Everything Leads to You(29)

“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Theo says, speaking with a prominent accent that I’m fairly certain is South African. “Rebecca has been raving about you.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” She nods and smiles at me, these cute tiny lines forming by her eyes.

“You should hear her go on and on about the sofa,” Theo says.

“They didn’t end up using it.”

“What?” Rebecca gasps. “Oh no.”

“I know, right?” I say. “That trip out to Pasadena was all for nothing.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” she says. “But what did you do?”

“Honestly? I had a meltdown. And then I spent the afternoon today figuring out how to make the room work with what my boss chose.”

“But it looked better before, I imagine,” Theo says. “The way you had envisioned it.”

“Definitely,” I say. “But it isn’t my movie, you know? I don’t get to make the calls. I understand how it works and I can appreciate my boss’s point of view.”

I’m switching into interview mode now, because I don’t know what they are going to offer me, but I do know that Morgan and her friends do really cool projects, and Rebecca and Theo just have that thing some people have that makes you want to be in their company, no matter what they’re doing. I have a portfolio to build and experience to gain, and if Rebecca saw what I did and liked it, then maybe she’ll let me do more of what I’m good at.

“Yes, but what if you had a situation where you knew that the choice you made was the right one. Let’s say, then, that someone tells you to change it to something hideous. And let’s say that the person making the call wasn’t even in the art department. Totally didn’t know what he was talking about. What would you do then?”

I don’t know what the right answer to this question is. Maybe it’s a trick because he hates it when the people who work for him are defiant, or maybe he wants someone who can stand her ground. So I just answer honestly.

“I guess I would take a little while to think about it. I’d really consider his point of view. And then, if I was still certain I was right, I’d tell him no,” I say. “I’d explain why.”

“And if he said, ‘Do it anyway’?”

“I’d try to explain again.”

“What if he said, ‘I’m the boss, listen to me.’”

“You’re saying he’s not in the art department?”

“Yes.”

I hesitate. I think about what Ginger would do, if the film director or a producer tried to change one of her concepts after she had worked so hard on conceptualizing and planning. After it all had been approved. She wouldn’t let anyone get away with that, no matter how powerful or intimidating he might be.

“Then I’d tell him that he hired me for a reason, and that was because I know what I’m doing and I’m good at it,” I say. “I’d insist, I guess. I’d insist that it stay that way as long as other people whose artistic visions I respected also agreed that it was good.”

Theo leans back and smiles.

“I like you,” he says.

“See?” Rebecca pokes his shoulder. “He was afraid you were too young.”

I shrug. “Yeah, I get that.”

“But Morgan said you were strong willed. She’s very confident about you. We tried to hire her. She was in a seminar I taught when I was in grad school, and I’ve always loved her work. But she’s double-booked as it is. So I asked her for a recommendation and she told me about you.”

“I’m grilling you because I need someone who won’t be afraid of me,” Theo says.

“Are you the director?”

“Yes, I am. Rebecca is producing.”

“And you need a . . . ?”

I don’t want to make a fool out of myself if what they’re looking for is an intern and what I say is something much more prestigious. I’m hoping they’ll say it’s a set dresser job. It would take me years to get that position in a studio, but it might be possible that a small film would take a chance on someone like me.

“Production designer,” Rebecca says.

“What?” I say.

“Well,” Theo says, “basically, your job would be art department.”