After the audition, Owen arrived at his apartment. There he found Sophie on the couch.
She was in pajamas, a cup of coffee in one hand and her phone in the other, completely sunk into the leather cushions.
"Since when do you live here?" Owen asked, raising an eyebrow as he dropped his keys on the counter.
"Since you gave me a copy of your key," Sophie replied, setting the cup down on the coffee table and walking toward him with a faint smile.
After the Palm Springs Festival ended, Sophie had somehow managed to ask Owen for a copy of his keys in such a casual way it almost sounded like she was asking to borrow a phone charger.
She still lived with her mother, who also happened to be her agent, but at twenty, the idea of spending her days at her boyfriend's apartment seemed a thousand times more fun and interesting than listening to her mother's endless demands.
Besides, her need for independence had started to grow. It wasn't something rebellious or defiant, just an inevitable stage. And if that meant spending more time with Owen, all the better.
They got along well. Very well. And even though they'd only been officially together for a few months, since April 10th, the freshness of their relationship gave everything a sweet kind of intensity, where every spare moment felt meant to be shared.
Owen didn't mind her presence, on the contrary, he enjoyed it, but he had begun to notice certain details, like the extra copy of the key.
For example, Sophie's clothes hanging in his closet or on the coat rack. A pair of sneakers by the side of the bed. Her accessories in the bathroom, products in the shower that were definitely not his.
A slow, undeclared move-in.
Sophie reached him and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Do you feel weird about all this? About us, I mean…" she asked softly.
"Weird? What do you mean?" Owen asked, looking at her curiously as he gently held her by the waist.
Sophie bit her lip for a second.
"I don't know… The key, the fact that I spend so much time here. I don't want you to think I'm invading your space or something. Sometimes I feel like I move too fast, and I don't know if that scares you or—"
Owen didn't let her finish, "Sophie," he interrupted, "of course it doesn't scare me. I was just joking, as always. You know me."
Sophie looked at him, still a little unsure, and Owen noticed, so he added, "I like coming home and seeing you first thing, sitting there in your pajamas, sprawled on the couch like it's your own place. And that beautiful lazy face of yours."
As he said that, Owen softly caressed her cheek. Sophie couldn't help blushing and lowering her gaze a little, a smile tugging at her lips as she relaxed.
"You're cheesy," Sophie said.
"Just enough," Owen replied with a small laugh, as Sophie lifted her head to look him in the eyes again.
"Thanks," she said, kissing him.
After they pulled apart, Sophie went back to her usual attitude and suddenly remembered Owen's comment about her "lazy-looking face," latching onto it as if it had been a serious accusation.
"I'm not lazy!" Sophie exclaimed, half indignant. "I just got back from the meeting with the studio and meeting the main cast. It was long, boring, and exhausting."
"Although, I did make friends with the other two leads," she added, smiling proudly at the end.
'When did I ever call you lazy?' Owen thought, raising an eyebrow as he opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of cold water.
"Oh… and how was it? How did you get along with them?" he asked, hoping to steer the conversation.
Sophie dropped onto the chair and began to tell him everything that had happened that day, full of enthusiasm.
She told him she had met Chris Messina, who would be playing her father, Dr. Will Harper, in Boogeyman. She liked him, professional, kind, and with good comedic timing. She also met Vivien Blair, a child actress who would play Sawyer, Sadie's younger sister (Sophie's character).
Vivien was sweet, hyperactive, and impressively professional for her age.
The Harper family, with those three, formed the emotional core of the story, a family struggling to stay together after the sudden death of the mother in a car accident. A grief unresolved, and a monster that begins to stalk the family, feeding on their fear.
She also told Owen about the director, Rob Savage, a British guy in his thirties who wouldn't stop talking.
"He was nice, but seriously, he never shut up," Sophie said, rubbing her forehead as if just remembering his voice gave her a headache.
Rob had told the cast his whole life story like an overexcited bird.
His first project had been Host, a horror movie released in 2020, shot entirely during the pandemic. The plot followed a group of friends who, during a Zoom call, hold a séance that unleashes an evil entity.
