A/N To quote Chuck Lorre, "I got nuthin'"

Chapter 11

Warner Brothers Studio, 10:15 PM, Friday, Feb 17th, 2012

Leonard could see a worried look on Penny's face as Kelli approached. "I did all right, didn't I," said Penny.

Kelli smiled, "Yes, you did fine. Actually more than fine. That's why I wanted to talk to you. You were a big wildcard for us. We didn't know you, you really don't have a lot of experience, and you haven't been in a well known training program, so using you was a bit of a gamble for us."

"Well," said Penny with a shy smile, "thank you for picking me."

"To be honest, I wasn't really sold on using you," said Kelli with a smile after seeing Penny's reaction. "You'll have to thank Jim for pushing for you. He said he saw something in you, that made you perfect for the role, and he was right. You read your lines as if sarcasm is a second language for you."

Penny nodded, "It is, kinda. I'm pretty sarcastic in my real life." She chuckled, "Ask Leonard." Leonard was nodding his head.

"But you also have those facial expressions," said Kelli. "Your sarcastic lines come across so genuine, then you nail the facial expressions, and that just cements the whole thing. I do want to ask you, have you had any comedy training?"

"Not really," said Penny, "almost all of my acting training has been in drama."

"So how do you hit all those timing marks?"

"Well," said Penny, "You know I struggled with that. I just try to time out my movement with the words, and …"

"No, no, no," said Kelli, "Not the blocking marks, I mean your comedy timing marks."

Penny looked confused, "I didn't know there were timing marks. I've been going with just what feels right."

"Wow," said Kelli with some surprise, "you can do that naturally?"

"Do what?" asked Penny, still looking confused.

"Penny," said Kelli, "people train for years to learn to hit their comedy timing marks. Some don't ever get it, or only get it to a small extent. I don't know if you know this, but depending on the line and the situation, how long you wait before delivering a funny line isn't always the same."

"How do you tell?" asked Penny.

"I just depends, sometimes, it's a short period, sometimes you have to draw it out. Most people have to learn that, learn the situations. For this shoot, you evidently didn't even know that there were timing marks, you just waited to say your lines and all of your timing was dead on."

"That's good, right?" said Penny sounding excited that she did something right.

"That's very good," said Kelli. "Very, very, good. It's rare for someone to have that kind of comedy timing. Between your timing and your facial expressions, Jim felt we had a perfect Jess for the show. I'll admit I didn't think so. Just not enough experience, I didn't think you would be able to get the timing down. But, wow, acting wise, you proved me wrong, and for that I'm glad."

"Acting wise? What do you mean?"

"Well," said Kelli, "mechanically, your lines, your blocking, which direction you were facing did not go smooth at all, did it?"

Penny looked sheepish, "No, I guess it didn't." Her voice rose and her speech got faster, "But, I can learn it, right? You said people have to learn their timing marks, well, I can learn the blocking ones, right? Right?"

Kelli smiled, "Calm down Penny, yes you can. Most actors learn that in acting classes."

"Oh, sorry," said Penny, "so, what happens now?"

"We'll…" Jim walked up and Kelli said, "Hi hon. I was just telling Penny how you pushed for her, and I didn't."

Jim chuckled, "Thank you Penny, for proving me right."

"Well, except for the production stuff. I screwed that up pretty badly." She paused for a few seconds, looking at Jim, "I guess there was stuff going on, I knew nothing about."

Jim chuckled again, "There always is, Penny. We talk between us all the time. We talk to the directors, we talk to the executives, cause, after all, they are the ones that will put the show on TV. We also talked to your co-stars."

Penny looked surprised. "Can I ask what they said?"

Kelli and Jim looked at each other, Jim nodded, and Kelli said, "I won't go into individual reactions, but overall, they were happy with you. Even with you forgetting lines and blocking, they could see you were putting in the effort, it was just a matter of time before you got it. They could see you cared about trying to get it right. They also thought you were funny. Remember, this is supposed to be a comedy, so if you are getting laughs from the other actors, you are doing quite well."

Penny blushed and said "Well, er, thank you Jim, believing in me…oh, sorry, thank you Kelli."

Kelli laughed, "Don't worry Penny. I'm glad it worked out too. Now, I was going to tell you what happens next. First, were going to edit the show. Put the camera shots, that we want, together. Once that's done, we'll look at it, and if we want, or need, to reshoot something, we'll call you in."

"Then we'll send it to the network. They'll pass it around to their executives, gather some test audiences to see what they think of it. Then, there will be some meetings. They may request a reshoot or they may request we change something like sets or even characters.

Kelli could see Penny starting to look worried, so she said, "But, I don't see where they would want to change the cast, you guys were so good. So, hopefully, they won't want a reshoot, or any big changes, and we'll just hear about the show getting picked up. We'll keep in touch Penny, would you rather we go through your agent, or can we call you directly?"

"You can call me," said Penny. "Would you want me to call my agent, or do you want to do it?"

"How about this," said Jim, "if we need you for taping or other production things, we'll call you, and then tell your agent. If it's contract things, we'll go through your agent first."

Penny considered that, "That sound's good, let me talk to her."

"Ok," said Kelli, "you'll be hearing from us. And, Penny, if this doesn't work out, you may be hearing from us for other things."

"What other things?"

Kelli said, "Jim and I have talked and if this doesn't work, we have some spots on our other two shows that we might be able to use you. One of them, could be recurring. So don't worry."

