It was late afternoon before Dylan Liu finally made an appearance.  The amber glow of sunset was starting to manifest, casting the much of the house in shadows.

Dylan, looked out of sorts in a suit.  He was a pretty average looking man, a little slump-shouldered and a worried frown on his face that made a vertical crease in his forehead.

He shuffled up the walkway to the front door, noting with some apprehension that there were already changes to the front lawn, the building.  Some of the new tenants had already taken liberties.

Well, damn it, this wasn't St Jame's show anymore.  This was his.  And he'd be damned if he'd let the network dictate every little thing.    They had no clue what they had on their hands, the sheer potential of this group of people.  It's like they didn't read the wartime comics or any of the hundreds of after-school cautionary-tales about newfound powers.  If all they saw was dollar-signs, then so be it.

After he made his way to the library, he sent off a text-message to everyone letting them know he was there, on-site for the first of their weekly roundups.  It was going to be a standing meeting, to go over issues and ideas.

He wanted to keep things hands-off as much as possible.  This slice-of-life thing had to let them grow organically.  He couldn't force them to become heroes or villains.  Those choices had to grow organically, from who they were.


#From DylanLiu to YearOneCast.   On-Site.  I'll be in the kitchen.   Hopefully Chinese food is okay...

After saving Mr. Liu's number to her phone Adrianna zips up to the kitchen to meet him.

Hello Mr. Liu. I'm Adrianna LeShay. The others will be up shortly. Its a pleasureto meet you.

Adrianna is still wearing all black yoga pants and a slightly damp with sweat Underarmor shirt.

Dylan showed up in Alexey's field of vision well before the text reached his phone.  A good thing, too; the massive Pol was a few steps into stir-crazy without any work to do.  Hs workout, a few minutes of interview, and then...nothing.  Unlike the other housemates, there was only so much time Alexey could spend out shopping, and he didn't exactly understand the games they played.  Or why.

"Mr. Liu."  Alexey greeted politely from the kitchen doorway.  As always, he seemed both happy and comforted to be in Dylan's presence.  He wore a matching set of grey sweats that looked like they'd been bleached a few times to remove any chance of residual stains, and hung both tight and short for Alexey's frame.  There was an inch or so of bare flesh before his flipper-sized feet vanished into similarly chemical-abused sneakers.

Cythi eventually enters into the room herself not really having any questions but figuring this is where everyone else was.  She too is dressed in her Jogging pants and Hoodie.  "Good day Mr. Liu."

"Hey!"  Liu welcomed folks as they came in.   He had brought in a double-handful of bags of Chinese food, but was also stirring up something in a large wok on the glass-top stove.

He actually seemed a little more relaxed than moments befoer.  Either the cooking helped or the being around people who weren't trying to rake you over the coals did...

"Emmett tells me that you've met Sandra." he said, non-committally.   "I wasn't expecting her until next week.  Communication with the studio has gone to shit.  They still want St James on the prow, but, you know... frozen solid and kidnapped and all..."
This message was last updated by the GM at 08:19, Thu 21 Jan 2021.

Yeah, that'll ruin your plans alright.

Adrianna laughs and dons a crooked smirk.

We had some questions as to the direction of the show if you don't mind. Thanks for dinner by the way. We all just worked up a bit of an appetite.

"Sounded like it." Dylan nodded with a hesitant smile.

"I'm all ears."  Dylan said after a moment.  "Fire away.... "

Virginia walks in thinking she needs a shower! The smell of the food is not bad though. Body conformity must not be a concern. Odd considering it is/was a modeling gig. But she catches the end of the last phrase "Fire away" and jumps right in. This is what she has been waiting for!

"I have many questions! What is our term of employment? Week? Month? Year?

What manner of compensation will we receive? Is this a flat fee, hourly, percentage of proceeds? What about residuals? I am not sure how "favored nations" would apply, this is kind of new. Are their principals or are we all primaries? I want to see that in writing!

Exclusivity? Mmm, I am not giving up my rights to my own image. You may use my likeness and image but you will not own it.

How about merchandising? Domestic? Foreign?

What kind of promotionals are included? Do we have to do talk shows? Premieres? What publicity are we expected to do?

Food? Wardrobe? Actor liability insurance? Travel expenses? Ok food you have that covered but ..." she gestures to him cooking comically to lighten it up because she knows she is over loading him.

"Is this being done under the Screen Actors Guild? A.F.T.R.A? ..." and she continues for a couple more minutes prattling on with legal vernacular, having been in the industry. She knows her stuff!

