London, England. 7 PM.
Zane Blackwood and his team were enjoying a fancy dinner at a hotel. Cindy, the boss of the Variety Department at ITV (a big British TV channel), was their host.
"Cindy," Zane said, raising his glass with a warm smile, "thank you so much for helping us with this."
"No trouble at all!" Cindy laughed, finishing her wine. "Harry Potter was written by a British author, Ms. Rowling. Even though you published it in America first, everyone here loves it! Even the Royal Family!"
She smiled. "Plus, helping Wald Pictures with the casting is great for our brand, too. It's a win-win."
Zane nodded. It was perfect for everyone.
"Here is the plan my team made," Cindy said, pulling a stack of papers from her briefcase.
Zane didn't even look at them. He just slid them over to Old Bill, who was sitting next to him.
"Old man," Zane teased, nudging Bill with his elbow, "stop eating for a second! Don't forget you're the president of Wald Pictures."
Old Bill grumbled, "Don't worry, don't worry! I've got it handled!"
He did. Bill had decades of experience. He knew exactly what to do.
The Next Day...
In the afternoon, every single channel on ITV started broadcasting the news.
"Calling all young actors!"
"Harry Potter casting is open!"
The news was on the movie channel, the kids' channel, the shopping channel—everywhere.
In just half a day, the whole country was buzzing!
The newspapers loved it, too.
The Sun: "Harry Potter was born in the UK, and the actors will be from the UK! Mr. Blackwood has done a great job!"
The Daily Telegraph: "The book has sold almost a million copies here! This movie is going to be a huge event."
Kids all over the country were thrilled.
"Awesome!"
"I want to be Harry Potter!"
"William, you should try out! You're 13!"
"Oh no! The paper says you have to be between 8 and 12. I'm too old!"
In Oxfordshire...
A 9-year-old girl named Emma Watson saw the news on TV and jumped up with excitement.
"Is it real?!" she gasped. "Oh my gosh! This is my chance to be famous!"
Girls in the UK who wanted to be actresses started young. Emma had already done some modeling. She was ready.
"Emma Watson," she whispered to herself, "believe in yourself. You can do this!"
Her parents were excited, too. "Emma, this is your big break!"
In London...
Ten-year-old Daniel Radcliffe was with his parents and his agent. He had already been on TV as David Copperfield.
"Son," his father said seriously, "you always wanted to be famous. This is it."
"Yes," his mother agreed. "Our Daniel is so cute and handsome. He'll definitely get the part."
His agent added, "I know the bosses at ITV. I've already got you a spot in the audition. Daniel, you must do this!"
Daniel was a little overwhelmed, but he nodded like a good boy.
Five Days Later...
Over 6,300 children had signed up for the auditions!
"Hahaha!" Cindy laughed. "Zane, see? You have to thank us at ITV!"
"I do," Zane smiled. "Without you, we never would have gotten this many people. But I should congratulate you, too. Your TV station's stock price has gone way up since we announced this!"
"Haha, true," Cindy agreed.
Sitting on the sofa was Ms. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter. She stood up and looked at Zane with gratitude.
"Mr. Blackwood, thank you!" she said.
When she agreed to the movie, she had one big wish: the actors must be British. She even took less money just to make sure this happened.
Zane had agreed right away.
He knew British actors were amazing (like Ian McKellen and Christian Bale). But more importantly, he knew that casting British actors would make the UK love the movie.
And since the UK was a huge market, this would help Zane build his own movie network there. It was a smart business move and a nice thing to do for the author.
That same day, the director Zane had chosen for the movie, Chris Columbus, arrived in London.
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