TOC Promo Hi, FoLCs! This is an unusual story, so let me take a moment to explain.
I was channel surfing on my TV, hoping to find something decent, when I stumbled across this really cool show on the DCU channel. It was about Lois and Clark, and not only did they have a new episode (actually, it was a miniseries, a collection of short episodes), they included footage of the production staff meetings! So, I got to see the story as it unfolded, and I also got a look into the work that went into making it. It seemed to fit into the show's continuity at the end of Season Two, between Individual Responsibility and Whine, Whine, Whine.
Now, I know most of you don't get the DCU channel, so I thought I'd share. Unfortunately, I don't have a good set-up for screen captures. So, I took the liberty of writing it up for you, kind of like a novelization. In doing that, I found that I had a hard time telling the story. Writing gives me different narrative tools than TV. For example, I have fewer visuals to work with, but I can write as much introspection as I want. So, I ended up having to adapt a lot of things to keep the spirit of the story. That means that despite all the references to cameras and filming, you're going to see something that looks a lot more like a written story.
While I'm explaining things, I should mention that the cast of the show is not the cast we know from L&C. I was a bit confused by that, at first, especially since the people they found bear a striking physical resemblance to the original cast. Lois looks *exactly* like Teri, Clark is a dead ringer for Dean, etc. Despite that, they are entirely different people with different lives and personalities. You know, they say everyone has a double somewhere. I guess the casting director must have lucked out.
Oh, speaking of "Lois" and "Clark," I should mention that I didn't catch the cast's names. The director had an odd quirk in that he insisted that the staff refer to the cast only by character name, even during the production meetings. So, in the meetings, when someone said "Lois," they were usually referring to the actress who played her. Sometimes, though, when they were talking about plot developments, they would use the character names and mean the characters. Luckily, things were pretty clear in context.
So, there's a lot to be confused about, I guess, but I did my best to keep things straight. Hopefully, it'll make sense, and you'll get the hang of it as we go.
The production staff:
Producer/Director: Paul - Nominally in charge of everything. He actually does little more than organize the crew, who are quite capable on their own.
Writer: Timmy - Writes the story, and makes changes to cover over any glitches that pop up.
Stage Manager/Assistant Director: Steph - Manages everything inside the studio. Works closely with the cast, makes sure the details of the set are right, keeps an eye out for errors during filming.
Working under Steph's supervision:
Wardrobe: Matt
Make-up: Randi
Continuity: Felix
Casting Director: Brian - Finds people to play the various parts, mostly extras, minor roles, and guest stars. Makes sure they show up in the right place at the right time.
Technical Director: Kate - Oversees and coordinates all technical aspects of the show.
People who work under Kate's supervision:
Special Effects Manager: Ezra
Sets: Jason
Cameras: Andrew
Sound: Rob
Lighting: Jean
Consultant: Meg - The on-set representative of the studio executives. Also coordinates with DC Comics as needed.
Publicity: Seth
That's pretty much all the major players. I'll try to help you keep them straight as we go.
Before we continue, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank my BR, Sorcha, who is by no means the lesser of two evil Saras. She stuck with me during the *long* transcription process, and, when I finally got back to it a year later, she was ready to start right up again. This despite the fact that it was the finals/holiday season and everything was nuts. We've had some technical glitches since then, but she's still managed to be helpful and encouraging. This story wouldn't be here without her, and she deserves plenty of credit.
With that said, let's get going!
******
Production Meeting One:
"Okay, good," Paul said, glancing around the table. "Everyone's here. Let's get started. Seth, why don't you get the ball rolling?"
"Well, we put the ads up in the usual places," the head of the publicity department responded. "I'm sure the fans have seen them, but there hasn't been much talk. Not surprising, really. You can't expect much from a thirty-second promo."
"Fair enough. Thanks, Seth." He glanced around again. "So, we're getting ready to shoot Part One. What's the latest?"
Brian, the casting director, spoke up. "We have a casting call out for extras and minor roles. We're going to need a lot of people, especially for Gotham."
Paul nodded. "Sounds good." Turning to Steph, the stage manager, he asked, "We have everyone we need for today, right?"
