I'm in Hollywood

Chapter 269: Long Time No See

Carolin Elwitt almost had no hesitation when she said, "I need a few months to complete the business I have in hand. Firefly has great potential, as Eric pointed out, and it was obvious to everyone which job would be the right choice for a small accounting firm's owner and the financial director of a large company.

"Of course, no problem," Eric said. Several departments of the company were now under Robert's control, and Eric himself had no suitable person, so he didn't say anything else. But Eric had to pay more attention to the company's finances, and it was the best choice to have Caroline Elwitt, whom he was still quite familiar with, take this position. As for Robert Shaye, Eric believed that as long as he was smart enough, he would not oppose this decision.

The two chatted for a while and then went to the office together under the notice of the staff.

Carolin Elwitt almost had no hesitation when she said, "I need a few months to complete the business I have in hand. Firefly has great potential, as Eric pointed out, and it was obvious to everyone which job would be the right choice for a small accounting firm's owner and the financial director of a large company.

"Of course, no problem," Eric said. Several departments of the company were now under Robert's control, and Eric himself had no suitable person, so he didn't say anything else. But Eric had to pay more attention to the company's finances, and it was the best choice to have Caroline Elwitt, whom he was still quite familiar, take this position. As for Robert Shaye, Eric believed that as long as he was smart enough, he would not oppose this decision.

The two chatted for a while and then went to the office together under the notice of the staff.

The meeting didn't last long, and the main issue discussed was the financials of Firefly and New Line, as well as development plans for next year. Robert Shaye's face was very interesting when Carolin Elwitt reported on the financials of Firefly, since New Line had released six or seven movies this year, including Harlem Night Club, but the total revenue wasn't even close to the first installment of Home Alone 2. And according to the contract, Robert Shaye had 15 percent of the shares of Firefly but he could only listen to Carolin Elwitt read out the profit data without getting any money from it.

Eric also announced during the meeting that he would appoint Carolin Elwitt as the company's Chief Financial Officer, although Robert Shaye was unhappy with it and did not refute it.

The meeting lasted for an entire afternoon. After it was over, Eric stopped Robert Shaye, who was about to leave, and asked, "Robert, how is the videotape release of 'Harlem Night Club' coming along?"

"I have already made the first batch of 100,000 boxes of videotapes, Eric. Do you really think 'Harlem Night Club' can rely on the influence of 'Seattle Night' to rekindle its sales?" Robert Shaye asked with doubts.

Eric nodded affirmatively: "Of course, Robert. 100,000 boxes are too few. The first batch should be at least 300,000 boxes. You should pay attention to this matter as much as possible."

Robert Shaye hesitantly rocked back and forth like a pendulum: "Eric. This is too risky. I think 100,000 copies is enough, and that's already a million dollars. We'll definitely have to spend more money on marketing. If the videotape really sells well, then we can have the factory rush it."

"What if we can't catch up?" Eric countered: "Robert, trust me, make 300,000 copies and spread them out. Tell those distributors that they can pay after they sell. "We must ensure that the videotape "Golden Bond" is available through all channels available to us."

"This..." Robert was still hesitant. An old movie from more than 30 years ago, after being stimulated by "Sleepless in Seattle", would be quite good to sell 100,000 boxes. However, Eric directly asked him to produce 300,000 boxes and to use such sales methods, which in Robert's opinion was almost like throwing money into the river.

Eric thought for a moment and said, "Robert, this time listen to me, okay? If it turns out I'm wrong, I won't get involved in any business of the company for a year."

Robert was immediately moved when he heard Eric say this. What he was most afraid of was Eric interfering with the management of the company. Out of age prejudice, Robert did not think that Eric had any ability in managing a movie company, but only possessed the current wealth and status relying on a few successful movies. In that case, he should obediently go to make movies instead of talking about the management of the company. But what made him helpless was that Eric owned 85% of the company's shares.

With Eric's promise, even if it was just verbal, Robert Shaye felt that he could take a gamble. With a cost of $3 million for 300,000 videotapes, in Robert's view, it was very worthwhile to exchange for his "absolute control" of Firefly for a year: "Okay, Eric, I will implement your plan as soon as possible."

Eric watched Robert Shyly leave, smiling to himself, thinking that this method might work to drive Robert to do things according to his will.

After tidying up, Eric left the office and prepared to drive home. Just as he stepped out of the building, a thirty-something brunette white woman came over and stopped him in a few strides.

When Eric stopped, the woman introduced herself eagerly: "Mr. Williams, I'm Carolina Cody; do you remember me? We've met before."

