“I’m not sure that’s proof.” Keith still had a strong feeling something wasn’t right. “She knows we’re on her Facebook.”
“True.” Lisa looked more worried than before. “Maybe we should fly out and talk to her?”
Keith thought about that. “I’m not sure if she’d open up to both of us. Maybe you and she can take a day together before the film festival, take the car and go to the beach. You know, create an environment for conversation.”
Lisa nodded. “I like that. We have to make time to talk.” She thought for a few seconds. “I’m really not that worried. Andi knows the truth as well as anyone on that campus.”
“That’s what I keep telling myself.” Keith pushed back his fears and concerns. Andi was a good girl. She knew the Bible, and right from wrong. Whoever this guy was, it couldn’t be too serious. Andi was way too smart and levelheaded to fall that fast for a boy who didn’t share her beliefs. At least that’s what Keith had convinced himself. He let the subject pass. “I told you about NTM, right? We still haven’t got anything in writing with them.”
“Doesn’t that worry Luke?”
“He’s suspicious, same as me. But for now we’re pressing ahead with The Last Letter. The studio agreed to a four-hundred-screen theatrical release, but they’re willing to triple that if the movie does well at the festival.”
“That’s a miracle, really.” She set her mug down on the counter and folded her arms. “Has Chase got a commitment from Kelly yet about the festival?”
“Last time I talked to him, she was planning to stay home. Same as before.” The past month had been rocky for their friends, but Chase was committed to talking with Kelly, getting her to open up about her feelings. “She’s seeing a doctor next week, a therapist. In case she’s dealing with depression.”
Lisa made a frustrated sound. “She doesn’t need a doctor to tell her she’s depressed. That’s been obvious since Christmas.” She threw her hands into the air, then dropped them. “Her husband’s gone half the time, their finances are shaky, and Molly’s still struggling to recover from her broken arm. That’s enough to make the happiest person on earth depressed.”
“She needs more time with God.”
“Definitely.” Lisa sounded defensive for her friend. “That’s true with most of us, and especially for people battling depression. But she might need some kind of bridge between where she’s at and where she needs to be with God.”
“Bridge?”
“Right. Like an antidepressant.” Lisa softened her tone. “Depression is truly a chemical imbalance in the brain. Sometimes medicine is the only way to set life right again.”
Keith didn’t want to argue about the issue. “Kelly needs help, we can agree on that.”
They were quiet for a long moment, drinking their coffee, lost in their own thoughts. “A reviewer from Variety screened The Last Letter this past week. Loved it, absolutely raved about it. The story will run in a few weeks.”
“Really?” Lisa’s face lit up. “I’m so proud of you, Keith. I love you so much. Have I told you that lately?”
He slid back down to the floor, set his mug in the sink, and crossed to her. “All the time.” He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close. “That’s why I’m the most blessed man ever.”
“I don’t know about that. But I’m proud of you because you deserve it. You and Chase have worked hard, and now it’s all about to pay off.” She kissed him, clearly enjoying their closeness. “Tell me about the review.”
“They compared the screenplay to something from Arthur Miller.” He raised a brow and couldn’t resist a single amazed chuckle. “Not only that, but they likened Jake Olson to a young Marlon Brando.”
Lisa stared at him. Then she brought her hand to her mouth, a joyous laugh escaping through her fingers. “Are you serious? Variety hates everyone.”
“Not us.” Keith caught her face in his hands and kissed her — a kiss of joy and celebration despite the concerns they shared about Andi or Chase and Kelly. They were making movies for God, and if they were going to change the world with the power of film, they first needed to convince the gatekeepers.
The Variety review was proof the Lord had gone before them.
That would hopefully remain true in the week ahead. He and Chase were flying out first thing in the morning. They wouldn’t need their car for this next round of meetings. Ben Adams had arranged for a driver to take them around in his Bentley. “At this level, it’s better to make an impression,” Ben had told them. In addition, they were staying at his place. Their car would only be in the way.
