“Okay, people, actionable item number one…learn what to expect.” He paused for effect. “There are some critical things you need to know before jumping into the film industry. The most important one is this. Becoming a stunt driver is easy. Getting work is not.”
Finn sipped her coffee. Rick wasn’t going to sugarcoat things. She figured that was for the best. Might as well know what she was getting into up front before she committed too much time and money to this.
“The last thing I want to do is turn you away from a career that you’re excited about. But I want you to know the truth so that you’ll have the best chance at success.” He paced several feet and turned back, looking at the gathering of wannabe drivers as he spoke. “If you haven’t tried to make it in a freelance environment you might be in for a shock. Nothing is guaranteed, nobody owes you, and you can’t expect any handouts. Especially when you’re new.”
“Is he trying to talk us out of taking this course or what?” The guy next to Finn angled his head closer to her and spoke softly. He was probably ten years older than Finn. He had an accent that she couldn’t quite identify. Texas, maybe.
She nodded but didn’t verbally respond. At the front of the room, Rick continued.
“For stunt drivers, the market is flooded. Several years ago, the only way to get experience was on a film set actually driving cars. But today there are probably a dozen stunt driving schools that teach professional stunt driving. And as these stunt driving schools pump out graduates every year, the market becomes more flooded with qualified entry-level drivers. This means there’s lower pay, more competition for jobs, and you have to work harder to stand out.”
Finn was starting to figure out that this whole orientation was a reality check. One person had left already. And the Texan next to her was showing signs of calling it quits. She was determined to stick it out. After all, she’d talked about doing this for years and she’d driven two thousand miles to sit here and have someone tell her how impossible her dream was. At least she’d stay put long enough to drive the damn course.
It was weird that on some level she knew being a stunt driver would mean working in the film industry. But it never really dawned on her that she’d end up confronting some of the same challenges Iris faced. From listening to Iris talk, she knew that making a living in film was tough, and you had to develop a thick skin. She realized now, making it as a stunt driver would never just be about how well she could drive.
Rick started to write on a white board. He was outlining the day’s coursework.
Finn tried to focus. She was feeling distracted and couldn’t quite get her head in the game. Maybe more coffee would help.
Twenty minutes later, they were out on the track. Orange traffic cones dotted the blacktop as markers for the various tricks in the curriculum for the day, including the slalom, which was up first. Most everyone in her group did okay. Next up was the forward 180, which required slamming on the brakes and spinning the car 180 degrees. All you really needed to pull that stunt off was a working emergency brake and a reliable transmission.
Finn had done a 180 on the dirt track back home, but this was different. The objective was to do the maneuver in a controlled space and stop on a particular mark. Precision driving was more of a challenge than stirring up dirt just for the fun of it.
The first guy in her group spun in a complete circle. The second guy took out several cones, braked too soon, and only did a ninety-degree turn.
“Okay, Finn, you’re up!” The instructor, Adam, signaled.
She pulled forward and he got in the car with her.
“Remember to think of the combination of steering and handbrake as one fluid motion.” He fastened his seat belt. “You ready?”
She nodded.
Finn knew she needed to be doing at least thirty miles per hour so that she’d have enough forward momentum to fully rotate the car. She lifted off the gas, depressed the clutch, and pulled the handbrake. Not until she felt the tires lock did she add a full turn of the steering wheel. Once the car was mid rotation, she dropped the handbrake, released the clutch, and hit the gas as she unwound the steering.
Adrenaline surged through her system. Damn, that was fun.
“Nicely done!” Adam was quick to praise the turn.
She parked and he moved to the next student in the class, the fellow from Texas. Finn exhaled and sat for a minute to settle. There was no doubt that the driving part of stunt driving was what she loved. It was the rest of the Hollywood game she wasn’t sure she was wired for.
Chapter Thirty-one
Iris slept in. She finally managed to crawl out of bed and make it to the kitchen for coffee by eleven o’clock. Toast was all she could handle for breakfast. Thank goodness Finn had delivered water and Tylenol earlier or she’d probably be feeling much worse. She never drank excessively and wasn’t sure why she’d done it the previous night.
Oh, yeah. Kent.
He was such an asshole and she’d dated him for more than a year. What did that say about her? Had she just been in it for the arm candy? No, in the beginning she’d really fallen for his charismatic charm. Over time, it was hard for him to maintain the facade, but by then she felt invested. She knew now it was a completely wasted investment.
After the second cup of coffee, Iris was feeling more awake. She retrieved her laptop and began sifting through email. A new message from her agent had come through only an hour earlier. The attachment was an appointment sheet that said there was an audition the next day on the Warner Bros. lot with a casting director. The breakdown said they were looking for a female, twenty-five to thirty, long hair, girl next door type, to audition for Hollywood Vice. She squinted and read the fine print. Yep, she was the victim. This character was going to get mugged in a parking garage.
The sides for what they wanted her to read were also attached as a pdf. She downloaded the documents so that she could read them later.
