Today I walked past a sound stage I briefly spent some time working in when
I was a college student. This memory came flooding back to me.

My father got me a summer intern job for a production company that produced
commercials. The director was a friend of my father’s. I showed up on my first
day full of enthusiasm. It didn’t take long for me to feel like I was being fed
to the lions. All these people had jobs to do & not much got in their way.
I was newbie girl & as a production assistant, all the shit jobs fell to me.
I didn’t mind that much. It was still a chance to get a feel for the business
& find out just what the heck I wanted to do for a living.

So, I ironed underwear when we shot spots for a men’s underwear commercial
(no cute models were involved...just actors dressed as fruit...too bad).
I polished what seemed like a million pairs of eyeglasses for another spot.
After the tedious tasks were done, I’d get to view dailies with the director
or watch the editing being done. I actually learned a lot.

But I still felt like a fish out of water & it must have showed.
One day a photographer came to the set to do some shots for some print ads.
He was in his 30’s, which, to a girl barely in her 20’s, seemed kind of exciting.
He was confident, good looking & talented. We chatted throughout the day.
He asked if I wanted to grab some dinner when we were done.
I felt flattered & said, yes.

We ended up working into the evening, so it was a couple of hours
after he first asked me to dinner, when I finally saw him again.
He looked at me in a strange way & said that he was sorry, but he couldn’t
take me to dinner. I was disappointed, but said it was ok.
It turns out that the director (my Dad’s friend) found out
about the photographer’s plan to take me out
& suggested to him, that he change his plans.

The director made sure he but me in a cab that night. I usually took the
subway, but for some reason, he seemed concerned that I get home safely
that night. He told me, the next day, that the photographer did great work,
but on a personal level, he didn’t like the guy. He couldn’t but his finger on it,
but he thought the guy was a little bit off.

About 3 weeks later, photographer guy was arrested for holding a girl hostage
in his apartment & raping her.

I don’t know why...but I’ve never told anyone this story.