Late July, 1978 Los Angeles.
James sat behind his desk, flipping through a stack of Fan mail occupied one pile, invoices another.
The door opened.
Linda stepped inside carrying bag and a paper sack from a bakery.
James looked up.
She dropped the bag beside her desk. "Miss me?"
"A little."
"Only a little?"
"I enjoyed being able to find paperwork."
"Rude."
He smiled.
She walked around the desk and leaned down, kissing him briefly.
"That's for surviving without me."
"Wasn't easy."
"Good answer."
She sat on the corner of the desk.
"So," James asked, "how was the reunion?"
Linda groaned dramatically.
"Exactly how you'd imagine."
"That bad?"
"Half of them are convinced they're going to change the world. The other half are already dead inside."
James laughed.
"And you?"
She thought about it for a second.
"I think I'm exactly where I want to be."
The answer surprised him slightly.
Linda noticed.
"Don't make that face."
"What face?"
"The face where you start thinking too much."
"I wasn't."
"You were."
She reached over and stole a letter from the top of his pile.
"Besides," she said, glancing around the office, "I missed this place."
James raised an eyebrow.
"You missed invoices?"
"No."
She tossed the letter back onto the desk.
Before James could answer, footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Linda glanced toward the door.
"Business?"
"Probably."
She hopped off the desk and headed toward the filing cabinet.
"I leave for three days and suddenly people start showing up."
A moment later, two men appeared in the doorway.
"James Rowan?"
"That's me."
"Peter Caldwell," the taller man said, extending a hand. "NBC Television Network. Programming."
The second man followed. "Robert Hayes. Broadcast acquisitions."
James stood, shook both hands. "Have a seat."
Caldwell glanced around once, then sat. "We'll get straight to it. We're interested in acquiring domestic television broadcast rights."
"We've been tracking Friday the 13th since week two," Hayes said, folding his hands. "The numbers are… impressive."
James nodded.
Linda, pretending to sort papers in the back, very clearly slowed her movements.
"Specifically," Hayes continued, "a ten-year broadcast license. Network airings. Edited for standards, of course."
Caldwell said. "We understand the film's still performing theatrically. This would be positioned for late-night and special programming windows."
He slid a single-page summary across the desk.
James didn't pick it up right away.
"And the offer?" he asked.
Hayes spoke this time. "One-point-five million dollars."
James finally looked at the paper. Then he set it down again.
"I'll need time."
"Of course," Hayes said. "This isn't a rush decision."
Caldwell stood. "We'd like to continue the conversation. When you're ready."
After the door closed, Linda stepped in front of james.
"NBC?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, staring at the paper on his desk. "It is."
"Does this mean I get a bonus."
He looked up at her, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Two days later, James found himself sitting in a conference room at Arthur Young & Co.
Davis sat across the table.
A few moments later the door opened.
A woman entered carrying another stack of documents.
"Mr. Rowan," Davis said. "This is Martha De La Torre. She'll be helping oversee Fantasy Pictures going forward."
Martha shook his hand before taking a seat.
"Nice to meet you."
"You too."
"Before we discuss future projects, we need to discuss where Fantasy Pictures currently stands."
James nodded.
"Sounds serious."
"The problem," Martha said, "It's accounting and Taxes as well as Employees"
"Employess ?" James was confused.
Martha bemused, "You don't realise the oddity ? Company created just four months ago with just two people boss and secretary with estimated profit of nearly $17 million dollar incoming."
James was visibly embarassed at being pointed out.
Davis slid another sheet toward him.
James stared at the page.
"I knew taxes were coming."
Martha replied. "Most people don't appreciate how much is coming."
"Up until now you've been thinking like a filmmaker."
James looked up.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No, but now you also have to think like a business owner."
For the next hour they walked him through Fantasy Pictures finances.
Martha recommended establishing a reserve account rather than immediately spending every dollar that arrived.
"A successful film doesn't guarantee the next one succeeds," she said. "The companies that survive are usually the ones that prepare for failure while things are going well."
James after hour was throughly Exhausted and terrified at the possibility of doing the numbers game again in future.
Martha suggested him hiring few people like accountant, Production crew if expansion is taken in account and a CEO to operate with few other admin releated staff.
James left Arthur & Young with a headache.
August 6, 1978
James returned to Fantasy Pictures late that afternoon.
The headache he'd left Arthur Young with had not improved.
The office door opened.
Linda looked up from her desk.
"Well?"
I've decided accountants are evil."
Linda smiled.
"That bad?"
"Worse. They use numbers."
"I thought you liked numbers."
"I like box office numbers."
Linda laughed.
"Did they tell you you're going bankrupt?"
"No."
"Going to jail?"
"No."
"Then it couldn't have been that bad."
She stood and walked around his desk.
"So what are you going to do?"
James looked toward the typewriter.
FOOTLOOSE
"Same thing I've been doing."
Linda glanced at the title page.
"The dancing movie?"
"The dancing movie."
She nodded.
"Good."
"Good?"
"Movies I understand."
James laughed quietly.
"So do I."
He rolled his cuffs, adjusted the paper, and began typing.