The Hollywood Playbook

In a small city near Los Angeles, not far from the headquarters of Mattel (the biggest toy company in the world), a man in his 30s was sitting in his old apartment. He looked very sad and worried.

"Bryant Ben," his landlord said sternly. She was woman named Mrs. Aina. She squeezed herself onto his sofa and crossed her arms. "You owe me two months of rent. Don't you have anything to say?"

Bryant looked terrible. He was tired and worn out.

"Mrs. Aina, I know," he said, his voice shaking. "But I lost my job. Please, just trust me. Once I find an investor for my new dolls, I'll pay you back with interest!"

The landlord shook her head. "Ben, you said the same thing last month. I don't understand. You had a great job at Mattel! You were a designer with a good salary. Why did you quit?"

"Mrs. Aina, you wouldn't understand," Bryant said, his face twisting with frustration. "They trampled on my design! They crushed my dreams!"

The landlord sighed. "Ben, I don't care about your dreams. I'm here to tell you: if you don't pay tomorrow, you have to leave. That's not a request. It's a notification."

"Please!" Bryant begged. "Just give me five more days! If I leave here, I have nowhere to go!"

But Mrs. Aina just got up and left without looking back. Everyone has to eat, after all.

Bryant sat alone, feeling helpless and angry. But he wasn't angry at Mrs. Aina. He was angry at his old boss, Mattel Toys.

Ten months ago, Bryant had used all his free time to design a new kind of doll. It was the opposite of Barbie. He called it the "Bratz" doll. He was so excited to show it to his boss.

But his boss, Ben Ford, just sneered. "Ben, what is this? Anti-Barbie? Are you trying to start a rebellion?"

"Mr. Ford," Bryant explained, "Barbie is great, but girls aged 7 to 14 don't like her anymore. They think she's... childish. My Bratz dolls are cool and modern. They'll be a huge hit!"

His boss exploded. "Nonsense! Barbie is the best doll in the world! We've sold 1 billion of them! And you want us to give up on that for this tacky design? I doubt you even went to design school, you idiot!"

Bryant didn't give up. He went over his boss's head and showed the design to a Vice President.

"Idiot!" the VP yelled. "Get your trash out of my sight! If I hear you talk about 'anti-Barbie' again, you're fired!"

Bryant was young and proud. He couldn't take it anymore. That same day, he quit his job at the biggest toy company in America.

"He'll regret it," his coworkers whispered. "He'll starve without Mattel."

"Just wait!" Bryant swore to himself. "I will succeed!"

But now, ten months later, he was discouraged. He had shown his dolls to dozens of toy companies, and they all said no. He had spent all his savings traveling to toy fairs. He was broke.

Just as he was about to give up, there was a knock on his door.

It was Taro Hashimoto, the president of Zane's "SpongeBob House" stores.

"What?" Bryant stared at him in disbelief. "You said... SpongeBob House wants to buy my design? And you want me to be the chief designer?"

He couldn't believe it was true. After months of people laughing at him, someone finally believed in him.

That afternoon, Bryant signed the contract.

He sold the rights to the "Bratz Doll" for $150,000.

He got a job as the project leader with a salary of $300,000 a year.

And best of all, he got 2% of all the profits from the dolls.

Back in Los Angeles, Zane Blackwood saw the contract and was thrilled.

This was the famous Bratz doll!

It wasn't a princess like Barbie. It was cool, fashionable, and looked like the trendy girls on the street. It had cool clothes and accessories.

For girls aged 7 to 12, it was way cooler than Barbie. It wasn't "childish."

Zane knew the future. He knew that Bratz dolls would become "Barbie's biggest rival." In 2005, they would sell $7 billion worth of dolls in just one year!

How could Zane not be excited? He had just found a brand-new gold mine.

Mattel had made a huge mistake. Because they were too stubborn and stuck in their old ways, they missed out on the biggest toy of the decade. In Zane's old life, Mattel lost its spot as the number one toy company because of mistakes like this.

By 2020, the company that owned Bratz would be worth $12 billion, while Mattel would shrink down to less than $3 billion.

