Selling Out by Dan Wakefield

Author:Dan Wakefield [Wakefield, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497665880
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

IX

“We’ll hold our fire till the end,” Archer commanded his men. He was bent forward over the wheel in determination, driving at breakneck speed through the high hairpin curves that led up out of the Valley and on to network headquarters. Perry was bending forward, too, not only to catch Archer’s instructions over the booming sound system, but also because of the sense of urgency about this unexpected meeting. Ned Gurney was crunched onto the shelf behind the two seats of the tiny sports car, seemingly resigned if not relaxed.

“Ignorant bastards,” he murmured.

“Don’t blow your cool, don’t let them put you on the defensive,” Archer warned. “We have a beautiful script, and we’re proud of it.”

“I thought they were too,” Perry said in genuine confusion. “I thought they loved it.”

Only a few days before, word had come down through channels from Archer to Ned to Perry (the writer being by tradition the last to hear any vital information, even about what he had written) that Amanda LeMay was simply gaga over Perry’s first hour script to lead off the series, and even more amazing, though of course less verifiable, was the rumor from higher on high that Max Bloorman had scanned it himself in New York and was not displeased!

“This is purely an E. and A. problem,” Archer said.

Over the blast of the music, Perry thought he heard T. and A. Like any other sophisticated citizen who followed the media’s inside accounts of the entertainment world, he knew that T. and A. was television code for tits and ass, a gross shorthand for the kind of show that appealed to the most base instinct of viewers by the most flamboyant possible display of the female anatomy. He understood that although one network in particular was most renowned for its belief in the foolproof lure of the T. and A. factor, there were executives at each network who felt that the addition of that lure could strengthen a weak show, just as there were some like Harry Flanders who thought that cars were the answer for bolstering any drama.

“My God!” he shouted in genuine shock. “You mean they want us to put in more tits and ass?”

Both Archer and Ned looked at Perry with alarm, as if they feared he had taken leave of his senses.

“Well,” he said defensively, “isn’t that what T. and A. means?”

Archer dialed down the musical volume.

“Not T. and A.,” he said patiently, “E. and A.”

“What’s that?” Perry asked, his mind reeling at the possible meaning of this new bit of TV esoterica. Elbows and Armpits? Elastic and Action?

“E. and A.,” Archer said patiently, “is the network Department of Ethics and Attitudes.”

“The censors,” Ned explained.

Perry felt like a real rookie. Of course he knew about the network censors, but so far he had been shielded from them. There was really very little of a controversial nature in the pilot story of his innocent young married couple, and the few issues of censorship had to do with the language, which Archer gently explained to him had to be a bit toned down for television.

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