Assistant Agent

On the western side of Beverly Boulevard in Beverly Hills stood a ten-story building, its exterior walls and atrium entirely covered in glass. It was the headquarters of CAA, Hollywood's hottest talent agency.

The building was also known within the industry as the Death Star Building. The "Death Star" was hailed as invincible in Star Wars.

After reporting in, Aaron Anderson was quickly assigned to Paula Wagner, one of CAA's star agents, becoming one of her five assistants.

Paula Wagner, forty-three years old, could currently be called the number one female agent, because she held an absolute ace in her hand: Tom Cruise, whose real name was Thomas Mapother IV.

She had personally discovered Tom Cruise in the early eighties, and when Top Gun took the world by storm a few years ago, it turned Tom Cruise into a national idol with no equal in the spotlight.

"Aaron Anderson, nineteen years old. You managed to stick it out in the mailroom for half a year. You've done quite well."

"Now that you've become an Assistant Agent, if you can discover clients next, you can become a full-fledged agent!"

CAA did not really have clearly defined job ranks, but an invisible internal hierarchy was unavoidable. Assistant Agents were actually licensed agents already, except they had no official clients. Their work was not all that different from working in the mailroom.

The mailroom was the trial period. Now that he had officially passed it, he could go out and find clients on his own.

As Paula Wagner spoke, she deliberately patted Aaron's shoulder. "Our two CAA bosses, Michael Ovitz and Ronald Meyer, both came out of WMA's mailroom back then."

"And the current chairman of 20th Century Fox Entertainment Group, Barry Diller, Disney Group chairman Michael Eisner, and Disney Films chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg all came out of WMA's mailroom too!"

Aaron Anderson looked at Paula Wagner and could not help speaking up. "David Geffen of Geffen Records also came out of WMA's mailroom."

He had spent six months in CAA's mailroom, after all. How could he not know such things?

CAA, WMA, and ICM were currently Hollywood's three major entertainment agencies. As the oldest agency, WMA had dominated Hollywood's talent representation business for half a century.

CAA's five founders had been WMA veterans. They had "defected" from WMA in 1975 to establish CAA, and their package deals had single-handedly made CAA a major Hollywood force. ICM had also been formed in 1975.

Paula Wagner smiled and raised her hand to check her watch. "Very good. Now go to the Starbucks nearby downstairs and buy me two cappuccinos, then bring them up as fast as you can."

Wasn't that what an Assistant Agent was for? Without any artists to look after, was he supposed to know how to select scripts or arrange artists' schedules?

Being able to take care of an artist's daily life was already quite good.

Aaron Anderson nodded, then turned and left.

Before long, Tom Cruise arrived at CAA headquarters with a brilliant smile on his face. After warmly returning greetings from a few people, he headed to Paula Wagner's office.

"The family drama Rain Man, which you made with Dustin Hoffman, has received unanimous praise from critics and the media. You'll definitely gain something at the upcoming award ceremonies."

Sitting in her chair, Paula Wagner had been closely following Rain Man, which had been in theaters for two weeks, and its box-office trend was also looking good.

So far, after ten days in release, the film's box office had surpassed 20 million US dollars.

"By the way, there haven't been any problems with the filming of Born on the Fourth of July, right?" Paula Wagner asked.

Tom Cruise shook his head. "Everything's going smoothly. The film is about to wrap."

Born on the Fourth of July was the second installment of Oliver Stone's Vietnam War Trilogy.

Oliver Stone's Vietnam War Trilogy was a series opposing the Vietnam War. Its first film was the famous Platoon, which had won the Oscar for Best Picture and the Best Director award!

"As for Tony Scott's racing action film Days of Thunder, producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer have scheduled production to begin around June or July next year."

"You've already signed on as the male lead. This time, Paramount has provided a budget of 60 million US Dollars!"

Paula Wagner discussed Tom Cruise's next film.

At this time, 60 million US Dollars was unquestionably the budget of a top blockbuster. Days of Thunder was also a purely commercial film.

Sylvester Stallone's new summer release this year, Rambo III, had cost 63 million US Dollars, making it Hollywood's most expensive film so far!

"Rain Man and Born on the Fourth of July are both dramatic art films. A commercial project like Days of Thunder is also essential. Hollywood ultimately looks at box office."

"Don't worry, of course I know that!" Tom Cruise was not opposed to commercial films. It was just that he now yearned for the Oscar.

Ever since Top Gun, he had devoted himself to dramatic art films. He wanted to prove that handsome guys could act too!

After a while, Aaron Anderson knocked on the door with the coffee. He glanced at Tom Cruise, then left the office.

"Tom Cruise isn't even thirty yet, and that face really is incredible," Aaron Anderson could not help marveling. If future Little Leo did not have the boost of Titanic, he really would not be able to compare.

"Hey, Aaron." After arriving at the office next door, he ran into his colleague Jack Wells, who was sorting through documents. He was part of the same batch of Assistant Agents.

"Are these all scripts?" Aaron casually picked up a few and flipped through them. One of the important jobs in the mailroom had been opening the things sent in.

Jack Wells nodded. "The company receives hundreds of scripts every month now. CAA has already become Hollywood's script factory!"

Aaron shrugged. "CAA's package deals provide a one-stop service from screenwriters and producers to directors and actors. Scripts are where it all begins."

The currently screening Rain Man was a complete package-deal production. From the screenwriter to the director and actors, it had all been handled by CAA.

Even the release marketing plan had been drawn up by CAA for MGM/UA.

"Aaron, we need to get out onto the streets, into malls, parks, and universities as soon as possible to discover suitable young people with potential."

"Otherwise, we'll just keep repeating mailroom work and running errands!"

Jack Wells reminded Aaron.

Aaron patted his shoulder. "I'll help you organize these scripts first."

Well, Aaron Anderson was still quite willing to do this for now. After all, many great films from his memories were in his mind, and scripts were where films began.

He had not come to this era just to serve tea and water for others, run errands, drive cars, and be an office gofer!