accept as well," Chris added.

"Me?" I exclaimed. "What did I do?"

"You wrote it. Tom was surprised that the author was so young; he found it intriguing and wants to be part of the project."

"So, are you trying to get Tim Allen as well?" I asked.

"We are looking into that as well," Chris answered with a huge smile on his face.

"I hope things won't fall apart here while I'm away on my book tour." I said making a light-hearted joke.

Chris chuckled. "Oh, I'm sure we can survive a few months without you."

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Toy Story 2 was released by the end of the year. The sequel turned out to be a bigger success than the first one.Thanks to the buzz surrounding the release of the second book Stardust Studio's marketing team strategically leveraged this excitement to announce the adaptation of the first book into a movie.

The book tour turned out to be bigger than the previous one. I traveled from city to city attending book signings, interviews, and other events. The announcement of the movie deal also meant there were questions about that as well.Just like last time, the book was a big hit among children. I got the chance to engage with them. Some shared their favorite moments from the book, while others eagerly asked about the upcoming movie.

Meanwhile, back at Stardust Studios, the production of Toy Story was progressing smoothly. I received updates from Chris about the movie's progress; the pre-production phase had concluded, and the animators were now bringing the characters to life in the virtual world. I also received a message from Chris that Tom Hanks had officially signed up for the movie.It was all in their hands now. Overall, things were going well, both with the book tour and the movie production but that didn't last long.