Elijah Goldman didn’t take kindly to being put in his place.
Eric Dane had made a mockery of him in Defiance, he’d not only destroyed Goldman’s image, but he’d destroyed his business reputation as well. That was an offense that wouldn’t go unpunished, he’d promised himself the second that Dane had him regulated to selling t-shirts at the merch tables that before it was all said and done, he would own Defiance.
Not some worked office job, not some kind of TV producer credits.
Elijah Goldman would own Defiance.
It was these kinds of thoughts that got him through the ass-kissing sessions that it took to even get his former employers at ESEN to even give him a meeting, let alone consider giving him his old position back.
Eric Dane had ruined Elijah Goldman’s life, and for that, he would pay.
All in good time. First he had to be in the position to do the damage.
“So you see, gentlemen, the Defiance Experiment wasn’t a total loss. After my...” he cleared his throat. “After my demotion, things did exactly as I said they would do under the watch of Eric Dane, they exploded out of control and therefor ended up not only embarrassing the network, but costing it hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad revenue alone!”
Truth be told, Goldman had been in so far over his head once he “assumed control” of Defiance that even he knew that it was all his fault. Not that he’d ever admit that to anyone, himself included, but that was all before he knew the rules to the game. Eric Dane had set him straight on that all right, lying, cheating, stealing, kidnapping...
It was all in play.
And now that Elijah understood the game, he was going to win. Unfortunately for Elijah Goldman, he didn’t understand how the whole wrestling biz worked. Unfortunately for Eric Dane, the business world was just as difficult a beast to wrangle.
“My plan, as you know, was to build a presentable champion - no, a presentable main event roster - from the ground up. Young, hip, attractive athletes for the modern world. Eric Dane, however, nixed that. He preferred old men like Boston Bancroft, nutcases like Bronson Box, he even went so far as to prefer women like Heidi Christenson to young athletes of the future.”
Elijah Goldman had a whole little black book full of numbers and names. Unlike Eric Dane’s, which was mostly Kelly Evans and her friends, Goldman’s had all the right names for just what Dane needed. Network executives, advertisers, people in charge of Athletics Commissions... All the people with the stroke that was necessary after the last little... issue with Box and the sadly injured Miss Something.
“And just as I said, loose cannons like Bronson Box quickly became far more trouble than they could ever possibly be worth. Box lost his mind, and any mainstream leverage went right out the window. Bancroft, a reminder of bleeding edge concepts from a decade ago, was unable to perform at the level of a champion. He lost the Defiance World Title to a vicious, mindless thug in Xavier Langston, who nonetheless went on to be abjectly dominated by the aforementioned woman. This continued until she actually won the Defiance World Title, and Defiance suffered a top-down failure with that World Title around her waist. If you need an ‘outside opinion’ on how viable the wrestlers Dane prefers to stock his roster with are to the mainstream market, just view the monetary losses for Season 4. That is precisely the paradigm of days gone by that we need to escape.”
The wall behind Goldman was decorated with symbols from Goldman’s successful time running DEFIANCE, from the still photos of Jake Donovan and Chris “The” Cannon to the much-hyped Bancroft/Box showdown to the Tag Team Superbowl’s logo to graphs of the rising figures from his complete makeover of the merchandising department.
“So, if you gentlemen do see fit to allow me back into the ESEN Family, and if you indeed do let me resume my former duties as Chief Advertising Officer... Well, I can always shake some trees, get some favors paid back. I’m sure it’d be a lot easier for me to secure a television contract, being that I have actual friends and business partners in the industry.”
Elijah had that grin. The one about the cat that ate the hamster, and what have you. Of course he had to be let back into the family. He had everyone’s ear that mattered. He had favors to call in. And unless Eric Dane was willing to crawl on his hands and knees through a mile of broken glass for a new TV deal... He’d need Elijah to call in a few favors.
“All I want is my fair share of DEFIANCE. I get to shine my star back up helping bring this company to new heights, Dane gets his big flashy company active once more. Everybody wins. Everybody gets paid. And I get the shot I deserve.”
The professional wrestling business is addictive, and almost as soon as he’d been appointed Chief Advertising Officer of Defiance, he’d been hooked. He wanted - needed - a way back in. And the part that was so ironic that he had to swallow his laughter, was that it was all due to Eric Dane’s favorite wrestler, Bronson Box.
Putting on his best and biggest smile, Elijah Goldman formally bowed.
