Page 174 of Private Lives

‘Sure, what is it?’

Larry yanked open the oven, sending a cloud of thick grey smoke rolling up towards the ceiling.

‘Can you call the pizza place?’ he coughed. ‘I think dinner’s off.’

55

For a Friday afternoon in late summer, the Limelight Productions lot in Burbank was heaving. This time of year, most media executives were on vacation, but there was a hive of activity around the warehouse-like sound stages as Jessica swung her Aston Martin on to the lot. People always assumed Hollywood was Glamour City, but the fans would have been disappointed to visit a working studio. It was like a rather drab industrial estate, with each of the anonymous warehouse buildings housing a set. Inside, you might find a suburban living room, familiar as the setting for a sitcom perhaps, or maybe a realistic operating theatre from one of the many medical dramas Limelight seemed to pump out season after season. But from the outside, that magic factory could just as easily be a storage facility or an auto shop.

Jessica pulled into her named parking space right by the doors of the All Woman production offices. The show was due to start filming three weeks ahead of a mid-October premiere, and John Hartnett, the executive producer, had called the senior team in to run through the storylines for the new season. Jessica had already had Harry Monk, her agent, pre-check it all of course; she had her sights set on cracking the movies, but for now, All Woman was her meal ticket and there was no way she was going to leave Sally, her character, in the hands of some overexcited junior writer. Two seasons ago, she had been so unhappy with one episode she had jumped on the first plane to Palm Springs and refused to shoot a frame until they axed the storyline.

‘Jessie, you’re looking so gorgeous!’ exclaimed John Hartnett, kissing her on both cheeks. ‘Have you been away? You look a million bucks.’

Jessica waved the compliment aside impatiently.

‘Where is everyone?’ she said. She could see the boardroom through the glass panels of John’s office; it should have been full of writers, producers and actors.

‘They’re on their way. I pushed it back by thirty minutes.’

‘You could have told me,’ said Jessica, thinking that she could have dropped into the cute little nail bar near the lot. Amazing French polish and ego boost – the Korean technicians loved the show – and only ten bucks, too.

‘Actually, you were the reason why I pushed it back,’ said John, showing her to a chair. ‘I wanted to talk to you in private.’

‘John, it’s okay, I’m fine,’ sighed Jessica. ‘All that crap with Sam’s in the past. I’ve moved on.’

‘That’s great to hear, but I wanted to talk this through with you.’

On his desk was a stack of scripts. He took one and handed it to Jessica.

‘Episode One,’ he smiled.

‘About time,’ said Jessica, leafing through, mentally estimating the ratio of lines for Katie and the other characters. It was always important to get the most face-time on screen.

‘So we’ve got a hot new writer this season,’ said John. ‘Robert Levine. You know his stuff?’

‘Of course,’ she lied.

‘We’ve been thrashing out the story arc for Season Five, making a few tweaks.’

She looked up. ‘I thought we’d discussed where this season was going. You ran through it with my agent.’

‘Sure we did, and we took on board everything you said. But, well, we have to keep things fluid, Jess. Adapt, change it to keep it fresh.’

Alarm bells were immediately ringing. Words like ‘change’ and ‘fresh’ always made her nervous.

‘Okay. So what’s the plan?’

‘We’re ramping up the drama a little. I think we’ve been playing it too safe.’

Jessica couldn’t really disagree with that. After several seasons it was easy for shows to fall into a rut. If she was honest, that had happened with All Woman. The characters had been fully fleshed out and their storylines exploited – and consequently the viewing figures had begun to dip.

‘What did you have in mind?’

John held up his hands dramatically.

‘A love rival for you and Billy.’

Billy was the on-screen love interest for her character Sally. He’d started off as her flatmate, a hunky shoulder to cry on through numerous ill-fated love affairs, including a fling with her dentist and a farcical relationship with a pair of identical twins. But through it all, he and Sally had crackled with sexual chemistry, and their ‘will they, won’t they?’ storyline had been one of the most electric on-screen relationships since Moonlighting.