September 23rd, 1978.
James and Martha walked into the conference room where John Koenig was already waiting with his attorney.
"Morning," Koenig said with a tired smile.
"Morning," James replied as he took his seat.
"I was hoping we wouldn't meet again under these circumstances."
James gave a small smile.
"I don't think either of us expected this a month ago."
Koenig nodded.
"No."
Martha and opposite attorney did the final checks.
"The final revisions have been incorporated, Both parties have already approved them. These are the execution copies."
The room fell quiet as contracts were passed around the table.
No one argued, There was nothing left to negotiate, Only signatures remained.
Koenig looked at the papers in front of him for several seconds before speaking.
He looked toward James.
"When your offer came, The other shareholders stopped believing they saw an exit, when my father started Contemporary, he never imagined we'd become one of the most respected jazz labels in America."
"I have let him down."
He shook his head.
Without the support of the other shareholders, Koenig couldn't stop the sale.
Even if he refused to sell his own shares, he'd simply become a minority owner with no control over the company his father had founded.
Koenig picked up the pen.
"I spent a week trying to convince myself not to sign, Turns out numbers are hard to argue with."
He signed the agreement.
His attorney signed next.
Martha reviewed the signatures before passing the documents to James.
James signed without hesitation.
Fantasy Group officially became the owner of Contemporary Records.
Koenig took one last look at the office. He looked at james.
"I've only got one favor to ask."
James looked up.
"The artists, engineers, office staff, Some of them have been recording here for over a decade, A lot of them have spent most of their careers here, They're good people."
"They trusted my father."
He met James's eyes.
"I know you bought the company, I also know you can do whatever you want with it."
"If you can, Please Take care of them."
James leaned back in his chair.
"If I wanted to dismantle Contemporary,I wouldn't have paid seven million dollars for it."
"I'm buying twenty-five years of experience."
"The people are one the reason I wanted the company in the first place."
For the first time that morning, some of the tension left Koenig's shoulders.
He reached into his briefcase and removed a small brass company seal.
"My father ordered this when he incorporated the company."
He placed it on the table between them.
"It stamped every recording contract we've ever signed."
James looked at it for a moment before carefully picking it up.
"I'll keep it in the office."
Koenig smiled.
"I think he'd have liked that."
The rest of the morning went quickly.
James spoke briefly with the existing staff, Roy DuNann the recording engineer, Howard Holzer and Bernie Grundman Master engineers, Producer Joe Boyd.
Most already knew him from his previous visits during the acquisition.
There weren't going to be any major changes for now.
Contemporary Records would keep operating, Only now it belonged to Fantasy Group.
By afternoon James was back at Fantasy Pictures.
The moment he entered the office,
Howard was sitting inside his office with several papers spread across the desk.
"You're getting comfortable."
Howard looked up.
"You kept me waiting."
"I was buying a record label."
Howard gathered the papers together.
"How'd it go?"
"Done."
Howard nodded.
James looked at the papers.
"Now tell me you've been doing something while I've been spending all my money."
Howard laughed.
"I've been doing plenty, Let's finish the music first."
"The singers are done, Either signed or contracts being finished with Martha."
"All ?"
"All, Pretty much."
"Then choreography."
Howard leaned back.
"That's what I came here for."
"You said four names."
"I started with four."
"And?"
"One dropped out before we met. Scheduling."
"So three."
"Patricia Birch, Grease , Assistant Choreographer."
"Lester Wilson, Choreographer of Saturday Night Fever."
"Last one was peculier, When I was at new york to sort out Kenny's contract, I got a recommendation from a fellow producer and ticket to a stage show of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre."
"Lynne Taylor Corbett did the choreography to that show, I met with her afterward, She is a pleasant and easy going person, very passionate about dance and ballet."
James sipped his coffee.
"This can't be the only reason to choose her ?"
Howard crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair.
"Indeed, if we go by who is suited for this film, it's actually Birch but that woman is too assertive, She has ambitions to direct the movie, I feel, If we hired her, she would interfere in your directing work more than her own Choreography."
"Least thing this film needs now is internal Strife, So I crossed her out, Lester is good but only in Disco, This movie is not about strictly Disco, Teenagers dancing it probably will not have single style, So I crossed him out as well."
