Hollywood What If Chapter 583
Kazir stepped down from the stage. The sound of students clapping their hands echoed, although Kazir was not sure if they appreciated his speech or if the students were just happy that Kazir was done with it.
Anyway, Kazir didn't care much. He had already said what he wanted to say. Whether they felt it or not didn't matter. Kazir did his job.
He stepped down and found Erica crossing her arms and shaking her head, perhaps disappointed? She was amused but also felt bad for the students.
"What do you think of my speech? Pretty great, right?" Kazir couldn't help but chuckle. He knew he had been truthful about what he said in the latter part of his speech.
"Sir, I think you destroyed their dreams of becoming movie directors," she said honestly and sighed.
"They're already adults. They should understand that it's not easy to become successful in the entertainment industry. We can't babysit them."
"Well," Erica Mendez glanced at the students who were still clapping. Most of them had serious expressions, while the rest were happy that the graduation ceremony was about to end.
"It's indeed true that you woke them up to reality. They'll probably remember it. Having a successful career in Hollywood will be tough. They need connections, networking, talent, luck, opportunity, and work ethic. Talent and work ethic are simple, almost everyone in Hollywood has those two factors. But connections take time to build, while luck and opportunity are the hardest things to find."
Indeed, having a successful career in Hollywood was never easy. These students were too innocent if they believed that they could become successful just because they graduated from UCLA. No fucking way.
Once they stepped into the real world, society would crush their egos. They would realize that their grades and performance in school were nothing compared to reality. These students had to compete against hundreds of thousands of people with the same or better talent than them.
It was better to tell the truth now, better now than later. Otherwise, these students might lose hope.
So Kazir might as well give them a pep talk about what they would experience, especially those who were interested in working in the entertainment industry. This industry was treacherous.
To be fair, if his speech made them lose hope, then they might as well find another career. Because the entertainment industry was a dirty place, and weak-minded people wouldn't survive in that environment.
Even good-hearted people had witnessed things in Hollywood that they couldn't fathom were possible, despite the U.S.A. being seen as a representation of freedom and opportunity... Perhaps the country was just hiding its dirty laundry.
Well, there was a rumor that a certain president's family was part of a certain flight log. So yeah, rumors, rumors, allegedly, allegedly, the flight log couldn't be trusted, the owner killed himself in the prison cell, conspiracy, conspiracy, blah blah blah.
Kazir slipped his hands into his pockets. He touched his wallet, which had a few hundred dollars and some credit cards.
His gaze lingered on the students who had stopped clapping. They were now waiting for the last part of the graduation ceremony, where their names would be called, and they would walk up to the stage and accept their diplomas.
"You know, Erica," he said after a pause.
"Hollywood isn't just about talent or vision. It's about perseverance. I spent five years being a nameless director before I got my first success. It wasn't easy at all. I was so depressed, I was at the worst point in my life, but I overcame it. It depends on how much shit you can take before you break or if you break at all."
Actually, adding his past life into the equation, Kazir had been a nameless director for over four decades at least. Imagine how painful that was.
Erica gave him a sideways look. She knew about Kazir's story, especially about his ex-wife and the betrayal he had experienced. She was Kazir's assistant, and she didn't have a choice but to learn and understand his life. Honestly, she was impressed with Kazir's determination. She would have broken down if she had experienced what Kazir went through.
"That's... not comforting at all. You're just further showing that Hollywood is tough."
Kazir smirked.
"It's reality. I've seen brilliant people crushed, and average ones thrive just because they outlasted everyone else. If my words today make even one student think harder and prepare better, then it's worth it."
"Let's hope they were listening," Erica nodded thoughtfully.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nothing much really happened in May, except for the Sri Lankan Civil War and the Lisbon Treaty. This month, Kazir followed his schedule loyally since it was not that hard to manage.
His job was easier compared to the times when he had a movie to take care of. Thankfully, Ninja Assassin had already been completed, and Grey Pictures was just waiting for its release, which was scheduled for November 25. The company was just doing some weak early promotions to avoid wasting its marketing budget.
Aside from that, Kazir also attended business meetings. The company was finalizing the contract regarding the TV network that would broadcast Modern Family. Many TV networks were still showing their cards, hoping to collaborate with Grey Pictures.
Kazir also checked the progress of Wall-E. The production speed of Wall-E was faster than he had expected. If things continued like that, the animated movie might be released next year, around November or December.
Since we're talking about May, of course, we couldn't forget about the new movie releases this month.
In the first week of the month, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were released.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was a romantic comedy distributed by Warner Bros. that grossed over $128 million.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a superhero movie based on the comics and was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It grossed over $487 million.
Both Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox hadn't expected the movie to perform well, considering that only Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) was in the movie as part of the past X-Men cast.
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[Last night, I learned that Diddy was found not guilty to most of his cases. I think we can all agree that the Justice System is nothing but a joke.]