She sighed and sipped her third cup of coffee. Well, she might as well take the job if she could get it. Since the series shooting in Atlanta wasn’t going to work out, she needed the work. She’d been thinking that she really should talk to Judith about what had happened with Eric, the director. If no one spoke up about it then he’d never change his behavior or be held accountable for it. Iris had nothing to lose because she wasn’t going to accept the role even if they offered it.
She held her phone for a minute, considering making the call. Then she set the phone on the counter. Maybe she’d call later, after she showered.
Iris rested her elbows on the island in the kitchen and leisurely sipped her coffee. It was good to be back. It was good to not be in constant motion. Although it was weird not to be with Finn. They’d spent every moment together for the past six days. Iris was sorry she’d missed having breakfast with her. Had Finn said when she’d be back? Iris couldn’t recall. She reached for her phone again.
Hey, where are you?
There was a long pause, and then Finn was responding, but it took a minute to come through.
I was just the object of police pursuit and got spun around like a top.
I have no idea what that means. Iris tried to picture it, but couldn’t.
These are the meaningful things one learns at stunt driving school. Finn replied.
Exciting. But she didn’t really think so. I can’t wait to hear all about it.
No response. Iris waited for a moment, sipped her coffee, still nothing. Maybe Finn was driving and couldn’t respond.
Want to have dinner? Text me when you’re heading back. Iris rested her chin in her palm.
Dinner sounds good. I can probably meet you by six or seven, depending on traffic.
Iris set her phone aside and returned to her email. A few seconds later, her phone buzzed. She had one more brief text from Finn.
How’s your head?
Ha ha, very funny. Iris smiled. Her head was fine, but she feared her heart was headed for trouble. I’ll pick up something for
dinner and we can eat in.
Perfect.
And P.S. don’t text and drive. Iris hadn’t intended for texting to be one of Finn’s stunts while driving.
Don’t worry. I’m parked. Watching someone else throw cones.
Sounds dangerous.
I’m at a safe distance. Finn added an emoji with sunglasses.
Iris clicked off with a smile and returned to her long queue of unanswered email.
* * *
The day dragged slowly by. Iris blamed the birthday wine consumption from the night before, but she knew that wasn’t the only reason she was out of sorts.
After answering email and cleaning up remaining party debris, she’d read through the pdf her agent sent, the side she’d be reading later in the week on the Warner Bros. lot. The part was more of the same. It was a one-time role that probably no one would see or remember. Was this her life?
Maybe this was it; maybe she’d risen as far as she was going to with her acting career. How long would she keep trying before she redirected her efforts to a more lasting profession? Acting and theater had been such a safe place for her most of her adult life. All her friends, all her professional connections, they were all related to acting. How would she ever completely move away from that? If she stayed in Hollywood she’d have to at some point be okay with always being the background character and never the lead. Other actors made decent livings as character actors, extras, neighbors, friends. Her ambition wouldn’t quite let it go, or her ego. She knew she was capable of handling a lead role if only she got the chance.
Frustration, anger, bubbled to the surface when she thought of how Eric had ruined her chance to break out and move to the next level. She’d finally gotten a shot at a different sort of role. A part that might have been a game changer for her career. Eric had ruined it for her. She could see the smug expression on his face when she closed her eyes, and her heart began to pound. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair.
She picked up her phone to call Judith but decided not to when she noticed the time. Finn would probably arrive in the next half hour, and she didn’t want to be in an even worse mood than she already was when Finn got there. Iris left the pages she’d been studying at the end of the dining room table and searched for her keys. She’d pick up enough food for Maggie to have some too if she showed up.
Today reminded her of that fateful day she’d flown into Atlanta, when everything was going wrong. When she’d begun to second-guess all her life choices midflight. This seemed to be a recurring theme for her. To question how she ended up here. What if she’d made different choices at some point? Would she be further along in her career? If you were on the path, the right path, didn’t things just fall into place? That certainly wasn’t happening. Maybe the universe was sending her a sign.
It should’ve been easy to pop down to the restaurant, park, get food, and return home. But nothing was easy today. Someone insisted on making a left turn where no left turn was allowed, blocking traffic for ten minutes. Then, there was no parking anywhere near the place Iris had intended to pick up food. In the end, parking chose the meal—Chinese food. There was a bit of a wait to order and then for some reason, the card reader wouldn’t work when she tried to pay. Luckily, she had just enough cash for what she’d ordered.
The young guy ringing up her order did a double take.
“Hey, are you the girl from that Doritos commercial?” He grinned.
It was clearly just going to be one of those days. Regardless of her skill as an actor, she was destined to be remembered for nothing more than hair and boobs.
Chapter Thirty-two
Finn had been happy to be back in the roadster at the end of the day. The MG was like home, a car she was intimately familiar with. They’d driven through course patterns of cones, done box 90s, reverse and forward 180s, and a bunch of other maneuvers she’d always wanted to try. But not enough to risk damage to her own car to try them.
