Chapter 27: Chapter 27

I slumped down in a nice black leather chair in my office. I was exhausted after meeting with the investors about the future of YouTube. I'm just glad that it was all over. Now that everything was settled here I could relax a little.

It sucked that the children's play wouldn't happen for another month, but it was better than nothing. I wanted to rush back home but opted against that as I knew I should spend some time here.

Leeroy knocked on the door twice before entering. I did not mind.

"More work?" I asked him.

He laughed but shook his head. I was afraid he would tell me that there was more to be done. But luckily that was not the case.

"I'm just here to check in. How are you doing?" He asked me.

Leeroy was a tall black man that was well educated. He worked at the company for a long time, and due to how we both seemed to want the same thing we clicked. He was six years older than me with a bald head.

When I met him his beard was Neatly trimmed and full of color. Now that I'm looking at him again I can see it was beginning to turn Grey.

"I'm doing fine, how about you? Don't you need a break?" I asked.

Leeroy took a seat in front of me.

"I'm good. I actually enjoy working so I don't plan on taking any breaks." He told me.

I listened and nodded.

"I'm tired though, I don't see how you can talk to them so often. They seem to always want more. Maybe it was a bad idea to have investors." I commented.

"It was the right choice. We are spending five million a month to keep everything up and running, but the costs will only increase with time. They help ease our burden." Leeroy said. "Oh, I also looked into what we talked about last time. It would benefit everyone but do you think we should test it out first?" He asked me.

I shook my head. It would work and in the end everyone would benefit. There was no need to test it out.

"Nah. We've been having too many people refute the strikes they've been given. Sometimes we are in the wrong, but it's because of the program we are using to manage everyone. It's time we switch things up a bit." I told him.

"I fully agree, but I just think doing it slowly would be the best option. But, I'll still do it. Are we going to start with the top creators and work our way down?"

"Yeah, that's the idea. All the managers should be in charge of five different people. Making sure that their content doesn't violate the rules.' I said.

"You know, I never thought things would turn out this way. I knew the platform would be a major hit, but I never thought about being the CEO."

"Are you trying to brag?" Leeroy asked me.

I grinned but shook my head. "Not in the slightest. I'm just saying I only wanted to make games and films. Now that my first movie has been a box office hit, and YouTube is so successful I feel this weight. Like my game needs to be amazing as well."

"I think we've all been there before.  People are watching you and awaiting your next creation. Hoping you fail, but the one that puts the most pressure on you is yourself. As long as you do what you want and your final product is a masterpiece in your eyes, that's all that matters." Leeroy told me.

He sounded wise and I knew he was right. It just felt weird. I've never been in this position before.

"And if things don't work out, Google just upped their offer to 10 billion dollars." Leeroy added.

We both looked at each other and laughed. We made that in a year easy. If they offered 100 billion then I would have considered it.

"How's the movie coming along? I know you cast Halle Berry as the lead, so I'm kind of excited just to see her on screen."

"I think it will do fine. I'm not really worried about the movies to be honest. There are some amazing people working on the films, and even now I get directors reaching out to me. They want to be a part of this." 

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"Then you're worried about your game?" Leeroy asked.

"Not really. I know it will be a good game, a lot of concepts we are using will pave the way for newer titles. Honestly, I'm wondering how to go about my animation studio." I told him.

Leeroy raised his eyebrow. I did not tell too many people that I was creating an animation studio. There were only a few that knew.

I honestly wanted this studio to work out, but I couldn't say for sure. Americans had this thing where we assumed any animation was only for children. That was not really the case at all.

"Didn't know you owned one. Are you having trouble finding a project or something?"

"I have projects. I got the licenses to three different ones, but I'm unsure how to break the way Americans think. In Japan animes are popular, but not so much here."

"Just promote it on YouTube. You did it with Icon." Leeroy told me.

That was true, but it was also different. Still, he had a good point.

"Maybe, but I was trying to avoid doing that. There's also not that many people doing voice acting work here."

"If you don't want to do it that way, just have some youtubers promote it for you. You could even allow them to stream the movie for free." Leeroy said.

"It's not a movie, that's the thing. It will be a series."

I've actually thought about this many times before. The animation style here in America is different than the Japanese style I'm used to seeing. I feel that we are behind them in this field but no one really seems to care.

Some of the animators I've talked to don't really have the style I'm looking for.

"Oh. I'm assuming you already have somewhere to publish it. What kind of series will it be? Is it about the Dakotaverse?" 

"It will eventually be published by us once we have our network up and running. But it won't be about the superheroes, it'll be a lot darker than that. I can't even start on it because I haven't found anyone that suite my taste in animation."

"Can't you just, I don't know, hire people from overseas?" Leeroy asked.

"Yeah, I was thinking of doing that but then there would be a language barrier."

"Just hire some and the rest can come from here. Given enough time English can be learned, or you could always hire a translator. And with a mixed team they could take the best of what they have to come up with a unquie style." Leeroy said as a suggestion. It was not a bad idea.

My phone started to vibrate and Leeroy smirked as he saw the name on the caller ID.

"Guess it's my time to leave. Tell Scarlett I said hi."

"You do know we aren't dating right?" I asked him just to be sure.

"How am I supposed to know that? I'm just listening to what the news articles say."

I said nothing and Leeroy ended up leaving with a laugh. We were just friends but no one seemed to believe me when I said that.

She wasn't even calling me. She sent me a reply to the message I sent her hours ago. But it was what it was.

I wonder if I could hire some actors and actresses to do voice acting work? If the pay was good I think it would definitely be possible.

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