In an apartment in the Brentwood district of northern Santa Monica City.
After the party ended last night, Nancy Brill invited Sophia Fessey to stay at her apartment. Both women were from France and hit it off immediately, so Sophia gladly agreed, checked out of her hotel Room overnight, and moved in.
Today is Sunday.
Sophia woke up around 7:00 AM. On the other side of the large bed, Nancy was still fast asleep.
They were of similar age, but looking at Nancy's petite face hidden by strands of hair, Sophia inexplicably thought of her two children back with her parents in France.
For a moment, she even felt an urge to lean down and kiss the woman beside her on the cheek.
Such an abrupt thought was, of course, not acted upon.
Sophia wasn't a lesbian. Although she learned during their chat last night that Nancy had been single for years, she didn't feel Nancy had such tendencies either.
Getting out of bed quietly and drawing the light-filtering curtains tight, Sophia walked out of the bedroom.
Standing in the hallway outside the second-floor bedroom, Sophia judged from her experience as a former real estate agent that this two-story apartment had at least 12 Rooms. However, the apartment didn't show the slightest messiness despite its owner being a busy single career woman; instead, it exuded a neatness and order that only someone with OCD would have.
After washing up in another Room, Sophia consciously began preparing breakfast for the two of them. She had always been a very attentive woman and had gotten a general idea of Nancy's tastes at the party last night. Moreover, the ingredients in this apartment's kitchen probably weren't types the owner disliked.
Half an hour later, while Sophia was cooking a sweet corn soup, a "Good morning" came from behind her.
Turning around, she saw Nancy standing at the door in a light pink silk camisole nightgown. Her hair wasn't styled yet, her face bore the lethargy of waking up after drinking, and her delicate collarbones and rounded shoulders made her look very sexy. She was also barefoot.
Sophia also said good morning, but she had to lower her gaze slightly from its original level to meet the eyes of the petite woman.
Nancy noticed the smile at the corner of Sophia's mouth and immediately, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, widened her eyes slightly and said, "Please, don't say I look like a doll, or I'll get angry".
Sophia had originally wanted to joke that her eight-year-old son would be as tall as her in a few years, but seeing Nancy's reaction, she gave up the idea and just said, "Breakfast will be a while longer. You can go take a shower first".
Nancy agreed and went back upstairs to wash up.
In the dining Room, while the two were eating breakfast, Nancy took the initiative to reveal her long-standing distress to Sophia: "My father is 6 feet tall, and my mother is 5 feet 9 inches. But for some reason, I stopped growing after reaching 5 feet 1 inch. Although he never said it, I know my father always suspected I wasn't his biological daughter".
Since it concerned someone else's family privacy, Sophia didn't find it easy to respond and just remained a quiet listener.
Nancy didn't shy away and continued, "A few years ago, when he heard that DNA paternity testing had appeared, my father immediately went to do it. I guess he must have done it several times. After confirming I was his daughter, he solemnly apologized to my mother and me. However, how could a single apology mend years of cracks? Since junior high, when I found I was shorter than all my peers, I've always been very insecure. Ever since I heard the first boy I tried dating brag to his friends that I was like a doll, I've never had a boyfriend again. Later, I became increasingly competitive, wanting to surpass everyone taller than me".
Sophia cleverly ignored the impact Nancy's height had on her family and downplayed it, saying, "Actually, being a bit short is nothing. We're women; it doesn't matter if we're tall or short, especially since you're so beautiful".
"You can't understand my distress", Nancy lamented with a bit of world-weariness. She took a spoonful of the sweet corn soup and then asked, "What about you, Sophia? How did you come to work for Westeros?"
"I was originally an agent for a real estate agency. During last year's Cannes Film Festival, a house Simon took a fancy to locally happened to be represented by me, so I decisively seized the opportunity. You know, to get our boss's attention, I called every day during that period and often made excuses to visit. Finally, I succeeded".
Nancy listened blankly before saying, "Sophia, you're truly calculating".
Sophia felt she could become very close friends with this straightforward little woman, which was why she showed a bit of her other side. She could also sense that Nancy's words didn't carry any contempt, so she just gave her a sidelong glance and said, "Without being a little calculating, I should be on Corsica right now, perhaps married to a fisherman, repeating dull housework every day, watching the children, taking care of a husband, and remaining obscure all my life until I completely grow old one day. My mother is such a woman, but that's not the life I want".
