*shrugs* If it's what'll work in his games, it's what'll work. Maybe he's out to encourage more well-rounded characters, or something. Who knows?
Personally, I like just flat Charisma (for simplicity's sake), or that "your best attribute" thing (to give everyone a shot, though then it's open to abuse from particularly min/maxed characters). Any way you split it, someone's gonna be unhappy.
The alternative, of course, is for the GM to just flat out give everyone some free starting Contact points, ignoring attributes, skills, and everything else. Just a flat rate based on the starting BP of the campaign as a whole, that folks can then augment (if they so choose) by spending points at the normal rate (so the Face can still have extra, if he wants). I don't think the game would fall apart if every starting character got 20 BP just for Contacts, or something.
In my experience, having to flesh out a few Contacts (and how your character met them) makes it a little easier to then flesh out the character itself.
