Page 86 of The Actor: Harrison

“Jesus Christ, you’re worse than him and that’s not a compliment, Sienna.”

She laughs too. “I know. So what’s up?”

“You have to be in my office in an hour because the CEO of Iris Distribution is coming to hear about your movie.” I can hear the smile in his voice.

There is a moment of stunned silence on our part. There are a lot of film distributors in Los Angeles, and not all of them offer services for indie movies. But if you want to go big, there is only one you have to go to: Iris Distribution. Having the CEO come to you? It never happens.

“How?” I blurt out. “How could you have the fucking CEO at your disposal one day after we told you we want you on board for this?”

He chuckles. “I called in some favors. But the point is, you don’t have much time, you need all the help you can get to pull this off.”

He’s right. When you try to go after the Oscar, you plan for months, if not years, in advance to come up with a marketing strategy that will push the movie. We switched goals when the movie was already done. It will be hard work to find a way to climb to the Olympus of Hollywood.

“We’ll be there in forty-five minutes,” I say hanging up and looking at Sienna in disbelief.

“It’s impossible to be there in forty-five minutes,” she points out.

“I know, but I’m counting on Aaron to make an excuse for us.”

An hour and fifteen minutes later, we rush into Aaron’s office. Sonny Lambert, the imposing fifty-five-year-old shark and CEO of Iris distribution, is waiting for us with a glass of amber liquor in his hand. We are both out of breath. Aaron grins behind his glass of what I hope is just water at eleven in the morning.

“Finally, you’re here. I was starting to think you didn’t want to show me your movie after all.” The man’s thundering voice fills the office.

I open my mouth to try to find an excuse but Sienna beats me to it. “Next time send the chopper you used to get here to pick us up and we’ll be on time.” She smirks at him. “Until then, we have to deal with Los Angeles traffic.”

She’s not a fan of the guy, from the tone she used, but at least she can handle him. I didn’t even notice the helicopter on the roof of the building if she hadn’t pointed it out.

The man bursts out laughing and beckons us to sit. “Damn, you are a feisty one, aren’t you?”

I’m ready to grab Sienna by the waist if she decides to rip out his eyes. She’s playing a dangerous game in this room but Aaron is grinning so I hope everything is fine.

“I don’t suck producers’ dicks, so I have to make them listen to me in other ways.” She pulls off a sweet fake smile that makes my cock throb in my pants. Damn. I like when she stands up for herself. And I like it more when I’m not on the receiving end of her sharp tongue.

“And smart too.” He seems almost pleased. “Keep this one. You won’t find another one like her,” he says to me.

I don’t know what’s happened in the two minutes since we stepped foot in this room, but I try my best to not mess up the power play going on here.

“I’m not planning to let her go any time soon.” I throw an almost arrogant wink at Sienna, just to let the jerk know that I wear pants too. He seems the type that doesn’t like weak men.

“So, are we talking about this movie?” Aaron chips in and I’m glad he interrupts this conversation that’s becoming quite dangerous.

“How good is this movie? Aaron says it’s a blast,” the jerk asks.

I doubt Aaron used those words, but I don’t point it out. We agreed in a call with Aaron on our way here to let the movie talk for us. It’s the best way with someone like him.

“We’re not here to convince you the movie is good, because we know it’s more than good, it’s phenomenal and it will have Oscar buzz surrounding it as soon as it comes out, “ Sienna says. “But those are just words. Harrison’s and mine. We’re involved in this movie, it’s obvious we think it’s good. Everyone who makes a movie thinks theirs is the best. But saying it to you it doesn’t mean it will sell. We can’t judge our own movie. But you can. You built an empire putting success after success out there. You’re a smart man, so, when you see it, you’ll understand what you have in your hands.”

There’s a moment of silence after she finishes and I’m not sure how it’s going. This man is unreadable, at least for me. I haven’t had the chance to meet him before this encounter, and I can’t tell if he’s an arrogant, pompous jerk or if he just acts like one and is actually a cunning fox. I suspect it’s the second, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

He moves his eyes from Sienna to me and fortunately, to Aaron. We’re all staring at him. Sienna with a smug smile on her face, like Aaron. I seem to be the only one on pins and needles, a strained smile on my face. I hate to come unprepared to meetings, but my friend here didn’t give me much of a choice.

“I hope this is really a good movie, or I’ll sue all of you for wasting two hours of my time,” he grunts, but I’m almost one hundred percent sure it’s just an act to flaunt the advantage he has on us. He knows perfectly well he can change the fate of this movie.

Aaron turns on the TV in his office and I hold my breath. We still have to polish it, and for two entire hours I sit still, staring at the man, trying to gauge his thoughts. Needless to say, he doesn’t give away anything at all. There’s a reason he became CEO of an empire: he has the perfect poker face.

When the screen goes black, you can hear a pin drop in the room. I’m not sure Aaron and Sienna are breathing. I’m certainly not. We’re looking at him trying to figure out what to do next. He doesn’t show any emotion, but I think it’s because he doesn’t have a heart.

He turns toward us and scowls. Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for. My stomach clenches in a painful grip. We screwed up. We fucking screwed up.

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