Everything Leads to You

“Thank you,” I say, “but this is crazy.”


“It’s an excellent script. This group is insanely talented. Charlie shot a film that went to Toronto last year. Grant and Vicki have worked on really important films. Do well on this and you’ll get some serious recognition.”

“Okay,” I say. “I just need to know how to do well.”

“You already know that. You just have to move faster. I have so much preproduction work to do for The Agency that I can’t commit to Theo and Rebecca, but I’ll help you out with as much as I can, so tell me what you need.”

“I’m going to need some wallpaper.”

“Easy.”

“I’m going to need to have pots hung from a ceiling in a way that won’t cause permanent damage.”

“I can rig that up.”

“I might need some things upholstered.”

She smiles. “It’s a lot quicker that way.”

“Fifty-two garage sales quicker. I should have figured that out.”

She shakes her head. “You’ll learn these things. Show me what you have in mind.”

So I show her what I’ve gathered and she looks serious as she listens, and when I’m finished she says, “This is why I recommended you.”

That sentence? It sounds as good as I want you back.

“The film is going to be a big deal. You know about the casting already, I’m sure. Benjamin James, Lindsey Miller . . .”

Hearing her name these stars makes everything feel simultaneously more real and more dreamlike.

“I know,” I say. “I can’t believe this.”

“People are willing to work their asses off for practically nothing when the material is good enough,” Morgan says.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I ask her. “Is this out of pity?”

“No,” she scoffs. “You’ve earned this. If I couldn’t take the job, I wanted you to have it. And this way I get to stay involved.”

She glances at her phone.

“Look, I have to run,” she says. “But call me for anything. I mean it. And just let me know when you start getting materials and I’ll figure out when I can help you get them up.”

Back inside, Charlotte is typing on her laptop as Theo talks to her.

“This girl knows what she’s doing,” he says when I join them. “I might have to borrow her from you once in a while.”

An hour ago, I might have cried at this prospect, but Morgan has made me confident so I say, “It would be selfish of me not to share her.”

“I have to follow up with Rebecca about something,” Charlotte says. “Then I’m ready when you are.”

I take out my phone to check the time, and on the screen is a text message from Ava: Halfway through the screenplay!

I write back, Do you love it?

She says, Yes.

Then I join Rebecca and Charlotte and listen as they go over the budget. Basically, we’re going to talk our way into procuring most of the things we’ll need, but we’re saving a little money by using Toby’s place for Juniper’s apartment.

“Theo,” I call, and he comes back over to us. “Do you have any leads for George’s house and the grocery store, or should I start those searches?”

“I have a few places in mind for George’s,” he says. “I’ll make us some appointments. But in the meantime if you find some possibilities go ahead and schedule some of your own. We’ll go look at them all together.”

Charlotte and I arrive home to a package leaning against Toby’s front door, and even before we’ve stepped inside I’m already ripping it open. Each sheet has its own line drawing of a plant, hand tinted in subtle greens and whites and browns, with its Latin name printed in small letters at the bottom.

Juniper’s botanicals, even more perfect in person.

~

Later that night I get a call from Morgan.

“Guess where I am,” she says.

“Um?”

“Screening Room Five. You know Harvey? The projectionist? He’s getting today’s footage ready for the execs tomorrow.”

“Sounds like Harvey’s a good friend to have.”

The executives and department heads get invitations each day to view the footage from the day before. Gathering in small screening rooms to watch multiple takes of the same scenes from various angles and points of view might sound tedious to some people, but I’ve been dying for an invitation to the dailies since I started interning. Space is limited and I’ve never gotten to go.

“There’s more,” Morgan says. “Today they shot scenes eight and twenty-two.”

I’m so immersed in Yes & Yes that it takes a moment to remember what these scenes were. But only a moment.

“Holy shit,” I say. “How does it look?”

“It’s your room,” Morgan says. “I wouldn’t start without you.”