Page 27 of Bad Reputation

Cole’s words to Rhiannon kept echoing in her head:Your feelings are important too. Maggie had planned to follow Bernard’s instructionsto the letter, but just as Rhiannon had, Maggie clearly had to find her own way.

“What doesRLmean?” Zoya asked.

“Right leg.”

“Oh, of course.”

Zoya skimmed through the notes, then went back to the beginning and reread more slowly, consulting with the script. “This looks great. I’m really comfortable with the blocking here.”

“You can see that we changed the wardrobe to give Rhiannon a bit more coverage.”

“Yup. That’s the kind of thing that we tend to work out in the moment when we’re filming, or even in the editing room.”

That had been exactly what Bernard had predicted Zoya would say. “Directors all trust themselves to handle these things while shooting,” he’d speculated when he and Maggie had talked last night. “But that’s not good for an actor who can’t advocate for themselves, or might be lying there with no clothes on—with a disinterested crew standing around, watching—while they have a discussion about boundaries. I mean, maybe some established star can work in those conditions, but that’s not going to be the best option for a twenty-year-old kid who needs this job to pay their rent or get their SAG card.”

But when it came to how someone’s lack of power might affect their ability to speak truth to someone with power, Maggie was the pot calling the kettle black.

This was it, the heart of the job. Was Maggie able to tell Zoya she was wrong? And would Zoya accept that criticism with grace, or would she bristle?

Maggie was about to find out.

“Look, I know that I’m new at this,” Maggie said. “And I don’t want to speak out of turn. But I think it would be better to have this level of detail”—she tapped her choreography notes—“in the script. Not in a way that’s set in stone, because there needs to be some ability for the actors, the intimacy coordinator, and the director to improvise andreject and make changes. But ... if we don’t have a clear, beat-by-beat, shot-by-shot starting point, it leaves the process open for problems.”

Zoya was quiet for a long time. A long, inscrutable time.

Then, in a completely neutral tone, she said, “Like whatever went down atCosa Nostra?”

“Yes. Exactly. I don’t mean to be unfun or whatever, but I don’t know how an actor could know what they’re signing on to, how they could weigh a nudity waiver, if the script basically saysThey make passionate love. That could look so many different ways. Like is it a fade-to-black Hallmark Christmas movie orFifty Shades of Grey? You’re not telling them.”

Oops. That was probably too much.

After a beat, Zoya’s lips twitched. “I love it when I’m right.”

“Excuse me?” Maggie asked.

Zoya looked at Esme. “Did I call it or what?”

“You totally called it,” Esme agreed.

“Did I bet someone about this?” Zoya asked her. “Do I have some money to collect?”

“No, no one will bet you anymore because you always, always win.”

“I have no idea what’s going on here,” Maggie put in.

Zoya gave Maggie a smug smile. “I left the set ofHear Herthat morning, and I texted Esme and told her we had to find room in the budget for you. Esme was skeptical, and the production company was skeptical—basically there was skepticism everywhere—but much like Cassandra when Agamemnon met his fate, I have been vindicated. I was right.” She punched the air with a fist. “You’re great at this. A natural. And the show is going to be stronger because you’re here.”

“Wasn’t Cassandra’s vindication . . . murder?”

“You’re missing the key part: I was right.”

Maggie’s mind was still picking through every sentence of Zoya’s speech as if it were a table at a flea market. “They didn’t want to hire me?”

“That’s not the point! The point is that I was right.” Zoya looked at her assistant and sniffed. “Someone really ought to be giving me five bucks.”

Maggie had no idea what Zoya was making as the showrunner, director, and writer ofWaverley, but it was presumably a lot more than five bucks.

Zoya pushed the sketches and notes across the table to Maggie. “I can see your point. Next time, we’ll bring you in sooner, when we’re still writing, and you can write out the choreography for all the intimacy and nudity for us. It’s good for the actors, but it’s also good for production and design too. I’m impressed you were willing to stand your ground with me like that. Very plucky.”

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