Chapter 167 - Liboo's Pen

*Whooshhh* "Fellas. Out of all the places we can run into each other… Why in the middle of nowhere?" Tayaw chuckles as the warm December desert blows by them carrying dust and sand.

Gary and his group also start giggling at the oddity of the situation. 

"Nice to see you again, kid. Looks like you're free?" Gary asks.

"Yeah. Nice to see you too, but let's get out of here. I need a shower. The sand got in my clothes. Let's meet again in an hour or so?" Tayaw says, pointing at his dusty, sandy, self.

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

Tayaw is now back in Vegas, and is busy inside his hotel room with his luggage.

He just changed into his street clothes after taking a cold shower, now feeling fresh after washing off his grime and dust. As he folds his camouflage jumpsuit to put it away, he feels an object in the jumpsuit's pocket.

Tayaw's heart jumps for a moment as he panickily takes out what is apparently a case, immediately and opens it, only to find out that it is empty. Tayaw then accesses his -white void- immediately and sees a fountain pen laying pretty in the display case that the void itself provided. (For better visualization. Think of the display cases in Skyrim. Only, pure white in color) 

"Oooh.. Thank goodness." Tayaw sighs in relief. Because he has become busy recently, he would misplace things all the time. 

The fountain pen in the white void, the one he received as a birthday present from Liboo last September, is an artifact that the white void recognized as valuable enough. With some View Points in exchange, Tayaw can use the fountain pen and take as much time as he wants in storyboarding and screenwriting just like how he used Earl Thompson's guitar in practicing his guitar skills. 

The pen was a valued possession by the Teungebian author, screenwriter, and cartoonist Dolan Nun-go. Dolan, born 1898, died 1974, was recognized by Teungebians as the fairly-known author of the romance novel 'A Lover's Conquest' and martial arts novel series 'The White Belt', and more novels.

His books were also adapted and made homage to by many Teungebian film makers. 'The White Belt' novel series for example, is one Dolan's works that expanded Teungeb's film scene to be recognized by international audiences. His novels' film adaptations are what made companies like Black Deer Pictures and many Teungebian film makers to start an artistic overturn in the 80s that established Teungeb's own flavor in cinema. 

Tayaw found Dolan's situation unfortunate however. Through the pen, he confirmed the rumors of Dolan having had drafts and completed screenplays that never saw the light of day, by feeling a few slivers of sentiments left by Dolan.

Dolan in his lifetime, witnessed four wars; the first world war when his father has been one of the soldiers to protect the western coasts of Teungeb, the second world war when he himself was enlisted to protect the western coasts too, the Korean war he commentated on many times during his short time as a newspaper cartoonist, and the Vietnam war that he did not live to see its end.

The screenplays Dolan wrote are all about the wars and when he tried selling his screenplays to the few Teungebian film companies at the time, and the many American ones, all of them refused to buy his scripts as they assumed that his stories are potentially offensive to people. After all, the people at the time were hungry to move forward with peace instead of re-living their suffering no matter how recent or how distant in the past the wars have been. 

Tayaw also finds it unfortunate that even though he now knows that Dolan has written many scripts, he is uncertain if he will ever see them. 

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

A coffee shop – Las Vegas 3:30 PM

"Directors, authors… A coffee shop really isn't a surprising meeting place, huh?" Tayaw joins the already waiting Gary and company at their table.

"Deserted, soon to go out of business, coffee shops." Helena agrees.

"Yeah. This my coffee? Thanks, who ever bought me this." Tayaw sips on the only untouched coffee. 

"The contrast… Heh." Xiao Song mutters.

"Hm? What contrast?" Tayaw asks.

"nah. On TV, or any videos I saw you in, you're always wearing fancy suits. I can't imagine you in a hoodie and jeans. And your backpack too. I didn't see you as a backpack guy." Xiao Song says.

"True. I didn't imagine your eyes to look like that too. I wonder why you always cover them with sunglasses?" Claire says, still staring at Tayaw like she did back in the desert.

"And you're dressing more like your age right now." Gary remarks too. 

"Meh. Privacy purposes. Who would imagine that I'm the same fancy pants on TV if they met me on the streets wearing these?" Tayaw chuckles.

The group nods at the simple ingenuity of it.

"Anyways. How'd we end up here?" Tayaw asks the group. 

"Funny coincidence, that's it." Xiao Song shrugs.

"Mm. We were scouting film locations when we saw what we thought was a highway robbery. That was a great scene back there, by the way." Gary says.

"Thanks, that's the effect I wanted…" Tayaw says simply.

Looking at their curious gazes however, Tayaw still decides to not want to talk about his film any further, for now.

"You said scouting film locations? Whose film is it gonna be?" Tayaw asks, deflecting their curiosity. The group can only sigh in disappointment that Tayaw passed the ball back to them.

"Me and Xiao Song's. We're co-directing a film adaptation of a novel." Gary says.

"Oh? That's unusual. I've never heard of a film being co-directed." Tayaw says.

"Well. It is unusual, but not unheard of." Gary says.

"Weird though. You guys are great directors on each your own. What type of film could you two possibly be making?" Tayaw asks. 

Gary and Xiao Song exchange looks and they both chuckle without answering.

"It's because of you. They want to apply what they've learned from your film. They're not confident in making one like yours on their own." Claire says. 

"Oh? Well… that's flattering. Anyways. I'm assuming it's gonna be your novel, right?" Tayaw asks Helena, deflecting his indirect involvement with the two.

"Yeah. And I'm consulting on their filming." Helena nods.

"Cool. I thought there are people whose job it is to scout filming locations? Why are y'all doing it?" Tayaw asks.

