“Most of the time, we’ll use the center camera, because both of you are in the shot, but all three of the cameras will record in case we want to focus on the person speaking when we splice it together.”
“But if the light is off, it’s not recording at all, right?”
“Right. To record, make sure you—”
“No, I got that. What I’m saying is, if I, for example, wanted to have a private conversation with Grayson, like if I’m giving him feedback or something, and I don’t want it recorded, I just make sure the light is off. Then I can speak freely, right?”
The PA’s expression registered the moment he understood what Nolan was asking. “Yes. No light, no recording.”
“Cool. Thanks.” Nolan rolled down the window on the passenger seat side. “Grayson? Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
As Grayson climbed into the car, Nolan fiddled with the touchscreen, turning the camera on and trying not to look at it. He put his hands on the steering wheel and waited for Grayson to settle into his seat. After Grayson clicked his seat belt into place, Nolan said, “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, let’s hit it.”
Nolan laughed softly and turned off the camera.
Helena walked over to his window and handed him a piece of paper. “The first address is the staging area. I’ll meet you there.”
This all felt needlessly complicated. The staging area was the parking lot of a VFW hall about a quarter mile from the house they would be working on. Part of the crew had already left to set up the day’s filming at the house. It wasn’t clear to Nolan if the couple knew that he and Grayson would be coming today or not. Helena had wanted him to ambush the couple—she said viewers loved that kind of thing—but Nolan hated that idea. So he’d asked Helena to call all the families he and Grayson had chosen, to let them know officially they would be on the show… though it wouldn’t surprise Nolan if she hadn’t told the family he and Grayson would be arrivingtoday. Helena loved a gimmick.
Nolan punched the address into the GPS. Then he paused, waiting for Helena to get into the car ahead of him and pull out, before he got on the road himself.
As they drove toward the Holland Tunnel, Nolan explained the situation with the cameras and assigned Grayson the task of turning them on if their discussion turned into something relevant to the show.
“Helena gave me kind of a dossier on the Roberts,” said Grayson. “I could read from it while you drive and film it so we have an intro to the couple.”
“Okay. Wait until I get through the tunnel, then go for it.”
Grayson pulled a folder out of his messenger bag and leafed through it. They sat in companionable silence in the traffic on Canal Street as they approached the tunnel. Living in LA had made Nolan forget how much he hated driving in and out of Manhattan. He sighed. LA was no stranger to gridlock, but Canal Street in Manhattan was a particular kind of hell.
“I’ve never gone through the Holland Tunnel before,” Grayson said, peering out the window.
“No? Where are you from, kid?”
“Lowell, Massachusetts. I’ve been living in New York for seven years, though. I’ve just never had a reason to go to New Jersey. Well, except for, like, Hoboken. And then I took the PATH train. I mean, I don’t even own a car.”
Since it looked like they’d be here for a while, Nolan decided to make small talk. “What brought you to New York?”
“College. I went to NYU. But also, like, I was kind of a black sheep. I come from this blue-collar New England family. My mom is a receptionist at a dentist’s office and my dad is a handyman. It’s all veryManchester by the Sea.” Grayson waved his hand. “I mean, my family is not the most open-minded. And I’m the weirdo who wanted to be an artist, so I thought it would be good to put a little distance between us.”
“Ah.” Nolan’s family had always been accepting, but he nodded, because he knew something of the need to be among people who understood him. “I don’t love driving in and out of the city, but this is unfortunately the best way to get to the house. The Roberts family lives in a part of Jersey that is not really accessible any other way, and Helena thought it would be a good idea if we drove and chatted in the car.”
Some of the gridlock broke up as they approached the tunnel, and finally they were moving. Once they hit the Turnpike on the other side, Nolan said, “Turn on the camera and then tell me about the Roberts family.”
Grayson nodded once and tapped a few things on the touchscreen, and then he glanced at the papers in his lap. “George and Carol Roberts are empty nesters who live in Tenafly, New Jersey. They recently inherited Carol’s father’s house and decided to make it their retirement home, but it’s a mess inside. According to their casting video, the house hasn’t been updated except for necessary repairs since the mideighties, and it doesn’t really work for their lifestyle. George and Carol knew they would have to fix up the place to make the house livable, but they’ve now realized they are in way over their heads.”
“That’s where we come in,” Nolan said. The line sounded canned, but he smiled and went with it. “We’ve got a small budget, plus whatever the owners pitch in, to get the Roberts’ house in working order.”
There was still some debate over the budget. Management at the Restoration Channel kept changing their mind about how much they were willing to pitch in. Currently, it was twenty-five thousand dollars. As far as home renovation budgets went, it wasn’t much; twenty-five thousand dollars would likely cover a kitchen, not a whole house. But Nolan understood that the chosen families had their own renovation budgets that had been precleared by the network, and he hoped it was a decent-sized chunk of change for this project. The audition video indicated that the house needed a lot of work.
“Their house has a lot of potential,” said Grayson. “But it will take some work to get there.” Grayson shut off the camera. “How was that?”
“Good. You ready to do this?”
“Not really, but I’ll do my best.”
