“Mr. Whitehall.”
When his name was called, Mark stood up, straightened his light-blue shirt, tightened his tie to give the appearance of nervousness and adjusted his spectacles. Over the years he had lived his old live, he had learned to 'emulate' emotions, to act in certain ways given particular situations to seem normal, and it had worked like a charm. Most people thought he was normal when he started making 'friends' and selling his work.
Silently, Mark followed the curly-haired assistant into a meeting room with no windows, and only two people inside.
One of them was a man smoking a cigarette, while the other was a man with curly hair. However, it was the second man that caught Mark’s attention. Greeting the two men while portraying suppressed nervousness, Mark waited for them to ask for him to sit on the seat that was in the middle of the room.
“So, Mr… Whitehall, why do you want the job?” The man smoking a cigarette flipped through a stack of papers before finding Mark’s resume and placing it on the table, squarely between Mr. Lucas and himself.
“I heard the company was going to make a movie in the science fiction genre. Since I was little, I have been enthralled by the science fiction, futuristic, and high-fantasy genres that are essentially not rooted in our current reality. I definitely wanted to be a part of such a project, no matter what," Mark said, while clenching his fists in an exaggerated manner to make it seem he was deeply moved by the subject.
“Hmm… and why should we take you over the other aspirants. You do know that despite its title, the pay is good, and as long as your performance is good, you will be shifted to becoming a permanent employee of the company.”
“… You’ve read my resume. I’ve got no work under my name. I’m a fresh graduate, as a matter of fact, I graduated just yesterday and have yet to receive all my documentation. But I have one thing, that is important as a creator of anything, be it art, literature, print media, or even movies. It’s not skill or talent. Skills can be learned and talent is subjective… many times its just the luck of being in the right place at the right time, and many times it hides the rigorous efforts of the individual to reach where they are. What I have, is creativity. Creativity without skill makes you a diamond in the rough; skills can be learned with time as long as you have the vision. Skill without creativity makes you polished copper, shining at its best, but still lacking in the most fundamental aspect compared to diamonds; material. I can learn the skill, and I have the creativity. What would that make me Mr. Lucas?"
…
Leaving the audition room with Lucas’ personal card, Mark had an impassive expression. In the interview earlier, he had spoke about the fantastical worlds of Aliens, and the world of Warcraft. He also talked about the Lord of the Rings universe, as well as the Warhammer 40k universe. Of course, he was being really vague about everything, so as not to give them man any ideas to create those works and potentially take it away from him. Unfortunately thought, Stars Wars clearly existed in this world, and George Lucas was currently in the process of making it, so that was out of the question. Hopefully though, it would be just as successful as it had been in the original past
These would be his big blockbuster movies that he could build into a franchise... once the Visual Effects were up to standard of course, and he did not want George Lucas to steal the from him. Creating scripts and creating movies was one of the few things that brought colours to his emotionless and almost stale life.
Ultimately, after a 30 minute interview, compared to the 5 minutes the others got, Mark got the internship, and the personal card of Lucas who saw potential in him. Work would start in 10 days, but he had to shift to the smaller town of San Rafael, which was almost 500 miles away. Commuting that distance everyday was effectively impossible, and most definitely uneconomical.
As luck would have it, his rent was only paid until the end of the week, so he would stay for the next three days before shifting over to San Rafael, where he would also need to find a place to rent. Hopefully, it would be cheaper than Los Angeles, since it was a smaller town with potentially fewer people and more space.
…
“So, did you get role?” Mark asked in mock interest.
“Nah. But it’s cool. I still got another free option. What aboutchu?” Eddie asked Mark with a slightly dejected but optimistic tone.
“You are looking at the new intern for junior screenwriter of LucasFilms. My path to the greatest writer in history has only just begun.” Mark raised both his fists into the air with excitement... that was never really there.
“Holy Sh*t! Holy Sh*t! That’s amazing!” Eddie pulled Mark into a hug and lifted him off the ground, and began spinning him around out of joy.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Haha... haha... haha," as Mark was being spun, his dizziness caused his focus to slip. His laughter became mechanical while his smiling expression faded to be replaced by a flat one. Thankfully, Eddie's head was a little lower than his own, and he had his eyes closed as he celebrated.
“Put me down and listen.” Mark huffed in mock exasperation after gaining back control of his facial features, and gently but firmly knocking Eddie's chin, causing the man to lose balance immediately.
'Interesting. Something like that worked on Eddie... I suppose despite the physically superior genes, he is not built to fight. Acting was a good choice logically.'
“But I gotta shift to San Rafael permanently if I become a junior screenwriter from my current intern position. Till then, it will be a temporary change in residency," Mark added after Eddie collected himself off the cold night street.