"Yes... almost."
Paul raised his eyebrows inquisitively. "Almost?"
"It's Bobby. He's here, but he's just getting over the flu." As she talked, Steph moved her hands around, unconsciously illustrating her words. She'd picked up the habit while working with the cast. The actors had trained themselves to use such gestures as a matter of course, so that doing so on stage would be more natural. Steph had started using them because she found the actors responded better when she did, but, like them, had soon found herself using them all the time. "He says he can work, and he assures me he's not contagious..."
"Okay. That doesn't sound too bad. So what's the problem?"
"Well, he's still a little queasy," she said hesitantly, with an odd little flutter of her hand. "He doesn't think he'll be able to eat."
Paul shook his head. "But... that's his character's trademark! I mean, it's half the reason he's named Bigmouth. The audience is going to be expecting him to be wolfing food down left and right!"
Steph sighed, her hand pressed to her forehead. "I know, I know. But he's sick. He can't do it this time."
Next to Paul, Timmy had been taking notes. There were papers scattered in front of him, including three different notepads, a copy of the script for the day, an outline of the story arc, and some bits and pieces of another planned story. "Don't worry," he said without looking up from his scribblings, "I'll figure something out."
"Thanks, Timmy," Paul said, relieved. "Let me know what you come up with."
"Sure thing," he replied absently, already rewriting the scene.
"Moving right along, then... Kate, what do you have?"
Kate scanned her notes. As Technical Director, she was in charge of all the technical aspects of the show. That included the sets, the lights, the sound, the special effects, the props, and basically anything else that wasn't a living actor. There were other staff members below her who worked like a president's cabinet to manage the individual aspects, but they weren't at the meeting. "Lights and sound are ready, and the camera crew is ready to roll. I don't think we'll have any problems there, and if we do, we can take care of that in editing."
"Fair enough. What else?"
She skimmed down her notes. "Ezra says we're looking good for this part," she said, referring to the special effects manager. "His major concern right now is the Enforcer. The mock-up of the cockpit is moving along, but we're still working with the computer guys on the rest."
"I see," Paul said, making a note of his own. "Well, we have time on that. What's going on with Gotham?"
"We have the set ready. The studio backlot is all ours. We're trying to see about the car."
"The car?"
Kate looked up from her notes and grinned. "We're trying to get the car from the movie."
"Which movie?" Brian asked, curiously.
"What do you mean, which movie?" Kate retorted, frowning ominously.
"Well, there were four of them," Brian said, cheerfully oblivious. "Plus the one based on the old TV series..."
"No, there weren't," she said flatly.
"Sure there were," Brian said, a little confused. "There was the first one in 1989, then..."
Her nose back in her notes, Kate cut him off. "The others don't count."
Brian looked startled. "What?"
"They. Didn't. Happen."
"Oh. Well, uh, what about the TV series?"
"We could probably get one of those, if we really wanted," she said, glancing up for a brief moment, "but I don't think we do. Wouldn't really fit the tone we're trying to set."
"True enough, I suppose," he said thoughtfully. Then he paused, confused. "Wait... what do you mean *one* of them?"
"There were a dozen of them made over the course of the show," Timmy said, as he jotted something down on one of his notepads. "A couple were sold to collectors and such, but most of them are on tour around the country."
"Oh. Huh. Okay."
"So, we're trying to get the movie car," Paul said, in an effort to get things back on track. "Cool. Let me know how that goes. Anything else? Are things ready for today?"
She hesitated. "Well, uhm..."
"Kate...?"
"We don't have the Kent farmhouse set," she said, her eyes firmly focused on her notes.
"What?"
Her hands rifled needlessly through the papers in front of her. "There was a mix-up in storage. They gave it to the wrong guys. That weird FBI show has some farmhouse scenes today, and..."
"Oh, great. So what are we supposed to do?"
"I'll rewrite that, too," Timmy said, changing notepads.
"Thanks, Timmy," Paul said. Timmy waved vaguely with one hand, still writing with the other. "Anyone have anything else?"
"Yeah," Timmy said. "Can we start shooting with... Oh."
