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Lights... Camera... ACTION!!: A Hollywood Quest

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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
  • Threadmarks
    • Magoose said:
    Hi Magoose here one of the guys helping Duke.

    So we have some bad news.

    The quest has been canceled as duke does not want to write it anymore.

    I'm going to ask if I can take over for it, because I like this quest, and it would be a shame to kill it
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    TBF, Mags, you have been doing a lot of the heavylifting for the quest, so this will be in good hands. :)

    To be clear to everyone, this is just me burning out on imagination of the quest, since my muse has been hitting me over the head a lot with so many different ideas that I just can't find myself too interested in this.

    I'll still hang out here, though, since this still does have a sepcial place in my heart.

    I'd like to thank you all for making this a wonderful experience while it lasted.

    I'd also like to thank @Magoose, @Fluffy_serpent, and @Martin Noctis for doing so much to help prepare and write this quest. I couldn't have done it without you all. :D

    I'll see you all around.

    With so many regards, Duke William Of.
     
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    • The US taxes you on the basis of citizenship, which you get just from being born in the states. I'm pretty sure I saw something about being born in the states then moving back to Ireland, so it would
     
    No i mean i dont think we are in that taxbracket, but i dont think we have to worry about something like that just yet
     
    bajoe9 said:
    No i mean i dont think we are in that taxbracket, but i dont think we have to worry about something like that just yet
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    You hit that tax bracket at $100,000 when filing as a single income. So everything we make above that gets taxed at that rate, until we hire a damn good accountant to take advantage of tax loopholes. Or we might even find it more cost effective to hire a lobbyist to get an exception added to the code for us.

    Or we renounce our American Citizenship and see if it's easier to keep our money away from the Brits, but I'm pretty sure that's way too much of a nuclear option to bother with.
     
    Well, one thing is for certain...

    If you claim to be a minor (Which you are) and a member of the Screen actors guild, you can get the Coogan rule applied to you, and get 15% off all your earnings placed into a Fund that is not only not accessible to anyone, save for you, once you turn 18, but its also tax-free.
     
    Magoose said:
    Well, one thing is for certain...

    If you claim to be a minor (Which you are) and a member of the Screen actors guild, you can get the Coogan rule applied to you, and get 15% off all your earnings placed into a Fund that is not only not accessible to anyone, save for you, once you turn 18, but its also tax-free.
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    See, we're already finding loopholes! Now we just need to see if it's truly tax free or a "taxed later" thing. Because it could be like a traditional IRA which comes out of a paycheck pre-tax (and thus lowers your tax for the year) but it is taxed when you withdraw from it.

    ...are we a member of the guild?

    *****

    As an aside, I'd normally say we should use a Roth IRA (tax now, no tax on withdrawal), but we're highly unusual for making fuck tons of money while young and the Roth IRA wasn't introduced until 1997.

    Oh hey, we can ride the .com bubble and the housing bubble. Moreso the .com bubble, and we can justifiably dump over Y2K fears and convert to stable investment options
     
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    Blonddude42 said:
    Oh hey, we can ride the .com bubble and the housing bubble. Moreso the .com bubble, and we can justifiably dump over Y2K fears and convert to stable investment options
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    If you want something closer in time, IIRC, in the movie Forrest Gump, Dan Taylor put his and Forrest's money from their shrimp business into "some kind of fruit company" (seriously, what kind of name for a company is Apple?) in the mid-70s, as angel investors.

    People have commented online that even a 3% stake for $100,000 back then would've grown to $48 billion today if they'd chosen to keep it all this time.
     
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    It's 1971--the drugs of choice are still hallucinogens like LSD or MDA. They're on the downside of popularity now, but cocaine didn't quite take off until closer to the mid-70s.
     
    We can buy property and stock and other investments and be left with little as possible heck use depreciation to pay even less. also no drugs, alcohol is one thing but since we are irish we open our selfs to mochery about it something we can ill aford now
     
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    *looks at the ideas he was about to suggest for possible events where they would lose all their money*.

    *laughs villainously*

    I will only say in my defense that I have to make sure that duke and magoose don't make it too easy for them.
     
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    We should make good money on Microsoft and apple eventually but really blow a bit on acting lessons for the goose. Refine our craft an buy a house.
     
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    Magoose: A Chair and a Table
  • Apocrypha
    • A Table and a Chair:

    For you, you felt a pressing need to get above this. Well, that was not true, you just knew your talent lay elsewhere when things get very interesting.

    Ever since Fist of Fury was released, something had been troubling you, there was fear. A fear that everyone felt when they finally made it big, in an industry that would maybe never see them as anything more than one role. One performance and there was a constant need too one up, to show that they were better and not the same role that made them.

    The cruelest fate that an actor could face.

    Being typecast, especially when they had talent, truly brilliant talent.

    And that was why you were sitting in your Hotel room, looking at newspapers of crimes committed in Hong Kong.

    You were looking for inspiration, to write a story, or come up with something that you can develop. As a back up plan of course. if you managed to get something written to leverage your way into Hollywood, or anywhere if you so choose.

