Behind The Spotlight Chapter 3
Wyatt sat down. Evelyn gave her seat to the Assistant Director. There was only one chair in the room for some reason. Probably because the room they were in was the cheapest one in the hospital. The kind that barely met the minimum standard.
Wyatt thanked her with a polite nod and a grateful smile. He then passed the fruits he brought to Evelyn.
"I'll cut fruits for you guys," she said and picked up the fruits.
Wyatt and Collin started talking, mainly about Director Esteban's project. Wyatt said that the filming only needed another month to complete before the post-production.
After that, Wyatt was not sure if he would keep his position or be let go the moment the project was done.
Collin and Wyatt were both silent after that. Collin knew how hard it was to find jobs in Hollywood, especially a position strongly related to movie direction. Collin was not sure if he could find another directorial job for Wyatt.
As for Wyatt, he was stressed because his future was still unknown. He worked hard as an Assistant Director, but he knew that it was still an internship.
"Thanks for helping me find a job, Collin. I know that I'm still a newbie in Hollywood and I don't know how this place works with all its politics and unspoken rules."
"It's fine, really."
Collin couldn't say that he worked hard just so Wyatt would secure the position in Director Esteban's project. A role that dozens of other hungry dreamers would have killed for.
He contacted his friends, the producer, and even Director Esteban himself. It was fortunate that Collin was their go-to agent whenever they needed people for missing jobs or someone they could call last-minute.
Wyatt Bray was the most promising client that Collin had. A true gem in a sea of mediocre and half-hearted resumes. He wanted to make sure that Wyatt would get a great start in the industry.
Collin was actually happy when the young aspiring director applied to their agency. He had enough credentials, and he also showed the agency his college movie project that he filmed together with his classmates to pass their subjects. A short horror movie.
At that time, Collin only had two remaining clients, both were small-time actor and actress who were barely scraping by with background roles.
They rarely got roles with lines. They were more like extras in the movies. Faces that filled out the scenes.
Well, Collin was still new in this career, so he never had a solid foundation or enough experience.
Thankfully, he had this unique talent that could discern if someone fit the job or not. An odd instinct, but surprisingly accurate.
It was hard to explain, but Collin could predict if someone would do well in their career just by watching them talk for a few minutes.
Unfortunately, he couldn't predict his own career as an agent. A cruel irony.
So when the agency introduced Wyatt to him, Collin decided to work hard and give him a smooth path, one with more opportunities.
After all, directors were the best clients that an agent could have. There were a lot of factors as to why that was.
Directors were the ones who made the movies from start to finish, with the vision that steered the entire ship.
Directors were always above the actors and actresses when it came to control and decision-making. It was a hard fact that no one could deny.
Actors and actresses might be the faces of the movies, the ones on posters and in headlines. But directors were the ones who created, planned, filmed, and sometimes edited the movies from scratch, shaping every frame and every scene.
Directors were the ones who gave life to movies and made them watchable.
Because thousands of pieces of footage without a clear plot and concise editing, dubbing, and sound were garbage. They were fragments with no meaning.
For Collin to have his first aspiring director was already heaven-sent. A hope in his struggling career.
Because honestly, he didn't have any power or connection to make directors interested in signing with him. He was just a nobody.
So when Wyatt and Collin signed the contract of five years, both of them knew that this was a real endeavor that they had to work out together. A real partnership.
'Let's all hope this time I'll make it.'
Collin weakly smiled as he stared at the pale white ceiling of the hospital room, lost in thought.
Despite being handsome, his career in modeling never really shined. It didn't make it better that the last magazine he modeled for tried to coerce to horizontal monster smash with their male photographer...
Yes, Hollywood, not surprising at all. A place where beauty often meant a price.
"I promised you that I'd send you the script that I wrote. I'm wondering if you can help me register for the Writer's Guild."
Wyatt passed a document to Collin, and he started reading it. He flipped through the pages and gradually understood the plot.
"The Accidental Wedding Crashers? If I remembered correctly, the movie you filmed in college was a horror movie, right?"
Collin asked while skimming through the script with a mixture of curiosity. Honestly, he thought the script Wyatt wrote was a horror movie, but this one seemed to be a comedy.
He had watched his experimental film. It was average, but Wyatt had the filming style that veteran directors had, steady and focused. He had a clear goal for the movie.
Basically, Wyatt recognized the introduction, trigger, development of conflict, climax, aftermath, and conclusion of a story. The structure of good storytelling.
This might look simple, but new directors often had a hard time finding direction in their movies. They sometimes made confusing plots and messy shots.
Wyatt had already grown from that stage. It was clear from his experimental film.
"That's right. Don't get me wrong, I still prefer horror movies. I just feel like this script that I wrote can be sold to some studios... Maybe, maybe we can sell it for millions."
He was hesitant about the latter. The idea of selling a script for a million dollars was out of his league.
However, he understood that he needed money, so he tried writing a script with comedy genre.
"Although, if possible, I want to direct it myself." Wyatt smiled.
He wasn't sure if he would even have the chance to do so. It seemed like being a director would be hard. Especially without the right connection or budget to back him up.
Collin nodded and looked at Wyatt.
Suddenly, a golden light glinted in his pupils, and he groaned, feeling a bit of a headache shake up his skull.
"Ugh!"
"Son, I think you need to lie down."
"It's okay, Mom. I'm fine, really."
Collin immediately stopped his mother from forcing him to lie down. Instead, he looked at Wyatt.
He was shocked to the core. He realized that there were golden letters above Wyatt's head! They were floating, surreal, and shining like the stars in the night sky.
Wyatt Bray:
-- Comedy Scriptwriter Genius.
-- Master Director Of Comedy.
Collin was dumbfounded and had no idea what was going on. How could there be words floating above a person's head?
"Collin, are you okay?"
"Huh?"