Chasing Stars in Hollywood

In a red-brick apartment in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, the time was June 24, Friday.

During breakfast, Grace Sprott and the family's nanny, Mrs. Hannah, served food to her husband and children before finally sitting down at the table.

Bill Sprott set aside his copy of *The New York Times*, picked up his utensils, and listened as his two children excitedly discussed their weekend plans. However, his expression betrayed a sense of worry.

It was summer vacation, and in previous years, the couple would have sent their kids to summer camps or taken time off to travel. This year, however, all plans had to be canceled.

Credit Suisse's restructuring and layoffs at First Boston had begun, with employees being called in for interviews and then let go. Some departments were even entirely eliminated. As a 43-year-old lower-level supervisor who had not advanced far in his career, Bill Sprott knew he might be called in for such a talk within the next two weeks.

Wall Street was a young person's game, dominated by energetic, ambitious individuals. At his age, once laid off, finding similar work on Wall Street would be challenging, especially without other marketable skills.

Maybe he could become a taxi driver. It seemed that New York taxi drivers made a decent income, although it would be exhausting and come with little prestige. However, as a somewhat traditional man, he couldn't imagine leaving his wife to be the sole breadwinner.

But even then, their current lifestyle couldn't be sustained.

Grace Sprott promised the children they could go to Long Island for a beach outing this weekend. Noticing her husband's worried look, she glanced at the newspaper and asked, "Bill, any news today?"

Bill Sprott forced a smile but shook his head without responding.

He was simply too tired. During this period of layoffs, some people were bound to be eliminated, while others would get promoted. Bill had been trying to leverage his limited resources and connections to secure his position, but with little success, he was becoming increasingly aware of his likely fate.

Although he didn't answer his wife, Bill recalled a headline from the economic section of *The New York Times*: "Daenerys Entertainment Group IPO Oversubscribed by 37 Times."

For many popular companies, it wasn't uncommon for an IPO to be oversubscribed by ten or even dozens of times. However, Daenerys Entertainment Group's IPO was exceptional. This rapidly rising Hollywood entertainment giant had set its IPO price at $22.5 per share, above the initially announced range of $18 to $20. With 250 million new shares issued, the IPO's total valuation was $53.1 billion, raising $5.625 billion.

Both the IPO valuation and the fundraising amount set new records on Wall Street. Therefore, a 37-fold oversubscription involving over 1,700 global investment institutions was truly unprecedented.

Oversubscription meant that many investment institutions wouldn't be able to acquire shares, indicating a strong market desire to buy when the company went public. It was clear that next Friday's Daenerys Entertainment listing would be a significant event.

General Electric, the current top U.S. company by market value, was already under pressure from Cisco and AOL. Now, with Daenerys Entertainment's imminent listing, it would likely be pushed to the second spot without waiting for Cisco or AOL to surpass it.

Recently, various financial media outlets and Wall Street analysts speculated whether Daenerys Entertainment would become the first U.S. company to exceed a $100 billion market capitalization. Given Daenerys Entertainment's recent disclosure of its approximate 1994 H1 financial results and the group's strong upward trend across all sectors, a market value of $100 billion with a P/E ratio of only about 40 wasn't unreasonable.

Therefore, this possibility seemed quite likely.

The main underwriters for Daenerys Entertainment's IPO were Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. However, other investment banks, including First Boston, tried to secure a piece of the action but failed due to various reasons. The inability to engage in this significant deal was one reason why Credit Suisse decided to reorganize First Boston, as the firm's management missed this major opportunity.

The Westeros system, which had quickly grown into a massive entity, was now a primary target for Wall Street's financial giants.

Bill Sprott couldn't help but fantasize about what it would be like if he had secured business from this Daenerys Entertainment IPO; it would not only save his job but likely lead to a promotion.

Unfortunately, dealings with Daenerys Entertainment were mainly handled by the Investment Banking division, not the Sales and Trading division where Bill worked. Even if they were involved, such lucrative business wouldn't fall into his lap.

Now, those responsible for securing deals had failed, resulting in layoffs across the company.

Noticing her husband's lack of interest in conversation, Grace shifted her focus to their two children, occasionally glancing at her furrow-browed husband. Grace decided they needed a candid conversation this weekend.

With recent resources at her disposal, Grace had spoken with Elite's president, John Casablancas, a few times, asserting that she deserved a promotion. She was careful not to disclose any final plans involving a certain young man. In Casablancas' eyes, she had aligned herself with Simon Westeros, one of the most influential figures, which could further benefit Elite's development. Therefore, her request for a promotion seemed reasonable.