"Lynne on the other hand working on stage with Teenagers, She would suit this Film more, I have not signed her yet, Decision is with you James."
James pushed the papers back toward him.
"Get Martha involved and hire her."
Howard smiled and took the papers.
"You're trusting me that much?"
"I hired you to produce the movie, Howard."
"If I have to repeat everything you do, I don't need a producer."
"Also, Get ready for public Auditions for Main Characters. Rest and Extras just sent the notice to union, if their age and visual matches hire them."
Howard shook his head.
"I hope you enjoy meeting thousands of teenagers."
James stopped.
"Thousands?"
"You wanted public auditions."
"We'll filter out with applications first then it's a Normal casting. Send the roles through the usual channels and unions."
Howard looked relieved.
"I'll get Lynne sorted first, Then we can sit down and figure out the auditions properly."
"Works for me."
Howard left shortly afterward.
James returned to his desk.
Fantasy Pictures itself had changed considerably over the last two weeks.
Linda walked into the office carrying another file and placed it on his desk.
"How many?"
"Fifty-seven so far."
"In two weeks?"
"Apparently everyone has a screenplay."
James opened the file.
Instead of making him read fifty-seven scripts, the Story Department had prepared reports on everything they had received.
Each entry had the title, writer, a short summary, who had submitted or introduced the project, the terms being requested and the asking price if there was one.
James started going through them.
The first few were absolute shit B-grade movie scripts, He had never heard off.
Neither did the next several.
James kept turning pages, Some were looking for financing, Some wanted Fantasy Pictures to purchase the screenplay outright, Others came with producers already attached.
A few writers wanted to remain involved if their screenplay was sold.
Then James stopped at one title, The Boogens, He looked at the summary again, He remembered that name, Not particularly well, but he'd definitely heard of the movie before.
James pulled the page aside and continued, Another six or seven projects passed without recognizing anything worthwhile or interesting enough.
Few more that James recognized were, The exterminator, Without Warning, The Pilot, He sorted out these.
Linda had started watching him now.
"What are you doing?"
"Sorting."
"That's what the Story Department already did."
"I'm sorting their sorting."
James continued through the file.
He was almost near the end when he turned another page.
His hand stopped.
For several seconds, James simply stared at the title.
AIRPLANE!
Then looked at it again, Same title.
James immediately read the names underneath.
Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker.
He rubbed his eyes.
Linda looked over.
James didn't answer, James pulled the report closer.
The summary described an airline flight where passengers and crew became sick after eating contaminated food, forcing a traumatized former pilot to take control.
A parody of disaster movies.
James almost jumped out of his chair.
"Holy shit."
Of all the scripts that could have landed inside Fantasy Pictures
Airplane!
Linda came closer.
"What's so special about that one?"
James was already reading the rest of the report.
The writers wanted to direct.
That wasn't surprising.
Then he reached the production requirements, Black and white, A propeller-driven passenger plane.
That wasn't what he remembered.
The movie he knew had been in color and used a modern jet.
James looked at the title again, but Everything else lined up.
"Where's the screenplay?"
Linda pointed toward the door.
"Story Department has the submissions."
"Get me this one."
Linda looked at him.
"Right now?"
"Right now."
A short while later the actual screenplay landed on James's desk.
He forgot about the rest of the file.
James opened the first page and started reading.
There were differences.
Some things weren't exactly how he remembered them.
Some scenes played differently.
James laughed several times while reading,
An hour passed.
He closed the screenplay and stared at the cover.
AIRPLANE!
Written by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker.
James reached for the telephone and called downstairs to Connor Mcginley the head of Story department.
Mcginley was sipping coffee leisurely, He did not expect such good job to fall in his arms at late 40s, He was experienced but not really successful, He worked as editor of small magazine in his 20s, Magazine was closed he became jobless, Later worked at a story department of various small independant studios but they did not last and salary wasn't as good as his current one.
The phone beside him rang, he picked it up thinking it was a collegue outside collecting scripts.
"This is James."
"Mr. Rowan."
"Airplane. Who submitted it?"
Mcginley was startled.
"Just a minute, Mr. Rowan, I will check."
Before he could say anything else.
"Contact them."
"When?"
"As soon as possible."
"Tell them I read it and want to meet."
Phone went dead before he could reply.