Page 38 of Last Fall

9

Zoe

DreamsComeTrue

“GoforZoe.”

My agent, Maggie Horst, snort-laughed into the phone. “Glad to know I called the rightperson.”

“What? I always wanted to say that.” The jerky agent in movies always said that when they answered the phone. Considering Maggie’s email said she was calling about my movie I figured it was an appropriate moment to give itashot.

“And how diditfeel?”

“As stupid as it sounds.” Seriously. Why did anyone think saying“Go forinsert-own-name-here,” was a goodthing?

“I’ll make this quick since it’s just passing along information,” she said. “Adriana Gat has officially signed on todirect.”

This was no surprise since she’d been attached to the project, along with the producers, since the moment they offered me the deal. “Awesome.” My dream of having a female powerhouse team deliver my movie about resilient women on the frontier was quicklycomingtrue.

“And we’ve got somecastingnews.”

I sat up a littlestraighter. “Who?”

“Lily Lawrence and Scott Kaine for theleads.”

My jaw dropped. Lily and Scott were a modern day John and Maureen, or Hepburn and Tracey, or Bacall and Bogart. They’d starred in two movies now and everyone loved them together on the silver screen, myselfincluded.

“You’rejoking.”

“Not at all. They’re both very interested and are checking availability now. We should know this time next week whether this ishappening.”

I really hoped she didn’t have any other news because I didn’t think my heart could handle it. “This is absolutely amazing, Maggie. Thank you so, so much. Foreverything.”

“It’s all you, Zoe. I’m just taking offers and making sure you’re takencareof.”

She was being modest. It wasn’t often a writer demanded to be part of the screenwriting process or have final say over the script, but I was confident in my ability to be an asset, not a burden, and really? I couldn’t imagine sendingThe Fight at Midnight Springsout into the world with anyone else’swords.

Maggie made sure my demands were taken seriously and arranged a sit down, in-person meeting with the producers. We chatted about movie adaptations and I showed them a sample script of how I thought the movie could be an extension of the book instead a shortenedretelling.

Once they understood I didn’t want to write the whole thing myself and that I had a good handle on how the process worked, it went smoothly from there. We all agreed on a screenwriter together, Melanie Shaw, and no one had a problem after that. I flew out to spend a week with Melanie brainstorming and writing test pages, then I left her to do her work. There was mutual respect for everyone attached the project so far and I was hopeful that casting would bethesame.

Maggie assured me it would be and at this point she’d taken such good care of me that Ibelievedher.

“Do you have any other news for me or should I call a doctor toreviveme?”

She laughed again. “Nope that’s it for today. But once we get Lily and Scott, expect for the rest to get castquickly.”

“What about composers?” Since everything was already magical rainbows and mermaids I’d had the crazy idea to ask if my favorite composer was available to do thescore.

“We still haven’t heard back from Nora Phillips but that isn’t surprising. According to her agent she doesn’t answer phone calls or check messages while she’s composing. Susan said it would probably beanotherweek.”

“ThanksMaggie.”

“No problem. Have a goodafternoon,Zoe.”

I performed a ridiculous victory dance around my bedroom before dropping back down in front of my computer and calling up a chatwindow.

Me:Four words: Lily Lawrence. ScottKaine.