The idea came from a homemade short film Rob had posted online that went viral. From that success, Shudder, the streaming platform specializing in horror, got interested in the concept and financed the feature film on a small budget of $100,000.
Rob was the director, co-writer, and editor, but not the direct financier. The movie was produced by Shadowhouse Films, with Shudder providing financial backing and distribution.
His career trajectory had some parallels with Owen's, but there was one big difference. Rob had the support of a platform and a production company.
Owen, on the other hand, had funded everything from his own pocket, which gave him a much stronger negotiating position and the freedom to maximize profits when distributors came knocking.
"You could tell he was proud of himself," Sophie said, folding her arms. "A little full of himself, but not in a bad way. He just loves talking about himself."
Then she looked at Owen with a proud smile. "You did more with less. And you don't need to say it twenty times a day for people to notice."
"Whoa, compliments this early? That's unusual for you. Getting sentimental?" Owen said with a faint smile.
"Just enough," Sophie replied, smiling softly and shrugging her shoulders.
"Alright, enough about me. How did your audition go?" Sophie asked, walking over to Owen and sitting on his lap with complete confidence.
"I think I did well," Owen said. "But I don't know… maybe it's fifty-fifty. Or sixty-forty in Josh's favor. He's already done chemistry reads, he knows the director, he fits with the leads. I came in last minute."
He trusted his acting skills and was sure he'd impressed Debra and the others in the room, but Josh was almost locked for the role. It wouldn't be easy for them to replace him at the last moment.
"When will you know their decision?" Sophie asked.
"In three days, max," Owen replied.
Sophie crossed her arms and let out a loud sigh. "Come on… the other actor is twenty-eight! And he's supposed to play an eighteen-year-old? Who are they trying to fool? The fans of the book? He's a good actor, I'm not saying he's not, but… you're perfect for that character."
Owen smiled a little and let her vent.
"I'm just saying, I hope they have some common sense," Sophie concluded, mostly to herself.
Then, without any transition, she jumped to the real topic that had been eating at her. "And what about Blumhouse? Do they really want to distribute the movie?"
"Yes…" Owen began, then went on to explain the meeting he'd had.
He told her that Blumhouse had offered him a distribution deal, they wanted to release the movie in theaters, with a $600,000 marketing budget. In exchange, they'd keep exclusive distribution rights for fifteen years.
He would retain partial ownership of the IP, though he couldn't make sequels without their approval. And he'd get 8% of the net box-office revenue after the theatrical run.
"It's not the best percentage, but… that means the movie's actually going to theaters!" Sophie said, trying to contain her excitement, though her eyes already gave her away.
Owen nodded with a small smile.
Blumhouse wouldn't spend over half a million dollars on marketing for a movie they didn't believe in. If they had no real expectations, they would've dumped it straight to streaming, no campaign, no theatrical release.
And both of them knew something else: if Blumhouse had made this offer, A24 would probably come back with a better one.
So, one way or another, Paranormal Activity was going to hit theaters, whether Owen chose A24 or Blumhouse.
For Sophie, that was huge. It would be her first feature film to actually get a real distribution deal: a real theatrical release, not just festival screenings.
And beyond that, it was the movie where she'd met Owen, which made it all the more meaningful.
"That's amazing," Sophie said.
Later that evening, Matt arrived at the apartment, backpack over his shoulder, with the usual mix of nerves and curiosity he always had when big news was involved.
He wanted to know whether Blumhouse's offer meant the movie would go straight to streaming, or if there was a real chance to see it projected on the big screen.
When Owen and Sophie explained that the studio's proposal was to release Paranormal Activity in theaters, with a strong marketing campaign that dwarfed the film's original budget, and that Owen would keep a share of the box office, Matt's reaction was immediate, and loud.
He was happier than anyone else, as always.
For Matt, just getting the film onto a streaming platform would've been an achievement. But seeing it hit theaters, with posters, billboards, and actual showtimes, that was the real dream.
The next morning, Owen woke up early, and five minutes before eight, he was already at A24's Los Angeles office with James, ready for the meeting.
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