I’d avoided business talk for almost a month. My druthers would be to have my dad deal with it. I was sure my mom would if I asked. The only problem was she might go a little nuts on me. She would probably decide I had to buy more real estate or something. Mom would justify it by saying we would save on taxes or some other nonsense.
◊◊◊
“Well, hello, stranger. Long time no see,” I said as I spotted Kimberly and Phyllis Fillmore.
Kimberly had played Cici in
Kimberly got a big smile on her face and rushed over to hug me.
“I missed you too,” I said a little awkwardly.
I noticed both Lexi and Manaia were intently watching this little drama. Thankfully, neither of them knew our history.
“How have you been?” I asked as I extracted myself from her grip.
Kimberly flushed when she realized she’d wrapped me in a death grip in front of people she didn’t know.
“I can’t seem to land any roles after … you know,” she finally said.
Walking out on a production probably would make people hesitant to hire you. Combine that with the fact that for every role, there was a slew of actors fighting for it, and you end up out of work. I’d been lucky. There were many actors who had more experience and were probably much better than I was, but I’d been in the right place at the right time. Now, with commercial success behind me, studios and producers sought me out.
Kimberly wasn’t yet at that level in her career. I was a little surprised the studio would even have her promote the movie after she quit. They must be worried the Laurent stuff might get out and were playing nice. Believe me, that wasn’t their usual approach.
“What are your publicist, agent, and manager doing?” I asked.
“I got her this,” Phyllis said.
The light bulb came on: her mom managed her career. While I knew that my mom would do whatever she could to help, I wouldn’t want her to manage me. She already thought she ran every other aspect of my life. I couldn’t even pick out what classes I took in school without her approval.
I motioned my PA over.
“Lexi, get Phyllis’s information and set up a meeting with Kent,” I said and then turned to Phyllis. “My people do a great job and have a ton of contacts. They can help with Kimberly’s image and get her in front of the people she needs to see to get jobs. I know she can act, so it’s just a matter of getting her the right opportunity. And I have a movie being made right now; I’ll see if they could use someone for a small role to get the ball rolling.”
Phyllis couldn’t decide whether to be pissed or relieved. I understood how she felt, not wanting to let someone down. She finally swallowed her pride and gave Lexi her information. Kent Crain was my senior manager at Dawson Management. He could hook Kimberly up with both Saul and Frank.
Heck, he could also help her manage her money through Mass Investments. I’d heard several horror stories about parents mismanaging a young actor’s finances. With the team working for her, she would have a fighting chance of keeping her career in acting going.
Kimberly tackled me again.
“Thank you,” she mumbled against my chest.
“This means you have to say nice things about me in the interviews,” I teased.
“Absolutely,” she assured me as we were called in for makeup.
◊◊◊
They’d booked us on the
“I want to welcome David A. Dawson and Kimberly Fillmore. You’re in
“It was a lot of responsibility to play someone so famous,” I said. “Lucky for me, the movie didn’t exactly follow Sir Richard Jackson’s story leading up to what is now called the Cuban Missile Crisis; they took some artistic license. The film downplayed his real-life contribution to uncovering that the Russians had missile teams in Cuba. So, I didn’t embarrass myself too much.”
“David’s being modest. He was fantastic in this movie. I was lucky to be working with him. He even saved my life,” Kimberly said.
“Really?” Lezlie asked with a skeptical look.
“I think we have the clip,” Kimberly said, and they played the scene where we first saw the crocodiles.
