Page 46 of Sizzle Reel

Romy raises her eyebrows. “Guess actor consent isn’t needed after all.”

And an idea hits me.

Valeria thinks I’m good. Valeria wants to foster my talent. And Valeria is Brendan’s boss.

Here’s the thing. I don’t want to ask Valeria to have Brendan recommend me for a job. But Valeria is also the one telling Brendan what shots to do. And we’re still shooting in the house, doing the exact scene I blocked out ideas for with Noam.

What if I pitch it to Valeria and she uses it? She’d tell Brendan I came up with it, and he’d have to let me come back into an A.C. position, right? And then I’d focus pull the shit out of the scene and he’d take me on. I just have to show I’m a great D.P., not just a good camera P.A. That I could be someone.

I just need Valeria’s help to transition. I need to convince her of my talent first.

“Do you remember my high school friend Will?” I ask.

“Who?”

Me: If you want to practice, I know someone who works at Howlin’ Ray’s. I could film and you could see how you perform on camera.

“He works at Howlin’ Ray’s now,” I say.

“The death chicken place?”

“Yeah.”

Valeria replies almost instantly.

You’re amazing. Does tomorrow at noon work?

“Well,” I say, “Valeria still likes me.”

I just have to show Valeria what I can do and slip my idea for the scene in. She’s said nothing but yes before. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s the best chance I have.

Well, the only chance I have.

Romy just shakes her head, smiling. Clearly she knows what I’m up to. “You’re ridiculous,” she says.

chapter twelve

People stare at Valeria and me as we bypass the Howlin’ Ray’s line at noon. And for probably the first time in Valeria’s life, they’re not staring because of her. They’re staring because we’re cutting the Howlin’ Ray’s line. Despite the fact that Howlin’ Ray’s itself is just a tiny chicken restaurant in Chinatown, it has a line that rivals Space Mountain at Disneyland. It boasts a hefty forty-five-minute to an hour wait time—from a spot halfway through the queue. Even though the place only opened in 2015, it’s a Los Angeles institution.

Valeria’s brown eyes have gone wide looking at the sea of people.

“Are you sure they aren’t selling immortality here?” she asks me as we continue to walk.

In all honesty, Will told me to meet him out back, but I wanted to show Valeria all this first.

“Nope. Just good chicken.”

Right before we reach the door, I take a hard right and lead Valeria around to the back door.

“This feels strangely like the time my grandpa paid the host a hundred bucks to get us into Ellen’s Stardust Diner in New York when I was a kid,” Valeria says.

“Well, basically it is. Just with a little less obvious bribing.”

Will Garcia was one of my closest friends in high school. He wanted to be a screenwriter, and we were the only committed students in our film class. I had a major crush on him, but he preferred my friend. I set him up with her, and they’re still together. She supports him as he does the Artist Route like Romy—working side gigs to directly support making the art now. While I could have taken the fact that he wasn’t into me as a major L, I decided long ago that Will just owed me for setting him up with his life partner. With just the right amount of subconscious guilt, Will seemed rather happy to get me an order of chicken. Is this fucked up from both sides? Yeah, I guess. But my interest in Will has faded.

All six feet four inches of Will smiles as I approach. He already has a take-out bag in hand. “Hey, you!”

We exchange a quick hug. “It’s great to see you.”

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