Just Like the Movies

Chapter Four

"Oh! Right. Girls, this is Maisie Knowles, our assistant script supervisor. You'll see a lot of each other, so I hope you all get along."

I waved, not wanting to interfere with what their stylists were doing for a handshake. Just seeing them was enough for me. "It's nice to meet you two."

"Ditto," Sienna said happily. "Looking forward to working with you!"

Aliyah nodded. "Same. And feel free to add more lines to my character. You know, gotta get that screen time in."

I grinned at her as Sienna nudged her in the side. "Should we swap roles?"

"And deny your dream of working alongside your crush?"

"Aliyah!" Sienna chided, her cheeks turning rosy. "It's not like that. You're going to give people the wrong idea."

Aliyah leaned over and patted Sienna's thigh. "Don't be so embarrassed, liking someone is natural—"

"Aliyah!"

My grin grew wider and probably stupider. I had known the casting director had done a great job by watching everyone's previous films and shows but seeing these two in person really sealed in it. I felt like I was watching Evie and Nia, the two characters from my book, bantering back and forth. Their chemistry was already amazing. I was excited to see how Sienna and Theo's was.

Director Ahn and I said our goodbyes after that and then it was go-time. We met up with Zara and Marco and some of the other film crew, talking about the direction of the scenes we were going to film with the set that had been constructed. The first scene of the day would be the first meeting between my two characters where Sienna, playing Evie, would claim that Theo, playing Jun, was her fake boyfriend in front of her ex, Levi. The art director had done an amazing job at decorating the set as the back room of a fashion show. It looked exactly how I pictured it as I wrote the scene.

There were extras dressed in elegant dresses and tuxedos hanging around, some as stand-ins, some waiting to be called for b-roll. I mainly listened as Zara gave instructions alongside the other directors, nodding in agreement whenever she glanced at me. I honestly had no clue what would make a shot look good, so I didn't want to offer any opinions.

After a few rehearsals with the stand-ins and then reviewing footage, it was decided to start the cameras rolling. I was almost overwhelmed by all the commotion. I never thought how much went into movie production. How many people were on set, all the different jobs, the time it took to get things done... No wonder movie budgets were so high.

I read over the scripts of the scenes being filmed today, marking notes on what side an actor entered the scene, and so which side they should leave. I figured stuff like that was already covered, but I wanted to try and be useful in some way. Zara had gone into the main building for prayer and I didn't want to stand around looking like I wasn't doing anything.

"Theo, you need more sleep," I heard a familiar voice say and I immediately went still, hoping Rowan wouldn't notice me.

"I slept enough," I heard Theo mutter back.

"They had to put double the concealer today to hide those bags."

"You're the one who wanted to be out all night."

"It's good for you to be social."

"Then don't complain about the effects of it."

I heard Rowan click her tongue and realized she must have been standing right behind me at this point. My hands nearly crumpled with script in them with how firmly I was gripping it. Maybe if I didn't move, they wouldn't notice me...