When Mick first started dictating, he had seemed uneasy, distracted, but within a minute, he had shifted into another gear. Work mode, Sarah thought, her pen flying across the page. He had become engaged, laser-focused. She could sense his talent roaring to the forefront, and there was something very addictive, almost seductive in seeing him like this. “The scene in the cave, on . . .” She could hear the sound of him flipping through the script. “Page seventy-three. What the hell is that about? Felt like filler. On page seventy-six there is the addition of a fucking mountain lion? That’s what happened to Lance? Give me a break. The man is described as six foot six and built like a tank, and a mountain lion is going to take him down? First off, bees kill more people than mountain lions. Secondly, the man survived three tours of duty, is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and he’s done in by a mountain lion?” Mick sounded so outraged on Lance’s behalf. “On page . . . sixty-nine, there is a long, drawn-out scene—Derek’s messed-up relationship with his father. It felt like an afterthought. If you leave the scene in, it needs to be woven into the fabric of the script. It’s a dramatic scene, but there is no mention of it afterward or any hint of foreshadowing. What do you get for it? Does it change Derek? Does it change the trajectory of the script and color his actions and motivations going forward? No. So why is it there? Page eighty-two— What are you smiling at? No. Don’t write that down. I’m asking you a question.”