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3rd Person POV
"….."
Ted stood still, his gaze slowly sweeping across the people gathered in the room before finally settling on the contract lying quietly on the table in front of him.
No one spoke.
The air felt heavy, a little thick with uncertainty.
Every pair of eyes in the room was fixed on him, each of them trying to read his expression, trying to guess what was going through his mind. They weren't just waiting for an answer; they were waiting for a decision.
Claire stood directly across from him, composed as always, though even she couldn't completely hide the faint tension in her posture. A few others seated beside her shared the same unease. This meeting hadn't been scheduled casually and everyone in the room knew it.
Ted had come straight here after leaving Brittany's apartment. The moment he arrived at the office, Claire had guided him to her room, and from there, the two of them had gone directly into the meeting room.
What unsettled him the most was the silence.
Claire hadn't answered his earlier questions, questions about the agenda, about why this meeting felt different. Ted was used to being the one who surprised them: new manuscripts, unexpected drafts, entire books delivered ahead of schedule.
This time, it was clear that they were the ones trying to surprise him.
"…. Is this true?" Ted finally asked, breaking the silence as he looked directly at Claire.
Claire nodded slowly, deliberately. Her voice was calm, steady and carefully controlled.
"Lionsgate, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Disney are trying to offer your series a greenlight to production," she said quietly.
The words lingered in the air.
This wasn't the first time offers had knocked on the doors of this publishing company. In the past, there had been meetings, calls, polite emails with some 'interest.' But back then, the numbers were laughably low, and Mr. White's books hadn't yet reached their peak popularity.
Mr. White only truly exploded in the early 2000s, when Y2K anxiety and dystopian fiction became cultural obsessions. Before the 2000s, Ted books already felt the recognition of fans and a few ordinary people who enjoyed his books, but after Y2K the boom is really great.
Before that, the studios had tried their luck, offering cheap deals, hoping to lock the rights early.
Claire had rejected every single one of them.
Without even informing Ted.
When the studios refused to put checks even above $100K on the table for film adaptation rights, she shut the door immediately. No negotiations. No second chances. Even though they wanted to up the $100K she already gave them out of chance.
Now, Ted 'White' stood as the owner of several powerhouse series:
The Hunger Games Series
The Divergent Series
The Maze Runner Series
Percy and Jackson Series
Some of these series were still waiting for publication schedules to align.
The Divergent Series, for example, Ted had already submitted the final manuscript, The Allegiant, but since Insurgent had only just been released, the publisher had decided to hold the final book for now.
The Hunger Games had already released Mockingjay this year.
Percy and Jackson had released its second book, The Sea of Monsters, with the third, The Curse of the Titans, already lined up for release.
The Maze Runner had completed The Death Cure, while its fourth book was still waiting for the right moment.
It was all there.
A vault filled with gold, untouched and waiting to be mined by the Production Company.
Before the studios wanted in, but not at fair value. They wanted to buy gold at the price of cabbage… only to resell it as gold later.
Of course Claire had refused.
Ted was her first client. They had history, a real history. She had watched him build everything from nothing, word by word, book by book. Even when he wanted this Mr. White became some mysterious writer, the Publishing Company almost blew up the deal, but Claire convinced them. She wanted nothing less than to see him rise higher, without ever being humiliated or undervalued as a writer.
His books were selling like cabbage in the market and the studios wanted to lock them away in storage without any real intention of adapting them?
Yeah. No way.
Claire knew that trick well.
Big studios often bought adaptation rights not to make films but to prevent rival studios from getting them. The books would be thrown onto a shelf, forgotten, never adapted, never seen.
She wouldn't let that happen.
Clearing her throat, Claire continued, her tone strictly professional.
"They want The Hunger Games and Divergent," she said. "For Percy and Jackson and The Maze Runner, Disney is the one making the great offer." She said and leaned to the table, locking her eyes to Ted, "What do you say?"
Ted's expression shifted instantly at the sound of that name.
Disney….
His jaw tightened slightly.
