Secrets of My Hollywood Life: There’s No Place Like Home Read Online Free Page A

ago and avoided all this negativity. And yet he didn’t want to go away either. That’s what I want: to love a job so
     much that it’s not about the money, it’s about the love of the work. I think Small Fries could be that work.
    “And finally Sky Mackenzie as Taylor!” Pete says, and all of us—the reporters and the rest of the cast—applaud for Sky. I
     don’t know Brendan, Ian, or Kayla that well yet, but they seem cool. For now we’re all pretty stiff and polite with one another.
     Everyone is constantly saying things like “Great take!” I worked with most of the same people on FA for almost a decade, so it felt like a family, but this could be one too if we’re on the air long enough.
    God, I hope we are.
    “Before we start taping,” Pete tells the large group, “the Small Fries ’ executive director has an announcement to make that is so important we wanted to share it with the cast and all of you at
     the same time.”
    Sky and I look at each other, and I feel my stomach flip-flop again. They wouldn’t call the executive director out in front
     of critics unless the news was HUGE.
    The group quiets down—you can practically hear recorders click on—and our show runner, Amy Peterson, walks out in a beautiful
     khaki pantsuit and matching Anna Sui heels. “Hi, everyone,” says Amy, who looks like a tiny gymnast. She’s barely five feet—shorter
     than me!—and has a hip brown haircut that is long in the front and shaved short in the back. “I’m glad you could join us for Small Fries ’ third episode taping. As you know, our show debuted last night.”
    I inhale and Sky’s and my hands touch. We’ve been on set all day, and everyone who works on SF has been asking/talking/whispering/wondering the same thing: Were our ratings good enough to make it another week? Being
     a critical darling is great, but it’s not going to keep you on the air forever. You still need good ratings. We’ve been worried
     because we were up against Megan , Megan Moynahan’s hit sitcom. The early numbers Seth got this morning looked good, but nothing was official till this afternoon.
     Everywhere I look—from the camera crew to the grip, to the P.A.s, to the cast—everyone is holding their breath. I look at
     Amy’s face, and she breaks into a smile.
    “ Small Fries was the most watched show of the night!” Amy practically screams, unable to hide the enthusiasm in her usually reserved voice.
     “Not only that, but in the key eighteen to thirty-four demo, it beat Megan in the eight thirty PM hour.”
    Brendan fist pumps the air, and Kayla throws herself at Brendan. “We’ve survived another week!” I squeal and hug Sky. “Another
     few weeks like this one, and we’ll get a full-season pickup for sure.”
    “Survived? We’re beating Megan .” Sky sounds giddy. “I knew we would! It’s their fourth season, and that show is going down!”
    I stop jumping up and down. “We’ve only beat Megan once.” I bite my lip. Ratings talk makes me nauseous. I’m not used to worrying about it. FA was on forever and was so popular that whether we were number five for the week or thirty-five in the ratings, I knew we
     weren’t in danger of being cancelled. “This was just our first week. What if no one tunes in next week?”
    “You can get excited, K,” Sky tells me, sounding pumped herself. “Numbers like this out of the gate are a good thing.”
    “You’re right,” I say and start jumping around again. It feels too good to stop. “I just want us to do well. I like it here,
     and I never thought I’d like anything as much as FA . It’s not home or anything, but it’s a lot of fun and doesn’t feel like work and…”
    “Rambling,” Sky says, pointing a long, red fingernail at my mouth. “This show rocks, and so do we. I’m sure we’re going to
     get bigger and better.” She looks around. “They wouldn’t be doing all this otherwise. Amy is going to have us do a zillion
     more interviews