The founding of Jenkins Pictures was as quiet as a whisper, without any buzz. Except for a few insiders, not many people knew that Hollywood had gained yet another celebrity shell film company. After its establishment, Ryan didn't even bother to take a look. The entire company had only eight staff members, including two part-timers: Scott Swift and Pat Kingsley.
Just as Ryan had said, the company had very little business. It neither financed external scripts nor bought film distribution rights. Its only responsibility was to co-invest and assign financial supervisors accordingly.
The negotiations with Warner Bros. went relatively smoothly. Hollywood was already shifting toward big investments and high-budget productions. Joint investment and profit-sharing cooperation would inevitably become the mainstream in the future. And since audience preferences were the most unpredictable factor, being able to bring Ryan Jenkins' team into the investment could help reduce risk—so why not?
Besides, the amount of investment they requested only accounted for one-fourth, which didn't cross Warner's bottom line.
Negotiations with Hollywood Records moved even faster. After Ryan once again entered the sound studio and hummed a few songs, the record company showed unprecedented efficiency. They quickly finalized the contract and promised to record and release the single as soon as possible.
"Ryan, I think the overall tone and vocal style should be more playful. Try to reduce the sarcastic feel. The meaning conveyed through the lyrics alone is enough." In the studio, John Burns personally took on the role of producer for the song He, offering his suggestions based on Ryan's vocal delivery.
Ryan understood well the idea that going too far could backfire. After thinking it over, he agreed with Burns. He should be a bystander, not a mocker. The lyrics were already enough for the American public to understand the message. There was no need to layer his personal feelings into the vocal performance.
"Alright, let's try again." Ryan put on the headphones once more.
Burns let out a soft breath of relief. The boy's performance could only be described as stunning. After overcoming his initial discomfort with the recording studio, he quickly found his rhythm. Any small issues in his singing were easily addressed with just a bit of guidance, and he even learned by analogy. In Burns' opinion, Ryan's talent and potential in music far exceeded his skills in writing.
He almost wanted to tell him, "Give up writing and acting—your future lies in pop music."
"The accompaniment also needs some tweaking." After listening to a few recorded segments, Ryan frowned.
"Agreed." Burns nodded in approval.
Ryan returned to the other side of the lounge, where George immediately handed him a glass of water. After he finished it in one gulp, George asked, "Need another?"
"No." Ryan waved his hand and said, "George, get me the training plan customized by the record company, thanks."
After signing the contract, Hollywood Records not only assigned a professional coach to guide him, but also developed a detailed training program tailored to his voice-change period. After reviewing it, Ryan felt much more at ease.
After glancing through a few sections, Ryan was reminded of something else. Aaron Sorkin had eventually sold his script to Ryan's shell company. Ryan had skimmed through it—the general plot remained largely unchanged. As for the minor differences, he didn't intend to interfere and directly handed the script to Miramax. He explicitly stated that, barring accidents, this script was bound to be a hit.
Although Harvey Weinstein was somewhat displeased that it wasn't an original project of his own, he accepted the proposal for co-production. As for the leading roles, naturally, they would no longer be played by Tom Cruise and Demi Moore. Ryan recommended Brad Pitt and Nicole Kidman instead.
At this point, Pitt was only a third-tier actor. While he was as handsome as any heartthrob, he lacked box-office appeal. However, Nicole Kidman could make up for that to some extent. Moreover, hiring the two of them would significantly cut costs—their lower salaries could slash the film's overall investment by half.
This kind of film, which embodied the American spirit and mainstream values, would have no problem breaking even—so long as the director and production team didn't lose their minds.
Besides, that fat man Harvey Weinstein had always had a sharp sense of the market—ranking among the top in Hollywood.
The single took two full days to record after several rounds of adjustments. Especially on the second day, Ryan's condition improved steadily, prompting Burns to scrap all clips from the previous day and re-record everything.
If not for Ryan's increasingly noticeable voice change—which made prolonged, high-intensity work unsuitable—Burns would've wanted him to keep recording.
Listening to the playback through his headphones, Ryan gently swayed to the music. His voice was incredibly clean, with a slight rasp and a hint of youthfulness—perfect for expressing the song's light and playful tone. To his ears, the song now differed by at least a third from its original version.
That's right—the melody for He was borrowed from She by Groove Coverage!
