Let’s weave a spell together, shall we?
Snip and splice and bind the threads of fate together.
Let’s take a bit of curiosity over change, of apathy towards those around you, ignorance for the future and tie it all together and…
*Past Tenna appears, specific rules decided my mod of course :3k
-❣️
(*Before Tenna a dark circular disc-token thing, no bigger than his hand, appears on her desk. Something clicks to life. A projection of light. Suddenly, there is a life sized hologram of Tenna. It's-no, his, head is blocked by the ceiling. He's wearing his usual TV Time suit.
He moves around in the hologram, trying to find something in the blackness of his vision. Present Tenna quickly grabs the disc and places it on the ground, letting her past self see.
..Our Tenna looks a little different than the Tenna from a few months ago. He's wearing lipstick and a black skirt instead of the past Tenna's black slacks, and some yellow heels to match the past Tenna's "sensible" yellow dress shoes.
They look at each other. They're the same. But something in their gazes are different.
They're the same. But not quite.*)
[From here on out, Present Tenna will be primarily be "Our Tenna", and Past Tenna will be "Past Tenna". I do not intend for this to get too out of hand. Our current Tenna has had enough magical disaster to last a lifetime.
The other Tenna's text will be red, with our Tenna's dialogue being the same color as normal.
Let's let them say hi, shall we?]
"H-uh, Hello there?"
(*She stands up from where he was sitting at her desk and moves to shake hands with his past self.
He shakes her hand, a little awestruck. Their hands pass through each other, but neither of them seem to mind. It's more for the gesture anyways.*)
"Wowie, I never thought I'd get the chance to meet another- hah, another me! Consider me a little perplexed!"
"Oh dear, I can certainly say the same! Hah! Well, it's glad to meet someone like minded!
(*They both laugh at her bad joke. They've got someone to match their cartoonish sense of humor now.*)
"Hah! True, true. It's a pleasure!"
"I really would have made a pretty woman! Is everyone else here a lady? Like, is this a classic gender swap episode situation?"
"I'm sure you'll make an excellent one yourself, pal."
(*The past Tenna scratches his head. Her head? Both work, anyhow. Present Tenna moves on.*)
"Ah, right! Do you.. want to see something? I don't want to spoil it for you should it happen to you- eh, me, but y'know, you. If it does at some point. But I think it could make you happy. It would have made me happy."
(*Again, the past Tenna looks confused.*)
"Sure, just a sec, but can I sit down first? My circuits are fried, lady! And do they serve a halfway decent coffee around here?"
"Ah, just sit down on the couch. The other chairs here are a little small for us."
(*She speaks with a knowing grin. The other Tenna knows this place by the back of his hand. Mostly. The place is a little different from his own office. He tries to sit on the lounge chair in the room, but falls through it. He tries again, and fails. A lightbulb appears over his head. He snaps his fingers, and magicks a hologram couch for himself. It seems comfy!*)
"Alllllright then! And some coffee?"
(*He snaps. Not at our Tenna, but.. at some imaginary servant? He looks confused when no one comes.*)
"Some goddamned COFFEE??"
(*Our Tenna sighs, and pages a pippins to get two cups of coffee to be brought to his office using his old landline.*)
"So, I take it you.. might have some questions? Before I showed you the thing I mentioned before."
"Oh, totally! First, what's goin' on with this world here? Is this some sort of alternate reality thing? Where I'm a gorgeous lady instead of the man I am?"
"Oh, you do flatter me, you old coot!"
(*They laugh together. Having another "you" to hype you up can be nice.*)
"Well, it really isn't too different from your own world. I've learned how to use the internet, for one!"
"And you're a woman, too."
"You keep focusing on that, old friend. It's not the most important thing here. And it's just me. Well, us. But that's for you to examine, alright? Funny thing, I found this out because of a simple joke someone made on 'sociable media', if you can believe it."
(*Past Tenna is clearly lost. Our Tenna sighs.*)
"Just take things as they come, alright? You can be what you want. Wear that damn dress, old friend."
