“Graham.”
“Sidney. Are the edits ready?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Something’s come up.”
“Did someone in your immediate family die?”
“No.”
He pointed his index finger at her like he was throwing a dart. “You signed a contract to produce ten episodes this summer. One episode per week. You outlined that format, you pitched that format, we bought that format. We all understood it would require long hours and tight deadlines, and you promised you could handle it. We took a chance on you, and now we have one of the biggest audiences in television history prepared to tune in tomorrow night for an episode we’re not going to air! What the hell, Sid?”
His tie was crooked and the sleeves of his suit jacket had crept up his forearms during his rant.
“Leslie and I were just discussing our options, and we both agree we need a filler episode for tomorrow night.”
“Filler?”
“A recap,” Sidney said. “A summary episode of what’s taken place so far. It’s the perfect time for it. It’ll help reluctant viewers who don’t want to commit to streaming seven hours of television. A recap episode will bring everyone up to date and prime them for the final episodes. Ray Sandberg should love this idea. More viewers mean more money to stuff into his already-fat wallet. And instead of ten episodes, he gets eleven.”
“I don’t understand your contempt for the success of your own documentary. Yes, the network is making money. But so are you. At least, you stand to, if you don’t crap all over this thing. And you’re positioned to make much more money when Sandberg offers you a contract to produce another documentary for next summer, which he had planned to do,but hell if that’s going to happen now. And at the moment, I don’t know that I’m fully behind the idea of rehiring you for another go-round.”
“Let’s not overreact, Graham. I missed a deadline.”
“I’m not concerned with your career today. What’s most pressing is that I need an episode for tomorrow night.”
Sidney took a deep breath. It had always been a challenge to balance her personal relationship with Graham and the reality of the professional hierarchy at the network. She wanted to call himan assholefor screaming at her like a lunatic, and for walking so abruptly out of the bar a couple of nights ago. And she would have done exactly that, had this encounter occurred anywhere but her office, with Leslie as an eyewitness and with the door wide open. Sidney was sure her entire staff was standing on tiptoes just outside her office, craning their necks to hear every syllable. Instead of calling him names, Sidney decided to bluff with the straightest face she could manage.
“Leslie and I will cut the recap episode today. We don’t have to shoot anything new besides narrative from me, maybe have the sound guys record some voice-over. All the footage will come from previous episodes. We’ll do it this morning and have it to production by this afternoon. I’ll work with them all day, and I won’t leave until the episode is polished.”
“And next week?”
“It’ll be an original episode.”
Graham ran his hand through his hair, pulled on his cuffs to bring his suit into order. “I’m meeting with Sandberg now. I’ll let him know about the recap and that I think it’s a good idea.”
Sidney felt like he wanted to say something more to her, softer, she imagined, than the tone he had taken to this point. But whatever she saw in his eyes or heard in his voice, all shegot was a subtle nod before he turned and walked out of her office.
When he was gone, Leslie opened her palms. “Why didn’t you tell him?”
“That the girl I just had exonerated is guilty as sin? A few reasons. One, Sandberg would lose his mind. Two, I’d be fired, which would mean you’d get fired. Three, I wouldn’t be able to finish this thing the way I want to end it. And four, I’m not sure about a damn thing yet.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“I don’t know. But I’ve got a week to figure it out.”
CHAPTER 52
Thursday, July 20, 2017
SHE WORKED IN THE PRODUCTION STUDIO WITHOUT BREAKS ALONGSIDEthe sound engineers, writers, and the graphic techs. At 3:00 p.m., as instructed, she turned in the cuts for the recap episode. Graham Cromwell and Ray Sandberg quickly voiced their displeasures with her work and delivered a long list of changes. Sidney and Leslie slogged through them until 8:00 p.m. Production waited unhappily as the summer sun set on a Thursday night and darkness covered the city. By nine, they had the final cut of the summary episode, green-lit by the network heads and cued for Friday night’s broadcast. Sidney felt no relief. The clock had reset and had begun ticking again. She had less than one week before the next episode was due, and she had no idea what the content would be.
She left the office and dismissed her craving for a Casamigos. Grace Sebold, still stashed away in Ellie Reiser’s high-rise, was her next stop. It was a confrontation she had avoided thinking about all day, but one she could put off no longer. She took a cab to Tudor City and found Windsor Tower. Sidney gave her name and waited while the doormancalled upstairs. When he gave her the okay, Sidney slid into the elevator just before the doors closed. Grace was waiting in the hallway when the car arrived.
“Hi,” Grace said.
