"We're never going to get this shoot done if the lead doesn't show!" the director exclaimed. He glanced down at his watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. "And now we're down to two hours before the next group is supposed to be using the set!"
"You didn't want to use Johnson, anyway," his secretary said quietly. "Why don't we just shoot with someone else?"
"It will take most of the time we have left to shoot this scene if the actor is familiar with the script! Who are we going to get that can be here AND have the script read in less than twenty minutes??"
"Take it easy on the girl, Jack. She was just stating the obvious. Johnson would have messed up the film somehow and you would have lost out on your shoot time today anyway."
"Richard Forrall!" Jack Morton exclaimed, seeing opportunity's light for the first time today. "Didn't even realize you were in town. I don't suppose you're up for a fill-in?"
"Thought I was out of the business, or at least that was what you said when you found out your daughter was stealing your original copies to masturbate to."
Angel Morton blushed behind her clipboard and moved to the edge of the set. Jack had caught her, several years before when she was underage, swiping reels of the shoots with Richard in them for her personal use. Jack had been under investigation for a false accusation of using a minor in a shoot and flipped out thinking someone would believe he had personally furnished porn to his fifteen year old. When she admitted to wanting to get into the industry just to get a chance with Richard, Jack quit using him altogether.
"Water under the bridge," Jack ventured.
Richard contemplated letting him sweat it out for a bit, but really no harm had been done. He still had his other businesses booming and had just been using these shoots as a way to blow off steam. "I suppose I could be coaxed into your film. Who am I opposite?"
"Ivanna Hump. Angel says she's already at wardrobe and should be ready in ten."
Richard sighed. This wasn't what he had planned when he dropped by the studio, but supposed he could save their film before heading upstairs for the merger. Besides, it would only help his profits since he was there to finalize purchase of the studio. "Give me the script, I'll read it on the way to wardrobe."
"Thank you!" Jack breathed, finally relaxing.
Angel handed him a copy of the script (one sparsely covered page, but it wasn't really about the dialogue in this business) then turned to the director, "Everything is set, then. I have to get to college, Dad." She kissed his cheek then hurried off set.
Richard glanced over the page, wondering why they would even do this scene as a stand alone. Superhero masks and tights make for big sales with an action-based film, but typically not with a single scene. Who knows, Richard thought, maybe this is a separate section of a full length superhero movie and the characters involved were not pivotal enough to be used for the main story. Who were they again?
"Here you are, Mr. Forrall," the wardrobe assistant said while handing him red and yellow tights with a black mask.
"Robin," Richard sighed. He set the page on the table and continued re-reading while changing into the ridiculously cheap costume. Guess they don't want to spend much on something that may get ripped off anyway, he mused.
Ten minutes later Richard was standing in the bedroom-looking set opposite a much better (as in sexier) version of Batgirl. Jack was shouting at the close-up cameramen to get outside the main shoot angle so they could start. Something felt awry to Richard, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Before he could think on it much more, however, Jack yelled, "Action!"
Fuck it. "You know you can't just leave," he said forcefully. "I won't let you."
"What do you care?" a slightly accented Batgirl questioned. "It's not like Bruce is going to change his ways and I'm done being treated as a child."
"It has nothing to do with Bruce."