The place where Leslie McKinsey wanted to meet Wu Xiaoming was a coffee shop somewhere near the Haoliwood Hills, or Hollywood Hills, depending on who one asked. It was in a quiet corner around a single lane street with barely any traffic. The coffee shop itself was inside of a three-storey building structured like a watch tower with castle walls on its side. The red roof and bright white walls gave it a strange elegant while still upbeat vibe.
"Hey, Xiaoming, thank you for meeting me." Leslie McKinsey already had at least two espressos, judging from the two small cups in front of him: "Order anything from the menu, my treat. I recommend their espresso - it's my favorite, could be yours as well."
"Uh - too bitter for me, maybe I'll just have a cappuccino." Wu Xiaoming smiled and sat down: "So - what do you want to talk about, director?"
"So, first things first." Leslie McKinsey looked Wu Xiaoming straight in the eyes - his eyes were bloodshot, and he had bags under them, clearly he just had a rough day and night: "Have you heard about the guy who jumped?"
"Yeah." Wu Xiaoming shook his head: "Do you know what happened?"
"No, unfortunately." Leslie McKinsey shook his head: "Hell, I heard it when I was in a late night meeting with - with some guy from the studio. But don't you worry, the show is not in trouble. The studio just has some questions and things need to go through PR to set a proper date for release and everything - bottom line is don't worry, the project is still on."
"Okay."
"Also, here's a note from PR: if anyone asks about the guy who jumped, and his relation to our project, your answer should simply be: no comment, and condolences to his family." Leslie McKinsey knocked the wooden table with his knuckles: "For now, it's just an unfortunate coincidence."
"Okay." Wu Xiaoming sighed. There was nothing he could say for now. He needed more information and maybe more time to figure out what to do. He couldn't just go back there in the ethereal realm. Maybe he could try to investigate the place in the physical realm?
"Okay, so - with all of that aside, I want to talk about the next episodes. I know it's kinda early, but - "
"Wait, can we still shoot at the Sproutlinger Hotel? I remember - there are more stories there. " Wu Xiaoming interjected: "I mean - there's a lot more wrong with the place, I'm sure if we look into it or ask around there will be more stories to cover. I can go in alone this time, if you're not comfortable with the rooms and conditions there - "
"Nonono, we're not shooting there for the next episode, and not because of the room conditions." Leslie McKinsey shook his head: "Please understand, we are still in our early episodes, nobody really wants to see two consecutive episodes at the same place. Even if we are to shoot two separate, spaced out episodes in one go, there's still time and budget concerns, and right now we don't have a lot of either. So the best course for us is to shoot a few different episodes, show it to the studio and try to convince them we have an audience."
"... okay." Wu Xiaoming had to agree. He did not know much about the industry or the ecosystem around this kind of reality shows, but what the director just said made sense to him.
"Great. Thank you for understanding - wish more stars and the studio could be like you." Leslie McKinsey nodded with a wry smile: "We - uh, we only have two future episodes planned out so far. Anything further are still in ideation phase. So - do you have any reservations on shooting outside of Holly - I mean Haoliwood?"
"No - not really unless it's a really crappy place and I have to stay for long. " Wu Xiaoming shrugged: "Where are we going?"
"It'll be an abandoned luxury house in the woods, in Monterey." Leslie McKinsey nodded.
"Monterey…" Wu Xiaoming thought for a moment. He was still new to this world and the U.S, he had no idea where it was, but he did not want to show his ignorance either.
"Don't worry! We've already scouted the place - the building was in good condition, a little messy but still perfectly comfortable if you're prepared. It wouldn't get too cold at night, and the nearest neighbor is just thirty minutes away. " Leslie McKinsey immediately tried to sell the place to Wu Xiaoming, after mistaking his hesitation for trepidation: "Trust me, for all of the haunted places in California, this is one of the better locations."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay with it." Wu Xiaoming smiled: "It's a - one of those - house in the woods, right?"
"It's not really a cabin, it's a pretty good house, even though it's abandoned." Leslie McKinsey laughed, his frown finally loosened a little: "We still have some logistics to figure out - we'd prefer you stay in there, and maybe take one guy with you - two at most. But there's no place for a control room, so - you'll have to go in there and handle it without any direct outside guidance."
"That's - uh, a lot of responsibility."
"Don't worry, I will let Jake or Robert help you if either of them was to go with you." Leslie McKinsey nodded: "They've been working with me for a while, they'll know what to do."
Robert - maybe that was the cameraman. Wu Xiaoming tried to remember.
"Cool." Seeing that Wu Xiaoming had no objections, Leslie McKinsey nodded again: "Then for the next episode - doesn't have to be next, since we can decide on the order later, but you know what I mean. The next episode would be a haunted movie set in Malibu, this one is actually closer to us, but there might be a bit of trouble since we're still negotiating with the current owners. But I really have high hopes for it - it was custom built by horror movie legend Gregory Henderson. He wanted to shoot his last masterpiece there, but did not get to do it. The story goes that the set itself was so haunted that even he had to abandon the idea of shooting in it."
"That sounds - kinda disturbing." Wu Xiaoming narrowed his eyes. For anyone else, that just sounded like an urban legend waiting to be experienced, explored or disproved. But for him, knowing what he knew, it sounded like more trouble and danger than it was worth.
"Oh yeah, very." Leslie McKinsey could not hide his eagerness and excitement: "So many stories came out of that place. Most of them were fake, of course, but even if one out of a hundred was true, that would be a terrific episode."
"But - how come nobody has done that yet?" Wu Xiaoming scratched his head.
"Excellent question - because for one, not many dared." Leslie McKinsey was quite proud of himself when giving this answer: "Second of all - word on the street is, Gregory Henderson's estate only recently decided to actually do something with it - and what else is a better way to honor his memory than exploring the set he tried to finish?"
"Alright. I - I can kinda see that." Deep down, Wu Xiaoming did not really want to actually go there for a shoot - maybe when he was strong enough to explore it on his own, he would. But to actually go there, he just had a lot of bad feelings and not enough confidence - call it his guts or intuition, if one would.
"If you don't have any objections, I guess things are settled." Leslie McKinsey looked quite relieved, as he finished his fourth cup of espresso in one gulp.
"Just out of curiosity - how much time do we have before we have to - I mean we CAN go to the set and shoot?" Wu Xiaoming took a sip of his cappuccino.
"To be perfectly honest, we don't know yet." Leslie McKinsey sighed: "If we're being realistic, it could take a while to get the okay from all the co-owners, so right now the date is TBD. We will be looking at some other possible plans if we cannot get the okay in time."
"Okay. Okay, as long as we're not putting all of our hope on it." Wu Xiaoming let out a breath of relief.
"Deiniftely not, don't worry."
"How about the footage we have already? What did the studio say? Do we have any feedback from the test - test audience?"
"Still too early. But we'll arrange a test screening soon." Leslie McKinsey stood up: "And again - thank you very much for coming. We will keep you up to date with everything."