Appearance)
                                    THE GIRL
                                    THE LEADING MAN
                                    THE WRITER
                                    THE CAMERAMAN
                                    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, âStill, if itâs two movies, I want a bigger percentage.â
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 didnât 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.
âThat is an eight-millimeter camera,â Ben told her. âWe will have the film blown up later. Itâs cheaper to do it this way than to shoot in thirty-five from the beginning. Itâs the stock that costs a lot of money, you see.â
âWhat do you mean âstockâ?â she said.
âThe raw stock. The film.â
âIs this picture in color?â she said.
âYes, of course,â Ben said.
âBecause I look very good in color,â she said.
âOh, yes, everything will be in color,â he said. He turned to me, and said, âIâm ready to roll whenever you are.â
âWhat about the lights?â the girl asked. âAre we just going to shoot with just the lights that are here?â
âIâm using very fast film,â Ben said. âWe donât need any special lighting. Also, it will make the picture look more natural this way.â
âAnd whereâs my makeup man?â she said.
âWe want you to look very natural,â I said. âThat was one of the things that first attracted us to you. The natural look you have.â
âWell,â she said, and thought this over.
Solly, who is normally a very patient man, said, âI donât 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 oâclock tonight, and it is now almost ten, and we havenât shot a foot of film. If weâre 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
âI was only worried about makeup,â the girl said, âbecause I have a tiny little beauty spot on the underside