I wanted to share with you the short story I wrote for university back in December. The task was to translate a quote from a famous Adorno and Horkheimer quote into a creative piece. The quote was about everything being cyclical in the entertainment industry. It only appears to change because the details are interchangeable.
I hope you enjoy!
“Monotonous!”
He tossed the script to one side and took another from the stack that had grown
larger and wider every day since his first movie was a box office smash. No
further than a few lines in the script was dropped to the unwanted pile of
talentless hopefuls. “It’s been done already.”
“You have to read them properly Michael.”
His hand hovered above the next script,
his eyes devouring the silhouette of long lean limbs. Candice, the swimwear
model and heiress of channel 6 who’d attached herself to him on the day he
arrived in Hollywood, prowled cat like towards him. Not that Michael usually
minded her possessive nature. She had curves in all the right places and looked
pretty darn good dangling on his arm at all the parties he had to attend.
“They’re all the same” Michael dismissed
“it’s like I’m reading covers of Unchained Melody, Puppy Love and American Pie
here.” He lunged for the stack of disregarded scripts and one by one began
tossing them towards the orange blaze of the open fire. “Take out the
twenty-first century gadgets and gizmos and you’ve got yourself the same stories
from ten, twenty, thirty, fifty years ago.”
“You don’t know that when you haven’t
even read them, they could be originals.”
“Nothing’s original anymore”
“Michael, that’s someone’s blood, sweat
and tears” Candice stared at him “It used to be your blood, sweat and tears.
Where’s your compassion for these people?” Her big brown eyes pleaded with him “I
don’t know who you are anymore but you’re not the man I fell in love with”
Michael picked up the next script. “You
know where the door is.” He opened the script, listening to the sound of her
heels clicks against the marble floor as she walked away.
He continued to flick through the scripts,
tossing each one towards their fiery grave. Candice didn’t know what she was
talking about. He was the Oscar winning director. He was the one who’d made
fifteen box office smashes. He could open any one of these scripts anywhere and
find the plot predictable and boring. Proving his point, Michael selected a
random script from the centre of the pile and opened it a third of the way. Within
moments, he found himself absorbed in the plot and flicking back to the
beginning. This was a film he was going to direct. It was another potential
Oscar nominee.
“Sir” He hadn’t heard anyone enter the
room “there are two police detectives here to see you.”
Michael put the script down and stood up
as the house keeper showed the officers through to the lounge. “Detectives, how
can I help you?”
“Sir, you’re under arrest for suspicion
of embezzlement and tax evasion.”
They would freeze his assets, his bank
accounts. He would have nothing and no one to rely on. That dirty rotten
scoundrel he’d had doing his accounts since he started freelancing. Michael
felt the cold metal of handcuffs tighten around his wrists and stared at
Candice carrying a suitcase down the stairs. She’d warned him the toad was
cooking the books and Michael was going to take the fall. He was going to lose
her because he hadn’t listened to her.
“You were right about my accountant,
about so many things, Candice, and I was wrong.” He murmured “I’ll understand
if you leave me now.”
“It’s a good job I still love you” She
sighed, rolled her eyes as she shook her golden curls.
Michael smiled back as the officers
led him away. He was a fool.
“And ‘Cut’!” A voice boomed over the
crowd “That’s a wrap people!”
Yes, every cliche known to man was deliberate. LOL!
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