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It’s Britt’s first job after she ended her engagement. Her heart is broken but she puts on a strong face during one audition after another. A few jobs fall through and it’s fine. It’s part of the business and she’s gotten used to it over the years.
She gets a call back from her agent, telling her that she’s been asked to do another reading for a role on one of the tv shows that she auditioned for. It films in Los Angeles so she flies there and meets with producers and a casting agent.
A week later, Britt books a recurring role on a tv show called Ghosted.
She’s excited for this. The pay is all right, especially after agents and manager fees. She just hopes that it will be more than two episodes. Recurring can mean two episodes or ten episodes, with the potential for more or less.
The table read for her episode is going to be Saturday morning. Britt would do a reading every episode for her previous show because the comedic timing had to be perfect. This is her first time participating in one for a drama.
She’s not the first one in the room. She recognizes the two men who are.
Craig Robinson and Adam Scott.
She keeps her cool, deciding not to tell them about what a big fan she was of The Office and Party Down. They don’t know her name or anything about her.
“You here for episode three?” Craig asks her.
“I am. I’m Britt Lower.”
She sees Adam Scott lift his head and look at her.
“I’m Craig, it’s nice to meet you.”
“I’m Adam.” He puts down his phone. “So you’re playing Claire huh?”
“That’s what I’ve been told.”
He gives her a smile. “I’m Max.”
It takes Britt a minute to remember he’s talking about his character. “Oh! So you’re-?”
“Your husband.”
Britt gives him a polite nod. She doesn’t have the script yet, but if Adam Scott is playing her husband she can more than handle a kissing scene with him.
More people start piling in. Everyone introduces themselves and welcomes Britt to the table.
The reading goes well. Britt lets out a startled laugh when she reads that her character will slam Adam’s face into the table. She notices his eyes twinkle at her reaction.
Filming starts Monday and Britt spends the weekend going over her lines and talking with Adam about how they’ll make the head slam look realistic without actually breaking his face. They try a few with the director and going over camera angles.
Her scene with him isn’t until Tuesday so she hangs around the set on Monday to watch. Adam is a professional in front of the camera and a goofball off the camera. It’s what she has been hoping for ever since she saw him on Party Down years before. She had a dream of making jokes with him.
His hair and makeup are fixed in between takes and Britt is mesmerized. It takes so many people just to create a project- hair, lighting, set design, costumes. Britt will never not love working in this industry, even when jobs don’t come through. She’s grateful to see the behind the scenes magic.
Adam comes up to her after he finishes his scenes for the night. She’s sitting on the ground, a cup of water in her hand. He’s giving her a look she can’t identify.
“What’s that look for?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.
Adam holds up a small, crinkly bag with a dramatic flourish. “Prepare to have your mind blown.”
He sits next to her on the grass.
Britt laughs. “You say that like you’re about to perform a magic trick.”
“I’m a magician. So are you ready for me to blow your mind?”
“Hit me.”
He shows her the front of the bag. “Veggie chips!”
Britt shakes her head. “I think I’m giving you two stars on Google reviews for that trick.
His face falls. “I was hoping for a second career in Magic if acting didn’t pan out.”
“I really don’t think you have to worry about that.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“You spent years on a successful comedy and now you’re on this show. I think you’re doing all right in the entertainment business.”
“So you saw Parks and Rec?”
“Every night it came on if I wasn’t filming,” Britt admits. “It pulled me through a few rough patches. Your character could always make me laugh.”
“How has this been for you? Being an actress and all?”
“Not easy,” she answers. “For every yes there are almost a hundred no’s. A lot of people telling you that they’re sorry and wish you well in the future. You know, talk straight from a script. Then you get the people who tell you that you need to fix your nose or your cheekbones, who think you’re not pretty enough, or let you get only half a sentence in before they’re calling for the next person.”
“I know,” he whispers. “Would it make it easier to hear that Craig and I face rejection on a weekly basis from casting directors?”
“But you’re here,” she protests before he shakes his head.
