Pop Quiz

Tom Ryan

Description

Fifteen-year-old Aiden is a minor cast member on a long-running high school "dramedy" with a low budget and a loyal following. Aiden and his friends are excited that they're being promoted to lead roles for the upcoming tenth season of Pop Quiz. But then they learn the show is being canceled. According to the producers, no one even watches TV anymore, with kids preferring the antics of YouTube stars. With the help of some former cast members and a group of hardcore fans, Aiden and his friends attempt to create a movie special to wrap up the storylines and give the series the send-off it deserves.

Sujets

• Fiction Jeunesse
• Télévision
• Radio
• YouTube
• Degrassi : La Nouvelle Génération
• Electronic Sports League
• EAL
• Television
• English as a foreign or second language
• Teaching English as a foreign language
• Degrassi
• Juvenilee Fiction
• Performing Arts
• TV

Informations

• Publié par: Orca Book Publishers
• Date de parution: 12 septembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 6
• EAN13: 9781459812246
• Langue: English

Extrait

Copyright 2017 Tom Ryan
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Ryan, Tom, author Pop quiz / Tom Ryan. (Orca limelights)
Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-4598-1222-2 (softcover).- ISBN 978-1-4598-1223-9 (pdf).- ISBN 978-1-4598-1224-6 (epub)
I. Title. II. Series: Orca limelights PS 8635. Y 359 P 67 2017 j C 813'.6 C 2017-900815-3 C 2017-900816-1
First published in the United States, 2017 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017933031
Summary: In this high-interest novel for teen readers, Aiden tries to save his TV show from being canceled.
Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.
Edited by Tanya Trafford Cover photography by iStock.com
ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS www.orcabook.com
20 19 18 17 4 3 2 1

For Joan and Dan, with gratitude for your many kindnesses
Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Acknowledgments

One
I t s quarter to three on Friday afternoon, and Ms. Burke is droning on and on about the major battles of the War of 1812. Four seats back, one aisle from the window, Dane Pierce is fighting a battle of his own, a battle to stay awake.
The only thing keeping Dane from falling asleep and sliding out of his desk onto the floor is Penny Vaughan. Penny is sitting one row ahead of him and one aisle over, which means Dane has a clear view of her. As always, Penny looks as fresh as a daisy, with sunlight streaming through the window onto her hair.
Penny is one of the smartest people in his grade, and, unlike Dane, she s managing to pay attention.
Dane realizes the room has gone silent. He turns to look at Ms. Burke, who s staring right at him. She seems to be waiting for something. He sits up, not sure what to do. He coughs. He doesn t really need to cough, but he feels like he should do something.
Dane? the teacher asks.
Yes, Ms. Burke? Dane responds, eyes widening. He tilts his head to indicate he s not quite sure what she s getting at.
Do you know the answer? she asks patiently.
Dane swallows. Um, can you repeat the question?
Ms. Burke lifts an eyebrow and waits a long moment. Dane feels everyone in the room turning to look at him. The lesson might be boring, but now that there s a chance to see someone getting embarrassed, the class is starting to show some interest.
Prashant, Dane s best friend, lets out a low whistle.
That s enough, Prashant, says Ms. Burke. The question is, Dane, in which city did the Battle of the Plains of Abraham take place?
Ummm, says Dane. Chicago? The room erupts with laughter.
Not even close, says Ms. Burke. Perhaps if you spent more time listening and less time staring at Penny, you d pick up some of these details.
Dane drops his head onto his desk and groans.
From behind him, Prashant leans in and whispers, Don t worry, Dane, love is the greatest lesson of all.
Cut!
The laughter abruptly stops, and I sit back up in my seat. A short man with a cool haircut, dressed all in black, hurries up the aisle from the back of the room.
Chill Bill Lee stands next to Ms. Burke and turns to speak to the class.
Nice work, guys, he says. Let s run through it one last time, and then we ll break for lunch. Then he looks right at me. Good job, Aiden. This time try to make Dane look even more lovesick when he s staring at Penny, okay? He makes a goofy goggle-eyed face, and we all laugh.
He turns to Anais, who plays Penny. Don t worry, Anais, he says with a wink. He s just acting.
She rolls her eyes and turns around to grin at me. I smile back, trying to look like I m in on the joke. The thing is, I m starting to wonder if my crush on Anais-ummm, I mean Penny-really is just acting.
Bill points at Satri, the kid who plays Prashant. Good job, Satri, but try to whisper a bit louder this time.
Got it, says Satri.
Everybody ready? asks Bill, moving to the back of the room.
Pauline, the hair and makeup lady, comes over to me and powders my cheek and then lightly musses my hair. She pulls back and squints, then gives a thumbs-up. Looking good, Aiden, she says.
Around the edges of the room, the electrics, who are responsible for lights, check with the camera operators, and equipment is shifted around and tweaked once again for another run-through of the scene.
Through the window, I catch a glimpse of some kids strolling down the sidewalk. They re chatting away, towels around their necks. I assume they re heading to the community pool. It s the dead of summer, and school is out for another whole month. But for those of us who attend Cherry Lane High School, class is still in session.
Cherry Lane High School, CLHS for short, is the fictitious secondary school that has been the main setting for the popular cable TV show Pop Quiz for nine seasons. For the past two years, I ve played a supporting role on the show. Even though I spend a lot of my summer vacations working, I love it. As far as I m concerned, it s the most fun job a fifteen-year-old could ask for.
I ve been performing since I was a little kid. When other kids my age were starting to play hockey or practice piano, I was writing plays and performing them in my backyard. Eventually my parents got the hint and enrolled me in acting lessons. For years, they drove me to private and group lessons twice a week, and to make a long story short, it paid off. When I turned thirteen, I was finally old enough to audition for Pop Quiz . To my surprise, I got a part.
Because the show relies on teenage actors, production has to take place during the summer months. It doesn t bother me at all, since this is how I want to spend my time anyway. I know the rest of my castmates feel the same way. Acting is fun, and-I won t lie-it s pretty cool to be on TV . Pop Quiz isn t a massive hit or anything, but it s popular enough to keep chugging along, and we definitely have a following. I get recognized when I go to the mall, and I even get fan mail sometimes.
Places, everyone, says Dexi Beales, the assistant director. The two camera guys step back into position, one in the corner of the room, and the other one crouching off to the side, his camera pointed directly at me.
I take a deep breath and roll my shoulders back, sinking back into my character.
And Action ! yells Bill.
Ms. Burke starts the lesson again, and Dane s already staring at Penny, playing it up even more this time. It doesn t take much acting, if I m being totally honest.