"Now, the Bratz doll is mine!" Zane thought, his heart filled with pride.

Zane Blackwood was thrilled. The "Bratz" (Baez) dolls were a gold mine, and he wasn't going to let anyone else mess it up.

He put all his other work aside. This multi-billion dollar business was his new number one job!

He was personally involved in everything: picking where to build the factories, making the dolls look even cooler, and figuring out how to sell them in other countries.

"Boss," said Taro Hashimoto, the head of the toy stores, "don't worry about giving Bryant that 1% royalty. He deserves it. He's down on his luck right now, but he's a very proud man. We need him on our team."

"I understand," Zane said with a sigh. Even though he was happy to have Bryant, a tiny part of him felt a little sting. Bratz dolls were going to be worth billions. Giving away even 1% was a lot of money!

Taro Hashimoto was known as one of the "Shadows of the Group." This sounded mysterious, but it was actually a huge compliment.

The other "Shadow," Domino from the music company, was great at finding new talent (like Britney Spears).

But Taro was different. He was cunning. Since he took over the SpongeBob stores, he had used Zane's smart ideas to crush all the other toy stores in Los Angeles. He would do anything to win. Even Disney couldn't beat him! The boss of Disney had even called Zane to complain!

"Taro," Zane said with a charming smile, "of course I understand Bryant. I know he's stubborn—he quit his job at Mattel just to prove a point! I know the rule: 'If you want a horse to run, you have to feed it.'"

Zane patted his chest proudly. "And I'm not stingy! I, Zane Blackwood, am famous for having many friends and being a good, principled man. So please, stop saying things that make me look bad!"

"Of course, boss," Taro laughed. But inside, he was thinking, My boss really is shameless!

Zane knew Bryant was important. He had invented the dolls, and he knew them better than anyone. In Zane's old life, Bryant had designed dozens of different Bratz dolls. He was irreplaceable.

That's why Zane gave him the 1% royalty. Business could be tough, but it was also smart to be generous to talented people.

"Boss," Taro said, "we should start building the factory now."

"No!" Zane said firmly. "Not yet."

His face turned serious. "Man, don't forget... when Bryant first designed these dolls, he was still working for Mattel. Who owns the copyright?"

Taro was surprised. He hadn't thought about that.

The laws were tricky. If you invent something at work, your boss owns it. If you invent it at home... well, it's complicated.

In America, copyright fights happened every day. And with a toy worth billions of dollars, Zane knew Mattel would definitely sue them.

"Money makes people do crazy things," Zane thought. "Even silver feels hot when you hold enough of it."

In the future, Bratz dolls would sell so fast it was like printing money—$10,000 every minute! They would make $7 billion a year. Mattel wouldn't just stand by and let that happen.

Zane knew the history. In his old life, Bratz dolls became so popular that girls stopped buying Barbies. This made Mattel furious.

In 2005, Mattel sued Bryant and the company that made Bratz. They said, "He stole our ideas! He stole our secrets!"

It was a huge war. Barbie vs. Bratz.

In 2008, a court decided that Bryant had come up with the idea while working at Mattel. The judge said Mattel owned the dolls! He ordered the Bratz company to pay $100 million and to destroy all the dolls and the machines used to make them. It was a fatal blow.

Bryant fought back, and the war went on for six years.

Zane didn't want to go through that.

"Taro," Zane ordered, "I want you to contact Mattel right now. Fix the copyright issue completely. Before we sell a single doll."

"Okay, boss," Taro said. He knew a six-year lawsuit would cost a fortune in lawyers' fees.

"But Taro," Zane added with a knowing smile, "believe it or not... even if we fix it now, once our dolls become famous, Mattel will probably rip up the agreement and sue us anyway."

Taro was silent for a moment. "You're right," he said seriously. "They shouldn't... but if Bratz threatens Barbie's life, no contract will stop their greed."

"Bingo!" Zane gave him a big thumbs-up.

The Bratz doll was about to change everything. It was going to make more money than SpongeBob, Peppa Pig, Cars, and Toy Story combined. Who wouldn't be tempted to fight for that?

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