Pre-Production

It had been a little over two weeks after Camilla received the news that she was cast in the film. During that time she had not slacked off memorizing her lines or using the system to improve her acting skills. Camilla had received news that she was to join the rest of the cast for line reading at the production company and that she could finally sign the contract with the studio, it had finally been finalized. 

Camilla happily drove her new car to the production studio, parking it before almost skipping into the studio. She was smiling the entire way greeting the employees and other actors as she entered the room. The table was arranged in a square shape with a large hole in the center, the actors with leading roles were seated closer to the front of the room while the supporting actors were seated further back. She noticed that only one of the actors was missing, the rest had already arrived and had been waiting patiently. Camilla wasted no time finding her spot near the back, sitting down and pulling out her script from her large duffle bag. The script was covered in notes, highlighter marks, and tabs, it was clear that she had spent a long time analyzing the script. 

Gerald Simmons stood up and walked to the front of the room addressing everyone present. "Looks like almost everyone is here. Good morning everyone, I want to thank every one of you for being here today. Your dedication and talent are what bring this project to life, and I couldn't be more excited to work with this talented group of actors." 

Camilla and the other actors clapped in response to the director's speech. Once the clapping quieted down, Gerald went to continue his speech but was interrupted by the door opening behind him to reveal an actor covering their face with a mask, baseball cap, and sunglasses. 

"Look like I'm the last to arrive. Forgive me director it looks like I interrupted your speech." The figure mused as he took his seat at the front of the table. Camilla was slightly confused, for some reason she recognized the voice but she didn't know from what. 

The room was quiet for a long time only interrupted by the shocked gasp from the actress playing the lead female character. It took Camilla some realize why she recognized the figure's voice until he removed his cap, mask, and sunglasses to reveal Sebastian Malone. 

This completely took Camilla off guard in her last life Sebastian didn't play the role of the main male character he wasn't in any film or TV show until five years after this film came out. He should still be on his hiatus, she wasn't sure why this had changed from the events she knew but she wasn't going to complain. While this film did break box office records it wasn't distributed internationally but with Sebastian in the film, it was very likely to be distributed internationally. This would be very good for her first role as a rookie actor, Camilla could only smile happily to herself as the other actors continued to gape at Sebastian. 

What Camilla didn't realize is that all her reactions were caught by Sebastian. He smiled mischievously into his hand as he watched Camilla out of the corner of his eye. 

"Well, I guess with everyone here I don't need to continue my speech to stall for time. I think now would be a lovely time to start this line-reading session." Gerald announced, and this finally pulled the other actors out of their shock, they quickly scrambled to take out their script. 

Camilla didn't have much to do during the beginning part of the line-reading since her character wasn't fully introduced or relevant until around the end of the first act. But she wasn't relaxed and taking it easy, no she pulled a small leather-bound notebook out of her duffle bag and used it to take notes of the rest of the actors. She started intensely as each one spoke out their line, even though they weren't fully acting out their character she analyzed the way they portrayed the character and how that reflected in how they read their lines. This was especially so when Sebastian read his lines, for Camilla he was an unreachable idol that was a great source of awe, by analyzing his skills she hoped to improve hers. 

[Camilla why are you breaking down each actor in that book?]

It's a way to learn acting skills without using Fame Points. Camilla responded teasingly. 

[...]

I'm only joking. The Skill Books are the culmination of the knowledge and skill of the best actors of the past. I would be foolish to trade teaching from the vestiges, but if I compile the skills of the actors present I can use it as a framework and a guide. You'll still be able to get Fame Points from me. 

[Marshmallow didn't like your joke.]

Camilla laughed at the system's response. This system was very cute and innocent, she had a feeling that this little system was scammed by prior users. She felt a strong feeling of protectiveness build up in her. Camilla wasn't sure if the system used Fame Points as an energy source but she decided she wouldn't try to cheat the system of points, she would be fair to it. 

....

Camilla felt very fulfilled as she left the practice room after the line-reading session had concluded. She had filled her little leather-bound book about halfway, and she felt her line delivery was smoother than most rookie actors. It wasn't at the level she wanted it to be but she was happy with how much she had progressed. 

She didn't leave the building right away since she still had to sign her film contract. So she was taken away by one of the employees who directed her to an office. When Camilla entered the office she saw two men sitting down waiting for her, she assumed one of them must be the production company's legal representative. As soon as she sat down they went over the contract with her explaining it to her as she had no manager or agent. Camilla in her past life had seen plenty of these types of contracts over her twelve years of being an actor so she didn't need an explanation but she pretended as though this was her first time seeing one. 

She was pleasantly surprised to learn that this contract had no loopholes or undervalued her payment. It was an incredibly fairy contract, she could find no flaws in it. So Camilla signed it without hesitation.