"We're going indie, self-funded even, so we're saving costs. And, it's been a while since I went for a road trip and I have three caretakers with me." Gary says.

"A road trip sounds fun… But a self-funded film, huh. This can only be a passion project for you two." Tayaw says as he sips on his coffee. 

"Yep. We found your style fresh, so this too is a lesson." Xiao Song says.

"hmm. Hey. May I invest in it too?" Tayaw suddenly proposes, to the surprise of the group.

"Man, are you sure? It might fl-.. not do well." Xiao Song says, but is hoping that Tayaw is not kidding.

"That's a bit much, don't you think?" Helena says in minor indignation to Xiao Song's pessimism.

"It's a realistic estimation. Your novel is great, but we're going against the demand of the film market." Gary shrugs, which makes Helena helpless to argue. 

"Well. I just wanna contribute on a fresh, innovative film. Isn't that what you guys want too? Why are you self-funding a film, and working hard on it, knowing of the risks of it failing?" Tayaw says.

"Okay… But like Xiao Song said, we're trying something new here. The story may be great, but we probably can't make it look good as 'September Ninth'. If I'm doing my usual schtick, I'll take your money right now." Gary says. 

"Hmmm. Alright. Can I ask you guys something?" Tayaw says. The group nods in permission.

"How do I say this… September Ninth's story is different than 'Australia'." Tayaw says.

"You read it?" Helena says in surprise.

"Yeah. Great book by the way. Anyways. You two both know that 'Australia' has a different story and should also look and feel different than 'September Ninth', right?" Tayaw asks.

"Of course. We'll only use what we can use from your style." Xiao Song says.

"Yeah. That part of your film where Steven has his outbursts of emotions. How you showed those, we can definitely use those on our characters' climactic moments." Gary says.

This makes Tayaw sigh in relief and also excited that Gary and Xiao Song knows immediately how to apply what they learned. 

"Hmm. Then I have no problem investing." Tayaw says.

"Alright. Your money, your choice. You can't blame us though if everything doesn't do well." Xiao Songs says in contrast with his thankful expression.

"Why don't you consult for us too? When are you going to finish your film?" Gary asks.

Tayaw considers for a moment.

"Well, I can finish probably finish the first movie by Christmas. Then, the two sequels by… March at the earliest. Maybe… if the logistics are all ready…" Tayaw says while estimating.

The rest of the people in the table however, especially the two other directors, are dumbfounded. 

"… So, you're making three films right now?" Gary asks in a helpless chuckle.

"Yeah?" Tayaw asks.

"Like… three films that has directing style as 'September Ninth'? That you will finish by March?" Xiao Song asks.

"Yeah. Am I doing something wrong?" Tayaw says.

"It's not that… Isn't that too fast?" Claire asks.

"That's the standard, ain't it?" Tayaw asks, not getting the problem.

"The usual, but your style is more intricate." Gary says. 

"Well, what can I say? The actors and the crew, and the set designers are doing great. And. I'm making a trilogy. Three films with a single, but long story. If I combine all three films, it's gonna be 6 hours long, in total." Tayaw explains.

"Oh…" Gary and Xiao Song nod in understanding.

"Okay. Never mind about consulting then, as you're too busy. Your… financing is great enough help." Gary says. 

"Tell you what… I'll show you something that may help you guys." Tayaw's words gathered another round of interest.

"We all know that trial and error during the filming process is a financial black hole. At least that's the standard…" Tayaw begins as he grabs his backpack on his back, opens it, and pulls out a thick binder.

The other four looks in interest as they thought that the backpack was only for show.

"This, helped me a lot in saving money AND time during filming. For you guys who are self-funding, this will surely help too." Tayaw continues to say as he opens the binder and starts flipping its pages.

"is that a comic book?" Claire asks.

"Nah. That can't be. They're too rough to be it." Xiao Song muses, looking at the quickly shifting pages.

"Mhm. Mr. Jun is right. This... It's what I call a storyboard." Tayaw says as he finally stops flipping to a certain page.

"Take a look at these pages." He says as he takes out a couple of pages from the binder and passes them to the group. 

A few seconds later, "This was the scene you filmed earlier…" Gary says in realization, his eyes stuck on the pages on his hands.

"They are… And… from this… Huhh… This is how you want your scenes to come out on screen…" Xiao Song expresses his own realization, appreciating the storyboarding very much.

"Exactly. Using something like this can help you guys." Tayaw says. 

"Good god… No wonder 'September Ninth' looked great. You were already directing in your head even before the filming process." Gary says, appreciating the potential of the tool.

"Meh, I often make last-minute changes anyway, but they definitely help." Tayaw says.

"Hey, Can I take these?" Gary shamelessly asks.

"Nope. Not for now. Even though I'm done with it, I don't want others seeing it." Tayaw says.

Gary and Xiao Song can only hesitatingly return the pages.

"Anyways. Are you guys gonna compete in Sorrento next year with your film?" Tayaw asks.

"If we can finish it before the deadline, sure. I don't think we can though. But, there's still Moondance and Southwest by South. Oh. There's also TIFF on September. Where else would indie films get exposure?" Gary says.

"True. Well, too bad we can't be rivals in Sorrento then." Tayaw says.

"Now that you put it that way…" Xiao Song sighs in relief while Gary and Claire share the sentiment.

"Alright… F*ckin hell." The group is interrupted by the silent Helena, surprised by her crisp British cursing.

"My book is great and you two are brilliant directors. I don't think 'Australia' wouldn't be worse that whatever Isaac is making." Helena says.