HWI 179

[Shout out to Hunter212 and Ghost 21!]

Hollywood What If Chapter 179

"Thank you for your time, here is a gift. We will call you if you pass the selection."

Erica Mendez from Grey Pictures offered the gift and the middle-aged man accepted it.

Erica and the other executives were interviewing people for the general manager position. Grey Pictures was a recently formed company, and there were only few employees who had experience running a business.

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

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

Normally, Kazir Grey was supposed to attend this interview to make a decision. However, director Grey was in Italy filming The Bourne Identity. He was unable to return to the U.S. to participate in the interview process.

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

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

Erica was grateful for that. And for that, too, Erica felt guilty. Her boss was too good.

If it were not for her boyish appearance, she might think of another reason why her boss was good to her. Fortunately, Erica knew that Kazir was good to his crew members and was not a tyrannical boss who belittled people.

Because of her boss's kindness, Erica decided to work hard. She seriously considered 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 to dab his hands in business. Although Erica had only known him for two years, she knew that Kazir was not enthusiastic about building a company; his ambitions lay in art, in film.

Grey Pictures was just his way of dealing with the Big Six, just like Marvel Studios did back then.

Marvel Comics took one last gamble by creating a Cinematic Universe, and their decision paid off handsomely. Of course, comic book sales were still not that good. In fact, for the next three decades, Japanese manga would be more popular in the West than American comics.

Still, Marvel was making money in other ways, such as toys, merchandise, and movies. In a way, their situation was far better than DC Comics, which lost all its glory after 2010s.

Once the Continental Cinematic Universe was a success, Kazir would work with animation and comic book 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 bought them and pretended they were part of the Cinematic Universe. Total sales of the Gold Coins have already surpassed $50 million.

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

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

"Call the last one."

Erica told the person outside.

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

Erica raised her eyebrows and realized that she could not take her eyes off the woman for some reasons.

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

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

The person should have worked in showbiz... Yes, very understandable.

As long as the person met the criteria, Kazir had no problem. But because of the 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 network.

The second guy was a TV producer. His resume stated that he had 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 at NBC for five years before I quit."

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

"It says here that you are the Head Manager of Production Management. Why did you leave your job? NBC is one of the best television networks in the United States."

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

"..." Erica nodded.

Erica Mendez could not help but agree. She was a female soldier and the looks she received from the male soldiers did not sit well with her. It was a good thing that Erica was a strong woman, so the soldiers around her quickly respected her.

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

"I decided to quit when my boss tried to lure me with sex for a promotion. I reached my position through hard work, I don't need to use my body to get it. This boss is a bastard and I knew he would give me a hard life after I refused him, so I decided to quit immediately."

"Is that so?"

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

"What happened to the boss?"

"He died in a car accident. His body was crushed by a truck and he died horribly. Apparently his break didn't work." Stella grinned.

"..."

The room was silent for a second.

"Fufu, of course I'm kidding. He was fired for sexually harassing one of his employees."

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