The Heartbreak of Seagal

By Scott C. Anderson

This is a story of success, power, and murder. While writing the screenplay to follow a successful science fiction movie, Tom Sala found himself in an enviable position. Following the success of a runaway hit, the personal needs of those around Mr. Sala will intrude on his need for peace and quiet to write the sequel.
The crazy, the calculating, and those gambling on opportunity will knock on his office door. Tom Sala will need to evaluate his goals and depend on his personal code to survive. Written for all ages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781365677823

Book preview

The Heartbreak of Seagal

The Heartbreak of Segal

By Scott C. Anderson

This is a book of fiction. Characters, places, names, theories, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to persons, alive or dead, along with their events or locations is purely coincidental.

Disclaimer:  These stories are written in a conversational style.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

First Edition

© 2016, 2017 by Scott C. Anderson. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-365-67782-3

Soon to be a major motion picture

Producing and completing a movie for eleven million dollars is a monumental task.  The science-fiction tale, The Heartbreak of Seagal, written by Tom Sala, was given an American release in mid-July of 2017.  Attempting to capitalize on the summer season of blockbusters, Heartbreak received a modest opening in a crowded market. 

Concurrently, the all-Chinese version of The Heartbreak of Seagal was released within the Chinese mainland motion picture systems.  The all-Asian cast would use the dominant dialect for the major release along the standard distribution routes.

The heavily-laden special effects of this science fiction film provided a solid story with stunning visual effects.  The movie promised to deliver exciting entertainment for the whole family.  Filmed in two versions at the same time, the lesser-known Chinese cast performed well and received good reviews.

The English, or Western version, would use the talents of English-speaking actors within a studio based in Malaysia.  The cast for the live-action shots ranged from little-known American, British, Russian, and Scandinavian actors.  The close-knit cast and tight budget added a fresh angle to the production, and reviews were generally good.

The original eBook was written and released by Tom Sala.  One Leaf Studios, an American production company based in Los Angeles, had received its financial backing from Fan International, the Chinese-owned studio.  One Leaf would then coordinate the western version and distribute the film throughout the northern and southern hemispheres and Europe. 

Tom Sala’s contract demanded that he write a suitable script for the Chinese market.  This project would then require the talents of an experienced translator.  Tom Sala convinced Fan International to also provide a Western version for the American and European markets.  Tom’s proposal was accepted, though not with a great amount of enthusiasm.

Tom then camped-out in a small room within One Leaf Studios.  Tom then wrote for ten days in the nondescript office building in Los Angeles.  The revelation after the movie’s release that this production took only ten days to write caused a fresh new avenue of criticism for the small studio. 

Aaron Burke, the president of One Leaf Studios, fielded any criticism of the production.  He confidently spoke of an initial return of at least ten million in the American release alone.  Followed by video and streaming sales, the movie should do as well as twenty-five million in the states.  Distribution to other English-speaking countries, with translations in French, Spanish, Russian and German should provide an excellent return on the dollar.  Any additional translations or film work, outside of the primary Chinese film, would be recorded at One Leaf.

Then the figures by late August began to tell a chilling tale.  The opening American numbers were passing thirty-four million with house attendance at a respectable clip. 

The first-run figures for China were listed at over one-hundred million and climbing.  House attendance was still strong but the figures were skewed.  Several theaters were presenting the Chinese version during the strong hours, and then running the English version, with subtitles, later in the evening or at midnight. 

The western version, when viewed in Asia, would gain a cult status as the two films were familiar, yet completely different. 

In the end, the numbers would speak for themselves.  Aaron Burke had a hit on his hands with very satisfied investors.  His only problem was the build-up of physical video units and the contract delays for online and cable streaming. 

Seasoned and experienced, Aaron knew that the numbers wouldn’t continue to hold at the box-office indefinitely.  Given a translated confirmation from the Chinese, Aaron released the movie to purchase throughout America.  Europe would then release the film for purchase less than a week later.  In a rare condition, Aaron Burke was satisfied.

Oh, to be an Author

Tuesday morning, February 7th, 2017.

My name is Tom Sala, and I’m a writer.  Some would say I’m pretty good at storytelling, and others might say something to start an argument.  In either case, here’s my story:

One Leaf Studios presented me with a new car.  Well, it’s not new as in brand new, but it’s what I wanted.  A year ago I moved to Palm Springs because I liked the area and the dry heat.  One day, as I was driving to my temporary office at One Leaf Studios in Los Angeles, my life took an unusual turn.  I was 59.

One Leaf leased offices in a building off of La Cienega Boulevard.  Driving into the city, I was on the San Bernardino Freeway in my 2006 Lexus LS430.  This was the car I always wanted.  Looking down at the instrument cluster, I watched the mileage tick past 13,999 miles.  I didn’t want a new car for a lot of reasons, some of these reasons make sense only to me.

The office building containing One Leaf Studios, and about four other businesses, offered a subterranean parking garage.  One Leaf had a reserved area, then there were cordoned-off sections for the other firms, and an open public area for visitor parking.  This was a rather large building and a reserved spot was given to me after the success of my first film.

The Heartbreak of Seagal.  What a title.  I wrote a science fiction story and sold it as both an A5-sized paperback and an eBook.  At first the story didn’t sell as well as I wanted, but to be realistic, there was a lot of competition at the time.  As I had hoped, sales picked up and then one day a call came through on my cellphone.  One Leaf wanted to talk to me about making the story into a movie. 

I drove my older Lexus LS400 to the studio building and parked in the public area.  Growing up, my mother worked at Universal Studios and I had heard a lot of things during a couple of decades.  Today I expected to hear a lot, and maybe hear something with some truth to it.  Unfortunately, my expectations weren’t very high.

A young woman at the reception desk sat in front of a poster of the studio’s latest release.  Big and glossy, the poster was of a movie I had heard of, but hadn’t seen yet.  Looking around, most of the movie posters were of the same type; I had heard of them but hadn’t seen even one.  This was a bad sign.

The meeting was with Aaron Burke, the President of One Leaf Studios.  I’ll never forget the first time I met him.  He was tanned, well built, and slicked his black hair in a style that I had only seen in old movies. 

In the lobby I met my agent, Shirley Efron, who I had spoken with but never met in person.  She would represent me, as I believed that I was easy to take advantage of by any studio, especially by someone like Aaron Burke.

In the large nearly-immaculate conference room, Shirley and I sat and talked with the people from One Leaf and Fan International, the host company and principal investor. 

Shirley did most of the talking and I did most of the listening.  A treatment was provided and approved with minor changes.  A beautiful woman of Chinese descent translated for the few overseas visitors.  Sophia Chow would translate and ask specific questions.  In return, I gave direct answers and