Chapter 434 434. An Old Friend
Although Aiden had no elaborate plans to star in any other movie in the<Hex> universe as he wanted to try out new characters instead of going back to one of its former.
Especially after Blaze's ending had been good.
He wouldn't want to ruin it just for the pockets of some studio executives. He had only talked like that to make Alberto angry and tell him that he was valued by people above him.
It had worked too as Alberto really looked pissed by Aiden's behaviour and his closeness with the executives. He had brought them over 2 billion dollars by recommending the idea of going for two parts.
He was sure that even if he asked them to give him access to their best scripts, they would do it with a smile on their faces.
"Thanks. I love to see Alberto angry. He's probably scared he's gonna fall out of favour when [Hex] is minting so much money."
Ava said as they sat down on a table.
"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure you all would have it hard for a few months. Alberto is the type to flaunt his success a lot."
"He is but I doubt he's going to have any after this."
Aiden raised an eyebrow at that.
"Why do you think so?"
"Well, because he will get overconfident after this. The major reason [Hex - Part 1] worked was because he was not involving himself with the shooting and the production. Olio handled it and Alberto was just chilling. He's going to ruin it with his next production by interfering. He always does when he has absolute power."
"Then, it will be good for you."
"That it will be."
Ava smiled and they talked like that in peace. Though, that peace was always broken by someone who wanted to introduce themselves to him or a few directors who wanted to show off their work.
The news of him not having any project has spread to everyone at the party and apparently, there were a good amount of directors and screenwriters here.
Everyone wanted to have a chance of being the one to impress Aiden.
He liked that If he was honest as no one would hate it truly but it was still a bit annoying, especially because he was with Ava.
"It's fun to see directors telling you their story ideas like this. They look desperate even if they have big egos."
Ava remarked as another director left their table with disappointment.
"Well, egos are nothing in front of success. They think they can get it with me."
"What do you think?"
"I think it depends on the movie and I'm in no mood for another project right now."
Aiden muttered and shook his head. With [Hex - Part 2] still to release next year, he didn't have to worry about doing another movie. Moreover, it was hard for him to work on a big budget movie that had huge expectations.
He rather wanted to do something simpler or try out new things.
As they were talking, he heard a familiar voice, calling out to him.
"Aiden, come here."
He raised his head and looked around. His eyes suddenly landed on an old man who had just seemed to enter the party. A smile appeared on his face when he saw him as it had just been a long time.
"Jeremy."
The old man was Jeremy Hill, his co-star from [Sherlock of the Shadows] and someone Aiden had gotten close to during the shooting. He still remembered the food he was able to eat thanks to Jeremy's personal chef.
"He normally doesn't come to parties. I'm surprised he came today."
Ava remarked when she saw him.
"I should go talk to him. Wanna come?"
"No, I will go talk to a few directors. Enjoy your time with him."
"Okay."
Nodding his head, Aiden walked up to Jeremy who patted his shoulders and smiled at him.
"You really have grown. I saw your movie yesterday. It was sub par to be honest but your performance was extremely good again. I heard it's earning extremely well, so it looks like it clicked with the masses."
"Why do you think it was sub par?"
"Well, it gave up a lot of the core focus for the climax and that was worth it but I felt like the plot could have been way better. Needed few more emotional scenes. Olio has a habit of trying to make things more complex than they should be. I'm happy it earned that much as it gave a great boost to your career but you should do a better movie than this."
Aiden felt like that if Olio was here, then he and Jeremy would have fought in the middle of the success party. Both of them were straightforward and headstrong.
Jeremy hadn't even thought a second before claiming that [Hex - Part 1] was sub par even though he knew that it was earning a lot of money. Though it was subjective and if it was not like the things he had said weren't true.
"I will try to do better from now. Anyway, what are you doing here? You don't come to parties."
"I was free and It's been a while since I met you. I'm too old for these parties and you know, I don't need to form connections at my age."
Jeremy laughed saying that.
They talked like that for a while. About Jeremy's current projects and Hollywood in general. He told Aiden to not listen to Titan studios executives and get a long contract. That could ruin his career and other advice.
He also talked a bit about Katie and told him to stay away from any people that he deemed problematic even a bit. When someone is at the top, everyone wants to bring him down now matter how.
The thing with Jeremy giving advice was that he was extremely straightforward with it, so Aiden listened to them far more intently.
After a while, Jeremy suddenly asked.
"By the way, what did you think about studying movies in college? I told you about it last time we talked."
When he mentioned it, Aiden also recalled.
Jeremy had told him as that would increase his knowledge of movies. He had told him to not learn acting as he knew that but focus more on the nature of movies and filmmaking, an area that Aiden could certainly get better in.
"I did think about it but after that, work kept coming one after another, so I was never able to do it."
"Are you busy currently too? Any new movies in planning?"
Jeremy asked as he raised one of his eyebrows.
"Not yet. I had one but it fell out. So, currently, I'm as free as one could be."
"Then, why not do it right now?"
Jeremy said as he put a hand on his shoulder. He seemed like he genuinely wanted Aiden to give this a try.
"Attend a few filmmaking classes for a few months. No need to enter a college formally. You can just sit in the lectures and come and go whenever you want to learn more about movies and the idea behind them. I can talk to a friend of mine about it if you want?"
Hearing that, Aiden actually started to consider it. After all, he had nothing better to do in the upcoming months.
A filmmaking class might help him out.
Maybe it would even give him a new skill. It had been a long time since something like that had happened to him. He hasn't gotten a new major skill since getting his writing skill.
And it had been a long time since then.
"A friend of yours?" He asked and Jeremy nodded his head.
"One of my friends is a professor in New York Film School. I can talk to him. He would be happy to let you be in his class, especially if you can give a lecture to his students about your journey. That will be enough to convince him."
Jeremy said and thought about his friend for a second. Knowing him, he would be happy to talk to Aiden and teach him more about filmmaking.
New York Film School was actually one of the best film schools in America and it was a place that produced the best directors and cinematographers. Aiden had seen the building once or twice when he had passed by it.
It looked like a great place to study if he was being honest.
"My friend was once a budding director but it didn't work out. So, he became a professor and that was his calling, I guess. He didn't direct a hit movie like he wanted to but he did teach a lot of people who directed hit movies. So, what do you say?"
Saying that, Jeremy let Aiden make a decision.
He didn't want to force him or anything. Aiden just glanced around at the directors that had come to him and realised that he didn't want to do a movie with them. There was nothing else either.
So, it was just better to be relaxed and improve his craft.
"I'm in."