Two
I t takes another hour to wrap the scene, including three camera changes. A camera change is when the director of photography, also known as the DOP , rearranges a shot. Usually a scene starts with a wide shot of a whole room, then it switches to some medium shots, usually of two or three characters. The final shots of a scene are the close-ups, which are just what they sound like. Later on, after the shooting is finished, the editors take all the footage and cut it together to make a scene.
It might not sound that complicated, but every time the DOP changes a shot, the entire crew kicks into action. The electrics move and tweak all the lights, the art department hurries around, shifting furniture and arranging props, and the director and the actors talk about the performance.
There are way more jobs on a TV set than you might think, which means lots of people hustling in and out of the room, trying not to get in each other s way. Without all of these unseen people, a TV show would never get made.
The final shot of the morning is a close-up of me, reacting to Prashant s joke about love s lesson with an embarrassed eye roll. It s just a couple of seconds on-screen, but it involves Pauline running in again to do touch-ups on me, including patting my face with foundation, which is supposed to keep me from sweating. It also means that the lights are pointed right at me (super hot and making me sweat), and the camera is just a few feet away.
As the makeup artist pats my face with a little powder puff, and an electric crouches in front of me with a bounce sheet (a big piece of white cardboard that reflects light onto my face) my fake classmates chatter and joke. I can tell they are getting bored, but even though most of them won t even be in the background of the final shot, everyone has to stay until we re done. Otherwise the background noise won t sound authentic.
Finally, we re ready to shoot.
Places, everyone! Picture s up! The second Dexi calls this out, the room goes silent. We are professionals, after all.
Miraculously, we make it through the final shot really quickly. I glance over my shoulder to deliver the dirty look, then turn back and roll my eyes, embarrassed. The first one is fine, but Bill always asks for a second shot, just in case. A safety, he calls it. I go through the motions again, and then we wrap the scene and everyone gets the go-ahead to escape for lunch.