My Hollywood System

Chapter 47:

“An agency? Are you joking with me?”

Jeffery looked at Will like he was drunk. He could understand him trying to get a studio for his movies but an agency? It was just another market.

He felt like Will was getting impatient due to his inexperience and was trying to get into several markets way too quickly.

“No, I’m not. You very well know I’m serious, and I want to create my own Agency.”

“Why? I think that you are getting too carried away with the money.”

Will smiled hearing that. After all, no matter what, he would look like a fool to others if he really got an agency so soon after becoming a millionaire.

But only he knew the advantages he had.

“I know it seems like that, but there’s an actor I have my eyes on. His contract with his Agency will end soon, and I want to rope him in no matter what.”

“I don’t think you understand my point, Will. You might not know, but the agent market is pretty big, and there are already lots of bigwigs in it. You won’t be able to fit in. It’s almost a cartel, and no one could fight them out.”

The cartel Jeffrey was talking about consisted of MCA, ICM (Innovative Creative Management), Jenkins agency and such.

They were big players who have been in the market for decades, and they won’t let just anyone enter the market to increase their competitiveness.

It was not like people who had money didn’t try to make other agencies. But they were suppressed even before their Agency could get registered.

Just last year, Zenon Arts Corporation had made a big splash into the market. One of their actors even became an A tier actor, but Jenkins soon roped him in.

They offered him a contract he wasn’t able to refuse.

ZAC tried to fight back, but they could not do anything against Jenkins. Will knew this, too, as he had obviously researched about it.

But he wasn’t scared of any agencies.

“Jeffery, I don’t know about others, but I’m not scared of any agencies.”

“Do you think it’s easy to make an unknown actor into a superstar? The probability of an actor even becoming B-list is 1 out of thousands of C-listers.”

Jeffrey told seriously. He knew Will wasn’t as impatient of a man as he looked, and most of the time, people would mistake his confidence for arrogance. But this time, even he was having trouble keeping up with Will’s carefree declarations and plans.

“Haha, Jeffrey. Let me tell you something; I’ll make an actor get an Oscar nomination in a year.”

Will said with confidence. If he used his whole arsenal, which consisted of his Hollywood System, it wouldn’t be a stretch to accomplish this task.

Jeffrey, who heard his bold declaration, couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. He was sure if someone who didn’t know about Will heard that, they would surely give him weird looks and think that Will was too high on one movie’s success.

But Jeffrey believed in Will, still believing in him didn’t make him entertain Will’s wild ideas.

“It would really be a miracle if you can do that. I am not against your idea; just know that haste will make waste. You better think everything through, and when it’s the right time, I won’t stop you.”

Jeffrey sincerely made his point. Will had a lot of potential, especially because he was so young. Jeffrey didn’t want his potential to go to waste.

In the end, Will agreed to delay the matter of the Agency for now, at least until he met with Micheal. And if things didn’t work out well even by that time, then he would just contract Micheal as an individual instead of an agency.

***

Outdoor Basketball Courts, Los Angeles.

Will was running around while dribbling a basketball with his right hand.

He was wearing a red coloured jersey and shorts with a white headband tied on his head.

He was soaked in sweat from the apparent workout, but a fresh smile could still be seen on his face as he kept dodging and dribbling, losing his ball to a teenager who looked around 17-18 years old.

“Hah…..”

He breathed loudly as he stopped in between.

“Go, Will Goooo!”

Will heard June’s voice cheering him on as he kept sweating.

Wiping his forehead with his hand, Will stood near his team’s basket.

This was called Box Out, where a player would position himself between the basket and his opponent as a way to obtain a rebound.

As the opponent who had the ball dribbled through the court towards Will’s basket, he threw the ball onto the basket, but the shot became a brick and bounced off after slamming on the rim of the basket.

Will succeeded in acquiring the ball and passed it to a player in his team who was already mid-court as he started running.

Through many passes and turns, Will was almost at the opponent teams’ basket as the ball was passed to him by his teammate.

Dribbling at a fast speed, Will managed to avoid the enemies tackle and did a slam dunk, scoring the final goal for his team.

“Yahoooooooo, We did it!!!”

“Hurrayyyyyyyy!”

Will’s team started cheering as the game ended.