She finally ends with, "Has my agent even spoken with you guys?"

Alexey had thoughtfully opened his mouth to ask something, and then Virginia poured out a stream of questions that he could barely understand, let alone thing to ask.  Losha's mouth closed, and fast.  Assembling sound stages seemed effortless by comparison to what the much shorter woman was asking.  Image rights?  Merchandising?  His head spn, so much so that he quickly slipped into one of the chairs chosen aesthetically instead of practically.  How much WERE they getting paid, anyway?

For once, Alexey went pale instead of red.  He shook his head, then started unpacking the bags for Liu with his power, sheets of silver fire flooding off of him and towards the bags of take-out, small boxes lining up on the counter like paper soldiers.  That, at least, was something he could more or less understand: organization and setting up a food table.  None of the model stuff had the same clarity.

"Is there is...?  What are...?  Work when not film...?"  He eventually tried to ask, eyebrows furrowing with frustration and a blush of embarrassment when the words wouldn't sort themselves in a cohesive sentence as he tried to as.

Hold on.  The questions you're asking here are things your character would already know, would already have signed off on.   She wouldn't even be here if she hadn't. 

So, I'm not going to answer this in-character.  There's no way for me to do that without insulting your character for "not having read her contract"....

I am making this up right now off-the-cuff, so if there's glaring errors or confusions, fine, bring it up.  But, in canon, this should all have been discussed and agreed-upon before this meeting.   If your character has an agent, then it follows that that agent would have been involved in negotiations.



What is our term of employment? Week? Month? Year? ...  What manner of compensation will we receive? Is this a flat fee, hourly, percentage of proceeds? What about residuals?

Your "term of employment" is for one year on-site.  At the end of the year, you'll get a lump-sum payout of an agreed-upon sum.  If you quit early, you will get paid pro-rated, but lose the remaining balance.   During the time, your housing at Hubert House and "reasonable expenses" will be covered by the studio.   Special expenses and expenses deemed necessary will also be covered by the studio.

This is where Dylan comes in.  He probably has a cap-amount he can okay, and anything above that amount, he needs to go to the network execs about.

You'll receive a bi-weekly stipend from the studio.  It's not going to be a whole lot.   Consider average middle-class income after rent and utilities are paid.



I am not sure how "favored nations" would apply, this is kind of new. Are their principals or are we all primaries? I want to see that in writing!

I am not familiar with the "favored nations" clause.   At this point, it's all too early too tell who's going to be the most interesting person to follow.  For that reason, the studio wouldn't explicitly make someone a primary.  It would suck if Mike was declared a primary, and then he spent all his time watching Barney Miller re-runs while the rest of you were doing stuff and dealing with drama!


Exclusivity? Mmm, I am not giving up my rights to my own image. You may use my likeness and image but you will not own it.  How about merchandising? Domestic? Foreign?
The low monthly stipend is intended to encourage you to "go get a real job" .  If you're not living your life, developing, growing and moving forward, it kind of defeats the point of this project.

So image exclusivity isn't in the agreement.  However, if you want to get real detail-oriented about it... Hubert House is studio property, and any release of images of studio property not associated with company projects will require written permissions.


What kind of promotionals are included? Do we have to do talk shows? Premieres? What publicity are we expected to do?
For the period of the year being filmed, you won't be required to promote the finished product.  In the post-production period, you probably would be so required.  But that's a year from now.

Bored now.  Don't want to discuss legalities and contract-law anymore.


Food? Wardrobe? Actor liability insurance? Travel expenses?
It's not a blanket coverage.  Do you absolutely need to fly to Michigan to deal with Doctor Detroit's megalomaniac doomsday machine?   Uh.  No.  No, you don't.    AEGIS might foot the bill, mind you.  But the studio wouldn't.  Of course if you do go, the studio would have to foot the bill for the film crew...

Wardrobe.
Buy your own damned clothes.

Actor liability insurance?
Let's NOT get into insurance, please.   It's an absolute wonder that superheroes get anything done without being sued through the wazoo every other day for the property damage alone.   Studio insurance rates for this little project would be astronomical.   Please just assume it's dealt with.   I don't want to get into it.


"Is this being done under the Screen Actors Guild? A.F.T.R.A? ..."
Yes.

Again.  Bored now.  Let's move on.


"Has my agent even spoken with you guys?"
Virginia is here.  Assume it's so.  It was a fundamental assumption of this game set-up that she had already agreed to do this...

"Is there is...?  What are...?  Work when not film...?" 



