Using Professional Knowledge to Seize Resources for Herself
Avery Hayes was running on fumes. The emotional whiplash of the past few days left her drained, and with so much still weighing on her mind, she retreated to her room.
Getting Bryce Sterling sent to prison was just the first, simplest step. The Sterling family was a powerhouse, and she knew the real fight was still to come.
She sat on her bed in a daze, staring out the window.
After a long moment, she picked up her phone, opened her chat with Lawyer Goodwin, and started typing.
Bryce had been sentenced, but this was far from over.
A three-year sentence didn't mean he'd actually be locked up for three years, not when his father, Warren Sterling, was involved.
Warren would pull every string he had to get his son out early.
Avery told Goodwin to keep a close eye on them.
Message sent, she closed her eyes to rest. Before she knew it, it was noon. Wyatt Riggs and the others, who had gone to the twelfth-floor apartment for lunch, came back with a plate for her.
The food was a nice taste of home. Diana Marks, ever the efficient manager, had hired a housekeeper from their shared hometown of Westlake City.
Since three of them were from there, it was a small but welcome comfort.
Diana had also given up trying to police Avery's diet.
The girl had a healthy appetite but never seemed to gain a pound, so why play the bad guy?
In the afternoon, Shane Croft headed out. He usually shadowed Avery on set but otherwise kept to himself, leaving early and coming back late. The only reason he'd stuck around that morning was to watch the trial.
Instead of another session with Alden Pierce, Avery settled in to read scripts. She'd already finished the three Diana had sent over.
The first was a historical fantasy series, but the story was painfully cliche.
A young man, driven by revenge for his family's murder, escapes captivity and starts causing trouble until a sweet, innocent heroine from the "good side" convinces him to let go of his hatred.
It was a cheesy love story masquerading as a revenge plot.
The role she was up for, the Third Female Lead, was a bland plot device meant to push the main couple together.
The thought of playing a character like that made her want to throw the script across the room.
Luckily, there were two other options. One was a historical family saga where she'd be playing the lead's younger half-sister, still the Third Female Lead.
The plot was excellent and the part had substance, but it was a premium, female-led drama.
Every actress in the industry would be fighting for a role on that show.
She'd be lucky to land the Fifth Female Lead, let alone the third. Better to just move on.
The last one, though, caught her attention from the genre alone. But she wasn't interested in the role Diana had circled for her. She wanted to audition for the Second Female Lead.
It was a web series, a contemporary legal drama, and the script had probably landed on her desk because she'd recently taken the bar exam.
But even with its legal dressing, the show was still mostly a romance.
The main couple handled the love story, while the second male and female leads were responsible for the career-focused storyline.
Avery was completely absorbed in that script.
As she read, she found herself rewriting the Third Female Lead's lines from the perspective of an actual lawyer.
It wasn't just about tweaking the dialogue, either.
She found several places where the legal logic of the cases was flimsy and full of plot holes, especially regarding the internal procedures of the justice system.
She went through and corrected everything, making it airtight.
"Are you reading that script or rewriting it?"
Alden Pierce, looking sour after another frustrating run-in with Wyatt, was walking by with a teacup. He glanced over her shoulder, and what he saw made his jaw drop.
"You're an actor, and you're doing the screenwriter's job? You're actually changing the script? This is..."
"Just tweaking the lines," Avery said without looking up, her focus entirely on correcting a scene about evidence collection.
"Almost done." A lawyer couldn't just flash their license to start digging for evidence.
They needed an introduction letter from their firm and a power of attorney.
For certain types of evidence, they'd need a court order.
Without those documents, any evidence they gathered would be inadmissible.
The judge would throw it out, and the opposing counsel would tear them apart.
This script was riddled with inaccuracies.
If they filmed it as it was, actual legal professionals would have a field day shredding it online.
"Why are you rewriting it?" Alden asked, completely baffled.
"I'm creating an opportunity for myself," Avery replied coolly, her head still buried in her work.
She stayed like that until evening, only stopping for a few bites of dinner. After reformatting the revised script on her computer, she sent it to Diana Marks, followed by another message.
**Legal Person Does Not Sleep:** Diana, I want to be in "You Are My Defender."
**DianaM_Stellar:** Not the historical fantasy? I pulled a lot of strings to get you that script. Historical fantasies are huge right now. The male lead is Damian Royce, one of the biggest stars in the industry. With him in it, the show's a guaranteed hit. You could ride his coattails to stardom.
**Legal Person Does Not Sleep:** I don't need to ride anyone's coattails. What I need is a project I can be proud of.
**DianaM_Stellar:** "You Are My Defender" is a low-budget web series with no big names. All signs point to it being a flop. This is your first major role. If it disappears without a trace, it'll be a huge blow to your career.
Diana wasn't wrong. Julian Shaw didn't go to all the trouble of signing her just to let her grow at her own pace.
He wouldn't let her waste time on some obscure production.
Every step she took had to be calculated to make her famous, fast, so she could compete with legacy companies like Zenith Entertainment.
Julian had been waiting for years to make his move, and he was getting impatient.
Avery had to establish herself as soon as possible and become the weapon he could wield against the big three studios.
They'd had a chance a year ago, but some idiot got himself slapped with a DUI, vehicular manslaughter, and a hit-and-run, screwing up Stellar Media's timeline.
**Legal Person Does Not Sleep:** Diana, just look at the script I sent you first.
**Legal Person Does Not Sleep:** After you read it, take it to the "You Are My Defender" production team. Tell them if they let me play the Second Female Lead, I'll personally guarantee the legal authenticity of the entire show.
She hadn't gone to all this trouble just for one role.
The show had already been greenlit. And even though it was being made as a web series, once it was filmed and edited, they could still shop it to the major TV networks.
If a network picked it up, it could be released online and on television at the same time.
But there was a catch: the show had to be realistic and promote mainstream values that aligned with network policies. As long as it checked all those boxes, even a small web series had a shot at getting a broadcast deal. And Avery had just made sure this one did.