Page 1 of Yours To Take
ChapterOne
BLAKE
“This is crap, Blake.”
The papers land on my desk with a thunk, startling me from the work at hand.
“Is that you saying that, or is it the studio heads saying that?”
I grab my latest draft and flip through the pages.
Clint drops into the chair across from my desk. With his salt-and-pepper hair and leathery skin, you’d think he was in his seventies. But being in the limelight aged him. As grumpy as my producer looks, he’s never been one to beat around the bush with me.
Something I don’t know if I appreciate right now.
“Both. Blake, this is the most uninspired story I think I’ve ever gotten from you.”
“Way to hold back.”
He throws his hands up in defense. “I’m sorry, do you want me to?”
“No,” I mutter. “You could have been a bit nicer, though.”
“Like those humans were to the zombies in this?” He points at the story on my desk.
Stacks upon stacks of ideas litter my crowded desk. The ideas have been there, but nothing that the studio wants to produce.
“I thought zombies were all the rage right now.”
Clint shakes his head. “Aliens are in right now. People love blue creatures.”
“So you’re telling me I have to write a blue thing?”
“Not a blue thing, per se. But something that will hit like a blue creature. Me personally? I don’t like it, but that’s what is selling.”
“I guess it’s back to the drawing board.”
An actual whiteboard hangs across one side of my small office at Malibu Studios. It’s a small, boutique company that exploded onto the scenes years ago. I was able to get in on the ground level, probably with a little wheel greasing from my famous mother, but I’ve made my own name for myself. The Travers name will get you far in Hollywood.
Although, if you ask Clint, I’m going to crash and burn.
“What if I told you I had an idea for you?”
“I’m listening.” I lean back in my chair, it squeaking as I go.
“While blue people are nice, people also want wholesome.”
“You want me to give you wholesome aliens?”
He laughs. “No. The studio wants a family drama. We’re seeing a resurgence in family life, and who better to pitch the idea than my best writer?”
“You don’t need to butter me up.”
“I’m not buttering you up. But Blake?”
“Yeah?”
“You need this idea to work. The studio is losing patience that they haven’t gotten a marketable story from you in nine months.”