“I’m going to check our airline reservations. Make sure everything’s in place.”
“It is.” Lisa’s words held a deeper meaning. “It’s more in place than either of us could begin to understand.”
Keith was still smiling when he rounded the corner to the computer. He sat down, moved the mouse, and waited for the screen to come to life. It took just seconds to find their reservation and make sure there’d been no changes or scheduled delays. Weather was great. Keith didn’t expect any trouble. He was about to sign off when he realized he hadn’t checked the news — not in several days. It was always good to be aware of the issues as they headed into studio meetings.
He typed “ Foxnews.com” in the search line and hit the enter button. The connection was quick, and almost instantly a list of stories appeared on his screen. One held the name of Brandon Paul.
“What?” he whispered to himself. Panic grabbed hold of his throat and tightened its grip. He desperately scanned the words, trying to make sense of them.
“Brandon Paul Agrees to NTM Movie Deal,” the headline read.
Keith wanted to believe it was their movie the story was referring to, but it couldn’t be. Luke would’ve told them if the studio had reached an agreement, if they were ready to make an announcement like this. He clicked the headline and the story came to life. Keith could barely focus as he read.
Executives at NTM Studios announced today that Brandon Paul will star in an NTM original movie about a mentally challenged boy whose love for music gives him wings. The story comes from an NTM original screenplay, and is expected to be filmed later this year. “We are committed to maintaining and building our relationship with Brandon,” said Ace L. Rustin, NTM VP of Development. “We’re in the process of negotiating a new five-year deal and doing everything we can to keep him in the NTM family.”
That was it, just a news brief. For anyone else checking the headlines at this hour, the story would be nothing more than a bleep on the screen of Hollywood life. Brandon Paul in another movie. Ho-hum. But for Keith and Chase — for them it meant that everything they’d worked on for the past six months was finished. Gone for good.
A fine layer of perspiration broke out across Keith’s brow and he hung his head, trying to catch his breath.
So that was it? Brandon had signed a deal to make a movie almost exactly like Unlocked, without telling them or their attorney or Stephanie? This was Luke Baxter’s worst nightmare coming true.
Keith gripped his knees. Were there no ethics in Hollywood whatsoever? He fought the desire to shout at the screen, to demand that Fox News pull the story because it couldn’t be true. Brandon had promised them this movie.
But there it was in black and white. He lifted his eyes and let himself read the details one more time.
God, what’s happening? What does this mean? We were so close to making a name for us and for You.
He wanted to run outside and raise his voice to the heavens, begging God for some kind of understanding. Despite their lawyer’s fears, Keith had told himself this couldn’t happen. Not with God on their side. But here they were.
He checked the time on the computer and saw it was after eight o’clock. Still early enough to call someone, but who? Should his first contact be with Chase or Luke? He was reaching for the phone, still figuring out what to do and who to call, when the phone rang.
He answer
ed it on the first ring. “Hello?”
“Keith.” The voice on the other end was serious. Dire, even. “Ben Adams here.”
“Ben.” Keith stood and paced from the computer to the far wall of windows that overlooked the backyard. Had Ben seen the news already? He decided to play ignorant, at least at first. “Our flight’s set for tomorrow. The meetings are all still in order.”
“I’m not calling about that.” Ben exhaled, and the sound rattled across the phone lines. “Have you seen the news?”
“Actually, I was just checking it. The NTM story was a complete shock.”
“For us too. I’ve got a call in to Luke Baxter. But the timing couldn’t be worse.”
Keith waited, his heart racing.
“I met with my financial team today, and my accounts aren’t what they used to be.” His voice sounded tired, deeply discouraged. “The whole market thing isn’t of interest to me, not on a day-to-day basis. I’ve tried to look the other way. But the market crash has cost me half my net worth.”
Half? Keith felt the floor beneath him shift. He gripped the windowsill and closed his eyes. Ben Adams was supposed to be worth a billion dollars. That meant the change in the market had cost him, what? Five hundred million? Keith couldn’t begin to understand what losing that kind of money might mean to a guy like Ben. “I’m … I’m sorry.”
