Nathan Stoke was an award-winning director. His works has been acclaimed all over the world but behind the creative process, he finds himself either as a glorified nanny for spoiled and entitled actors and actresses or as a mediator between his producers, investors, site executives and other bigshots who think they have a say in his studio.
Sometimes, he missed the time when he was just another unknown director working pay check to pay check. It was then that he had control over his art. But then again, he wasn't able to fully embody his vision due to shortage of funds; now he has the funds but he finds himself playing politics with the bigwigs.
There's a price for everything, apparently.
But he loves his craft and he was willing to put up with the crazy rich people he had to manage everyday to be able to create the scenes he wants to. He will play mind games with them; he'll laugh and lament when needed but he has every intention of winning every time.
He studied the people in the huge training room they're using for the audition. They were some of the most important people in the industry and they were all fuming and stabbing each other in the back in order to get what they want. He wanted to just sigh and get this done and over with.
He took his seat in the long table and motioned for his assistant director to join him, "Let's shoot this like we would the actual scene. Have all angles ready and filming. They're willing to shell out money for this so we better make damn use of those credits."
The assistant director nodded then jogged away the back of the room to check with all the cameras. He gave Nathan a thumbs up to indicate they were all ready.
Nathan signaled one of the assistants by the door to go ahead and call the actress from Onyx. The lights in the room dimmed and that put a hush to the different rumblings from the others in the room. Then in the cleared part in the other half of the room the strategically placed production lights were turned on, it cast a spot light on a grand piano beside a faux window.
His investors can play they're mind games but he had all intention to pick the proper actress for the job and if he had to go through film then he would.
He itched to see the scene through his screen. He didn't want to be stuck watching all this play out from the small screen they placed in front of everyone in the long table.
Damn it. He stood up and hoped the others in the long table did not notice but if they did then they won't be able to do anything about it. He's a director and he'll go and do his damn job and direct his crew.
He made his way towards the controls and he sat beside his assistant director.
"Knew you couldn't resist." The assistant director joked.
"Shut up, Rick." He took the spare headset Rick handed him and said into the mic, "This is your director. We're going into this seriously, folks. Be on your toes."
There were grunts of acknowledgement from his crew. He liked working with people who knew him and his quirks.
The assistant and the first actress came into view. The actress took a seat in front of the grand piano and adjusted the seat to her liking. She closed her eyes for a few second and then unerringly found one of the cameras directed at her and nodded her head.
"Camera 1, give me a close up on her side profile. Camera 2, focus on the piano keys and her fingers."
"She looks good on camera." Rick murmured as after he gave some comments to the lighting team.
Nathan grunted, "She's an actress, she should look good in camera. It's talent that I want."
Rick looked at his friend, "Think she got it?"
"I sure hope so or we're just wasting our time here."
---
Kiera followed the assistant to just outside another door.
"Consider this audition as a screen test. We will consider the scene as an actual take. Kindly take this very seriously."
Kiera nodded at him. It took her a few seconds to get accustomed to sudden brightness from the production lights.
She made her way towards the grand piano. She took a quick accounting of the different things in the scene. There was the beautiful grand piano beside a faux window with thick curtains pulled back.
Whoever was watching her would see her through the faux window and they will only see a side profile of herself.
But that was fine. It wasn't what they actually see that was important but what they will see in their screens.
She can work with this.
As she adjusted her seat, she realized her hands were actually shaking. This was an audition she could only wish for in her previous life. A second female lead role and she'll be gambling during this audition.
A part of her wanted to go through the sure song and forget about the frantic preparation they did last night. Maybe she was wrong, maybe the script writer and director and everyone else would hate her interpretation.
That thought made her anxiety spike.
She gritted her teeth. She did her work and her gut told her this was the way to go. This was who Veronica York is. Her Veronica York. If they didn't like her then that was their loss.
She took a deep breath to center herself. Second guessing herself wouldn't help now. She had made up her mind and she will go with it. She pushed back all the anxiety and went deeper into Veronica York for the next few minutes she won't be Kiera.
She will now be Veronica York, an only child from an affluent family, who was pampered by her parents since her birth. She was a woman who grew up trained to be the heiress of her family's company; she was intelligent and charming. In her mind she will continue on in life with little strife until her father announced that he was divorcing her mother for his mistress and his other daughter.
And this scene would be a culmination of everything and a turning point for Veronica.
She looked into one of the cameras directed at her and gave a nod to signal that she was ready.
---
"Clapper," Nathan said into his mic.
Another assistant jogged to the front of the grand piano and silence cloaked the room.
"Audition 1, The Turning Point, 1st take. Action!"