permission.â
Erinn felt herself getting nervous as the group turned to Valley Forge. She was already thinking of it as her Valley Forge.
The packet described the horrors experienced by the Continental army as they froze and starved through the winter of 1777â1778. Erinn finished reading and looked around as the teams nodded and conferred among themselves. The guys seemed to have such easy camaraderie, and she tried to think of something to say to Jude. She glanced over at him, but he was still reading, so she left it alone. There were going to be many long days of trying to think of things to say, she feared.
Cary asked if there were comments. Erinn cleared her throat, and everyone at the table turned to her. Erinn noticed that Jude slumped in his chair, folded his arms, and waited.
âWell, I do have one question,â Erinn said. âThis series is about famous battles, right?â
âRight,â Cary said.
âWell, there was never a battle at Valley Forge. They just . . . waited . . . at Valley Forge.â
A dispirited hush hung over the room. Everyone stared at the pitch as if looking for some sort of answer.
âDude. The series is called BATTLEready!â Jude said. âCouldnât you say that they were getting ready for battle at Valley Forge? You know, cover it with a voice-over at the top of the piece?â
Erinn could feel Jude looking at her, his triumph almost palpable. She slowly turned to face him. She might have been out of the workplace for a while, but she knew a challenge when she saw one. BATTLEready! seemed to be the perfect production for them, she thought.
CHAPTER 6
D riving home from her first day of work, Erinn mulled over her new job. On the plus side: an interesting topic, travel, getting to use her camera equipment, and, as much as she hated to admit it, a steady paycheck. She furtively glanced down at the large envelope perched on her front seat. It appeared to beg for attention, with its hideous bright-yellow-and-green graphics. Apple Pieâs insignia, a demented-looking monkey, swung across the envelope, a toothy smile on his face. Erinn could only wonder how a graphic artist had managed to sell this loathsome design to a production company, but, much like the six hundred, hers was not to reason why. The packet was the human resources welcome brochure from Apple Pie Entertainment. It promised a dizzying array of benefits, from health care to inclusion in their 401k. In her New York days, Erinn had watched cocaine-addled starlets look at a mountain of white powder with less lust than she was feeling for her new benefits package. She wondered , A sign of the times . . . or old age?
But there were negatives. Her co-workersâ lack of knowledgeâand interestâin history alarmed her, she couldnât deny it. She tried not to think about Jude.
Erinn pulled into her driveway, shut off the engine, and dropped her head onto the steering wheel. She sometimes forgot how much she loathed humanity, but her first eight hours in the workplace had brought it all back. She was going to have to get used to the whole concept of communal creativity. As a writer, Erinn had always worked aloneâand from her desk at home, wherever home may have been at any given time.
At APE, Erinn found trying to concentrate in a busy office, with its newsroom-style bull pens, a real challenge. Staff members would randomly shout out show ideas to one another, and each concept was discussed, embraced, or dismissed at full volume. Erinn recalled Gilroi pitching an idea about General Washington having a moment of reflection before taking his men into battle, and Carlosâs reaction was to pretend to be throwing up in the trash can. Gilroi gave him a playful whack on the head. Erinn tried to think back to a time when she was ever that playful, but came up blank.
And why should I be playful? This is the Revolutionary War! This is the core of human drama! This is the
Erinn felt herself getting nervous as the group turned to Valley Forge. She was already thinking of it as her Valley Forge.
The packet described the horrors experienced by the Continental army as they froze and starved through the winter of 1777â1778. Erinn finished reading and looked around as the teams nodded and conferred among themselves. The guys seemed to have such easy camaraderie, and she tried to think of something to say to Jude. She glanced over at him, but he was still reading, so she left it alone. There were going to be many long days of trying to think of things to say, she feared.
Cary asked if there were comments. Erinn cleared her throat, and everyone at the table turned to her. Erinn noticed that Jude slumped in his chair, folded his arms, and waited.
âWell, I do have one question,â Erinn said. âThis series is about famous battles, right?â
âRight,â Cary said.
âWell, there was never a battle at Valley Forge. They just . . . waited . . . at Valley Forge.â
A dispirited hush hung over the room. Everyone stared at the pitch as if looking for some sort of answer.
âDude. The series is called BATTLEready!â Jude said. âCouldnât you say that they were getting ready for battle at Valley Forge? You know, cover it with a voice-over at the top of the piece?â
Erinn could feel Jude looking at her, his triumph almost palpable. She slowly turned to face him. She might have been out of the workplace for a while, but she knew a challenge when she saw one. BATTLEready! seemed to be the perfect production for them, she thought.
CHAPTER 6
D riving home from her first day of work, Erinn mulled over her new job. On the plus side: an interesting topic, travel, getting to use her camera equipment, and, as much as she hated to admit it, a steady paycheck. She furtively glanced down at the large envelope perched on her front seat. It appeared to beg for attention, with its hideous bright-yellow-and-green graphics. Apple Pieâs insignia, a demented-looking monkey, swung across the envelope, a toothy smile on his face. Erinn could only wonder how a graphic artist had managed to sell this loathsome design to a production company, but, much like the six hundred, hers was not to reason why. The packet was the human resources welcome brochure from Apple Pie Entertainment. It promised a dizzying array of benefits, from health care to inclusion in their 401k. In her New York days, Erinn had watched cocaine-addled starlets look at a mountain of white powder with less lust than she was feeling for her new benefits package. She wondered , A sign of the times . . . or old age?
But there were negatives. Her co-workersâ lack of knowledgeâand interestâin history alarmed her, she couldnât deny it. She tried not to think about Jude.
Erinn pulled into her driveway, shut off the engine, and dropped her head onto the steering wheel. She sometimes forgot how much she loathed humanity, but her first eight hours in the workplace had brought it all back. She was going to have to get used to the whole concept of communal creativity. As a writer, Erinn had always worked aloneâand from her desk at home, wherever home may have been at any given time.
At APE, Erinn found trying to concentrate in a busy office, with its newsroom-style bull pens, a real challenge. Staff members would randomly shout out show ideas to one another, and each concept was discussed, embraced, or dismissed at full volume. Erinn recalled Gilroi pitching an idea about General Washington having a moment of reflection before taking his men into battle, and Carlosâs reaction was to pretend to be throwing up in the trash can. Gilroi gave him a playful whack on the head. Erinn tried to think back to a time when she was ever that playful, but came up blank.
And why should I be playful? This is the Revolutionary War! This is the core of human drama! This is the
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