America 1982

Instead of letting Page do it for him, Tommy poured two glasses of low-alcohol wine himself, walked to the sofa, handed a glass to Vanessa who was sitting opposite him, and then turned to look out the window.

Outside the window, his black bodyguard Martin was spitting at Mark Warren, venting his anger on his villa roommate Vanessa.

"I'm sorry, Vanessa." Tommy held the wine glass and said to Vanessa with a sincere expression, "You should have told me a long time ago."

After coming back, Tommy first met with Mark, and then met with Vanessa alone. He figured out the ins and outs of the whole thing from the two people's perspectives. This is how the two of them were sitting in the living room drinking, and Mark was beaten by Martin outside the door. Crazy scene.

Frankly speaking, Mark received the threatening letter entirely because of his own fault.

The person who stole Vanessa's two songs was Donna Summer, who happened to be auditioning at Westlake Recording Studio in Los Angeles that day. She is known as the black disco queen. She was not trying to steal the songs that an unknown junior like Vanessa wanted, but When Donna went to the bathroom for convenience, she happened to meet Vanessa who was touching up her makeup. She had obviously just cried. Donna Summer asked a few words, and Vanessa told her the problem she was encountering.

Then, Mark ran into trouble. Two songs were snatched away by Donna. Vanessa insisted on keeping the two songs, and Donna gave Mark a threatening letter.

This gave Mark a big headache, because Mark couldn't help Vanessa handle these two songs. Vanessa, who had long been dissatisfied with him, could use her agency contract to challenge Mark and ask for forced termination.

So the whole thing was that a black female singer had a heart attack and helped Vanessa create an opportunity to fall out with Mark, and help Vanessa get rid of her evil manager Mark.

"He is indeed not suitable for me, Tommy. He is not worthy of your trust. He...he is a terrible, terrible person!" Vanessa mustered up the courage and said seriously to Tommy.

Tommy took a sip from his wine glass and said seriously: "I understand that the lawyer will soon terminate your agency contract with this terrible guy. It's my fault. If you need financial compensation or anything like that, please contact me directly. I said, after all, I brought you to Los Angeles.”

In Tommy's eyes, Mark is certainly at fault, but his problem is not that he is a bad person, but that the way he treats every contracted client is the same. The problem is that not all women who dream of becoming stars are Michelle Al Pfeiffer or Laura Dern, who would sacrifice their beauty in order to find opportunities. Vanessa, a mixed-race product in front of her, is highly educated and her parents are teachers in private schools. This kind of woman, even if she does not become successful, is She cannot be treated the same way as a prostitute.

Mark hopes that Vanessa will become famous as soon as possible. In Hollywood, the fastest way for a woman to become famous is to sleep with an influential man in the industry. Mark has been encouraging Vanessa to be more open-minded and show the fearlessness that she showed when she took the "Penthouse" photos. Attitude to face Hollywood.

He thought Vanessa must be very open-minded because she had taken those photos. In fact, it was just the opposite. This woman was willing to expose herself for the sake of artistic perfection, but would not sacrifice herself to sleep with other people in order to make money or find so-called photo opportunities.

What made Vanessa completely give up on Mark was when she was walking in a community garden in Beverly Hills and met a male classmate from college. He was a drama actor and was now looking for opportunities to perform on stage in various theaters in Los Angeles because of the performance opportunities. There wasn’t much, so I found a job as a teaching assistant who accompanied a professional acting teacher to Beverly Hills to teach female stars how to act. The two had performed on stage together in college, so they were naturally very happy to meet each other, so Vanessa invited her Go back to your residence not far away for a chat.

As a result, this matter somehow reached Mark's ears. The guy came to Vanessa's house the next day to question Vanessa, asking why Vanessa brought the man back to sleep with him without telling him. Since it was for sex, why couldn't she accept her own arrangement? 's producer.

From Mark's point of view, Vanessa would get nothing from sleeping with the poor man she chose, and she even had to provide her own accommodation.

