….
Just then, the door opened again.
Simon and Darren entered carrying bags of takeout, Chinese food from the smell of it, along with drinks.
Behind them, Samantha called out frantically. "Wait, Regal is talking with someo—"
But it was already too late.
The two producers stopped mid-step, taking in the scene: Regal at his desk, two unfamiliar people in the guest chairs, Keanu on the couch with Seren and Gwendolyn.
Marta and David exchanged panicked glances.
To them, it didn't look like they had interrupted a meeting. It looked like they were the ones who had crashed what was clearly a casual friends gathering.
"Looks like you have picked up one more audience." Regal said smoothly, carrying the conversation forward to avoid awkwardness. "You don't mind, right? You even got snacks now."
Gwendolyn tilted her head. "Should I grab Samantha too?"
Simon's shoulders tensed almost instantly.
"I think—" Darren began, then stopped himself, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"That actually sounds like a great idea." Seren added, clearly enjoying Simon's reaction far too much.
"Haa..." Regal laughed, shaking his head at the dynamic. "Samantha, come in. We got a pitch here."
Samantha stepped in, pausing when she saw the room. "Do you want me to take notes, or should I just… observe?"
"Nope." Regal said. "Sit and eat. This doesn't count as official."
What had started as a formal pitch meeting with two people had suddenly become a gathering of nine - Regal, Gwendolyn, Keanu, Seren, Simon, Darren, Samantha, and the two writers who looked simultaneously nervous and bewildered.
Simon and Darren distributed the food and drinks with the ease of people who'd done this many times before.
Thai boxes, pizza, a couple of suspiciously healthy salads that Gwendolyn immediately claimed.
Darren dropped to the floor, back against the couch. "Okay." he said. "What are we doing?"
Keanu shrugged, still focused on his food. "From what I understand, it's a television idea centered on a group of friends living in New York, though I should probably admit I only have the broad strokes."
Marta and David exchanged another look.
"Um." David started. "Should we... come back another time?"
"No, this is actually fine," Regal said as he settled back into his chair, opening the container of pad thai. "Just keep going, and don't worry about anything else in the room unless it directly affects what you're saying."
"I—okay." Marta exchanged another glance with David, then seemed to make a decision.
If this was happening, they might as well commit.
As she spoke, something shifted in the room's energy.
The formality that had existed moments ago dissolved.
Marta and David clearly weren't used to pitching while people ate takeout and sat on floors because there weren't enough chairs. But gradually, something shifted.
They began to notice the group dynamics.
Regal and Gwendolyn were obviously together, the way they shared food without asking, the casual touches, the shorthand communication of a strong couple comfortable in their relationship.
Keanu and Seren were also clearly a pair, though their dynamic was different. More private, less openly affectionate, but with an undercurrent of deep understanding. They sat close but not touching, a partnership that didn't need constant physical confirmation.
And then there was the interesting tension between Simon and Samantha. The way Simon's eyes tracked her when she moved around the room. The way Samantha's professional demeanor slipped slightly when addressing him directly. The careful distance they maintained that somehow felt more intimate than proximity.
Darren had his own energy - a bit strict, organized, the person who made sure everyone had napkins and the food was distributed fairly. But he laughed at the right moments, contributed observations, got along with everyone despite being clearly the most 'adult' person in the room.
Overall, the atmosphere was surprisingly casual.
With no hierarchy, or a sense of boss and employees. Just friends gathering, having normal conversation.
Exactly like what they had written in Friends.
It made everything easier.
As Marta and David continued explaining the show, the dynamic felt less like a pitch and more like sharing a story with friends for their opinion.
"So the pilot opens with Rachel bursting into Central Perk wearing a wedding dress." Marta continued, her voice steady now that she had found her footing. "She has just left her fiancé at the altar after realizing she was only marrying him because it felt safe, not because she actually loved him. Monica, who went to high school with her, happens to be there with the rest of the group, and that's how Rachel gets pulled back into their lives."
Maybe it was the food, or the way everyone had spread out around the office, or the fact that this no longer felt like a formal pitch, but the room had shifted.
Even Simon, who usually cared more about numbers than feelings, kept interrupting for reasons that had nothing to do with marketability and everything to do with character.
"Wait…" he said, leaning forward. "So Ross has been in love with Rachel since high school?"
"Since ninth grade." David said. "She doesn't really know. Or maybe she did at one point and forgot. That's where the tension comes from."
Darren let out a quiet breath and shot Simon a look. "That's rough. I feel bad for him already."
"It's painful, but that's kind of the point." Marta said, and without realizing it, she had stopped pitching and started explaining the story the way you would to friends. "Ross is basically anyone who's ever been stuck loving someone from the sidelines, and Rachel is every person who never noticed what was right in front of them. It's awkward and messy, but it feels honest."
David leaned in, unable to help himself. "You should tell them about Monica and Chandler. But that's much later, several seasons down the line."
"But you have planned it?" Gwendolyn asked, leaning forward with interest.
Marta hesitated for half a beat, then nodded. "We have talked about it as a possibility. They feel like the least obvious pairing, which is exactly why it works. Chandler keeps everyone at arm's length emotionally, and Monica needs control to feel grounded. Put them together, and they actually steady each other."
