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Katie looked at the small spot on her screen where the bound script of her drafted screenplay sat on April’s desk. That, she’d been ready to talk about. But ever since she’d told Wil to post thekissing video—since Katie had let the answer to Wil’s question emerge from the ache beneath her rib cage without allowing herself to think about the consequences—she hadn’t said a word about the video. Not to anyone.
Talking to her closest friend about it would make it real in a way Katie wasn’t sure she was ready to face. “I assume you’ve talked that to death, to death, to death with Madelynn,” she said.
“No.” April narrowed her eyes. “I don’t mean the press stuff or what Ben said. I’m talking about the post. Your filming Wil and Noel. The actual video.”
Katie patted her lap so a cat would get into it. Sue came over and sat near her leg. “I haven’t watched it since I edited it.”
But Katie was listening.
“I’m not sure I’ve seen such a powerful sixty seconds of film in a long time, and it was technically perfect.” April leaned forward and looked like she was jiggling her mouse. Then she looked at a spot on her screen and broke into a wide smile. “Honestly, I still haven’t stopped getting chills. It’s beautiful.Beautiful. Like a painting that makes you stop in the museum and feel like crying. Which has happened to me maybe one time, ever. I have no fucking idea how you got that kind of light inside a house.”
Katie rubbed her chest with her palm.
“Also, it was all you. It wasn’t a guest director spot on an established show with its own vision. This was yours. It had the tiniest, tiniest hint of asignature.” April looked away from the video she obviously had playing so she could smile at Katie.
“It was just one minute.” Katie could barely hear herself speaking, her voice was so quiet.
Wil had been just as complimentary. She’d told Katie she’d watched the final file over and over again, fascinated with what Katie had captured, and with the light. With Noel’s smile. With how it made her feel. Katie had listened to her search for metaphorsand then instead simply tell Katie it seemed like something that was fromher.
You got into the video what Noel’s smile felt like. How did you do that?
“I’ll give you a moment to process my love of the video.” April held up the script. “Give this another pass. I’ll send the scan of my notes. There’s work to do in the middle third, but you’ll like it. You always like getting notes, maybe a little too much, so be forewarned that if you fuss over my notes too long, I’m going to put an endpoint on your process.”
“Duly noted.” Katie blew out a breath, relieved. She’d been both excited and worried about this conversation, but it had gone well. While she didn’t feel like she was completely keeping up with all the changes in her life, she was at least staying present and trying to let things happen the way they wanted to happen.
She felt good.
Right up until April sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Okay. You’ve had your moment.”
“Not nearly enough of a moment.”
April grinned like this meeting was fun. “First, strategic planning. Remember when we talked about the Kennenbear joint and the Gloria Latener script, and we were looking at where and when you might want to fit Gloria’s movie into your schedule?”
“It was only a few days ago, so yes.”
“That’s over.” April made an explosion gesture with her hands. “No chance. Not happening.”
“Why? Did Gloria call you? What did she say?” Katie’s mind was racing. She’d always had an excellent relationship with Gloria Latener. She hadn’t even considered what the fuss over the TikTok might be doing to her chances for roles.Good God.
“No, nothing like that. It’sthis.” April gestured back and forth between them. “It’s your video. That was such a move! Your nameon that video is giving you the kind of self-generated viral moment we hadn’t even dreamed of. Madelynn’s over the moon. That kind of video means you can position yourself as a director beyond the reach of the studio rivalries. You have yourownaudience now, and they’re hungry for more. It’s this screenplay”—April picked it up and shook it at the camera before dropping it back on her desk—“and the fact that I’m more than confident it’s going to bring us everything we wanted and more. It’s Marisol calling me twice since the last time I saw you, both times to ask if I could give her more clarity on the Ben Adelsward situation because she’s dying to make this movie, has been dying to make this movie for years, her community needs this movie, Hollywood’s hairy white ass needs this movie, and now that she’s finally figured outhowshe wants to make it, she’s angry every minute she has to sit at home waiting to get started. Katie.”
She couldn’t catch her breath.
“This is happening,” April said. “Right now. I can spare you until Christmas, but then you need to get yourself back to LA to help me deal with exactlyhow muchthis is happening. Like, we need an office. We have to hire staff. Put the lawyers to work on their reams and reams of paperwork. It’s everything we wanted, delivered with a bow on it and in a way that means we don’t have to beg the studios for favors or get in line or try to remember to be nice girls. We can do what we want, we can make room for other good people to do what they want, and we can be part of changing how this business works.”
“Oh.” Katie was having a tough time staying present. This wasmuchmore reality than she’d bargained on. “Listen—”
“No.” April put her hands to her face. “I know I made it sound like we were going to be able to take it slower than that, telling you Alison’s a vault, whatever, whatever, butno. You’re a director of your generation alongside the new world of directorsof our generation. That’s the story now. Remember how Marisol got started, projecting her short film about labor practices on the Mexico City exchange building? There was an actual riot. You made a video of two people kissing that explains exactly why we kiss people, and you put it on a platform that people use for everything from coordinating aid to a war-torn area to how to apply bronzer.Katie Pricedid that, one of the most recognizable people in the world, who everyone wants to know more about, but nobody knows you because you’ve kept your story to yourself. So I won’t let you decide whether or when you’re going to be ready to do something when, Katie,you have already done it. It’s here.There isn’t a way to go slow or stay quiet about who you are anymore. You’re out there. Everybody wants more of you.”
Katie didn’t realize one of her hands was pressed against her throat until she swallowed.
“Look,” April said. “I’m a very powerful person. I shouldn’t be. I don’t look like what anyone wants a powerful person to look like in this town. I don’t act like what you’re told in agenting school makes a powerful person in this town.”
Katie cleared her throat. “Agenting school?”
“It’s underground. There are ogres.” April smiled. “My point is that I am the same redheaded fat girl who binged romance novels and adored her best friend and her cats and whose bat mitzvah theme was ‘The Gilded Age’ without irony and included posters about notable inventions during the era.”
It surprised Katie the way her bark of laughter made her eyes burn with tears.