3.
Sabrina didn't know how long she had been sitting and staring at her as yet unmade up face in the mirror of her dressing room; it could have been five minutes, it could have been fifteen. Having her own dressing room and makeup artist slash stylist was a definite plus because she was sure that if she was sitting in the communal dressing room staring at her reflection the assumption would overwhelmingly be that she just liked to look at herself in mirrors. And, for the record, she did and she wasn't particularly ashamed of that fact. But this wasn't a vanity issue; it was more to do with nerves. And that was something she was ashamed of: how many movies had she been in? Far too many to be getting last minute nerves that was for damn sure. She knew that there were some actors and actresses, highly successful ones at that, who were always nervous at the beginning of a new project. She didn't want to be name dropping but just the other day she'd been talking to a good friend of hers who was, despite being in her fifties, still a big Hollywood name and who confessed that she still had attacks of the jitters. Sabrina hadn't been so sure though when she'd told her that being nervous about something elicited a better performance: complacency, she argued, built over comfortable performances that were nowhere near as good as they could have been had the performer been a little more humble.
Sabrina laughed to herself. Humble was one word she certainly wouldn't put in the same sentence as Sabrina Meadows. Still she didn't see anything wrong with that- in her opinion all the great performers needed to have a certain amount of confidence to even do what they did, to put their performances out there for the audience to criticize or admire. Even if that medium was on the television screen rather than the cinema screen. Baby steps, Alex had joked to her just the other day when she'd made another disparaging remark about something related to the whole project.
"You should count yourself lucky Alex is even willing to take your shit and still give you a job!" She told her mirror image. Then she stuck her tongue out at her reflection- what was with all the talking to herself lately?
There was a knock on her door. "Come in." Sabrina said, assuming that the make up girl had simply gotten sick of waiting to be summoned. She'd briefly been introduced to the girl charged with making her gorgeous every day, along with other key members of the crew, but she didn't remember her name. All she could remember was that the girl was a striking soul with mocha colored skin and thick black hair.
"Sab, how are you going in here?" Alex asked, shutting the door behind him.
In the mirror Sabrina watched as he perched on the edge of a table and looked at her. His expression was a mixture of amusement and pity- two things that didn't normally go together.
A little annoyed she swung around to face him. There were a few things that really bothered her and one of them was pity. "If someone had ever told me I'd be nervous about filming a little television show I would have had them committed."
He grinned wryly. "If someone had of told me that you'd even agree to be in my 'little television show' I would have had them committed." He said.
Sabrina smiled, feeling the tension leave her body. "Touche." She said.
"So the rest of the cast are here and being made up as we speak. I was hoping I could introduce you to them quickly." Alex suggested.
Sabrina frowned a little. Thinking about that reminded her of an article in one of the papers the other day concerning Alex's latest pet project. It claimed that it remained to be seen whether Alex could cross the genres and create a television show that would rival the great shows of the past as well as some of the current favourites. But the writer did say that they'd hang their hat on Alex being able to do it over many of the other blockbuster directors. It had then gone on to mention that with two real exceptions the cast was made up of nobodies, which, was Alex's specialty- he'd launched the careers of some of the biggest names in the movie world as well as other actors and actresses who'd had steady work since being in a Hammond production. But, and this is what had really annoyed Sabrina, she'd only merited one line (if you could even call it that): 'Headlining The Rich and The Famous are former queen of the screen Sabrina Meadows and Brock Myers, the former of whom has not worked much recently and the latter who has worked only in daytime soaps in the past few years.'
She realized Alex was still talking and quickly tuned back in "...an ideal world you would all have met each other awhile before we went into production and got to know one another but we both know this isn't an ideal world."
"In an ideal world I wouldn't have to have lived on water and vegetables for the past week..." Sabrina said.
Alex raised an eyebrow.
"I'm playing a mother on this show Alex and, no matter how you might try to sugar coat it, that means I'm going to be a fair bit older than some of the other cast members and I don't want to look more like a grandmother than a mother." Sabrina explained.
Alex laughed. "Your kidding aren't you? Sab you don't look like a grandmother, you barely look like a mother. I've actually asked for makeup to make you look a little bit older."
Sabrina was horrified. "Don't you dare Alex Hammond! I've been craving real food for a week and I'll be damned if I'm going to suffer starvation only to be made to look older." She reached for a hair tie and put her hair up into a quick bun so that the makeup could be properly applied. "So give me the goss on the rest of the cast."
"Actually I've added another character into the script at the last minute. I thought you needed a foil."
"I do?" Sabrina asked dubiously, thinking that Alex better not have added another main character, someone to rival her for the starring role, or she wouldn't be in the show- regardless of contracts she'd signed.
"She'll be your sister but she won't be coming in for a few weeks. Are you ready to go and meet everyone?" Alex asked.
