My Hollywood System

"I know how special your client is. Amanda, show them the charts."

As soon as Will said these words, the atmosphere around the table took a turn. Benjamin Scott and his agent glance at each other for a brief while before looking ahead at Amanda who took out a file and placed it in front of everyone.

"I knew something like this would come up," Will added, "So I had these prepared beforehand. Since you want a raise so much, let's see how much you are worth. Shall we, everyone?"

Will then glanced at Amanda who nodded and began to describe the various graphs and data her assistants had compiled on the performance of the [Friends] sitcom throughout the airing of Season 1 on RBO.

"The first graph you see is the popularity index of all characters within the show. Mr Scott, you play as Joey Tribbiani, and he's one of the central protagonists of the show. Your character's ranking is seventh."

After a slight pause, she added, "It's lower than Mr Heckles who was mentioned in five episodes and had no more than ten dialogues."

The Agent frowned and remarked, "That doesn't mean it's the actor who should bear the whole fault. Somewhere, somehow it could be the director or the script writer."

As soon as he said that, everyone glanced at Will and the Agent suddenly pursed his lips.

'Wait, isn't he the script writer? Did I just say Will Evans' script was bad?'

Will didn't respond and gestured to Amanda to continue. He had already come to a decision, but he was waiting for the right moment.

"The next graph shows the most rewatched scenes data. Although this one doesn't tell much, out of the top fifteen, only one belongs to Joey Tribbiani, that too when he wasn't in the scene but rather when the others anecdoted him."

The Agent glanced at Will Evans to see his reaction. And noticing how the latter didn't react the previous time, he bet on his luck and tried to push it once again.

"My client here is a golden goose," He said, "And it's not his fault that he's not being properly used by your production house. I have read his script, and I must say most of the lines he got don't align with his character at all. However, there's much to see in the future, and that's why we're negotiating the terms."

"What do you mean by 'not aligning with the character'?" Will broke his silence, "Who are you talking about?"

"My client, of course," The Agent looked confused, "Is this meeting not for him then?"

Will shook his head, "No. That's where you are wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first of all, the character in the script is Joey Tribbiani, not Benjamin Scott. When the script was being written, Benjamin Scott was not in the picture. And another thing, you're forgetting Benjamin Scott is an actor. He's not a character, rather, he must become the character and play as it is.

"However, what you said just reaffirmed my thought. It's quite clear from your words that your client is not the right person to enact this role."

"What do you mean?" The Agent replied, "Please reconsider, Mr Evans. My client has a lot of potential, and in the coming two seasons, he will become the show's frontrunner. I just don't want my client to get into a bad deal, and also not want him to lose the goodwill he has in his heart for Dream Vision."

Will smiled, "Goodwill? We will see about that."

Then taking a page from Amanda's file, he added, "So the data in my hand indicates the show's number. And seeing the poor viewer ratings, why should I even consider increasing your paycheck?"

"Poor ratings?" The Agent frowned, "Mr Evans, please look carefully. [Friends] has shown a lot of promise and saying those are poor ratings is undermining the hard work of not only my client, but everyone who has worked hard on the show."

Will shook his head at this.

"That I'm very aware of. The efforts are never in vain fully. But the deal was signed off since the start of the show, and for what we agreed on, the actors did their role. But if you're asking for a raise even after seeing the numbers, which did not meet the expectations—"

The agent cut off Will shortly, not being able to handle Will's arguments.

"Mr Evans, I understand what you are trying to say. But the show needs to run and for the future episodes, we also understand the high value of my client. And for that, per episode we were thinking and suggesting a raise upto 40k dollars."

Will's eyebrows raised in the demand of the agent.

"I'll have to stop you right there. The thing is, as I mentioned before and which you said you fully understood, the show did not go as per my expectations. But hear me out, I was still planning to give a raise–"

The agent looked a bit taken back by Will's words. Will had his gaze focused on agent's, and with the words leaving Will's mouth, he felt as if the rest of the conversation would not end up positive in his way.

" —However, since you yourself are not confident in your client, and don't even understand the numbers behind his value, it's better to continue with what you were planning to go with anyway. And since ICM has already paid the fine to revoke the contract, why should I stretch the matter? You overestimate Mr Scott's value and his ability."

