Once again, I thanked Doug for allowing us access. I’d watched him interact with everyone today, and Trip was right, he was nothing like his brother. I would even go so far as to say that Doug would fit in well with the people back home, if he ever made it there. After our visit, I felt a lot better about him renting the house.
◊◊◊
Dawson Management had secured offices in the building housing its sister company, IDC – Public Relations, on Hollywood Boulevard. It was nestled between trendy little shops and restaurants, and was close to the Hollywood City Library. Since it was Sunday, Frank Ingram met us at the door to let us in.
He gave a quick tour of the office space and then took us to a large conference room, where everyone was waiting for us. Frank remained my publicist and was one of the managing partners of IDC. We’d made a deal to buy into each other’s companies, along with Mass Investments. Part of the agreement had Frank named as president of Dawson Management. We’d wanted someone more experienced to oversee the operations. Kent Crain would be the senior talent manager, but he needed more experience before he could run the whole management business.
He had worked with Craig Wild before Craig had died in the terrorist attack in Orlando. Kent had then worked for me in Illinois for a short time as my PA. He had suggested that he and Frank pool their experience, connections, and resources, along with a healthy infusion of (my) capital. That would provide for expansion of Frank’s activities and add a talent-management arm. I don’t think Kent appreciated the Midwestern lifestyle.
Caryn Buckley, the COO of my parent company, had hired Kendal Miller, who’d been my first PA. Since Kendal had her law degree, she was placed in charge of contracts, and was also one of our managers. Kendal’s previous job was at a law firm where they’d created an Entertainment Division. One of its employees was Angelina ‘Angel’ Hargrove, who had a background in music artist management. She was currently managing Birthrite, where my friend Jett was the lead singer. Jett and Birthrite had played at Zak’s party and announced their first record deal.
Kent had said he needed more managers because business was growing. I’d suggested two people I knew, and he’d hired them. The first was Aubrey Dunham, a former model who, after she retired, had worked for Ford Models in their European Division. Aubrey and I had been, shall we say, close. Dad had warned me that, now that she worked for me, she was out of bounds.
The second new hire was Clare Thomas. She’d been my first agent at Ford Models and had left to get her MBA. She was fresh out of school, and we hired her before her aunt, who was in charge of talent development at Ford Models, could hire her back.
We were joined by Jack and Bev Mass. Bev had lost her bid to get reelected as state’s attorney for Cook County, and her term was almost up. She held a seat on my board of directors. Jack was my CFO and the managing partner of Mass Investments.
The final person in the room was Megan Crowley, who held multiple roles for me. She kept track of the day-to-day financials, did all things technical, and was also very good at investigating stuff. If we planned to do something, she did much of the research.
As anyone might have expected, seeing me rolled in in a wheelchair caused a stir, and we had the predictable conversation as to what happened. I offered Brook the choice of going shopping or staying for the meeting. To my utter surprise, she opted for the meeting. I’d seen her look of interest in the various shops as we’d driven up Hollywood Boulevard. Based on that, I would have bet a large sum that Brook would have picked shopping.
◊◊◊
“I call this meeting to order,” my dad intoned.
Uncle John and Ms. Dixon, with Shannon Goehl, our corporate counsel, had joined the meeting via conference call. With my mom in the room, we had all the board of directors accounted for.
“This is not an official board meeting. With David’s trip to USC, we wanted a chance to meet everyone who’s based in LA and get updates about what they’ve been up to. For those of you on the call who might not be aware, David was in a car accident last night and was injured. While he may not be able to play football for three to six weeks, he’s okay,” Dad said.
“I’ll talk later about how we plan to spin this and reassure key people that he’s fine,” Frank said.
Frank was referring to my movie deals that were in place. Once word of my accident got out, people like Chubby Feldman, the director of my James Bond movie, would be worried I might not be able to perform. God forbid if my face had been scarred.
I zoned out at that point as I watched each person in the meeting. Kent seemed excited to have the management business growing. Combining the services of our publicist and management partnership was appealing. He talked about each client they’d signed and the ones they were working on. Brook took copious notes. If you had just walked in and hadn’t known any better, you might have thought it was she who owned the business, not me.
◊◊◊
When the meeting broke up, Dad pulled me aside.
“I’m glad I came, but it’s obvious that they don’t need me. That is, unless you think otherwise,” I muttered.
“No. It looks like Kent and Frank have things under control. Caryn keeps tabs and tells me if there’s anything that needs our attention.”
I smiled because I’d apparently finally gotten through to him that I wasn’t needed. He’d been doing what he thought was right. It was my money, and he felt I should be involved.
Maybe someday. It was enough for me to know that we had people in place who were both motivated and trustworthy. My grandma had been right when she told me I should build something with my money instead of merely investing it. The way the markets were going, so long as I wasn’t losing money, I was ahead.
“Halle is coming in so we can talk about the car wreck. Fritz says they have more information, so we’ll be staying a little later than we’d planned,” Dad informed me.
Kent, Frank, and Caryn stayed. I wasn’t really surprised when Saul showed up. Halle had an expected and an unexpected tagalong: Rita James and Lexi Andon. Fritz came in with Flo, Halle’s security person. She’d been left behind at Zak’s to see if the bedroom had been monitored.
Halle rushed over to me when she came in, and there were tears in her eyes.
“This was all my fault …” she said, and I cut her off.
“Nonsense.”
“If you hadn’t been with me, you never would have been hurt. When they took you away in the ambulance, I thought the worst. I’m so happy you’re going to be okay,” Halle said and planted a kiss on me.
I glanced over at Brook and saw she surprisingly wore a contented smile on her face as she looked on.
Everyone gathered around the conference table. Halle sat on my left-hand side, with Brook on my right; Halle grasped my uninjured hand for support. Caryn called Ms. Dixon and Uncle John to have them on the conference call.
We did introductions around the table for the benefit of the two on the phone. When we got to Lexi, she introduced herself as my new personal assistant for Star Academy-related matters. Before we went further, Ms. Dixon piped up, asking for some background and the reason for Lexi’s presence at this strategy session. I felt a need to explain.
“Lexi’s the daughter of Paul Andon, the studio exec who signed me for the two Star Academy movies. She told me last night that my contract with the studio allowed me to hire people. She wants to be my PA on their dime, so I agreed,” I said and turned to Caryn. “We need to look at that contract closer because Lexi says I can hire more people.”
“That’s all well and good,” Ms. Dixon responded after a heartbeat. “But here’s something you have to consider. If Lexi’s paid by the studio, and her father’s an exec there, she’ll have an automatic conflict of interest any time David’s interests differ from those of the studio.”