But if she sleeps with the men he arranges, she can get a contract as a guest star in the latest season of the hit series "L.A." and get a chance to appear on a popular TV show.

Vanessa angrily threw water on Mark's face, and the two broke up. Then it happened that Vanessa was crying and touching up her makeup during the recording in the studio, and Donna Summer reached out to help and put Mark on the bed. Stories on fire.

"You asked Vanessa to accompany those pot-bellied producers? Damn it! Such a tall, cheerful black girl, you want to leave such a tall, cheerful black girl to those ugly old white bastards?" Martin was yelling at Mark outside the window. .

Mark looked at Martin dissatisfied and counterattacked: "I am creating opportunities for her! Do you think those people will go to any woman who comes to your door..."

"You are so great, why don't you create a fucking opportunity for your mother! Let her accompany those guys? Maybe if her charm is still there, she can help you find a few rich stepfathers! I heard that, in his After his death, you can get two inheritances as his son and spouse!" Martin didn't wait for Mark to finish speaking, interrupted him directly, and continued to talk:

"If Vanessa is willing to be slept with by a rich man, why not choose Mr. Hawke? He is young and rich, and better than the old guy! You didn't notice at all that the boss drools every time he sees Vanessa? Vanessa Will Sha drool when she sees her boss? Their sleeping together is the perfect ending in the movie..."

"Mr. Page, there is a problem with Martin's work direction. Please help him adjust it." Tommy rubbed his face depressedly and said to Page: "The drooling thing is a bit too much."

Page turned and walked out, and soon Martin's long-lost screams were heard outside. Then he immediately changed his direction and focused more on greeting Mark instead of teasing Tommy and Vanessa's speech.

"Of course Mark did something wrong, but as far as the industry is concerned, the way he works is not wrong. If he didn't do it, it would be a problem. I know you think he is a pimp, and I don't want to defend him. After all, you I'm going to part ways with him soon. I want to say that the two men he kept trying to persuade you to agree to accompany didn't pay him a cent. On the contrary, he spent about 70,000 yuan to hold three closing parties and After those people got to know each other, they finally got the opportunity to send you to those two men. One of those two men is a co-producer of the series "L.A. Law" and the other is an ABC One. The producer of a popular TV variety show." Tommy looked calmly at Vanessa, who looked a little nervous across from him:

"For a lot of girls who want to become famous overnight in Hollywood, if someone is willing to put themselves in front of these two men, they can regard each other as their god."

Vanessa held the wine glass and said firmly: "I won't. In my heart, he is still a hopeless rotten person."

"Later, the lawyer can help you find another agent. For example, if Donna Summer's agency is willing to take care of you and sign you, who is now unknown, you can be in the same company with her and have Donna to protect you. , the chance of this happening will be very low." Tommy continued to say to Vanessa.

Vanessa lowered her head and took a sip of her drink: "Don't be kidding, Tommy. I would be grateful if a big shot like me happened to help me once. We all know that no one from those big companies is willing to sign someone like me... …someone with a questionable reputation.”

"Any small company will do the same thing as Mark. There is no doubt that this is the case in this industry. They feel that arranging you to be close to men who provide opportunities is making you better. If you directly express your opinion about yourself, Refuse all non-essential entertainment, I'm afraid no agent will be willing to invest in you."

"I would rather give up this career and continue to go back to New York to do makeup for people." Vanessa knew that Tommy didn't mean to intimidate her, but after thinking about it, she still said with certainty.

Tommy turned to look out the window, stood up slowly, and buttoned his suit: "It's not that miserable. I mean, maybe... maybe you can continue to stay in this agency, and Mark will disappear from your sight. Someone came to replace him, a woman named Susan, who is two years older than you. She is in the process of obtaining a private professional consultant license and a broker license. It will probably take a little time. Of course, if you insist, a lawyer can also help you. I will terminate the contract directly and then accompany you to contact other brokerage companies. You can consider it. As for me, I am going to greet Mark in person now, excuse me."

