Sandy took Dylan out to a bar where the production assistants hung out after work. It was a beer-and-buffalo-wings type of place, and reminded Dylan of college.
Sandy introduced Dylan around. All the production assistants seemed obsessed with movies. One of them, Roger, knew more than most, or at least he acted like he did. Dylan took an instant dislike to Roger, who was insolent and condescending. He struck Dylan as one of those people who equate bad manners with genius.
The only other PA who stood out was a college-aged girl named Stacy. She was not beautiful in a movie-star way, but she was cute, with a button nose and a ponytail. She took an instant shine to Dylan, which would have been nice, but he saw immediately that it seemed to upset Sandy. Sandy clearly had feelings for her, and she just as clearly didn’t return them. The fact that she was interested in Dylan was an unfortunate complication he simply didn’t have time for, not with a bunch of goons expecting him to function as a secret agent.
Dylan sipped his beer and wondered how he was going to handle the situation.
Roger wouldn’t let up on him. “So, you want to get into production, do you?”
“Actually,” Dylan said, “I want to be an actor.”
“Oh, there’s a shock,” Roger said, and everybody laughed. “Everyone wants to be an actor. One of the first things you have to come to terms with when you start work here is you’re not going to be an actor. Resign yourself to that and you’ll get along fine.”
“Have you resigned yourself to that?”
“Oh, I am going to be an actor,” Roger said, and everyone laughed again. “I was talking about you. New kid, don’t know shit, haven’t had your dreams pounded out of you yet.”
“Hey, don’t sugarcoat it,” Sandy said, wryly. “Let the kid know what he’s in for.”
“Why couldn’t he make it?” Stacy said. “Nobody’s seen him yet.”
Roger scowled at being cut off in mid-flow. “What the hell does that mean?”
Sandy leapt to her defense. “Hey, take it easy, Roger.”
Stacy didn’t need help. She stuck to her guns. “We’ve all been around for a while. Anyone who could help us already knows us. If anyone was going to make one of us a star, they’ve had ample time to do it. But Dylan’s new. Maybe someone will see something in him they like.”
Dylan found the conversation uncomfortable on so many levels. He grinned, trying to diffuse the situation. “Hey, I know it’s a pipe dream. I’m a starstruck kid. I can’t wait till they start shooting.”
“If you’re around,” Roger said.
For the first time, Dylan lost his cool. His face darkened. “Are you saying I’ll be fired?”
“Relax. No one gets fired. You’d have to get drunk and crash a picture car the day before shooting.”
“Picture car?”
“A car that’s seen on-screen.” Roger cocked his head. “You really don’t know anything, do you?”
“Even so, don’t expect to be on the set,” Sandy said. “You’re just as likely to be in the studio.”
“Aren’t we shooting in the studio?” Dylan said.
“And the kid swings and misses. Strike two,” Roger said, and everyone laughed. “Sorry,” he said. He didn’t sound sorry. “But it’s rare for someone to demonstrate such a profound lack of knowledge. Movies never start shooting in the studio. You shoot the exteriors first, all the location shots. Why? So if it rains, you can move indoors to a cover set. That’s usually in the studio. If you shoot all the studio scenes first, when it rains you have no cover set as a contingency.”
“So where will we shoot?” Dylan said.
Roger was in full lecture mode. “The two main locations in this film are a bank and a trailer park. The interior of the trailer’s being built on the soundstage. The bank we’re shooting at is a bank. We’ve got other exterior scenes—the abduction, the car chase, the kid in school. Barring rain, we won’t see the inside of the studio for two weeks.”
“You’ve seen the shooting schedule?” Dylan asked.
“It’s posted outside the production office. You can only miss it if you’re daydreaming about being a movie star when you walk by. Anyway, the first day’s in downtown L.A. in the street outside the bank. Those of us that are working the set, that is.” Roger smirked. “Don’t expect to be.”
That was the last thing Dylan wanted to hear. He didn’t just want to be on the set.
He had to be.