"Thank you, Boss." Demi's eyes grew misty. "I mean it. If it weren't for you, my life would never have been this happy."
Why had she always insisted on maintaining her best condition? It was because of the memories that constantly reminded her and pushed her forward. Back when she worked under Mr. Reynolds, life had been decent. She had food, clothing, and plenty of money to spend. But what she didn't have was respect.
That changed when Laila came along.
Laila taught her that she could earn her salary and trust through hard work. The beginning was the toughest—every day, she was on edge, terrified of upsetting this young heiress-turned-CEO. But as she learned more and came to understand her boss better, she realized Laila was very easy to work with. As long as you worked hard and did your job well, she would always acknowledge your value.
Now, just look at her. People in the secretary's office respected her. Even the other departments downstairs treated her with the same respect. Despite only being a "little secretary," even senior executives would greet her with warm smiles when they passed her in the hallway.
She had gained love, and now a child was on the way. She truly believed the future would only bring more happiness, and all of it was thanks to Laila.
Laila smiled and patted her hand. "Everyone's life is a road they walk themselves. You worked hard and paid your dues—this happiness is something you earned. It's yours by right."
After chatting a bit more, Demi handed over a stack of paperwork that had piled up.
"The ones I gave you earlier were the urgent ones. These aren't quite as pressing."
Laila took the thick bundle and set it casually on the coffee table. Then she looked at the stack of what had to be at least a hundred screenplays on the desk and rubbed her temples. "Can someone tell me what that is about?"
Demi couldn't help but laugh as she looked over at them. "The Dark Knight has officially passed one billion at the box office. All the studios are sending scripts, hoping you'll pick one to co-produce with them."
At this point, none of them dared hope she'd direct for them outright—they were all aiming for some kind of collaboration. The offers were more than generous: they'd provide the script and cover the budget, let her call the shots on cast and crew, and promised zero interference.
For any director, these were dream deals—almost too good to be true. But then again, given Laila's track record, it made perfect sense that she'd command such offers.
"There are so many," Laila muttered as she flipped through a few. Sure enough, she recognized several that had performed well at the box office in her past life. But none of them made her eyes light up. Maybe it was because she had Buddy's script now, compared to that one, everything else just seemed to lack that spark.
"Put these aside for now," she said. "You know, I brought back a great script from South Africa. Once I finish the work on my plate, that one's going into development."
Demi nodded. "Got it. I'll have someone store them away."
Laila thought for a moment, then added, "Keep an eye on Buddy. Have Louise draft a management contract with him. We don't know yet if he'll write anything else worth filming, but it's best to secure the rights to him early."
Demi had done this many times before and was already familiar with the process. "No problem. I'll let Louise know."
Once Demi left, Laila finally pulled the new script out of her bag.
She'd already read it so many times, she practically knew it by heart—both its strengths and its flaws. The script was fresh and imaginative, but had clear weaknesses. It would require a major overhaul, possibly months of work to refine it. And actual filming? That would be even further down the road.
With the workload she had now—unless she scrapped her Oscar push for Blood Diamond—she could maybe get the post-production done by year's end. After that came marketing and release, which meant the earliest it could hit theaters would be the summer season.
But Blood Diamond was a film with real depth. She didn't want it tossed into the summer market as cannon fodder. A spring or fall release—March or April, or even October or November—would be much more suitable. Fewer blockbusters to compete with, fewer obstacles to face.
She'd also seen the media's predictions for Blood Diamond's box office, and honestly, she agreed with them. It wasn't the kind of movie that would attract a huge crowd, especially not younger audiences. The film had a lot of dark, heavy scenes, like child soldiers killing adults without a flicker of emotion. Even she had felt a visceral discomfort filming those parts.
But that was history. And if she was going to respect history, she couldn't just cut those scenes out.
While she revised Buddy's script and worked on editing Blood Diamond, The Dark Knight's box office continued to soar. In North America alone, it passed $500 million. Overseas, it had reached $900 million. Globally, that was a staggering $1.4 billion.
It was an unbelievable figure, especially for a superhero film. Sure, the franchise had a strong fan base, but just look at Nolan's previous installment, Batman Begins. Even though it only pulled in around $500 million total, that was already considered a solid success.
Now The Dark Knight was pushing $1.4 billion—and if it kept picking up stray ticket sales, it might even reach $1.5 billion.
The studio was over the moon. Not only did they send Laila a hefty bonus, but they even sent one to Nolan as well. In their eyes, Nolan was the real lucky charm—if he hadn't worked so hard to rope Laila into the project, there's no way they would've made this kind of money.
And Laila? She came out of it very well, too. Beyond her upfront pay, she also earned a substantial profit share. When all was tallied up, it was a tidy sum.
But the best part, in her eyes, was that she'd secured Nolan onto her team. That, to her, was the real prize. Just thinking about the future projects he'd helm—and the profits they'd bring—made her feel like her company had hit the jackpot.
Of course, while the world was busy praising The Dark Knight and singing Laila's praises, a few dissenting voices began to surface.
"Director Moran's talent isn't that impressive. She's made all these films and hasn't even broken $1.6 billion in total box office. Titanic alone made $1.8 billion."
"Exactly. Everyone keeps talking about how great she is, but she hasn't even broken the top box office record yet."
"She's not even thirty yet. Isn't it a little too much to expect her to surpass James Cameron?"