“For how long? We might get more episodes ordered or we might stick to ten episodes and get canceled by May upfronts. It’s not always as secure as you think.”
“I know.” She fiddles with her fingers. A nervous habit. “How long do you think they’ll keep me on?”
“Here?” He asks. She nods. “I think the plan is two or three episodes this season. Maybe more if we get a second season.”
“What if I fail?”
“I don’t think you will.” He notices the answer doesn’t comfort her. “We’ll keep trying until you get it right. Even if we have to do twenty takes.”
“I’ll try to get the head slam right in the first try tomorrow,” she promises.
“If it helps, you can slam my head against the table for real if it’s one take. I won’t hold it against you.” He holds out the bag. “Now do you want these veggie chips or not?”
The scene goes well. Britt manages not to slam Adam’s head down on the table (at least, not too hard). They do the take a couple of times, both being reminded that they’re not supposed to actually brush lips before she whispers in his ear. Her stunt double takes over when she has to jump out of the window.
Not bad for a days work.
She sticks around to see how it came out and watches Adam come back from the snack bar with something wrapped in a paper towel. He’s got a mischievous smile on his face.
“Good job today. May I interest you in my favorite snack?”
She peers inside the towel. “What the hell is that?”
“Ants on a log. Come on Britt.” He pops one in his mouth.
“What was that?” She doesn’t think she heard right.
“Ants on a log,” he repeats. “Raisins and peanut butter on top of celery sticks.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“My kids hate it.”
“I wonder why?”
“Your sarcasm is noted.” He lifts one up. “Try it.”
“I’m okay. Thank you.”
“I’ll give you $100. In cash, right now.” He opens up his wallet. “I have it right here, so you know I’m good for it.”
Never one to back down from a challenge that involves money, Britt holds out her hand. He places the snack into it and watches as she takes a bite.
“Oh,” she says.
“Yeah.”
“Wow.”
“Amazing, right?”
Britt starts laughing. “I’m sorry, but this is horrible, Adam!”
He doesn’t seem to mind. He just seems thrilled that she tried it and hands over the $100 bill.
In fact, he brings it to her again the following day. This time he doesn’t give her money and she doesn’t laugh at the snack.
Then it starts happening more, and it’s not just one type of food.
Every day she visits the set, like clockwork, Adam strolls in with a new healthy snack tucked under his arm- always something fresh and a little unexpected. It becomes almost like a ritual between him and Britt, a moment of peace in the chaos of call times and rewrites. Adam spends most breaks talking to the director or Craig, or getting his hair fussed over for the next shot. Sometimes he calls his wife.
He’s always prepared for the days Britt is on set. One day it’s carrots with hummus in the morning, and roasted chickpeas in the afternoon. Craig walks by them and nicknames the two of them “the snack squad.” Adam is willing to share with anyone else on set, but he gives Britt priority. She feels taken care of.
After he’s had a long day of shooting, Britt sits him down and paints his favorite snack on his face while they talk about her love of the circus. He tells her the next morning that his family nearly had a coronary when he came home with a painted face.
She’s not on set much longer but she’s told that they’ll need her back in few weeks. Adam gives her a bag of cashews for a snack that day and has his assistant make and wrap up an ants on a log snack in a baggie labeled Britt.
She takes a picture with other cast members, including Adam and Craig, and flies out early in the morning.
Not long after, on July 25th, she is writing a heartfelt post on her Instagram while she sits in her trailer, affectionately named Egg, when she thinks back to her time on the set of Ghosted. She thinks of everyone who treated her with grace, with patience and respect. Nobody treated her differently just because she was only in one episode at a time.
Before her brain can catch up to her fingers, she’s tagging Adam in the post. Just him. She spent the most time with him anyway. That’s the reason for thinking of him right now, isn’t it?
Britt films two more episodes that season. And every day Adam shares something with her.
It’s probably best that she’s not a series regular because she can’t keep her eyes off of him. Whether he’s working or he’s talking to her about his kids, her eyes are glued to him. The day that he requests gluten free waffles just for her, she knows she’s in trouble. When he opens a bottle of syrup and pours just a little too much on it, Britt admits this is the moment.
