Chapter 37

Dad seemed to understand that I wanted to follow him home, because I didn’t want him out of my sight. When we got home, we settled in the kitchen and I made us hot chocolates.

“So, what are your plans for tomorrow?” I asked.

“I think I’ll sleep in,” he said with a tired smile.

“I’m glad you’re ok.”

“I’m glad too. When I saw that knife clatter to the floor, all I could think was that Joan was going to get fat eating your cooking.”

I barked a laugh, “Can you imagine, she’d wake me early before school just so there would be time to make pancakes.”

“My Mom wasn’t much of a cook, but she could do more than Joan can. Did you know that Joan failed Home-Ec?”

“Seriously? How do you fail that class? They give footballers that class to bump their GPA.”

“They deducted one grade every time she caught the building on fire.”

I paused in incredulity, then burst out laughing. Dad laughed along, both of us laughing harder than we normally would have in a cathartic release of the day’s tension.

“Alright, I’m beat, and going to bed. Try not to stay up too late,” he said, putting his cup in the sink, and giving me one final goodnight hug.

I watched him go up the stairs, and sighed. It had been a very big day.

‘Adam, keep watch over Dad and Aunt Joan, I want to know if they are in danger. We also need to start working on contingencies so I can keep my identity a secret.’

‘Understood. In all the excitement I didn’t get a chance to tell you that we have an offer from HBO for the recreated Doctor Who.’

‘What did they offer?’ I asked carefully.

‘They are offering 75,000 per episode, but they want to purchase it in smaller blocks. One season at a time.’

I did the math in my head, ‘Little over 3 million? Is that for exclusive rights?’

‘They want 3 years exclusive streaming. They also want 1 year until we publish for direct purchase, DVD, Blu-ray, VoD, or digital download.’

‘So the purchase of the second season is based on how popular the first season is?’

‘Correct, and the time limit for sales and streaming is from their purchase date. They are looking at a timeline of a new season every three months, and want the first right of refusal for each season released.’

‘What do you think?’ I asked as I got ready for bed.

‘I think that this deal would reasonable be for US streaming rights only. We can negotiate separately for the other markets. 75,000 per episode is incredibly low, but there are a great many episodes. The first three seasons are with the First Doctor, they are worth nearly 9.5 million themselves at that price. I’m disinclined to accept the offer, but for other reasons.’

‘So, perhaps package them as a set. Instead of by season, by Doctor?’

‘That would be an excellent plan. We only have interest from BBC and HBO, Netflix requires that you go thru a distributor, so I have not pursued that route.’

‘What about BBC America? They have more money, they do commercials.’

‘They are on a list as is Hulu, CBS all access, YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon.’

‘What is the distributor thing?’

‘A distributor takes your media and shops it around for you. A number of streaming services, as well as traditional television broadcasters only acquire videos via distributors. Sending the first episode out, even knowing who to email it to, is not the industry standard method.’

‘So, because you were following my instructions, we are doing it completely wrong.’

‘Yes, I have researched the entire industry and have created a pathway to distribution.’

‘I’m proud of you stepping up like this, go do it.’

‘Thank you. The first episode is now watermarked and on YouTube. I’ll let you know when I have a sale. In addition to securing a distributor, I have created a marketing plan to build buzz, and increase the price per episode.’

‘Good job, I’m going to sleep in tomorrow too.’

‘Goodnight Sam.’

‘Goodnight Adam.’

After the stress and excitement, morning came too soon. I had forgotten to shut my window curtains, and the sun was shining in. I glanced at the clock and saw it was almost 9 am. It felt wonderful to sleep in. School started only minutes before 8 am, so I always tried to leave by 7:30. That required getting up at 6:30 to be ready on time.

Dad was still asleep, so I opened Instagram and found crepes. I had three, then stacked up three on a plate for Dad, and put it in the fridge. I had gotten behind on Titans again, so I caught up on the two newest episodes.

“That’s a lot of cussing in one show,” Dad said, startling me as he stood behind the couch.

“I can’t figure out where they are going this season. They keep killing off characters,” I replied, ignoring the criticism.

“I’m surprised that they didn’t kill it. I thought Disney was going to kill all the TV shows they hadn’t been a part of.”

My inner teenager grief bubbled to the surface, “Dad, that was Marvel. This is DC, home of Batman and Superman.”

“Ok. I wish they would bring back the one with the chick from the fifties who helped Captain America.”

“Yeah, Agent Carter was awesome. Too bad it only made it for four seasons. If you are hungry there are crepes in the fridge, and fresh squeezed OJ.”