Bigstar

Chapter3

There is no doubt that Hollywood is the entertainment and cultural center of the United States and even the world.

Here, there are brokerage companies of all sizes gathered, and countless agents have emerged as the times require. They are the hub of all information and resources in Hollywood, and also the all-purpose solution that keeps this huge arena of fame and fortune running smoothly.

Currently, there are four brokerage companies recognized as the most powerful.

The Creative Artists Agency is abbreviated as CAA, the William Morris Agency is abbreviated as WMA, the International Creative Management is abbreviated as ICM, and the United Talent Agency is abbreviated as UTA.

Among them, CAA is the largest in scale, with nearly two-thirds of Hollywood's star clients under its umbrella. Just like the building where its headquarters is located, CAA is the invincible "Death Star" of Hollywood.

It was in this famous Death Star building that Josie met Martha Miller.

The other party was between twenty and thirty years old— forgive her, she had to admit that she was a bit face-blind when it came to white women— wearing a white shirt and a black suit skirt, with her dark brown hair neatly coiled up, looking elegant and mature, and very professional.

However, having learned a bit about the Hollywood agent industry, Josie thought that Martha Miller was a bit too young and too beautiful. If she wasn't just a pretty face, she must have some outstanding qualities.

"You're very lucky, Josie— I think I can call you that?" This was Martha's opening remark.

They were currently sitting in the uniform reception room of CAA. In the small room, there was a set of sofas and a glass coffee table, and on the table was Josie's actress resume.

"Hmm?" Josie didn't give a definite answer.

Although sitting on Martha's side, she still adjusted her sitting posture and showed an appearance of listening attentively.

So Martha smiled and said, "Roughly speaking, there are nearly ninety thousand actors flowing in Hollywood every year, among which actresses account for about three-fifths. How many of them can make it to the forefront? Less than one percent. And among this one percent of lucky ones, how many can truly become famous— I dare say, only twenty people."

"CAA can help you become one of the one percent, and I can make you one of the final twenty winners."

"I adhere to elitism. Signing a bunch of newbie actresses who want to become famous and waiting for one of them to stand out is a waste of time for both parties, and it's not my style of doing things."

"My client list usually stays at around three, and they are all actresses. This saves me a lot of trouble and allows me to focus more on my work." Martha named two of her clients: "Kelly McGillis, from *Top Gun*, I think you've seen it; Kim Basinger, from *Nine 1/2 Weeks*, a top Hollywood vase."

She paused and looked at Josie.

Josie smiled at Martha, with an appropriate social expression on her face, neither shocked, nor ecstatic or timid.

Very calm.

Martha liked her performance, but this situation that exceeded her expectations was also a bit puzzling and disturbing.

It seemed that things were getting out of control.

Don't be fooled by her fluent talk. In terms of seniority here, she was only a little better than a pure mailroom intern, because she had only been at CAA for five years in total, and two of those years were spent in the mailroom for training.

But unfortunately, things hadn't gone smoothly for the two actresses she had taken on.

Kelly McGillis had long passed her career peak, and after marrying into a wealthy family, her focus had returned to her family; Kim Basinger had never made a breakthrough. Sharon Stone had blocked the path for blonde bombshells of the same type. Not to mention that she had married Alec Baldwin last year and was currently preparing for pregnancy.

It was precisely because of this that the agency affairs of these two actresses had fallen into her hands. To be exact, she was only their co-agent.

A newbie actress without a background naturally wouldn't attract the attention of the senior executives of CAA when she first entered the industry, even if someone had put in a good word.

So Josie, this newbie, was also assigned to a novice agent.

Josie smiled softly. "It's my honor."

"But, as far as I know—" she drawled the ending sound and raised her eyebrows, "Kelly McGillis is busy taking care of her husband and children, and Kim Basinger was sued by the producers of *Boxing Helena* for breach of contract. Let me think, she seems to have gone bankrupt in court?"

She opened her beautiful big eyes and smiled at Martha.

Damn it, Kelly was one thing.

Why did this little girl know everything about Kim's lawsuit?

Martha's calm demeanor unconsciously disappeared.

And the person who dominated the conversation between them also quietly changed.

However, Josie didn't seem to notice Martha's embarrassment. She continued in a composed tone, "Oh, you look quite curious. Actually, I'm a fan of Sherilyn Fenn, so I know a bit about this movie."

In fact, this movie directed by Jennifer Lynch, the daughter of David Lynch, had lost two leading actresses in a row. Sherilyn Fenn had reluctantly taken over the role because she was filming David Fincher's *Twin Peaks*, but the final film was just so-so, directly causing Jennifer Lynch's debut to be a fiasco.

So the mainstream media had been silenced through public relations, and this matter was rarely mentioned.

Naturally, there was no mention of Kim Basinger's bankruptcy. The public would only know that this actress spent twenty million dollars to buy a town and suffered a huge loss, and that she was passionately in love and married to the popular young actor Alec Baldwin, rather than the fact that she would rather go bankrupt due to breach of contract than continue filming Jennifer Lynch's movie.

Martha took a deep breath secretly, and her whole body involuntarily tensed up. She controlled herself and didn't avoid Josie's gaze. She twitched the corners of her mouth stiffly and said, "Look, this is exactly why I need a new client, and coincidentally, you showed up at this time."

Josie smiled back.

