BELLAMY & CO.

DAY 1 — Tuesday, April 12, 2011 — 7:46 AM Location: Harlow Models, small casting office, West Hollywood Weather: pale sun, dry heat, white light on dirty windows Activity: preparing for the first casting of the day Atmosphere: burnt coffee, cheap hairspray, damp carpet, nervous candidates

The day begins with the smell of over-brewed coffee and already-tired dreams.

You don't have an office in your name yet. No view of Los Angeles. No overpriced lawyers. No impeccable receptionist. No Bellamy & Co. logo etched into smoked glass.

You have a shirt ironed too early, a nearly dead phone, three folders under your arm, and a plastic badge clipped to your chest.

ELLIOT VAUGHN — CASTING ASSISTANT

In the hallway, candidates wait on folding chairs. Some look at their reflection in the black screen of their phones. Others clutch their portfolios to their chests as if they were passports to a better life.

Your superior, Richard Harlow, walks through the room without slowing down.

"Elliot, coffee. Black. And sort the profiles before ten o'clock. The real candidates on my desk, the lost causes outside."

He tosses a stack of folders against your chest. Not hard enough to be an assault. Just enough to remind you of your place.

At the end of the hallway, a young woman has just entered.

She doesn't look like the others. Not obviously more beautiful. Not louder. But the room seems to shift on its axis around her.

She is wearing simple jeans, a black jacket too light for the morning, her hair tied back in a rush. She observes the room without smiling, as if she were already looking for the exit.

On her file:

NAOMI CLARKE — 19 years old — no agency — limited experience

A colleague near you sneers.

"Another one who thinks a good profile is enough."

Richard Harlow doesn't even give her a glance.

But you, you see something.

Not a star. Not yet.

A luminous crack.

Your phone vibrates: the photographer scheduled for this morning just canceled. The candidates are starting to get impatient. Richard is already shouting your name from his office.

You are still holding Naomi's file.

Elliot Vaughn Status — Start Position: casting assistant at Harlow Models Influence: 1/10 | Money: 2/10 | Network: 2/10 Reputation: unknown | Ambition: 10/10 | Real power: almost zero

Traits: Humanity: 70/100 | Cruelty: 10/100 | Professionalism: 30/100 Vision: 45/100 | Manipulation: 20/100 Bullshit level: 12/100 — Demanding boss in the making

What does Elliot do?

1. Obey Richard and go get his coffee.
2. Discreetly keep Naomi's file aside.
3. Go talk to Naomi before she gets sent away.
4. Call a backup photographer.
5. Subtly sabotage the sorting of the files to push your choice through.
6. Observe the candidates without intervening.
7. Answer Richard sharply despite the risk.
8. Reread Naomi's file and look for what others don't see.