Technically...

The design of the storage building were made to look like livable spaces.

Ian's design was more reminiscent to small, get-away lodges.

Lodges tend to look compact due to certain materials being used and the additions that are stuck to them.

The additions were also a big part of the design as the rest of the building tended to be on the smaller side. Lodges tended to include small arches or entryway, a chimney, and maybe an overhang to an outdoor garage.

Ian wanted to make use of all of these additions, to conceal its actual use.

The chimney and arch-ways would be more of an aesthetic, but the outdoor garage could be purposed for materials that didn't fit inside of the actual storage space.

Outdoor garages could also be useful for temporary storage, so that they could easily be picked up when needed.

When Ian showed the actual design to James, James had a lot to say about it.

"Aren't these just lodge building's? Can i actually store anything in here?"

"..."

"...Hey, didn't we agree on the practicality of the building?"

"Well, it might look like you can't fit anything in here, but the design is just deceptively small, you'll see."

"Also, my home looks a little too big, I'd prefer if you just took some of that out."

"...Hahh, yeah, maybe the home is too big, but the lodges- I mean storage's are fine. As long you are storing things like props or regular camera equipment, there is more than enough space."

James gives Ian a look.

"-Trust me, it's just that you have pre-conceived notion in your head that they are actually lodges. There'll be tons of open space in the buildings, there will mostly pillars and beams for structural integrity, so the walls won't be a problem."

"You said mostly pillars and beams."

"Yeah, there'll be some walls. There is going to be small bathrooms in each of the spaces, but it is in the corner of the building and won't take up much space."

"Ian, the spaces are meant to be livable."

"Agh, cmon."

"Ian-"

"-But, if you ever wanted to use them as livable spaces, its going to be a hassle to get a plumbing, electricity, foundation, roofing, and siding done just to get a small bathroom. Add this to the fact that these rooms will eventually be filled up with a bunch of junk, making it even harder to add anything to it once its being used. You'll be thanking me I got it done before anything else."

"-Trust me, it's worth it." Ian added.

"*Sigh*, Okay," James said.

"Alright, so do you want me to take out the small kitchen and bedroom or...?"

"..."

----------

James was spending a considerable amount more than he, originally, thought he would. It wasn't necessarily a HUGE investment, nor was he draining his funds.

But, the costs were adding up and they would continue to add up as he was nowhere near the completion of any of his business'.

The main detractor currently was building costs and facilities. He needed to make sure everything was in order, like the amenities, and then he needed employees to actually make use of them.

James believed that he was going to need to even train some of them, so that would be an extra cost. James needed to recruit a proper PR team, get management, and then have actual skilled workers manning things like script development and camera work.

And if he wanted talented people, he needed someone just as talented at recruiting, so he could actually find and get them.

Then there were things like production, that he will probably have to outsource for the foreseeable future.

Finally, he needed to find people who had a knack for design, people who could pitch good ideas, someone who utilize resources well, people who could choose good project to invest in, etc.

------------

The only "upside" to James' current dilemma is that the US is currently going through a bit of an economic crisis that would soon completely up-end much of the business going on in America

If you consider that an upside, you'd have to be someone like James, soaking in millions of dollars.

If you weren't in the top 1% or weren't profiting massively during this time, then things were looking tough.

Only major corporations that were at the top were making a good deal of money, this included the entertainment industry.

This is also why many were looking to make start-ups or production studios, but the market was already saturated, forcing everyone who wasn't profiting to shut down.

James was hoping to make use of that to recruit certain studios/news outlets, hoping to repurpose them and include into his business'.

The other aspect of the financial crisis James was sort of able to make use of is tax evasion.

...Well, not necessarily tax evasion as much as it was him relocating funds to a time when it was better for him to pay.

...

There were multiple ways to do this as the pay structure was not always clear between studios.

For instance, "technically" he still hasn't been paid for the two movies he did with DuBois studios. Although they are paying him a fixed salary for the work he did, most of it has not "technically" been paid out to the majority share holders or investors in the movie.

His movies have already been released and the box office numbers are nearing their end, but the pay that is going to be allotted still hasn't been "decided."

James and DuBois could put off paying taxes on the "profits" of the movie until they've "officially" documented and sorted them between the investors.

There were also many expenditures that DuBois had to pay which they could use as tax write-offs, as they were all technically true.

Obviously, Dubois couldn't wait forever to sort out these tax forms, but they could put it off for quite awhile before the IRS investigated. They only needed to seem as if they had a debt that could act as a buffer or an expenditure that needed to be dealt with before they could report actual profits.

The profits could even be made to look like they were earned in a different financial year, as long as everyone played nice to make it seem so.

This was something that many Hollywood companies did. James, fortunately, was on the other side of it for a change.