It was a sunny April in Los Angeles, and the weather was incredibly peaceful. A spell of freezing rain had just passed, gradually giving way to the boisterous warmth of summer.

Young students dotted the lush, green lawn at the EUC School of Cinematic Arts, lounging, reading, and chit-chatting among themselves. A few could be seen tapping on their phones and laptops.

The air was filled with youth, optimism, and promise.

Among those, a single student walked with a deflated expression on his face. He held a cardboard box in his hand which was filled with miscellaneous belongings as he made his way out of EUC.

His name was Will Evans and he had just dropped out from EUC.

“I can’t believe I have transmigrated into an alternate earth…”

He muttered under his breath as he walked, his eyes looming over to the people he could recognize from his memories from time to time.

Last week, Will had found himself in the body of a person he couldn’t recognize. Coincidentally, both of them shared the same name and interest but there were many things that were different.

First thing was that he wasn’t in 2021 anymore but 2010. There was no covid going on and anyone can roam out freely without any care of a virus.

But there was one more thing that really shocked Will.

He was on an alternate earth. Will found it out after he had heard his ex roommate talking about a top actress that would star in a romantic comedy next month.

But to his surprise, Will has never heard of her.

After going through all his memories, he realised that although this earth was the same as the one he knew in technological advancements, there were many things that were different.

For starters, most of the movies, celebrities and songs he knew of didn’t exist and they were replaced by something else.

Will was in the same situation as Zhang Ye now!

The first thought in his mind after knowing this was that he can emulate the movies and TV shows he knew and become rich.

But this wasn’t simple at all.

Even if he can remember the plot for some of the movies, he didn’t remember it frame by frame or every single dialogue.

At most, he can create a crude screenplay. And even if he can write Harry Potter, there is no guarantee that it would work the same.

After all, even in his universe, Harry Potter was rejected quite a lot of times. Luck was always a factor!

‘Moreover, I’m dropping out of one of the best cinematic schools in America.’

The original owner of the body always has the dream to make it big as a director. Because of it, even after his mother had died, his father has worked hard to pay for the tuition fee of EUC.

Two months ago, his father died due to alcohol poisoning, a habit he had gotten due to the death of his wife, leaving Will alone in this world.

With his death, Will was all alone in this world and there was no money to pay his tuition fee. Although he could ask for financial help from some of his father’s friends, he decided against it.

At first, the original owner worked hard to pay off the fee by doing part time jobs. But he wasn’t able to maintain both work and studies.

So in the end, he decided to drop out but two days ago, his body was taken over by Will in an unknown circumstance.

Sigh!

Sighing dejectedly, he walked away from the campus.

‘Not even a week of transmigration, I’ve no family, no money and dropped out of college. God bless my future.’

He took a cab and went to his rented apartment. It was small and devoid of any furniture. He dropped the box carrying his stuff from school and walked out of the apartment.

He didn’t want to face the landlord again, whose mouth only moved to ask for rent.

Walking around aimlessly, Will couldn’t help but think about his future choices.

Like other transmigrators, he wasn’t given anything convenient like a cheat. He even tried out weird poses to see if he’ll suddenly shoot out spider webs from his hands.

But that didn’t seem to be the case.

Like the original owner of this body, even Will wanted to become a successful director and earn enough money to live a peaceful and convenient life.

He could still work on his dream, but his future would be a lot harder as he was a dropout.

Not being able to come to a conclusion, Will kept walking around aimlessly till he found himself near a cinema hall.

A big movie poster displayed right outside. The movie seemed to be related to the army as the protagonist on the poster was looking at the dead bodies of his fallen comrades.

Putting his hand in his pockets, Will found a $10 bill. He smiled wryly as he decided to spend the last bit of money he had on a movie he didn’t know about.

The movie ticket cost $8 and he didn’t even have enough money left to buy popcorn.

Sitting on the theatre seat, Will watched the commercials playing before the movie started.

The movie went on with a story of the protagonist joining the army for the first time. His enthusiasm soon dies when he looks at the dead body of the soldier being brought back to the army barracks.

The story went on to tell how a major character changes the Protagonists thinking about war, soon that character dies too.

All in all the movie was pretty patriotic and showed the dark sides of a war. The movie ended as the audience cheered.

Will, who had never watched this movie in his previous life, felt weird. Although this world didn’t have the movies and stuff from the earth he came from, It had its own history and culture prospering from generations.

As Will was about to leave the theatre,his head suddenly felt light for a second as he fell back to his seat.

His head didn’t hurt, it just suddenly felt light as he tried to stabilise himself.

“Hey dude, you alright?”

He could hear the muffled voice of the guy next to his seat.

“Yeah, I’m good. Don’t worry, just got a bit dizzy for a second.”

Will replied while still trying to regain his bearings.

“It’s alright man, the movie was really harsh. It hit me hard too, just take it easy.”

The other guy said as he patted his shoulder and walked away too.