Paul did not like the tone of that "oh." Coming from Timmy, it could mean real trouble. "What is it?"
"I was going to ask if we could start shooting some of the later scenes first, since I'm rewriting the beginning, but I just realized there are no later scenes now."
Steph blinked, startled. "What?"
Timmy put the script down on the table so he could better address the group. "Well, with these rewrites, I'm going to have to take out the farm scene and the Bobby scene." He flipped through the script to emphasize his point. "That means taking out the travel scenes, too. Going back over things, that leaves us with one scene."
"One scene for the whole part?" Paul asked, worriedly.
"Looks like," Timmy replied, fiddling with a pencil.
"That's pretty short."
The pencil tapped against the table. "Well, I was thinking the script could use some tightening up, and we have the footage from this meeting to pad things out." The pencil started wiggling back and forth in the air. "Besides, it's just the intro. We don't have much happening in this part." Timmy started absent-mindedly chewing on the pencil. "Maybe it's for the best." The pencil was wiggling back and forth again. It was like he didn't know what to do with it if he wasn't writing.
"Can't we add some of the scenes from Part Two?" Paul asked hopefully.
"We don't have the cast for that," Brian said. "They're lined up, but we told them not to show up until next week."
"Besides," Kate added, "we don't have the right sets. I don't know if we could get them on such short notice."
Paul nodded. He hadn't really expected it to work. "I guess we'll have to make do, then."
Timmy shrugged his left shoulder and cocked his head. His right hand was, of course, busy writing. "I'll finish this up as quickly as I can, then."
"I'll get the new scripts out to everyone as soon as Timmy finishes," Paul added. "Kate, let Jason know we won't be needing the other sets. You're going to have to work out a new shooting schedule, too."
Kate nodded and began industriously working with her ever-present notes.
"Steph," Paul continued, "let the cast know about the rewrites. They're going to have to learn some new lines."
"They won't like it," Steph said, with a gesture that was half fist and half thumbs-up, "but they'll have to deal with it."
"Yeah, well, I don't like having to rewrite at the last minute, either," Timmy responded.
"Sorry, Timmy."
Timmy waved a hand, and got back to his edits.
"Looks like that's it for now," Paul said. "Let's get out of here and let Timmy work his magic."
Everyone collected their things and left the room, except for Timmy, who took the opportunity to spread his various papers across a larger portion of the conference room table. He didn't even look up when the camera crew left, closing the door behind them.
******
Well, everyone, that was our first production meeting. Exciting, wasn't it? Now, let's get on with the story!
The Inside Scoop, Part One
The newsroom was busy when Clark walked in. Everyone was hard at work, collecting information, writing articles, editing the pieces that were ready, looking through pictures, and generally doing the things that needed to be done to get the paper ready for the next edition. No one commented on his late arrival. They were used to that happening by now, and knew better than to complain. Clark Kent wasn't the most punctual person at the Planet, but he got his job done. He was certainly talented enough to have earned a little slack.
Besides, he had a knack for picking up Superman exclusives on his way into work. Nothing major, most of the time, but anything Superman did was news. Staff gossip had it that the reason Clark was often late coming into work was that he had a secret arrangement with the hero to meet in the mornings. Speculations ran wild as to why Superman would do such a thing. Some held that Clark had done the hero a favor at some point in the past. Others said that Clark had been the one to meet him when he had first stepped out of his space ship. Still others argued that it was simply a matter of Clark's writing. Clark was known to write clearly, compassionately, and, most of all, fairly. That was, they said, something Superman probably respected. If he was going to be in the news, they reasoned, why not make sure that the news was written by a reporter he trusted?
Trust. That much the rumors agreed on. Whatever the reason Superman had for talking to Clark Kent, it was clear that the hero trusted the reporter. That meant a lot to the Planet staff. Clark was well-liked, in any case, but the fact that Superman trusted him so much was something special. It was a reason to ignore Clark's odd little quirks and disappearances, and more, it was a reason to be proud of him.
Not that they said any of this directly to Clark. No reason to let Clark know they were on to him, or to let him know that they were ready to cut him a little extra slack. They only spoke of such things when they were sure they were out of earshot. At least, they thought they were out of earshot. Clark Kent, as it happened, had considerably sharper ears than his coworkers expected.
