Page 17 of Jace 4Ever
Nelson
Itossed the script on the table.
“You’re kidding, right, Max?”
Max glanced up from his own script and gave me a puzzled look. “What?”
“We’ve put off the start of filming four different times andthispiece of tripe is what you want to start on?”
Max looked chided. “We worked hard on it.”
“Where did you get it? The trash bin?”
“It’s a reworked version of a fan script.” He scratched his head a moment. “The script was circulating on one of those fanfic sharing sites, and there were some good points.”
Zach put the script down quietly. “I’m glad Nelson said it. I have serious misgivings about this. I know I’m new to the franchise, but…” He gestured at the papers vaguely.
I pointed at him with a jerk of my thumb. “See? It’s crap, Max. Everything Xavier does goes directly against everything he’s stood for until now. You can’t have this kind of body count when he’s been so adamant about not killing people.”
“It’s the reason Xander is even still alive,” Zach said.
Max slumped in the chair. “This is the best we’ve got, Nelson. This was so many rewrites, too…”
“It’s simple fixes,” I said. “You can’t put this out and expect we’re going to get the okay for a fifth in the series. Let me make the fixes and I’ll have this back to you for approval. Because this isn’t fanfiction, it’s hate-fiction.”
“Hate-fiction?” Zach cackled.
“Fiction written by someone who hates the original and wants to change the whole plot,” I answered. “There’s plenty out there. People who redeem Voldemort, who make Superman the bad guy, who turn Jason Bourne into the killer they wanted. This is someone who hates Xavier Renegade and wants him to give up his principles.”
Glancing back up at Max, he let out a sigh. “How fast can you rewrite?”
“Is Jeremy around? He and I can probably bang this out in about—”
“No,” Max said. “He left this for me and bowed out of the project.”
“Hell, really?” I scrubbed a hand down my face.
Zach held up his hands. “Don’t ask. I’m new.”
Shit. I had to do the rewrite. “Okay, so give me a month?”
“That’s cutting it close to filming.”
“We’ve pushed back four times already, one more isn’t going to kill us. We want the best script. There aren’t a lot of stories that make it past four, and we want to. So give me time.”
Max sighed. “You’re right. Fine. You got the month.”
“Thank you,” I said, smiling at Max. I snatched back the terrible script from the table. “Can you email me the tripe? I mean script?”
“Yes, I’ll forward it,” Max said. “You’re sure you can save this?”
“I’ve been in Xavier Renegade’s head for three movies,” I answered. “I can write this. And I think that I can make Xander way more believable.”
“And less redeemable?” Zach stood from his seat.
“Is that how you want him? Not redeemable?”
“Oh, I love playing irredeemable villains.” His grin was incorrigible.
