Chapter 31: Poker? I Hardly Know Her!

Friday April 14
I woke to someone molesting me. Since I felt Bandit curled up on my chest, I made the wild-ass assumption that it was Halle. I hadn’t seen her last night because she was on set shooting a new movie that she’d been cast in. I knew she’d be back for the weekend because she was one of the presenters for the MTV awards. She’d agreed to perform with Billie Angell, who had two songs currently on the radio. They were supposed to rehearse over the next two days.

“Oh, Brook,” I moaned.

I felt teeth in response to my bad joke.

“Jeez! Careful,” I yelped.

“I wake you like that, and you use Brook’s name?” Halle bitched.

“In my head, it was funny,” I said and then gave her my drowned-puppy look.

I’d stayed at the Jameses’ house two years ago when we filmed The Secret Circle. This was before Brook and I were a couple, but she’d been one of the girls I was seeing then, along with Halle, Zoe, and Pam. Brook had worried that Halle would take advantage of the fact that we were living under the same roof and give me morning blowjobs every day. Unfortunately, Halle hadn’t.

Then I tried a different approach.

“Mr. Happy really liked what you were doing. He thinks you should give him a kiss to make him better.”

“Maybe you should give me a kiss to make me better,” Halle suggested.

Bandit about took my left nipple off when he clawed me. He didn’t appreciate being put on the floor. Before I could kiss Halle, she checked the bruises on my chest.

“Cassidy was right. You’re lucky to be alive.”

“It did sting a little,” I said, to put a brave face on it.

It was something that had run through my head more than once. I touched Halle’s face to make her look at me. I gave her my sexy-boy look, which made the corners of her mouth twitch. Teen Celebs magazine had said that look made girls drop their panties. It was their contention that I was selected for my role in the next James Bond film solely based on that look. All I knew was that when I gave it to Halle, good things followed.

Yep, it still worked.

Lexi was waiting for me when Halle and I finally made it downstairs.

“Hey, stranger,” I said as I kissed her cheek.

“Rita suggested that I come over and try some of Rosy’s pancakes,” Lexi said, pointing to the stack in the middle of the table.

The pancakes were chock-full of pecans. I grabbed a plate and joined Lexi. Halle passed on the pancakes and instead went the whole ‘healthy’ route with fresh fruit and yogurt. I didn’t feel offended. That meant there was more for Lexi and me.

“What’s on the schedule for today?” I asked.

“This morning, you have a meeting at the studio with my dad and Rita to talk about Love Letters.”

“Why?” I asked, confused.

“You’re one of the owners,” Halle reminded me.

“Why aren’t you going?” I asked.

Halle and I had been given ownership interests in the film as part of the settlement with the studio. I’d accepted because it was either that or the movie was going to be shelved. We’d moved it to Lexi’s dad’s studio so the film could be finished.

“I gave my mom my power of attorney,” Halle said.

“Why didn’t you think of that?” I asked Lexi.

“You could give it to me,” Lexi suggested.

The way she said it gave me pause for thought. To this point, I hadn’t been involved in any of the management of the movie’s creation. This would give me a chance to see what happened behind the scenes. Someday, I might want to do what Rita was doing and be on the other side of the camera.

Rita rode over in a separate car since she had other things to do after the meeting. Chuck drove Lexi and me in one of Rita’s Land Rovers. We met Rita at the front door of the studio’s creative building, where we waited until Paul Andon met us.

“Since you’re in town, I wanted to show you the movie and then talk next steps,” Paul said as he showed us in.

We were led to a small theater that probably sat twenty people max. About half the seats were already filled. As soon as we sat down, the lights dimmed, and the movie started. If only this would happen at the multiplex.

Love Letters turned out to be what I expected: a cute little rom-com that had some laughs and just the right amount of touching moments to keep it from being too sappy. I predicted girls would love it, and a lot of guys would be dragged along for a date night.

After the viewing, we went to a large conference room, where we were joined by several of the studio’s staff. Paul went to the front and kicked off the meeting.