Clark put these thoughts aside as he approached his partner's desk. She, too, was hard at work. "Howdy, partner," he said cheerfully, setting a cup of coffee on her desk.
Lois looked up at him. "Howdy?"
"I don't know," he replied, somewhat sheepishly. "For some reason, I've had the old west on my mind this week." He couldn't tell her that the strange dreams he'd been having had started shortly after his exposure to Red Kryptonite had weakened his mental defenses. Even with that, he wasn't sure where the dreams had come from. Last night, he'd dreamed that Jesse James had tried to rob his parents, only it was 1966, his parents were a young couple, and Clark had been a baby. It had been very disorienting.
"Well, get your head back to today, Clark," Lois said, breaking into his thoughts. "We have work to do."
"Oh, right. Sorry, Lois." He shook himself and prepared to get back to business. He leaned over her desk, left hand braced on the desk itself, the other lightly touching the back of her right shoulder. In response, she leaned back by a tiny degree, putting herself more fully into the space his arms were half-enclosing. "What are we working on?"
"Intergang," she replied, as if that said it all. In a way, he supposed it did.
"Does that mean we're definitely dropping the follow-up on Jimmy and Sarah?" He hadn't thought they were going to do it, anyway, but a piece on how the two survivors of "Project: Valhalla" were dealing with their new knowledge would have been news.
"Yes," she said, leaning back from her work. She turned to face him, so that they could better talk, smiling to herself as she felt her back slide gently under his hand. At the same time, she put her arm on her desk, fingers pointed towards his hand. Though both she and Clark were in suitably professional poses, their arms and bodies now defined a small, almost intimate, private space, a circle of their own cut out of the vastness of the newsroom. "I talked to Perry earlier. He wanted to give Jimmy and Sarah the chance to quietly get on with their lives anyway, and now, with all this Intergang fallout, the story would have been bumped to the back pages."
"Right. That's good." Clark knew from his experience as Superman how uncomfortable an unwanted spotlight could be. He was glad that he wouldn't have to do that to Jimmy, and was hopeful that no one else would be doing it, either. "So, what do we have in the works on Intergang? Perry did the original story on the arrests. Is he going to be doing any of the follow-ups?"
"No," Lois said, shaking her head. Clark absently moved his right hand to catch at a few strands of hair the gesture sent floating his way. Lois tilted her head a little, but gave no other sign that she'd noticed. "Perry knows that as the editor, he's really not supposed to be writing articles. He got away with it this once, but he's not going to push it."
"So that leaves us with pretty much everything?" His fingers began idly toying with more of her hair.
"More or less," she said, subtly leaning her head into his hand. "We're the only ones covering the investigation itself, but everyone will be handling the story to some degree. The business section is doing a spread on the effects on the CostMart chain and its stocks, as well as the competition and the overall market. Myerson is doing a piece on the public reaction, focusing mainly on CostMart customers. The society page will have an angle, too, I'm sure. Oh, and I think I heard that someone is writing an amusing little editorial about how CostMart prices really were criminal."
Clark chuckled, and Lois smiled back. He leaned in a bit more, ostensibly to better review the notes sitting on the desk between their hands. He was really enjoying the closeness when suddenly he heard a phone ringing nearby. At first, he ignored it, but after a moment, he realized that the phone which was ringing was the one on his desk. He hurried over to get it, and managed to pick it up just before it would have been shunted to voice mail. "Hello?"
"Clark? Oh, honey, you are there."
"Hi, Mom. What's going on?"
"Nothing important, honey. I just wanted to ask if you were coming over for dinner tonight."
"Oh! I'm sorry, Mom. I forgot. I meant to call you. I won't be able to make it. I'll be..." Clark caught himself before he said anything which might be awkward to explain if it were overheard. "I have... other plans."
"Other plans?" Martha repeated, interest clear in her voice. "For dinner? Tonight?"
"Yeah," Clark replied happily.
"With Lois?"
"Yeah."
"Didn't you two go out last night?"
