A Beasthood · The Lights
Studio 66
Hold that. Gorgeous. Again. Now, what do we cut?
Their gift: The Reel. The yearly Reel sets how the year is told. The cost: Those who were there keep what was cut; no Beast can be cut.
About 500 Beasts call Studio 66 home.
The place
Chrome, bubblegum glass, corners angled to catch a face. To the Studio its street looks the way it will on screen: lit from the left, slightly better than life.
Their gift, and what it costs
The Reel. Each year the editors cut the year to eight minutes, and once it premieres, the Beastside remembers it that way. It fixes the telling, not what happened: Beasts who were there keep what was cut, and it can't cut a Beast. The cost: everyone knows who holds the scissors.
What they want, and what they fear
Want: everyone watching. Fear: an empty room: lamps up, cameras rolling, seats bare.
People you might meet
- Joss Brannock (Original), rig lead. Afraid of the dark, takes the darkest: "If I'm scared, I'm pointing the right way."
- Kiki Sol (Squirrel), Full Glam captain. Poached four Odeon players; crosses the street to avoid the Odeon, in heels.
- Coco Varga (Squirrel), chief editor. Cuts for rhythm, then files each cut frame with a card: who'll remember it.
- Glimmer (Piglet), Come As You Are's star, a month trailed by Sweet Mouth: "Every mirror here agrees with me. I'd like a week of one that doesn't."
Neighbours and old business
- The Odeon swears the Understudy night's runaway lead came straight to the Carpet. The Reel doesn't say.
- Cortado Cafe's finds reach the Carpet within a week, every maker named.
- Everyone resents the Reel, turns up anyway, and knows whose rigs go out first when the old road goes dark.
Books from Studio 66
A Beast's Book is written from their holder's choices. The newest from here:
More about Studio 66
Their scarThe Studio always made films, but the First Reel (three years ago) was the first time it cut a whole year.
The Studio always made films, but the First Reel (three years ago) was the first time it cut a whole year. A feud was cut for time. By morning the Beastside remembered a peaceful year, and the two rivals met for breakfast to argue it. They still do, weekly. An Odeon rookie's first ovation was cut too.
The Pale Day (six weeks ago): the Grey came along the old road and took the street's names, then its colour. The editors, taught by the Grey Year that watching isn't naming, played last year's Reel on every screen, and the street named each face as it came up.
What they argue aboutFull Glam vs Come As You Are: the Carpet's dress code, really what the Reel is for.
Full Glam vs Come As You Are: the Carpet's dress code, really what the Reel is for. Full Glam: remember a year at its best. Come As You Are: remember it true. The premiere's roar decides.
This seasonThe rigs are out on the dark stretches, so the premiere makes do with one lamp.
The rigs are out on the dark stretches, so the premiere makes do with one lamp. Every Beasthood wants a say in the Reel.
The Hush hereThe watched go Hush here, to grey-doored flats behind Noodle Row: window boxes, off camera.
The watched go Hush here, to grey-doored flats behind Noodle Row: window boxes, off camera. Their offer to a tired star: you've been on a screen since your first morning. Give your name into keeping; the Beastside stops calling, and your friends still knock. The Studio is one of the Understudy's five, and the Hush's best case is Sweet Mouth, which feeds on being watched. The Odeon will carry the names if its cut ovation plays on premiere night. The last vote lost to a roar; this time the Hush want hands, in silence. Kiki calls that cheating.
PlacesThe Carpet: premieres; the roar carries to the ridge.
- The Carpet: premieres; the roar carries to the ridge.
- Rig Yard: crews home from dark stretches, shard-dust on the lenses.
- Reel Vaults: every cut frame, kept. Beasts come to watch what only they remember.
- Noodle Row: rigs off, sweats on, no cameras.
What they think is going on"If they're watching, you exist."
"If they're watching, you exist." The Grey is a crowd that went home.