"Aren't you going to drive for Director Parker?" Meg was behind Ronald, putting an arm around her boyfriend's shoulder, holding a Coke in the other hand, and feeding Ronald a drink.
"No, I'm not going. The director has to prepare for auditions and has already checked into the Ambassador Hotel. I also have my own work to do, and I'm writing a script."
Ronald was typing away on the typewriter while dealing with Meg.
"Which character are you writing now?"
"I'm writing a scene about Hillary, a rich girl in the dance department, and Lisa Monroe, who is in the same department as her." Ronald stopped, pulled the letter paper off the typewriter, and handed it to Meg.
After the black character Lydia was eliminated from the lead role, the director added a role for the white character Lisa in the dance department and became the starring role.
"Which role are you going to audition for, Meg? Hilary or Lisa?"
Meg has always wanted to take it a step further, and she also has the ambition to be the protagonist. Hilary and Lisa, the two white roles in the dance department, are the most suitable for Meg. Ronald's thoughts these days have been spent on their drama.
"I mainly prepared for Lisa. Hilary and I have very different family backgrounds. I performed for Erin several times at Stella Acting School, but it was not ideal. But she thought I should challenge myself and find ways to find out. Hillary’s motives.”
"I asked my sister Jennifer, and she felt that Lisa's middle-class background is more in line with ours, and she has a lot of roles. It would be a good choice to choose a character with a background similar to hers in the first film."
Ronald frowned. He and Meg had already quarreled twice because of Jennifer's various suggestions. Perhaps because of the deep feelings they had when they were young, Meg believed in Jennifer more, even though Erin was a professional acting teacher, and her advice was more appropriate.
"But Lisa Monroe was a lazy girl. In the end, her teacher dismissed her from the dance department because she couldn't dance well. You are such a good ballet dancer, can you play her well?" Ronald agreed from another angle. Acting teacher Erin.
"Well, what you said makes sense. Maybe I can try both." Meg continued to look down at the play written by Ronald.
"Hey, why did you copy what I said into the script?" Meg read halfway through the script, raised her hand and pinched Ronnie's waist hard.
Ronald smiled. This was what Meg told her about her dream when she went to the Statue of Liberty with her. Ronald felt that the scene where Hillary had an abortion was very suitable, so he put it in with slight changes.
This is Hillary's monologue while waiting at the door of the clinic.
"(Hands crossed and pressed on the abdomen, monologue to the little baby in the belly)
You see, I got an offer from the San Francisco Ballet, and I decided to accept it.
You see, I'm a good dancer, better than average, the best in the school. If I were to be a dancer at the New York City Dance Company, everyone would think that I used money to pave the way to get in.
You see, my dream is to dance all the classical ballet roles before the age of 21, including Giselle, Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, and Black Swan...
I hope to hear the audience shout Bravo to me on stage in New York, Leningrad, London, and Paris! There will even be a ballet written just for me.
You see, there is no room for a baby in my dream. (sobbing quietly)
"
"(Clinic nurse asked) Do you pay with MasterCard, or American Express, Honey?"
Meg hit Ronald again:
"Ronnie, what you wrote is too cruel to Hillary. I don't allow you to write like that."
"Why? This scene happens to be the ending of Hillary's story. I think it's a good way to handle it? Giving up the baby for the sake of career is Hillary's character."
"Besides, you can get more familiar with this scene. I feel that director Parker will like it and maybe use it in the final script. Moreover, he is used to auditioning actors in scenes with strong emotions." Ronald hopes that Meg will win over Sheila role in.
"No, I don't want everyone to know my dream." Meg shook her head.
Ronald remembered what he had heard when interviewing the painter in the same apartment. Don't tell others about your unfulfilled dreams. Nodding, he crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it in the trash can.
"Oops, I'm going to be late for class at the Academy of Performing Arts," Meg exclaimed and hurriedly picked up her bag to leave.
"Take my car." Ronald handed over the keys.
"Thank you, Darling." Meg kissed Ronald and walked out the door.
Ronald looked at the wad of paper in the trash can. He took it out again and spread it out on the table, carefully smoothing out the wrinkles.
I read it twice and it was really well written. This section is the best scene I have ever written. Dialogue derived from real life is very powerful.
Ronald carefully folded it and stuffed it into the plastic cover of the notebook to keep it as a souvenir.
"Ronnie, how many audition applicants do we have now?" Margaery asked.
"There are more than 620 registrations in total."
"In that case, about 500 people will show up (show up at the scene), and it's still not enough."
"Is there anywhere else we can do some advertising?" Director Parker asked.
"No more. We have sent them to all the places we can. In addition to the Academy of Performing Arts and other art high schools in New York, we have posted audition advertisements." Margery shook her head in distress.
"Would you like to try newspapers again? In addition to placing casting advertisements in professional newspapers and magazines such as The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety Show, Backstage, and Show Business, we can also try mass media.