"It sounds like the company belongs to you, Tommy." Vanessa asked after hearing Tommy's words.

Tommy walked towards the outside: "No, it doesn't belong to me, it will only belong to the person who is suitable to sit in that position. Also, do you need me to call Martin in so that you can vent your anger by scolding him? Drooling is too good a description. Obscene."

"So you want me to stay?"

"I just hope you realize through this incident that we are friends." Tommy turned his head to look at Vanessa and said with a smile.

Then he walked out of the hall without stopping.

…

Neighborhood bar in Beverly Hills.

Tommy raised his beer and touched it lightly with Mark. When he saw Tommy appearing in front of him, Mark Warren even felt that for a moment, tears were almost flowing out of the corners of his eyes uncontrollably.

This period of work has made him doubt his life.

That is, it was miserable to be seen starring in a small movie by friends and family back then, or it was worse to be called by him to be a bad Hollywood agent after meeting Tommy and having him plan his life.

The full name of his agency is Open Road Talent Agency, which translates to Open Road Talent Recommendation Agency, or ORTA for short. The office is located in Century City, Los Angeles. It is much more popular than in San Francisco before, but Mark only feels depressed and uncomfortable.

"That girl should make you very angry? Don't worry, Susan will come to replace you. She is getting the permit. When she gets the permit, you can leave the hard work to her." Tommy said in his mouth He gave Mark a sip of beer, patted Mark on the shoulder, and comforted him.

"I should be happy to hear the news of relief, Tommy, but actually I want to say that if Susan was a good friend of mine, I would definitely advise her not to enter this damn desperate industry and stay away from Vanessa. A woman who lives in Hollywood but still doesn’t understand the reality.” Mark took a sip of beer in disinterest and said to Tommy.

Mark is no longer the young man who always lowered his head when walking for fear of being seen in his short movie. Today, he wears a high-end custom-made suit worth thousands of yuan and a luxury watch priced at 20,000 yuan. Most of the time, he He is like a smaller version of himself, full of energy and self-motivated, and with Tommy's encouragement, he never lacks the courage to take risks.

Under Tommy's plan, he went from being a data engineer at Actor Company to CEO of Hppe Human Resources Company in Silicon Valley, and then to the boss of Touchstone Headhunting Company in San Francisco. This was why Tommy called Mark to establish the company. Because of the Pathfinder Company, in Tommy's eyes, he should have been the most suitable candidate.

"There is absolutely no hope for this industry. Not to mention those damn Jews who control the entire film industry. It's just my own investment. I want to help Vanessa hire a body teacher, a vocal teacher, a dance teacher to train her, and hire a professional photographer. The teacher helped her design photos, find the best recording studio to record demos and send them to record companies, and also helped her get various audition opportunities. As a result, that girl couldn't see what I did at all, so she only said that I was going to She was pushed into the fire pit! Co-producer of "French"! If sleeping with that 42-year-old man can get a special role in the latest season of "French", Hollywood doesn't know how many women are willing to take the leap Get in!" Mark took a fierce sip of beer and vented his dissatisfaction to Tommy:

"If I hadn't rented West Lake Recording Studio, one of the top recording studios in the United States, to record her demo for her! Where did she think she would meet Donna Summer to save her! Do you know how much that recording studio charges? It’s a room no bigger than my bedroom, and it costs seventy dollars an hour, plus labor charges! Michael Jackson will record there! Is this how I pushed her into the fire pit?”

"Did the opportunity of "L.A. Open" go to waste?" Tommy waited for Mark to finish scolding him, then calmed down and asked calmly.

"Of course it can't be wasted. Vanessa refused, so I had no choice but to give the company another signed girl, Laura Layton. She is an advertising model who graduated from high school. She has dazzling long red hair. As expected, That role belongs to her." Mark also adjusted his emotions, relaxed himself, and said to Tommy:

"However, she didn't have a chance to appear in TV variety shows because unlike Vanessa, she didn't have any experience that could be used as a talking point on TV. Although Laura also made me confused, I even became a laughing stock because of her. Many people in the circle Everyone knew that I was bisexual and slept with the black parking attendant at Mountain View Restaurant, but she was at least willing to take a chance and cherish the fruits of my hard work..."

