The transition from a "miracle" indie production to a legitimate power player in Hollywood didn't happen with a fanfare; it happened with the ink of a long-term lease.
In the weeks following the greenlight for Star Wars, the single-floor office in Burbank had become a claustrophobic maze of concept art, technical manuals, and a mounting pile of legal documents. Tom, who had initially complained about the $6,500 monthly rent, found himself practically hyperventilating when Daniel walked into his office with a new proposal.
"The whole building, Tom," Daniel had said, leaning over the desk with a map of the complex. "All three floors. We're moving from a month-to-month rental to a five-year lease."
"Three floors?" Tom had squeaked, his voice cracking like a teenager's. "Dan, we have a full-time staff of less than ten people. We could play football on three floors and not hit a single human being."
"We're a hundred-million-dollar production house now," Daniel replied, his voice calm and anchored. "The second floor is for the VFX team and the pre-visualization suites. The third floor is for Production Design, the model shop, and the 'War Room.' The first floor stays as management, casting, and our sound suites. We need the legitimacy, Tom. I don't want to bring a legendary cinematographer or a high-level executive into a cramped hallway that smells like Sam's leftover Thai food. If we're going to build a kingdom, it'd need a castle."
Tom had groaned, but within forty-eight hours, the lease was signed. Miller Studios now occupied the entire building. The transformation was swift. Professional signage went up—a sleek, minimalist 'M' logo etched into glass and steel. Security was increased. For the first time, Daniel felt like he had a fortress that matched the scale of the movies he was eventually going to direct and produce.
This expansion was the primary reason Daniel didn't feel spread thin. He wasn't a micromanager; he was an architect. By leasing the space and bringing the departments under one roof, he reduced the "friction" of communication. He didn't have to drive across town to see a VFX mock-up; he just had to walk up a flight of stairs. He had delegated the technical heavy lifting to the veterans—Bob Elswit and Dante Ferretti—leaving him free to focus on the two things that mattered most: the vision and the people.
The pre-production for Star Wars was moving with the precision of a Swiss watch. On the third floor, Dante's team was building the first full-scale practical models of the R2-D2 units. Daniel had insisted on practical effects wherever possible, a decision that had initially baffled the Legendary executives but had won over the old-school craftsmen.
"The audience needs to believe they can touch the world, Dante," Daniel told the veteran designer as they looked over the "used future" aesthetic of a Millennium Falcon cockpit mock-up. "If it's too clean, it's just a cartoon. I want grease stains. I want wires hanging out. I want it to look like a ship that's been through a war."
"It's brilliant, Daniel," Dante said, running a hand over a weathered control panel. "It's a tactile history. It gives the actors something to push against."
---
While the galaxy was being built upstairs, Daniel was still focused on the "ground-level" truth of his second project: Juno.
He had his lead in Ellie Page. Her dry, rhythmic delivery during the SAG auditions had been exactly what was needed for her role of Juno. But he was missing the other half of the puzzle. He needed Paulie Bleeker.
He had one charge left for the month on his [Talent Hunt] ability. He had been saving it, waiting for the right moment to deploy it. He didn't want to waste it on a supporting role; he wanted to find a soul that could match Ellie's "normalism."
He sat in his new, spacious office on the first floor, the window looking out over the quiet Burbank street. He closed his eyes and triggered the ability.
Target: Archetype 'The Sincere Intellectual.'
Requirement: High-level 'Normalism' frequency.
The System flared—a deep, resonant hum in the back of his mind. A map of the Los Angeles area materialized, with a single, pulsing dot in North Hollywood.
[TALENT LOCATED: JESSE EISENBERG (Age 21)]
[Status: Un-repped / Theater Actor]
Daniel opened his eyes. He didn't wait. He grabbed his keys and signaled to Tom. "I'll be back in two hours."
---
The location was a small, run-down black-box theater called The Echo. It was tucked between a dry cleaner and a vacant storefront. Inside, the air was stale and smelled of old velvet and dust.
On the stage, a young man was rehearsing a monologue from a contemporary play. He was slight of frame, with a mess of curly hair and a face that seemed to be in a constant state of high-strung analysis.
"I-I-I didn't say that you were wrong," the young man stammered, his speech patterns rapid, almost frantic, but perfectly articulated. "I said that your premise was... was inherently flawed based on the... the data you provided. There's a difference. A massive difference."
Daniel stood in the shadows of the back row, watching. He didn't need the System to tell him he'd found his man. This was Jesse Eisenberg.
On Earth-199, he was the star of The Social Network and Zombieland. In this world, he was a twenty-one-year-old "theater rat" who had spent his entire life using acting as a shield against the world. Daniel could see it in the way he stood—the slight hunch of the shoulders, the way his eyes darted around the room as if he were waiting for a panic attack to strike.
As the monologue ended, Jesse wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and slumped onto a wooden stool. The director of the play—a weary-looking man in a cardigan—nodded and called for a break.
Daniel stepped into the light.
Jesse's head snapped up. He blinked, his eyes widening as he recognized the man walking toward the stage. Everyone in the theater world knew who Daniel Miller was now. He was the "disgraced student" turned "savior of the indie scene."
He was also known for roaming the theatres and picking up talents.
"That was good work, Jesse," Daniel said, his voice calm and steady.
Jesse stood up so fast he nearly knocked the stool over. "M-Mr. Miller? Daniel Miller? You're... you're here. In North Hollywood. At The Echo. Why are you at The Echo? This place doesn't even have a functioning bathroom on the second floor."