    One thing about all these stories struck your eye.

    How are the stories linked to one thing and one thing only.

    The Triads. China's organized crime lords. The ones who controlled the underworld. Who did all the illegality within Hong Kong? It made you wonder how they could have much control that the criminal underworld had over the world.

    You took a moment to look at the table you were sitting on, the barstool was wobbling as you kept on moving around to read your place.

    High Chair?

    No that was stupid.

    But you instead looked at the phone and decided to give the one person you trusted a call.

    "Hello. who is this?" Cat's voice spoke, groggy and confused.

    "Cat, It's me, Goose?" You replied, letting the nickname slip.

    "GOOSE!" She raised her voice and you could feel her smile beaming. "I thought you were coming home soon? What have you been doing?"

    You frowned. "Been a bit busy in Hong Kong." You replied. "I've just... been working on something."

    "Oh, pray tell you aren't trying to become a screenwriter for the guild as well as an actor, it's a very tough gig." She replied.

    "No it's not that, I just have a story. that you might want to hear." You replied.

    "Okay, tell me?" She asked.

    "Promise me you won't send it to your bosses?" You replied.

    "Oh come on Goose, have a little faith, I hate them too." She stated.

    Alright. That was brilliant. "Okay, so this is the story of an assassin, and how he delved into a life of crime, to get his revenge."

    You then took a deep breath. "This is the Story, of a man who is a world like our own, but run by criminals that are high above. This is the story, of a man name John Wick."

    AN: enjoy, and thank you @overmind for assisting me for coming up with a lot of details off-screen for a future pitch.
     
  • Apocrypha
    • Magoose said:
    A Table and a Chair:
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    Honestly, my only minor nitpick is that John Wick's name is the same. Ah well, it's nothing major. Well done omake. :D

    I guess the reward could be a bonus to casting or scriptwriting and pitches, the casting since Goose is scared of being in the same roll and wants to branch out.
     
    Magoose's John Wick. An Opening Scene


    The Story begins within Eastern Europe, in Crimea, in the 1960s, with a family mulling about their day, quietly doing their daily chores. it lingers for several seconds on the father, who is quietly chastising his wife about the taxes and bills that are coming up, and how soon they might have a car after his promotion in the part. He then screams at the crying child, and orders his wife to place him someplace else, because the infant was wrecking his concentration.


    The camera then cuts to a single car coming towards the house, the black vehicle slowly but surely.


    Then the single person comes out of the vehicle. A man dressed in a nice business suit, like an official; from the party. But the most striking feature is his Asian features, as the man is not from the Soviet Union.


    And in his hands, a silent pistol. Quickly, he dispatches the family that is doing their chores, the silencer not silencing the gun, but quieting it. The power of the gunshot shows the family surviving, before being dispatched with successive shots, to the heart and the head. The scene is a brutal one, as several bullets are spent on the bodies to make sure they are truly dead.


    Quickly the man moves the bodies inside and then begins looking for something in the walls.


    Before breaking one of the walls, revealing Nazi Gold. He stashes it in his bag, and prepares to leave.


    After quickly taking it, he hears a cry in the building, and he sees a baby in a crib, having been woken. The assassin points his weapon at the child, thinking to end its life as it would not survive.


    But he instead takes the boy. bringing him into this new world, of death and combat.
    -------------------------------------------------
    A Note on what I want this to be:


    I want this story to be like an Anti-James Bond, with his globe-trotting adventures serving himself, his desires, and of course, his own style.

    He is cold, charming, but driven.


    He should also, unlike Bond, grow as a Character, not remaining an archetype, but developing beyond it to be a fully-fledged anti-hero.


    And his themes or openings should be steeped in world-building.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    I've Made a Fortune, but I Don't Know what to Do Now: Turn 7 (July 1971)
  • Threadmarks
    • You were looking at the paper and looked at Bruce. "I thought you said you weren't going back to the states? You can retire with this money Bruce."

    "I may, but that would not be what I want. This would just be accepting that I was one and done. I want to return to Hollywood and make a career there." He said.

    "And you still do low budget TV shows, that will never really air that well, where you are not only not the star, but also a villain?" You asked.

    That made Bruce give his trademark smile. "Weren't you the one who said one must work to get work?"

    You frowned. "But why not work here in Hong Kong?"

    "Because the next film we are going to make hasn't even been written, and my treatments are never really that good." He said.

    "Ohh come on Bruce, your treatment was fantastic." You said. "A San Francisco Hatchet man, and the triads during the Gold Rush and post-civil war? The Tong Wars you kept talking about? That sounds awesome."

    There was a chuckle from Bruce. "To you maybe, a friend who knows my interests, but to everyone else? Especially in San Francisco where the memory still lingers? I doubt that it would be viewed as properly."

    "But why keep working in America, if you know that here you'll be treated better?"

    "Why do you want to stay in Hong Kong?" He asked.

    That caused you to pause. "I don't know."

