The Hollywood Playbook

Coan was a small, quiet town in the northern part of the United States, right near the Great Lakes. It was very close to Canada—less than 20 kilometers away!

A long time ago, the Great Lakes were dirty and smelly, like big ditches. But the government spent billions of dollars and worked hard for over ten years to clean them up. Now, the water was sparkling and beautiful again.

Zane Blackwood, along with his friend John Lasseter (the boss of Pixar) and his assistant Alexander, was visiting Zane's new farm.

"Boss," Alexander said, looking out over a giant field of soybeans, "your farm is truly beautiful. It's huge! You have Lake Ontario on one side, Lake Michigan on the other, and a giant forest behind you. The location is perfect."

The farm was massive. It was 500 acres, which is about the same size as 284 football fields!

"The land is really big," said Howell, the farm manager. He was a tough-looking man with a thick beard. "Especially the forest. It's great for hunting. I've been hunting in woods like these since I was a boy."

Zane smiled. He loved owning land. It made him feel safe and proud.

But John Lasseter looked a little skeptical. "Zane," he said, "this farm was really expensive. I heard you paid $12 million for it."

Everyone nodded. That was a lot of money. Usually, you could buy a farm this size for maybe $6 million. In some places, you could get a giant farm for even less! So why did Zane pay so much?

"And it's so cold here!" Lasseter added. "It's not great for growing crops. The winter here could freeze you to death!"

Zane just laughed, a charming, knowing smile on his face. "John, Alexander... you know I don't make bad deals."

He pointed to the beautiful forest and the sparkling lakes.

"I didn't just buy the farm," Zane explained. "I bought that entire forest, too. It's full of rare animals and plants that are protected by the government. If I didn't have special connections, I couldn't have bought it for even $20 million!"

Howell, the manager, jumped in to explain. "That forest is amazing. It has moose, bears, wolves, foxes... even minks and beavers in the lake! Sometimes you can even see a rare bison."

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"And," Howell added, "there's something under the ground, too. This whole area is rich in minerals like coal and iron. That's why the price was high."

Lasseter and Alexander finally understood. Zane wasn't just buying a farm for soybeans. He was buying a treasure chest full of nature and resources!

For Zane, a billionaire, the money from selling soybeans didn't matter. He could make more money from one movie than this farm would make in a hundred years. He bought it because it was special.

That evening, they all had a delicious dinner in the main farmhouse. They ate beef, lamb, and fish that were all raised or caught right there on the farm. It was the best food they had ever tasted.

"Boss," Howell asked, "I have a plan for tomorrow. Do you want to hear it?"

"Yes," Zane said.

"We can go horseback riding!" Alexander said excitedly. "I saw some beautiful horses today."

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"I haven't been hunting in years," Lasseter said with a smile. "But I'd love to go boating and fishing on the lake."

Everyone was excited. A farm with forests, mountains, and lakes was like a giant playground for grown-ups. Zane was very happy he bought it.

Of course, Zane had another big toy he liked even more: his private island in the Bahamas, called "White Pearl Island." He had paid $42 million for it! It was warm and sunny all year round, unlike this cold farm.

But Zane didn't have the extra money to build a house on the island yet. He had spent so much lately!

"Don't worry," he thought to himself. "In a year or two, when the internet bubble bursts, I'll make a killing in the stock market. Then I'll have plenty of money to build my dream island!"

He imagined himself relaxing on a sunny beach. It was going to be amazing.

Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles...

At Pixar Animation, Steve Jobs was leading a big meeting about their new movie, A Bug's Life.

He was talking and talking, and then he suddenly stopped. He looked around the room.

"What?" Jobs asked, frowning. "Andrew, where is John? Why isn't he here? He directed this movie with you! Is he sick?"

Even though Jobs could be grumpy, he really cared about his friend John Lasseter.

The room went quiet. Everyone looked a little nervous.

"Boss," Andrew whispered, "John isn't sick. He... well, he's in the Great Lakes area right now. He accepted an invitation from Zane Blackwood to visit his new farm."

Jobs's face turned red.

"It's Zane again!" he shouted. "That bastard! Why is he everywhere?!"

For the next week, Zane had an amazing time on his farm.

Every day, he rode a different horse across the giant green fields. At noon, he would help his friends build a cabin in the forest and then go hunting. But his favorite thing to do was rowing a boat out on the giant, peaceful lake.