The rest of Will's words took everyone including the agent by surprise. He was basically-

"Are you saying–"

Will nodded to confirm his inner fear. "Yes, we're letting go of Mr Scott. He had a good run as Joey Tribbiani, but the character doesn't fit him well enough."

"Huh?" The agent took a good two minutes to process Will's words.

During the entire conversation, the main character who was the reason for the complete argument was silent.

Yet, Scott could not hold it in any longer.

"Uh- Well, why don't we take some minutes off to think?" He turned to look at the agent who still had his eyes on Will. "I mean–"

"OP Pictures and RBO won't like it." His agent stopped the former.

Scott sighed knowing his agent wouldn't give up until he gets what he wanted, but he also knew that Will wouldn't go back on his words.

Scott stressfully raked his hands through his hair.

"You don't have to worry about them liking this or not. I will deal with them myself." Will replied, "Even though ICM is a subsidiary of the OP Pictures, it had nothing to do with [Friends]. So, if anything I'd talk it out and bring out the necessary arrangements."

In Will's opinion, RBO was not going to be a problem with his current status as a genius film maker and businessman.

Creating problems against Will would just make them lose the golden ticket they had with Will. And only if one is stupid, they'd go that route.

And from how RBO had been in the part, Will knew they would at most be concerned about it—even go further with questioning how the rest of the show would go on and likewise. This was not a major problem to Will, and he could handle it.

After all, the company which had a lot of stockholders—and most of them had the intention of working with Will would just play a positive part in this.

"You can't do this Mr Evans. This was not in our agreement."

"This conversation wasn't either. As understanding as I wanted to be, I can't just agree for anything and everything when you yourself don't understand the exact worth of your client over here. I think we are done for the day."

Scott's agent did not look very happy about anything that came out of Will's mouth. Not now, not since the start.

With Amanda muttering, "The meeting is over," they had to gather their reputation which was just shattered.

Nevertheless, the actor and his agent left the office premises in no time.

A minute or two of silence covered their atmosphere.

Jennifer broke the silence by an unintentional wording out of her thoughts, "I really wonder what he did was right. Even in the auditions, it was only Scott who came close to Joey Tribbiani's role."

Amanda who heard this wasn't surprised at all. "We will know what'll happen in the coming future."

"Hm… It will be difficult to get a good actor for his role. But if I had let it go, others would become more daring, and no one wants that. I can't come off as a pushover while doing business. There are other stupid actors like Benjamin afterall." Will said, making both the ladies nod in agreement.

In his mind, Will was wondering about what to do about Joey, because the shooting of the next season was supposed to start in two months.

***

In the busy street, still in front of the building, the black car which was parked not far away from the security post.

"I lost the series which made me big." Benjamin's voice showed nothing but a scared actor.

He felt as if he lost the biggest thing that had happened in his life.

His agent clicked his tongue. "Will was just bluffing. I don't think he could actually go ahead and do what he said. You are already one of the faces of friends and he can't fire you without any reason. At most, it would bring him anything but disappointment. Will doesn't want that now does he?" He took a short pause before continuing, "ICM is going to force him to renew your contract."

The last statement caught Benjamin's attention. "How? And why would they?"

"The media is quite powerful."

Although Benjamin had one job to do; which was trusting his agent's words, he could not do it without fear engulfing his mind.

A part of him wished that they hadn't requested or talked about a raise at all.

***

The headlines that got published the very next day had taken popular interest among the general was in no favor for Will Evans.

< Will Evans had a negative going conversation with the agent of Benjamin Scott—Why?>

<Will one of the biggest faces of [Friends] change in the upcoming season? Who is to blame; read for more>

<It has been reported about a breaking out with Will and Benjamin a day prior. Is it about a fraud?>

<A conversation between Will Evans lead to removing Joey Tribbiani from the show…. Or is it just a rumor?>

<Is Will letting go one of the central figures of [Friends]? The truth behind it is yet to be revealed!>

<Will firing a leading character?! Benjamin Scott is removed from season 2?>