Finn reflected on the day. She’d gotten to drive like a crazy teenager without consequences, was a passenger—on the high side—in a car balanced on two wheels, and had been spun out with a nudge to her bumper. She’d probably never drive the same again, thanks to this stunt driving class. Finn had learned skills that could probably save her life some day. But one thought nagged at her as she sat in freeway traffic headed back to Santa Monica. A thought that she was almost afraid to fully consider.
After spending the day on the course, she had serious doubts about whether she actually wanted to be a stunt driver. Was she crazy to even think that? This was something she’d been considering forever and now that she was here, she wondered if this was what she truly wanted to do.
Ward would probably talk her into giving it more of a chance. But her gut was sending her some strong signals that this just wasn’t the right fit. This wasn’t what she’d expected, California wasn’t what she expected. Everything about this trip had surprised her, including Iris.
Little by little, as they’d journeyed together, Iris had become everything, and stunt driving had simply become background noise.
Discovering that a stunt driving career in Hollywood might not be what she really wanted wasn’t the worst thing. At least she’d gotten the chance to investigate the possibility for herself, rather than daydreaming about it forever without really knowing. She’d have had serious regrets if she hadn’t at least tried.
What if this wasn’t what she wanted to do? Big deal. That didn’t make her a failure, right? Stunt driving or not, that wasn’t what defined her. So why was she in such a bad mood?
Probably because without the tease of stunt driving on the horizon she was adrift. Without the dream, who was she? Just another loser who didn’t finish college. Just another gear head scraping by driving a limo for rich clients. Oh, yeah, she wasn’t even doing that any more.
Jeezus, I am a failure.
Wasn’t she?
How could she show up at Iris’s and tell her any of this? It was one thing to know it for herself, but Iris would no doubt just think she was a loser who couldn’t cut it in the real world. She’d run back to her safe little cabin and hide under her mother’s apron. God, she was a loser. She’d go back to Georgia and Iris would move on with her perfect, exciting life. She’d probably even end up getting back together with Kent. Clearly, he wasn’t giving up on their relationship, and his charisma was probably hard to resist indefinitely.
A sick feeling welled up inside, and for a minute she thought she might have to pull over.
But that was impossible. She was in the middle lane and no one was moving. She had no choice but to sit and wallow. Her thoughts spiraled. She felt stuck, trapped.
Finn finally arrived at Iris’s place a little before seven o’clock. Her mood hadn’t improved. She tapped lightly with the antique door knocker, and within a minute, Iris appeared.
“Hi, you didn’t have to knock.” Iris stepped aside for Finn to enter.
Finn had hoped for a different greeting, maybe even a kiss, but Iris seemed distracted.
“I wasn’t sure if Maggie would be here or you might still be out. Anyway, I didn’t want to assume.”
“Well, your timing is good. I just got back with the food.” Iris walked toward the kitchen and Finn followed her. “I got Chinese food. I picked out a few different dishes so we can each have a little of everything.”
“Sounds good.” Lunch had been a granola bar and a soda, so Finn was in need of real food. Maybe food would improve her mood.
Iris had already set plates on the table for them, and she began opening the white boxes of carryout so that they could figure out what was in each. Normally, Finn would have used chopsticks, but she was fatigued and feeling lazy, so she opted for a fork instead.
“How was your day?” Finn spooned a sampling from each container onto her plate.
Iris kept avoiding eye contact. Finn wondered if she’d gotten into an argument or something. Had Kent shown up again? Finn gripped her fork and waited fo
r Iris to answer.
“My day was okay, I mean, once I actually got out of bed.” Iris groaned. “I still can’t believe I drank that much. That was so unlike me.”
“Well, you only have your thirtieth birthday once.” Finn sampled the food. It was good and she was hungry. Seconds were definitely on her agenda. “Maggie hosted a great party. I hope I was famous enough to be there.” Finn couldn’t help thinking of her encounter with Kent.
“No one is famous. Everyone is just trying to make it, you know?” Iris sounded depressed.
“Except for Kent. He’s pretty famous.”
“Yes, but I certainly didn’t invite him. Besides his ego only allows space for one star, himself.”
“Yeah, Kent was a bit self-focused, but probably not the only one.” Finn found it hard to picture Iris in deep friendships with the people she’d met the previous night.
“I suppose people can be a little into themselves, it is LA after all. That’s what the Hollywood culture can be like here.” Iris cocked her head as if she were weighing some heavy thought.
“You mean, lack of culture, right?” Finn’s comment sounded harsher than she’d intended. She hadn’t intended to take her foul mood out on Iris.
“What do you mean?” Iris furrowed her brow.
This was the first time since Finn arrived that she had Iris’s full attention. And now she wasn’t sure she wanted it because clearly, Iris was not in a good mood either. Maybe she should stop talking. She was feeling insecure and defensive, not a good combination. Or possibly a great combination for saying the wrong thing.
Iris regarded Finn from across the table. Why was Finn coming down on her friends? She waited impatiently for Finn to explain.
“I just mean I heard people talking about Burning Man, and eating out, and the best tattoo shops. There didn’t seem to be a lot of substance there.” Finn backpedaled and focused on her food, serving herself a second helping of cashew chicken and rice.
Chasing Sunset Page 21