“Before we get started, I want to introduce everyone to David A. Dawson. As you all know, he was in our highly successful endeavor, Star Academy, and will be in its two sequels that are scheduled to film this fall. David is also one of the investors in Love Letters and didn’t take any pay for acting in it.”

Wait a minute, I didn’t get paid? I wondered if Ari, my agent, knew that.

“Because of how the movie came to us,” Paul continued, “and David’s contribution by not asking what he is currently worth, we have some skewed accounting numbers on this one. If you look at the current financials, you will see that we are at about half of what we would have spent on a similar movie at this point. While that’s good, it means the studio’s cut will be less on the back end.”

Rita leaned in and whispered, “He’s saying you’ll make more if the movie does well.”

“For David’s benefit, I want to explain what our next steps are,” Paul said to everyone and then turned to me. “We’re at the point where we will enter a licensing agreement with a distribution company. They’re the ones who will get the movie into theaters. If we agree to this arrangement, they’ll take care of screening the movie to potential buyers who represent the theaters; determining how many copies of the film will need to be made; coordinating the shipment of the prints to each theater a couple of days before release; and other tasks of that sort.”

“The other aspect is marketing. I’ll turn this over to Brenda to explain what we plan,” Paul said.

“The first weekend is crucial for most movies. We want to pack the audience in because we will make upwards of half of our box office that weekend. Two prime examples that prove this are X-Men: The Last Stand, which made 52 percent of its money in its first week of release, and Spiderman 3, which grossed 45 percent.

“The other reason we front-load the marketing is because the amount you make is dependent on the box office. And, if the audience hates the film, we at least pack them in before word of mouth gets out that we have a dog. Even if a movie bombs, a strong opening weekend can be enough to break even or earn a small profit,” Brenda said.

That brought a chuckle from the crowd.

“We have a recent example of this. Hulk grossed 47 percent of its total earnings in its opening weekend, then made almost seventy percent less the following weekend.

“Our rule of thumb is that the marketing budget should be fifty percent of what the production budget was. So, for simple math, if it cost $50 million to make a film, we spend $25 million marketing it. For this film, because the production costs were so low, I would suggest that we match the production budget for the marketing,” Brenda said.

As she was saying that, a proposed budget was handed out. I found it interesting how the money was allocated:

• Network Television: 22%
• Marketing Services (Creative Services, Market Research, Promotion/Publicity): 21%
• Targeted Local TV Stations: 14%
• Newspaper: 10%
• Internet: 4%
• Theatrical Trailers: 4%
• Other Media (Cable TV, Radio, Print, Billboards): 25%

Rita pointed out that the Marketing Services line item was for the studio’s internal department that was responsible for designing and implementing the marketing plan.

“The movie business is seasonal. We cluster releases during the summer and around the major holidays of Christmas, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, Memorial Day, and Labor Day. We need to figure out the best time to release Love Letters,” Brenda said.

What followed was a debate on whether the film would stand out in a field of high-profile movies that traditionally were shown those times of the year. You were fighting for a finite dollar amount that would be split between all films. If we went head-to-head with a blockbuster, we could get crushed and end up losing money. It was finally decided that they would release it the third weekend of June.

After the presentation, we walked to another building where the studio executives were housed.

“We have one last item to talk about,” Paul said.

“He wants money,” Rita predicted.

“We can go one of two ways. Now that there’s an almost-finished product, we can reach out to investors, and give them a smaller piece of the pie, or you can pony up the funds needed to market the film,” Paul said to get to the point.

He showed Rita and me how much he needed. It wasn’t an insignificant amount.

“Why not get a bank loan?” I asked.

Paul was prepared. He had numbers for that as well. The problem was that if the film went belly-up, banks still needed to be paid back, while investors assumed the risk. For them, a movie at this stage was a much smaller risk, but you didn’t know. The bank option was cheaper because of the loan guarantee, so they didn’t demand as large a return as the investors did.

“When do you need to know?” I asked.

Paul smiled.

“I was hoping you would just write a check today.”

“I bet you were,” Rita said.

“Sorry, but I’m out of my depth on all this,” I admitted. “I need to get advice before I decide what I should do.”

