Michael Balkind - Sudden Death

“Alright, alright, no shenanigans. But please call me Reid.” He did as she asked and came out of the dressing room wearing his new duds.

“Okay, Reid, please sit here,” she said, pointing to a barber’s chair. He sat down and she lowered the seat to work on him. She started with a base, saying, “You really don’t need much work, but we have to keep the glare down.” “Yuk,” he said, “I don’t understand how you guys do this everyday.” “I guess you mean women?” she asked with attitude. “Oh, forget it.” He could tell he was headed for trouble, so he shut his mouth instead. After a few minutes, she said, “Okay, you’re done. Go on up and try not to sweat before the shoot. I’ll be up soon in case you need touching up.” “Touching-up, what am I a car? No, seriously, thank you, that was the best makeover I’ve ever had.” “You’ve done this before?” “No,” he said with a grin. “Oh, shut up and get out of here.” She threw a towel at him as he walked out the door.

The studio was very active. People were everywhere – photographers, elec tricians, refrigeration crews, caterers, set designers and many more.

Reid approached Aimee. “Ready?” she asked. Today her clothes were less revealing; baggy jeans and a tee shirt were covered by an unbuttoned denim shirt. Her shoes clicked as she walked.

Looking down at them, he asked, “Are you actually wearing golf shoes with metal spikes?”

She nodded. “Yes, they’re great on the ice; the whole crew is wearing them.” “Great idea, but what about me? Shouldn’t I be wearing them too?” “Aren’t you? We got you a pair. Missy was supposed to give them to you.” “No she gave me these; they’re soft spikes.” “You can’t go up there with those; you’ll be on your ass more than your feet. Give me a minute, I’ll call and have her bring them up.” Reid’s spikes were found and delivered. He put them on and Aimee once again asked if he was ready. “As I’ll ever be.” “Follow me,” she said as she climbed a short metal ladder up onto the set. “Be careful, the ladder is really slippery with the spikes.” He climbed up while making a racket with his spikes and followed her to the tee. Two photographers were there, and after quick introductions, they asked him to pick up a club and just start swinging it. They snapped pictures, asking him to pose in various positions. Next, they walked down the white turf-covered fairway, taking shots of him as they went. They continued on the green. Then they moved over to the icy areas that were not turf covered and it looked exactly like a glacier. They took roll after roll of pictures. They had Reid swing his club on the bare ice. They had him hit balls of ice off a tee, taking pictures as they exploded on impact. They took shots of him holding FREEZE balls while standing on ice. They took shots with a fog machine blowing in his direction. It was easy to pose as long as he didn’t have to think. Thinking was going to be difficult because he had Shane on his brain.

They worked until 1 p.m., then took a lunch break. Joan, Hunter and Betsy had arrived and had been watching for the past hour. Stu walked in with the new bodyguards, Alan and Mike, otherwise known as Mench and Greeny. Both were thin and of less-than-average height, but both also had a wild look in their eyes that sent a strong Don’t mess with me if you value your well-being message to anyone they encountered. After quick introductions, Reid asked, “So guys, how’d the job go in Italy?”

With a sparkle in his eye, Greeny said, “It was a little hairy, but only one dead body in the end. I can live with that.”

Reid said in a slight panic, “Your client is dead and you’re okay with that? Joel, Stu, I need to talk to you both, now!”

“Calm down Reid,” Mench chimed in with a laugh. “Greeny was talk ing about the perp. Our client is fine. Our track record is perfect. You’re in good hands on our watch.”

“Okay then.” Reid lowered his voice and settled down a bit. “I guess I misunderstood. No offense, Greeny.”

“I’ll let it go this time,” Greeny seethed. “Just don’t let it happen again.” He gave Reid an evil glare. “Uh, yes, sir,” Reid answered, glancing at the other guards wide-eyed. Greeny, Mench, Joel and Stu kept straight faces as long as possible; then they all burst into laughter. Greeny walked over to Reid and shook his hand saying, “Only kidding, Reid. I’m looking forward to watching your back.” “Good, you had me worried there.” “Comes with the job.” “Well, it’s good to have you aboard.” Greeny gave Reid a quick nod. After about an hour, Aimee said, “Reid, I want to start filming. You need to go back to make-up to get redone. How are you doing with your lines? They’re pretty easy right?”

Reid just nodded. Oh shit, he thought, I forgot all about the damn lines. I knew Shane was going to mean trouble. He didn’t say a word. He just got up, grabbed the script and headed for the make-up room. He jumped into the chair and said, “Take your time Missy; I need to study my lines.” “It won’t take long. You just need a little work.” He repeated in an edgy tone, “Please, take your time. I need to study these.” He picked up the script and started reading out loud. His voice was shaky. He was obviously nervous.

Missy said, “Oh my God. You haven’t even looked at those yet, have you?”

“No, but please don’t tell Aimee. She’ll kill me if she finds out. Anyway, there’s not much here, only four or five lines. I can memorize them in a few minutes. Let me concentrate.”

He read, “Hi, I’m Reid Clark and I use Freeze. Do you have Freeze balls in your bag? Use Freeze when you want to ice the competition.” He looked up at her with a look of shock; “Did you hear that? I can’t say that in a commercial. Who are they kidding?”

He continued to the second script. “Hi, I’m Reid Clark. I use the Freeze from Eagle. Use Freeze only when you want to ice your competition. Freeze, the balls that fly like an Eagle.” He finished, “Okay, now that’s better, what do you think?”

Just then, the intercom buzzed, Aimee’s voice came through the speak er “Hey, what’s going on down there, Missy? Where’s Reid?” “I’m almost done with him. Sorry, I needed to change a tone.” “C’mon, finish up; we need to get started already. We’re wasting big money with every minute we lose.” “He’s on his way,” Missy said. The intercom clicked off. “Thanks for covering for me,” Reid said. “I owe you one.” “No problem. You better get up there quickly, though.” “Yeah, I guess so.” As he was walking out the door, she added, “Break a leg.” “God forbid!” he said grinning. When he got back up to the studio, things had changed. The lights were brighter and something was making an awful lot of noise. Two huge cameras were attached to a cart that traveled on a track the length of the set. One camera was fixed directly to the cart, the other was on a platform raised by a hydraulic extension arm. Aimee ran over and said something, but the noise drowned her out. He pointed to his ears and shook his head. She got closer and yelled, “The heat from the lights makes it necessary to run the refrigeration system full blast, so the glacier doesn’t melt. They’ll turn it off when we start to shoot. Are you ready?”

“Which lines am I supposed to say?” he yelled. “I’m not going to say the first ones. Please tell me we’re using the second lines.”

She screamed, “We are, but we want to shoot using both scripts.” He followed her onto the set to a guy on the camera platform. “This is Craig Barton, the director,” she yelled.

The two men shook hands. Craig yelled, “Okay, I want to do the first take with you at the tee box. Hit a ball, then look up at the camera and say your lines. It’s that simple. Ready?”