“Finally Bobby’s scenes are done,” I plopped down on the couch tiredly, “Gosh, who knew acting would be so tiresome.”
“I swear sometimes you sound like an old man.” Steve quipped with a smile.
“I am an old soul, don’tcha know?” I retorted.
“Tomorrow Amy’s scenes will be done as well, then we can begin the post-production,” Steve said conversationally.
“Won’t we need them for dubbing?” I asked.
“For a few hours at most. It’s a short film, and the total length shouldn’t exceed 40 to 45 minutes. If it does, I’ll have to cut some scenes. Don’t want to make it too long.”
“How would I know? Until now I was doing acting practice, not making a short film.” I grinned at him.
“Smartass,” He grinned and put a bunch of movie tapes on the coffee table for me to see.
I picked one particular movie out.
He checked my choice of the movie and shook his head, “Sorry buddy, we cannot do that movie, it’s not for you. Remember what happened last time when your mother found us practicing [The Godfather] scenes?”
I shivered mentally at that reminder. Kathy wasn't very happy to know I was trying to be a young Michael Corleone. Still, I held my ground, “But I’ve already watched [Pulp Fiction] and I want to practice the Big Kahuna Burger Scene!”
Steve gaped at me open-mouthed. “Why can’t you do something like [Home Alone] or [Forrest Gump]?” He asked dejectedly after getting over his initial shock.
“Because [Home Alone] requires no acting talent and for [Forrest Gump] I’ll have to fake the voice which is very role-specific,” I explained my logic emphatically.
He sighed in resignation, “Just don’t tell your mother when she gets back or she’ll kill me.”
I pumped my fist in silent celebration and snatched the tape to put it in the VCR player. We had this little game going where we would pick up a scene from a movie and I would practice it by observing the performances of great actors. I have already practiced many great scenes of actors like Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Tom Hanks, etc.
Now I am trying a scene of Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction. It was arguably the best and the funniest scene in the movie. Then again, the movie is a classic in its entirety.
(Break)
“Does-he-look-like-a-bitch?” I asked authoritatively.
“No.” Steve groaned out in character.
“Then why did you try to fuck him like a bitch?”
“I didn’t”
“Yes, you did. Yes, you did Brett. You tried to fuck him and Mr. Wallace doesn’t like to be fucked by anybody except Mrs. Wallace.” I straightened up slightly as I looked Steve in the eye. “You ever read the Bible, Brett?”
“Yes,” Steve answered meekly.
“There’s a passage I got memorized,...”
Just as I was doing the Bible verse, Mum walked in. I didn’t stop the dialogue and recited the whole passage and in the end, I raised a Nerf gun and made a few blank shots at Steve.
Only then did I see a defeated expression on Steve’s face and a furious-looking Kathy.
“Please tell me you’re not practicing lines from [Pulp Fiction],” Kathy said, her tone eerily calm.
“We aren't?” I answered unconvincingly.
“Ba-babe I-I can explain.” Steve stammered as he got up and raised his hands defensively.
“That you’ve got loads to do, love.”
(Break)
September began with a new academic year at elementary school. Only this time, it was an American school and the environment was similar, yet different to what I was used to in the UK.
On the acting front, things were going great. Shooting of the short home film we made had been completed on time. All that was left was the post-production, which Steve would do over the time as he had to finish the script of [Wonder Boys] as well. He was a little behind on the schedule because of the short film which we had mutually decided to call ‘Sex Education’.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Amy and Bobby had promised to redub the parts with unclear sound at a later date, so Steve wasn’t in a hurry to finish it.
I was anxious though because I wanted to see my performance as soon as possible, but Steve flat-out refused to show me any of the clips before completing his work on [Wonder Boys].
Next were of course my music lessons. Steve had pitched this elaborate plan for my future career development. I had patiently declined the dance lessons. Maybe in the future. For now, this is too much too soon. I’d hardly have any time left for myself if I did everything according to his plan.
Convincing him wasn’t difficult as he easily conceded that it was my decision. His only argument was stuff like music and dance were easier to learn the younger you started.
I had to give it to him, but rushing things is not the answer.
I reached the classroom after putting my bag in place.
“Hey, mate.” I bumped fists with my first American friend my age, Evan.
“It’s 'dude'. Not mate.” Evan rolled his eyes irritatedly.
“I’ll call you mate, Lil dude,” I smirked back at him with a heavy Cockney accent.
“For the last time, we are the same age,” He almost shouted in frustration.
I cackled maniacally. I loved riling him up. Evan Spader was a small boy with brown hair and brown eyes. He was a cute kid, but most of all he was the oddball because he liked reading and sketching in a corner. I had kinda forced myself into this friendship.
