Helen Hermann

Helen Hermann is an important supporting character in the novel "最佳影星." She is the agent of the protagonist, Matthew Horner.

Appearance
She is described as being beautiful enough to outshine most actresses, however, she wears a pair of thick glasses to hide her beauty so that people remember for her competence, not her appearance. She usually wears an office lady suit and has her long, golden-brown hair tied in a ponytail.

Personality
She has a cold personality towards most people except those close to her like her cousin, Amanda, and her biggest client, Matthew Horner. She is a clever person who had realized early on that it would be a better choice for her to become a talent agent to follow in her father's footsteps and use his connections to develop her own connections in the industry rather than becoming one of the thousands of beautiful girls that come to Hollywood each year with dreams of being a star.

Background
Her father was once a partner at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) but he was eventually sidelined due to internal power struggles before he retired. Still, he had connections with some of Hollywood's top filmmakers such as Ridley Scott whom Helen refers to as "Uncle Scott," displaying their intimacy. Since the age of fifteen, Helen Hermann began attending formal business parties with her father, trying to participate in some business activities, especially in Hollywood. Over the next ten years, she met many people, even during her toughest years in college, she never gave up expanding her contacts.

After graduating from college, she followed in her father's footsteps and became a talent agent. She initially began her career in the mail room of CAA where she stayed for more than a year before she realized that it would take too long for her to rise from the mail room, so she decisively left CAA and established her own talent agency, Angel Agency.

Volume 1 (1999)
She opened her own talent agency in Burbank where many small talent agencies were located. Initially, she only had her cousin Amanda as a temporary employee. Matthew Horner arrived at her agency after reading an advertisement in the newspaper. He was surprised to hear that it was her first advertisement and he would be her first client. She signed with Matthew and another young man named Michael Sheehan.

The next day, she called dozens of actors to her agency as she had gotten many quotas for extras in the crew of Ridley Scott's Gladiator thanks to her father's friendship with the director. During the filming, an assistant after shooting a scene, Ridley Scott left with Helen Hermann. He asked about her father who was an old friend of his. He also expressed his admiration for her for creating her own agency and becoming independent at such a young age. As a gift, he gave her the role of the German brigand leader after the previously casted actor proved to be a hassle.

Helen Hermann chose Matthew to play the role since he had been helping her out with small things, leaving a deeper impression than the other actors. After Matthew finished his scenes, Helen Hermann went over to see him and heard that he gotten in a fight. When Matthew stated that he had not been the aggressor, she defended him and scoffed at the talent agent from William Morris Endeavour Agency (WME) that attempted to threaten her with his company's status. Having been previously employed at CAA, the largest talent agency, Helen Hermann was not the least bit affected by the words of a low-level agent inside WME, the second-largest talent agency. She then took Matthew to a small cafe nearby and signed a first year contract with him.

A few months later, Helen Hermann managed to secure the role of the actor in Britney Spears' new MV, Sometimes. She chose a few of her clients, including Matthew Horner, to audition for the role. Eventually, Matthew managed to get the role. However, when the contract was being signed, she heard that one of her clients, Michael Sheehan, had assaulted the director Martin Jackson with a steel pipe. She rushed to the spot and yelled at him to stop but didn't get close since she could tell that he wasn't in his right mind. While slamming the steel pipe on the door of the room where Martin Jackson was hiding, Michael Sheehan yelled and revealed that he had sold his body to Jackson to get the role but was fooled by him.

Eventually, the police arrived and arrested Michael Sheehan. Meanwhile, the director Martin Jackson was hospitalized. Helen Hermann was annoyed since she was afraid that this incident would reflect poorly upon her and sent off Matthew and Amanda. The next day, she called Matthew Horner to her office and asked him about whaat tricks he used to get the role. She wasn't too upset since no matter who got the role it would be one of her clients. After she heard his explanation, she realized that Matthew Horner had the smarts to make it big and decided to invest more time and resources into him. She asked him whether he instigated Michael Sheehan into attacking the director Martin Jackson which he denied. She wasn't sure whether to believe him or not but then again, if a straight man sold his ass for a role but didn't get the role it wouldn't be too weird if he lost his mind and did something crazy. She then advised him to take a leave from his part-time job so that he doesn't appear tired during the shoot.

During the shooting of her MV, Britney Spears injured her ankle and was carried to the van to her to the hospital by Matthew Horner. Helen Hermann observed the paparazzi snapping pictures of the two and realized that this might turn into an unexpected source of publicity for Matthew. As she expected, the next day, news about Matthew and Britney being in a relationship spread across the country. She informed Matthew that he must give any reply to the paparazzi's questions about his relationship with Britney Spears.

The next day, she left her phone at agency and went on a "business trip" which led to Britney's agent being unable to contact her. However, she had left not just to escape Britney's agent but also meet Erik Bork, one of the smaller producers in the crew of Band of Brothers, a miniseries created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. She wanted to get an audition invitation for one of the supporting roles her client, Matthew Horner, who had suddenly become famous. Thanks to her friendship with Erik Bork, she was able to get the character information of many supporting roles so that Matthew would be able to audition the role that suited him best.

