HWI 179

[I almost forgot about the general manager plot so I decided to write it now to focus on the filming of The Bourne Identity later.]

Hollywood What If Chapter 179

"Thanks for visiting us, here's a gift. We will call you if you pass the selection."

Erica Mendez of Grey Pictures extended the gift and the middle-aged man accepted it. 

They were doing an interview for the position of general management. Grey Pictures was just a company recently founded and there was no employee who had experience in managing a company. 

Most of the employees were related to filmmaking, but none of them were experienced enough to take the position of general manager. 

With that, Grey Pictures decided to look for people who were qualified to take the position. 

Usually, Kazir Grey should attend this interview to make a decision. However, director Grey was in Italy filming The Bourne Identity. He couldn't return to the USA and join the interview. 

Three people passed most of the criteria and Erica was responsible for interviewing them together with the other people in the management. 

Kazir decided to let his assistant stay in the country because he knew that Erica had twins. 

For that, Erica was thankful. And for that as well, Erica felt guilty. Her boss was too good. 

If not for her boyish appearance, she might think of another reason why her boss was being good to her. Thankfully, Erica knew that Kazir was good to his crew and he was not a tyrant boss who would belittle people. 

Because of her boss's goodwill, Erica decided to work hard. She was seriously thinking which of the three people would be a good choice for the company. 

Kazir Grey was suffering from overwork and he clearly didn't like dabbing his hands in business. Even though Erica had only known him for two years, she knew that Kazir was not excited about building a company his ambitions lie in art, in filming. 

Grey Pictures was just his means to negotiate with the Big Six, just like what Marvel Studio did back then. 

Marvel Comics did a last gamble by doing a Cinematic Universe and their decision paid a lot. Of course, comics sales were still not that good. In fact, in the next three decades, Japanese manga will be more popular in the West than American comics.

Still, Marvel was getting profits from other ways such as toys, merchandise, and movies. In a way, their situation was far better than DC Comics which lost all of its fame once 2010 was over. 

Once the Continental Cinematic Universe was a success, Kazir would cooperate with animation companies and comics companies to adapt his movies to other forms of media. 

As of now, the 'gold' coins that appeared in Taken and John Wick are getting recognition. Some movie enthusiasts were buying them and acting like they were part of the Cinematic Universe. Their overall sales with the gold coins already surpassed $50 million. 

Just like Marvel, Grey Pictures was trying to find another way to make money. 

One of the reasons why Grey Pictures needs a general manager is because Kazir could never manage all of that while directing a movie. 

"Call the last one."

Erica notified the person outside. 

A woman entered the office. She was wearing a gold rimmed glasses but she didn't look like a geek. Instead, she looked like a classy and smart woman. It was not because of her appearance, but because of her manners and demeanor. She was like an empress. 

Erica raised her brow and realized that she could not avert her gaze from the woman. 

Out of the three people who passed the requirements, this person was the only female. 

Most of the requirements were simple but Kazir had one special requirement. 

The person should have worked related to Showbiz... Yup, very understandable. 

As long as the person meets the criteria, Kazir didn't have a problem. Yet because of intense screening, only three people passed. These three people managed important management related to Showbiz. 

The first guy was the ex-CEO of a cable channel. 

The second guy was a television producer. His resume stated that he created four TV shows. 

As for the last person...

"Your name is Stella Willow, is that right?"

"That's right. I'm Stella Willow. I worked in NBC for five years before resigning."

Erica Mendez skimmed the woman's resume. She already knew the woman's background but she decided to read it again. 

"It said here that you are the Head Manager of Production Management. Why did you quit your job? NBC is one of the best TV channels in the United States."

"It's not that simple. The competition, the gossip, and even their discrimination towards women make me disgusted."

In this regard, Erica Mendez could not help but agree. She was a female soldier and the gazes she received from male soldiers were not comfortable with her. It was a good thing that Erica was a strong woman so the soldiers around her quickly respected her.

She knew that there were instances where women were harassed in their jobs. 

"I decided to quit when my boss tried to entice me with promotion using sex. I reached my position through hard work, I don't need to use my body to acquire that. That boss is a bastard and I knew that he would give me a hard life after I denied him so I decided to quit immediately."

Stella Willow didn't say the exact reason why she quit her job in her resume and this was the first time that Erica heard. Even the other people in the room were listening to her story. 

"What happened to that boss?"

"He died in a traffic accident. His body was smashed by a truck and he died miserably. Apparently, his break didn't work." Stella smirked. 

The room was quiet for a second. 

"Fufu, of course I'm just joking. He got fired because of sexual harassment he did to one of his employees."

She laughed. Then another person laughed awkwardly until everyone laughed.