    "Think about it, not about what you want, but how to further your career. Will Hollywood accept you, or will you stay in a place where you know someone will need a white boy who can do martial arts? There is always a market for that." He then started to walk toward his wife and family. "Think on that. Do what you believe is right, but never forget that you want to be an actor."

    You remembered.

    ------------------------------------

    A Few Hours later.

    As the Cash came in, you truly... only saw that there was only one thing to do.

    One thing that you could find and do well.

    Get Better at your Craft. This small role was a taste. The first step, into a larger, more opulent world.

    Reward: +5 to acting skill.

    What do you do now?

    []Go Home: Clint must be worried about you right now, so you might as well get on home, and pay him back after so much work he gave to you.

    []Stay in China?: Perhaps Hong Kong would be a good place to build up your name. You had heard that next year, there will be another film starring Bruce that will be in production, and perhaps, this time, you can get a larger starting role?

    []Go Somewhere Else?: There is a big big world out there. Perhaps, you can find your own way, somewhere else. (Write in where you would like to go?)

    --------------------------------------------------------

    You have 4 actions:

    [] Do auditions(Movies and TV Shows): You are going to go to some of the casting calls that are in the place that you can find work in. DC 20(Possibility of only getting a commercial or TV show job, or extra work in a low budget film)

    [] Ask Clint if you can act in a movie of his: You know you hate yourself for doing this, but you are going to ask Clint for some help, see if he can give you a role. DC 40 (Clint may be helping you, but not enough to give you a role in one of his films, or risk his reputation on getting you into a movie without some assurance.)

    [] Gophering, and other signs of stuff: You want to try and learn how work behind the camera works, and what better way than being a gopher. DC 50 (You have no idea what the hell they were doing, and you have no idea either)

    [] Take a walk: Dad always said that the best ways to get inspiration are by walking, talking, and being open-minded. So you'll try that. DC 10 (You are just going for a walk, what could be really said.

    [] Register in a theater: There are quite a few theater troops that are looking for some seasonal help for some play's that the regulars could not get to. Perhaps you can work there for a while. DC 40 (Everyone wants to be famous here in Hollywood.) (Only Available if you go back to America)

    [] Go to a bar or something to make jokes: You wanted to try some comedy, perhaps you can try. even with your shit timing. DC 50 (Your Lack of comedy chops is going to be something that will bite you.)

    [] Practice writing: You want to write something, maybe even a script. At least to learn the craft. DC 20 (You try your hand at screenwriting, and maybe get something that is worth a damn. -10 Malus due to Critical Failure last time you tried this.)

    [] Research stuff, see if anything piques your interest: You may have graduated High School as a kid, but you never stopped trying to learn. DC 15 (Write-in what you want to learn about below)

    [] Talk to Clint: You want to ask Clint a few questions, like how he met your father? DC 0 (You just ask Clint about ancient history) (Only Available if you go back to America)

    [] Learn to play an instrument: You want to learn how to play something DC 80 (You have no idea what the hell you are doing.)

    [] Call your parents: You need to call mom and dad, see how they are doing? DC 10 (You call your parents and see what they are doing)

    []Networking: Well time to start finding out who might actually be interested in meeting you. (Write-in what you want to try and network with)

    []The Call of Creation: You want to create something of your own, a story, an idea that maybe, you can shop around to more talented people. DC???. Write in what you want to create. Reward: (Your write in idea will be going through the creative process)

    []The Dating Scene: You want to meet someone, and perhaps, get a girlfriend. Maybe you can do that. DC 15(You go on a blind date)

    A/N:

    After a long, unannounced hiatus(sorry about that), the quest is back! Now that Magoose has less quests to worry about and now that I'm resolving to not procrastinate updating the quest, we should hopefully bring this quest back with a bang!

    Also, @Magoose, you'll need to choose a bonus for your second omake.

    Also also, there shall be a 1 Hour moratorium so that people can catch up on the quest and vote informed. Yeah, that's all.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [] Plan: The King of Comedy
    -[]Go Somewhere Else?
    --[] Vegas, baby!
    -[] Go to stand up comedy clubs and watch a few shows (write in)
    -[] Go to a bar or something to make jokes: You wanted to try some comedy, perhaps you can try. even with your shit timing. DC 50 (Your Lack of comedy chops is going to be something that will bite you.)
    -[] Practice writing: You want to write something, maybe even a script. At least to learn the craft. DC 20 (You try your hand at screenwriting, and maybe get something that is worth a damn. -10 Malus due to Critical Failure last time you tried this.)
    --[] Write a comedy set to perform with the above stand up comedy action
    -[]The Dating Scene: You want to meet someone, and perhaps, get a girlfriend. Maybe you can do that. DC 15(You go on a blind date)

    Stand up comedy is probably the best way to learn comedy as quickly as possible. Kind of like being thrown in the deep end of the pool.

    We can turn this into a little short vacation to have some fun before heading home, maybe if we're lucky could meet some up and coming comedians, especially those that are also living in LA and visiting Vegas or something. Plus its time to celebrate!
     
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