Chapter 721: 721

Two months ago, when Joseph began to investigate the conspiracy behind Ron Mayer and Tracy Jacobs, he had an ominous premonition. At that time, he felt that things must not be so simple. But all along, Joseph has focused his attention on the situation related to Hugo, but did not realize that the ominous foreboding was directed at him.

Obviously, Ron Mayer and Tracy Jacobs have been targeting Hugo, and at the same time want to divide Hugo and Joseph, so a strategy against Joseph is definitely necessary. If it can really hit Joseph, then it would be equivalent to putting Hugo into an isolated situation, which is basically equivalent to cutting off most of Hugo's contacts - at that time Jewish support for Hugo had not yet appeared.

Nicolas Cage, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, these three actors are Joseph's capital and his value as an agent. If they were poached from Joseph, and then Hugo and Joseph were successfully split, then Joseph, a novice who had been in the business for less than two years, would have truly lost his meridians and his martial arts.

Although Joseph's ability is indeed limited compared to the top senior managers, considering that Hugo was his first artist, and before Hugo, he was just a novice who had just entered the international innovation management company as an intern. Joseph's all The ability of Joseph started from scratch, and it is really not easy for Joseph to be able to get to where he is today.

It can be seen from this that Joseph does have the potential to be an agent. But if no artist is willing to cooperate with Joseph - just like Carl before, then even if Joseph has all kinds of martial arts, there is no place to show it. In particular, the lack of contacts for new agents makes it difficult to convince them to have a final word.

Ron Mayer and Tracy Jacobs' plan to alienate Hugo and Joseph once achieved very good results, and even gave them the upper hand. Although the two people did not tear up the contract in the end, it can still be seen that The abilities of Long and Tracy. The reason Hugo and Joseph didn't break up was because of friendship, but that bond didn't exist with Joseph and the others. So, the conspiracy quickly paid off on the other three.

Matt and Ben, after signing with Joseph last year, did get some job opportunities, and they were still very good ones, but during the internal turmoil at International Innovation Management, they received even greater temptations. Confused, agents more senior than Joseph, more famous than Joseph, and more capable than Joseph continue to offer olive branches, and it is difficult for them to refuse.

Compared with Matt and Ben, Nicholas is already an actor who has achieved good results. It can be regarded as a stage between the first and second tiers, so he naturally receives more attention. The olive branch extended by the Creative Artist Agency made Nicholas particularly excited.

After Nicholas and Joseph reached a cooperation agreement last year, Joseph quickly took over two works for him, "Red. Rock. West" and "Deadfall", in fact, strictly speaking, these two works This work was already negotiated by Nicholas himself before, and Joseph was only responsible for negotiating contract details such as salary and working hours. But in any case, these two works are a good start to the cooperation between Joseph and Nicholas.

Nicholas and Joseph were definitely on their honeymoon at the time, and it was also the time when Joseph ignored Hugo on the road tour, and Joseph spent almost all of his time on Nicholas.

It is a pity that these two works have failed one after another. Whether it is word of mouth or box office, all of them have been thrown into the street. This has put Nicholas under tremendous pressure, and even his life with Joseph is not very good. Although it was said that Joseph did not pick up the work, he was only responsible for negotiating the contract, but Nicholas was still unavoidable.

However, Nicholas still gave Joseph a chance, and Joseph brought him the work "The First Lady's Bodyguard (Guarding. Tess)". From the selection of the works to the contract negotiation, it was all done by Joseph, showing Joseph's excellent ability.

During the New Year's Eve, although Nicholas was invited by the creative artist agency, he still decided to give Joseph a chance to see the results of "The First Lady's Bodyguard" before making a decision.

"The First Lady's Bodyguard" came out two weeks ago, and the movie made $9 million in its first week, but it fell 30 percent in its second week, not as expected, and The film's reputation was mediocre, and more praise was concentrated on the heroine Shirley Maclaine (Shirley. Maclaine).

In fact, strictly speaking, Joseph's choice this time is still worthy of recognition. Although it did not make Nicholas reach a new peak, the overall performance has been really good, at least it has received more positive feedback than Nicholas' previous two works. At other times, it is estimated that Nicholas would not have any ideas, but he received an invitation from an innovative artist agency, which made things intriguing.

