REMUS BENNET
Harvey did not wait long to send him the profile of the person he had mentioned.
The email came a few hours after his departure, and now he was looking at it as he tried to place the familiar face.
Honestly, she was overqualified for the job.
She had a PhD in Psychology, and had recently passed the Bar as well.
She had a rather extensive work history that included a stint as an executive assistant at an Investment Banking firm.
“Sidwell Investment Group,” he read, and the name seemed familiar again, yet he could not quite place it.
She had attached a few references, which included one from Harvey and another from Mike Ross himself.
He was skimming through the documents when he finally saw the connection.
She was Mike’s assistant when he had become an Investment Banker.
“She was Mike’s Donna,” and as she slid down to the last reference letter, which was written by Donna Paulson, the CFO of Spector & Litt herself, he blinked for a second.
“Hire her. She is the best at her job, apart from me, of course!”
And then there was a small postscript at the end.
“PS: Thank you for saving my goddaughter!”
And it felt on point for the Donna she knew.
Well, he now had no doubts about her competence.
Harvey had it clear that he was doing the initial negotiations as a favor, he would need a proper agent/manager to handle it all for him down the line.
Amy could do it all, and as he rubbed his chin, he could see more and more advantages of hiring her.
She had little experience in the entertainment industry, but if she truly was as capable as he believed her to be, then that would not matter at all.
He was about to write an email to her when suddenly a voice came out from behind.
“I never knew you were such a player,” and Elliot’s rant broke him out of his trance, as he looked back and saw his friend peering down at the monitor from behind him.
“Yo, what the actual hell, dude?” he was surprised, but he was still staring at the screen, which contained Amy’s whole profile.
“When did you come in?” Remus asked, and he turned towards the window, and it was closed.
“Just now,” his friend answered.
“You used the door?” Remus asked, while gasping animatedly.
“I kind of had to,” and Elliot looked quite dejected over that.
“I ran into your mother in the driveway,” and now he looked back to the screen.
“Oh,” and that explained the lack of tree climbing.
“I never knew you were interested in older women?” Elliot teased, and Remus rolled his eyes.
“I am not into her. She is just someone I am thinking of hiring as a manager,” and now Elliot’s eyes narrowed
“Still, she is quite something,” Elliot began to scroll through her profile.
“Damn! She could easily be a model,” and he was not kidding.
“She is a bit new to this, but she comes highly recommended,” Remus clarified, and Elliot shrugged.
“Low-key, I’d hire her just ’cause she’s hot.”, Elliot whistled, and he frowned at his friend’s antics, though he was not wrong.
“Well, you can,” Remus added, reminding the idiot of his own little fortune, and now his friend’s head snapped towards him.
“How? I am not a rising rockstar like you, my man,” and the words all but confirmed his fear, and truthfully he should have expected this.
“Have you checked your inbox?” Remus asked as he turned his chair to face his best friend, who abandoned the mouse and let himself free-fall onto Remus’s bed without any care at all.
“Why? What’s in it?” Elliot was notorious for letting his inbox blow up, and from what he could remember, his friend’s Gmail had more than a thousand unread emails in it, so of course he had missed them.
“You do know that the record labels want to sign you as well,” and the expression on Elliot’s face was enough to tell him that he actually did not know that.
“What? Why?” and that was a very stupid question.
“Dude, you are the producer of my songs,” Remus reminded Elliot, and the idiot had simply failed to consider that any hit from him was a credit to him as well.
“You are credited with three debut songs that were able to break into the charts. Apart from that, you are a singer as well,” and now finally Elliot pushed himself up, and looked him dead in the eye, trying to make sense of his words. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping . com.
“The record labels inquired about you from me, but I thought it best that you deal with them on your own separately, so I simply gave them your email. They must have reached out to you by now,” and he probably should have spoken to him about this, but never in his life had he thought that Elliot had not even read the emails at all.
“Producer? Nah, man, I didn’t even do shit.” Elliot countered as he shook his head, and denied his own contributions.
“You were the one who wrote the songs, made the beats,” Elliot pointed towards him, and that was very generous of him.
“I did nothing,” Elliot accepted, but he was downplaying himself.
The truth was that Remus would never have been able to do anything without him, and Elliot truly possessed great talent as a producer.
“You are lying, and you know it,” Remus countered.
“Give me your phone,” and the idiot handed it off to him, after unlocking, and just as he had feared, his inbox had over a thousand unread emails, and it took him a few minutes to sift through the spam and the promotions before he finally found the mail from Interscope Records.
“You should hire an agent to deal with the labels on your behalf. I had a different lawyer work on my signing, but after that she will be the one to take care of everything,” and since she was just setting foot in this world, having the two of them as clients would be good for her.
He handed Elliot back his phone, and he saw him skim through the mail as the realization dawned on him.
“Wait… so I’m, like, actually a producer?” Elliot whispered into the air, trying to make sense of it.
“A very good one, apparently,” Remus added, and a portion of the earnings from the songs would go to him.
While they had not drawn up a legal document when they had worked on his songs, Remus had no plans on depriving his friends of his fair share.
That was going to be the first thing he planned on having Amy settle.
Elliot was quiet for a few minutes before he finally turned to look at him, and then, much to his surprise, he gave him a small smile.
“Thank you, man,” and Remus scoffed.
“I should be the one saying that,” and that was no lie.
