My Hollywood System

Chapter 85:

As [Sherlock Holmes] was wreaking havoc in the whole Hollywood industry, Will decided to use this opportunity to launch his talent agency.

Dream Talent Agency was announced by Will and released to the public with their main faces as Robert and Ewan. At the same time, Ewan’s next movie, [Birdman] was announced by Simon Vercetti.

Around that time, Will did an interview in which he revealed that they already have more than 1500 applications just from LA alone. Apart from that, they have also started taking in online auditions via recorded videos which the participants were sending to them through the official website from all over the world. In the end, Will also announced that he would fly all the selected candidates to LA with all expenses coming from his own pockets.

At one point the site even crashed and Will had to recruit more IT professionals to solidify the foundation of the site and give it a better UI.

DTA was already in talks with various studios regarding Robert’s next role. As the news about everything related to his agency started circulating, the general audience went into an uproar.

It caused a lot of reactions from various people and the media. There were already various Hollywood Times and Hollywood Daily articles reporting about how Dream Vision had changed its office location and had also invested in a talent agency.

Some articles took a step further and started discussing how this move was to counter ICM as they reportedly had a clash with Will Evans before. Although, all these were baseless rumours without any proof to back it all up.

On a famous internet forum, people were continuously in a debate regarding various situations.

– ICM is going to get it good, they poked the new ‘big deal’ of Hollywood.

– Dude, Will is still like a young hatchling in front of ICM. Don’t just say anything you want.

– How long do you guys think Ewan would stay in DTA? I would say around 1 year at most since he has had a history of having a fight with almost all his previous agencies.

– 1 year? You must be kidding. I would be surprised if he lasts 3 months.

– Sheesh you guys be talking just anything when you should be discussing the masterpiece known as [Sherlock Holmes].

– True that. Bro, I love Michael Robert. He was just perfect, not gonna lie.

– He was good. But without Levi Richards, his role wouldn’t look that cool. Our Watson was just way too cool. Now I feel funny about how they ruined Watson so much in [Detective Sherlock Holmes] all those years ago.

– Y’all forgetting about ma boi Ewan. He literally gave me the chills with his acting. I’m sure Blackwood would make a comeback.

– Feels like Will used all his potential to make the best movie he can.

– The guy above me needs to buy a brain. These people always are like Will this, Will that, One-time star and whatnot. He already proved you wrong, just wait and see. I have a feeling it’s the rise of a new era of Hollywood. Just make sure you don’t die before seeing it.

– [MOD: tc ] Guys at least maintain the minimum of decorum while chatting Mxkskskakkakakksk

***

Dream Group’s Office, Emerald Tower, Santa Monica.

On the topmost floor of the newly formed Dream Group’s office, Will was seated on a chair with Amanda and Jeffrey seated right in front of him, with a glass table separating them.

Behind Will, one could see a glass wall giving views to the beautiful ocean and Santa Monica city.

Two of the six floors were still under renovation. The hiring process for acquiring new staff was also going on with many applications coming in and making it hard for the Human Resources team to cope

Most of the team for the employee positions had been hired and the people who had been selected in the first round of auditions would need to go through a second round and if they passed, they would need to go through an interview and one more round of auditions to get selected.

Will told that he would be present there himself for the third round to oversee the auditions. He also gave Jeffrey a list of people he could recruit.

“Your meeting is scheduled at 12 pm, please prepare yourself.”

Amanda reminded Will and he nodded his head. Around Will, Amanda acted more like a secretary than the CEO of his company, which reminded Will that he needs to get a secretary to do his miscellaneous work and he can’t always depend on Amanda for everything.

***

In the conference room, Will was meeting with Jennifer, Benjamin’s daughter. She was as beautiful as ever, although this time around, the frilly yellow dress or that girlish vibe was nowhere to be seen, instead, it was replaced by a woman entrepreneur like atmosphere. She was wearing a low cut black dress and had a leather bag in her hand, looking like a fashion model.

The reason she was here was due to her occupation. She was an agent in the free market and had been in the industry for some years now. Although she was offered an agent position in MCA, she didn’t accept it due to wanting to stand on her own instead of getting a career served to her on a golden platter.

In this world, there was an exam held every year if one wanted to be an agent in Hollywood, Jennifer had come at the top of her batch in the exams.

As Will knew Benjamin wouldn’t leave MCA for his talent agency and even if he did Will would lose out an important connection to MCA, so he decided to opt-out for someone else as the head of DTA.

After recalling that Jennifer was also an agent and was someone very strong-willed and determined for success, he couldn’t help but think of considering her for the position. After all, her situation was the same as his previous life, but in her case, she stood up for herself and left her dad’s shadow behind while following her own path, while Will wasn’t able to get rid of that shadow before he died.

“You have gotten pretty big that you don’t even get time to meet now.”

She started out directly with a snarky remark and Will could just shake his head.

“You do know how things go in this industry. I’m pretty sure you know how busy I’m. I don’t even get time for myself.”

“Whatever you say.”

Jennifer said and gave him a sharp look. Will of course knew that this was just how she acted, though her real intentions were never like this. And he didn’t call her here for this.

“Anyway, we can bicker all our lives. Let’s get down to business first.”

“Sure.”

Her air again changed as Jennifer composed herself. After that, the interview started.

“I have a habit of getting to the topic straight, so I will be honest. The reason I scheduled a meeting with you is that your record is great. Three actors and one actress in five years of careers and every one of them got elevated in their careers under you.” Jennifer made a proud smile but Will’s expression changed. “But what was the reason that you were changed eventually? That speaks of problems.”

“The reason isn’t because of me. Mark, my first actor, was really undisciplined. He got a supporting role in a war drama but spent all his money on girls and parties. He was not serious enough. The same thing happened to my second actor. Gwen, the actress that I worked with for more than two years got pregnant during shooting with the director. She left Hollywood and married him. My last actor, Andrew, was a peculiar case. He was pretty serious in his acting but was not able to take setbacks. His family was rich so he ended up taking over their business in the end due to stability.”

Will nodded hearing her explanation but then asked.

“Doesn’t this say that you don’t have a good eye for people?”

“No.” Jennifer shook her head with utmost confidence. “All of them were good actors, even excellent. What they lacked was discipline and fear of failure. I can get roles for them but I can’t interfere in their personal life too much. An agent needs to stay within certain boundaries.”

Will asked a few more questions regarding this and Jennifer always answered with a surety. It seemed like she had prepared for every kind of question.

“What do you think talent is?”

“It’s hard to say but I do know we see talent wrong. Acting talent is just basic. In the end, we are making stars in Hollywood and not actors. We need to see the whole package while selecting actors which means talent, determination, ambition and sometimes even luck.”

She then gave an example of a famous actor, Donald Wilson. He was a pretty ordinary actor but due to his luck, he had been a B-Lister for years and had been a part of some famous movies.

Even when his career is hit by one bad movie after the other, he would act in a good one in the end and save it.

Will was pretty satisfied with most of her answers and went on with some more basic questions which Jennifer answered with ease.

In the end, Will asked.

“What do you think I’m interviewing you for? Which role in my agency?”

“That is something you have to tell me.”

“Any guesses?”

“As your agency is just starting, you probably want me to handle an important position. Due to my record and maybe also because of our relationship.”

Will nodded his head hearing that and then explained.

“Well, I want you as the head of DTA.”

…

//DreamNote// ?Important?

There will be no bonus chapters in the month of April. Ramadan starts from now, I won’t be able to write 2 chapters of MHS in one day because of the busy schedule.