Chapter 135 – The Rise of a Genre Label
Winona Ryder wrapped her scenes for Scent of a Woman at the Waldorf Astoria in just three days.
At the same time, Sleepless in Seattle had officially completed its final scene on the Empire State Building's observation deck — the production was declared wrapped.
---
A Manhattan Night
That night, in Manhattan's West Village, inside the top-floor bedroom of a four-story duplex near the High Line overlooking the Hudson River—
Winona Ryder lay sprawled across Aaron's chest, tracing lazy circles on him with her fingertips.
"This place," she murmured, "isn't your… special dating nest for women, is it?"
Aaron glanced toward the round floor-to-ceiling window and the shimmering Hudson River beyond.
"Dating nest? Hardly. Dawnlight's New York office is only a few blocks away.
I liked the place when I saw it — so I bought it along with a few others."
He gestured at the old-brick walls and exposed beams.
"They're all older buildings, prices were reasonable. Real estate's a solid investment right now."
Winona wrapped herself in a blanket, padded to the kitchen counter, and took a sip of water.
"You know," she said, "the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in L.A. is announcing the Oscar nominations tonight. You really don't care at all?"
Aaron lit a cigarette, took a slow drag, and smirked.
"The Silence of the Lambs and Ghost are both guaranteed plenty of nominations.
Winning? That's up to God — not me."
At this stage, Oscar voting was still heavily subjective.
Harvey Weinstein's infamous nuclear-grade campaigning hadn't begun dominating the town yet.
Winona studied his expression.
"I'm flying back to London tomorrow. When are you coming?"
"In two, maybe three days. The teams from Silence of the Lambs and Ghost are heading to London for the BAFTAs — I'll go with them."
He would join the Bram Stoker's Dracula set afterward.
Post-production discussions, marketing plans — all required his presence.
"So you're attending the BAFTAs too?" Winona smiled.
"Edward Scissorhands got a few technical nominations. I'll be there. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp won't go… so it's just me."
She wasn't thrilled, but she had no choice — she was already in the UK for filming.
Aaron shrugged.
"The main thing is Silence of the Lambs — it's up for a lot.
Honestly, I barely care about the Oscars. Let alone the BAFTAs."
He leaned back, smoke curling toward the ceiling.
The awards would come if they were meant to.
His mind was already on the next slate of films.
Neither the leads nor the director of Ghost planned to attend the BAFTAs in London — after all, the film only had a nomination for Best Supporting Actress, with the rest being technical categories.
But Aaron had another reason for heading to the UK:
he intended to establish Dawnlight UK, a branch office that would serve as his foothold into the European market.
--
When the 64th Academy Awards nominations were announced, JFK, The Silence of the Lambs, Bugsy, Ghost, and even Disney's animated hit Beauty and the Beast all landed Best Picture nominations.
Beauty and the Beast made history as the first animated film ever nominated for Best Picture — after already winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Musical/Comedy).
Dawnlight's Boyz n the Hood scored a Best Director nomination, making John Singleton the first African American director ever nominated for an Oscar.
But the nominations weren't the biggest earthquake in Hollywood that week.
20th Century Fox's chairman, Barry Diller, officially resigned and walked away from News Corp with a staggering $120 million severance package.
Meanwhile, at Time Warner —
COO Gerald Levin staged a political ambush.
While co-CEO N.J. Nicholas was vacationing, Levin convened a surprise board meeting…
and forced Nicholas out of the company.
---
Back in Dawnlight's West Village office, Aaron stared at the newspaper in disbelief.
Gerald Levin and N.J. Nicholas were both protégés of the same Time Inc. lineage — yet Levin had openly stabbed Nicholas in the back.
Time Warner's true power still rested with CEO Steve Ross, but Ross had been battling prostate cancer since last year.
Both Levin and Nicholas expected Ross would not hold on much longer. When that happened, Nicholas was supposed to inherit the throne.
But Levin had struck first.
Now he was aligning himself with Ross to seize total control — which meant the moment Ross passed, another brutal boardroom purge was inevitable.
Aaron sighed.
"So this is the root of Time Warner's future chaos…"
---
That afternoon, Dawnlight producer Don Steele entered Aaron's office with updates.
"Jan de Bont's plan is solid. Speed can begin shooting this summer.
Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly for the leads."
Aaron nodded. He had already confirmed Keanu; Jennifer was a given.
She could easily take a short leave from Stanford when the time came to shoot Reality Bites.
"And," Don continued, "with several months to prep, the timeline is comfortable."
"Good."
Aaron flipped through another folder.
"Send the Mask of Zorro outline to Ridley Scott.
This kind of historical action epic fits him perfectly."
Ridley was Aaron's first choice — provided 1492: Conquest of Paradise wrapped up smoothly.
Don reminded him,
"Ridley's deep into post-production on 1492. Thelma & Louise got him an Oscar nomination too — the industry's watching him closely."
"I know. We'll finalize the script first. Once 1492 is out, I'll talk to him directly."
The Mask of Zorro, in Aaron's mind, needed to be a tense, stylish, high-budget western action piece.
But Speed remained the current priority.
"Also," Don added carefully, "shouldn't we develop more romantic comedies?
They're cheap, fast to shoot, and low-risk."
She wasn't wrong.
Big action films like Speed and Zorro were expensive and demanding — a real test for a young studio.
Aaron laughed.
"Don't worry. We'll do rom-coms too.
In fact, I'm planning to create a genre label — dedicated to horror, thrillers, blood-and-gore B-movies.
A division that specializes entirely in darker, edgier content."
A grin tugged at his lips.
"Dawnlight is going to dominate every lane."