Cheryl called her agent John the next morning. He didn’t answer. She was losing her patience with him the more time had passed. First, she asked him to call her with a plan of action, which he never did. Then she can’t seem to ever get him on the phone these days. She was no longer feeling like a priority to him.

She got online to see if he took on new clients. Looking at his agent page, she saw there were a few new clients. She couldn’t believe it. Why wouldn’t he tell me? And what makes him think he can represent all of us. 

Cheryl called him again. Still no answer. She threw the phone across the room then screamed really loud. He was useless anyway. She started shopping for a new agent. She looked at the top agencies and did a run through of their agents. She can’t find a single one who is available for representation of her. The ones who were available, she already met their acquaintance and let’s just say, it wasn’t a pleasure.

She called a friend of hers’ in the business.

Liz answered out of breath, “hello.”

“Yes. Liz, I need your help. I’m looking for a new agent.”

“A new agent? Haven’t you been with John for only a year?” Liz reminded her.

“Actually, it’s been a year and a half. And frankly, that’s too long.”

“Cheryl, don’t you think maybe you should stick it out with this agent? You can’t keep treating them like cellphone plans?”

“You’re no help. And what are you doing anyway? You sound awful.”

“I’m at the…,” Liz was going to say “gym,” but Cheryl had already hung up.

It was sound advice; her friend gave her. Her reputation for discarding agents like gift cards with zero balances was on the record in Hollywood. It got so bad, at one point, the agents joined forces to collectively decline representing her as a client, which is how she found John.

John was new in the business. He didn’t even have a member’s card yet. That’s why he was naïve to the fact someone with her resume would be looking for an agent, and willing to accept one with his lack of credentials.  But now John was just about sick of her. The plan was to dump her once he made enough connections and had at least two working clients.

Cheryl’s anger grew so bad she turned the T.V. on to calm her down. She always thought of T.V. as a lessor form of entertainment. Insulting T.V. actors every chance she got. Even if they were Emmy winners or on Primetime shows. “Oh, darling aren’t you cute. Nobody watches T.V. anymore,” she once said to an A lister who just confessed that Cheryl was her idol.

When she stopped to pay attention to the host on Extra, she saw he was interviewing an actress she absolutely despised. In her mind, this woman was taking every part that five years earlier would have been offered to Cheryl.

When the young actress answered the host question about a role she declined that she later regretted, she said “Well, I wouldn’t say I regret it. You know that play that Cheryl Woodlynn is doing; The Virgin Monologues, I had to turn that one down. I couldn’t believe she said yes to it. I mean, I haven’t been with as many men as her, and even I couldn’t be convincing as a virgin. That’s asking way too much from the audience.” They both chuckled.

Cheryl started to pull her hair and belted out the loudest grunt of her fading career.

This is a continuation from an earlier post. You can check that one out on the Verses page.