Boss Lady (35 page)

“I want everybody in here to read this,” she told us before she passed it off to Jasmine. Jasmine was sitting the closest to her.

Jasmine read the article with wide eyes and began to comment on it. But Tracy silenced her immediately with an index finger to her lips.

She said, “Not a word. I want everyone in here to read it first.”

I received the article third after Maddy had read it.

The caption read: “Flyy Girl Catfight Breaks Out at the Marriott.” They had a picture of my cousin walking away from the hotel looking pissed at us and everything. The article didn't have our names or a lot of the details, but it surely named Tracy Ellison Grant and what she was trying to do with the Philadelphia-based movie. I was so embarrassed.

When we all finished reading the article, Tracy said, “Needless to say, I am very disappointed with all of you right about now. You have
to understand that I'm no longer a private person, and anything that goes on around me gets reported, especially in my hometown. Now I was pissed as hell when my mother called me this morning to bring this shit to my attention. But then I stopped and thought about how this would be a lesson for you. Because you all need to understand what you're dealing with when we actually start shooting this movie.”

She said, “This kind of shit will not stop. And they always do this to black films. They try and report any damn thing they can just to make us look bad. But I decided that I'm not going to let them ruin my day because I still have things to get done, and I do plan to finish them.”

We were all soundly checked that morning, and none of us said a word. What could anyone say? Our catfight at the Marriott could have derailed the entire movie, and we hadn't even finished casting yet.

*  *  *

We pulled up to a playground on Germantown Avenue in Mt. Airy, with Robin and her New York casting crew in cars and equipment vans behind us.

Tracy stepped out of the limo and immediately started directing the camera guys on the scene before they even got a chance to pull out the cameras and size things up.

“This is the basketball court where we shoot the first scene,” she told them. She said, “But no one will be playing basketball. We're going to turn this into a playground party, nineteen-eighties style. So I want you to shoot tight on the DJ spinning the records, and then angle out at the people—fashion, dances, and activity going on around the court.”

Shamor and the camera guys all nodded to her and began to take pictures and general measures of the surrounding area.

Robin said, “This is a good location for the scene, but what about the sounds coming from this major street out here?”

Her sound guy turned and listened for all the street noise and cars driving by on Germantown Avenue.

“We may have to block off the street for a couple of days,” he stated.

“How many scenes are you trying to shoot here?” they asked Tracy.

She said, “Well, on the first scenes, we can just let the DJ's music play while we shoot over and through the crowd. That way we don't have to worry about the street noise so much.”

She then looked at us. “Can you guys do some of the latest dances?”

Everyone looked at each other. We were not exactly the partying type. I mean, we went to parties, but actually dancing was not a top priority for us.

Tracy snapped, “Do you all know how to dance or what? We need some movement for the cameras here.”

Some of the New York crew started to dance, then we followed suit with a whole lot of laughing and goofing around.

Jasmine started singing the summer party anthem from 50 Cent,
“We gon' party like it's your birthday.”

Shamor sized us up and moved through us with a make-believe lens.

He nodded and said, “You could do several moving shots from different angles.”

“Then I want you to gradually move toward those steps over there,” Tracy told them.

Behind the basketball court was a flight of steps on the left and on the right that led up to another part of the playground.

Tracy said, “I want a group of guys gambling right here against this wall as the camera works its way up the stairs.”

Jasmine jumped into place and said, “Ay yo, put the money back down, man. Put your money where your mouth is, yo.”

We all started laughing. That girl was crazy.

Tracy corrected her and said, “The word is ‘cuz.' ‘Yo, cuz, put your money back down.' ”

“Yeah, cuz, put them ends up,” Sasha spoke. She was right on it, but she had family still in Delaware, so she was more familiar with Philadelphia lingo.

“What do they say now?” Maddy asked us.

“Fam' or family,” I told her.

“So they all think of each other as family and cousins here?”

I laughed again. “I guess you can say that,” I told her. “But the guys generally use more slang than the girls.”

“That's in every city,” Alexandria commented.

Tracy said, “Now let's move up the steps.”

We all followed her up the steps to a higher level of the playground where they had the football field.

“Now up here we shoot the football game,” she told everyone.

The camera guys looked around at the wide field of grass.

“So, you actually want a football game going on up here with parents and fans?” one of the crew asked.

“And cheerleaders,” Tracy told him. “You didn't get a chance to read the script yet? This is where you get to meet the lead character in her cheerleading uniform and pompoms.”

Tracy looked at the older guy with graying hairs as if she was disgusted. How could he miss that in the first couple pages of the script? I was confused by his comment myself.

He said, “Okay, but from the basketball court to the football field, you're looking at shooting an entire week on this one opening scene.”

Tracy said, “And? If I'm going to do this movie, then I'm going to do it right! It's been ten years now since the book first came out, and if it takes a year to shoot it right, then so be it.”

“That's right,” Robin agreed. “There's no sense in waiting this long just to fuck it up.”

Tracy and Robin both told him what time it was, so he shut his mouth and finished listening. Most likely, a lot of those people wouldn't be on the real shoot anyway. Tracy was just scouting everything to take back to the money players at the Hollywood studios.

“So, we introduce Tracy in her cheerleading pose . . .,” Robin stated.

Jasmine jumped into position again with imaginary pompoms, and started chanting with her hips swinging left and right.

“Go team go / That's the way you take 'em down / Go team go / That's the way you shake 'em.”

Tracy said, “What the hell kind of cheers were you doing?”

We all started laughing again.

Jasmine said, “Oh, I just made that up.”

“Don't lie,” Maddy told her. “You know that was your high school cheer.”

“I didn't cheer in high school.”

“Anyway,” Tracy told the camera guys. “We want to follow the running back on a long touchdown run to win the game from the perspective of our cheerleader.”

