When Zane returned to his office at Wald Pictures, everyone was celebrating.
The team was so excited about the success of Static. The little movie had been in theaters for twenty days and had already made $13.7 million! Since it only cost $800,000 to make, it was a huge, huge win for their brand-new studio.
While his team was cheering, Zane just smiled calmly.
"$13.7 million?" he thought to himself, "That's a nice start. But just wait until we launch Spider-Man. When that makes a billion dollars, this will look like pocket change." He had seen such big numbers in his old life that it was hard to get too excited about "only" $13 million.
He walked into Victor's office, carrying a stack of papers.
"Victor, my friend! Here's the result of my recent 'hard work'!" he said, dropping four new scripts onto the desk with a proud smile. "Four new projects for us."
Victor picked them up, his eyes scanning the titles. A few seconds later, his jaw dropped.
"Boss... did you write all of these in the last ten days?" he asked, amazed.
"Something like that," Zane replied with a friendly, charming nod. (He didn't need to tell them the ideas came from his future knowledge!)
Victor quickly flipped through the pages. "The script for 'The Sixth Sense'... boss, this is brilliant! The twist at the end is pure genius. If we make this, it's a guaranteed blockbuster."
His excitement quickly cooled. "But... the budget. It's too big for us right now."
"I agree," Zane said. "It's a future project. For now, let's focus on the other three. 'Wrong Turn' looks like it could be a really profitable, low-cost scary movie. We could make a new one every year and bring in a few million in profit for the company, nice and steady."
Victor agreed. They immediately called in the company's team of writers to help make the scripts even better. Zane was happy to let them. He knew his ideas were perfect, but he needed professional writers to polish the dialogue and make them ready for filming.
As Zane was getting ready to leave, Martha, the head of the money department, stopped him. "Boss, the director's fee and the writer's fee for Static... should I just put that money in your normal salary account?"
Zane paused. A new idea was forming. "No, Martha," he said, thinking. "Let's set up a new, separate account just for me. All the money I earn as a producer, director, or writer—for Static and all the movies after it—will go in there."
This was a smart, clean way to do things. It kept the company's money separate from his money. As the owner, he had earned that money, and this new account would make everything clear and simple for his next big plans.
Later that night, Zane was lying in bed. He couldn't sleep.
Wrong Turn and Hard Candy were good, safe horror movies. But just making two movies would be too slow. He needed money for Spider-Man, and he needed it fast.
"Isn't there another way to make profitable movies, fast and cheap?" he mumbled to himself.
Then, like a bolt of lightning, the answer hit him.
Copycat movies.
He remembered a crazy Hollywood studio called "The Asylum." They were famous for making "mockbusters." They would find out what big, giant movie was coming out... and then they'd quickly make a super-cheap rip-off of it!
When War of the Worlds came out, they made H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds. When Pacific Rim came out, they made Atlantic Rim. Their movies were total garbage, but they always made money.
Zane remembered they even got in trouble, but they were smart. They'd find little tricks to get away with it, like saying their movie Hobbits was about real humans, not the ones from the book!
This is perfect, he thought, a mischievous, happy grin spreading across his face. The other studios can spend hundreds of millions. I'll just follow behind and make a few million off their hard work!
He thought about the biggest movie of this year: Independence Day.
"My movie won't be called Independence Day," he whispered into the darkness, a wicked, playful gleam in his eyes. "It'll be called... Not Independence Day."
It was shameless. It was silly. And for Zane, it was the perfect, fun way to make the fast cash he needed.
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