The theatre soon started emptying up as everyone walked out one by one.

Will was already feeling alright, but the reason why he couldn’t move from his seat was due to the shock he was currently feeling.

A blue translucent screen was hovering above his eyes as few texts appeared on them.

[Want to be rich? Want to date supermodels?Want to be the Hollywood King? I will help you. Welcome host, I’m the Hollywood System.]

Seems like he wasn’t as helpless as he thought he was.

[Want to be rich? Want to date supermodels?Want to be the Hollywood King? I will help you. Welcome host, I’m the Hollywood System.]

The translucent blue screen sent Will into a trance.

Unconsciously, he reached out towards the screen, his hands passing through it like it was merely an illusion.

‘Am I really getting that desperate that my brain is showing me illusions?’

He thought while rubbing his eyes. The screen was still there. It didn’t go away.

Anticipation started to build up inside Will as he thought.

‘Is this actually real?’

Near the left corner of the screen prompt, he saw an option to continue.

He gently touched ‘Continue’ on the translucent blue screen as if it were a smartphone.

This time too his finger passed through the screen but the earlier prompt disappeared and a new screen appeared.

“Hey kid, the theatre is empty. It’s about time for the next show. You can’t watch the movie twice on one ticket.”

Will finally came out of his trance as he realised he was still in the theatre.

He immediately got up and apologised to the middle-aged man for the trouble. He immediately ran back towards the location of his rental apartment.

…

Reaching his rundown apartment. He immediately closed the door and sat down.

The screen has disappeared like it never existed, which made him anxious.

As soon as he thought about the screen, it appeared again.

For trial, he tried to make it disappear, and it disappeared. He tried it a few more times as he realised he could control it at his will.

He looked at the screen which currently showed a different prompt than before.

[You can claim a beginner gift before logging into the system, the gift will disappear if you decide to skip this part.]

He looked at the screen which showed a gift box icon and thought about claiming the gift.

As soon as he thought of that, the box suddenly started shining as it’s lid flew open and the whole box disappeared.

A new prompt appeared in front of him.

[Beginner Gift Box Rewards]

The Blair Witch Project (Script)

17 Again (Script)

‘Huh?’

Will was confused as to what was going on, as he thought of a way to make sense of the situation.

He thought about focusing on the gifts he received and more information popped up.

[The Blair Witch Project (Script)

Type – Consumable.

Use this item to gain the movie script of ‘The Blair Witch Project’.]

[17 Again (Script)

Type – Consumable.

Use this item to gain the movie script of ’17 Again’.]

Slowly but surely, Will was getting a hang of how this worked.

All he had to do was focus on something for it to work.

Now the question was, none of this proved the actuality of his situation as nothing about it provided anything physical, something more solid as proof.

And so, he thought about using the item.

[The item ‘The Blair Witch Project (Script)’ has been consumed.]

Soon, information regarding the movie started to fill Will’s brain as he could recall every single piece of information about the movie.

A copy of the script was laid bare on the screen too.

‘All of this is real!’

Will finally made sure that everything he was seeing was real and indeed something like a transmigration cheat to him.

This was the first good thing that has happened to him ever since his lazily written transmigration.

* * *

Will soon used 17 again script too and gained the whole movie’s plot in his head.

After exploring the system for a while, he found out it had many things.

From movie scripts to songs and skills. All of it can be bought from the system from Fame Points, the system’s currency.

A single Fame Point was worth $10. Real money can be converted to Fame Points and vice versa.

Currently, he had 0 Fame Points. He can earn Fame Points from various quests and tasks that he can take on from the system.

For now, he had to work with the two scripts he has gotten and make something out of it.

The Blair Witch Project was all about 3 friends who set out to film a documentary about the fabled Blair Witch.

This was a very low budget movie that was released in the year 1999. The ‘Found Footage Technique’ from this movie became so popular that later it was used in the movies such as ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘Cloverfield’.

The movie had earned almost $250 million worldwide, making it a hit movie way above its initial budget.

The other movie, 17 Again, was the story of Mike O’Donnell, who left his sports career when he was 17 because he heard his girlfriend was pregnant.

As he grows to 37 years old, he finds his life boring as everything starts going downhill, from his upcoming divorce to his beloved wife and his children not caring about it at all.

He wishes to go back to when he was 17 so he can right his wrongs. With a chance accident, his wish is actually granted as he becomes his 17-year-old self.

The story follows Mike as he helps out his own kids with their affairs and couldn’t help but love Scarlett, his wife even in the body of a teen.

All in all, both of these movies were a hit.

The Blair Witch Project was a cheap movie with a budget of $300,000 which earned $250 million worldwide.

17 Again’s budget was $40 million as it grossed around $140 million.

The choice was obvious for Will as to which movie he should opt-out for.

He’d still need an initial budget even for a cheap movie, so the best course of action would be to write down the 17 Again scripts, handle the copyrights for it and sell it to some famous production company.