“You want to shoot from the cheerleader's view of the field. That would be a shallow angle,” the camera guy stated. He seemed cynical about the whole process.

Tracy said, “No, we don't have to shoot from her angle of the field. We just do cut backs to keep her viewpoint with the audience. That's in the script as well,” she told him.

He smiled it off. “Looks like I'm gonna have to reread the script.”

Tracy said, “No, I just thought we'd make all of this up as we went along.”

She was really letting him have it, but he deserved it. If he didn't read the script right the first time, then he needed to shut his trap and just listen.

She said, “We end the scene with everyone happy with the win, and our lead cheerleader eyeing the running back while moving closer to him.”

My girls and I were all excited. We could see Tracy's vision of the film with clear movement and activity. It was the correct way to shoot an eighties film. You give it the pulsating energy of hip-hop.

We moved along from the playground and took a walk down the street that cut across Germantown Avenue.

“We don't have a pair of homes to shoot from yet, but we want to follow our lead and the running back down one of these nice streets. And that sets us up for the entrance of Raheema and Mercedes.”

We all walked down the clean Mt. Airy street like a herd of sheep following the shepherd. But none of us minded. It was Tracy's show. I was just glad she was back to business and moving past the distractions.

*  *  *

After Tracy showed us a good amount of the neighborhood scenes where she wanted to shoot, we drove over to Cheltenham Mall.

“Are we going shopping now?” Sasha joked.

Tracy smiled and said, “This is where we did clothing
and
boy shopping.”

Jasmine asked, “How do you shoot a mall scene, with a whole lot of security?”

The lead camera guy answered, “No, you would have to shoot early before the mall actually opens.”

“Before the mall opens? But what about the stores?” Alexandria asked him.

“You talk to a few of the store managers to open up early for you,” Tracy told her. At least she was still willing to talk to the girl.

Alexandria nodded. “Is that what they do with all movies?”

Shamor grinned at her. He said, “You'd really be surprised how a film crew is able to create the illusion that a location is full of people. It takes a lot of extras sometimes, but the locations are usually secured. You have noise issues, lighting issues, and countless setup hours to make sure everything is shot just right. Some of those scenes can take a week to shoot.”

“Like our opening playground scene,” I commented.

He nodded to me. “Yeah.”

I was sure glad he wasn't chasing after me anymore. I guess he finally got the point that I wasn't interested in his advances.

I listened to all the filming details and took mental notes to add to what I already knew about the film game from Tracy's acting roles. But I hadn't actually spent that much time on the production and direction side before. So it was still a fresh perspective for me, as it was for Tracy.

“So, you're just going to film one store, half of the mall, or what?” Maddy asked.

“We'll probably do an exterior walk-in, one of the hallways, and then a store or two, yes,” Tracy answered.

Robin said, “You'll probably need to talk to at least a hallway of stores to open for you to create coverage for the walk-in.”

“We'll work it out,” Tracy told her.

“And you're still thinking about directing, right?” Robin quizzed her.

I looked at Tracy for her answer. I still didn't think of taking her seriously on the direction end. She had her hands full as a producer.
Directing would be even more work. I had nearly forgotten that Tracy had asked me about directing.

She looked at me before she answered Robin. “We'll have to see.”

She was being careful and diplomatic about it.

I exhaled after I heard her answer. Then again, if Tracy did decide to direct, then I would be assured that she would be right in the middle of things to make sure that the film was executed correctly.

We all walked through the Cheltenham Mall, sizing things up, with Philadelphians doing their normal shopping and walking, and the guys started looking and hollering at every last one of us.

“What are y'all, models?” a guy asked us. He had a full beard, growing long. A lot of guys in Philly were wearing their beards long, particularly the young Muslim guys.

“Yeah,” Maddy told him. “What's it to you?”

He grinned and said, “You just looking good, sis'.”

“Thank you.”

“All of y'all looking good,” his taller, smooth-faced friend added.

“We know,” Jasmine bragged to them.

I had to laugh it off as we walked away.

Then I warned Jasmine, “You better stop talking that conceited stuff in my city.”

“People like when you're confident,” she argued.

“But not when you throw it all up in their faces,” Sasha told her.

“I didn't throw it in his face. He already said we looked good.”

“Then all you need to say is ‘Thank you,' ” I advised her.

Tracy turned to address us all. “Look, you got exactly one hour to look around the mall and shop or whatever, and then we're meeting back in the first hallway where we entered.”

“What if we get lost?” Jasmine joked.

“Don't,” Tracy told her. “And that goes for all of you.”

*  *  *

We had a good time at the mall before we left and drove around the streets of Mt. Airy, West Oak Lane, and Germantown. By the time it was dark, we were all falling asleep inside the limo.

“What do you think?” Tracy asked me before we arrived back at the hotel. We had stopped for ice cream on Ridge Avenue in Roxborough. It had been a very full day.

“Hunh? What do I think?” I asked my cousin. I was barely conscious.

“About the locations?” she asked me.

I sat up straight and nodded my head to her. “They're all good. You made a lot of good choices,” I told her.

We had even visited a YMCA building off Chelten Avenue where Tracy wanted to shoot one of the hip-hop parties in the film. She told us that DJ Jazzy Jeff was once the talk of the city, and much more popular than the Fresh Prince, a.k.a. Will Smith. She said that the Philadelphia DJs were more popular than the New York DJs, who started it all. She was really giving us a history lesson in the roots of hip-hop.

“I'm just presenting the real places that were spectacular at one time,” she told me. She was very excited about it all. She said, “Germantown Field was where we played the annual Thanksgiving Day game against Martin Luther King High School. You couldn't get any bigger than that. We had one of the strongest football rivalries in the city.