Page 6 of A Little Bit Extra

“Nice to meet you, Cassie!” Ed beams.

“Likewise. What movie is being filmed right now?” I can’t help but ask. I’m curious.

“You’re looking at my next Academy Award winning movie.” Ed chuckles. “It’s about two detectives that try to solve a big crime happening around the holidays. We have a few office scenes and a café scene to film. I’m hoping for an easy first week!”

I nod and smile.

Ed turns to Marcy and asks her some questions about this week’s schedule, making sure she has everything she needs. Once they align on the first few scenes for the day, Marcy lets Ed know she’s going to continue showing me around.

I wave bye to Ed and follow Marcy through the double doors by the food table. It leads to the trailers outside where the actors hang out during the day when they aren’t filming.

When I need to deliver script changes or check on an actor, this is likely where I will come, Marcy tells me. She points up to the mailboxes, which sit on the top of the stairs of every trailer by the main door. There are five trailers, A through E. Every mail item will have a trailer letter on it to make it super easy. So far, there aren’t any tasks I don’t feel like I can tackle. A lot of the job consists of checking on others, which I already do daily at the diner.

Once we pass the last trailer, there’s another set of doors that leads back inside. Through these double doors is the cafeteria. Lined with large tables and chairs, the room is big enough to fit the entire crew if it needed to, but right now, there are only a handful of people since it’s still early. I’m told most people don’t arrive at the studio until a bit later, depending on when filming starts for the day.

“Marcy!” A tall man with gorgeous blond locks greets her.

Everyone we’ve run into so far has greeted Marcy with excitement, like it’s been years since they’ve seen each other and they’re reuniting. Here, it’s only been a few months. From what I can tell, the people here are close, likely because it takes months on end to finish a movie.

“Hi, Tyler! Everything going okay for you?” Marcy asks.

Tyler directs his gaze at me before returning to Marcy. “Yeah, we’re good. We have enough food for this week, and that’s all that matters.”

Tyler extends his hand to me and waits for me to grab it. “Hi, I’m Tyler.”

I reach out to shake his hand. “Cassie.”

“Oh, right.” Marcy slaps her right palm to her forehead before taking it away. “Cassie, this is Tyler. He runs the catering here at the studios. Tyler, Cassie, is my new assistant. Don’t give her shit.” Marcy glares at him.

Tyler holds up both hands in defense. “Hey, it’s too early for fighting.”

“What’s for breakfast this morning?” a voice behind us yells.

I turn around to find two other people walking toward us. They appear to be fighting about something because one of them has a clipboard and is pointing to something with extra oomph. The clipboard thing appears to stretch departments.

I’m still standing next to Marcy. I definitely feel like the newbie here, everyone seems to be such great friends.

Marcy ignores their question and turns to me. “That is Max.” She points to a red-headed man wearing jeans and a white t-shirt who’s easily over six feet tall. He waves. “And that is Lane.” The person walking with Max is a few inches shorter, with a shadow of a beard that matches his dark brown hair. He’s wearing black everything; shirt, pants, and shoes. He smiles and dips his head. “They lead casting at the studios.”

I smile and say hello to the both of them, trying to contain the bundle of nerves that want to burst out like confetti. First impressions are everything, and I want to be sure that I leave a great one in case they end up hiring me for a job one day.

I don’t have a lot of friends in Los Angeles. I hang out with Lucy, but she’s my roommate, so I don’t have a choice but to see her. I’ve made a few friends at my acting class, but they aren’t the type of friends that prioritize seeing you. Our friendship remains mostly at surface level. There is no grabbing coffee together or hanging out outside of mandatory class activities.

Besides class and the diner, I don’t have a lot of energy to give to find new friends. I would have to give up something if I wanted to pursue more friendships. Many people don’t understand the hustle of trying to become an actress in such a saturated market. It’s easier to spend time alone.

Marcy and I eat a little snack with everyone before heading back to set. She wants me to watch Ed film the first scene of the day. I’m familiar with small commercials filmed in dusty conference rooms or low-budget short films shot outside or in people’s houses, but this is my first time being on a more formal movie set.

We move to stand by Ed and prepare for him to yell action. They’re filming a scene that takes place in an office setting where the main character enters through the door and appears to be arguing with someone on his cell phone. A brief scene that will then cut to follow him in a close up by a desk.

Marcy pulls up two chairs for us to sit in.

Ed yells, “Action!”

The door flings open on the opposite side of the set and in walks one of the main characters of the movie. A tall man, dressed in a full suit, with shaggy brown hair. He’s on his cellphone, like the script states, yelling about some lead that is no longer a lead.

He’s walking toward a desk when his eyes catch mine.

Shit.

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