Keanu nodded slowly. "That makes sense. The couples nobody expects are usually the ones that last."
David picked up on the energy immediately. "People will assume Ross and Rachel are the big endgame, and in a way they are, but Monica and Chandler become the relationship that actually functions."
Samantha chimed in from the side. "So where does that leave Joey and Phoebe?"
"Never." both writers said simultaneously.
"They are too alike." Marta explained. "Both free spirits and a little childlike. They work as friends but would be terrible as a couple. Sometimes the best friendships are the ones that stay friendships."
The conversation flowed naturally.
At one point, Marta started describing a scene between Ross and Rachel, walking them through the emotional beats, when Keanu suddenly stood up.
"Show us." he said, as if the idea had only just occurred to him. "Let's see the scene."
"What?" Marta looked confused.
"You have got actors here. Well—" Keanu gestured around. "—most of us. We might as well use that."
They had spare scripts. Within minutes, pages were distributed.
Seren raised an eyebrow. "You are seriously suggesting a cold read of a TV pilot?"
"Why not?" Keanu said. "It will tell us more than just talking about it."
He glanced at Regal. "You do table reads all the time during development, don't you?"
"Usually with more preparation." Regal said, but he was already interested. "But sure. Marta, David - do you have spare scripts with you?"
They did. Within minutes, pages were distributed.
Keanu claimed Ross without hesitation. Simon barely made it through a page before laughing and deciding Chandler was his. Darren, after a brief protest, found himself holding Joey.
Seren studied the Monica pages with mild concern. She was a costume designer, not an actress.
Samantha looked much the same as she flipped through Phoebe's lines, clearly aware that assisting executives and performing dialogue were not the same skill set.
Gwendolyn, also a non-actors picked up Rachel. But by contrast, she seemed to take it in stride, as if stepping into a role was just another thing that happened naturally.
Regal didn't assign himself a character, at least not on paper.
The reading started casually, people stumbling over words, laughing at typos. But as they progressed, something interesting happened.
Whenever someone struggled with a line reading or couldn't quite find the character's voice, Regal would demonstrate.
"No, Chandler's humor comes from insecurity, not confidence." he said to Simon. "He jokes because it gives him somewhere to hide."
He leaned back slightly, shoulders rounding, posture closing in on itself. When he spoke again, he wasn't demonstrating so much as inhabiting the role. The timing softened, the sarcasm carried a trace of self-defense rather than swagger.
"Could I BE wearing any more clothes?" The line landed with the exact cadence Chandler needed, the joke doing its job while quietly shielding something more fragile underneath.
Simon blinked. "Oh. Yeah, that's... completely different."
Marta and David exchanged glances, surprise flickering across their faces.
Later, when Darren was struggling with Joey's sweetness without making him seem stupid, Regal demonstrated again.
"Don't play Joey as dumb - make him simple instead." Regal shifted, his entire physical presence adjusting as he spoke.
His body language shifted, opening up, shoulders loose, expression easy and unguarded. The line came out warm instead of forced.
"How you doin'?"
Darren tried again, borrowing what he had just seen. It wasn't perfect, but it was closer, and everyone could feel the difference.
When Gwendolyn couldn't quite nail Rachel's frantic energy in the opening scene, Regal showed her.
And that's when everyone really noticed.
Regal's voice shifted up slightly, his movements became more animated but not cartoonish, his entire energy transformed into someone overwhelmed and vulnerable but trying desperately to maintain composure.
"I was standing there with this gorgeous guy who I could actually see myself marrying, and I kept thinking... 'what am I doing?'" The line carried Rachel's panic and self-awareness at the same time, the way she talked herself through her own emotions while barely keeping them in check.
Gwendolyn stared at him. "How did you—"
"Your voice drops too low." Regal said, already settling back into himself. "It would land better if Rachel's voice rises when she is anxious. You can also show it physically - have her move more when she's nervous, like her hands never quite come to rest."
Seren was watching her twin brother with undisguised shock. This was what Keanu had meant. This wasn't just demonstrating or explaining, this was actual acting. Complete transformation, perfect character embodiment.
Even more surprising was when he helped her with Monica.
"Monica's control comes from anxiety, not from being mean." Regal said. "She needs things to be perfect because chaos scares her. So when you deliver this line about the apartment being organized—"
He became Monica. The slightly rigid posture, the precise hand movements, the way control manifested as care taken to an extreme. Even his voice changed, not drastically, but enough.
"Everything has a place, and there is a place for everything!"
Seren tried the line again, incorporating what she had seen. It wasn't as good as Regal's demonstration, but it was infinitely better than her first attempt.
Samantha watched all this while holding her Phoebe pages, and when her turn came, she looked genuinely nervous.
"I don't know if I can do this character." she admitted. "She's so... out there."
"Phoebe's weird, but she is grounded in her own logic." Regal said. Then he demonstrated.
His entire presence shifted again - looser, dreamier, operating on a wavelength slightly adjacent to everyone else's reality but still connected to it. The voice became lighter, more melodic.
"I wish I could, but I don't want to." The classic Phoebe construction, seeming contradiction that made perfect sense within her worldview. The delivery was simultaneously sincere and absurd.
Samantha laughed despite herself. "Okay, I see it now."
.
….
[To be continued…]
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