Free Until Proven Innocent by Gene Grossman Page A

to him, please try to use that same voice your trainer taught you. He’ll be more amenable to hiring you sight unseen if you can get a rise out of him on the job interview phone call. And don’t forget to tell him how beautiful you really are, but remind him that you’re not the same girl that your company used in its photo ads.”
    I hear a beep on my phone, which means there’s another call coming in. I make sure Olive has my instructions, and switch to the other line.
    “ Mister Sharp, I’m a production assistant over at the Venice Soundstage. Joe Caulfield wanted me to tell you to come over here as soon as you can.”
    This can’t mean anything good. I hope Tony hasn’t shot anyone over there.
    When I get to the soundstage, they’re all waiting for me in Joe’s office. Joe starts first.
    “ Peter, we can’t allow real loaded guns on the set. Our insurance company specifically put that clause in the completion bond. There are a lot of scenes in the movie where people are shooting guns, and they’re all phony, firing caps, to give off a little smoke. We add the actual gunshot sound in post production.”
    “ So? That’s what you called me over here for? Some provision in your insurance policy?”
    “ Not exactly Peter, it seems that our new star is a little temperamental about surrendering his weapon to the prop guy. He insists on wearing that huge thing in his shoulder holster. I admit that it gives a nice touch to the movie because whenever he leans forward the camera can see it in there. Unfortunately though, we can’t allow it.”
    Tony can’t sit quiet any longer.
    “ Did you see what they want me to wear? Some piss-ant .32 caliber revolver with a snub-nosed barrel. And to make things worse, it’s not even real. It’s a replica!”
    Saying this, Tony pulls out the pistol and tosses it over to me. I catch it and take a close look. It feels and weighs like the real thing.
    “ Tony, this gun is an exact replica of the real thing. What’s wrong with your carrying it in the movie?”
    “ Because counselor, if anyone I knew saw me with that pea-shooter, my reputation would be ruined.”
    I look around the room at the expressions of frustration on Joe Caulfield, the director, the prop man, and some other above-the-line people seated there.
    “ Okay, I’ve got a suggestion. Part of your soundstage is supposed to be the cops’ squad room. Why don’t you take a camera off of the set and get a shot of Tony putting his real cannon into a desk drawer somewhere, and then slamming and locking the drawer. Then you can cut back to him in the squad room, as he puts on a different shoulder holster with the small revolver in it, while he tells another cop in the room that the judge doesn’t want him to bring the big gun into the courtroom. And after the close up of the first desk is shot, I’m sure you can provide some safe place for Tony to lock up the real thing until after his courtroom scene is shot.”
    They’re all looking at each other. Several conversations are going on at the same time between the groups in the room. The camera guys are talking about how to frame the close-up of the desk drawer, the props and wardrobe people are talking about the other cop and what he should be wearing, the continuity guy is conferring with the director about how to continue the scene from outside the set to inside the set, and Joe Caulfield is talking to Tony about the exact dialogue he can live with.
    With all those little meetings going on, they don’t even notice my walking out of the room. On the way out, Renaldo, the production assistant who called me, introduces himself. He looks a little old to be a production assistant, because he’s probably in his late thirties. We chat for a few minutes about how production is going, and he tells me that everyone on the set is afraid of Tony. They know he’s a decent guy, but they’re still reluctant to say anything that might upset him. I also learn that Ren is the