Chapter 4 - Chaos at William Morris

It was already night and the streetlights had began turning on.

Simon looked at two women who were dumbfounded at his revelation and said, "You two really should get going since Malibu is quite far from her," He paused before stating, "Also, Kathryn, I think you should drive since it's too dangerous for Ms. Johnston to drive with high heels on."

Seeing that Simon showed no signs of his previous illness, Kathryn felt relieved but she acted sensibly and didn't ask about his past.

When she glanced at her uncharacteristically quiet friend, however, Kathryn felt a hint of schadenfreude. The female hooligan pretending to be lunatic finally met a real lunatic from a mental hospital.

After helping her friend sit in the car, Kathryn also got in the car. After slightly hesitating, she said to Simon, "Call me in case you run into trouble."

After saying that, she slowly stepped on the accelerator as the burgundy Ford sedan gradually merged with the traffic.

Watching the car drive off, Simon slung his backpack over his shoulders and turned to leave.

He visited a a nearby store and bought a map of downtown Los Angeles. Then, he went to a street food restaurant, ordered the cheapest meal, and began looking through the map.

Because he had inherited the memories of a dozen other souls, Simon knew all kinds of information about Hollywood, and all of Los Angeles, from its geography to its entertainment gossip over the next three decades.

'I just realized I have the potential to become a very successful paparazzi,' he thought.

Smiling at his own joke, Simon easily found the location of WMA's office on the map.

Camino Street was located in the prosperous Beverly Hills, not far from the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard. Located nearby was Century City where major media companies such as 20th Century Fox and WMA’s rival, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), were situated.

After marking the location of WMA, Simon found the address and location of Writers Guild of America West (WGA-West) and circled it, as well.

Soon, the waiter brought his dinner. After Simon filled his stomach, he walked out of the restaurant after paying for the meal.

'Now, how do I leave Burbank?' he wondered.

In the 1980s, there were no buses or subways in Los Angeles. Taxis were also pitifully scarce, and they needed to be booked by phone.

Wandering through the street for more than half an hour, Simon did not find a single taxi and realized that he had underestimated the inconvenience caused by the lack of public transportation in Los Angeles. He suddenly regretted not asking Kathryn to give him a ride.

Finally, he decided that had no other option than to stay overnight at a hotel in Burbank.

---

Early next morning, with the help of the hotel owner, Simon called and booked a taxi. He paid the driver $15 dollars, including the tip, to drop him off in West Hollywood on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Standing near Melrose Avenue, although he still had a lot of distance to cover, Simon decided to walk in order to save money. Fortunately, he had the whole day to make the journey. Following the directions on the map, Simon walked south to Fairfax Avenue along the nearby north-south intersection with Melrose Avenue for more than 20 minutes before arriving outside WGA-West's office.

Naturally, Simon had not come to join the guild. He currently didn't even have the qualification to do so. He had come to register his two scrips with the guild and obtain copyright certificates for them.

---

According to the federal copyright law, in theory, creators automatically obtained a copyright as soon as they created a work. However, in reality, once a legal dispute occurred, whether one had a physical copyright certificate or not tended to become a very crucial piece of evidence.

In the United States, there were many ways to register copyrights. There were even some private registration agencies.

The most authoritative of them was naturally the United States Copyright Office. However, due to the extremely-low work efficiency of the government agencies, the creator may have to wait 4-6 months before they obtained a copyright certificate with the further review process taking even longer.

As a result, in Hollywood, registering a copyright through WGA had become the preferred choice for most screenwriters.

As long as they presented the materials and the registration fee, the creator could basically obtain a registration certificate on the same day.

Of course, there were a few disadvantages to registering with WGA such as the copyright period only lasting for 5-10 years, and requiring a renewal on expiration. On the other hand, US Copyright Office's registration was permanent, and it could provide complete protection in the event of legal disputes.

---

After some consideration, Simon chose to register both of his scripts.

The registration fee for a single script was $20. The cost of two scripts plus the printing of materials further dried up Simon's wallet. Leaving WGA's office, thinking of the meeting in the afternoon, Simon made a copy of The Butterfly Effect's script, and bought an electronic watch at a roadside stand for less than $2.

By the time he left, it was already past noon.

After buying some cheap food to quell his hunger, Simon checked his wallet. His balance of $198 dollars from yesterday had unknowingly fallen to less than $97.

He felt slightly depressed, but did not panic.

At worst, he would have to live on the streets. The likelihood of starving to death was actually very low since he could get some free food stamps from a church.

His appointment with Jonathan Friedman was at four o'clock in the afternoon. In order to ensure that nothing went wrong, Simon arrived outside WMA's office half an hour in advance.

