Page 38 of To Love Jason Thorn

“You are different from what I’m used to,little one. Different from the little kid I remember,” he said as we started eatingour dinner in a comfortable silence.

“Different how?”

“I don’t know yet.”

I thought about it for a minute, then in aconversational tone said, “Maybe it’s the boobs?”

Choking on his food, he coughed for a good minutewhile I sat there serenely, looking straight ahead.

At last, in a strangled voice, he said,“Yeah. It might be the boobs.”

Yup, he had noticed my boobs.

Score one for my boobs!

***

When Tom finally came around, it was almostnine o’clock.

“I’m sorry I’ve kept you guys waiting forso long. I was with another client.”

“Please, I should be the one thanking youfor sparing time for me in your hectic schedule, and I have no idea whatpercentage you take for these kinds of things, but please let me know so Ican—”

“That’s been taken care of, you don’t haveto worry about it,” Jason cut in.

“But—”

“It’s okay Miss Taylor—”

“Please call me Olive,” I interjected as Ireached out for the papers he had pushed in front of me.

Smiling, he continued. “Olive, it’s apretty standard contract, but we’ll still go over it so you can decide if thereis a clause you aren’t feeling comfortable with.”

I nodded. I knew nothing, nothing at allabout this stuff.

“The first good news is,” Tom started asJason got up from his seat next to me to get Tom a drink. “This project isnever hitting the ‘development limbo’.” When I stared at him blankly, heexplained in a bit more detail.

“After a producer or a studio options themovie rights to a book, the timeline is usually around twelve to eighteenmonths or sometimes even longer to get the production started, and even afterthat, there is no guarantee that it will ever happen. In your case, they wantto capitalize on the buzz that’s been going around your book, meaning sincethey’ve already secured a big name like Jason, the rest of it will come throughquickly.”

Reaching up, he accepted the whiskey—ormaybe bourbon, either way they both tasted terrible—from Jason and kept going.

“Jason will be in Canada for a while foranother shooting, then he has press junkets with the other cast members of TheWitness. Because of that, they are aiming to start filming when Jason isback in the city. So, Olive, if you sign the contract, this is definitelyhappening. The casting for the smaller characters will get done while Jason isin Canada, but they will hold off on choosing the right person for Evie untilJason can spare a few days and come back to LA.” He turned to look at Jason.“We need to arrange your schedule accordingly. They want you to sit in on theauditions for Evie and do a screen test with the remaining few. You can comeback on your day off from the filming.”

“Screen test?” I asked, looking betweenJason and Tom. When I said I knew nothing, I meant it.

“A screen test is a method they use todetermine the suitability of an actor or actress for the role. Since the bookis centered on Jason and Evie’s relationship, they have to have a strong on-screenchemistry. It doesn’t matter if someone aces the audition. They need to see howshe works with Jason, so he’ll have to come here for those last steps of the auditionprocess.”

“They don’t want me to audition at all?”Jason asked, frowning at Tom. “I can do a reading from Olive’s book instead ofwaiting for the screenplay to be done.”

Tom took a sip of his drink and shook hishead. “Since they know you are interested, they want you in it, and you’vealready established yourself as a strong actor. They don’t need you to audition.But the other stuff…” Tom glanced at me before hardening his gaze on Jasonagain. “The other stuff we need to talk about. Otherwise, everything you’veworked on will go up in flames. You haven’t seen your contract yet; the studiohas some restrictions over your personal life.”

“Fine. I get it,” Jason snapped at him. “Leavemy shit out of this. You’ll get your say tomorrow at our meeting. Just gothrough Olive’s contract tonight.” Jason’s harsh voice made me turn to look athim. Without saying another word, he got up and disappeared from our sight.

A little confused, I had to force myself tofocus on Tom when he started talking to me again.

According to my contract, I wouldn’t haveany say on the final script. If they ended up changing the end—like they hadhinted—I didn’t have the right to throw a fit over it. Since I was a new authorand not yet established, Tom didn’t see a way where he could get them to modifythat specific clause. The option fee was a flat fee, but the initial ‘purchaseprice’ for the movie rights would be three percent of the initial funding—with acap of course. That was something Tom had already negotiated for, and I wouldbe getting paid when production started.

In the end, we decided that there were onlya few points worth negotiating before signing it, and apparently, the mostimportant one was where and how they would be using the author’s credit—meaning,my name and the book’s title.

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