She was on track to become one of Elite North America's vice presidents, albeit one of three and only at the North American branch. Despite this, it was a significant step up from her previous position, officially making her part of Elite's management.

The couple previously had comparable income levels. Now, even if her husband lost his job, Grace's salary, which was set to at least double, could maintain their current standard of living.

Grace had considered using her connection with the young man to help her husband, but since their last meeting in Greenwich, she hadn't been able to see him again despite occasional instructions. Any initial thoughts she had about asking for help had faded. She worried that asking for such a minor favor might backfire.

Despite their brief interactions and his consistently gentle demeanor, Grace sensed an underlying indifference and detachment in the young man—a sense of apathy towards the world itself.

Thinking about this, Grace couldn't help but take a deep breath. The mysterious aura surrounding this young man, like a dark abyss, was not off-putting to women. On the contrary, it made them want to step into his world, where they could become trapped.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her son Ray, who asked if the family could watch "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" again at the cinema that evening. Grace, realizing they had no other plans, glanced at her husband before nodding in agreement.

After breakfast, Grace first saw her husband off, instructed the nanny on some household shopping, and then drove her two children away from their Morton Street apartment.

It was 8:20 AM.

After a fifteen-minute drive, they arrived at a private training center in Midtown, where the children attended French classes three times a week during the summer. This was to prepare them for better private high schools in Manhattan, as French was often considered the language of the elite. In Manhattan, getting into top private schools often required proficiency in French.

Hollywood movies often depict high school students as carefree, engaging in dating, drag racing, drug use, fighting, parties, and celebrations. While this represents the reality for many American public high school students, it typically leads them to become the working class, struggling through life and often becoming the most direct victims of economic downturns.

America is run by elites. Those not born into elite circles who wish to enter must often sacrifice their carefree lifestyle. Even so, generational efforts might still not gain acceptance into certain circles.

Grace still remembered trying to enroll her children in a prestigious private preschool in the Upper West Side. They thought paying extra would suffice, but the children needed to pass an interview—not just a formality. Grace had to take her daughter Rita to a pre-interview class, only to see her daughter treated like an animal by the school's condescending interviewers.

Despite spending thousands on prep classes, Rita was rejected. A year later, their son Ray faced the same outcome. The couple considered donating $100,000 to secure a place, but even that was refused.

They realized this was a barrier, separating upper-class society from the ordinary elite.

Little Manhattan, with its ten-mile depth from the Upper East Side to the Upper West Side, Midtown, and Downtown, was sharply divided. Grace learned they were rejected mainly because they weren't Upper West Side residents. This criterion wasn't met by simply renting a house there; they needed to own property and have a certain social status. Wealthy families didn't want their children mingling with just anyone, so even their $100,000 offer was turned down.

Since then, both she and her husband had felt slighted. However, with his career stagnating and her limited potential in the modeling industry, their ambitions faded, eventually resting their hopes on their children.

After dropping the kids off, Grace hurried to Elite's headquarters a few blocks away. Though her promotion wasn't confirmed, she had recently gained three personal assistants to help manage her increasing workload. Many models, both within Elite and from other agencies, sought to work under her, hoping to benefit from her newfound influence.

Grace carefully selected five or six models, significantly reducing her previous client list from over thirty to less than half, letting go of those who wouldn't bring much value. While these clients had previously provided some income, keeping them would now be a waste of time and effort.

Some models begged to stay under her wing, but Grace was firm. The reality was harsh. After the adjustment, she had 21 models, a notable improvement in overall quality.

One of them, a doll-faced girl named Triss Gough, had been confirmed as a new Victoria's Secret Angel. Grace hoped

 to secure at least one more slot, believing the young man would keep his promise. She planned to send another list to Westeros' assistant today.

Upon arriving at work, Grace was called to John Casablancas' office. He was on the phone behind his desk, with another model, Karen Mulder, waiting. Karen greeted Grace with a somewhat ingratiating smile.

Grace shook Karen's hand, acknowledged Casablancas, and sat on a couch in the office's seating area, engaging in polite small talk with Karen.

Although not as prominent as Cindy Crawford or Linda Evangelista, Karen Mulder was a supermodel nurtured by Elite since the 1980s. However, she had been excluded from the first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and again in the second year.

Missing out on this significant platform, Karen faced increasing competition from younger models. She had already lost three endorsement deals in the past two years, and without a breakthrough this year, she risked losing her remaining two niche brand endorsements, potentially ending her career.

The reason for all this was now well-known in the industry: Simon Westeros disliked models with thick lips.

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