"You're making enough to live off of, though not in lavish style." Dylan said.   "What you do is up to you.   If you're comfortable living off the relatively meagre pay the studio provides... okay.   If you want to go get a job?  Also okay."

"We need you to put in a certain amount of time here at Hubert House, to allow the accumulation of film time.  If you want to live here, that's awesome. If you want to move out?  Also okay."

"The studio wants you all to turn into superheroes that they can market.   AEGIS, as far as I can tell, just wants you to be able to live with your powers without hurting anyone--including yourself.  Me?  I want to tell the story of how you figured out who you are now that you have these powers and abilities. "

Virginia's phone starts blowing up pinging a half dozen times. She discovers her agent has FINALLY sent all the paperwork over. She is still not happy with this guy however. He took too damn long to do it. She begins scrolling through all the details he sent while making many a varied expressions.

"uh, nevermind" she says.



Works for me!

"The food smells good though!" she smiles at Dylan.

Then gives Alexey a quick once over.

Cythi looks somewhat confused at the comment of meagre pay as she figured it would be more than enough considering if they live here it looks lime most is paid for.  Actually she really could not have asked for more in her head.  If she needed she could get a job at a coffee shop  if needed or something.  Honestly she just expected to buy a sewing machine to adjust clothes as needed even though that skill was basic at the least but it would help stretch the dollar.  Still she had many open avenues if needed. Maybe she would see what Virginia thought as this was all about trusting her for her future.

Thank you for clearing up those points Mr. Liu. Why don't we all tuck into the food and we can discuss more during dinner.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:21, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

Alexey considered, his hand pausing on the way towards a folded paper box.  "'Superheroes?'"  He asked, nervously glancing at the descending crowd.  No, not crowd; a crowd for Alexey was four people.  This was a legion.  He shifted uncomfortably in his place, unclear even to himself if he was more uncomfortable with the idea of fighting violent crime or having a group meal with a bunch of relative strangers.

Adrianna's suggestion saved him.  He quickly grabbed for the nearest box without looking at the label and getting stuck with plain rice, and started in with a plastic fork.

Adrianna saw poor Alexey panic and grab the rice. She got a container of teriyaki chicken and said, Aww, just chicken. Would you mind splitting your rice with me and I'll split my chicken with you? That way we have a whole meal.

She smiled and opened the box toward him.

Cythi searches the food being super picky not entirely by choice but not wanting to embarrass herself in front of her team mates.  That is when she finds it in the selection.  Several containers of won ton soup which she pours herself a bowl.  She tries not to take too much lest the others want some and had a fair bit of bacon at lunch.  "I found some soup!"  She says as an offer.

Virginia tries the chopsticks. She tries again! And again. She exhales and without a word, gets up and scavenges a fork from a kitchen drawer. She comes back and has much better success at eating.

"Mmm, this is good! Are you sure ... have you produced a cooking show before?? Oh! Wait! Are you really a secret celebrity chef?! Oh!" She says to Dylan and bounces in her seat excitedly.

"A barista and a chef, oh my god! And you made tofu! One of my favorites!"

"I am not half bad at baking bread myself. Anyone else here have any specialties?"

'Crackle crackle', Virginia is manipulating something in her hands.  She brings up a small slip of paper and reads it.

"“Welcome” is a powerful word...IN BED!" She laughs hysterically and pushes the bowl of fortune cookies around for everyone else to get one.

Alexey nodded, wisps of silvery fire tinted red rising off his ears.  Eating plain rice he could have made it through, but someone paying enough attention to him, and knowing that he was trying to hide behind the little box to escape notice....  "It's ok."  He muttered, the meaning somewhat ambiguous as he carefully floated some tableware over for the two of the, and then for everyone else.  Embarrassed eyes flashed periodically at Adrianna, and after doling out plates and cutlery he claimed about a third of the box of rice and pushed it over to her.

At Virginia's urging, the tall man picked up a fortune cookie.  The thing was nearly crumbs, crushed by awkward fingers desperate not to spray the table with the cookie in opening it.  "Those around you take great pleasure in your create-creati-vi-ty."  He carefully read aloud, catching himself towards the end and nearly sounding the word out.  He looked up, looking to assess the damage of whatever he'd just done.

Cythi actually disliked the concept of fortune cookies for what they represented in her head.  But that said she also did not want to disappoint Virginia and cracked hers open.

"Mine says that new love is right in front of you now!"  She said putting it down but enjoying the cookie.  She may have not of like the concept but the cookie itself was the right kind of bland for her but does scan all those in front of her before dismissing it as it is simply a cookie right?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:53, Sun 31 Jan 2021.