Chapter 10

It was early August, and Ryan scratched his head as he took the phone from Nicole. He really couldn't think of what that fat man could want from him. Was Miramax that idle, or was Harvey Weinstein's brain playing tricks on him, wanting to chat with this kid about the future?

"Hello, Harvey." The current Miramax wasn't as confident as it would be later. Although the brothers were worldly, they still maintained a proper closeness to those who could create value for them. "Yes, Pat has already come over, and he brought the contract. The terms? Of course, I'm satisfied, no problems."

"What? No, no, no, Harvey, I don't want to interfere with your decision. I did grow up in Los Angeles, but Philadelphia is one of the oldest cities in North America, isn't it? Don't you think setting the film in Philadelphia would be more convincing?"

When Harvey Weinstein mentioned changing the filming location to Los Angeles, even though Ryan knew his words carried little weight, he couldn't help but voice his opposition. Fortunately, Harvey Weinstein hadn't yet become arrogant and quickly dropped the idea.

"Alright, then. Wait, Harvey, I want to ask, have the director and the lead actor been decided?" Hearing the name through the phone, Ryan subconsciously scratched his cheek. "David Fincher? The one who directed Madonna's music videos?"

After receiving an affirmative answer, Ryan hung up the phone. Well, another Hollywood celebrity's life trajectory had been altered by this big butterfly.

"Ryan, how does it feel to act in a script you wrote?" Ms. Kinsley asked with a smile, sipping her coffee.

Ryan rolled his eyes dramatically, as if to say, "Are you stupid?" "Pat, the movie hasn't even started shooting yet, how would I know how it feels?"

"Ryan, come over here." Nicole spoke up, pointing to the two contracts on the table. "These are the script contract and your acting contract. I've already signed them, now it's your turn."

Ms. Kinsley, sitting on the other side, explained, "For the script, the $50,000 remains unchanged, but there are some minor flaws that need to be fixed."

"I understand."

"For the acting part, Harvey should have talked to you. The film won't start shooting until the end of next month. Although you're playing one of the three most important roles, you're a newcomer with no previous work, so Miramax has offered a lower salary, only $150,000."

"Is there anything else?" Ryan remembered the things he had instructed the female agent to do.

"Of course, the reason the salary is so low is mainly due to the conditions you proposed." The female agent sighed, unable to understand Ryan's imaginative thinking. "The contract specifies that if the film's North American box office exceeds $250 million, you and Nicole will each receive 1% of the box office revenue."

"Wow~" Ryan exclaimed excitedly, imagining Harvey Weinstein's reaction when the film was released.

"Don't get too excited. For the same reason, Nicole's salary is only $1.5 million."

The female agent poured cold water on his excitement. She knew very well that Miramax was confident the film's box office would never reach such astronomical figures, and by offering a lower salary, they could save a significant amount of money.

In the eyes of experienced film professionals, "The Sixth Sense" was indeed an excellent story and script. If handled well, it could achieve tens of millions or even hundreds of millions in North American box office. However, a $250 million box office was a different story. Only "Star Wars" and "Jaws" had ever achieved this. Could a family drama disguised as a thriller really do it? Don't be ridiculous.

Miramax's seemingly generous offer was based on short-term interests.

Of course, Ms. Kinsley played a crucial role. Although it might reduce her income, as a smart person, she believed Ryan's value lay more in writing, which was the key to her earnings.

The matter of "The Sixth Sense" was temporarily settled. Unlike Nicole, who needed to study the script and her role, Ryan, as the script's author, had seen the original film dozens of times in his previous life. Thanks to his excellent memory in this life, the scenes were etched in his mind, and he didn't need to study them.

However, during their leisure time, daily exercise, and walks, he would discuss the script with Nicole, especially the interactions between their characters. His deeper understanding and feelings about the film naturally influenced Nicole, which would be helpful for future shooting.

As Nicole had once complained, Ryan had almost no friends. Having experienced the internet in his previous life, he had a tendency to be a homebody. Compared to the sociable Australian beauty, his life was much quieter and more regular.

Every morning and evening, he and Nicole would exercise. After breakfast, he would read and write. In the afternoons, he would take time to practice his instruments, sometimes composing simple tunes and writing English lyrics, singing them in a childish voice to the detriment of Nicole Kidman and their neighbors.

After dinner, they would watch TV and news, often debating current events. With his twenty years of experience, he could easily silence the cool beauty. When he was occasionally refuted, he would act spoiled and use his age to his advantage until Nicole surrendered.

It must be said that Nicole was overly indulgent, making Ryan increasingly unruly in front of her.

Of course, most of the evening was spent writing. Since "The Sixth Sense" had found a home, Ryan naturally needed to prepare for the next step and beyond. With the experience of writing the script for "The Sixth Sense," he had gained some insights.

For Ryan, who had clear images in his mind, building a script was simpler and faster than adapting a novel. Scripts rarely required the elaborate language and complex descriptions found in novels, making the process smoother for him. Besides, the creative ideas suitable for his age had already been claimed by him. If the film companies wanted to produce these films, they would have to negotiate with Ms. Kinsley.

Although he didn't mind being seen as a prodigy, Ryan didn't want to be too shocking. In his current thinking, as long as a few well-received and high-grossing films each year came from his hands, he could earn a lot of money and gain a halo of prestige.

In his previous life, he was just an ordinary person. If there was anything special about him, it was that he had seen far more movies than the average person due to his job and hobbies. In this life, he started as an orphan with no support. Even with some ambitious dreams, he didn't have the grand ambitions of a typical reborn person.

What he wanted was simple: to realize his dreams from both lives and help those he liked and loved.

Unless the world was ending or the red empire was dragging everyone into a mushroom-growing game, Nicole would knock on his door a few minutes after 10:30 PM every night to remind him to go to bed. In the first year after adopting him, Nicole often stayed by his side at night.

This was a summary of Ryan's daily life, even when he was in school. He was known for only doing what he wanted in class. At first, the school contacted Nicole, but after he consistently received A's, the school gradually stopped complaining.

For Ryan, who had experienced a harsh education in his previous life, the knowledge taught in Western elementary schools was too basic. Of course, it wasn't entirely useless. For example, they didn't teach children about ideologies right after they started school. Instead, they focused on safety rules and self-protection, which were emphasized in daily teaching.

The hot month of August passed quickly. At the end of the month, Nicole found Ryan a new elementary school. As a transfer student, he had to take a test before enrollment, and he was eventually placed in the third grade. Fortunately, Ryan had always been indifferent to school and didn't care much about it. If not for the legal issues, he wouldn't have attended this American elementary school.

Of course, he just needed to get through the compulsory education age. If there were no unexpected events, he wouldn't waste time on college.

In a month, Ryan had outlined the main plots of two movie scripts and drawn some concept art. Although he had written some content and scenes, music and other aspects had taken up much of his time, which is why the scripts were still only frameworks.

Since most of the films Nicole had acted in in her previous life were art films, and she only had a few clear impressions of them, one of the two scripts was a romantic comedy popular in the 1990s, which Ryan had prepared specifically for her. However, a romantic comedy written by a ten-year-old child seemed too absurd.

Forget it, let's wait a while. After "The Sixth Sense" is released, he would be a year older, which might add some credibility. Even if some people grumbled, he would let them.

Besides, he was a boy, not a girl. Society was much more accepting of male prodigies than female ones.