"Yeah, we did. I had to let... other people deal with a few... things, but it was worth it." Clark smiled to himself at the memory. As he'd promised, he'd been there at 7:00 and 7:01 and 7:02 and much, much later. He'd had to hold himself back from helping out with a few rescues, but thankfully, it had been a relatively quiet night, overall, and he hadn't felt too bad about leaving things to the authorities. After a while, the subconscious filters in charge of his hearing -- the ones he'd developed to sort out all the various sounds that reached his ears from across the entire city -- had seemed to get the idea that he was not to be disturbed except for the most urgent matters. Over the course of the evening, fewer and fewer distress calls had made it past those filters to his conscious awareness, and he'd been able to relax. For the first time in what had felt like far too long, he'd focused entirely on his immediate surroundings. That, he'd found, had been something he'd needed to do more than he'd realized, and his company for the evening had made it an eminently enjoyable experience.
"That's wonderful, honey," his mother said, breaking into his thoughts. There was a hint of laughter in her voice, and he was embarrassed to realize he'd probably been quietly reminiscing for a noticable length of time. "So you're going out again tonight?"
"Yeah, we are." Clark couldn't help but look back at Lois as he said it. As if feeling his glance, she looked up at him, and the slight raise of her eyebrows told him he was probably grinning foolishly at her. He tried to force his expression into something more suitably professional, but the twinkle in her eyes and the warm, almost shy smile pulling at her lips made it very difficult for him to keep proper control.
"Well then, you two have a good time. You can come over for dinner another day and tell us all about it."
"Sure, Mom. I'll let you know."
"I'll look forward to it. Talk to you later, honey."
"Bye, Mom." Clark was still smiling as he hung up the phone and returned to Lois's desk. A quick exchanged glance said all that needed to be said about the call. Clark leaned over the notes again, replacing his hand on her back. The pair returned to work, and soon found themselves right where they'd been before Martha's interruption. They reviewed the notes they already had and planned out the follow-up articles to Perry's Intergang story. When they were done with that, Lois turned to her computer to start work on her share of the writing. Clark reluctantly left her to it, and returned to his own desk to do his part.
He'd gotten one article done and was working on a sidebar when he heard Lois's phone ring.
"Hello? ... Bobby? What is it?" She turned to Clark, covering the mouthpiece for a moment, and whispered to him. "It's Bobby Bigmouth."
Clark tuned in his hearing so he could listen to both sides of the conversation.
"... got a tip for you," Bobby was saying. His voice sounded unusually hoarse, Clark noticed.
"Meet in the usual place? What should we bring?"
"Not this time, Lois," Bobby replied with a cough.
Lois frowned. "Are you okay, Bobby?"
"Sure. Just got a bit of a cold or something. I'll be fine, but I don't want to give it to you, too."
"Oh. Thanks, Bobby. That's nice of you."
"It's nothing, Lois. Besides, I wouldn't want to ruin your plans with Clark."
"What? How did you...? Never mind. You had some information?"
"Some. Not much. We're not talking Peking Duck here, but I'd say it's at least a pint of soup and an egg roll."
"That doesn't even meet the minimum amount for delivery, Bobby."
"Yeah, well, that's the other reason I'm giving it to you over the phone."
"Hmm. I don't like the sound of that cough, Bobby. I'll tell you what... I'll throw in a Ginger Chicken to put you over the minimum order, and you keep your ears out for anything else that comes up."
"That sounds fair. All right, here's what I've got. It's a name. 'Project: Enforcer.'"
"That's it? Not much to go on..."
"Yeah, I know. I'll see what else I can find for you. For now, all I can say is that it's something to do with the military and it's big. Oh, and I heard them say something about Superman. That might not mean anything -- might have just been talk -- but I thought you should know."
"We'll look into it. Thanks, Bobby."
"Sure thing. Sorry I don't have more."
"We've started off with less," Lois responded with resignation. "So, the food..."
"Have it sent to..."
Clark tuned the rest of the conversation out and sat back to think. A mysterious secret military project run by people who might have an eye out Superman... that did not sound good, and with so little to go on, he and Lois were going to have their work cut out for them.
Part One Comments (Tune in this Sunday for
Part Two! )