“…”
“…”
“Let’s go for a drink,” Eddie frowned.
Unlike the night before, where they were drinking to party and enjoy with the women at the bar, this time, they the mood was sombre, almost depressing, despite the rowdy scene around them caused by the other college graduates.
“Remember when Ma followed us all the way to college to make sure it was safe for me.”
“Yeah, then she saw me and realised how dependable I was, so she allowed you to go to college," Mark recalled the scene and remembered Eddie's over-protective mother follow behind them as they took the public bus to college, only turning away once they reached the university grounds. Surprisingly, she only did that once and never again, which the old Mark chalked up to her realising it was no longer an only-white school. Still, Mark made it a joke to seem more normal. It was one of the things normal people did... make 'light' of serious situations to lower he emotional burden one has from said situations.
Mark had no need for this, but he had learned to adjust his humour to the type of people he would speak with, and depending on the situations. For example, in formal settings, it was better not to make jokes except one in an entire speech sentences to lighten a depressing or over-serious mood.
“Nah, she saw them other n*gg*s going to the white college and that’s why she let me go. You foo.”
“…And here I thought I was dependable.”
“And here I thought you were.”
“…”
“…”
…
The two continued their conversation for a while before deciding it was best not to get wasted two nights in a row, and walked home around midnight.
“Hey Eddie, remember back in college when we made the comedy monologue?” Mark, affected by the alcohol differently to normal people jut had his motor functions jumbled, not his mind. still, they were not as wasted as the day before when the old Mark and Eddie drank till they fainted and then some more since they had just graduated, and Eddie wanted Mark to 'enjoy life for once'.
“Yeah. I remember, I acted it out and the whole class began laughing their a*ses off," Eddie stumbled a little while walking.
“Even Mrs. Green chuckled.”
“First I ever seen her not frown."
“I later made George act it out only to me. The script was not that great. I barely even smiled at it. Eddie… I think you have a talent for comedy. Perhaps you should try out some roles like that, instead of directly auditioning for supporting roles, try to go for a comedy supporting role. From my understanding, as long as you have acted once before, and it was not terrible, you should get to act again. Plus… you're black… getting a main role will be harder for you, but getting a supporting role will be easier actually. They gotta represent society as a whole somehow, putting in a black cast member should solve any social issues the movie might face.”
“Hah! At first they didn’t want any of us, now they gotta have at least one of us in any movie.”
'It is indeed strangely inefficient to discriminate against people with different skin colour. Then again, it has been... almost a defining factor of humanity. Conflict; an inherent instinct for humans. Perhaps now that society is 'peaceful' and had 'rules' that prevent physical conflict, the battlefield for internal conflict has shifted to verbal and mental areas. Or perhaps all three already existed... and it was only after the halting of physical fights did the other forms of combat truly come out.'
‘Anyway, discriminating against once smaller minority would inevitably lead to that minority sticking together, and resisting being absorbed into the cohesive whole, resulting in many smaller 'groups' being formed within a nation. different religions, skin colours, accents, birthplaces, current residencies, even hobbies and families split people into smaller groups.'
Mark mused over the inherent disadvantages humanity had while, the duo returned home and Mark went to bed.
The next morning, he spend brainstorming his own and Eddie’s future. He wanted to ensure Eddie succeeded in his acting career, that way, he would have a close 'friend' as a successful actor.
As such, he got together a comprehensive plan, based on which movies were currently in development, and picked the open audition opportunities for him. He also pulled out a portion of his own savings, and put it into an envelope with a letter indicating all the possible opportunities he could audition for in the coming weeks, all requiring African-American side characters.
This information had taken some time to collect, but the various magazines and gazettes he had lying around in his rented room had enough information about acting opportunities.
‘Hopefully you get at least one role to get the ball rolling. Hmm... I should create a hopeful story first.. to feel it; hope."
Mark also instructed him to get an agent as soon as he got a role, but not to sign any contract lasting longer than 2 years. Eddie was technically in the prime of his life, but at the lowest point in his career. He could not be chained by a legal contract for too long. Longer contracts were best for well-established actors.
This process took him two whole days, and he handed Edward the letter just before he entered the bus, and told him to open it when he returned to his apartment.
When Eddie opened the envelope and saw the cash inside, he was confused for a while before he began reading the letter.
“Son of a…”
…
Meanwhile, Mark was enjoying the refreshing spring breeze as the bus did not have any air-conditioning. The bus was on a route to three bus stations within Los Angeles before heading over to San Rafael. The journey was long and tiring, but nothing interesting happened and Mark reached San Rafael without any issues.