The Hollywood Playbook Chapter 70 - 70

Novel: The Hollywood Playbook Author: kapa69 Updated: Jun 07, 2026

Font Size

18px

Now reading: Chapter 70 - 70 from The Hollywood Playbook, a Action novel by kapa69.

The Next Day. Blackwood Pictures.

Zack Snyder, the director of Hard Candy, arrived at the office.

"Hey, Zack, my friend! Welco!" Zane gave him a huge bear hug.

Zane respected Zack a lot. He knew Zack would one day direct Man of Steel and 300!

"How have you been?" Zane asked, pressing Zack onto the comfortable sofa and making him a coffee. "I heard a lot of studios want you."

"Call Zane," he reminded Zack with a warm smile. "We're friends."

Zack was moved. A true friend!

"Well, Zane," Zack said, "a lot of studios did call. But their scripts were terrible! And they only offered tiny budgets, less than a million dollars. I couldn't accept that."

Zane nodded. He liked that Zack had standards.

Hard Candy hadn't made a ton of money, but it made a profit of $1.5 million. For a small studio, that was huge.

"Hey," Zane said, dangling the carrot, "take a look at this comic book."

"300?" Zack muttered. "By Frank Miller?"

Zack read it quickly. Then he read it again.

Zack loved art, and he loved this dark, violent, oil-painting style. It matched his own style perfectly.

"Incredible!" Zack shouted, his eyes shining. "King Leonidas is a hero! Zane, are you going to make this into a movie?"

"Yes," Zane said. "We bought all the rights two weeks ago."

"Zane," Zack said, looking very serious, "you must let direct this. I'll do it for free! I don't need a fee!"

Zack knew this movie would make him famous overnight.

"Zack," Zane laughed, waving his hand, "I showed you this comic because I want you to direct it! And do you think I'm so cheap I wouldn't pay my friend?"

Zack bowed slightly. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Inside, Zane's heart skipped a beat. He almost said yes to the "free" part! Zane loved saving money. But he knew that if he cheated his friend, he would lose him forever. It wasn't worth it.

"Here is the script," Zane said. "Read it later."

Then, his voice got serious. "But Zack... we can't shoot 300 right now."

"Uh..." Zack was stunned.

"The cost is too high," Zane explained. "To make it look right, we need at least $60 million."

$60 million?! That was huge!

Zack looked crushed. He couldn't argue with that.

"Hahaha!" Zane laughed, seeing Zack's sad face. "Don't worry! You don't have to wait forever."

"10 months!" Zane promised. "In 10 months, the money will be in the bank, and you can start filming."

Zack jumped off the sofa. "Really?!"

"Of course!"

Zack was thrilled. He was willing to wait three years for a movie this good. 10 months was nothing!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------