Eric had almost forgotten about Carolina Cody, whom he had met in New York, but he could not fail to recognize the man who was following her—Brad Pitt.

Hello again, Ms. Cody. Eric smiled and shook her hand, feeling a bit embarrassed compared to Ms. Cody's enthusiasm. It seemed like he was definitely against his agent's initiative to make contact.

"Hello, Ms. Cody, nice to see you again," Eric smiled and shook her hand. He thought the situation was quite amusing; he had thought he would never see Brad Pitt again after that incident.

Ms. Cody smiled when she saw Eric remembering her. She was really well-maintained; Eric couldn't even tell how old she was.

"Mr. Williams, do you still remember your invitation? I have already joined UTA with my team."

Eric remembered and recalled that indeed something like this had happened. He had seen Carolina Cody with Brad Pitt taking the initiative to apologize, and thinking that this woman is really good at dealing with people, he casually said something, but Eric looked at the two people in front of him and still asked: "When was this?"

"A..... a week ago," Carolina Cody answered. Seeing that Eric showed no other expression, the woman quickly added: "Mr. Williams, can I invite you to have dinner?"

Eric looked at Carolina Cody and glanced at Brad Pitt, who was standing behind her with a polite smile. Soon he remembered the other party's purpose of finding him: "Ms. Cody, Mr. Pitt is not auditioning for the lead role in The X-Files, is he?".

Eric saw through the situation, and Carolina Cody smiled awkwardly. She then said, "Mr. Williams, Brad Pitt had an audition this afternoon, but unfortunately you weren’t there. That’s why I came personally to talk to you."

"Alright then," Eric glanced at the man behind Carolina and said, "Mr. Pitt, you don’t have to go. Just wait for news."

Brad Pitt’s face suddenly became awkward when he heard this. Carolina realized that Eric still didn’t like the man behind her and could only give him a glance.

"Well…I will go back then," Brad Pitt finally spoke up, "Mr. Williams, goodbye."

Eric just nodded slightly towards Brad Pitt and waited until he drove away by himself before he opened his car door and said to Cheryl Cody, "Ms. Cody, please get in."

"Oh, thank you," the woman quickly climbed into the passenger seat.

After ordering in a restaurant, Cheryl Cody eagerly said to William Smith, "Mr. Smith, in fact, Brad's acting is very good. If you don't believe it, you can watch the audition tape of Brad in the X-Files. He just didn't get any good opportunities."

Eric naturally knew that Brad Pitt was very good at acting, and he had won more awards and nominations than Tom Cruise. However, there are countless Hollywood actors who are excellent but have not been successful, but there are only so many opportunities.

Eric smiled playfully at the woman in front of him and asked, "Ms. Cody, do you only have one actor, Brad Pitt, under your management?"

Carolin Elwitt was taken aback by the question, and shook her head, "No, there are only four or five."

Eric shrugged. "Oh, then you must be really good to Brad."

Carolin's face flushed a bit. Of course she could tell what Eric was implying, but being a talent manager and having actors under her was nothing to be embarrassed about. She had heard of a music producer in his late 40s who made a twelve year-old girl famous and even made her his wife. The girl's name was something like Celine.

Having adjusted her attitude, Carolin Elwitt spoke with a hint of appeal: "Mr. Williams, can you give Pitt a chance? He won't let you down."

Eric looked at the woman in front of him and was quickly calculating in his mind. With this enthusiastic agent helping Brad Pitt, although he was already 26, male actors, especially handsome ones, had a relatively long shelf life. Brad Pitt was bound to make it in Hollywood sooner or later, which was something Eric didn't want to see happen.

Since this was the case, giving the lead role in X-Files to Brad Pitt would do only harm and no good. Like Friends, The X-Files had very fixed character images; after ten or eight seasons of acting, it was almost impossible for the actors to change their screen image, and the possibility of restarting in the big screen was even slimmer. Of the six lead actors of Friend, only Aniston had successfully transitioned to the big screen. And Aniston had paid a great price for it. In order to transition to the big screen and not let the audience associate her with Rachel Green, Aniston had taken on many very challenging roles.

Although he had already made his decision, Eric was still quite generous, and after a moment of thought, he directly reminded Ms. Cody, "Ms. Cody, you have to think it through. Once Brad takes on the role of the lead in 'X-Files', his image on the silver screen could very well become fixed and it will be very difficult for him to transition in the future. Because the lead actor in this TV series has to sign a contract for at least five seasons."