“We all are. The fact is I planned to sell a portion of my stock portfolio to finance Unlocked. Now I can’t do that. No one would sell in this market.” He drew a steady breath. “For that reason, my advisor is warning me not to invest in the film — and I guess that’s especially true now, since it looks like you’ve lost your star and your studio.”
Keith blinked his eyes open and stared at the still-darkening sky. Was this really happening? Was he really having this conversation with the man who had seemed so financially stable? “I guess I need to talk to Luke. The NTM announcement doesn’t make sense.”
“Either way, I have to pull out. Try to understand.” Ben seemed to gather himself somewhat. “I told my advisor I still wanted to provide half the P&A budget for The Last Letter. He wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed.” There was a considerable silence. “These are the times that make a man, Keith. Especially a man of God. You’ll be all right, and so will I. The markets will bounce back; I’ve seen it all before. But we must cling to the Lord, otherwise we’ll lose more than our financial security. We’ll lose hope. And we can’t lose that.”
They talked for a few more minutes, though later Keith wouldn’t remember a word of it — nothing but the part about God and His direction. When they hung up, Keith returned to the computer and dropped, entranced, to the chair. They’d lost the Brandon Paul movie. They’d done everything they could. They had the actor and the author, the funding and the best lawyer in town. But they’d still lost it.
He needed to talk to Luke and Chase and Stephanie Fitzgerald. He needed to know whether Brandon was behind this. And if so, why he’d turned his back on them. But more than that, he needed to talk to the Lord.
With his face buried in his hands, he cried out to God about what had gone wrong and asked the Lord for wisdom and direction. With no hint of an answer, he asked anyway. He begged for peace and clarity, and most of all he asked God how it was even possible that they could lose everything they’d worked for — the promise the future held and the ability to influence a generation.
All in five crazy minutes.
Twenty-Four
THE GIRLS WERE BOTH IN BED when the phone rang at Chase’s house. He was packing again, something he always seemed to be doing, but before he could answer it Kelly must’ve picked it up in the kitchen. The call was probably for her anyway. Laurie Weeks had been in touch a lot lately, making plans for a women’s conference coming to town in a few days.
But after a minute or so, he heard her footsteps. Not until the last few months had he understood how discouraged a person’s footsteps could sound. He could’ve picked out Kelly’s in a room full of people.
“Chase.” Her voice held a flicker of concern. “It’s Keith. He doesn’t sound right.”
Chase frowned. Life in Hollywood and their roles as producers couldn’t have been any better. He couldn’t imagine why Keith would call — unless a problem had come up with their flights. He took the phone and turned toward the bedroom window. “Hey, what’s up?”
A long pause filled the phone line before Keith finally spoke. “It’s over, buddy.”
Chase’s heart hesitated, and then slammed into double time. “What do you mean, it’s over?”
“It’s over. We lost the Brandon Paul movie.”
Chase sucked in a quick breath, overcome by disbelief. “That’s crazy. Nothing’s changed. If NTM doesn’t want it we’ll take it somewhere else. That’s what the meetings are for this week.”
“Get to your computer. Fox News will help you understand.” Keith sounded weary, defeated. There wasn’t even the hint of possibility in his voice.
Kelly still watched from the doorway. Now as he passed her, she whispered to him. “What is it? What happened?”
He held up his hand and gave her a look that implored her to be patient. With the receiver covered, he mouthed in her direction, “I’ll tell you in a minute.”
She hesitated, but then she returned to the kitchen, her body language proof she wasn’t happy about being put off. Chase had no choice.
He went to the den, pulled out his laptop, and powered it up. He was on the Internet in seconds, tapping out the address to Fox News. All the while, Keith remained silent. Completely silent — as if there was nothing he could say that wouldn’t be absolutely clear once the news page loaded.
