Jonathan Friedman had already explained all the tangled connections tied to the project to Simon. By rejecting that contract, Simon could foresee a very tough road ahead.
Tanking WMA's first attempt at transformation—how could Hollywood's largest talent agency let him off? With WMA's terrifying century-old foundation in the industry, they might just need one phone call to make life impossible for a newbie writer like him in Hollywood.
But Simon felt no regret over his decision.
In his past life, he'd endured far too much. He didn't want this new life to start with compromise from the get-go.
Back in Santa Monica, Simon kept to his routine.
These days, he'd started mapping out the specific shooting details for Run Lola Run, and the morning's upheaval didn't change his plans.
Spending an afternoon, Simon visited several film equipment rental shops in downtown Santa Monica, inquiring in detail about rental prices for the gear needed to shoot Run Lola Run, and taking careful notes.
At 5 PM, Simon returned to the motel: ate, showered, slept. At 10:50 PM sharp, he arrived at Griffin Supermarket for the overnight shift.
The next morning, Simon called Jonathan's office again, hoping to schedule their next meeting.
Unexpectedly, no one picked up.
After several unanswered calls, Simon considered heading to WMA himself, but Jonathan's assistant, Owen Wright, drove over personally.
The hurried Owen relayed that Jonathan had completely dropped the The Butterfly Effect package, flying to WMA's New York headquarters yesterday afternoon. He asked Simon to wait patiently a few days—Jonathan still wanted to represent him.
Clearly needing to visit other clients, Owen chatted briefly with Simon before leaving. Though Simon felt a surge of surprised joy at the turn of events, he wasn't too shocked by Jonathan's choice.
Yesterday, his agent had been in such a defeated state, like a spring compressed to its limit. Simon wasn't sure how much his own actions factored into Jonathan's rebound, but as long as the agent hadn't lost his resilience entirely, an eruption was inevitable sooner or later.
...
WMA started in New York before expanding to Los Angeles.
From the '50s onward, with the rapid rise of U.S. television and Hollywood film's two-decade slump, WMA's focus stayed on the East Coast. Even now, though Hollywood was reviving and media gravity shifting west again, WMA's core execs clung to New York.
In Manhattan, on 25th Street near Madison Square Garden, WMA's headquarters occupied a building there.
When Simon met Owen, it was nearing noon in New York on the East Coast.
At that moment, in a WMA headquarters conference room, the arguing that had dragged on all morning continued.
After deciding yesterday, Jonathan Friedman prepped his fallback and flew straight to New York. No matter what, he didn't want to lose everything he'd built at WMA over twenty-plus years, so he struck first, seeking support from the top brass.
Norman's biases in handling The Butterfly Effect gave him ample grounds.
Hearing Jonathan planned to abandon The Butterfly Effect entirely, Norman Brokaw nearly exploded. The whole WMA leadership had tacitly agreed on this; Jonathan couldn't not know the fallout from failing this packaging attempt—yet he dared!
Redialing fruitlessly, Norman stormed to Jonathan's office, only to learn he'd left the building.
Furious, Norman had security seal the office and even booted Owen Wright out.
Don't come back if you're walking out like that.
By evening, still seething, Norman got a call from New York, learning Jonathan had flown east. Quickly guessing his intent, Norman wasted no time and chased after him overnight.
Arriving in Manhattan at 2 AM East Coast time.
With the West Coast heads making such a spectacle of their feud, WMA's entire leadership was soon alerted.
So this morning, WMA chairman Lou Wasserman, CEO Lee Stevens, and other board members rushed to headquarters.
What followed was a full morning of bickering.
Jonathan, usually mild-mannered with clients, had a forceful side too.
Facing the company's bigwigs, he mercilessly called out Norman's weakness in caving to studios with minimal pushback, and slammed his selfishness in prioritizing personal interests in the deal details.
Norman fought back, claiming he'd rushed to lock in WMA's first package for the company's sake.
As for favoring his client in the contract, Norman saw nothing wrong.
Counting 1983's WarGames (fifth on North American charts) and this year's Ferris Bueller's Day Off (poised for over $70 million and a top-ten spot), Matthew Broderick had two top-ten North American hits in just four years since debuting.
Tilting resources toward a rising star who could be the next Tom Cruise was fine.
Norman had started at WMA at fifteen, thanks to his uncle (a VP then). Decades of connections meant most board members sided with him.
But Jonathan's backer was WMA chairman Lou Wasserman—no slouch.
Though irked by Jonathan escalating the conflict, with things at this point, Lou had to stand firmly with his protégé—or risk fallout himself.
Letting them argue all morning, at lunch, Lou stepped in to mediate, discussing solutions with other board members.
Jonathan hadn't yet publicized his intent to drop The Butterfly Effect package, leaving room to maneuver.
After lunch, as other members departed, Lou announced the preliminary resolution to the two.
No matter what, the The Butterfly Effect package must proceed. But Lou himself would take it over personally, renegotiating with studios. Norman Brokaw and Jonathan Friedman must both step back completely—no more involvement. All future decisions from headquarters.
With things as they were, Norman knew pressing on helped no one. Jonathan had offloaded his hot potato and kept his job.
So though both feigned reluctance, they agreed.
But the world always held unforeseen twists.
Early the next morning, before Norman Brokaw or Jonathan Friedman could fly back to L.A., they both spotted a blindsiding story in the latest Hollywood Reporter.
Somehow, The Hollywood Reporter had gotten the scoop and spilled the whole affair.
"Packaging Flop Sparks Internal Strife: Legacy Agency Giant Struggles with Transition"
The nonstop upheavals from earlier this year hadn't fully faded; The Hollywood Reporter's bombshell plunged WMA into chaos once more.