She wakes to the soft cotton of a heavy duvet holding her down on a mattress dampened with her sweat. She has dreamt of being trapped in a maze made of strings of beads, coloured candyfloss pink and chalk green, like the ones she’d worn to the party at the Hampstead house. Scott’s white-toothed smile. The fray of his jumper at a tanned neck. She was trapped, unable to find a route out, but worse was the sound of her own voice. From somewhere above is the mewling, childish sound of her own crying, that played its soundtrack over the images and, in time, brought her back to waking.

She gets to the office that morning, late, dragging herself to the doors with slow and heavy steps. Her mind feels blank, her heart heavy, her soul on the floor, drained by the effort of simply being.

She makes her calls and writes her emails in the hot and airless office that smells of printer ink and coffee. Siobhan is also subdued. There is none of the usual trickling chat between the two of them, a happy flow of words that usually cuts through their heavy workloads.

Becky edits a press release entitled: Kingfisher Films announce the attachment of Simon Bach to forthcoming feature Medea.

More emails pile in, many of them from Sharon: a meeting with a casting agent, script notes to consider, and an upcoming face-to-face about heads of department (now who best for set design, lighting, graphics, the edit?). Becky’s job now is to answer and solve or defer and deflect. To keep the dream she fought so hard for moving, moving, moving.

Simon Bach said: ‘I am so looking forward to joining the dream team that is Sharon, Emilia and Becky. These are three passionate, clever and fabulous beacons of progressive film-making. The story they have to tell is vital and I could not be more thrilled that they’ve invited me along for the ride.’

Becky Shawcross said: ‘I am over the moon that Simon has agreed to play the role of Jason in our forthcoming production. He brings magic to everything he does.’

Further notes to editors: with MEDEA, Kingfisher Films will be one of the first UK film companies to implement an ‘inclusion rider’ across the whole production, ensuring that during pre-production, production and post-production both cast and crew fully reflect British society in terms of gender, BAME identity, sexuality and disability status.

Becky stares down at her own quote. It’s too short. It’s a bit flat. Can she really not think of anything else to say about this actor?

‘Have you ever even met him?’ asks Siobhan. ‘He makes it sounds like you’ve all been camping together. Had a fabulous night on magic mushrooms under the stars and are planning to buy a holiday house together.’