Page 124 of He's The Reason Why

Blake stamped his feet to get circulation back into his toes. “Let’s get this party started.”

Marshall cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, “Thaw out the makeup, it’s time to paint!”

Piper laughed. “I guess that’s my cue. I’ll be getting ready if you need me.”

They exchanged a look that said more than words ever could. “Glad you’re here.”

“Me too.” Piper smiled and walked off toward the hair and makeup trailer.

Two hours later, the blankets and coffee had arrived and the air was a little warmer, but they still hadn’t started shooting.

While they waited for the last of the extras to get ready and for a few technical glitches with the lights to be sorted out, Blake paced behind the row of chairs set up for the lead cast and directors, arguing on the phone with the human equivalent of a stone wall.

“We aren’t that far over budget. I don’t see what the panic is about. Budgets shift all the time, John. You of all people should know that.”

“The problem is,” a voice devoid of any human understanding whatsoever said, “yours is shifting in only one direction…up.”

John Edgerton was the head of accounting for the studio, and famous for being ruthless when it came to the studio’s budgets.

“We ran into a couple of hiccups. It’s no big deal.”

“The first hiccup, as you call it, is the choice of locations. You could have selected somewhere with actual running water instead of paying to pipe it in. I see here that added ten million to the budget. A budget, need I remind you, that was already over estimates by five million.”

“We’ll get some of that back when the town takes it over as an RV park. Besides, we’re shooting almost forty percent of the movie here. It’s saving money in the long run.”

“You appear to have increased the food budget by twenty thousand,” John countered.

“We have a lot of people out here, John, and I can’t ask them to eat cactus.” Blake glanced at the taco truck nearby. They werealready gearing up for lunch. If he didn’t get off the phone soon, they wouldn’t start shooting until the afternoon, which wasn’t acceptable. They’d lose the light for the fight scene. “I have to go.”

“Mr. Ryan, the studio is also concerned that a novice with no background in this business is a weak choice that affects the quality of the final production. The suggested solution is to replace her with someone more suitable, especially for marketing purposes.”

“We’re already filming. I wouldn’t make that change even if I wanted to. Besides, she’s under contract.” He gripped the back of his director’s chair hard to keep himself from growling at the man.

Keep it calm, keep it polite, and above all…stand your ground.A lesson learned watching Mom on set.

“Contracts are broken every day, Mr. Ryan.”

“Not this one,” he said in a firm, authoritative tone he’d also learned from his mother.

He was not replacing Piper. End of discussion. Period. The end.

“If you cancel your deal with her and choose someone with more experience and a higher upside the studio would forgive a certain amount of overage.”

“Are you trying to bribe me, John? Because it sounds like a bribe.”

Marshall shouted something, and two of the extras jumped and split apart like they’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t.

He needed to get off the phone. The children were getting restless.

“It’s an offer of aid, not a bribe,” John said patiently. “Twenty million dollars is a lot of money, Mr. Ryan.”

“You don’t have to tell me that. I have my own money riding on this project too.”

One of his assistants, a girl fresh out of college who worked for peanuts but tried very hard, rushed past him with a look of utter panic on her face.

What was that about?

He almost followed her, then reminded himself his job was directing the next scene, not chasing after assistants.

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