Only, the original's cheerful and carefree lyrics had been twisted into a strange mix of sarcasm and satire.
After wrapping up this brief recording session, Ryan had no chance to relax. Between attending school and dealing with the paparazzi, he began his daily after-school routine of commuting to North Hollywood.
Luckily, he now had a strong bodyguard and driver, which helped shield him from many troubles—like the Jenkins couple who had shown up to harass him. Furthermore, after another $100,000 sponsorship from Nicole, the school allowed his car to drive directly onto campus grounds to ensure he could get to and from school safely.
Ryan also had his first major expense—his personal vehicle. Nicole had initially wanted to cover the cost, but he firmly refused. His future expenses would only grow; was he really going to let Nicole Kidman keep paying for everything until he turned sixteen?
His original plan was to buy a Bentley or a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. After all, he'd heard about these luxury cars so much in his past life but had never ridden in one. But before Nicole's eyes could turn cold, he quickly abandoned that idea and ended up buying the latest Audi 90.
George steadily parked the car in front of T2 Studios. Post-production on Terminator 2 had entered its final stages. James Cameron was constantly shuttling between ILM and T2 Studios, and the main actors had been called back to dub the edited scenes.
Though only partial segments, the massive budget exceeding $100 million brought tremendous pressure. Cameron's attention to detail was even more intense than during shooting.
"Ryan, what are you zoning out for? We don't have time for you to waste!" Seeing Ryan a bit lost in thought, Cameron roared so loudly that even Arnold Schwarzenegger quickly backed off, lest he be caught in the crossfire.
In the cramped dubbing studio, only Cameron's roar remained. Ryan pinched his nose, took off his headphones, stood up from the chair, and said calmly, "Hold on, Jim. Don't you think the T-800's shotgun sound is way too weak?"
"Weak?" Cameron seemed even more irritated and bellowed again, "Ryan Jenkins, you're just the lead actor. Whether the shotgun sound is weak or not is up to me—the director—to decide!"
Ryan's mouth twitched slightly. He realized Cameron was in one of his moods and figured it was best not to argue. In the test footage just now, the T-800's shotgun sound had differed greatly from what he remembered from his past life, stirring up a wave of nostalgia.
James Cameron suddenly paused. Having known Ryan for some time, he knew that Ryan often came up with bizarre ideas. And past experience had shown that those ideas often produced surprising results.
"Alright, Ryan. What crazy idea did you come up with this time? Just say it."
"For the shotgun dubbing—you used the sound of a regular shotgun, right?" Ryan asked.
"Yes." Cameron thought for a moment. "The gunshot sound was indeed a bit muffled and deep."
"So why not use something more impactful? Only an earth-shattering sound would match the T-800's intimidating presence." Ryan's eyes lit up. "Like… the sound of a grenade launcher or a cannon."
Cameron immediately imagined the scene in his head: the T-800 pulling the trigger, flames bursting from the shotgun, blowing the T-1000 away—accompanied by a cannon-like explosion echoing through the theater, making the audience's hearts pound.
After more than ten seconds of silence, Cameron slowly nodded and shouted, "Dubbing is done for today! Get me the heads of editing, sound design—no, all departments! Now! I'm revising the sample footage!"
Ryan and Schwarzenegger looked at each other in amazement. As expected, this guy's style was fast and furious. The tyrant director gave them no face whatsoever.
"You two can leave. Go on—especially you, Ryan. Get out of here before you mess things up again!"
What a classic case of burning the bridge after crossing it. Ryan sighed inwardly and said to Schwarzenegger, "Arnie, let's go."
As they walked toward the door, they saw the entire studio in chaos—utter bedlam. They could only shake their heads and chuckle.
James Cameron's pursuit of filmmaking could be summed up in one word: perfection. Even though he knew that a perfect movie didn't exist, it never stopped him from striving for it.
Especially when Ryan looked at his disheveled, scruffy appearance—he could only lament that directing was not a job for the average person.
Most films' post-production periods tend to exceed the shooting schedule. With the rise of CG technology, post-production would occupy more and more time. A director who could finish one solid commercial film a year was already moving at lightning speed.
Of course, you could produce two or even three movies a year—but the result would be rushed and sloppy. The market and investors would abandon you in no time.
If they hadn't outsourced most of the post-production effects to ILM, it would have been a big question whether Terminator 2 could even meet its original release date.