Hollywood certainly had its share of secrets and secret keepers. Being one of them wasn't something I aspired to, I just lucked into it. Eventually though, someone talks and secrets are no more. Gossip columnists and bloggers can often control a town more than the politicians can, so their work was certainly made for the small screen. Lindsay Lohan had been a friend for some time, but we never saw ourselves as a couple and our meetings were never planned. I actually liked it that way, and I think she did too. She liked knowing someone who wasn't all that "connected" as it were, respected her as a person, and seemed to know what being a friend meant. Her road had been a bumpy and well-documented one as we all know. But she'd managed to skillfully reinvent herself for the TV series "Blind Item" playing a New York gossip columnist.
After 3 seasons in New York, the producers decided to move production to Los Angeles, something she was against. She liked living in New York and was nervous about her old demons resurfacing if she returned to LA. Plus she had some big movie offers coming her way as a result of the show's success. So she boldly decided to leave the series, her character of Paula Mallory would leave the gossip world of New York City for the relative anonymity of upstate New York. That part was her idea. When the show filmed its season finale in Las Vegas and introduced its spinoff series "Lady Vegas" that starred Eva Longoria, she tearfully broke the news to me of her departure from the series.
As a way of keeping things interesting, the producers' (who'd also had some big offers come their way) crafted a unique deal from the network to keep the show going. "Blind Item" would continue as a series of made for TV movies, and be a revival of the "mystery movie of the week" concept that had been popular back in the 1970's. The idea here was that they could attract an equally popular star to the part and not tie them down to a weekly series. Various names were tossed around that included Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kaley Cuoco, Ashley Tisdale and at one point, Paris Hilton (the theory there being why not have someone who was a staple of the gossip pages play a gossip columnist? It worked once, right? Good sense prevailed and the casting department moved on, no offense to Paris but in this case I was sorta glad about that. I think she was too). Instead, the producers went in an unexpected direction, they ditched the idea of occasional movies and kept the series going in New York City, choosing a relative unknown for the part, ex-Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon.
Artists Unlimited's chief (and my boss) Chuck Tyler, was at his chest-thumping best when he heard a client of the agency got the part. Her career had been stalled while at Famous Artists and he thought she was due for some kind of boost. So a lead role in a series was perfect. but his second in command Jeff Murphy was a little wary. Even though the merger of Artists Unlimited with its New York counterpart, Famous Artists, had just gone through, there were still question marks. One of them was the status of Scott Jackson, our top agent in the New York office. As a result of the merger, Scott was out at Artists Unlimited. I had only met him once before so I really hadn't formed an opinion of him yet, all I knew was his name created a kind of ripple effect of uncertainty within the office, I don't know why, it just did. Even more so now that he was a "free agent" as it were. To Chuck, it didn't matter. He was just glad to be rid of his East Coast nemesis, merger or no merger.
"Don't ask me why, but I just think that guy is bad news." Jeff said to me as I prepared to return to New York to work on episodes of the series that would introduce Adrienne's character; gossip columnist Veronica "Ronnie" Rivera.
"You really think so?"
"Hell, yeah I think so!" he said in an urgent tone of voice "All he needs is the pencil-thin mustache and greasy hair to complete the look. You saw the way Chuck acted when we left the meeting and he was just arriving."
"Wasn't he supposed to get some kind of production deal through Famous Artists? I thought that was their plan."
"Nothing's been announced yet, there's not even a rumor of his future plans" he added.
"I wouldn't worry about it, he's probably just, uh, more ambitious than the rest of us." I said, trying to sound confident.
Jeff just stared at me now.
"Oh, boy do you have a lot to learn." He said with a chuckle as he left my office.
The New York set of "Blind Item" was a hubbub of activity when I arrived a few days later. The show's PR rep was nowhere to be found so at least I got the chance to wander a little around the set until I heard a gruff sounding woman behind me.
"Who the fuck are you? How'd you get in here?" she yelled
I quickly explained where I was from.
"Great..." she groaned "this is all I need right now...OK, uh, we're doing a set-up over there." She said pointing to a group of cameramen "Try to stay out of the way."
As she stalked off, I gave her my best military salute.
The camera guys on the truck were friendly enough and gave me a perfect spot for photos. It was from here I saw Adrienne come on the set, she looked great in a black leather trench coat and matching boots. But I'd forgotten how short she was! She was met by someone who appeared to be the director along with the PR rep I'd met earlier. They conversed for a second before the director left and the PR rep pointed to the camera rig I was on, Adrienne's eyes lit up as she spotted me.
"Hey, what're you doing up there?" she yelled
"My job." I yelled back.
"Get down here!" she said happily.
As I climbed down, the camera guys looked at me with a mix of envy and confusion, who was this guy?
"Oh, so good to see you again." she said happily as we hugged.
"You, too...how long has it been?"
"Too long, babe." she said with that cool voice of hers.
The last time we'd seen one another had been when her friend Kim Kardashian rescued me at LAX and she just happened to be along for the ride. It led to us seeking refuge at my place from a torrential rainstorm that hit L.A.
"So how do you like being a TV star?" I asked
"Hey, I'm not a star just yet" she said before adding "that's your department."
"Oh, really? I'm the star...that's rich."
"Of course you are!" she said with a laugh "OK, I've got a scene to do...you'll be around, right?"
"Sure, I'm a star remember?" I said sarcastically
Adrienne smiled widely as she went to meet with the director.
One drawback of my job was that I never got to see scripts so I had no idea what was going on in the shows or movies I photographed. I usually had to guess by what the director set up with camera crews, or maybe catch a bit of dialogue, and then hope for the best.
For this scene, Adrienne's character would be deep in conversation with a NYPD Detective at the scene of a traffic accident that was somehow connected to a story she was working on. Like I said, not seeing scripts made it tough to figure out what was going on. Maybe it was for the better, I wouldn't be accosted for inside dirt on story lines.
"OK, everybody that's a wrap for today!" I heard the director say over a bullhorn.
There was some clapping and then the quick activity of breaking down equipment. I'd gotten some good shots of Adrienne but hated the angle I'd been forced to shoot from.
Oh well, there's always tomorrow.
The production coordinator found me just as I got off the camera truck.
"Jim! Glad I found you." she began "Sorry I was a little rude to you earlier, Adrienne wants to meet you in her bus."
"Her bus?" I said, with surprise.
"Yes, you heard that right." she replied in a seen-it-all tone "It's more of an RV but it's around the corner, number 77."
Sure enough, around the corner from where we'd been shooting were several RV's and #77 was just where I'd been told it would be.
I knocked on the door and it quickly opened, revealing a burly bodyguard.
"Yeah?" he grunted
"I was told to meet Adrienne here." I said meekly
"He's cool, Andre!" I heard from inside.
Andre looked me up and down and stepped outside.
Adrienne's RV was a mix of scattered clothing, makeup, coffee cups and take-out food containers.
"Be out in a sec!" I heard her say from the back.
Adrienne came out carrying two shirts.
"Which one's better?" she asked
One was a silky blue blouse, the other a vintage Kiss t-shirt.
"Well, I was never a Kiss fan so, go with the blouse." I said
Adrienne looked at both, then frowned.
"Lemme show you one other shirt." she said as she quickly went into the back of the RV "I'm trying to find something that goes with the pants." she said from the back.
"What kind of pants are we talking about?"
She poked her head around the corner of the door frame.
"Leather, of course!" she giggled
"Oh, right...how silly of me."
I could hear her laughing.
She returned wearing a vintage Police shirt with the blue, yellow and red stripes from the "Synchronicity" tour that accentuated her curves.
"Hey...now we're talking!" I said
