I Represent Sean Rosen (13 page)
Read I Represent Sean Rosen Online
Authors: Jeff Baron
The other reason is that if
A Week with Your Grandparents
becomes a real movie, the recording of the meeting when I first told the story to the company might be a cool special feature on the DVD. It will only be a sound recording, but we can show scenes from the actual movie while I'm talking about them.
I thought about telling Stefanie I'm recording our meeting, but I decided not to. They know I record things. Dan Welch told her about my podcasts. She must have watched some of them by now. Maybe that's what convinced her to have the meeting.
There's nothing left to do. Everything is ready. Watching the numbers change on the clock on my computer, it seemed like the last three minutes were each longer than a minute. I was getting my stopwatch to check this, when I heard an e-mail come into Dan Welch's inbox. I left his account open in case they needed to tell us something. They better not be canceling.
Wait! It's not an e-mail. It's a chat.
Hey Dan Welch! Its Dan Welch!
It's Collectibles Dan Welch. I don't know what to do. I can't chat with anyone right now.
Hows your day going, buddy?
It was going okay until now.
Hey, I just sold a Michael Jackson cookie jar. Thats my next two car payments. Smile for me Dan Welch.
I tried to figure out what Management Dan Welch would do. He's not the kind of guy who ignores you if you're talking to him.
Wait! My computer clock says 5:02 Los Angeles time. I'm late for my meeting!
A
fter only two of those funny Skype rings, they picked up. A guy came up on the screen. I wasn't sure at first, but he turned out to be Brad. I never thought about what Brad looks like, but it still felt like a surprise. He looks like he should be on
E! News
or
Entertainment Tonight
. His voice is like that, too.
BRAD: | Is that Sean? |
ME: | Yeah, it is. Hi. |
BRAD: | I'm Brad. Nice to meet you. We've been in touch with Dan Welch. |
I almost started laughing because I pictured the inside of our fridge.
ME: | I know. He told me. |
I suddenly remembered I spoke to Brad when I needed his e-mail address. Does he recognize my voice from that phone call? I can't think about it now. I can't try to change my voice.
BRAD: | Duh. That's why you Skyped us, right? |
I think maybe Brad said “Duh” because he was talking to a thirteen-year-old. I have actually never said the word “Duh.”
ME: | Right. |
BRAD: | Okay, let me step aside and introduce you to everyone. This is Ashley, Devin, and Eva, our Directors of Development. |
They all crowded into the screen. I almost started laughing again. On Skype you see your own face on your screen, and seeing myself almost laugh made it worse.
ASHLEY: | Hi, Sean. |
DEVIN: | Hi, Sean. |
EVA: | Hey, Sean. |
ME: | Hi. |
Brad came back on the screen.
BRAD: | And |
Now he sounds like he's announcing the winner of
American Idol
.
BRAD: | Stefanie President. |
She's pretty.
STEFANIE: | Hi, Sean. I am so, so grateful you were able to move up our meeting. |
It took me a minute to figure out what she was grateful for. Then I remembered that Dan asked if the meeting could be next week, but they wanted it to be
this
week.
Then she stood up. She's pregnant.
STEFANIE: | As you can see, I'm about to pop. Oh no. Can I say that to a thirteen-year-old? Sorry, Sean. I'm new to this. Children, I mean. Talking to them and having them. It feels like I've been pregnant for nine years. It makes you a little crazy. Anyway, if you were sitting here with us, this is when Brad would offer you water. |
Brad stuck his head in.
BRAD: | I started to. We're not used to having Skype meetings, Sean. |
ME: | Neither am I, actually. |
STEFANIE: | Good. So Sean, we've heard absolutely amazing things about you and your work. |
From who? Dan Welch? Comments on my podcasts?
ME: | Did you see any of my podcasts? |
STEFANIE: | I had Brad bookmark them on my iPad and I can't wait to see them. Okay, Sean. We're all very excited to hear your idea. |
ME: | Oh good. |
STEFANIE: | So why don't you just start. |
I told them the story of
A Week with Your Grandparents
. I never looked at my notes, not even for the new part. I remembered it all, and I even added things. Once I started talking, it just kept coming. It was like telling people what happened on the way to school yesterday.
When I finished, they were all quiet for what seemed like a really long time. It actually wasn't that longâ5.2 seconds.
STEFANIE: | Sean . . . You don't know me very well . . . so you don't know how unusual it is for me to say this . . . but . . . I like it. |
ME: | You do? |
STEFANIE: | Yes. It's absolutely adorable. When you started I thought, “Oh no, |
They each took a turn on the screen.