He wouldn’t be here if it were not for him.
“So, who should I sign for?” Elliot asked, as he scrolled though the other offers.
“It’s your choice,” and he had no preference here.
“Who are you signing for?” Elliot asked, and while the news was not out yet, as Harvey was busy hashing out the final agreement, it was almost a done deal.
“Interscope Records. They are a subsidiary of Universal Media Group,” and Elliot frowned at the name.
“Interscope?” he asked.
“They are new, and mostly deal with new names in alt and indie pop. They are known for being rather hands-off with their artists,” and while there were other interested parties as well, he had been recommended their name by a budding friend.
“They were the ones who signed Billie Eilish a few months back,” and she had been the one to recommend them.
It still surprised him that he was talking to Billie Eilish, but to her he was just a new friend and colleague, whom she wished to help just as others had done for her.
Of course, he trusted Harvey to get him the best deal, but she had also warned him about a few bad names and had suggested Interscope as a possible destination.
It was all pretty kind of her given that Billie Eilish was already a household name and was currently busy promoting her new debut album while he was but a budding artist with no track record.
She was one of the biggest names in alt pop, and had made a name for herself by breaking away from the norms with her slow, dark, and raspy lyrics.
The two of them had become fast friends after she had first posted on Instagram promoting one of his songs.
He had sent a message to thank her, and much to his surprise, she had replied a minute later.
She was impressed by his singing, and he had told her that he was a fan of hers.
They were exchanging numbers not long after, and a few weeks of back and forth later, he found himself invited to her house to chill and jam.
She lived in Highland Park, and the place was an hour’s drive from Pasadena and they were finalising their plans for a meetup as of now.
“I see,” Elliot added, as he pondered over his decision.
“Bro, imagine you and Billie dropping a track. That’d be insane,” Elliot suggested, and that was the idea.
Most of Billie Eilish’s songs he was a fan of were already present in this world, except for one.
Lovely.
Lovely was one of the greatest songs of their time and had broken quite a few records, yet for some reason it was not present here.
Both Khalid and Billie had never collaborated, and their iconic song had never been sung.
It was a tragedy, truly, and he intended to rectify that.
“Maybe,” Remus answered cryptically.
“I am going to meet her next week,” and Elliot’s eyes widened at that, as he shook his head in exasperation.
“Honestly, sometimes this feels like a fever dream,” Elliot added, and he was not the only one. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Remus was not much different as well, and every night he wondered whether all this was just an elaborate dream.
“Well, I could slap you, and then you can be sure,” Remus offered, but Elliot jumped away.
“Fuck you!” he cursed, as Elliot shrugged.
“Dream or not, you should probably give them a reply, or better yet get a manager to do that for yor,” Remus suggested.
“I have already made my choice,” Elliot answered.
“I am going with the same label as you,” his friend declared, and well, it was his choice.
“If that is your choice,” Remus said, then glanced towards the screen.
“Should I have her contact them on your behalf?” Remus asked, and Elliot took a second before he gave him his assent.
“Yeah,” he was quick to pawn off his responsibilities.
“Speaking of that, just tell her to take care of everything and just get me the final document,” and Remus shook his head at his friend’s lazy antics.
“I can only hope that you are more careful with your money than this,” and now Elliot’s ears perked up.
“I will message her and send her your information as well. I am not going to act as your middle man here,” Remus warned, but Elliot was still stuck on his last sentence.
“How much do you reckon I will make from this?” Elliot asked, and Remus had looked into it a bit.
“I don’t know. Perhaps somewhere around a mil, maybe a bit le….” and Elliot’s surprise was evident.
“You are joking!” and he was on his feet, and Remus shook his head.
“A million dollars!” Elliot screamed, but that was a reasonable estimate.
“No, I am not. Plus, you will also get royalties and a portion of the licensing fees from all the songs we have done and will do,” and that would be a proper income channel, and he watched as the reality of it all finally landed and the greatest takeaway for Elliot in all this was one thing only.
“I won’t have to go to school anymore…”
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Remus sent an email to Amy, offering her the job.
He also told her about Elliot and his plans.
Amidst all that, Elliot was simply overjoyed at the prospect of never going to school again.
Her reply came a few minutes later, and a few seconds later they were talking on his phone as they decided on a date for her interview, if one could even call it that given that he was not speaking to anyone else for the role.
Afterward, they played FIFA for a few hours before they finally moved on to a more serious topic, about the offer his mother had mentioned a few days back.
“The fair?” Elliot confirmed again, and Remus nodded.
“It will be a good experience,” Remus added.
The committee had sent him a letter yesterday, thanking him for accepting their proposal.
They had also asked him for anything he might need specifically for his performance, and he knew only one person who could help him in these matters.
“You are right,” and since the crowd would be mostly local.
“They want to know about the stage and the equipment we will need for this, and I don’t know much about that,” and Elliot understood the task even without him saying the rest as he assured him.
“Don’t worry. I will handle that,” Elliot replied, and that was quite a relief.
One could even call this division of labor, given how he was handling his deal and everything.
“Speaking of that, if I am going to make a million, how much are they paying you?” Elliot asked, and for a few seconds he hesitated to answer.
“What the hell, man! How much is it?” Elliot was invested now, and he would learn of it soon enough when the deal would be announced.
“You can’t tell anyone else, but it’s…..”
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Have a fantastic day!