Back to work now! (Open)

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Jason sat on a very unstable chair right outside of his dressing room rubbing his temples and wishing he had had just one less drink last night. Years of hard drinking had left him almost immune to the effects of a hangover, but there were times where he still got hit with massive ones, and today was one of them. He had drank alone last night, much to his regret. He had thought he had found a friend, if not a lover in Jyothi, but for some reason, that was not progressing as much as he would have liked. Still, the girl had talent, and he did not regret giving her the job. Today was her first day on the set, and they would be filming the tenth episode of the first season today, or at least starting to. Her character, a small town girl, full of nativity and big dreams, starting at the big city agency fit well into his plans, and he could not wait to see how it worked out. 

There was also the producers to worry about. He had hired the new girl on impulse, but again, he did not regret it, and while it was HIS show, everyone still had to answer to someone, and in this case, it was the producers. he sighed heavily, not wanting to deal with that today, but it had to be done. He knew what direction he wanted the show to go in, and this girl could help make that happen. He got up heavily and stumbled into his dressing room to the bar he had had installed. It was time for a little hair of the dog. He would deal with everything else later. 

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Tara didn't bother to knock--she'd seen enough to not care what she saw, anymore--but shut the door behind her again as she stepped into Jason's dressing-room. Whether his dick was out or he was hitting the bottle at 8.30 in the morning, she didn't give a crap. He had to have known she'd come for him over this.

"Dude, Jason, what the hell?"

Leaning her hip against the edge of the vanity-table, she crossed her arms and glared with all the power of fury a short woman could possibly possess.

"Were you ever going to tell me you'd written in a new main character and hired someone for the role, or was it going to be more fun to wait until she actually came up to me and introduced herself like I should know who the hell she is?"

Scrubbing both hands over her face, she let out a muffled groan into her palms before she looked back up at him, her anger unabated.

"If you need to get laid you don't have to promise them an actual job, you know. You don't even have to keep whatever promises you do make."

She tried to drag her fingers through her hair like a comb, but they caught on the knots and she gave up.

"So either you need to tell me what justifies this little impulse of yours that's completely reshuffled the shooting schedule and script arcs for the rest of the season--which," her voice began to positively drip with sarcasm, as if she were explaining basic concepts to a five year old. If she ever talked to five year olds instead of pretending they didn't exist. "--believe it or not, affect pretty much everyone else who works on this show--" Tara pressed her hands together as if she were praying, but really she was resisting the urge to punch something. "Or you need to suck it up and tell your one-night-stand she can go drown herself in a soy latte, okay? Because she's not going to be my problem."

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For the love of Christ! Did she have to be so freaking loud! 

Jason was well used to Tara's rants. They had worked together for some time now and while he was used to it, that did not mean that he had to put up with it. He had his reasons and if she could not understand them, then to hell with her. Groaning, he dry swallowed some aspirin before downing a shot quickly. He was going to need this and more if he was going to deal with her today. Deciding on the innocent approach, he turned to face her, a sweet smile on his face,

Tara! Darling! I was wondering when you would show! Drink?

He made the token offer, knowing that she would not take it. Still, it was the polite thing to do. After a few seconds, he set it down and got serious.

"Look, I know how it looks. Hell, I even considered sleeping with her for the part, but Tara babe, she is GOOD. I mean, really good. She auditioned for me in the bar and no, I don't mean she came on to me or made any suggestions. I put her on the spot and made her do a monologue. She has talent, and years in this business have taught me at least that much. She earned her spot, and not on my dick. Should I have  brought her in for an audition with you? Probably, but I am not really sorry. She deserves a chance and I gave it to her. As for the writers and the arc. I will remind you that I had a hand in writing every episode this season. This was one arc that we were wanting to go with, but did not have the person for it. We had a plan B, but now we can go forward with this one. She stays. If you have a problem with that, you can just deal with it."

He softened his voice, not wanting to be too harsh with her. "Look, just give her a chance, I promise you will like what you see." He did not feel the need to tell her that he planned on sleeping with the new girl anyway.

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Tara was nodding along as he spoke, but her eyebrows just rose further and further until she looked moments away from tearing her own face in half with the force of her disbelief.

Sure he hadn't slept with her. And she had five Oscars and a pet unicorn.

"Auditioned in the bar..." she repeated faintly, watching as Jason winced and downed some painkillers. "Look, I get that this industry was built on booze-soaked power-lunches and boys' clubs, but can we just not, in future, recruit our people from within twenty feet of any establishment that sells alcohol, and preferably not outside of regular business hours?"

God, she sounded like upper management. That wasn't good. But she had to be a boss, and if no-one else was going to have the balls to challenge Jason when he needed it, she damn well wasn't going to let any of his mistakes take down the show which, yes, was mostly his, but she also considered it hers, too.

"Yeah, a heads-up would have been nice--real nice," she said. "But it's not like beer-goggles have ever led anyone to make questionable decisions," she added dryly, with a shrug. Being a functioning alcoholic was one thing, but being drunk was something entirely different, and while the two often went together, they weren't exclusive.

Tara let out a sigh and tapped the antenna of her walkie-talkie against her forehead. Jason wasn't the only one with a wicked headache--but Tara felt she could safely blame him for both of their migraines at this point.

"...okay..." she relented at last. "Plan A instead of Plan B, I can sort that out with the budget and the producers...I'll think of something...tell them that you had my blessing--although you didn't and you owe me and don't think I'll forget this, Jason, and if it all goes to sh*t, I will personally murder your a** and moreover you will let me because you will know you fully deserve it."

She turned to the door but paused with her fingers on the handle and looked back at him once more.

"And if you ever call me babe again I will set fire to your stupid hipster chin-merkin."

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Jason smiled, both inside and out He had won, as he knew that he would. Tara was just too easy to convince. She tried to pretend otherwise, but he knew the truth. Sure, what he did was...well it was an asshole move, but again he did not regret it. Jyothi would bring a lot to the show, Tara would just have to see it for herself. 

She had agreed to his plan as well as agreeing to cover up the whole thing with the higher ups. That was good, he hated dealing with the suites, and she had a talent for it, as much as he hated to admit it. He shrugged off her murder threat...that was something else he had gotten used to, and smirked when she threatened him again if he called her babe. Suddenly, inspiration struck.

He said nothing, just got up, went to the door, and opened it before she could. Then, before she could react..."You got it babe", and then quickly kissed her straight on the mouth before grabbing her ass and left the room heading for the set. He had work to do. He didn't look back, and he knew that he would pay for that later, but it was worth it.

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If he'd wanted her to have any chance of going easy on his latest Barbie, he'd just forfeited it. If this girl was any good at all, no matter what he said, Tara was going to make her prove it. Thank God none of the crew had seen the ass-grab. Of course he'd just done it to piss her off, and Tara briefly regretted that her short fuse seemed to act as a red flag to a certain brand of male dillhole. But no way was she about to start playing softball and pleading with these people to try and get her way. If she wanted something, she'd demand it, and if she had a problem, she'd say so.

Lifting her walkie, she pressed the button, got a brief burst of static, and requested a PA to bring in the new girl to be briefed for the scene. No time for a cozy get-to-know-you tea-party, they were here to work, they had a show to make, and Lauren Pettegrew to somehow tie into the core cast without audiences hating her. Or maybe they would hate her...but hopefully in a love-to-hate-her kind of way. The way Tara aspired to be hated, herself.

"You're a dickweed, Andrews," she said as loudly as she could right into Jason's ear as she wended her way past him as they made their way onto the set.