Page 2 of Take It Till You Make It
“Oh, right. Probably feels very obscure to you. Me, calling out of the blue like this. You don’t have an agent, right?”
I hear her clicking on a keyboard. “No, I’m not even interested in acting.”
“Oh.” She sounds so disappointed. “You’re so good though.”
“Whaa..a…” I stutter. “How would you know that?”
“Well, three hundred and fifty thousand followers agree with me.”
“Oh, you’ve seen my channel.”
“Yes. My daughter discovered you originally. But since I’m in the movie industry, she shared it with me. We both watch you now. My condolences, by the way, on the loss of your father.”
Tears immediately spring to my eyes. “Thank you.” I reach across the table and open and close my hand in a beseeching fashion. When Glory frowns at me, I point to her phone. I look up the Gorman Talent Agency, and it comes right up. They have the headshots of some recognizable actors displayed on the front page of their site. The phone number on the contact page has the same area code and first three numbers as the one I’m speaking to. I think this is legit.
“I’m not currently at will to say who has already been cast,” Carly says. “But I can say that you resemble the two female actors enough to be cast as the youngest daughter. And let’s face it, you have mad acting skills.”
“Thank you,” I repeat. I click to the page that displays the headshots of the talent scouts, and there is a woman named Carly Shapiro. Oh, she looks so kind. “Tell me, Ms. Shapiro, what color hair do you have?”
She pauses. “Um, I recently went back to my brunette roots.”
“And what were you before that?”
“Strange questions, but I was a redhead before that.”
That tracks. I hand Glory her phone again and point to the screen and then to my phone. She reads the name of the agency, and her eyes grow wide. “So, Ms. Shapiro, let’s say I’m interested in this very random possibility. What do we do next?”
“Well, it’s hard to judge your age, but I’m guessing you’re still a minor?” Carly asks.
“Yes.”
“Then we would arrange for a video meeting with you, your mother or guardian, and me. I would explain more about the film and what your part in it might look like so that you two could make a decision from there.”
“And if Mom and I are both on board?”
“Then we would likely fly you out here – to Los Angeles – to do a reading. They don’t want a lot of choices for this role, so if your reading goes well and we decide to put you forward for consideration, you will only be up against our top two choices.”
“This is rather unbelievable.”
“You put yourself out there when you started your BellyLaughs channel. It shouldn’t be too surprising.”
“I didn’t do it with this in mind. It was just something…” I swallow the burst of sorrow that hits. “Fun.”
“You’re very talented, Arabelle. I think you’ll be a natural. I’ll text you an invite for a video call. What time would be best for you and your…?”
“Mom. Evening or weekends. She works during the day.” That is, if she doesn’t lose her job from missing so much work.
“Okay, and you are in Indianapolis?”
“Yeah, close to there.”
“So, a three-hour difference.” I hear more clicking keyboard noises. “How about I send three choices and see if any work for you and your mother?”
“Okay.”
“And your mother’s name?”
I pause, unsure if giving her name can somehow make me more vulnerable if this is some elaborate scam. I hear my dad’s voice in my head warning me to never engage with strangers online with personal information. Is this that? “Um. We’ll let you know.”
