Steve didn't call back for two more hours. It was only Evan's presehat stopped me from going mad. When it finally rang, I literally ran all the way over to the phone. Despite my every effort to grab it, Kathy was the first oo reach it and held it close to her ear with a grin on her face as she talked on the line.

  "Uh-huh," She nodded seriously over the phone before not speaking for a few minutes. My patience was running low, and I was nearly ready to shout at her when finally she turo me.

  "Troy, your Dad wants to speak with you," Kathy said while me the receiver.

  I snatched it from her haughtily and immediately put it on, going directly to the main part of the versation, "Well?"

  "We won!" Steve excimed happily, "We won two prizes, one is the Audience Award, Festival Favorite, and the other is the Short Film Grand Jury Prize."

  "Yes!" I shouted loudly. Then I turo Evan, "We won two awards. One Audience Award for the Festival favorite and one Grand Jury Award!"

  "Yes!" Evan yelled out loud. I high-fived him. He probably didn't even uand the importance of these awards but I do. They will go a long way to secure us a distribution deal.

  "That's not all," Dad's voice y premature celebrations. "I sold all rights to HBO for 150,000. You remember Peter from Warner, right? He got me in tact with a friend of his from HBO which is also a subsidiary of Warhey liked the respohat our film got and purchased broadcasting and further distributihts." He told us proudly.

  "Yes!" I turo Kathy, "Dad sold the broadcasting rights to HBO."

  That was indeed very good news. From a purely financial perspective, we spent somewhere between 1-2 grand on the whole film. Obviously, it is much less than what a director of Steve's caliber should be paid but that's not the point. Keeping that in mind, we already made more than 100 times what ent.

  But the biggest point was marketing it out to the world. At this point it doesn't matter if we make money or not, but that more people see our work and appreciate it.

  "I'll be ing baorrow m," Steve's voice rang out from the receiver, "then we'll go out and celebrate in the evening. And tell your mother to invite Bobby and Amy as well."

  "Will do."

  I hung up the phone and reyed the message to Kathy. She nodded but had a thoughtful expression on her face.

  "What's the matter, mum?" I asked.

  "Do you realize how rare it is for a retively short film like yours to win the Audience Award at a film festival?" She asked back.

  I scratched my head in fusion, "Is it really? I mean the film was good, wasn't it?"

  "That it was," she said. "But it is still unusual. Most of the winners are feature films. Dotaries and short films don't win. In fact, ours is the first film to do so. You 't just chalk it up to ce."

  "Our super awesome luck?" I offered an expnation of the reason for our win.

  "Most likely," She agreed before turning to Evan, "Evan, we'll be celebrating the success of Troy's first film tomorrow, would you like to e along? I'll talk to your parents if you'd like that."

  "Yes, I want to e!" Evan excimed excitedly.

  Seriously this kid was in real need of some Adderall.

  (Break)

  It was a lovely dinner we had at this upscale restaurant called Providence. Probably the best seafood I've had in both my lives. 't be sure about my past life but that was the feeling I got when I had the first bite of that awesome sushi.

  Dad had given Amy and Bobby a 5,000 check each as a bonus for making the movie. For broke college students, they were more than happy with the amount.

  "What about me?" I asked Steve with a big pout. "You gave so much moo them, and nothing to your star? That's unfair."

  Steve chuckled, "You ask for anything you want. Within reason of course."

  "I want a skateboard," I said without needing to think it over. I wanted one so badly for quite some time, but for some reason, I didn't feel like asking for it until now.

  "Done," Steve agreed easily.

  It wasn't until a week ter that Steve told me an even bigger news.

  "Are you fug serious?" I asked giddily.

  "Language!" Kathy rebuked from the kit where she reparing the dinner. Only a few seds ter she came rushing out.

  "I'm sorry, Mum," I said with a shit-eating grin on my face, "Now Dad, are you serious or is it a joke?"

  "Yes, I'm serious," Steve said with a smile of his own. Seeing the fused expression on Kathy's face he expined again, "I got back from HBO today. They held an internal sing of our movie and were very impressed with the quality of the script and ag, particurly yours."

  Here he meaningfully turowards me.

  "They think it would be a great idea if we could make it into a TV movie or a mini-series. They have offered me the job as its primary writer, director, and producer. And I have the option to seleother producer if I so desire. Here he looked meaningfully toward Kathy.

  "You're me that position?" She asked, her owement shining through her eyes. She had written many pilots before but none of them had been picked up by awork, thus being a producer of an HBO movie was a good opportunity for her.

  Steve shook his head, "I didn't say yes."

  "Why not?" I and Kathy asked at the same time, our eyes met for a moment as we smiled at each other, and theuro Steve in unison.

  "For one, if we do make this TV film, then it won't be eligible for an Oscar. That's one of the most basic Oscar rule," Steve crified.

  That was a bummer. While I don't know if the film was good enough to qualify for an Oscar, but knowing that you had a ce to do something so big, yet you blew it to make a TV movie...

  "Not just that," Steve tinued, "HBO's first dition freenlighting this project was that Troy would be the lead actor."

  "I accept," I said immediately. To be frank I'd be disappointed if they chose someone else for the role that was built arou would be a little sad that we won't be eligible for an Oscar, I couldn't dee such a massive opportunity to act, just like that.

  "It's not that simple Troy," Kathy answered this time, "while we would love it if you get good roles like the lead one here, but remember that your on-s role defines you for other people."