“Thank you for your time and consideration, gentlemen.”
Eric Dane had made a mockery of him in Defiance, he’d not only destroyed Goldman’s image, but he’d destroyed his business reputation as well. That was an offense that wouldn’t go unpunished, he’d promised himself the second that Dane had him regulated to selling t-shirts at the merch tables that before it was all said and done, he would own Defiance.
Not some worked office job, not some kind of TV producer credits.
Elijah Goldman would own Defiance.
It was these kinds of thoughts that got him through the ass-kissing sessions that it took to even get his former employers at ESEN to even give him a meeting, let alone consider giving him his old position back.
Eric Dane had ruined Elijah Goldman’s life, and for that, he would pay.
All in good time. First he had to be in the position to do the damage.
“So you see, gentlemen, the Defiance Experiment wasn’t a total loss. After my...” he cleared his throat. “After my demotion, things did exactly as I said they would do under the watch of Eric Dane, they exploded out of control and therefor ended up not only embarrassing the network, but costing it hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad revenue alone!”
Truth be told, Goldman had been in so far over his head once he “assumed control” of Defiance that even he knew that it was all his fault. Not that he’d ever admit that to anyone, himself included, but that was all before he knew the rules to the game. Eric Dane had set him straight on that all right, lying, cheating, stealing, kidnapping...
It was all in play.
And now that Elijah understood the game, he was going to win. Unfortunately for Elijah Goldman, he didn’t understand how the whole wrestling biz worked. Unfortunately for Eric Dane, the business world was just as difficult a beast to wrangle.
“My plan, as you know, was to build a presentable champion - no, a presentable main event roster - from the ground up. Young, hip, attractive athletes for the modern world. Eric Dane, however, nixed that. He preferred old men like Boston Bancroft, nutcases like Bronson Box, he even went so far as to prefer women like Heidi Christenson to young athletes of the future.”
Elijah Goldman had a whole little black book full of numbers and names. Unlike Eric Dane’s, which was mostly Kelly Evans and her friends, Goldman’s had all the right names for just what Dane needed. Network executives, advertisers, people in charge of Athletics Commissions... All the people with the stroke that was necessary after the last little... issue with Box and the sadly injured Miss Something.
“And just as I said, loose cannons like Bronson Box quickly became far more trouble than they could ever possibly be worth. Box lost his mind, and any mainstream leverage went right out the window. Bancroft, a reminder of bleeding edge concepts from a decade ago, was unable to perform at the level of a champion. He lost the Defiance World Title to a vicious, mindless thug in Xavier Langston, who nonetheless went on to be abjectly dominated by the aforementioned woman. This continued until she actually won the Defiance World Title, and Defiance suffered a top-down failure with that World Title around her waist. If you need an ‘outside opinion’ on how viable the wrestlers Dane prefers to stock his roster with are to the mainstream market, just view the monetary losses for Season 4. That is precisely the paradigm of days gone by that we need to escape.”
The wall behind Goldman was decorated with symbols from Goldman’s successful time running DEFIANCE, from the still photos of Jake Donovan and Chris “The” Cannon to the much-hyped Bancroft/Box showdown to the Tag Team Superbowl’s logo to graphs of the rising figures from his complete makeover of the merchandising department.
“So, if you gentlemen do see fit to allow me back into the ESEN Family, and if you indeed do let me resume my former duties as Chief Advertising Officer... Well, I can always shake some trees, get some favors paid back. I’m sure it’d be a lot easier for me to secure a television contract, being that I have actual friends and business partners in the industry.”
Elijah had that grin. The one about the cat that ate the hamster, and what have you. Of course he had to be let back into the family. He had everyone’s ear that mattered. He had favors to call in. And unless Eric Dane was willing to crawl on his hands and knees through a mile of broken glass for a new TV deal... He’d need Elijah to call in a few favors.
“All I want is my fair share of DEFIANCE. I get to shine my star back up helping bring this company to new heights, Dane gets his big flashy company active once more. Everybody wins. Everybody gets paid. And I get the shot I deserve.”
The professional wrestling business is addictive, and almost as soon as he’d been appointed Chief Advertising Officer of Defiance, he’d been hooked. He wanted - needed - a way back in. And the part that was so ironic that he had to swallow his laughter, was that it was all due to Eric Dane’s favorite wrestler, Bronson Box.
Putting on his best and biggest smile, Elijah Goldman formally bowed.
“Thank you for your time and consideration, gentlemen.”