*I do not own any of the characters from either "The Girlfriend Experience," the film, or TV Series. This is a work of fiction, and did not happen.*
For the third season of Starz' "The Girlfriend Experience," the writers wrote a three-episode arc where the focus of both the past two seasons of the film, and the Steven Soderbergh film, crossed over. Just in case season three would be the final season, the show-runners wanted to write a few fan-pleasing episodes...
It was easy to convince Riley Keough, who played Christine Reade in season one, and Louisa Krause, who played Anna in season two, to return for a brief reprise of their roles. It was slightly more difficult to get porn star-turned-actress-turned-electronic-musician-turned-author-turned virtual museum tour guide Sasha Grey, who played Chelsea in the film, to agree. After weighing the offer for a few days, she was reminded by a few people, including Soderberg, who was still on as a Producer for the show, that "The Girlfriend Experience" helped legitimize her. Eventually, she'd realize that it would feel right to shoot them.
With Sasha now on board, the writers could establish a greater "Girlfriend Experience" cinematic universe, and have the episodes with Chelsea, Christine, and Anna. The episodes would kick off the season, and be centered around a top-secret conference with high-class GFEs around North America, which would then transition into the rest of season, with two other women at this collective being the focus of the rest of season three.
While the film version of 'The Girlfriend Experience' was mainly set in New York, filming of season 3 was going to return to Toronto, where some of the Season 1 was filmed. Before filming began, the three female leads all got each other's phone numbers and began texting about their respective returns to their roles in the series.
The night before shooting the first episode, Sasha, Riley, and Louisa planned to meet up at a small bar in downtown Toronto. It was the first time any of them met in person, and they all really wanted to get some camaraderie before filming.
Riley Keough was the first to arrive at the bar. "The Girlfriend Experience" was a major point in her career, as it was her first starring role in a series or film. Since then, she had roles in films such as 'Logan Lucky,' 'Paterno,' and 'The Discovery.' She had other projects in the works, and was able to work around them to return to the role of Christine.
The bar was pretty big, with a lot of tables surrounding a four-sided bar area with around eight bartenders. The room was pretty dark, with minimal ceiling lights, giving way to the walls that had cool cylindrical blue lights. The booths were big enough to give the three stars enough quiet.
Louisa Krause arrived next. Since season two aired, she continued to appear on Showtime's "Billions," and appeared in the movies 'Dark Waters,' and 'Skin,' but not quite the prominent run that Riley had had since her season ended. Although season one did air a year and a half before season two, so Riley was a bit ahead there.
The two actresses hugged and exchanged pleasantries and '"it's good to see you"s' even though they had never met before. They waited for their third co-star, who they knew took some time to decide to take part in the series' story arc.
Louisa was wearing something very similar to a dress that Anna had worn- a plain, black, sleeveless dress as she sat across from Riley. Riley was dressed more like Christine the law student than Christine the escort, in a black turtleneck and dark blue jeans.
"Excited to get back into it?" Louisa asked when Riley sat down.
"Yeah, I wanted to say 'yes' in a heartbeat, but the way my schedule was, my agent had to do some finagling." Riley answered.
"You've been busy. You were SO good in 'Logan Lucky.'" Louisa said and smiled.
"Aw, thanks! Yeah it was one of the best things I've been int." Riley said. "How's it going for you since your season ended, I loved yours' and Anna's story, by the way. I legit cried during the last two episodes."
"Thanks, too bad she wasn't a part of this, or Carmen." Louisa said, even though she understood why Anna Friel's character wasn't written in, she would still miss her co-star. While Carmen Ejogo's character would also not be written into season three.
"I think with the way Carmen's storyline ended, her character would just stay in hiding. Bria spent a whole season trying to hide her past self, she wouldn't come out in the open like that." Riley suspected.
Just then, Riley felt a hand tap her left shoulder, and a barely audible voice say "hi." She turned around and saw that it was Sasha Grey, the third actress whose character would be briefly returning. Riley stood up to hug Sasha, although she did jump a bit at somebody touching her before actually talking, being a famous actress has that effect on people.
"Sasha, it's so nice to meet you!" Louisa said, after Sasha and Riley hugged each other hello.
"You too!" Sasha said as she greeted the other two actresses. There was some awkwardness, partly because the three had never met. Also, perhaps, because Sasha had gotten several more looks from other patrons of the bar as she made her way to the table than Riley or Louisa.
Off-camera, Sasha had always been a bit shy at times. Not anti-social, but not extremely social, which is what made her on-camera transformations in the profession that made her famous so spectacular, and what gave her so many thrills in those days. Sasha had gotten the unspoken black memo, wearing a black button-down shirt with a pair of black slacks. She had her top two buttons of her shirt unbuttoned.
"Have y'all been here long?" Sasha asked.
"No, we both just got here." Louisa said.
"Yeah, we had never met either, so we were just talking about how we've been since the show ended." Riley answered. "I know you've done a lot and it's been A LOT longer since the film..."
As Riley was finished, a waitress came over to the three ladies' table to take their drink order. It was certainly not the best timing, as Sasha was a second away from describing what one of the most famous porn stars in the world had been up to in the years since leaving the industry. Sasha ordered a Jack and Coke, Riley ordered an old fashioned, and Louisa ordered a Cosmopolitan.
"Sorry if I had you guys worried that I wasn't gonna sign on." Sasha began, "It's just, eleven years. That part of my life is so long ago. Plus, I haven't even done acting of any kind in a while. You can imagine how easy it was to transition, at the time." She was referring to how everyone thought the transition from a porn star to playing a character in a movie who has sex for money would be so seamless.
"I would've understood." Louisa said, "But we're glad you did."
