Episode Meeting. (Crossover with Code Blue)

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Moments after he had probably signed his death warrant by grabbing Tara's ass, Jake found himself the large conference room to the side of the main set where actors, producers, writers and directors met to go over the upcoming episode that was going to start filming that day. Today was special in a few ways. First, this episode would be the debut of the show's newest cast member. He had not been lying when he told Tara about Jyothie, he was sure the girl could back up his claims, but there was still that little bit of lingering doubt that he would either have to wait out or drown in whisky. He was leaning toward the later option. 

Second, this upcoming episode would be a crossover with the medical drama on the network...Code Blue. It was a bit unprecedented to have a crossover episode this early in a show's first season, but it was well thought out and well written. Jason should know, he had helped write it himself. Still, there were a lot of things that could go wrong here, he was just hoping to minimize that as much as possible.


Since he was the first one there, he walked over to the mini bar in the corner of the room and made himself a whiskey on the rocks. He was going to need all the fortification he could get for this meeting. Tasting the drink and finding it up to his standards, he took a seat at the head of the large table and waited for the others to arrive. 

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Imogen had been only partly surprised to hear of the crossover episode between Code Blue and the new social services drama, People Matter. It made sense, the more she thought about it--established audiences for the medical show might find a lot of the same things they loved about Code Blue existed in People Matter. With the same network owning both shows, it wouldn't be extremely difficult to pull off, and would boost viewership for both shows, if done well. It also made a change from mid-season 'mini-finales'. Dramatic stakes could be higher without having to pull off another bomb threat or some other mass-casualty plotline. Not that they weren't good, meaty plots when they did turn up--but a little of a huge crisis went a long way, and too many in any show would wear people out.

Imogen found her way to the conference room with little difficulty, smiling at the few crew-and-cast members who had already gathered--Jason Andrews and Tara Scott among them. Tara was in about as foul a mood as she always was, and so Imogen already knew to give her a wide berth, not even bothering to attempt a greeting. Finding a place at the table, she set down her copy of the script as well as her own pens and small spiral notebook before she began unwinding her scarf from around her neck and unbuttoning her coat. British punctuality being what it was, she had a lifelong horror of turning up late, and so tended, in general, to be early.

"Morning, Jason." They'd met once or twice at USBC things, but had never really talked much. The script was good, however, and Imogen had a lot of respect for someone who had been in the industry as long as he had. Clearly, he knew good television, and Imogen knew she still had plenty she could learn about working on-screen, rather than on-stage.

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Jyothi knew she really should have presented herself in Makeup & Hair with a bare face, as requested, but she'd gotten absolutely no sleep the night before and was damned if she was going to turn up looking like death to make her first impression on most of the people she was going to (hopefully) be working with for a while. Concealer, at least, was a must. They'd decided on a neutral sort of look for her character, Lauren, who was trying to make a good first impression, herself. Costumes weren't too hard--dark slacks, a tailored white button-down shirt, a dark blue cardigan...job interview clothes. She'd even been given fake glasses to try, playing up the fresh-faced professional librarian look, and Jyothi almost laughed when she'd seen herself in the mirror. Maybe Lauren was who she would have been if she'd gone to college and found a job in an office. There was something vulnerable about the character, though--the intern who was determined she was going to change the world, one case at a time. Jyothi knew something about what it felt like to believe with every part of your being that you were meant to do something that mattered.

She hugged her script as she tiptoed around the set to find her way to the conference room, finally being cornered by a production assistant and half-dragged to where she ought to be, probably looking like some desperate rube who didn't even know what a camera was. Forcing herself to relax her shoulders, she went in, forcing a nervous smile when she saw Jason, and immediately losing her hold on it when she caught the look of burning judgement she got from the director, Tara Scott. Of course she'd done her research as best she could on who she'd be working with, and Scott was rumoured to be a legendary dragon of USBC directors. One of the best, but also...one of the worst. Jyothi only hoped she could meet whatever expectations anyone had of her, at least.

She slid into a chair, for once not entirely wanting to draw attention to herself, and finding people were giving her curious looks, anyhow. The only response she could think of was to sit up straighter, clear her throat, and pretend she knew what she was doing as she flipped open her script.