But... it was November.

Even though the lake hadn't frozen over yet, it was freezing cold—minus 16 degrees! Zane shivered, but he still had fun.

Then, on the fifth day, something magical happened. It snowed!

It was the first snow of the winter in the whole United States.

Zane had been working so hard since he started his new life. Even when he had free time before, he had never really experienced the wild outdoors like this. This trip to the farm was like a dream come true.

That evening, they all sat by a warm fire, drinking hot cocoa.

"Lasseter," Zane asked his friend, "I heard you on the phone this morning. Did Steve Jobs call you back to Los Angeles?"

"That's right," Lasseter said, taking a big sip of beer. (He loved beer, even in the winter!) "The premiere of A Bug's Life is in less than three days. I have to go."

Zane nodded. "You know, you've been very quiet about this movie. Even the crew went on a big talk show last month, but you, the director, didn't go. Why?"

Lasseter laughed. "A Bug's Life was directed by both me and Andrew Stanton. I already had my big moment with Toy Story. This time, I wanted to let Andrew have his moment in the sun."

"Wow," Zane laughed, "are you five guys at Pixar really that good of friends?"

Lasseter just smiled.

The five main creators at Pixar were like brothers. But Zane knew that even brothers want to shine on their own. Lasseter was the leader, but the others were eager to show what they could do, too. Andrew really wanted to make a name for himself with this new movie.

"Sigh," Zane said. "I don't know how Steve Jobs got so lucky. He has five amazing guys working for him. If even one of you joined my animation studio, I'd be so happy."

Zane was always trying to "poach" (or hire away) talented people!

"Man, don't be greedy!" Lasseter teased him. "You already stole David Messer from us! He's one of the most talented young guys we had. Isn't that enough?"

"Haha!" Zane laughed. Hiring David Messer was one of his proudest moves. He knew that David was going to be the genius behind the whole Marvel movie universe one day.

On November 23, Zane and his friends flew back to Los Angeles.

"Lasseter," Zane said as they said goodbye at the airport, "next time we go to the farm, I'll take you on my private jet. It's worth hundreds of millions, and it's way more comfortable than this normal plane!"

"Man, you sure know how to enjoy life," Lasseter laughed. "Even Steve Jobs doesn't have a private jet yet."

"Of course!" Zane smirked playfully. "That grumpy old man... what does he know about having fun?"

...

That night, Zane was relaxing after dinner when he heard a familiar sound in his head.

Ding Dong!

"What?" Zane was surprised. "The system is back so soon?"

The system had been quiet for six months, and then it had popped up ten days ago with the tip about Linkin Park. Now, it was back again!

[Congratulations, host! You have received new information about "The Fast and the Furious" and "Pirates of the Caribbean."]

Zane's eyebrows shot up.

This was like drinking a glass of ice water in the middle of a hot desert—so refreshing!

These were huge movie series. They were famous all over the world and made an insane amount of money from tickets, DVDs, and toys. They were gold mines!

But... when Zane read the details, his happy mood disappeared.

The Fast and the Furious: The script for the first movie had been written way back in 1995. Universal Pictures had bought it in 1996 for just $45,000. And worse... a boss at Universal was already planning to make the movie!

"Darn it!" Zane groaned. "I've been beaten! I'm too late!"

He knew the first movie wasn't actually that great. It was just a simple cop-and-robber story with cool cars. But by the fourth movie, it would become all about "family," and then it would take off and make $6.5 billion! Who would want to miss out on that?

Pirates of the Caribbean: This one was even trickier.

Zane had been clever. Back in 1996, after meeting Johnny Depp, he had written a "fake" script that was basically Pirates of the Caribbean and registered the copyright. So, technically, he owned the idea!

However... the system warned him that a famous Hollywood producer named Jerry Bruckheimer had just asked the government about the copyright for a movie about... pirates.

Zane realized that Jerry's idea was exactly the same as his. (Of course it was—Zane had copied it from the future!)

Zane knew that having the copyright didn't mean he was safe. Hollywood studios were ruthless. They didn't care about rules. They could just change the script a little bit and make the movie anyway. Or they could find a way to steal his copyright.

If that happened, Zane would be powerless.

"This isn't looking good!" Zane thought, his brow furrowing. He needed a plan.

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