Ajay was reborn. As for how, he didn't know. The last thing he remembered was being pushed off a cliff by his fiancée, that bitch! If she didn't like getting married to him, she could have just said so. Why did she have to kill him for no reason? That freaking lunatic bitch.
Every time he thinks about his previous life, he gets so angry that he feels like he wants to beat someone up.
Anyway, he was not from a well-off family. Although he wanted to become a movie director, he understood reality and became an engineer by his own efforts and secured a 30LPA package in a company called Infosys. In that happiness, his parents found a good match for him, and he decided to get married as well and get settled, but his life came to an end abruptly.
He should have woken up in Naraka, judged by Yamaraj for his crimes, but who knew that he would be reborn in another body as Ajay Williamson?
He had the same first name but a different surname. In this life, his father was an African American who had abandoned him and his mother right after his mother got pregnant in college.
His mother, Sheila Shetty, raised him all by herself by working odd jobs and doing part-time work, but unfortunately, God was cruel to her, and she passed away when he was seven years old.
The majority of his life was spent in an orphanage in Burbank, where he was bullied by all the kids for his mixed-race appearance and because he couldn't speak. He was neither dark nor light, and he was quite different from the other mixed-race kids as well. Although his skin resembled that of a Mexican, his hair was extremely curly and luscious, like South Indian hair.
His bone structure was also quite different from that of a typical Sub-Saharan African. It was shaped more like a white man's, with sharper lines and thinner lips. As for his speech, maybe it was because his mind couldn't handle the information from his past life that it took him a long time to adjust. He was only able to speak properly and think clearly when he was around sixteen.
After suffering so much in the orphanage, eleven years later, he was finally free.
He was 18 and no longer had to stay in that place.
"What are your plans, Jay?" A small ginger-haired teenager asked, his eyes filled with reluctance.
Ajay looked at the guy. He was Brandon, an orphan like him, a year younger than him. He was being picked on by the other kids because of his ginger hair, so Ajay decided to help him out after he recovered his senses. Not for any particular reason, but simply because Brandon reminded Ajay of himself. Since then, the kid had become his shadow, following him everywhere he went.
As he looked at the scrawny, ginger-haired kid, he sighed. 'Life is going to be hard for this kid from now on,' he thought, but there was nothing he could do. He could only help him for so long. At some point, Brandon would have to live his own life.
Remembering the question Brandon asked, Ajay opened his mouth and declared, "I'll go to Hollywood," with confidence radiating in his eyes.
Brandon was momentarily stunned. He didn't know if he should dissuade Ajay or if he should support it, but ultimately, he nodded and wished him good luck.
Bidding farewell to Brandon, the only person who came to send him off from the orphanage, he walked out and headed straight to an apartment he had just rented.
He didn't have much allowance in the orphanage, but due to his condition, he had a lot of free time from a young age. He didn't have to stay in school the whole day, and that continued even after he got better. So, in his free time, he started earning money. After two years of mowing lawns, babysitting children, and helping with other small jobs around the neighbourhood, he had saved enough to afford a simple room on his own. In case of emergencies, he had also left the compensation his mother received untouched.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
After unloading all the luggage, he picked up the draft he had written and perused through it with utmost seriousness.
Ajay was not joking when he declared that he would go to Hollywood.
He noticed something odd in this world. It was not the same as his previous world. It was currently January of 1994, and all the technological advancements were the same as his last life, but the entertainment industry was completely different, the people were different as well.
Although it was, in some aspects, much more developed than in his previous life, with movies, comic books, music, and other forms of entertainment being more widespread and more appreciated by the people, the works themselves were not the same.
He felt it was odd because the history was almost the same, apart from some differences in some areas. When he first realised the anomaly, he jokingly thought that a caveman in this world took a shit somewhere where he wasn't supposed to, and that shit led to a domino effect, changing the entire course of the entertainment industry.
So, entering the entertainment industry became the most natural choice. With so many works from his previous life etched into his mind, he felt it was a pity not to get into the industry. Besides, he was in Burbank, the place where all the large studios gathered. Was there a better thing he could do right now?
He closed the draft and put it in several envelopes.
He was going to see if there was anyone interested in his script.
Ajay decided to try his luck with Warner Bros. Pictures first, one of the six major Hollywood film companies.
He stood in front of the building and was left mesmerised. "As expected of one of the six giants," he said to himself and went directly to the front desk.
"Hello, I would like to submit a script," he said directly.
The front desk lady was attracted by the young man, but hearing what he said, her expression became a little dull, and she robotically replied, "Please submit it in the submission department."
Ajay didn't think anything of it, turned around, and left, but looking at his back, the reception lady clicked her tongue and muttered to herself, "He's so tall and handsome, I thought he was an actor. But tch, didn't know he was a poor scriptwriter." She saw several of them every day, and she had already become too tired of replying to them.
Ajay found the submission department and resolutely entered the room. But to his shock, several middle-aged men and old men were already waiting.
Ajay's appearance immediately caught everyone's attention because the average age in that room was over 25. Ajay, looking like a 20-year-old boy, looked out of place.
Feeling a little awkward, he found a seat and quietly sat down.
"Hey, kid, are you a screenwriter?" an old man inquired.
"Ah, yes, I wanted to submit my script to see if Warner Bros. were interested."
The old man nodded as if he had already guessed the answer. "Is it a film script or a television script?"
"It's a script for a short film," Ajay answered honestly. "I felt maybe the studios won't trust my script because I have no experience, so I wrote a short script to make it more convincing." Ajay thought that his explanation would result in the old man appreciating his ideas, but the old man looked at him as if he were looking at a fool instead. "Lad! Most short films are written by the directors themselves. It doesn't need a separate screenwriter."
Ajay was immediately dumbfounded. He didn't know that. In fact, he wasn't familiar with the entertainment industry at all. He just looked up some of the details after he decided to work in Hollywood, but he did not know the industry at a deeper level.
'Did I make a mistake?' The thought arose in his heart, but he decided to see the matter through. After all, the script he had prepared did win a major award in one of the three film festivals and also an Oscar in his last life.
"Then what do you suggest I do, sir?" he humbly asked.
The old man looked like someone who was willing to help the younger generation, so he let out a deep breath and suggested, "Your best bet is to pitch the script to a reputed director. If they like it, they can find studio investment and everything by themselves."
Ajay absent-mindedly nodded. "In that case, is submitting the work here useless?"
"Not useless. You can still submit it, but nothing will come out of it. Large studios like Warner Bros. Pictures receive hundreds of scripts every week, and they might even have thousands of manuscripts in their library waiting to be turned into films or television. So it's highly unlikely that they will pay any attention to your short film."
Ajay understood, and he felt enlightened. "Thank you, sir."
"No worries. I struggled a lot like you when I was young. I'm just helping you avoid some detours."
Ajay's eyes were filled with awe as he looked at the old man. "Can I know your name, sir?"
"It's Dave Matthew."
"Nice to meet you, Mr Matthew. My name is Ajay Williamson, but people usually just call me Jay."
The old man chuckled. "Haha, good to meet you, Jay."
Since he had already come to Warner Bros. Pictures, Ajay decided to submit the draft anyway. What if a producer became interested in his manuscript and decided to purchase it? One could always dream, right?
To be continued...