"I heard there was someone here I needed to see," Daniel said, stopping at the edge of the stage. "I'm casting for a new film. I'd like you to read for a role. Someone called Paulie Bleeker."
Jesse stared at him, his mouth slightly open. He didn't look excited; he looked terrified. "Me? I... I haven't done any movies. I mean, I've auditioned, but I always get told I'm... I'm 'too much.' Too fast. Too anxious. I'm basically a walking set of neuroses that someone put a costume on."
Daniel smiled. "That's exactly why I'm here. I'm not looking for a 'movie star,' Jesse. I'm looking for a human being. I've seen your work in the theater circuit," he lied through his teeth, "I know you struggle with the noise, the anxiety, the OCD. I know acting is the only place where you feel like the noise stops."
Jesse went still. The frantic energy in his hands died down. He looked at Daniel with a raw, vulnerable expression. "How do you know that?"
These were the problems that the Jesse of Earth-199 also struggled with. And seeing the expression on Jesse's face, Daniel knew he hit the nail on the coffin.
"Because I know what it's like to be an exile," Daniel said. "And I know that the things the industry calls 'weaknesses' are actually the things that make you real. Paulie Bleeker is a boy who loves a girl who's going through something he can't fully understand. He's gentle, he's sincere, and he's terrified of doing the wrong thing. He doesn't need a hero. He needs you."
Jesse took a shaky breath. He looked around the run-down theater, the place where he had spent hundreds of hours for no pay and no recognition, just to find a moment of peace in a character.
"I-I'd like that," Jesse whispered. "I'd like that very much."
"Come to Miller Studios on Monday," Daniel said. "Ask for Tom. We'll do the reading with Ellie, your co-star."
As Daniel walked out, he felt another weight lift off his shoulder. He had run out of charges for [Talent Hunt] for the month, but he had his trio for Star Wars, his lead for Juno, and now his Paulie. Jesse wasn't a one off actor either. The puzzle pieces were falling into place with an almost frightening precision.
---
The following Monday, the first floor of Miller Studios was buzzing.
Daniel had finalized the rest of the Juno cast. For the roles of Vanessa and Mark Loring—the couple hoping to adopt Juno's baby—he had selected two veteran actors who had the perfect "polished-yet-fragile" energy. For Juno's parents, he had chosen character actors who understood the "blue-collar stoicism" required for the roles.
But the centerpiece was the table read.
In the large studio room on the first floor, Ellie Page and Jesse Eisenberg sat across from each other. Around them, the rest of the cast and the core crew—Sarah, Sam, and Benny—waited. Tom sat next to Daniel, a fresh stack of scripts in front of him.
"Alright," Daniel said, looking around the room. "This is Juno. We're shooting this in twenty-two days, guerrilla-style, in the suburbs. It's the opposite of the project happening upstairs. There are no starships here. There are just people trying to figure out how to be adults before they're even twenty. Let's hear it."
Ellie Page cleared her throat. She looked at Jesse, who was gripping his script so hard his knuckles were white. She gave him a small, conspiratorial wink.
"This is the third test I've taken today," Ellie read, her voice flat and dry. "I'm like the 'Etch-A-Sketch' of fertility. One shake and I'm pregnant again."
The room erupted in a small ripple of laughter.
"I... I think I'm going to throw up," Jesse read, his voice perfectly capturing Paulie's gentle, high-strung panic. "Not like, in a bad way. Just in a... in a 'this is a lot of information' kind of way."
The chemistry was instantaneous. It was the "Normalism" frequency in its purest form. They didn't sound like actors reading lines; they sounded like two teenagers caught in a situation that was far bigger than them.
Daniel watched through the [Director's Lens], visualizing the scenes. He saw the orange Tic-Tacs, the tracksuits, the oversized hoodies. He saw the autumn leaves and the quiet, suburban streets.
Beside him, Sarah was already making notes on the lighting. "Naturalistic, Dan. Lots of soft, indirect light. We want it to feel like a memory."
"Exactly," Daniel said.
The read-through was a triumph. By the time they reached the final scene—the two of them playing guitar on the front porch—there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Even Benny looked a little choked up.
As the cast began to filter out, Daniel stood by the window, looking out at the Burbank lot.
Pre-production on Star Wars was proceeding smoothly. The VFX team on the second floor was already finishing the first "pre-viz" models of the Death Star trench run. The model shop was buzzing with the sound of saws and sanders. The "Grandmasters" were guiding the young crew with a steady, veteran hand.
Miller Studios was no longer just a name. It was an ecosystem.
Daniel looked at the "System" interface. The second main quest—[THE BIRTH OF A SAGA]—was active, the requirements glowing in his mind. $500 million. It was a staggering number, but as he watched his team work, he didn't feel the weight of it.
He felt the momentum.
Tom walked up, leaning against the doorframe. "You were right, Dan. The whole building. It was the right move. We have the space to breathe now."
"We're going to need it," Daniel said. "The Juno shoot starts in two weeks. We'll be doing that by day, and I'll be doing Star Wars reviews by night. Are you ready?"
Tom smiled, a look of reckless, exhausted joy on his face. "I haven't slept in three weeks, Dan. I think I'm officially ready for anything."
"Good," Daniel said. "Because the next six months… it's going to be a heck of a ride."
The sun set over the Burbank hills, casting long shadows across the three floors of Miller Studios. In the "War Room," the models of X-wings gleamed in the twilight. On the first floor, the scripts for Juno sat in neat stacks.