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TINSLEY
Utah and the film festival had been so unexpected. It wasn’t at all the way I had wanted things to go with telling Ryan but I was so grateful to have everything out in the open.
I had been protecting everyone, Lucas, Ryan, even myself for so long that I wasn’t even aware of the amount of energy that I’d been using. With my secret out in the open, I finally felt free.
Ryan forgiving me yesterday, his attempts to understand what I’ve dealt with really eased the rest of my anxieties. I felt like a new person, and I couldn’t wait to get the rest of my life started.
I had called last night after leaving Ryan last night and changed my flight to the earliest they offered. Adrienne and the guys would be heading home around noon, but I had too much I needed to get done.
When I walked through the door, Katie was waiting for me with open arms, a cup of tea in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other, “pick your poison,” she said laughing.
My mom had a hair appointment with my favorite stylist. It was my “thank you” to her for watching Lucas on such short notice for my Utah trip. I had called Katie from the airport and asked her to meet me at my house so I could finally come clean about everything that had been going on the last several weeks.
Katie had been one of the first people I’d met when I’d moved to Los Angeles. She had been a child actress and knew way more about the industry than she wanted to. Now in her late twenties she had transitioned into full on mom life with her daughter.
Katie’s husband, Stephen, had been my business advisor for years. Katie and Stephen had been the closest thing Lucas and I had to family here in California for the longest time. They were a great couple and amazing friends.
I felt confident going into my conversation with Katie. She had seen everything over the years in Hollywood and she was the least judgemental person I knew. Finally talking to her about the last several weeks felt like the last stop on the road to total catharsis.
“Let’s go with tea, I have way too much on my plate today to do mimosas.”
“Okay, Little Miss Secret Keeper, out with it,” she challenged as we made our way over to my living room with our chai teas.
“Remember the story I told you about Lucas’ dad?” I asked.
“Yes! The erotic conception. I know it resulted in an unwanted college pregnancy Tinsley, but I have to tell you, losing your virginity story, totally beats mine. Losing it to a wannabe jock in the back of his mom’s van is not nearly as hot as what you experienced.”
“Well, what I failed to mention is who his dad is. You know how I said I knew a couple of the Falconi guys from back in Chicago? Well Ryan Jacobs is Lucas’ father.”
“Shut the front door! Ryan freaking Jacobs! Shit, how did I miss it? Of course. Those blue eyes, the gorgeous blond hair. They look practically identical,” she said, amazed.
“But maybe I should back up. I’m not going in order of how things went down,” I said, and I started on the first day on set at the table read. I told her everything, my various rendezvous with the guys, Lee’s craziness, even the embarrassing bits about my conversation with Adrienne in the bathroom that first day.
Katie looked on in surprise and amazement. When I was done, she took a moment. And for a second, I was worried that I had managed to shock my least judgemental friend. Then she said, “Damn Tinsley! I am so freaking proud of you.”
“Wait, really?” I replied, shocked.
“Yes, you have been taking care of everything and everybody around you for so long. And now here you are telling me that not only did you finally get rid of the biggest secret in your life, the one that has been eating away at you for seven years.
“But you also found a group of men, smoking hot ones at that, to help share your burdens. You have been taking it on alone for so freaking long. If anyone deserves happiness, it’s you Tinsley. I don’t care how many people it takes to give it to you.
“It might be unorthodox, but if it works for you, that’s the only thing I care about,” Katie finished.
“Thank you, I-,” I stopped as my phone started buzzing. It was my assistant, Alex, probably checking to make sure I got in okay. She was so good about looking out. I would have to remember to call her back later. Technically I had taken the morning off.
As soon as the buzzing stopped, it started up again. This time it was someone from the studio. Okay weird.
“Do you need to get that?” asked Katie, looking concerned.
“No, just one of those weird things where your phone doesn’t ring all day and then everyone calls at once,” I said.
A text came through from Alex, “TMZ now!”
Shit, I thought to myself. I popped open my laptop and went straight to TMZ. There across the website’s main page was the headline “Famed Director Loses His Sh*$ at Utah Film Festival.”
Katie saw my face turn pale and rushed over to see what I was looking at. We scrolled the story, watched the video and read the comments as quickly as we could. Lee had finally done it.
Apparently, he’d gotten drunk at one of the after parties last night and gone on a full blown tear. Nothing was sacred. He’d been hitting on an actress for one of the indie films that were being featured. And when she rejected him, he lost it.
Her girlfriend had stepped in to try and ease the tension of the situation and Lee went on a full-blown rant about how much he hated women, gays and then he threw in some racism for good measure.
The whole thing was of course caught on camera. The couple was threatening to sue and there were about thirty perfect shots of Lee being escorted out by three bouncers and two off duty cops.
