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There would be the celebratory wrap party immediately after at none other than Eddie O’Brien’s. But for a lot of crew members, this would be goodbye. They wanted to head to their homes and lives and families and rest a little before their next jobs.
Vera displayed an outward confidence but kept an inner motive. This was her second movie. Drew, who had grown up in the business, assured her that the footage so far had been terrific. But Vera was very self-critical. She was worried that she was trading art for an audience. It was tough enough to be a female director in Hollywood. Even tougher when she became distracted by the off-screen drama. She’d even put fifty dollars in the Nick/Drew betting pool, but no one knew who she bet on. That started a second betting pool. Who was Vera’s pick?
Vera, Drew, Bruce, and the cinematographer huddled, going over the schedule for the last day, the number of scenes and shots they had to get. Bruce had scheduled the production way in advance. Today should be an easy day. Four scenes. One location. Three Christmas carols and the funeral of Rick. Bruce had suggested an early call—“We want to get the church mourners here when they’re tired.” Then they would shoot the funeral, break for lunch, and then film three Christmas pageant nativity scenes with each different Ivy. It did seem like an easy day, and that was what worried Vera.
“What are you doing here?” Drew snarled.
Ivy was walking right toward him. She was surprised by his confrontational tone but not the least bit concerned by it.
“We need to talk.”
Vera rolled her eyes. “Oh God, enough with the on-set romance. I have a movie to finish.”
“That’s what this is about. The movie. I need to talk to both of you.”
“Technically, you are banned from the set,” Drew said. To Ivy, Drew did not sound like a professional. He sounded like a jealous ex-boyfriend. Which was fine with her. But just before she was going to explain that, Amari weighed in as she strutted over, timing her entrance perfectly. Ivy marveled; even in real life she was always the movie star.
“Not anymore. I banned her, so I can unban her. This is Ivy’s movie. She saw it before anyone else did. Give her a shot. And remember, I could get the both of you kicked off this movie in a heartbeat.” Amari hugged Ivy, and everyone’s mouths dropped open.
“There’s one day left,” Vera scoffed.
Amari glared. Vera stopped. All eyes were on Ivy.
“I need to rewrite the ending of the movie,” she stated.
“The funeral scene?” Drew questioned.
“Yes, I want to rewrite it. Without the funeral.”
Vera listened as Drew clarified. “Without the funeral. But Nick dies.”
“Not anymore. And the character’s name is Rick.”
“Rick lives? So whose funeral is it?” Drew asked.
“No one’s, Drew. No one dies.”
“No one dies in the funeral scene? Why do we have a funeral?”
“We don’t. People don’t want to spend ninety minutes hoping our couple stays in love. There are forces ripping them apart. They are stronger than that. Love is stronger. It’s a Christmas movie. Their love is resurrected!”
“Isn’t that Easter?” Drew sniped. Vera shushed him.
“We want them to be together. We need them to be together. What do we get by killing Rick at the end? Sad reactions. Disappointment. Low score on Rotten Tomatoes.” Ivy stopped for a moment. Everyone was riveted. Ivy continued, “So this is the ending: Ilsa thinks it’s all over. But something tells her to come back. That’s when she learns Rick was in an accident. We keep all that. But instead of going to the hospital for the death scene, which we already shot, Ilsa comes here. To the church. On Christmas Eve. To watch the nativity scene play out without them. Hoping. Praying.”
“What happens next? Let me see the pages,” Vera said.
“I don’t have them yet. But they’re in my head. And I do know that the Christmas couple deserves a happy ending.”
“The Christmas couple? What the hell is that?” Drew was very good at the snarky tone. Ivy was finding it all very annoying.
“That’s the new title for the movie. The K-25 romance. They meet at Christmas, fall in love at Christmas, get back together at Christmas.”
Vera smiled. “I like it. I like happy endings.”
Drew protested, “I thought you wanted authenticity.”
Ivy thought about this. “Whoever said love wasn’t authentic? It’s the most real thing there is. But maybe we’ve all become too broken by so many things that we forget all about love. And maybe with our little movie and our happy ending, we can help people remember that true love can last forever.”