Chase saw the headline about NTM and immediately called up the story. It took less than a minute for him to understand what had happened. “This is crazy! They can’t steal our story!” Fury ripped through him and he clenched his fist. “Are you kidding, Keith? Nothing’s over. Stephanie’s agent won’t stand for this, and neither will Luke. This is a bunch of garbage.”
“I talked to Ben Adams. He says NTM can do pretty much what they want. They have teams of lawyers to cover their tracks.” If Keith had been angry earlier, he wasn’t now. “There’s more.”
A sick feeling grabbed hold of Chase. Had everyone lost their minds? Of course NTM couldn’t do this. They’d sat down at six different meetings with Ace Rustin and his cronies. The proposal, the storyline, everything about the movie was already in place. They couldn’t just recreate the plotline and go their own way now. He directed himself to focus, to listen to whatever else Keith had to tell him. “Go ahead.”
“Ben talked to his accountants today, and his people have convinced him not to sell stocks in order to finance a movie. Not until the market improves.”
The air seemed to leave the room. “That’s not possible.” Chase was on his feet again, his head hanging, knees trembling. He tried to grasp at the first question to surface. “He’s still with us, right? He still wants to invest in our movies?”
“He can cover half the P&A, but that’s it. Even if by some miracle we wind up with the Brandon Paul movie, he can’t help us out.”
The reality was immediately clear. Without investor money, what did Chase and Keith really bring to the table? Producers had to have money to work with, otherwise they weren’t producers. Chase began to shake, shivering as if overtaken with a high fever. “So that’s it; we have no movie.”
“It doesn’t look that way.” Keith hadn’t sounded this down in a long time, maybe ever. “We have The Last Letter, of course. But even if it does well, we won’t have profits to reinvest for at least a year or eighteen months. By then Unlocked will be a thing of the past. One more movie that’s already been done.”
They talked for a few minutes, and Keith explained that they would still fly to LA in the morning, still take meetings around town. They still had rights to the novel, so if not NTM, other studios would still be interested. Even without Brandon Paul.
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br /> “What if the studios cancel? I mean, we no longer have the star.”
“We have the book.” Keith’s tone showed some sense of rebounding. “Either way we need to meet with Luke and Kendall, then Stephanie and Brandon. We need to find out how this crazy announcement happened, and move on.”
“That’s it? We find out what’s behind it and give up?”
“Of course not.” Keith’s intensity was back. “We’re missionaries first, remember that?”
Chase felt the chastisement straight to the depths of his soul. It was the first time since the phone rang that he’d even thought about God. He sank into the living room sofa chair and stared at the ground. “I remember.”
“Okay, so we pray. We remind ourselves that no ground is ever gained for Christ without great effort. It’s a battle, not a land grab. The world owns the movie industry, so what makes us think anything about this job will be easy?”
Slowly Chase began to nod. “You’re right.” He wanted to cry out to Jesus, apologize for having such a human response instead of immediately turning to his faith. “You’ve already prayed about this, I take it?”
“For the past half hour. But I want to pray together. Back in the jungles of Indonesia, we prayed as often as we breathed. We would rather miss a meal than a chance to pray together for the people we were preaching to.”
Chase could picture that old life, and suddenly he longed for it, for the simplicity of knowing that his job was clearly spelled out: tell people about Jesus, one after another, as long as he drew breath. This world, the world of Hollywood, was much more complicated. Especially in moments like this. In the back of his mind he wondered what he would tell Kelly. An anxious sigh filtered between his teeth. “You start.”
Keith took a quick breath and began. “Lord, we are Your witnesses here on earth, Your missionaries. We left Indonesia to take the message of hope and faith to the world of Hollywood. We’ve felt Your presence every step of this journey, back when our actress was threatening to run and our food truck burned down, back when we were out of money and not sure how we would finish one film, let alone more. But we stood firm, believing in You then, and we stand firm, believing now. You know all things, and You know why NTM would make such an announcement, and how things with Brandon Paul fell apart. We ask You now for clarity and vision, for wisdom and direction. Without You, we don’t know where to turn.”