The syrup soaks into the waffles, forgotten. Adam looks at her, concerned and she can hear him asking if she’s all right. But something else starts to settle- something warm, slow, and a little sweet.
Britt takes a bite, savoring the taste as she watches him get called over to start a scene.
She thinks she’s in trouble. Worse, she thinks she’s falling for Adam Scott.
“What do you think you’ll do now?” he asks her as the season wraps.
“I think I might write about a girl running to the circus after a break up.”
“Yeah? I’d watch that.”
“Really? Do you like the circus?”
“I appreciate the work everyone there puts into it. It’s a show in itself.”
“What about you?”
He shrugs. “Hope for a season two.”
She gets that. “Oh!” Britt reaches into her bag. “I made you a thank you gift. Thank you for having my back from day one.” She brings out a Tupperware, and the snack packed neatly inside of it.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“To my favorite ambassador for ants on a log!”
Adam laughs. “Maybe we’ll see each other after this summer for season two yeah? We should up the number of episode appearances for you.”
Britt blushes. “Stop. Now,” she waves him off, “go. Enjoy your summer with your family.”
She watches as he walks away, smiling to herself. She hopes they’ll meet again in the fall.
Unfortunately, the entertainment business is fickle and Ghosted does not see a second season. The news is disappointing to Britt, who takes the time to focus on writing her own short film. If she’s not going back to the show then she’s going to spend the time writing something.
It’s not until late 2019 when her agent sends her a script for a new tv series that she actually wants to be a part of.Severance. Britt has just had another job fall through. Her audition for that one didn’t work for the executives and they’ve decided to go with somebody else.
“Submit a self-tape. It might be a long shot but at least you can say you tried.”
Not exactly a hopeful message, but Britt does it anyway. She reads the few pages that her agent was given and sets a camera up in her bathroom in Los Angeles (after scrubbing it clean). She feels silly, making a video of herself screaming to get out and banging on the door. There’s not much context to this scene except a man’s voice asking her questions over a speaker. Britt doesn’t even know if the role of the man has been filled so she doesn’t know whose voice to imagine. She doesn’t know if he’s a main character or a guest star or how he will relate to Helly’s arc.
All she knows is that she enjoyed being Helly for a few minutes.
Britt tries not to have any hope. The tape is just another audition that she’s had to do over the last year. She might not even receive a verbal no. Sometimes she never gets a call back at all.
She’s making a few baked sweet potatoes for dinner when her agent calls. She almost misses it, but grabs her phone at the last minute.
She’s gotten the part.
It sends Britt to her knees in tears.
Of course, they want her to do a reading with their lead actor just for one final testing. She agrees to it, she’ll agree to any reading if it means being Helly. Britt is trying not to burn her food as she goes over details, her heart bursting out of her chest.
She’d be there tomorrow if they’d asked. She wants to be Helly now.
Once she gets to New York, they give her a script. For a chemistry read is what she’s told.
“Adam will wait until you’re ready,” Ben tells her.
“Adam?” She doesn’t want to get her hopes up. “Adam who?” There are many Adam’s in the business- Baldwin, Sandler, Driver, DeVine..
“Adam Scott! He says you two know each other.”
Britt’s heart speeds up faster than she ever thought possible. It shouldn’t matter that she’s going to do a chemistry read with him. They haven’t seen each other since her last episode of Ghosted and they haven’t talked to each other during the last two years. She takes a deep breath and walks into the room where several people are waiting.
He’s sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, his back to her. But she knows it’s him. It’s Adam.
Britt sits down on the chair opposite of him, just a couple of feet away. Adam looks up and gives her the warm comforting smile he gave her when she sat at the table to do the reading for their very first episode together, in 2017.
He looks good. And he gives her a look that lets her know he remembers her.
“You ready?” he asks.
Britt opens the script to the first scene and nods. “I’m ready.”