Paul started to go into sales mode, but Rita cut him off and kicked him out of his office so we could talk.

“Tell me what you really think of the movie, now that you’ve seen it?” Rita asked.

“It’s okay. It’s not nearly as funny as Bridesmaids or as sappy as The Notebook. I would compare it to Silver Linings Playbook.”

“You do realize that was one of the top recent romantic comedies?” Rita asked.

“How much did it make?”

“About $125 million.”

“Okay, slow down. How much does one of these usually make?” I asked.

“Last year, $27 million was average. The year before that was only $10 million.”

“It’s a good thing I didn’t take any pay,” I quipped.

Rita chuckled. She had a good idea of what I was being paid for my next three films. While I wasn’t a twenty-million-dollar man yet, I would command more than was reasonable for a romantic comedy. I might end up being an action star moving forward if the pay was that different.

“It sounds like they’ll be lucky to break even with the proposed budget they have right now. Can we get them to cut back on that and still make money?” I asked.

“The reason Paul has us in here is that we own more than the studio does on this one. He has to get our sign-off to move forward,” Rita educated me.

“That shit,” came out before I thought about it, and then I eyed Rita. “When were you going to clue me in?”

“If this went off the rails, I would have stopped it. I wanted you to experience for yourself what studios try to do to investors or to actors who are working for a percentage of the gross profit. Their goal is to spend as much as they make on paper. That way, they don’t have to pay any profits.”

“What do we do?” I asked.

“Do you trust me to make you money?” Rita asked.

“I don’t know. Should I?”

“Yes. Yes, you should,” Rita said.

“Okay. Do your thing,” I said.

She called Paul in and lowered the boom on him. He’d hoped I thought that a romantic comedy made numbers similar to an action movie. I’m not sure what kind of game he was playing with Rita, but she soon reminded him she was no babe in the woods. This situation highlighted the fact that in business, other people were usually not looking out for your best interests. If Paul could have gotten me to put money into marketing the movie, he wouldn’t have hesitated.

What frustrated me, once we were done, was that Paul didn’t even seem apologetic for trying to dupe us.

Once we got outside, I turned to Rita.

“Thank you,” I said sincerely. “There’s no way I could have done that without your help. I don’t say it often enough, but I do appreciate all the time you’ve spent working with me. I hope we can continue in the future.”

“Don’t worry; I plan on it.”

I was about to walk away but stopped.

“Did I really work for free?” I asked.

She laughed.

“No. I had it written into the contract with the studio that you would defer your pay until the movie opened. It’s set up so that you get paid first, and that portion is guaranteed. I did that so we could get Paul’s studio to take us on. They wanted someone like you to put on the marquee to help sell the movie, but we needed to do it on the cheap,” she explained.

I felt better about that and thanked her again.

As I got into the car, I realized that Rita had known I would take the role of the best friend before I was even asked. Adults were evil. At least it had all worked out this time.

I convinced Lexi and Chuck to go surfing for the rest of the afternoon. The rush I felt catching and riding a good wave was exhilarating and relaxing at the same time. I needed more afternoons like this.

Saturday April 15
This morning, I was meeting with Jeremy Pike, the clairvoyant who’d told me that I had five kids even before I knew it. He’d contacted my people and said he wanted the meeting. I liked him personally, so I was looking forward to it.

“So, what are you going to ask him? What will you be when you grow up? Oh, I know. Is there love in your future?” Lexi teased as we pulled up.

“You should ask if you’ll get a new PA,” Chuck suggested.

“You mean, one that doesn’t harass me first thing in the morning?”

“Exactly.”

“You two are dorks. This should be fun,” Lexi predicted.

“You know you don’t get to come in with me, don’t you?” I asked Lexi.

“Please,” she begged. “I’ve never been to one before.”

If my niece couldn’t get me to buy her a horse, Lexi didn’t have a shot at going in there with me. She must have seen I wasn’t going to budge, so she tried a different tack.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” she purred.

“Chuck, cover your ears,” I quipped and then raised my eyebrows at Lexi.

“I know what makes David a happy boy.”

