The McBain Brief

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Book: Read The McBain Brief for Free Online
Authors: Ed McBain
Appearance)
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  THE GIRL
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  THE LEADING MAN
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  THE WRITER
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  THE CAMERAMAN
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  THE DIRECTOR
    Solly explained to her that the movie utilized a play-within-a-play technique, which these days was very popular and chic, not to mention tasteful. He also explained that the movie was about a movie. That is to say, we were really making two movies here, one of them the movie we were making and the other one a movie about the movie we were making. The girl immediately complained that we hired her to make only one movie, and now we were telling her she had to act in two movies. It took us an hour and a half of valuable time to explain that it was really only one movie, and if she just trusted our taste and our judgment she would see that it worked as art and also as a delicate probing of the sexual impulses, dreams, and realizations of all human beings. She listened carefully to everything we said, and then she thought it over, and then she said, “Still, if it’s two movies, I want a bigger percentage.”
    So we upped her percentage to fifteen points, and since Harry was standing there listening to all this, we were forced to raise his percentage to ten, which meant that together they were into the movie for twenty-five points. This didn’t bother us. We just wanted to get the thing going. But now that the girl had fifteen percent of the picture, she began immediately behaving like a star. First she wanted to know what kind of camera Ben had there on the tripod.
    â€œThat is an eight-millimeter camera,” Ben told her. “We will have the film blown up later. It’s cheaper to do it this way than to shoot in thirty-five from the beginning. It’s the stock that costs a lot of money, you see.”
    â€œWhat do you mean ‘stock’?” she said.
    â€œThe raw stock. The film.”
    â€œIs this picture in color?” she said.
    â€œYes, of course,” Ben said.
    â€œBecause I look very good in color,” she said.
    â€œOh, yes, everything will be in color,” he said. He turned to me, and said, “I’m ready to roll whenever you are.”
    â€œWhat about the lights?” the girl asked. “Are we just going to shoot with just the lights that are here?”
    â€œI’m using very fast film,” Ben said. “We don’t need any special lighting. Also, it will make the picture look more natural this way.”
    â€œAnd where’s my makeup man?” she said.
    â€œWe want you to look very natural,” I said. “That was one of the things that first attracted us to you. The natural look you have.”
    â€œWell,” she said, and thought this over.
    Solly, who is normally a very patient man, said, “I don’t want to butt in here on technical matters, but time is what costs money on a movie set. Time costs more money than film. And we have been here since eight o’clock tonight, and it is now almost ten, and we haven’t shot a foot of film. If we’re going to complete this thing in the time we have laid out for it, then if everybody is ready, I think we ought to start shooting the first scene.”
    â€œI was only worried about makeup,” the girl said, “because I have a tiny little beauty spot on the underside

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