We were shooting in Yonkers all week. Filming scenes inside a courthouse can get pretty boring. Video village was crammed in filing rooms. The carpets were covered with cardboard runners to protect the location from getting damaged by the accumulation of photo monitors, sound monitors, director's chairs, and the traffic of producers and actors, PA's, hair and makeup. While the scene shot you had to be quiet on set. But the prep crew couldn't be quiet. We had work to do for the upcoming episode.
We took our laptops outside to enjoy the fresh air. It was late spring, early June. The trees were fresh with new blooms. I sat on the picnic table near Chuck, the creator. While Amy, the line producer, sat on a park bench in the shade. I was the executive assistant to both of them.
As always, Amy had a walkie nearby to listen to the happenings on set. Chuck and I each sipped on iced coffees, which left a ring on the table as droplets fell down the plastic sides. I was on my computer answering emails for casting. In the background they were talking.
"You can't have your kids' initials rhyme with things," Chuck said matter-of-factly.
"Why not," Amy asked. She was always quite inquisitive. Eager to get to the bottom of things.
"Because kids are mean," Chuck replied.
Chuck was a true Bostonian. He had the accent, always carried Dunkin and his sneakers were black and gold; the color of the Bruins. He had an uncouth ruthlessness with tattoos up his arm, a pack of cigarettes always in his pocket. He was smart, incredibly smart. He loved history. He once said to me that his dream was to buy a historical house that was haunted by a bunch of dead Indians. See, rough surface, but he had heart.
Amy on the other hand was conservative, to the point and always focused on getting the work done. She was short, with medium length brown hair, a true Jewish girl who lived in a nice apartment on the Upper East Side. While she might be unassuming she was also a big-time movie producer (movies like Argo, Noah, and By The Sea). Amy was one of the few women to work her way up the ranks in New York. She started out in locations. Her credits include Working Girl and Goodfellas. She's the scout that found the 'Copacabana' location where they did that long oner as Ray Liotta introduced Lorraine Bracco to his world. She told me she only brought Marty one location because she knew that was the only place he needed to see. Pretty badass. When she hired me to assist her on her first job in episodic television I was ecstatic. I had 3 seasons of episodic under my belt, but I was no expert. Needless to say, producing television went against all of her movie sensibilities.
"You really can't think of a word that rhymes with LAG?" Chuck asked with his eyebrows raised.
Amy thought hard for a second. "I can, but I can't you know?"
"Does she have a lot of friends?" Chuck asked.
"Who Lily Loo?" Amy said, actually taking a break from working.
Amy's daughter was going away to camp for the first time. Sleep-away camp for the whole summer. The only way she could communicate was by letter. It was a big deal. Amy adored her daughter, an only child. Often she felt guilty about not being home with her. Her daughter missed her while she was on a job. Production was always a much needier child.
"Yeah," Chuck said sipping his coffee.
"She has a handful."
"You should start calling her Tiger Lily." Chuck's accent really came out on the Tigah.
"Why?" Amy was genuinely curious.
"Why not," Chuck said.
"It's just Lily," Amy said, serious again.
"Not Lilien?"
"Just Lily."
"When she goes to camp you should tell her to introduce herself as Tiger."
Again, emphasis on Tigah.
"Why?" Amy asks again.
"Cause no one will fuck with her," Chuck said standing up. "Then she can start going by Lily after, but people will ask her why are you called Tiger and she can say I earned it. And leave it at that. She's so deadpan people will believe her."
"That's good," Amy said cracking a smile. Her gears turning. "I like that."
Chuck reached for the green carton of American Spirits on the table. Amy's nose scrunched a little when Chuck lit his cigarette. She despised smoking, mainly because of the smell and also because she didn't get it. She really hated that she smelled pot all over the city.
"I feel protective of her now," Chuck said, revealing his teddy bear center.
"That's sweet— why?"
"Cause she's in the show," Chuck said. Lily was a background actor in a playground scene in one of the previous episodes.
Amy understood that. Her phone started ringing.
"I have to take this," she said getting up. "Talk to me," she said, answering the call.
She liked to talk on the phone and kick rocks as she walked. I always found that endearing. Like she was still a kid, but in a producer's body.
"Hey, what're you doing over there anyways?" Chuck asked me.
I looked up at him and smiled. Though I was working that entire time they might not have realized how closely I was listening.
Being on set all of the time can be grueling. But anytime spent with Amy and Chuck brought a lightness into my life; because I was able to witness them being themselves.
I enjoyed that so much!!! Perhaps there will be a sequel.😊
Great writing I so enjoyed reading this. I felt like I knew them since you spoke so much about them when you were working worh them
Good story. Great characters. - Joe O.