Despite having a suspicious father, Nancy's environment growing up had been quite affluent, and she had basically experienced no major hardships.
Now, hearing Sophia's calm narration, Nancy felt a kind of bitterness she had never experienced. She put down her spoon, reached out, and patted the back of Sophia's hand comfortingly, saying, "Sophia, I declare that from now on, you are my best friend".
Sophia smiled and shook Nancy's hand back but didn't state her position as bluntly as she did.
Nancy withdrew her hand, picked up her spoon again to stir her sweet corn soup, and then
suddenly asked again, "Have you slept with him?"
Sophia understood who Nancy was referring to and shook her head, "No".
Nancy was a bit surprised: "Why?"
Sophia felt Nancy's question was a bit strange; was it that natural for her to sleep with Simon? However, after thinking about it, she still said, "Simon is a very restrained person in this regard".
Probably not for much longer.
While saying this, a voice in her heart added this line with a shallow sense of pride.
Nancy naturally couldn't hear Sophia's inner thoughts and just said with interest, "If you do sleep with him, remember to tell me".
Sophia was somewhat helpless: "Are you very interested in this?"
Nancy said truthfully, "I'm very interested in everything about our little boss".
"Then why don't you try it yourself?"
Nancy shrank her neck as if thinking of some terrifying scene: "I don't want to sleep with men".
Sophia smiled and tempted her, "You should still try this kind of thing for yourself".
After breakfast, Nancy changed into a black professional suit and her habitual thick-soled high heels. The two women drove to Burbank together. Highgate Films office was set up in the Burbank branch of Daenerys Entertainment. Today, they were going to discuss the Gucci documentary with Ira Deutchman.
Upon leaving the Brentwood apartment, Nancy entered work mode.
Gripping the steering wheel, Sophia glanced at Nancy, who was seriously reading a thick stack of video game materials in the passenger seat, and said, "I think Daenerys Entertainment should actually try to develop a game console. Simply developing video games will always be constrained by console manufacturers".
"I've considered that too, but Daenerys Entertainment's foundation in this area is zero. We've already missed the 8-bit era, and we can't catch the 16-bit console wave either. If we want to enter the market, we can only directly invest in researching and developing third-generation 32-bit game consoles. Console R&D requires a lot of capital and time. Back then, Atari had to sell itself to Warner because its capital chain broke during the development of the 2600 console. The development of the Atari 2600 lasted four years and cost $100 million, and that was $100 million in the seventies. Moreover, even if we don't lack capital and time, we still have to face the patent and content barriers already built by Japanese manufacturers".
Hearing Nancy say this, Sophia smiled and said, "You don't seem like someone who would back down when facing difficulties".
Nancy lifted her chin slightly and said, "Of course not. Aside from these external factors, the most fundamental reason is that I don't think investing in game console R&D is a good idea. Don't look at how Nintendo's NES currently occupies 90% of the market and rakes in huge profits every year. However, competitors like Sega, Atari, and Sony have not given up on their attempts to enter the game console market, and new players may appear in the future.
Nintendo has already started to fall behind on 16-bit consoles, and the development of PC games in recent years has also been very rapid. All this means that the game hardware market will form a very intense competitive situation in the future, where there might not be any winners. In comparison, high-quality game content is always in demand by the market. Moreover, I've also found that excellent video games all have very long lifecycles.
As long as a blockbuster is successfully created, the production company can continue to develop it generation after generation, with each generation bringing stable and generous profits. So, my ultimate goal is to build Blizzard Studio into a video game production and publishing company. As for developing game consoles, I'm not interested".
Conversing like this all the way, Sophia and Nancy arrived at the Burbank branch of Daenerys Entertainment, where Ira Deutchman had already arrived.
Although it was Sunday, the office building of the Burbank branch was still a scene of busy activity.
Daenerys Entertainment's continuous work rhythm without breaks had already attracted the attention of many media outlets. Some employee rights protection organizations in California had even specifically sent people to investigate whether there were forced overtime practices.