Tommy laughed: "I'm more curious about why you became bisexual."

Mark also laughed: "That is an unforgettable story. I helped Laura make an appointment with the producer of "L.A. French Open", helped them book a hotel room, and asked Laura to rush to the hotel room to wait, but the producer Then he called me and said that he had something to do and couldn't make it over. I called Laura, but she was bored waiting. When she heard the news that the other party couldn't make it over, this crazy woman called the hotel's call center and called for herself. She hired a cowherd to serve her and asked me to pay her bills."

"This girl is so damn cool!" Tommy exclaimed after hearing Mark's words.

Mark smiled bitterly and nodded: "Yeah, what's even cooler is that when she and the Cowherd were having a fierce battle, the producer actually finished his work and called me on the way to say that he was going to the hotel to go on a date with her, and I happened to be there. In the bathroom, the phone was in the secretary’s hand. When I came back, the secretary told me the news. I was almost scared to death. I quickly called Laura to inform her, but the cowherd told me that Laura drank a bottle of vodka and completely fucked herself. I couldn't get out of bed. I was at the Mountain View Restaurant at the time. I had no choice but to hire the parking boy with the best driving skills to be the driver. I broke the rules all the way and arrived at the hotel first. I drove the cowherd away and covered Laura's mouth with tape to hide it. In the closet, I then stripped myself naked and asked the parking boy to strip naked and lie on the bed. When the other party knocked on the door, he was shocked to see the scene between me and a black man. I said that Susan thought he would not have time to come here today, so I went shopping, and I didn’t want to waste the room fee, so I came over to relax. The producer nodded understandingly and thoughtfully said he would keep it a secret for me. As a result, the next day, many young actors with no background called me and asked me if I could. I don’t have time to chat with them, but if I give them a chance, they are willing to… become friends with me who have in-depth communication.”

"You have sacrificed so much for the company, Mark, this is a touching story." Tommy said touchingly, but the expression on his face looked more like he couldn't hold back a smile.

Mark looked at Tommy: "So, if Susan comes over, I can go back to San Francisco and continue to be the boss of my small headhunting company?"

"Of course not, Mark, don't fucking try to be lazy. You can leave the show business client work to Susan, but that doesn't mean you can take a vacation. You have to switch to a sports agent job and open a business for this Open Road Talent Agency." Territory expansion." Tommy also looked at Mark and said seriously: "Those men with well-developed limbs are easier to deal with than women with complicated minds. Find them who are not yet famous, let them trust you, be grateful to you, and sign them , wait for them to become famous, and then take commissions from their large contracts.”

"Sports star agent? That profession tests your vision and judgment more. Actors can make basic judgments based on their past works and appearance. Sports stars may have been famous yesterday, but will retire due to injury tomorrow..." Mark didn't expect Tang When Mi heard that he was preparing to return to San Francisco, he immediately arranged his work direction, but he also expressed his doubts that it was more difficult to discover sports stars than actors.

Tommy took a sip of wine and said, "I will give you a list and then follow the list to contact those people."

"Do you also have experience in discovering sports stars?" Mark laughed:

Tommy looked at Martin and Page in the distance and said, "No, but I think my vision should be good. After all, I discovered you."

"Sophia said you've been free enough to take a vacation lately, which isn't like you, Tommy."

"The vacation is over. Once I finish drinking this beer with you, I will start to get busy."

"Going to a TV station to film a TV show?"

Tommy drank the beer in one gulp: "No, go and conquer the city and turn BT TV station into BT TV network."

My son was discharged from the hospital yesterday, so I turned around and took a look at the chapters I wrote while staying with him in bed this month. It was really ugly. It was really hard-written...

Ashamed and sorry for all the readers’ support~ Starting tomorrow, I will try to resume updates~