“Katie, this is so bad,” I said, stating the obvious. “I knew things were at a tipping point with Lee, I’d even offered to get him some help. In all honesty, I thought he would calm down a bit after my offer. Things must have been worse than I even realized. Time to get in crisis mode.”
Just then my phone rang.
“It’s my boss. I better take this in the other room,” I said. Katie shooed me away, grabbing the laptop from me and continuing to scan the web for updates.
“Tinsley, we’re on with the studio,” he said as soon as I picked up.
I listened for the next fifteen minutes as I was berated. How could I let this happen? Who was keeping an eye on Lee? What had I been doing?
I tried to get a word in but any time I tried to speak, I was shut down.
They were having none of it.
And then I was fired. They said it was a breach of contract, not delivering, but I knew better. They were using me as a scapegoat. I was the low person on the totem pole to them and if they could cast blame on me, they might just be able to salvage some of Lee before he got completely cancelled.
I walked back out to Katie in a daze.
“What’s our first move?” Katie asked when I made my way to the living room. You’ve got me the rest of the day. I already called Stephen and let him know he’s got preschool pick up.”
“There’s no move Katie. They just fired me.”
“What?” she cried out in shock. “What the fuck are they thinking? They can’t do that!”
“They can,” I said quietly. “They just did.”
“This shit with Lee has been building for ages. Everyone who’s anyone in the industry knows that. Lee’s always been a loose cannon,” she cried.
“They don’t care. They are citing me for breach of contract,” I said meekly. “It’s over.”
“No flippin’ way!” Katie remarked. “It’s not over until we say it’s over.” She pulled back open my laptop and started typing.
“I can’t do this. Being fired in this way. I won’t find another job here. My career is over. Everything I’ve worked for. Katie, I’m going to have to move back to Chicago.”
Katie was effectively ignoring me and my complaints. She continued tapping away at my laptop.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“We’re getting you your job back,” she said. “Hand me my cell, we need reinforcements.”
–
By the time my mom got home from her hair appointment, Katie had turned my home into a full-blown command center. She’d called several of her own contacts, somehow managed to get my assistant Alex, or now old assistant, to take the day from work, her husband Stephen, and had the guys heading our way as soon as they were back in Los Angeles.
We quickly got my mom caught up on the situation and she agreed to pick up Lucas after school. She would take him on a surprise trip. A night in a hotel and passes to Disney tomorrow. Lucas would be thrilled.
She would tell Lucas I was doing this as a special treat for not getting to come home as planned. She’d say I got delayed and had to stay an extra day in Utah, otherwise my empath of a son would be way too worried and know something was wrong the second he saw me.
When everyone finally arrived, I made quick introductions. The guys were fawning all over me. We hadn’t told them exactly what had happened yet, but they knew enough to be concerned. Hel l, they could probably read it all over my face.
Katie beamed as she saw me surrounded by such a strong support system. And I was on and off the brink of tears. All I’d wanted since I’d moved to LA was to have a family of sorts here. Now, here I was surrounded by one and I might lose it all if we couldn’t pull off Katie’s plan.
I didn’t want to lose my guys, lose Ryan just as he was learning about Lucas, lose my career and everything I’d worked so hard for. But now I may not have a choice.
Katie quickly caught everyone up starting by showing them the video from TMZ and reading over the comments. She told them about the threat of lawsuits from the women.
“Short story is that Lee lost his shit and now the studio and Tinsley’s PR company is taking it out on her. They’ve fired her for breach of contract and failing to deliver,” she said.
“What the fuck?” Kai asked in disbelief.
“This is nuts, they can’t do this to her,” Michael chimed in.
The room dissolved into dozens of side conversations about how wrong the actions of the studio and PR company were. Katie let it go on for a few minutes before hushing everyone.
“We need to do something. This type of treatment isn’t right. We all know Lee’s a problem, hell even the studio knows. So, what are we going to
do about it?” Katie finally asked.
“You seem like you might already have a plan brewing,” Ryan said. “I do but I’d love to hear your thoughts,” she remarked.
“I know who you are and how long you’ve ridden out this industry,” Ryan said. “I can’t even begin to imagine the bullshit you’ve had to deal with over the years. Not only that but I know how much you mean to Tinsley. I think if anyone can come up with a plan, you can.”
Katie looked at me and then back at Ryan. I had tears in my eyes and his kind words nearly had her tearing up as well.
“We’ve got to hit them where it hurts,” she explained.
“Tell us what we need to do,” Michael chimed in. And the rest of the room erupted into cheers.
Katie laid out her plan. Without the castmates in this room, the studio had no movie. Sure Ryan’s part had wrapped but the rest of them weren’t done filming yet. What if they all just threatened to walk?
The studio had way too much invested at this point to go back. If the whole lead cast walked, they would bankrupt the movie simply in trying to recast and reshoot all they had so far. It was a long shot, but it just might work. I wanted to feel confident, but I was just too scared right now.