---

WMA's office on Camino Street was located inside a very modern-looking glass-steel structure building. Although it was not very tall, it stilled looked quite magnificent compared to other mediocre-looking office buildings surrounding it.

Five minutes before four o'clock, Simon stepped into WMA's office.

After he explained his business to the receptionist, she made a call. Soon, a young man who seemed less than thirty years old walked towards him. The young man was dressed in a clean white shirt and black trousers. He was tall and thin, with gold-rimmed glasses, and seemed like a meticulous yet polite man.

The two briefly introduced each other. Simon learned that the young man's name was Owen Wright and that he worked as Jonathan Friedman's assistant. Afterwards, he escorted Simon towards his boss' office.

Walking through the spacious corridor close to the glass curtain wall, Simon noticed that most of the WMA employees were either hurriedly walking around or frowning, and some even acted wary towards him after noticing his unfamiliar face.

Despite the strangeness of the situation, Simon did not feel too surprised.

According to the information in his memory, WMA has been going through a very serious turmoil over the past few months.

---

Earlier in the year, WMA's Chairman and CEO Morris Stoller and President Stan Kamen passed away one after another.

The sudden void caused by the deaths of the agency's two most powerful executives not only caused severe power struggles within the company, but it also allowed rival agencies such as CAA and International Creative Management (ICM) to sneakily poach many WMA clients.

After the death of Stan Kamen, who had been considered Hollywood's top agent, many of his clients, including A-list stars such as Al Pacino, Warren Beatty, Barbra Streisand, Goldie Hawn et al, moved to CAA. This exodus severely affected WMA's position in the industry.

---

Simon followed Owen Wright to an office before he was asked to wait in the lounge. Soon, a middle-aged man with slightly gray hair walked out.

The middle-aged man looked about 40-50-years- old and wore a neat gray suit. He was thin but not too tall, just a little over 5'9", with deep eye sockets, a wide nose, dark hair, and a typical Jewish appearance.

In fact, Friedman was a common Jewish last name.

"Sorry, I was just finishing up a meeting," Seeing Simon getting up, Jonathan Friedman walked straight towards him and looked at him with a gentle smile on his face. After politely reaching out his hand to him, he said, "So, you're Simon Westeros?"

Simon nodded, shook hands with the agent, and said, "Hello, Mr. Friedman, it's nice to meet you."

Jonathan Friedman nodded in response, and then made a gesture towards his office.

The two walked into the office together and the middle-aged man spoke familiarly, "This is the first time I have heard the last name 'Westeros', so I immediately memorized it. Simon, this is your advantage. It's not easy to be remembered in Hollywood."

Simon just smiled.

Jonathan Friedman motioned for Simon to sit down opposite him. After he took a seat, he laid his arms down on the desk and evaluated the young man sitting across him.

'He is about 5'11" to 6' tall which is very standard for male stars. He has a sharp and angular face with brown hair and a maturity, unlike the childishness common among young actors, which makes him look very photogenic. Even in his plain black T-shirt and jeans, he would seem very attractive to women thanks to his calm temperament and the self-confidence prevalent in his being,' he observed before inwardly shaking his head, 'He has the potential to become a star like Tom Cruise. The box-office of the recently released Top Gun has really turned him into a superstar. However, this young man wants to become a screenwriter...'

Jonathan Friedman suddenly felt his expectations dwindle since an excellent screenwriter was forged through years of experience.

Jonathan Friedman didn't think that such a young man would be able write an excellent screenplay. He doubted whether the young man even understood the format of a formal Hollywood script.

In fact, Jonathan Friedman and Kathryn were not so close that he would sign with someone just based on her recommendation.

In addition to occasional encounters at some Hollywood parties, their most recent encounter had been when one of his clients auditioned for a role in her upcoming film.

It was for this reason that Jonathan Friedman agreed to today's meeting after receiving a call from Kathryn. This meeting could be considered a favor to her as she had a certain say in her film's casting.

Jonathan Friedman's original plan had been to send Simon to one of the smaller agents that represented screenwriters if he had been even half-decent. After all, even Hollywood's biggest screenwriters usually earned less than some small actors. Jonathan Friedman had no plan to personally represent a screenwriter.

But at this time, personally seeing Simon, Jonathan Friedman already had the thought of ​​sending Simon away as soon as possible. He was promoted to the post of Vice President of WMA just last month. Recently, the agency had been a mess which had led to him accumulating a lot of stress. At this time, he was hardly in the mood to cater to a young man with lofty dreams.

Of course, Jonathan Friedman did not express his impatience. He had always believed that to be an excellent agent, one must maintain a humble attitude at all times.

After a brief inner evaluation, Jonathan Friedman asked in a gentle tone with some expectation, "Then, Simon, why don't you tell me about your script?"