Many students read The New Yorker, Harper's Style, and the New York Post, and the entertainment section of the newspaper is also good. "Ronald had an idea and remembered the time he advertised in Los Angeles.
"It's too late for magazines, let's publish it in newspapers. Since the Post was acquired by an Australian tycoon, gossip news will appear on the front page." Producer Da Silva decided.
"Our audition is scheduled for next Saturday. It is divided into two interview groups and is held in the two business rooms of the Ambassador Hotel. They are headed by the casting directors of Margery Simkin and Howard Fehr respectively. .
Each group has a preliminary audition with 4 casting directors, mainly based on their talents: musical instruments, singing, dancing, acting, etc. "
Producer da Silva begins assigning work
"The candidates who pass the preliminary examination will go to the room on the second floor, where the director, Margaery, Fehr, and I will check them together. For those who pass, we will select a date for the re-examination."
"Our goal was eight protagonists, and now we have seven. 16 minor characters, and 24 resident actors. That's 48, 47, no, minus Meg Tilly, so that's 46. "
"Based on the ratio of 20:1, we need to accumulate approximately 1,000 audition candidates, and now we are still short of about 400."
"Think about it, think about where to find these people."
The producer asked those present to brainstorm.
"How about contacting art schools in Connecticut and Massachusetts and arranging auditions?" Casting director Howard Fehr came up with an idea.
"It's troublesome to cross state lines, and they are minors. Different states have different regulations and may need to be accompanied by their parents. It's best to solve the problem in New York." Margery expressed a different opinion, "Of course, if you are a good candidate, That's another thing."
"So? What's going on in Hollywood?" Da Silva asked the director again.
The director has been back and forth between Los Angeles and New York twice, and no one has been finalized yet.
"We're not optimistic. We can organize an audition there, but right now throughout America, there's a shortage of young actors who know how to act. When using adult actors, we have to consider the close-up of their faces without wearing any clothes, so we can only look for those with tender faces. "
"Who else has a good idea? Ronald, how about you?" The producer named Ronald.
"I don't have any ideas. We can't get in except the Academy of Performing Arts. We've been to all the other places in New York."
In fact, the solution is very simple. Everyone knows it, but no one says it.
The biggest selection base was the New York Performing Arts High School, which had a falling out with the crew after hearing the contents of the script leaked by the director. There are thousands of students in the graduating class + senior class, and all problems have been solved.
However, after the last lesson, Ronald now does not speak easily and is cautious in his words and actions.
"Ronald, try to sneak in and find a way to spread the news about the audition." The producer directly assigned the task.
"Okay, I will. You have to give me some funds. I may need to bribe security guards, bribe teachers or something." Ronald said angrily. Producer Da Silva was still dissatisfied with him and asked This task was entrusted to him.
If it is done well, it is not necessarily a merit, but if it is not done well, it is a matter of his ability.
But Ronald also had his own way of dealing with it.
"I'll give you a US$100 limit and you can bring a few bottles of wine. If the gatekeeper likes this, you can sneak in," Da Silva said. "Remember to give me the purchase receipt for reimbursement."
"Giving alcohol to the janitor and sneaking into the middle school dormitory? Could it be the producer's own experience? Do you really think that you will go to an acting college alone and stupidly kill people?" Ronald thought to himself.
After the meeting, only Margery comforted Ronald, "Do you remember the last time Julia Taylor invited you to join us? Please consider it. You will also be responsible for auditioning some actors for this audition. You can also come to the studio after school starts. practice."
"Thanks, Margery, I will," Ronald replied.
The next morning, Ronald drove to a parking lot opposite the Academy of Performing Arts, then turned off the engine and waited.
After a while, Gene came over with the two boys, "Hi, Ronnie, these are my good friends from high school, John, and Morgan."
After saying hello, Ronald got out of the car and opened the trunk. It was full of advertisements for "Hot Lunch" auditions. These were copied by Ronald after he typed them on a typewriter yesterday and went to the Xerox copy shop. A total of 2,000 copies. .
"Help me move in together." Several people moved the audition advertisement near the cafeteria on campus. Gene's two friends are senior dance students, and they know almost every department leader. Each leader will distribute one or two hundred copies, and soon all the graduating and senior classes will be covered.
In fact, it was the school's school board that blocked the auditions for students from the Academy of Performing Arts. As for students, or even teachers, who doesn’t want to be chosen by the crew and become famous overnight?
The producer doesn't understand the class complexities of public schools, which are no longer as tightly regulated as the private schools his generation attended. It will take at least a few days for the high-ranking school directors to get the news, but once the news spreads, who can stop them from auditioning?
"Here," Ronald handed Gene five $20 bills to distribute to his buddies.
What Ronald also didn't expect was that the news spread not only in the performing arts college, but also spread throughout New York's art schools and performing arts venues through the network of classmates between schools.