But then he reminded himself.....this was still the old Disney. Not yet strange. Not yet bloated. And even so, his books were still being published, still ongoing. Only The Divergent Series had truly reached its ending.
"Who's going to write the script?" Ted asked, his fingers lightly tapping the edge of the contract as his eyes scanned the pages again.
"Do you want it?" Claire replied calmly, watching his reaction. "I've already negotiated all of them. Every contract you'll receive."
She leaned forward slightly, her lips curling into a smug smile. "...I got you a percentage."
Ted lifted his head.
"It's not just a percentage of net profit," Claire continued smoothly, enjoying the moment far too much. "....It's gross receipt."
Ted's eyes widened instantly. "…How much?"
Claire smirked slowly and deliberately, the kind that made Ted want to throw something across the room. She clearly wanted to mock Ted. Still, she continued.
"There's a purchase price and a gross receipt deal," she said. "The purchase price is five hundred thousand dollars. Once you sign, the money will be transferred immediately, and the production will be greenlit right away. I already put that in the contract."
She paused, letting that sink in.
"And the gross receipt you'll receive," Claire added, her tone sharpening, "is not small."
Ted didn't blink and waited for her to stop teasing him.
"They'll give you two percent for the first book," Claire continued, now serious. "And it increases by another one percent if the film reaches the gross profit threshold they're targeting."
After saying that, Claire leaned back in her chair. Her partners followed suit, exchanging glances, some even still struggling to fully process what they had just heard.
Ted had only released books. He had never sold adaptation rights to a major studio before. No one in this room could predict box office numbers, audience reception, or critical acclaim with certainty.
The vagueness of that is still transparently known by the Studio, but they choose to believe and give him a lot by the first purchase like this. But it's mostly because of Claire coldness who rejects them all and Ted who trusts her.
But they all knew one thing.
Ted's books had a massive fanbase.
"You just need to choose which deal is the best among these studios," Claire said, her voice calm now, professional.
Then she smirked again.
"See?" she added lightly. "The moment you resigned from your stupid architect job, the gold had already been mined."
She tilted her head. "Ready to be a billionaire, Mr. Architect?"
Her partners chuckled.
Ted frowned. Just like she wanted to see from Ted.
"Shut up!" Ted snapped, clicking his tongue softly. "It's not a stupid job, you evil woman."
He exhaled, then looked back down at the contracts spread before him.
"Which studio gives the best deal?" he asked.
"Ted…" Claire said quietly, shaking her head as if exhausted by a stubborn child. "Just look at the bigger picture. You belong in the literature world… not drawing buildings."
She let out a heavy sigh which Ted clenched his jaw but didn't respond.
Which only made Claire smirk again, wider this time but get to the business.
"For me?" Claire continued. "I'd suggest The Hunger Games goes to Lionsgate."
She tapped the Lionsgate contract with her finger.
"They're offering you Executive Producer credit and Creative Consultant status."
She flipped another file. "For The Divergent Series, Summit Entertainment is the best option. They're a subsidiary of Lionsgate, yes, but they need strong IP to boost their stock value."
Ted studied the Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment contracts carefully.
They were the original production houses tied to these novels in his previous world.
"The contract terms are identical to Lionsgate's," Claire added, glancing at Summit's offer. "Honestly? They just want the IP value on their shelf."
It was obvious. Lionsgate was openly backing Summit Entertainment to secure the series of this novel. Even distribution would still be handled by Lionsgate, yet Summit was willing to match every clause.
Ted leaned back slightly, then flipped open the Lionsgate contract again.
"What about TV or streaming adaptations?" he asked.
"Merchandise? Games?"
Claire scoffed when she heard that. "Heh… I think your head isn't just for drawing buildings after all, huh?" she said, clearly enjoying how easily Ted reacted to her words. She liked teasing him.....a lot!.
"They're giving you a percentage on merchandise and TV rights too," Claire continued. "But streaming?" She frowned slightly, looking genuinely confused. "What is that?"
