Simon heard Marvin Josephson's question but had no intention of explaining; he no longer felt obliged to justify his motives. "Marvin, I'm not wasting time on this. You and Julia can think it over and give me an answer tomorrow morning. Anything else?"
Courteney Cox waited nervously in the lounge for less than ten minutes before Simon's office door opened again. After seeing off Marvin Josephson and Julia Roberts, Simon waved Courteney inside.
Back at his desk, Simon opened the budget file for 'Scream'. Once Courteney sat opposite him, he said, "Courteney, I've seen your audition tape. You're a good fit for scream's lead, but the film won't help your career, it'll brand you a teen star and make transitioning later tough."
Courteney took this as a rejection; her eyes dimmed and she bit her lip. "Simon, you're still angry I turned you down back then, aren't you?"
Simon blinked, met her gaze, and shook his head. "Courteney, I've been through too much for a refusal to bother me. I'm just talking business".
"Then can I have the lead in scream?" Courteney Cox stared at him. "I don't care about labels, Simon. My career's never been as smooth as Sandra Bullock's".
"All right, Courteney, if you insist. But scream is a trilogy, you'll need a three-picture deal".
Courteney Cox answered instantly, "No problem".
Simon set down the pencil he'd just lifted and stood. "In that case, you can head out. I'll have someone contact Jonathan".
Courteney hadn't expected it to be so easy, yet she felt no joy. Seeing Simon extend his hand across the desk, she hesitated, then walked around the desk and hugged him.
Simon felt her press against him and patted her waist. "Courteney, you should go".
Courteney tightened her arms. "Simon, I…I could come over tonight".
Simon chuckled softly. "You know that's impossible. I don't want to wake up on gossip pages tomorrow".
"Then," Courteney glanced around and lowered her voice, "here's fine".
Simon, recalling Julia Roberts' near-identical hint minutes earlier, caught Courteney's hand at his belt and pushed her back. "Courteney, you need to leave".
Before she could answer, someone knocked. Reluctantly, Courteney rounded the desk, pulled a card from her bag and pressed it into his hand. "Call me anytime".
Simon knew only Amy or Jennifer would enter without Susan announcing them. Taking the card, he called, "Come in." Jennifer stepped inside, folder in arms, surprised to see Courteney but nodded politely. "Boss, I can come back".
"No need, Courteney was just leaving".
Seeing how things stood, Courteney Cox took her leave.
Simon watched her go, then sat and looked at his assistant. "What is it?"
"Dad finalized the purchase of that Toronto VFX company and just sent the documents," Jennifer said, handing over the folder. After a pause she added, "Susan wasn't outside. I thought you were alone after your guest left".
Simon caught her sneaking peeks at him and grinned. "So you ruined my fun. How will you make it up to me?"
"No way".
Simon opened the file. "Then stop looking guilty".
Jennifer sensed something off, women notice these things. The moment she'd entered, she'd felt the tension between Simon and Courteney.
But…
She had no reason to feel guilty; the guilty one was the scoundrel in front of her. "You're the one misbehaving. I—I'll tell Jenny".
Simon, as if he hadn't heard, frowned at the file. "This can't be right. Why this company?"
Jennifer leaned over, glancing at the page. "Alias Research. That's the one. How could it be wrong?"
As she bent closer, Simon hooked a finger under her chin and kissed her without ceremony.
Jennifer's eyes flew open. When Simon settled back, she stepped away, cheeks crimson. "I—I'll tell Jenny".
Still ignoring the empty threat, Simon smiled. "Jenny, help me figure out how to sneak you home tonight without anyone noticing. There'll be a reward".
Jennifer's face flamed. "I'm not going home with you".
"Then I'll come to your place?"
"Uncle will throw you out".
"Suddenly I feel so pitiful".
"You womanizer".
After the banter, Simon focused on the documents.
Alias Research, founded 1983 in Toronto, Canada, had developed the Alias post-production VFX software for live-action films.
No longer pinning every hope on acquiring Pixar, Simon, through Silicon Graphics' contacts, had targeted two firms. Negotiations for the other, Wavefront Technologies, were also complete.
Both firms ran on SGI workstations; Alias served live-action while Wavefront leaned toward 3-D animation. Their tools looked crude to Simon, but not much rougher than Pixar's current tech.
