I'm Doin' Me

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Tiffany sat at her desk waiting for the morning circus to begin. She was the executive producer for a hit television show called
Boy Crazy,
and she knew that the next season could be the last because the young ladies' characters on the show would be graduating high school and going to college. Whether or not they would continue the series was still up in the air. She hated the waiting game. Her idea was to allow the characters to bypass college and become young adults, starting their new life adventures, trying to find their way in life with episodes about job hunting, moving out of their parents' pool houses, and starting new careers—things that most recent well-off graduates do. Since the women were not the teens they portrayed on the show, she wanted to turn their characters into young adults, not college girls. They were now in their early twenties, and one cast member, Joy, was starting to look it.

She tapped her pencil on her desk, not able to concentrate because the thought of losing her show made her feel sick. She hadn't felt that kind of fear in her gut in a while. She nervously went over the details of her proposal for the show a million times, hoping that the legendary
Boy Crazy
would continue. At five minutes 'til ten, she stood and grabbed her files and notes. “Meeting time,” she said to herself.

She hurried out of her office to get to the meeting, but her assistant, Myah, greeted her with a bright smile. “Okay, boss lady, you know what to do. Go in there and claim your new concept.”

“I will try. Since Bill has been gone, things have been so different. It is going to be difficult getting my ideas across to his pompous asshole of a brother. You know he wanted to cut our show first, even though it's the number one show on this network.”

Myah brushed lint from Tiffany's shoulder. “Because it's a black show and you know our shows get, what, seven seasons tops?”

“Yeah, but I came in and saved this show,” Tiffany said. “And I'm not about to walk away without a fight. We have won several awards the last three years and rumor has it we have more coming this year, so he'd better not say no.”

Myah nodded.

Tiffany had lucked up on her job. She had gone to school for broadcasting and hoped to be a show host or anchorwoman someday, but landed a job purely by accident as a screenwriter and then later, as an executive producer. She was in the right place at the right time, she said every time she was asked how she got started.

She'd never forget that day. She had an interview to become a broadcaster for an online news segment, on KCLN's Web site, a cable network that competed with popular stations like UPN and TBS. She walked in and asked directions to where she needed to be. With directions in her mental Rolodex, she went to the right floor, but walked through the wrong door. It was a meeting of screenwriters for
Boy Crazy.
When she walked in, the producer of the show, Todd, assumed she was the new writer.

Tiffany spoke up first. She was familiar with the show because she watched it faithfully, and she wanted to impress him since she thought this was her interview. “I say Claire. She is not likely to be trusted since she has had a history of dating both of their ex
-
boyfriends. Her confession about Chase will come across as vindictive, and when Shana doesn't believe her, Claire sets up Chase with her Web cam to prove to Shana that she is telling the truth. That brings the girls a bit closer to seeing that Claire is not the horrible person she reflects on the outside.”

Tiffany jumped in again before anyone else. “We know that the encounter at the restaurant was innocent. I think Claire should intervene and go on a so
-
called investigation of her own to get to the truth to convince her mom to stay. That will give her and her friends a quest to join forces to save her parents' marriage.”

“I thought each season was only twenty
-
two episodes,” she said.

The older, thin, gray
-
haired woman got up and got her some water from a cooler in the corner of the office. “You're the first writer to act this surprised,” she said, handing Tiffany a paper cup. “I've been here for twenty
-
four years, and they always want more,” she joked.

“Well,
Boy Crazy
is like the fifth or sixth show for this network in ranking, and it has only been on the air for one season.”

“I went to KCLN for that broadcasting gig, but ended up getting a job as a writer for
Boy Crazy,
” Tiffany squealed.

“Oh, my God, Tiff, that is, like, amazing,” Now Asia sounded like the sixth
-
grade schoolteacher she was. Not the Jamaican sister who grew up in Brooklyn.

“Yes, and this is my thirty
-
day notice. I am moving out. I am going to be making more than I made in the last six months in just one episode. I can't believe that it just happened like that.” Tiffany snapped her fingers for emphasis.

“My goodness, Asia,” Tiffany said. “Where do you find these fine
-
ass men? I mean, for crying out loud, you're a schoolteacher.”

Tiffany laughed. She grabbed her wine and headed to her room and looked around. She was happy to know that she finally would be able to afford a place of her own and not have to live in this eight
-
by
-
eight box anymore. She still slept on a twin
-
sized bed because nothing else fit. She hadn't totally unpacked because there was no storage in her little room, but she was grateful she wasn't homeless.