(*The other Tenna flushes, as if he's being called out. There's likely a specific dress he's thinking of. One that they both wanted to wear for a while.*)
"I-I, don't know what you could possibly mean!"
(*Another weary sigh from our leading lady.
A pippins dressed in white and black enters the office, looking to our present Tenna. She's smiling at him. The past Tenna is scowling, and the pippins jumps a little at seeing the strange body double of his boss. Past Tenna snaps in his face at his hesitation.*)
"Chop chop! Get the lead out, dicer! Coffee."
(*Present Tenna winces. Yep, that's her alright. He shoots the pippins an apologetic look.*)
"Sorry, kid. Just leave the coffee on the desk."
(*Past Tenna raises a brow [a theoretical brow, since neither of them have super defined eyebrows. Or eyes.] at him. The pippins leaves, and past Tenna creates a hologram cup for the coffee along with a hologram mini coffee stand. TV logic.*)
"Sooo! Right then. About your world-"
"Our world."
"Our world. Since things don't seem to be too different-"
(*He gestures to the office around them. Things are slightly different than from his time. There's some different furniture, replaced from when our Tenna accidentally destroyed the office during the Mikes' grand reveal.
Some new photographs. Of her family. Her partners. Her new friends. One of Chip and her in matching pink dresses, one of her and Battat at a fancy restaurant, a framed photo of Pluey posing at a camera in his cat getup, one of Jongler in their cowboy hat, one of the three of them with Tenna, one of SPAMTON and Melly and herself, and Plutat, and Battington at christmas around the tree, and a drawing of Sirius done in a child's scrawl, and and-
...
She's gained a lot of family.
Melly hatched.
Spamton came back.
The office just seems like someone else's place to past Tenna. Mostly the same. But certainly not his.*)
"-minus some of the people in it, do you think you could tell me if something bad is going to happen? To the Studio. I just want to make sure nothing happens to it."
...
(*A beat of silence. Bad things will happen to this past Tenna's studio.*)
"I don't think there's anything I could say that would prevent anything wild from happening, unfortunately. Bad things will happen. But the Studio will stand, I promise. We will stand. I can assure you that."
(*Past Tenna looks relieved beyond measure.*)
"Ah, good, good. You know, I'm always worried about that."
"I am too."
"Right! Same person, different reality. I've seen sci-fi movies!"
"We've filmed sci-fi movies, old sport!"
(*They laugh with each other again, in that way you can only with yourself.*)
"Right, then. Sooo, do.. do we find love~?"
(*He says it in a funny manner, as if phrasing it humorously will mask his fear. Our Tenna looks around her shelves.
He found it.*)
"Yes."
"And Melly, is she okay?"
(*It seems he doesn't recognize the feathered creature in all the photographs as Melly. There's only one framed photo of Egg-Melly on the shelf, which the hologram Tenna looks at worryingly. He likely hasn't felt safe enough to speak so openly about his daughter at work yet.*)
"She's wonderful, actually! Doing beautifully. And she's got so many new siblings, too!"
(*Past Tenna is shocked, but shakes it off. He warms into a smile.*)
"Hah, of course. I should have guessed. And they're not.. ours, right? Or..."
(*He stage-whispers, still perfectly audible.*)
"The mailman's?"
"Oh, haha! No, they're not 'technically' ours. But they're still mine, you know? I've got help in raising them. They're sort of the Studios' children at this point!"
(*The past Tenna looks frightened. Then his face breaks free into a smile. He's scared, but happy.*)
"Yes, I- I get it, I think.."
"It'll be okay. Sometimes it won't be. I'm still scared. Reallyyy scared. But it'll be okay, I think."
"I hope so. How- I mean, when are you? I believe it's August for me right now"
"It's just barely March, in the year of 20XX."
"Ah, not too far into the future then, from where I'm at. I wonder how our little 'realities' differ!"
"Oh, I'm sure they're not too different."
(*She cracks a grin. This joke is for her and the audience to share.*)
"Oh, one thing! The one I wanted to show you!"
(*She gets up and grabs a family photo from the shelf. This one has...
