artiebhattâ:
The meeting could have been an email; hell, the meeting could have excluded Artie completely, and it wouldnât have made a difference. He cursed himself for letting the word âmandatoryâ scare him into going when he could have skipped it without consequence. Now he was stuck in a room of people who didnât bother to know his name, fighting to focus, quickly finding that his leg bounce had reached its limit of usefulness. This left him twisting the end of his mustache with the pads of his fingers to alleviate the anxiety that coursed through his system. He needed to be moving, creating, but as always he found himself lacking the grace and patience it took to sit down and shut up. He needed some fresh air, a smoke; fuck it, he needed a joint.Â
âYes, genius.â He finally said, standing with manufactured confidence, still unsure of exactly what he was agreeing with. When not a single pair of eyes shot his way Artie took advantage of his social camouflage to make his exit. The weight in his chest lifted the farther he walked away from the boardroom, and as soon as the LA smog outside hit his lungs his hand was digging for his cigarettes in his front shirt pocket. âNext meeting Iâm forced to attend, Iâm putting squibs on my chest.â The rant came out as he tapped the bottom of the pack before pulling one out, rolling the filter between his fingers, as his stooped frame paced back and forth. It wasnât until his fourth puff that he noticed the unfamiliar eyes on his erratic display. âUm, always have an escape plan⊠Right?â
Most producers liked the glory without doing any of the work. To simply be a name listed on the credits without all the day to day tasks that come with the job. Vince wasnât like most producers, from pre-production, production and event post, Vince liked to be involved as much as he could be. Of course, he did his best not to get in the way of a directorâs vision but, considering his company was dumping money to help make these movies happen, he liked to be as involved and up to date on the status of everything as they progressed. Even something as tedious as a SFX meeting was attended by Vince who simply was an observer, speaking when needed but mostly wanting to see how the project was coming along.Â
Artie being great at his job, Vince was happy to see the younger man in the boardroom, even if he looked completely uninterested. ââScuse me for a second.â He whispered to the man on his left, none of the suits from Vanguard paying much attention as Vince followed the other out of the room. âOh donât be so dramatic, it wasnât that bad.â Vince stated with a chuckle, standing beside the other. âMind if I bum a smoke off of you? Left my pack back at the office.â He inquired. âSo, tell me how you really feel? Cause I canât say I believed a single word you said -- well the two that came out of your mouth.â
















