Suddenly, a familiar voice called out. "Jonathan...where have you been? I've been looking all over for you. Why are you hiding out on the set?"
He whirled around. Jon wasn't short for Jonathan. And...while the voice was familiar, the accent was not. It was Zoe. But...well, not. He took her in, looking a bit surprised. The face was the same, but no goth makeup...just very tasteful and simple makeup. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt...and she was...speaking with a British accent.
"I...umm...just was..." he said.
"Practicing your lines again?" she said. "Nervous about the show...?" She asked, sympathetically. "How about I drive you home? We can talk about it on the way."
"Drive...but....you're..."
"I've lived in LA for 5 years, Jonathan...Don't worry, I know which side of the street to drive on," she said, laughing. "Although if I get a reputation for playing a 15 year old, I'd better make sure I never forget my driver's license."
He nodded, and let her guide him away from his bedroom, or the set version of it. "Why were you looking for me?" He asked.
"Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about Shannon. I think she is up to something, and I don't want her to sink this show before we even put any episodes on the air. She is complaining about every little thing. I mean....at least her character is three-dimensional...so far the only lines I've gotten in the first two scripts are profanity. She has turned out to be such a prima donna...We need to rein her in. This is just the sort of thing that makes them do massive rewrites....or maybe even a pilot reshoot. I mean....she made poor Lauren cry...and she is supposed to be playing a mean cheerleader..."
Jon nodded, letting her speak. So...they were actors...the actress playing Zoe was older...Someone named Shannon was causing trouble...and made someone named Lauren cry. They walked past a production sign for You Are What You Wish...starring Jonathan Madison and Shannon Ferguson.
Maybe he could pull off being an actor...he was fooling Zoe...or whoever she was.
(Note: In thinking about rebooting this storyline I wrote a decade ago, I was thinking about how on TV, many of the actors playing teenagers are actually in their twenties or beyond, but you also have actors who are closer to the age of their characters. So I thought I'd have a mix of the two here, where the younger character is played by an older actress than the older one...which has actually happened on some sitcoms)