I shrugged and opened the front door. We both knew that I knew what made Lexi a happy girl, so her suggestion didn’t carry much weight with me. Plus, if I was just looking for a good time, Halle was willing to show it to me. Then again, Lexi was fun to play with.

“How about I get a session, and you can come in for it?” Chuck offered.

Lexi dismissed Chuck with a look and then turned her pleading eyes on me. I think she’d seen my drowned-puppy-dog expression and had practiced it since the last time I’d seen her. If I hadn’t seen Lexi cry at the drop of a hat to get her way, that might have swayed me.

I gave her high marks for the little quiver of her bottom lip. I decided I would have to steal that move.

“Okay, you can come in if Jeremy allows it,” I caved.

What a guy wouldn’t do to be a ‘happy boy.’ I could just hear Tami calling me a ‘stupid boy’ for thinking with Mr. Happy’s brain and not my own.

Jeremy and I had met when I was on a press junket for Star Academy. He’d been there to promote his reality TV show where he did readings for celebrities. That was a long way from his upbringing. Jeremy had grown up in a small town, and his parents were extremely religious. It had been tough for him because they didn’t understand their son was different.

Jeremy hadn’t ‘come out,’ so to speak, until he was in college. He had told me that he could talk to the departed and had a feel for what would happen to someone.

In the brief time I’d spent with him, I could tell I liked Jeremy. He was probably eight to ten years older than I was, but I was used to everyone in ‘the business’ being older than me. What made Jeremy likable was his outgoing personality; it also didn’t hurt that he had the looks for TV. I’d heard his show had only aired for one season, so I was interested in finding out what he was doing now.

When we walked in, the door chimed. Jeremy came out from the back to greet us.

“David, I’m so glad you agreed to stop by. I was worried about you, then I heard you’d been shot. I was afraid I was too late to warn you,” Jeremy said in a rush.

“Getting shot sucked,” I admitted. “Did you still want to see me?”

“Of course. You have a lot going on,” Jeremy said as he ushered me to the back room.

I’m not sure what I expected, but it was set up as an informal seating area with a leather couch and a couple of comfortable chairs.

Lexi followed me in, which gave Jeremy pause.

“This is Lexi, my PA. She begged to sit in if it’s okay with you,” I said.

“Why don’t I give David a general reading, and then if I need to get personal, maybe Lexi could step out?” Jeremy compromised.

“No problem,” Lexi said.

Jeremy relaxed into his chair and closed his eyes. He took a couple of deep breaths and slowly let the last one out. Then his eyes snapped open.

“There are a couple of people fighting for attention. The most insistent is a young man who claims to be your best friend.”

“Jeff,” I supplied.

“Jeff wants me to tell you that you have to help your friend Alan. He’s lost his way and is angry with you and the world. He’s afraid Alan has lost sight of what’s essential and will sabotage his life out of spite.

“I get the impression that Alan hasn’t been the most pleasant person, and this is something you don’t want to do,” Jeremy said.

“I really don’t. When Jeff passed, our friendship began to fall apart.”

“There was a fourth in your group. A girl who you have strong feelings for.”

“Had,” I clarified. “We’re still friends, but we don’t have any feelings beyond that anymore.”

Jeremy shook his head.

“All this makes Jeff very sad. You four called yourselves the four musketeers. It was you against the world. Since his passing, you’ve all drifted apart. Jeff says that you and the girl...”

“Tami,” I supplied.

“ ... Tami are meant for each other. He’s sad because he thinks your chance to have happiness may have passed you by.”

I felt myself getting emotional, which caught me off guard. I hadn’t experienced those feelings about Tami in a long time. The idea of talking to Jeff about them ripped that wound wide open again. He was one of the few people who understood how close Tami and I were at one point. All I could say was that for now, being her friend was all I could be.

“What does Jeff think I can do for Alan?” I asked to change the subject away from Tami.

“He doesn’t know, and he thinks Alan won’t be receptive to you offering him an olive branch. Jeff says it’s not just about Alan. You need to forgive both him and Tami for you to move on. He won’t reveal why this is, but he says in your mind, you know it wasn’t their fault, but you’ve never given yourself a chance to heal your heart. I get a sense of betrayal,” Jeremy guessed.

