Alison

During the daylight hours, the crew has been shooting exteriors & some other minor scenes on this set. Tonight, when it is dark, they will shoot the balcony scene, a very critical scene in the early part of the film, and 'the star's' first attempt at acting in front of a camera. So far, everything has fallen into place smoothly during preproduction. Will that carry through during shooting? Who knows, Alison can only try her hardest to make it so, and hope for the best. Right now, Alison is thrilled Ruben is volunteering to get coffee for everyone. "We'll be shooting this scene all night, you'll see," Ruben says ominously. Well, it's true, it's always true. "Make mine a double espresso, Ruben," Alison orders.

As they get started, the scene goes better than Alison hoped. Astrid is of course, perfect, Alison never doubted her former lover's thespian gifts, she just needed a supporting character role like this to let her show it. And Gavin, the unknown nobody from off the street, is actually a decent actor, it seems, worth the huge risk Byron took.

Until he completely breaks from character & tries to kiss Astrid, who understandably slaps him in the face. "Gavin, you ass, I'm playing a part here. This isn't about us, there was never an 'us' for it to be about. The whole time I was with you, I was screwing her too," Astrid screeches at him, gesturing at Alison at the end. Me? Alison thinks, sitting up straight as Astrid points her out to the whole world. Alison never hid her affair with Astrid, so its not like she's been 'outed', but to find out there was also a boyfriend you didn't know anything about in such a public way, at work, in front of your boss....is a bit embarassing.

"Cut! cut!" Byron yells, "She's Death, she's your sister, you're not supposed to kiss her!" Byron yells at his actor, getting up to talk to him about his serious breach of conduct. Alison gossips with Chloe about Astrid, "I didn't know she even liked guys, let alone had a boyfriend," Alison laughs. "But this kind of romance gone bad between actors can wreck a movie, I hope they don't ruin this for us..." After talking a bit with his actors, Byron calls for a break, so Gavin & Astrid can chill out before they try the scene again.

But it's not a break kfor Alison. "These soured relationships between actors can ruin a film...If they can't work together, Astrid will have to be replaced. I won't have this ruin my film," Byron complains. "Listen, Alison, I expected Serena, my psychic to be here, but I think I forgot to call her. I want you to keep her informed of our schedule so she can be on set. And give her a call for me now. I want to try shooting this scene again in 10 minutes." Alison rolls her eyes: he has no clue how late it is, "Byron, its 1am, do you really want me to call this woman?" "Really? That late?" Byron laughs, "No I'll call her in the morning myself, but get in touch with her tomorrow & start keeping her on schedule for me." Oh sure, Alison thinks, I'll make that a priority, getting your personal psychic on set. But of course Alison will do as he asks, it's her job. As Alison runs down to the dressing room to tell the actors Byron wants them in 10 minutes, it occurs to her to wonder why the fairy is on set & in full costume & make up. It's late & Alison is weary, but she's sure she'd remember if they's done any scenes with the fairy....Alison is supposed to be in charge of knowing these things: she'd better not be losing her grip.

NEXT