Moreover, the reason Simon had singled out these two firms from the stack Silicon Graphics had given him was that he distinctly recalled their software, especially Alias from Alias Research, had powered the effects for one nineties blockbuster after another: terminator 2, Jurassic Park, independence day and more.
Late in the decade both companies were swallowed in successive acquisitions; their tool-sets were merged and refined until they finally became the package that would dominate 3-D animation, CG effects and videogames: Maya.
With the firms now in hand, Simon's next move was to accelerate Maya's evolution well ahead of schedule.
In truth, although the hardware of the day looked primitive beside what would follow, it was already capable of delivering most of the CG spectacle seen in those tent-poles(A big budget, major blockbuster).
The real reason visual effects only took off in the nineties was money: the tools and the houses that built them matured one project at a time. Simon, however, was not short of cash, and Daenerys Pictures could supply enough productions to push the entire sector forward.
For him, therefore, neither budget nor pipeline was a problem.
The West Coast was still at its desks while the East Coast was already slipping into dusk.
Today was Friday, 11 March, the day 'When Harry Met Sally' began its platform run.
After a day spent overseeing the renovation of her house, Janette rang Kathryn in the late afternoon; the two had arranged to catch the film that night. 'Blue Steel' was also in prep, to shoot in New York, so Kathryn happened to be in Manhattan.
At seven the women shared dinner in a restaurant, then headed for the booked-out preview screening of when harry met sally.
They reached the cinema five minutes before show-time.
Most of the audience were press; Janette and Kathryn stepped into a 200-seat auditorium that was already almost full and had to settle for two aisle seats.
"Simon's always loved this script, he even worked on the score himself", Janette said, balancing a tub of popcorn and glancing round. "Pity I didn't see a rough cut while I was in L.A. Looks like a solid house".
Kathryn watched the trailers unreeling on-screen. "Previews always pack them in, wait till it goes wide".
They chatted idly; the feature crept up on them unnoticed.
The first thing on screen was an elderly couple being interviewed. The entire house froze; some patrons actually checked their tickets or wondered whether the projectionist had mis-threaded the platter.
Even Janette and Kathryn exchanged a blank stare.
Yet the trailers had just run the Disney and Daenerys logos, no chance of a mix-up.
After that off-beat prologue the leads strode into frame.
On the University of Chicago campus, fresh graduate Harry was bidding a tearful farewell to his girlfriend when Sally pulled up in a car; they agreed to share the drive to New York. In seconds, backed by vintage jazz, the pair's temperaments were etched in bold strokes.
The road-trip to New York was their first meeting, and it was prickly: Harry the pessimist, Sally the wide-eyed optimist who could look adorably lost.
The second encounter was another journey.
Harry barely remembered Sally; both their lives had moved on, Harry about to marry, Sally in a hot-and-heavy romance, so the brief overlap left no mark.
Another elderly-couple interview later, five more years had slipped by.
Harry was divorced, his wife had already cheated; Sally had split with a boyfriend who refused to wed, their love worn threadbare.
This time the two battle-scarred souls decided to try friendship, strictly platonic.
The friendship flourished; to keep romance at bay they set each other up with their best friends.
Instead, the two best friends ignited over dinner and, in a display of shameless treachery, left the restaurant together, abandoning Harry and Sally on the curb, one biting her lip, the other bewildered.
Jess and Marie, the traitorous pair, hurtled toward engagement.
Along the way life sideswiped Harry and Sally: while hunting for a wedding gift Harry ran into his ex-wife and her new husband and erupted; Sally learned her former flame hadn't been anti-marriage, just anti-marriage-to-her.
Reeling, they landed in bed together.
Their pact of purity shattered before either was ready, and an awkward rift opened.
When they met again both insisted the sex had been a mistake; they wanted the old friendship back.
But of course that was impossible.
After a rocky patch, on New Year's Eve Harry finally recognised his feelings, tracked down a despondent Sally leaving a party, and declared them.
Twelve years after they met, the two edged into middle age, and into each other's arms.
Two hours of deceptively low-key storytelling had slipped by.
When the credits rolled the audience seemed to wake from a collective dream.
Though every lead was vividly drawn, the interpolated interviews made many viewers feel they were watching their own lives.
In the vast, silent river of time we assume The One is still out there; more often than not he, or she, is already beside us, though rarely cast in fairy-tale perfection.
Janette's popcorn remained almost untouched; only when the lights came up did she slip an arm around the equally reflective Kathryn and murmur, "Kate, I suddenly miss the Little Bastard".