The girl adjusted to a more comfortable sitting position, leaning back against the chair. "Tell me, Ms. Miller, among so many agents in CAA, why should I choose you?"

This kind of trivial matter of assigning a newbie wouldn't be** by any big shot. Even though Mark had promised to help her, at most his stepfather would casually mention it to his own agent, and that was all.

So Martha Miller wasn't a very important figure.

But her ability was sufficient to serve Josie at present, although there were hundreds of agents like her outside.

The general promotion model for Hollywood agents is: newbie— secretary— assistant— junior agent— senior agent.

However, CAA is different. Their business cards have no titles, the meeting rooms and reception rooms are available for anyone to use, and even the payroll is arranged in alphabetical order. It seems that everyone is equal.

The top of the pyramid can call the shots, such as Michael Ovitz, the head of CAA, Ron Meyer, the founder, and Bryan Lourd, the co-founder, etc., who don't care about daily affairs; the next level is the senior partners of the company, who have connections and don't worry about clients; the rest are collectively called agents, and Martha is one of them, with varying degrees of power; at the bottom are the mailroom interns, who can be switchboard operators, nannies, drivers, assistants... In short, they have to do everything, including but not limited to walking the wives' dogs and sending their children to school for other agents.

And CAA's most distinctive packaging service and the teamwork that makes 1 + 1 > 2 have little appeal to Josie at this stage.

The reason for choosing CAA is, first of all, she didn't have much of a choice, and secondly, it is the top in the industry, which can save a lot of trouble.

Martha pursed her red lips and said seriously, "I can take care of the matters with Richard Good and Steven Seagal for you, so that you don't have to worry about them."

That trash agent wasn't worth mentioning, but as a second-tier action star, Steven Seagal did have the ability to bring endless trouble to Josie.

Josie curled her left index finger and gently tapped her chin, raising it slightly.

This action reduced the pure and sweet temperament in her personal charm a lot, making her look somewhat aloof and indifferent.

"Go on," Martha heard her say.

"In principle, I don't object to the unspoken rules, because this has always been the atmosphere in the industry, but I won't force you to do it. Some people don't like me, but some people do. " Martha raised her eyes and glanced at Josie. "I guess you're the latter."

Josie smiled at her, not giving a definite answer.

Martha had to say, "Well, as you know, there are indeed some minor problems with my clients, but I do have some experience and connections in promoting actresses. Most importantly, I've always respected the choices of my clients."

As she said this, she herself seemed to feel a bit embarrassed, especially since Josie's gaze had been very calm from beginning to end. But there was no extra expression on Martha's face, as if the person who had been talking confidently ten minutes ago was someone else.

Well, she had to admit that Josie was unexpectedly excellent.

Yes, Josie was very beautiful.

But there were plenty of beautiful girls. What was rare was the kind of beauty that had characteristics and could maintain its charm even in front of the camera.

Josie's expression management and emotional control were very good, even far better than most adults and celebrities. Coupled with her graceful posture as if it were ingrained in her bones, it made her radiant and different from other young girls.

Martha thought she had the temperament of a star, and her personality was also suitable for the acting path.

It could be said that even if the dinosaurs from *Jurassic Park* really ran out, Martha believed that the girl in front of her would first think about how to survive, instead of putting on high heels and screaming with her head in her hands.

Just like now, Josie had a knowing smile on her lips, making people neither feel embarrassed nor look down on her. She said slowly, "Yes, you've learned about me, Ms. Miller, and that's good. Also, I have to tell you that I'm a straightforward person, and I hate trouble. I'll tell you what I want, and you go and find it and fight for it. It's that simple, and I will reward you with enough commission, fame... and, most importantly, power."

The room was quiet for two minutes because of her words.

Obviously, Martha was first a bit shocked and couldn't hide it. Then she lowered her head and thought seriously for a while before saying, "Miss Horton, I have to say that your eloquence exceeded my expectations."

Josie smiled but didn't speak.

Martha took a deep breath. "I admit that I'm a bit impressed by you, but I need to conduct a test."

Josie said, "I'd like to hear the details."

Martha handed Josie a sorted script page.

When she saw Josie start to flip through it, she said, "The future you described requires you to have sufficient professional ability as a prerequisite. And in fact, you've only filmed a chewing gum commercial— to be honest, it was quite bad."

Josie didn't seem to be offended. She just slightly curled the corners of her lips.

She lowered her head to read, looking serene and composed.

Martha admired her in her heart and continued, "According to your image and experience, I've prepared several auditions for you in advance. I think this short film from the University of Southern California is the most suitable for you, and the audition is in an hour."

"Okay." Josie raised her head and closed the simple script page. "Is there any second-hand store nearby? I need to change my clothes."

Martha replied, "CAA has a dedicated costume department, and there are cooperating stylists on standby at any time."

Josie smiled and extended her hand. "Just the clothes will be fine. And, shall we congratulate ourselves on reaching a preliminary agreement?"

She seemed to like smiling a lot.

"Don't be too happy too soon." Martha shook her hand out of courtesy but still said, "You have to prove that you're worthy, Miss Horton."

The Josie in front of her released her hand, stood up from the seat, and said, "It's Josie. You can call me Josie now."

After that, she picked up the script page.

"Where is your costume department? I think we're a bit short on time. After all, the traffic in Los Angeles isn't very good, although I really like this city..."