Hollywood on the Danube

Chapter Eleven

Billy finished up the block and made copies for Csaba, who'd apparently left at five, and looked around for Frieda but learned she went to Cologne. He went back to his office and spotted Des printing out email, and anxious for company said, "Want to do some sightseeing on the weekend?" 

"Oh, good idea," Des said. "Maybe Sunday, all right? I'm going to watch the rugby match from New Zealand over at Beckett's and it's going to air two in the morning tonight, so I'm going to sleep on Saturday." 

Csaba left earlier than usual because he'd arranged to meet a reporter. It was all very hush-hush because he was afraid if Frieda found out she would have squelched this chance to hype his importance. He couldn't take credit for creating the Marshall concept, which had already been successfully employed in a number of European markets, but he did tout himself as the man "who brings it all together." 

Since the previous Marshall offerings were in cultural and economic settings more in common with an Anglo-American audience, Csaba explained he was hired to shepherd the drama to the tastes of a new type of viewer. 

"I was living in New York and they came after me," he said, not revealing he was the fourth choice for the job. "I produced a few award winning short films," he boasted, when in fact he was production manager for a small advertising agency that specialized in public service announcements. 

"So you took a chance," the reporter said. "Wasn't it risky coming back?" 

"It's in my nature," Csaba said, while signaling the waiter for another drink. "You can only make so much money. You need challenges to keep you going," he said, repeating it slowly so the man could write it down. 

Meanwhile in London, Rodney was spending another evening alone. He'd just gotten back from Helsinki and was fixing himself a drink when the telephone rang. "Hello, Rodney, it's Cal," said the deep sonorous voice. Cal Trimble, the Marshall European production chief, rarely called Rodney at home, but he was concerned the Finland project was moving too slowly, and, since he received royalties from the Company's productions, his interest was understandable. 

As a matter of fact, Cal was the only Marshall employee who made a percentage of the profits, which over the years became a sore point, because people like Rodney ran the nuts and bolts. Cal's true genius was handling people, which was more significant than it sounded. Rodney could be intractable and, though he generally did good work, if it weren't for Cal smoothing things with the local networks Rodney would have been kicked out more times than he was. 

On the subject of Finland, Rodney explained they'd had a hiring setback. "Well, if you need hurrying up," Cal said, "send that American you've got in Budapest. They work so fast and produce over twenty episodes a year prime-time, not to mention all those serial dramas in the afternoon." 

"Billy's just gotten over and he's just about up to speed," Rodney said. "I don't know if it would be wise to spread him too thin." 

"Then what about Mollie? She's a cute little thing." 

Mollie. Just what Rodney needed. "Uh, I've got Mollie working on some other projects," he said, hoping Cal would let it drop. 

"Well, do something fast. Hire some more Yanks. I've just gotten off the phone with Thor what's his name at the network and promised we'd be ready no later than February." 

The conversation concluded, Rodney poured himself a double. He thought of going out, but found the club scene too boring. It was loud and made him lonely. Plus the AIDS scare terrified him. He stared at the bottle of vodka and rubbed the glass almost sensuously. As he took another swig and glanced at his pile of work, he sighed at the realization. Booze was his only recreation.