“No, because you killed it,” Samara replied with a smile. “After you got over that initial round of nerves, youbecameBray. No one else I’ve read with has been able to do that.”
“Vanessa could.”
“Not even Vanessa,” Samara said, leaning in. “She was great, a talented actress, but she didn’tbecomeBray. I could still see Vanessa in there somewhere, depending on the scene we were reading. Once you sat in that chair, though, you were all Bray to me today. It was a really great thing to see, actually.”
“Thanks,” she said, working hard to just accept the compliment, which wasn’t something that came easily to her.
“So, what’s your plan?” Samara asked and took another bite.
“Why is it so cold in here?” Dana asked instead of answering that when she shivered.
“Cold?” Samara looked up at the thermostat that was mounted to the wall by the table. “Oh, sorry. I like to keep the room at seventy, if I can. I knew it was going to be really hot today, so I lowered it to sixty-five to hopefully have a cool room to come back to, and I forgot to change it.” She reached up and changed the temperature to seventy. “So, what’s your plan?” she repeated.
“Well, I’m not eating these green beans, and then I’m going to have drinks and dinner with my sister.”
“No, I meant for the movie and in general.”
“The movie?”
“Dana, if you get this part, what are you going to do?”
“I’m not doing that,” she said, shaking her head.
“Doing what?” Samara asked.
“Acting like I have the part when I don’t. It’s bad luck.”
“Okay. Well, then, letmeact like it instead so as to avoid your silly superstition.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Dana replied, shaking her head again.
“Do you have an agent, a manager, a lawyer? Anyone?”
Dana practically cackled and said, “Uh… no. We don’t need any of those to audition for local plays.”
“You need them now.”
“Not really. I haven’t gotten–”
“If they offer it to you, I mean,” Samara said and took another bite. “You’ll need people in your corner helping you make the right decision.”
“By taking their cut?”
“Yes, they get paid, but they know this stuff inside and out. Do you know how to negotiate back-end?”
“No,” she said.
“Me neither,” Samara told her. “But my team does, and they’ve always gotten me great deals.”
“Whatever Imightget paid,shouldI get an offer, would not be even close to what they pay you. I wouldn’t be able toafford having anyone negotiate things for me. I would have nothing left. And if I’m actinginthe movie, I can’t work on the catering staff, so I’d be out a check.”
Samara smiled and replied, “If you’d like, I can have my team helpshouldyou get that offer.”
“I just told you that I couldn’t pay–”
“They’ll do it for me and won’t take a cut.”
“They will? Why?”
