Page 60 of The Dating Contract

“So for the last few years, people have been asking about a different angle for one of our properties after a certain MoviePix property you might know did well.”

“I assume you’re talking about Goldstone?”

The Goldstone Saga, Melanie Gould writing as MG Emerson’s series of historical romances about a British-Jewish family turned television juggernaut. The work he’d done for it had changed the course of Samuel’s career, making him believe that there was a place for him in more mainstream lettering.

But what made Samuel think, was that the lead actor in the adaptation was Sam Moskowitz. Amongst other things, Sam Moskowitz was famous for playing the character of Mr. Shadow in the recent movie adaptations of the Shadow Squad comics.

Was this for the oft-discussed Mr. Shadow’s origin series?

Liam nodded, either oblivious to or ignoring the strange expressions that had to accompanied the random thoughts in Samuel’s head.

“But yeah. Goldstone changed a great deal, or at least opened a few doors. Which meant that suddenly this new angle on an old property was feasible. We tested it out in comic form first, and it did really well.”

Yep. Samuel was convinced, this was going to be Mr. Shadow; he’d seen the comics and the stories that surrounded them. Especially considering the comics were put together by an all-Jewish team. He felt like he was going to fly off the chair, but he held himself back. “This sounds good.”

Liam snorted. “You need a poker face,” he said. “Because I can see the deductions and problem-solving running through your head as if I were inside it.”

“Sorry,” Samuel said, suitably chastened and embarrassed all at the same time.

“You can’t bottle your enthusiasm,” Liam said. “You’re excited about this, and no I’m not confirming or denying until you sign. Anyway, back to the story. The comics sold so well, the decision was made to move the project from comics into a limited series format.”

Unlike some of the other companies, BP hadn’t started playing with television yet. Which meant this was even bigger news. “Television?”

“Yep. Poker face,” Liam said as Samuel found himself laughing again.

“Sorry.”

“No worries. Anyway the company’s been looking for a way to experiment, if you will. And this is it.”

Which was fascinating.

So the Mr. Shadow origin series was going to be BP’s first foray into television.

Fascinating.

So many questions ran through Samuel’s mind, one of the many being whether Sam Moskowitz was going to be involved.

“Wow. This is fantastic.”

“Again,” Liam replied, grinning, neither confirming nor denying. “But yes. It is.”

“So…” Samuel managed. “What part do you want me to play?”

“That’s easy,” Liam replied. “We want to do a series of custom posters to tie the comics into the television series, taking it from the first series to the starting point of the new one.”

Which was something that Samuel had never expected. Lettering for BP in this way. But all he managed was: “Story art in poster form? That’s wonderful. A collectible series?”

“That’s the idea. And we’re hoping for an all-Jewish team to pull this off. Jewish writers got the concept, a Jewish artist doing main; heck I lured Oliver back to do colors.”

“Oh wow,” Samuel managed, feeling and sounding like a broken record.

“Right, it’s exciting stuff,” Liam said. But then he paused, and the expression on his mentor’s face made him feel as if something huge was about to happen.

“But here’s the thing. To do this right, we need a good, strong Jewish letterer.”

And there it was. The payoff, not exactly the offer but enough of one at this point, with all of this information and an NDA possibility, it felt like an implied offer, if not a full one.

All the same, Samuel couldn’t contain his excitement. “Oh wooow,” he said, knowingin fact, that he’d become a broken record.

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