***

Walking towards Will’s apartment, June kept wiping Will’s sweat with a towel in her hand.

“You did really well. I never knew you could play basketball so well. That was so exciting!”

June said as she could barely control her excitement. She was very pleased to see Will’s sweat-drenched body as it made him look more charming than usual.

Will had come out to play basketball with the teenagers in his locality.

From the past few days, he used all his free time, which he had apart from writing the script of [Sherlock Holmes], in practising for the role he was going to audition for in [17 Again].

Playing basketball was also part of practice due to the nature of his role.

“You’re working really hard for the role; I never knew you had an interest in acting.”

June said while walking with her arms scissored to Wills’. Will’s declaration to audition for a role in [17 Again] really came off as a surprise to June.

She had already prepared herself not to be surprised with anything Will said or did due to his onion-like nature, but she was still not prepared to see him acting.

“Yeah, I’m working hard, but what about you? You’re working even harder than me. You shouldn’t lose this chance and get Maggie’s role anyhow; it’ll be really helpful for your future. If you need help with it, ask me.”

Will said while still walking. As he wasn’t used to such an intense workout, his legs were sore, yet a refreshing feeling spread throughout his body.

As he was the movie’s screenwriter, he obviously knew about each character and asked June if she needed help with it.

“No, can’t do. You’ve already helped me a lot, and I’ll do my best and make you proud my snatching the role with my own ability.”

June said with firm eyes, then stuck her tongue out.

“That’s great then. Oh, by the way, what about your agent? Did you tell him you’re auditioning for this role?”

Will asked with curiosity visible in his voice as he thought about June’s agent. He had been rude to Will the first time they met, but Will had never seen him around after that.

“Don’t even talk about him. After the success of your movie, he doesn’t dare to say anything against what I have decided. He has become like a tame puppy these days. Obviously, he didn’t say anything regarding this role either.”

June said in a carefree tone. Will, who heard this, didn’t ask more about it. June would be changing agents soon anyways if everything went well with his own Agency’s setup.

***

Edward Friedman had rented a theatre for a whole week for the auditions of his new movie [17 Again]. This was also the place where he was supposed to meet Will today for his audition.

The producer of the movie, Peyton Collins and an executive from Foxstar studios, Henry Burton, were also present at the scene to look over the auditions.

As this was a movie where they were investing millions, everybody wanted the best of it. The producer, Peyton, was especially cautious about everything as he was the one who had invested the most into the movie.

As Will came to the auditions with June, Edward, Peyton and Henry, the executive from Foxstar scanned him with their eyes.

“He has just come to make a fool of himself. Why do these youngsters get so drunk on small success?”

Peyton remarked cynically to Edward while looking at Will with eyes that were filled with annoyance.

He was really annoyed at this person who thought that the world revolved around him and that he could do anything as long as he tried. Acting as an art and not everyone was gifted in it, Peyton definitely wouldn’t accept just anyone.

Will came and greeted Edward and Edward introduced him to the producer and others.

After a while, the auditions started, and Will was the first to audition.

He was given the scene with Drake Redcliff, the actor who would play teenager mike. Of course, not everyone was given the same privilege as to audition with one of the selected roles, but since Will was pretty popular, this much favouritism was fine.

“You’ll do well, don’t worry.”

June mouthed towards Will in a low voice, and Will just smiled at that.

He was given the infamous scene where Mike says, ‘I’m very disappointed in your sister’.

The scene was rather tame, and the role of Alex, which Will was auditioning for, was quiet and didn’t talk or speak loudly, was bullied and was introverted.

As Edward said ‘action’ the atmosphere around Will changed. From one a successful young man to that of an introverted teen.

The change was so sudden that many people were slack-jawed as Will started with his dialogues.

Peyton, who was looking down on Will till the very last second, looked like his eyes would pop out of their sockets any moment.

He never expected Will to be able to act so well. Although Will was supported by [Intermediate Acting], he had been practising non-stop for the last few days, complimenting his already enhanced acting skills.

Even June was pleasantly surprised at her onion of a boyfriend, who kept showing one layer after the other, completely disregarding common sense.

As Edward shouted ‘cut’, Will’s serious acting atmosphere changed as a smile formed on his face, and he walked towards Edward, who was beaming with smiles.

…

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