  I hummed in thought, "You think I'd be stereotyped with sex?"

  "If the film does well, then I'm afraid, it's possible," Steve answered. "They have offered for me to develop a script first before we could further our pns. If you don't want to act, then that's fine, as they have bought the rights to it, they will make a produ on their own with their own writers and actors."

  How could I deny that? I know that at the moment, we aren't fully financially secure. At least until we sell the adaptatihts of Harry Potter. So it would be the smart decision to just accept HBO's offer and make the series.

  Even if I get paid the lowest sary as per the actuild, I believe I would still make some money from the movie, as I py the lead. And obviously, the sary of the director and producer will be much higher. The lowest by my estimate should be a hundred grand each. So if we make the film, it would be upwards of 200,000. Not to mention that this is the absolute lowest value. It could be much higher based on the success of the movie and if Steve and Kathy could iate for a subsequent raise based oV ratings.

  If we t the ive effect, if I do the show and it bees popur, Warner Bros. or other studios may refuse to cast me as, say, Harry Potter. But I don't want to ge myself or my work because of a role.

  "I'll do it," I said with finality.

  "Are you absolutely sure?" Steve asked again.

  "Yes."

  "Very well. I'll tell them, t." Theuro Kathy, "Honey, we o start work on the script soon. You have more experien TV spy so you take the lead. I've been told about a few insistencies in the inal script like Troy is British but his sister seems to be Ameri…"

  I tuhem out at this point and thought about the implications of what had transpired in a matter of a few mihis one small deviation iimeline could potentially ge everything that I knew, or maybe nothing at all. Only time will tell what will happen after the release of this film.

  (Break)

  It took them two whole months to plete the script and plete iations with HBO. They agreed with a sary of 75,000 for me and 300,000 and 180,000 for Steve and Kathy respectively.

  With this, we'll be making a total of 550,000 (pre-tax) for the movie as a family. A further bonus for Steve and Kathy as producers, if ratings exceed a limit and a certain pertage of disc sales, will be shared with them every year.

  "Isn't HBO being too generous?" That's the question I asked my parents.

  "Ihey are," Kathy agreed. "Currently, they are trying to expand their user base to pete with work els so they are getting more quality programs out there. From what I've heard in the circle, they have a very grand pn for an uping series that will be unched year."

  If only it was Game of Thrones I could've pyed Bran Stark.

  Yes, I remember the series because I read this book lying around in the house called 'A Game of Thrones' by G.R.R. Martin. So of course I remembered its adaptation that became one of the biggest shows ever made. Until the st season, that is.

  If I were to guess, HBO must be ung [The Sopranos] or [Sex and the City] at this point. I wasly sure about their TV premiere date, only knowing they were released ie '90s.

  While my parents had agreed to let me act, they had pced some ditions. The biggest one pced on HBO was to wait until the summer to shoot the film or hire a private tutor for me for the time I spend away from school.

  Personally, I preferred the fetting too much attention was never good. At least in css, I could act like a zy genius but one-o is just asking for trouble.

  Luckily for me, HBO agreed with this as well. Accly, we will begin shooting in June 98 and finish by July 98. Steve and Kathy had e up with a produ pn of 40-45 days.

  HBO po premiere the movie in mid to te November, giving us enough time for post-produ and marketing. In the meaeve along with a casting director of HBO would select the major cast members.

  Of the cast, the major roles were my character's (Mark's) parents who had shifted jobs from Engnd and had settled in America. The father is from London and while the mother settled in London for love, she is an Ameri. would be the sister, Jenny, who is mostly an Ameri as she was living with her mother's sister and was on a schorship program in ae private school. She has retly joined uy.

  Then the babysitter and to-be-abuser, Dyn, who after some deliberation was turned bisexual. My school teacher whom my character is supposed to torment and finally my two friends in school, Peter and Joe. There are other side characters like Dyn's girlfriend and Jenny's boyfriend, some neighbors, etc.

  As it was meant to be rated TV-MA and with the nature of the subject, ses of sexual nature with nudity were also included in the script. Kathy still thought she roteg me somehow wheried to give me a redacted version of the script.

  I ughed out loud and asked Steve for the correct script. Thankfully, he acquiesced.

  The script was quite good actually. It was in the format of a edy movie, although it had quite a few dramatients as well.

  Steve and Kathy had adopted a mockumentary-type approach that I remember from a few future shows, like [The Office] and [Modern Family], where I am the narrator of the series, aween ses, the camera will cut to me and I'll narrate my thoughts at that particur moment. I wao do the Ferris Bueller type breaking the fourth wall, but they vetoed it. Apparently, the tone of the film would bee insistent if you add that.

  So they decided to go with what worked in the inal version, and at the end of the movie, Mark will give a monologue about Sex education. That was the most liked part of the inal script and everyo HBO expected it to be a part of the film.

  There are some reat funny moments in the script as well. There is a running gag where I'll make some great dirty joke in front of my teacher during css while pretending to not uand what I just said and making her very unfortable.

  Steve and Kathy have made my character a smart and ing kid who knows more than he should but still acts like the perfegel in front of unsuspeg adults.

  But at the end of the day, he is still a kid, and his knowledge about sex is inplete. He thinks he knows everything and that leads to hirious situations.

  ______________________________

  AN: Chey Pat-reon for a free poll to decide Troy's future career trajectory. Thank you for reading.