He comically banged his head on the desk as our homeroom teacher walked in and called out, “Troy, stop teasing Evan.”
“Yes, Ms. Lorraine,” I answered dutifully with an angelic smile on my face. She was a sucker for my smile, so why not use it properly?
Evan gave me the stink eye. He knew exactly what I was doing.
“Troy, what are you doing tomorrow?” Evan asked me in a whisper as the teacher was taking the roll call.
“Nothing much. Dad will drive me to my music lesson.” I answered nonchalantly, “What about you?”
He looked down nervously and spoke slowly, “My Mom asked me to invite you home.”
“Why?” I asked.
“She wants to make sure…” He trailed off and mumbled something incoherent.
“What?” I cupped my ear and dramatically said, “I didn’t hear you.”
“She just wants to meet you to see if you are an imaginary friend.” He finished reluctantly.
I couldn’t help myself and laughed out loud at his admission.
“Troy Armitage!” Ms. Lorraine shouted at me.
“Here.” I smoothly answered and ignored the scathing look she was throwing at me.
Evan hid his face in his hands in embarrassment, “Hey mate,” I pushed his hands away, “Sorry for laughing. I don’t mind meeting her but I’ll have to ask Dad when he comes to pick me up.”
Both of Evan’s parents are lawyers so they didn’t have much time to spend with him. Most of the time, his nanny picked him up from school, so I never met his parents. He had met both Kathy and Steve, however.
“My lesson will start at 9 and last till 11. When do you want me to come?”
“At 3?” He asked with uncertainty.
“Sure mate,” I answered cheerfully.
(Break)
It took Steve three weeks after the school began to finish with the script of [Wonder Boys]. Now he could finally begin with the finishing of [Sex Ed]. Finally, I could review the work we shot. As the full movie was shot on a digital camera, we had to go the digital editing route. Luckily, computers and software were advanced enough for the same.
“Troy! We will be late if you don’t hurry up.” Steve shouted from the living room.
“Coming!” I shouted back as I fixed my hair and quickly made my way to Steve.
“I can’t believe I am letting you come along,” Steve said in a disbelieving voice.
I smiled like an angel, “How can you say no to your most favorite son?”
Steve rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything else as he took my tiny hand in his own giant one and trotted outside towards the car. He turned towards me and asked, “Would you even understand what is going on?”
I opened the car door and sat shotgun. “I may not,” I agreed honestly, “but I would love to learn, and what better opportunity than an experimental short film that may not even be released?”
Even if I am a reincarnated person, I am not a movie genius and I have to accept the fact that I will struggle to understand even the basics when I begin working in the industry.
We drove in silence to our destination which just happened to be a small independent film studio run by a friend of Steve’s, Hal. Hal was kind enough to lend us his editing room to finish our work with the movie.
Luckily, they didn’t have an upcoming movie for a few months so we were free to use the studio.
“The first task in editing a film,” Steve explained, “is to select all the scenes that are to be used for the final movie. That is essentially the director’s cut without removing the unnecessary scenes.”
I nodded along, showing my understanding.
“After assembling all the scenes together our movie comes to a certain length,” Steve continued. “Most directors and producers have a time limit in mind within which they wish to complete the film. To qualify for a film festival, a short film has to be limited to 45 minutes, that would be our goal for this film.”
I mutely observed the process without making any comment as he went to work explaining everything to me like he would an intern. That’s probably the best quality of Steve, he doesn’t treat me like a child. Most of the time at least. While Kathy tries to follow the principle as well, my appearance doesn’t help her much.
Like when we announced that I would be joining Steve in post-production after school for a few hours every day, she wasn’t happy. Steve convinced her somehow. I don’t know what he said, but he convinced her.
It took Steve nearly two hours to put the scenes together and then he finally played the first directorial cut.
The plot was very simple, yet good enough. It was the story of a small boy named Mark, played by yours truly. Mark’s parents are both corporate workers with little time in their lives for their children. They go to work early and come back late. Sometimes they don’t even stay for the weekend.
In the whole movie there is no appearance of the parents, just their voices that were played by Steve and Kathy. They have an older daughter Jenny, played by Amy, who is a college student. Although her college (UCLA) is nearby, she prefers to stay on campus, away from babysitting her brother, who is only eight.
[Censored]
With that, the movie ended.
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AN: RR Moderators have told me to edit out some parts of the story if I wanted to keep it here on this platform. I have. If you want to read the uncensored version, try Web Novel, AO3, or Scribble Hub.