In the recent period, there have not been many rumors about Nicholas, Matt, and Ben changing their agents, but there are still some bits and pieces. In the eyes of others, this is also a normal situation. It is not uncommon to change brokers in this circle, so it did not cause waves.

But in Joseph's eyes, he saw the clue at once, and he finally realized what his inexplicable premonition was.

"You know?" Karl was surprised by Joseph's reaction, and he asked back in surprise.

Joseph smiled, "Of course, I now have a wider source of information than you." Now, in terms of contacts, Joseph is indeed much better than Carl, and Joseph's ability growth is obvious to all, so it is impossible for Carl to know Joseph didn't hear anything about the matter, that's not normal.

"So what?" Carl didn't pursue the matter, and immediately returned his attention to the main question, "What are you going to do?"

"What should I do?" Facing Carl's seriousness and urgency, Joseph was very relaxed, as if he was talking about other people's affairs.

Carl couldn't help but feel a little frustrated, and he was also a little angry that he hated iron. "Cage, are you going to keep him? Are you going to let it go like this?"

Joseph knew that Karl was worried about himself, so he stopped sorting out the clothing catalog in his hands, looked at Karl, and said seriously, "Karl, I have made a choice."

Carl was stunned for a moment, and then after savouring Joseph's words carefully, he also understood - Joseph chose Hugo, obviously - which made Carl not sure how to respond.

Recently, although the office was not busy at all, Joseph went to the "Speed ​​of Life" crew to supervise Hugo's filming, which shows Joseph's determination. Among Nicholas and Hugo, he chose the latter. Or more precisely, between Joseph's own career and Hugo's, he chose the latter.

For the multiple-choice question of choosing one out of two, Joseph did not choose himself this time.

Joseph looked at the pause and doubt on Carl's face, smiled and patted his shoulder, "Carl, make a choice, this is our job, every choice is difficult, and we don't know what will lead to the choice. The consequences may be success or failure. But this time I know that my choice was wise."

Carl opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything. In fact, Carl knew that Joseph was still guilty. What Joseph had done in the past few months was indeed not a wise choice for Hugo. Missed "The Shawshank Redemption", almost missed "Pulp Fiction"; missed the most important concert of Glory to Death, almost missed the brilliance of "Almost Famous"; missed "Schindler's "The List" premiere, and almost missed the "Schindler's List" celebration dinner... Most importantly, Joseph didn't give Hugo enough credit, and it was Joseph who destroyed this friendship.

So, Joseph now wants to make amends. But Carl doesn't know if this is correct.

Joseph saw Karl's expression and knew that he was wrong. He couldn't help but smile, "Karl, I'm not guilty, nor do I want to make amends, I just made a right choice." Immediately stunned.

"Carl, between friendship and career, I choose friendship, because I don't want to be an agent like Lang, remember?" Joseph said seriously, "And, between Hugo and Nicholas, I choose Hugo, because Hugo is worth the investment of the broker, his potential is far beyond our imagination. So, this is just work, don’t think about it.”

Although Joseph said so, Karl was not persuaded by him, because he could see dodge and guilty conscience in Joseph's eyes. Karl knew that Joseph's emotions had overcome his reason, but he had no way to say that Joseph's decision was Wrong, so he could only give up on persuading Joseph.

"Joe, promise me, at least you shouldn't give up the fight." Carl still insisted, "You may be right, but at least, as managers, when someone is poaching, we should try to retain the artist— - Unless the artist is the one we gave up on our own initiative, that's the right thing to do. Promise me, at least you try hard to see."

Joseph looked at Carl's insistence, did not answer immediately, but paused for a while, as if savoring it carefully, and finally nodded with a smile, "I promise you." After speaking, Joseph put the clothing catalog in the into the briefcase and left the office.

Carl looked at Joseph's back, stubborn and strong, and seemed to see the same Joseph before he embarked on the journey of glory to death in July last year. However, now is not the time. The changes in the past eight months can really be written off. ?