Junior Year Box Set

“When will it start?” Caryn asked.

“April, and will film for eight months,” Saul said as if that was somehow a positive.

“There’s no way I’ll give up both baseball and football season for any amount of money. My mom would kill me if I worked eight months in Italy and missed school,” I said.

I was glad Frank was there because he knew almost as much as Saul did about what was going on in this town. It turned out that a couple of the scripts were favors Saul owed to someone. We finally found a few that sounded plausible. I’d kept quiet through most of this as Saul battled with Frank and Caryn. Saul wasn’t happy that Caryn stood up to him, and in a profanity-laced tirade, he made that abundantly clear. I guess he was surprised when she wasn’t a shrinking violet and told him to shove it.

While the battle was going on, I enjoyed my lunch. The crab cakes were excellent. I even was able to people-watch. I spotted singer Jennifer Benningfield and talk-show host Billy Stein. Not together, but I was as starstruck as the next person.

When I was done eating, I’d had enough.

“Saul, I appreciate that you decided to be my agent, but don’t waste my time anymore. While I’m fine with reading scripts, I want to know that at least someone in your office has read them. From what I’ve heard, there were only a couple out of this batch that I should’ve been shown,” I said.

“David, that’s not how this works,” Saul began.

“Well, for now, that’s how it’ll work for me. I just got told I have to come up to speed on a new character that I haven’t been preparing for. Right now, I don’t have time to read a script unless it’s important,” I said.

“You could always have the princess read it,” Saul said.

“Screw you, Saul,” Caryn said.

This was going well. What I’d observed was Saul was combative as hell. I think he woke up looking for a fight. If you listened, though, the man knew what he was doing and how to make a buck.

Over dessert, Frank laid out his media strategy. It was all about having a clear, short, continuous, managed message. I was to be that unicorn among actors, ‘The All-American Boy.’ When he laid it out, I had to chuckle. I honestly thought I would never become that perfect role model Frank described. He planned to use my football record and the awards that were starting to come in as part of the campaign.

Saul wondered if the reverse-catfishing show was a step in the wrong direction for the image they wanted me to have. Caryn waded in and told them about the responses I was getting. Apparently she’d hijacked my dating app account with a little help from my mom. She read a few of the more inappropriate messages, and Saul and Frank decided I shouldn’t be involved. Saul said he’d get me out of it. I, of course, agreed but wanted the numbers of the girls who had sent me a couple of the messages.

Saul loved the ‘All-American’ angle, and Caryn felt Frank’s plans might work, so we gave permission to proceed.

I just hoped that future team meetings would be a little less combative.

◊◊◊

Instead of a free afternoon, I had to go back for more scenes. Jessup had only let me go to lunch with my team because it had been set up before the change in my role.

Caryn proved her worth once again. On the ride back to the studio, she gave me some news.

“I did some research on your recruiting and found that if you’d played the baseball player, we might have been in a gray area. It could’ve made you ineligible for college baseball. There’s an NCAA rule that basically says that you can’t use your athletic skill to be in a related movie. For example, you couldn’t play a quarterback in a remake of Friday Night Lights. There seems to be a change that would allow it if you were out of school, meaning on breaks when you aren’t attending classes.

“The problem is that it also could be looked at as illegal compensation, especially if a booster were somehow involved. Two factors that I think are in our favor are you’re not yet a college athlete and you haven’t committed to a school. The only issue that might’ve come up was if you picked a school like USC and it turned out that someone associated with the film was a USC booster. At least, that’s the only one that I can foresee, based on my limited knowledge.

“I was going to have your lawyer look into it until I heard your role had been changed,” Caryn said.

“You know, I would’ve never even considered that,” I admitted. “Keep up the good work.”

“I also wanted to apologize,” she said.

“For what?”

“For saying some things that I shouldn’t have in a business setting.”

“I should be the one to apologize. I should’ve never allowed Saul to speak to you, and for that matter, Frank, like that. And Saul should apologize as well,” I said.

“I’ll try to do better,” Caryn said.

“No. If you come across as … what did he call you? … a princess, then he’ll never respect you. I don’t want to tie your hands when dealing with him. I’ll step in the next time he says something he shouldn’t,” I said.