So. Many. People.
It was taken during a Studio event sometime recent. It was nothing major, not really. Just a workplace function. Everyone employed and close to someone who is at the studio was there. But he snuck in a photo of her loved ones when she thought no one else was looking.
His family. A few missing, but there are photos on the shelves to make up for those not present in this one.
He brings it over to the other Tenna's holo-couch, and sits down on the real couch. He holds it close to her. Past Tenna takes it with one hand, not really being able to hold it. But it's more for the gesture anyways.*)
...
(*A beat of silence.*)
...
(*Tenna is crying.
Both of them.
They hug, not being able to really touch each other.
But neither of them mind.*)
...
(*They wipe of their tears of static.*)
"Thanks, you."
"Think nothing of it, old friend."
___________________________________________
A few years into the future. There's our Tenna, sitting outside dark castle walls with her children, watching them fool around by the cliffside area, the spot where that weird star sometimes sits.
She opens up her phone.
Maybe she'll talk to himself like that again sometime.
He smiles, and chats once more with some old friends.
So you know that thing Netflix and others have done/are doing with scrapping finished projects for tax write offs? Yeah, I hate that too.
But I'm not sure if we should be focused on eliminating the tax loophole (which I suspect might be hard to precisely close, cause taxes are like that) or on not letting them erase the projects from existence when they do it? In the latter case, where do folks think the film/rights should go?
If a completed/post production movie is written off for tax credits, where should the film/rights go?
Into the public domain, via Library of Congress or other relevant institution
To the producers/non studio investors*
Split between everyone involved with percentages/residuals in their contracts**
Project must be sold/auctioned, with buyer held to any residuals/percentages***
Other, much better idea that will be given in a comment or reblog
Dunno/don't care/flawed premise/gimme results
Voting ended onJan 31, 2024
*Don't know how projects are financed these days, or how it would work, sorry.
**Again, not a fully worked out idea, would probably make the film a LLC or similar.
***If the studio originally bought the project off someone else, obviously right of first refusal to them.
Your boyfriend and your husband are fighting again
Of course they are.
Estranged husband of TEN YEARS comes back and tries to fix everything, RIGHT AFTER I’M IN A HAPPY RELATIONSHIP WITH MY NEW PARTNER! Just what I wanted, at the WORST! POSSIBLE! TIME!! If only he’d come back a liiiittle bit sooner, and I could have worked things out with him so that we were friends again, and worked things out with Batty and the Mikes, and then potentially could have potentially eased them all into the idea of a relationship. BUT NO!!! GOD HATES ME!!! AND IS WORKING TOWARDS MY DOWNFALL!!!!
AND THEN SPAMTON GETS OUR DAUGHTER ALL WRAPPED UP INTO THIS TOO???
And don’t even get me STARTED on the “transition” transition. Whenever I walk into the studio in a dress, I get STARES!!! And if that wasn’t bad enough, they aren’t even the GOOD stares! And what does that mean for my current and potential partners?? And another thing…
(*He types up a storm in an overwhelmed fury, and deletes most of it. There’s steam coming from her vents, and the air is filled with a harsh layer of static.*)
Okay, maybe I should.. stop there. I’m going for a walk.
MGM still hasn’t apologized to Sly Stallone for a.) doing everything in their power to keep him from making Rocky Balboa, b.) not giving Sly his rightful share of the profits (Sly put his acting, writing, and directing fee back into the budget on the condition that he get some back-end, which means he made the movie for no pay), and c.) for leaking a DVD-quality master of the film onto the internet the night before it opened to sabotage its release (actually, that last one isn’t fair to put onto MGM entirely. That was just one petty studio head who could not deal with the fact that Stallone went around him and made the movie anyway).
[If you’re wondering, MGM did not produce Rocky Balboa. Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios (who were stoked about making a sixth Rocky with Stallone) did. But MGM owns the Rocky rights, so they had to be involved and distributed the film]
And then nearly ten years later, they had the gall to blackmail Sly into making Creed when he kept turning it down for years by threatening to recast Rocky!