Even for all this, he’d need some type of backing, so he doesn’t get rigged.

Luck was also a major factor.

After all, there were thousands of scripts going around in Hollywood and even established screenwriters would fail in selling their scripts sometimes.

ttring~ ttring~

At that moment, his phone, which he hadn’t used at all in the previous two days of transmigration, rang.

Will looked at who had called him.

[Uncle Charles.]

As he rummaged through his memories, he found out the name of the caller ‘Benjamin Charles’. He was an agent from MCA (Martis Collins Agency) and the best friend of his dad.

He’d call every week to check on him as to how he was doing.

Unlike many small and unknown agencies in Los Angeles, MCA was one of the relatively well known. It handled several artists but mainly focused on acting and movies.

However, it had been going through a bit of a downfall for the last two years.

It happened due to a change of management, and after that, many of their artists left for other companies. One of their top stars, Tommy Williams, left for a rival agency ICM (Innovative Creative management).

This was nothing uncommon in Hollywood, but all these collective failures lowered the stock of MCA by a lot, but they were still working hard to get back on top.

As for Benjamin Charles, he was a senior agent in MCA and his dad’s best friend. They used to be college roommates, and after his father’s death, the former called him weekly to check upon him.

“Hello, Uncle Charles.”

After going through his memories, Will picked up the phone and replied in a bright voice.

– Will, how are you? Have you already moved out of your dorm room?

A middle-aged voice answered back.

“Yes, I moved out just today.”

“Good. Then, come to my office tomorrow.”

“Your office?”

Will asked, confusion evident in his voice. It was then that he recalled that the original soul had asked Benjamin for a job before dropping out.

– Yes, I will introduce you to a film crew I know. You can work there for a while and pick up stuff.

Originally, the previous soul had decided to get practical experience of a film set and then work his way to be a director.

It was a hard but practical one, and it wasn’t like there weren’t directors that had gone the same path before.

But Will is different now, and he has the system to help him out. That’s why his following words were entirely unexpected for Benjamin.

“Uncle Charles, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I want to work on a set like this.”

– What are you saying?!

A shocked voice came through the phone.

“Well, I have been going through some movie ideas these days, and I would have a script ready by the weekend.”

– You want to be a scriptwriter?

“Yeah, and I have a favour to ask of you, Uncle.”

Will said as he got an idea. He was worried about how he could sell the script of [17 again], but an incredible opportunity was now in front of him.

– What favour?

“I want you to look through my script.”

Benjamin’s voice ceased for a moment, and after a while, he said in a way like he was trying to convince Will.

– Will, you know, even if you are the son of my best friend, I can’t just buy your script. There are rules in the agency–

“I don’t want you to buy it straight away. I just want you to look through it. If it’s bad, you can reject it.”

Will cut him off and said. Benjamin thought for a moment before agreeing to this.

“Okay, come meet me at my office on Saturday.”

With that, the call ended, and Will took a deep breath. But this time, it was filled with the excitement of a new beginning.

If he had money and time, he would have gone out to celebrate due to getting a system.

But currently, time was tight, and he needed to write down a whole script.

‘I have four days to write [17 again].’

He thought and sat down on his desk. Switching on his laptop, he clicked on the ‘Word’ software and immediately began writing.

[17 Again]’s script was relatively simple to write as it was a modern drama mixed with time travel. But it mainly focused on love, family and relationships.

At the same time, the protagonist was a very likeable guy as he gave up on his dreams for his pregnant girlfriend.

But Will still had too many difficulties while he was writing the script.

There were many references to Lord of the Rings and other movies in the script, and aside from that, the movie also used several other things that just didn’t exist in this world.

That’s why Will furiously changed the references to be in a match with this universe, taking help from his memories and even watching some other famous movies.

After working for four days, he finally completed the script on the morning of the day he was supposed to meet Benjamin.

Rubbing his eyes that haven’t slept much in the last few days, he walked out of his apartment and headed straight towards a printing shop.

Leaving that shop with a copy of the script in his hand, he got into a taxi.

His destination wasn’t the MCA office but the Writers Guild Association of America (WGA) office.

Before meeting Benjamin, there was one thing he needed to do: get the copyright registered for [17 Again].

The fastest way to do so was through WGA.

Usually, it would take 5-6 months to get copyright registered for a script. But that was too slow and not efficient at all.

That’s why, after the change in rules, anyone can get a script copyrighted for $100, and they would do it in an hour. But the downside was that they would need to renew the registration every few years.

Will was okay with it, and that’s why, after spending two hours in the WGA office, he could register the copyright.

After that, the only thing to do was to go to the MCA office. It was located on Carberry road, a high-class area in this universe Los Angeles.

Reaching it, he waited a while in the lobby as his appointment still had time.

Finally, at 3, Benjamin’s assistant came to pick him up, and it was finally the time for his meeting.

With the script in his hands, Will prepared his heart as he walked inside Benjamin’s office.