ASHLEY: | It's a family comedy, but the boy having the hots for his grandmother makes it edgy. |
DEVIN: | It's |
EVA: | No. It's |
Stefanie came back on.
ME: | Um . . . I actually haven't seen all those movies, but . . . I'm pretty sure it isn't like |
STEFANIE: | You're right. It's new. Sean, thank you for bringing this to us. Has anyone else out here seen it? |
ME: | Actually, no. |
STEFANIE: | Good. I want this. Can you promise me you won't show it to anyone else? Remind me, who's your agent? |
BRAD: | (yells out) Dan Welch is his manager. I don't know who his agent is. |
ME: | I don't actually have an agent. Just Dan Welch. |
STEFANIE: | Well, we will definitely be in touch with Dan Welch. I'll be on maternity leave, and even though I won't be in the office, I'm always on my iPhone. Always. Think of me as Chris and Chloe's mom. But I live in Brentwood, not Bolivia, so you can always reach me. |
ME: | Oh good. |
STEFANIE: | I wish you were here, Sean, because I would give you the biggest hug. You're adorable. |
ME: | Thanks. |
STEFANIE: | Okay. We'll be in touch with . . . damn it . . . Sean, don't ever get pregnant. Brad, what was his agent's name again? |
BRAD: | (yells) His manager. Dan Welch. |
STEFANIE: | Right. Dan Welch. Bye, Sean. |
I
didn't want the meeting to end. I probably never would have clicked on the little red Skype phone to hang up. They actually like my idea. I can't believe it. Well, I can, because
I
like my idea, but I didn't know if
they
would.
I want to Skype Stefanie again and tell her she's adorable, too. Adorable. What does that even mean? Adorable like a baby? Like a stuffed animal?
By the way, maybe you don't know this. In other countries, they don't call them stuffed animals. When Javier heard me say that, he thought it was disgusting. “You mean an animal dies and you stuff it and put it on your bed?” In Argentina they call it a
peluche
, which you have to admit is a better name.
It was actually a relief to think about Javier and stuffed animals for a minute, because thinking about the meeting was just too much. What would Javier say if he knew I might have just sold my movie to the company that made some of the biggest movies of all time, movies you probably saw and you definitely heard of, even in Argentina. The Vice President of Production actually said to me, “I want this.”
How can you tell if you're dreaming something or if it's real? I've heard of people pinching themselves to see if they were awake. I don't like being pinched, even by myself. And why wouldn't you be able to pinch yourself in a dream? You still wouldn't know if you were actually awake or just dreaming you were awake.
Then I remembered. The digital voice recorder. It's still recording. I stopped it. I'm almost afraid to play it back.
I didn't dream the meeting. It really happened. Unless listening to the recording of the meeting is also part of my dream.
For some reason, I don't sound nervous on the recording. Maybe my podcasts are good practice. Telling it to Ethan definitely helped.
I checked Dan Welch's e-mail to see if Stefanie or Brad or Ashley or Devin or Eva sent him an e-mail about our meeting. No one did. But the meeting was only a few minutes ago.
It was time to go downstairs for pizza with my dad. Sure enough, he had the TV trays set up, and he had our favorite drinks ready, a Coke in a bottle for me and a beer in a bottle for him. He had our first pieces of pizza ready on paper plates, which we use when my mom's not eating with us. My mom likes to have something healthy on pizza, like broccoli, but Dad doesn't care. Well, actually he
does
care. “The only vegetable that belongs on pizza is tomato sauce.”
The TV show was starting so we didn't talk for a while. That was actually good. I was hungry and I was glad to stop thinking about you-know-what.
When the commercials started, my dad muted the TV. My mom just lets the commercials play. I probably would, too. I kind of like commercials, partly because I like to know about new things, but partly because I just like commercials. I wonder what the commercial for
A Week with Your Grandparents
will be.
It was quiet in the room with the TV muted.
“How's life, Seany?”
“Pretty good.”
“Good.” We got our second slices of pizza.
If my mom was here, she would be all over me. She would know as soon as I came downstairs that something is going on. She'd turn off the TV and say, “Okay. What is it?”
I hate to say it, but I'm glad she's working. I'm not ready to talk about it yet. I feel a little bad sitting here with my dad and not telling him.
When the next set of commercials came on, my dad muted the TV again. This time I asked
him
a question.
“Did you used to watch TV with your dad?”