“Okay, I’ll work on that,” I promised my friend.

Jeremy rocked back into his chair and then smiled at me.

“Your grandfather is here. He wants you to know how proud he is of you. He wants you to know, though, that you’re not your grandmother’s favorite grandson.”

“What? He’s full of it. Grandma loves me best,” I shot back.

Both Jeremy and Lexi chuckled. Jeremy shook his head.

“He says that she loves you and your brother equally.”

I rolled my eyes because I didn’t believe that for a second. Grandma Dawson had told me I was the favorite all my life. I know she’d told Greg the same, but she was just trying to make him feel better. At one time, we called her on it. She’d explained that whenever she said it to either of us, she meant every word.

“Last time I was here, you told me I had five kids. Tell me what their futures hold,” I said.

“Your grandfather suggests that you start calling Little David, Dave. He will be the smallest of your boys, stature-wise, and he doesn’t need that reinforced with his name. Your grandfather also says you plan to adopt Dave and encourages you to make that happen.”

This was the first thing Jeremy mentioned that I thought he would have no way of researching to find out. All the others, he could have pieced together via social media and the like. I was suddenly taking what he said more seriously.

“I’ll do that,” I agreed.

“Dave will be an important part of your family’s dynamic. He’s the one who the rest of your kids will go to when they have a problem or need someone to listen to them. He’ll be the glue that keeps them all together and will mediate any disagreements they will undoubtedly have.

“There’ll come a time when his mother might feel she needs to take him with her. Don’t let that happen. In the long run, it will be better for both of their happiness,” Jeremy foresaw.

“That couldn’t be any more vague.”

Jeremy shrugged.

“Just remember what I said and try to do what’s best for them.”

“Okay,” I said, not sure what to do with that.

Jeremy brightened.

“Your son Allen is an interesting one. He’s your creative kid, and you need to encourage that in him. He will end up being either a musician, artist, or writer when he gets older...”

Jeremy had trailed off and looked confused.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing’s wrong, I’m just surprised. Allen has hidden talents, talents like I have. Did you know his grandmother Kincaid has abilities? She can see things that are going to happen. It skipped a generation.

“Please don’t make him ashamed of what he is if he begins showing abilities when he’s young. I know from experience how horrible that can be...” he trailed off and then looked at me. “I know you would never do that, though.”

“I’ll talk to his mother about it and make sure we make it okay for him to be whatever he becomes,” I assured Jeremy.

“I can tell you that once his abilities come to him, he’ll find the woman he’s supposed to be with. I get the feeling their meeting will be something unusual,” Jeremy said mysteriously.

I was sure it was part of the psychic shtick to give vague and unusual predictions that would somehow reveal themselves.

“What about Dawson?” I asked.

“He’ll be your athlete. You’ll have to work with him on taking care of his schoolwork, or it will eventually derail his aspirations. If you push him academically, it’ll open a lot of doors. Just as it will for you.”

“Carol?” I asked.

“Face it, you’re screwed. She’ll be Daddy’s little princess and, in your eyes, unable to do wrong. She’ll rule the roost as far as the boys go. You need to watch her and make sure she doesn’t abuse that power. If she were to ask them, they would all kick a boy’s ass for hurting her feelings. The problem is that as a girl, she’ll be all about feelings.”

Frick! This was my worst nightmare.

“Before I get too depressed. What about my youngest, Coby?” I asked.

I was surprised when Jeremy frowned.

“Coby will test you. Of all your kids, he’s the one you need to spend the most time with. Coby’s instinct is to be the protector. Like a guard dog, that can either be good or bad. You’ll have to instill in him a strong code of conduct for what’s right and wrong.

“If you don’t, Coby could turn to a life of crime. The sad part is, he would be good at it. Then again, he can do a lot of good if focused correctly. Be patient with Coby as he navigates childhood. You might not think you’re getting through to him, but he will listen, and more importantly, watch you,” Jeremy said.

He hesitated, like he wasn’t sure if he should tell me something or not. Then he nodded like he was listening to someone.