"Never mind," Ted said quickly, waving it off. "I think it's just in my head."
He leaned back in his chair, eyes drifting upward as if he were staring into a future only he could see.
"In my mind, streaming is the future," Ted said calmly. "You just sit on your couch and watch films, everything included in one subscription."
His words left Claire's partners exchanging puzzled looks. None of them really understood what he was talking about.
Claire, however, had known Ted long enough.
She didn't dismiss it immediately.
"I see…" she murmured, tapping her fingers lightly against the table. "So… a paradise for lazy people, huh?"
Her gaze stayed distant for a moment with half-thinking, half-wondering whether Ted was describing something revolutionary… or just another one of his strange, almost prophetic ideas.
"Don't think too hard," Ted said, cutting the moment short. "Let's talk about Percy and Jackson. Is Disney the only one making an offer?"
It was obvious for them all in this room, he didn't sit well with Disney.
"No," Claire replied, leaning forward again. "But when it comes to numbers, Disney is ahead."
She rested her elbows on the table.
"They're not playing around with this adaptation. They've already mentioned the production budget in their proposal."
She paused. "I know you want your books adapted properly. That's why when I heard the budget I leaned toward them."
"Did they give me Executive Producer credit?" Ted asked immediately, his eyes locking onto Claire's.
Honestly, that credit wasn't negotiable for him. Without it, adaptations tended to drift sometimes disastrously away from the original vision of the writer.
"…I'm afraid not," Claire said quietly, clearly uncomfortable.
The money was great.
...But Disney wanted full control.
"No," Ted said firmly and shaking his head. "I don't want them ruining it without my supervision."
He stared at Claire now. "The numbers alone don't make me happy, Claire," he continued, his voice calm but sharp. "You were the one who said you wanted my books adapted properly just seconds ago."
He exhaled heavily like an exhausted parent complaining about their child….. Like Claire did before.
Of course, part of him enjoyed saying it.
After all, she!, had mocked him first. This was payback.
"…. Shut up!" Claire snapped. "The numbers don't lie, Ted!" Then she pushed the Disney contract aside without hesitation.
"Fine. You don't want this one?" She grabbed another file and slid it across the table. "Here. Another production house wants The Maze Runner and Percy Jackson."
Ted looked down.
"20th Century Fox?" he said.
Claire crossed her arms.
"The numbers are good," she replied. "Almost the same as Lionsgate. The budget isn't as high as Disney's, but...."
She watched his expression carefully.
"Executive Producer credit is yours too." She said and looked at Ted expression changed, "What do you say?"
"My words will actually have an effect, right?" Ted asked slowly. "Not just a title?"
"The law protects you," Claire replied confidently. "Not just a title."
She leaned in.
"I'll tell them this," she added. "You want to be the scriptwriter for the production too, right?"
"Yeah. Sure," Ted said casually. "I'm unemployed right now. I've got plenty of time."
Claire snorted after hearing that.
"Yeah, right. You're already ridiculously rich, Ted," she shot back. "Stop wasting your time pretending to be an architect and give us good, bestselling books to sell."
She pointed dramatically at everyone in the room.
"These people have families to feed. Bills to pay." She glared at him.
"Don't be a selfish bastard. Think about other people too!"
Ted's mouth twitched hard.
This contract alone was already giving them massive bonuses, bonuses he hadn't even known about by the publishing company. And now she was throwing that at him?
Shameless Evil Woman!.
"…What about horror?" Ted suddenly asked.
A low-budget genre. High returns. Easy money. Yeah, he has a few ideas from his previous world. He even can make a novel from the horror movies he ever watched in his previous world.
"…What about it?" Claire replied.
Her eyes lit up instantly.
Not just Claire's, her partners' eyes gleamed too.
Like they were staring at a walking money-printing machine.
But a second later, Claire cleared her throat and forced herself back into professionalism.
"…Uh...do you have the script?"
"…No."
"Then shut up, Ted!" Claire slammed her hands on the table and snorted at him.