America 1982-Chapter 300 - 16: Wear More on Vacation_2

"So, what happened to Rick?"

"They were scouting locations near Los Angeles, and I had Martin and Big Jack’s family accompany them. Martin heard Rick attempting to explain the cost issues to Bill Duke and gave an important speech. The conversation between Martin, Bill Duke, and Big Jack’s folks—that’s why I decided to visit an old friend and take a vacation on the side, to keep away from them. I can’t let any stains touch me; if problems arise one day, and I am not present, I can simply put the blame on Rick."

Tommy lowered his head and touched his abdomen with his hand. Walking briskly to a mirror, he lifted the hem of his shirt to carefully inspect his stomach area, finally letting out a sigh of relief, "Good, there are four vaguely visible abs, should not be too embarrassing." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"What did they talk about?" Sophia ignored Tommy’s narcissistic behavior and asked.

Tommy handed back most of the juice he had drunk to Sophia, took out a cigarette, and lit one up, "The pilot episode has to dazzle the viewers. Bill Duke wants to use a big action scene showing the main character hasn’t lost his edge after getting out of jail or something. But the salaries in Hollywood are damn expensive, and even though there are countless poor black folks on the streets, we can’t use them as extras. We must go to the actors’ union to get the right people. Otherwise, the union would make trouble for us, saying BT Television doesn’t respect damn Hollywood, the actors’ union, or the rights of actors and such, meaning, in the future, forget about hiring any actors for the job."

"Isn’t that normal? This is a problem known to everyone working in television," Sophia said to Tommy, "What’s there to discuss about this issue?"

"But Martin didn’t know, so I think Mr. Page’s biggest contribution to the station has been to bring Martin Hart onboard. He suggested to Rick and Bill why not let those black fellas in Compton register as actors. Since registration is easy, just pay a few tens of dollars to join, let everyone go and register."

"Just this level of an idea, judging by what I know of you, hardly seems worthy of your praise." Hearing this, Sophia replied with a calm expression.

"Of course, there’s more. In fact, Martin has recently been hanging around the black neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Everyone in the black neighborhoods knows a black Mr. Wealthy from Miami has opened a television station. After he shared this idea, Er and Rick went ahead and registered an actor agency in his name, telling the blacks that the company was launching a black drama series and needed black actors. If anyone’s out of work, register as an actor, and maybe you’ll have a chance to become famous. If they don’t know how to register, no worries because their company can just help out. It only costs an extra ten or so bucks service fee on top of the membership fee. That company does nothing else, but with over ten thousand blacks asking for help with registration, they’ve collected a few hundred thousand just from the fees."

"Is Martin about to die or something? If you guys don’t plan to give the union dues from the blacks to the actors’ union, he..." Sophia’s eyes widened as she looked at Tommy, "He will get in trouble, right?"

Tommy shook his head, "Of course not. Er has already had someone hand over the money to the actors’ union, just kept a tidy profit of over a hundred thousand to split among a few of us. Me, you, Rick, Sean, Er, each of us will probably get a check for twenty or thirty thousand dollars. It’s just right for covering my vacation expenses."

"But even if everyone registers as actors, the union might not necessarily refer them to our cast. The union will recommend those extras they consider more suitable. As for the newly registered actors, they have to start from the bottom and work their way up. Without enduring a year or two, they might not even get a chance at extra work," Sophia said, not concerned about the unexpected windfall but frowning over the issue she had identified.

With such a large demand for extras, the actors’ union won’t likely give chances to those who’ve only paid the registration fee once. Of course, they would start by going through membership records, searching for long-standing members who have paid dues for years without much opportunity.

Unless the producers insist, which can easily infuriate the actors’ union. Considering the scale of BT Television, offending the union would make any subsequent work very difficult.

"Er and Martin have already arranged how to manipulate things later. As soon as the union starts demanding higher fees for the extras, the new actors from Compton will surround that white chairman’s office. Er will also give a heads up to the three major associations, saying that the white executives of the actors’ union discriminate against blacks, don’t want a black television station to launch, don’t want blacks to have their voice, and so on—basically accusing them of not providing jobs to needy black actors but only taking care of those blacks who are willing to give more money to the union, those damn fools." Tommy looked at Sophia:

"So, this is why I’m going on vacation. It’s all orchestrated by themselves, nothing to do with me."

"Er is not exactly in the wrong; the actors’ union does have the issues you just mentioned," Sophia said to Tommy, "You don’t have to worry; if I remember correctly, you never worried about offending whites before. On the contrary, you seem to get excited and combative every time you face a white opponent."

"It’s not just about this issue. There are other little problems, like several black gangs in Los Angeles, through Big Jack, are hoping to curry favor with Martin to get their gangs to appear in this black-centric series. Those folks at the bottom have a frenzied obsession with fame. The director, sir, was scared pissless during a five-hour scouting session. Barely three hours after he finalized a location on a limping gang’s turf, the gang’s boss was killed, replaced by a leader of Blood Gang," Tommy said: