Prologue
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Finally I am boarding my plane. I can't believe I'm leaving London for Los Angeles for a whole new adventure?! I'm so excited I almost can't restrain myself. I smile to the flight attendant and she smiles back, checks my boarding card, wishes me welcome and points towards my seat. I find it, pull out my iPad, put my carry-on in the cabinet and sits down next to the window. I look out and see how the new green buds on the trees start to spring out this beautiful, early spring day and smile to myself. Looks like I'm gonna have this double seat all by myself on this flight and I don't mind that at all!
When we are up in the air, I plug my headphones in my iPad, put on the This Is War album by Thirty Seconds To Mars. I planned to read a book, but I start to think about what got me here instead:
It all started almost six months earlier. I had a brain storm meeting with my boss at the publisher I work for. After the huge success with my last book, he wanted me to do another biography. My boss Anthony, age 44, owns the publisher I have worked for the last four years. This was no gossip or tabloid firm, we only publish authorized biographies or portraits of people. My last book was about a player on one of the teams in Premier League, as I have a passion for football, and the book was made with love and it was a lot of fun.
My other passion is music, but I almost did not dare to suggest that my next project could be about my favorite band. But Anthony saw that I had something on my mind. He said: "well Jeanine, I see you think about someone. Who do you want to write about? I need all the suggestions I can get." I looked at him, smiled shyly and said: "what about Thirty Seconds To Mars? I would like to do a portrait on all three members. And talk to their families and the people working for them. Do you think that could work?" Anthony thought about it for a moment. He scratched his head and tapped his index fingers on his lips, his usual gesticulation when he was really thinking about something. Then he smiled and said "Do you know what Jeanine? I think we can pull this off! But where do we start? How do we go about this? Do you know who we can contact so you can talk to them?"
I just grinned "Thank you Anthony! And yes, I have an idea on how we can make this work." He trusted me completely. He knows how I work and how thurrow I am in my research to make things right and make us and his firm look good. So we started working. I suggested that he should send an email to Emma Ludbrook at the Hive and send the request to her, since she is the person working closest to Jared Leto and the band. Anthony agreed and we wrote a list on what he should include in the email: our intention with the book-project, my former references and a small presentation of me and how I work. So he sent the email, with a copy to me. All we had to do now, was wait. Both Anthony and I knew this could be a long shot. Emma might not reply at all. And if she did, we might wait several days.
The waiting was almost unbearable, since I was so very excited about this! I tried to keep myself busy, but all I could think of doing, was doing further research on Thirty Seconds To Mars. I had written down their discography and their awards from the timeline on their website and the facts from Wikipedia and a chart that I wanted to fill in during interviews. I got lost in my work, because this was so much fun!
It took only a day and a half until Emma wrote us back. I read the email in my office. She thanked us for our request and told that they were thinking about a similar project themselves and they were interested in having an experienced author doing the job! She wrote that Jared, Shannon, Tomo and herself were going to have a conference call with their PR-agent, manager and lawyer to discuss details and terms and that she would come back to us within three days. She also wanted to invite me pluss one to Mars' show in the O2 arena in just little more than one week to see how things roll on tour. She said we could get the whole package: the screening of Artifact, access to the soundcheck and the concert, including VIP-backstage access with Adventures in Wonderland! She said the conference call was just a formality, since the band took most desicions themselvs. They just wanted input from their manager/lawyer/PR-agent. Jared wanted to meet me no matter what, to see if I was the right person for this. I got so excited! I could not believe this! I ran into Anthony's office and almost shouted "Have you read Emma's email yet? Oh my, this is such great news!" Anthony grinned: "yes I just saw it. Looks like you will write your book! Who do you want to bring with you to the O2?"