The company indeed hadn't used any forced behaviour; it was just that the atmosphere had already formed. When everyone else was working, those who wanted to rest felt embarrassed to stop. Among them, there were also many employees who chose to resign because they couldn't handle the pressure.
Moreover, with the recent news of Simon fainting due to excessive fatigue, some of the original complaints had lessened.
Even the boss has collapsed from exhaustion; what right do you have to complain?
'My Left Foot' finished filming at the end of February. At Deutchman's request, the film's director, Jim Sheridan, led the production team to Los Angeles to complete the film's post-production.
Having failed to get 'Sex, lies, and videotape', Deutchman used 'My Left Foot' as an alternative film for this year's Cannes Film Festival. With the connections Simon established in Cannes last year, as long as the quality of the finished 'My Left Foot' could meet expectations, it wouldn't be difficult to obtain a spot in the main competition unit.
'Sex, lies, and videotape' received unanimous critical acclaim and an audience award at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Columbia Pictures was in no hurry to push the film into theatres and also planned to participate in the Cannes Film Festival in May.
At that time, 'Sex, lies, and videotape' and 'My left foot' will compete head-on.
After finishing the routine meeting with the post-production team of 'My Left Foot', Deutchman came to the office to discuss the development plan for the Gucci documentary with the two women.
Although the public was most fond of talking about the Gucci family's wealthy grievances, these elements that would definitely affect the Gucci brand image obviously had to be glossed over as much as possible in the documentary.
After a morning of discussion, it was preliminarily determined that the documentary would start from Gucci hiring a new creative director, with the September Milan Fashion Week Gucci Spring/Summer 1990 show as the end point. In between, various introductions regarding Gucci's cultural heritage, brand style, classic designs, and interesting anecdotes would be interspersed.
Of course, this discussion was not without disagreements.
Hearing Deutchman's request for Gucci to provide at least half of the production funds as 'sponsorship' fees while not enjoying the copyright and expected returns of the documentary, Sophia firmly expressed her opposition. The final agreement reached was that Highgate Film and Gucci would each provide half of the budget and share the copyright and returns.
However, as the distributor, Highgate Film can take 12.5% of the documentary's total channel revenue as a distribution commission in the future.
Because time was very tight, once the plan was finalized, the preliminary preparations for the documentary were quickly launched. It is expected that at the end of this month or the beginning of next month, when Gucci's new creative director takes office, the filming of the documentary will begin.
The next day was Monday, March 6th, 1989.
Sophia spent another day discussing brand cooperation between Gucci and Daenerys Entertainment with Amy, which mainly involved product placement of the Gucci brand in Daenerys Entertainment's film and television works.
The synergistic cooperation mechanism proposed by Simon was not only implemented within Daenerys Entertainment but also included all subsidiaries under Westeros Company. Therefore, Amy also tried her best to cooperate.
After finishing her itinerary in Los Angeles, Sophia hurried to New York, where her work schedule was even more intensive.
First of all, there was the $20 million Simon had just promised.
Westeros Company has recently continued to sell stocks of six tech companies, including Apple. However, the use of the liquidated funds has been determined, so Gucci can only continue to obtain the funds it wants through loans. Because of the priority agreement attached to the previous loan, this money still had to be borrowed from Citibank.
Secondly, Sophia also planned to adjust the management of Gucci's American branch, hire a new head for the American branch, and take this opportunity to completely take control of Gucci's business in North America.
In addition, two of the candidates for Gucci's creative director that Sophia favoured were in New York. This matter is related to Gucci's development in the next few years, so it also required a lot of time for detailed communication with the parties involved.
Finally, there were some public relations-related social visits.
While still in Melbourne, Simon helped Sophia confirm the itinerary for visiting the Murdoch family after arriving in New York. For this Cersei Capital operation, the Murdoch family also invested $100 million.
Favours should definitely be used when they need to be used.
News Corporation's tabloid newspapers in Europe and North America, such as The Sun, News of the World, and the New York Post, have been very keen on tracking the various internal strife scandals of the Gucci family in recent years.
Since Gucci has been controlled by Simon, and he happens to have connections with the Murdoch family, he naturally wouldn't let this situation continue. Murdoch obviously wouldn't refuse such a favour that goes with the flow.