Three days later, Helen Hermann returned to Los Angeles and discussed with Britney Spear's agent to publicly clarify their clients' relationship. The next day, Matthew and Britney, who had fully healed, held a press conference to publicly quash the rumors about the two of them being in a relationship, however, it proved to be counter-productive and failed to achieve the original purpose. After the press conference ended, Helen Hermann asked Matthew whether Jelena Boyar was the reporter friend he told her about. Matthew replied affirmatively and decided to tell her all his secrets, including how he met Angelina Jolie and got the role and how he slandered Michael Sheehan in front of Britney Spears while leaving a good impression of himself. However, he didn't tell her about Winona Ryder and kleptomaniac tendencies since he had signed an NDA.

Helen Hermann was surprised that he was such a thick-skinned, black-hearted schemer since she had always considered Matthew to be somewhat of a simpleton. She also stated that she would see if they can form a long-term partnership with Jelena Boyar to print favorable news about him in the future. Over the next few days, Matthew finally finished all his scenes.

A few days later, Helen Hermann took Matthew Horner to Warner Brothers Studios for an initial screen test. After Matthew passed the initial screen test while wearing the uniform of ordinary soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division during World War II, thanks to his friendship with Helen Hermann, Erik Bork informed them that the subsequent auditions would be held by Tom Hanks with the shooting being held in London and might take around six months.

After returning to Angel Agency, she informed Matthew that she had chosen the role of Roland Spiers, a brave and decisive iron-blooded soldier which would be very suitable for him. Over the next few days, apart from going to the acting class, Matthew spent the rest of his time studying the information provided by Helen Herman. She got a lot of news thanks to Erik Bork such as the miniseries keeping a somber tone similar to Saving Private Ryan; each character being based on real people and being similar to the original; and, most importantly, the fact that the crew will mostly select actors that are not very famous so as to enhance the miniseries' authenticity and persuasiveness to audience which means that even a small-time actor like Matthew might be able to get an important role.

Matthew also consulted his acting coach, David Astor, who gave him the advice to act serious and cold since most soldiers during the World War II were like that. Helen Hermann received a call from him with an idea to hire a recently retired or active soldier to give him private military training for a few weeks. She thought it would be feasible and decided get in contact with someone. Later that night, she called him informing him that she had found a candidate to provide him with military training.

The next morning, Helen Hermann informed Matthew Horner that she had found a soldier named Hawke Breton who recently retired but had been in recruit training for three years. He would create a ten-day intensive military training regiment for him with a charge of $1,200 and they would train at her family farm. The next day, Matthew began his ten-day intensive military training.

On the last day, Helen Hermann arrived to observe Matthew and realized that he did look more like a soldier. At that time, Matthew got a call from the lawyers of "Taboo Tarot" to deliver a court summons to him. Helen Hermann told him to deliver it to Angel Agency and called her attorney and a staff of the Screen Actor's Guild of America to inform them about this matter. The attorney advised Matthew to settle out-of-court where he would be able to drop the liquidated damages from $50,000 to $30,000 or even $25,000. He also informed him that he would take one-fifth of amount he managed to get reduced as his pay. Seeing Matthew anxious about money, Helen Hermann informed him that if he got the role of Roland Spiers he could easily get $5,000-$6,000 and maybe even up to $8,000 per episode.

In September, the audition for Roland Spiers finally took place. Helen Hermann realized that Matthew Horner seemed nervous which was quite unlike him but then she remembered that he was only 19 and it was natural for such a young man to occasionally feel nervous. Still, she got him to fix his mind and sent him off to get his makeup done. After Matthew finished his audition, Helen Hermann appeared and asked him about the audition. He informed her that it went well and they would get a reply the next day. Helen Hermann drove back to Angel Agency from where Matthew returned home.

The next morning, Helen Hermann received a call from Matthew Horner asking if she had gotten any news about the audition. She stated that she hadn't heard anything yet but she would contact him as soon as she did. Half an hour later, she called to inform him that he got the role. Immediately, Matthew became ecstatic and cut off her call. A few minutes later, Helen Hermann called back demanded why he had cut her off before telling him to come to her office by afternoon. Righ as he arrived at the agency, she came out and the two quickly went to the crew to sign the contract. Helen Hermann informed him that it is not uncommon for a crew to change its mind about a role which is why it's best to sign the contract as soon as possible. Helen Hermann asked for a pay of $100,000 from the crew, however, after some bargaining, it eventually dropped down to $60,000. After signing the contract, Matthew also informed Helen Hermann that he had begun dating Britney Spears. She wanted to use the information to hype him up but he told her to keep it a secret.

By the end of October, Matthew's attorney had made great strides in his talks with the crew of "Taboo Tarot" who agreed to out-of-court settlement of $30,000 that would be paid in three installments. The next morning, Matthew, along with Helen Hermann, appeared at Los Angeles District Court where he signed the agreement. While the two were leaving, Morris appeared and attempted to persuade Matthew to sign with him since he misunderstood Helen Hermann as a porno agent like himself. Helen Hermann lost her temper and informed him that Matthew was part of Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's crew and didn't need to speak with the likes of him before getting in her car and driving off with Matthew.

She went to New York with Matthew for a few days to attend the premiere to Britney Spears' MV - Sometimes - before the two returned to Los Angeles. A few weeks later, Matthew went to London with the crew of Band of Brothers to begin training for the filming. While Matthew was away, she