Two days later, Adam practically ran out of his dorm room.
He gripped his finished movie proposal super tightly in his hand.
It had been really easy to write because he already knew every single detail in his head!
The absolute hardest part was just trying to pretend he was a normal, young college kid who hadn’t made anything big yet.
He made sure the script looked super professional.
It was only a few pages long, but the formatting was absolutely perfect, exactly how the big Hollywood guys liked it.
He had a short summary, a cheap budget, and a pitch he practiced in the mirror so he would sound totally natural.
After dropping a couple of coins in the smelly city bus, Adam rode it all the way downtown.
When he got off, his jaw basically dropped.
He was standing right in front of the legendary CAA building!
Creative Artists Agency.
Regular people had no idea what it was, but in Hollywood, it was the biggest and best agency ever.
They represented all the mega-famous actors and rockstars.
If CAA called a movie studio, the studio always answered immediately.
Adam still couldn’t believe he had signed with them three weeks ago just because a college professor liked his short student film.
He walked inside, his heart doing jumping jacks in his chest.
The pretty receptionist at the front desk smiled at him.
“Do you have an appointment?” she asked nicely.
“With my agent, Derek Voss.
Ten o’clock,” Adam said, trying to sound cool and confident.
He went upstairs and walked into an office.
“Kevin—oops, I mean Adam!” Derek laughed, looking totally embarrassed as he waved Adam into a chair.
“Sorry, I had another guy named Kevin in here right before you.
Grab a seat!”
Adam sat down.
Derek wasn’t a top boss yet.
He kept staring at a cool movie poster on his wall, clearly wishing he was a bigger agent with a fancier office.
In Hollywood, CAA was super powerful because they “packaged” movies.
That meant they put all their own actors and directors together and sold the whole thing to a studio at once!
Since Adam was a new director, Derek really wanted him to succeed so they could both climb the ladder and get rich.
“Is that the proposal?” Derek asked, his eyes lighting up as he reached across the desk.
“That’s it,” Adam said, handing over the folder.
Derek flipped it open eagerly.
“Saw,” he read the title out loud.
“Is it a horror movie?”
“Yep, horror,” Adam nodded.
Derek started reading, and the room got super quiet.
The script was fast and punchy with no boring dialogue.
Adam chewed on his lip, watching Derek’s face nervously.
Please like it, please like it, he prayed in his head.
Suddenly, Derek’s eyes went wide.
He stopped skimming and started reading super carefully, like he completely forgot Adam was even sitting there.
When he finally reached the end, he leaned back in his chair and blew out a breath.
“Okay,” Derek said, looking totally mind-blown.
“Tell me more about this bad guy…
Jigsaw.”
Adam grinned.
He had been waiting for this exact question!
“He’s not a normal killer,” Adam explained passionately.
“He doesn’t just hunt people down and stab them.
He finds people who take their lives for granted, and puts them in crazy, scary traps!
They have to hurt themselves to escape, so they learn a lesson.
If they die, he cuts a puzzle piece out of their skin to show they were missing a piece of the human puzzle!”
Derek shivered and rubbed his arms.
“Dude…
that is insanely disturbing.”
“Yeah,” Adam agreed.
“I mean that as a huge compliment!” Derek added quickly, tapping the folder excitedly.
“Most movie villains are so boring I forget them in five minutes.
But this guy?
I’ll remember him for ten years!”
Adam felt a warm glow of pride in his chest.
I knew it!
he thought happily.
It was weird watching someone discover his amazing idea for the first time.
“How much will this cost to make?” Derek asked, flipping to the very last page.
“Super cheap,” Adam promised.
“Mostly just one room and a few actors.
The scary part is the writing, not expensive explosions and effects.”
Derek smiled a huge, excited smile.
“That is exactly what I wanted to hear!
Since it’s cheap, nobody at the agency has to risk a ton of money on you.
I can actually get the big bosses to say yes to this!”
“That’s the idea,” Adam said, feeling a rush of pure adrenaline.
Derek closed the folder and looked at Adam like he was a literal gold mine.
“Give me a few days.
I’m gonna make some phone calls and make this happen!”
“Take your time,” Adam lied smoothly.
Inside, he was screaming with joy.
He knew his movie was going to change the world all over again!