“Do you have someone who teaches you martial arts?” Jeremy asked.

“Yeah, my friend Cassidy.”

“Have her teach your children. They’ll need to learn to protect themselves and understand when it’s okay to resort to violence and when it’s not. Cassidy would be perfect for doing that,” Jeremy said.

I wondered if that might be true. Cassidy had a tendency to hurt boys when it suited her. I was worried that if she made Carol her protégé, my boys wouldn’t stand a chance. I would put that on the back burner and think it through later. Something he said about protecting themselves worried me, though.

“Lexi, I need to talk to David privately,” Jeremy said.

We waited until she left before Jeremy became serious.

“Your grandfather says to listen to your dad. What he told you earlier this week, you need to take to heart. Unfortunately, you have to grow up before your time. Getting shot should be a wake-up call. You have security for a reason.”

“I totally get it,” I said.

“That being said, the drama in your life is far from over. Dust off your life goals and use them to decide the right path moving forward. You have a lot of possible outcomes available to you. If you use them as a guide, you should be okay,” Jeremy said.

That would make my uncle happy.

“Okay,” I conceded. “Do you know what will happen? Do you know if I should play ball, act, do something else?”

“When the time is right, you’ll know. Until then, keep your options open.”

“Are there any roadblocks in my path?” I asked.

“You’re not done dealing with the NCAA. Unfortunately, the problem you have with them will be affected by larger concerns on their part. Large organizations don’t like change being forced on them. Be careful, or you might be made an example of,” he said and then paused. “It might not be just the NCAA.”

“Why? What will happen?” I asked.

“I’m sorry. I’m not sure what all this means,” Jeremy admitted. “Just be vigilant and willing to change your plans for what is best for you. Be careful when you put the needs of others before your own.”

That wasn’t worthless advice at all. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I was afraid I would find out. I just hoped I didn’t do it the hard way.

“Why did you kick Lexi out?” I asked.

Jeremy sighed.

“You have to be careful of Lexi. She can be the catalyst for a lot of good, but also for a lot of heartaches if you’re not careful. I’m not sure, though, if the good she can do for you outweighs the bad.”

“I think I already knew that,” I said.

Jeremy chuckled.

“Your grandfather says you don’t have a clue.”

“That sounds like something he would say. I’m sure it’s like my uncle’s advice that when I finally grow up, I’ll understand.”

Jeremy just gave me a mysterious smile.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“The last part is the hardest. Carol’s mother may be in danger. She has something about her that makes her vulnerable to predators. I get the feeling her anchor that was keeping her safe has suddenly left.”

I closed my eyes. Fritz had removed Paul from our detail, which meant he was being shipped back to California for reassignment or even termination. This might be one of those unintended consequences I hated.

“I know what you’re talking about. I’ll see what I can do about it,” I assured Jeremy and then thanked him.

He’d given me some stuff to think about.

“What did he say after I left?” Lexi asked as we walked to the car.

“That you could be the best PA ever, but you needed to step up your game. He suggested that I might need to find a new one.”

She looked at me skeptically.

“He did not,” she decided, and then switched into business mode. “We’re going to meet the woman doing your portrait.”

The gift bag from the Academy Awards had included a portrait. The artist had asked to meet me before she began painting it.

Like everywhere in LA, it seemed to take forever to get to her studio. She had space in the Artist Studios Los Angeles, which was close to the USC campus. It was a large building with murals painted on the exterior. When we pulled into the parking lot, we saw a photo shoot in progress. A muscular black man, made up as a boxer, was the subject.

My first instinct was to go over and tell them what they were doing wrong—the lighting was causing shadows—but Lexi grabbed my arm and directed me inside.

What I found was an artist’s haven. They’d taken a large, open, warehouse-like space and put up eight-foot walls to divide it into individual studios. The studios didn’t have ceilings, which allowed the natural light from the large windows above to come in.

Along the halls, each artist had some of their work on display. I particularly loved what one artist was creating. She’d taken blue jeans and used them as her canvas. She had three of them displayed in the hall. I made a mental note to come back and see if any of her stuff was for sale.