Page 4 of Flipping the Script
"Morning, sunshine." Marcus's voice carried that particular blend of affection and concern that meant bad news wrapped in good intentions. "How are you holding up?"
"Oh, you know." She slid off the bed and padded toward her kitchen, which was really just a corner of the studio with delusions of grandeur. "Living the dream. My mentions look like a dumpster fire, but at least I'm trending."
"Mm." Marcus had perfected the art of the noncommittal hum during his twenty years in Hollywood. "Listen, I've got something that might interest you. A project that could be exactly what you need right now."
Solen opened her refrigerator and stared at its sparse contents—leftover Thai food, a questionable container of yogurt, and three different types of hot sauce. Apparently retail therapy extended to condiments when you were too broke for actual shopping. "How exactly do you define 'what I need'? Because if it's witness protection, I'm listening."
"Better. It's a legitimate project with a streaming platform that believes in second chances." Marcus's voice took on the careful diplomacy he used when discussing particularly temperamental actors. "There are just a few... collaboration challenges we'd need to work through."
The way he said *collaboration challenges* made her close the fridge without retrieving anything. In Marcus-speak, that meant she'd be working with someone who either hated her guts or would hate her guts within five minutes of meeting her. "What kind of challenges?"
"The screenplay is by Quinn Virelle."
Solen nearly dropped her phone. Quinn Virelle, the industry's poster child for anal-retentive perfectionism. Quinn Virelle, who allegedly color-coded her script revisions and had once fired an assistant for bringing her the wrong font of printed pages. Quinn Virelle, who represented everything Solen feared about losing the spontaneity that made her work authentic.
She moved to her apartment's single window, looking out at the fire escape that doubled as her only outdoor space in this overpriced shoebox. "And I'm guessing Quinn Virelle is thrilled about working with Hollywood's newest persona non grata?"
"She's... processing the information."
"That's Marcus-speak for 'she'd rather set herself on fire than work with me.'"
"That's Marcus-speak for 'she's a professional who understands that sometimes the industry requires flexibility.'" His tone gentled. "Look, Solen. I know this isn't ideal timing, but the script is brilliant. Really brilliant. And it needs someone who can bring that raw honesty you're known for."
Solen pressed her forehead against the cool window glass. Raw honesty. Right now she felt like she had enough raw anything to power a small city, but most of it was anxiety and humiliation rather than anything useful for a performance. "Tell me about the script."
"LGBTQ+ romcom. Two women finding each other through all the chaos of modern dating. It's funny and real and exactly the kind of story that doesn't get told enough." Marcus paused, and she could practically hear him choosing his words. "It could be career-defining work, Solen. For both of you."
Career-defining felt like a euphemism for last chance, but she appreciated Marcus's optimism. "What's Quinn's process like? Scale of one to control freak?"
"She's... thorough."
"Thorough like 'she has notes' or thorough like 'she'll have an aneurysm if I change a single word'?"
"Thorough like 'she knows exactly why every comma matters and isn't afraid to explain it.'" Marcus's laugh held fondness despite the warning. "But she's also one of the smartest writers I've ever worked with. If you can find a way to collaborate instead of combating, this could be magic."
*If* being the operative word. Solen had built her reputation on instinctive choices, on finding truth in the moment rather than predetermined blocking. Working with someone who scripted emotions down to the microsecond felt like asking a jazz musician to play classical—technically possible, but likely to produce something lifeless.
Her laptop chimed with another notification, probably another thoughtful comment about her professional prospects. "How much time do I have to decide?"
"Meeting's tomorrow. Two o'clock. Neutral location." Marcus's voice took on the gentle firmness she remembered from their first project together, when she'd been too green to know how terrified she should be. "Solen, I know this feels risky right now. Everything feels risky. But sometimes the biggest risk is playing it safe."
After they hung up, she returned to her laptop, closing Twitter with more willpower than the action warranted. Instead, she opened a new browser tab and typed Quinn Virelle's name into the search bar. The results painted a picture of someone who was her exact opposite in every conceivable way—industry profiles praising Quinn's "meticulous attention to detail" and "uncompromising creative vision," interviews where she discussed her "structured approach to emotional storytelling."
One article included a photo from a screenwriting panel where Quinn sat perfectly straight, her dark hair in that precise bun, wire-rimmed glasses catching the stage lights as she helda printed script like it contained state secrets. Even in the photograph, she looked like someone who had never made an unplanned decision in her life.
Solen touched her compass necklace again, feeling like chaos incarnate by comparison.
The knock on her door came with the kind of confidence that suggested the visitor expected to be welcomed. Solen glanced at her reflection in the hallway mirror—oversized band t-shirt, yoga pants with a small hole near the knee, hair that looked like she'd been running her hands through it all morning, which she had. Definitely not ready for company, but when was she ever?
Iris Delacroix stood in the hallway holding two coffee cups and wearing the expression of someone who'd come to deliver news that required caffeine as preparation. Her silver-streaked hair was immaculate despite the early hour, and her navy blazer looked like it cost more than Solen's rent.
"Good morning, Solen. I hope you don't mind the intrusion, but I thought we might need to have a conversation." Iris's voice carried the kind of authority that came from two decades of managing Hollywood crises. "May I come in?"
Solen stepped aside, grateful she'd at least cleared the takeout containers from her coffee table the night before. "Please tell me you're not here to fire me from something I haven't even been hired for yet."
"Quite the opposite." Iris settled into Solen's only armchair with the grace of someone who could make any furniture look expensive. She handed over one of the coffee cups, the aroma suggesting it came from somewhere significantly more upscale than the bodega downstairs. "I'm here to propose a solution to what's become a mutually destructive situation."
The coffee was perfect—rich without being bitter, with just enough cream to cut the edge. Solen curled up on hersecondhand couch, tucking her legs beneath her. "Mutually destructive sounds ominous."