"Thank you," said Penny sounding stunned. "Before you go, I want to introduce you to my boyfriend, Leonard."

Kellie held out her hand and shook Leonards. "I've heard a lot about you. Lasers, Cal Tech, right?"

Leonard nodded, "Yes, experimental physics. Thank you for allowing me to watch."

"Our pleasure Leonard," said Jim, reaching to shake Leonard's hand. "I hope you enjoy it, because I think Penny will have a pretty good career, once people see her in this. Of course, we have to get this on the air, but if not, we have some other ideas for her. But, we have to get going, I just wanted to talk to Penny."

"Thank you so much," said Penny. "Call me whenever you need me."

"We will," said Jim. Kelli and Jim started walking away. Suddenly Jim turned, "By the way, do not cut your hair or dye it or tint it. If we have to reshoot anything, we have to make sure your appearance doesn't change."

Penny nodded and Jim continued, catching up with Kelli.

"Well," said Leonard, "that sounded like a pretty good endorsement, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it did," said Penny looking a little shocked. "They sounded like they really liked me. This is a surprise, considering how the rest of my career has gone."

"Well," said Leonard, "now you can think your career is going to start going well, right?"

Penny nodded, "I guess, I've got two of the best producers, in the business, for producing comedy series saying I've done really well, and they may want me for something else, if this falls through." Penny paused for a few seconds, a grin slowly spreading, "Yeah, I think I can now say it's going well. Come on sweetie, let me say goodbye to a few people, and then we can head home."

Penny found several of the people she wanted to see and said goodbye to them. She found Dave and Dana talking and said goodbye to them. Then, she went looking for Jeanie and when she found her, she gave her a big hug.

"Thank you, Jeanie,"

"For what?" asked Jeanie.

"For everything," said Penny. "You made this a very good experience for me. I was screwing things up and you helped me understand what I needed to do. Can I tell you something?"

"Sure"

"If this pilot falls through, Jim and Kelli have a couple of ideas for me on their other shows."

"I'm not surprised," said Jeanie. "You are very funny and since they do comedies, you're perfect for their shows.

"That may be," said Penny, "but without your help here, I'm not sure they would be interested. Not only that, but you treated me like I've been in the business for years, instead of it being my first series. So, again, thank you for that."

Jeanie smiled, "I'll tell you what a big star told me when I first started. Treat everyone how you would like to be treated. There are a lot of assholes in this business, so don't be one. Help new actors, be considerate of the production people, remember they make you look good. And the biggest, is be professional. Be where you have to be, be there on time, and be prepared for what you have to do that day. If something comes up and you'll be late, call and let someone know. It costs money for production, waiting for you shouldn't be one of those costs."

Penny nodded, "Thank you, that all makes sense, and you lived up to it."

"You lived up to it yourself, especially the being prepared part of the job, so keep that up. And all that production stuff, the lines and blocking, you'll get it. Looking forward to working with you on this project Penny, take care." Jeanie gave Penny a hug, which Penny returned, then they broke and Penny and Leonard left.

Pasadena, February-March 2012

Life went back to normal for Penny after the taping. She had gotten her check, and was a bit disappointed. From her ten thousand, they had taken out taxes, her agent's cut, her SAG initiation and dues, and by the time all of that added up, she was looking at a check for just under five thousand dollars. Following Leonard's advice, she put it in her savings account, minus a couple of hundred or so for a new dress and two pair of shoes. On the Tuesday after the taping, she was back at work at The Cheesecake Factory.

It was a rather large letdown after her previous week, but she still needed to have money coming in, and that meant working at the restaurant, unless another acting job came up. Her co-workers were excited for her, and were asking her all kinds of questions about working on a show. It got so bad that her manager banned anyone from asking her about it, while they were working. He then promptly broke his own decree, asking Penny all about it.

Leonard was working on his detection experiment, but he hadn't heard back from Sheldon, so he couldn't determine the exact frequency, of the laser, that he would need to increase the sensitivity for detecting a graviton.

Despite this, he continued working, trying to determine possible ways to detect the different particles. He knew the math, and could do the calculations needed to try to detect the Higgs and the Photons. He was even going to attempt the calculations for the electrons.

He didn't use the math every day, like Sheldon, so it wasn't going to be as easy for him, as it would be for Sheldon. But he could do it, for those three particles, and he had been working on the math, trying to determine the shape of the reflection. He thought about doing the calculations for protons and neutrons, but since they were made of quarks, he couldn't get a clean pattern. Nor, could he get a clean pattern from the quarks, so he dropped the idea of doing the calculations for either quarks or the other hadrons.

Apartment 4B, 5:15 PM, Friday, Mar 17th, 2012

Leonard walked up the stairs after work. Amy was taking Sheldon somewhere he needed to be, for which Leonard was grateful. He was tired, he had been working on his calculations all week, and was struggling with it.

He had gotten the expected shape of the Higgs boson, and the photon, but was still working on the electron. He would need to calculate the frequency of the laser, but he was waiting until he completed all expected shapes before starting on the frequencies.

He unlocked the door to 4B and entered the apartment. Penny was looking out of the window, talking to someone. "Yes, Bill" she said, "that is the day I need."

Her boss, thought Leonard, I wonder what that is about.

"Yeah, that's the only day I need," said Penny. "I'll be back to work on Tuesday, you can even use me on Saturday, if you need to. Yeah, I'll keep you up to date. Ok, see you Tuesday."

"What's going on?"

Penny turned, "Oh, hi sweetie, I have to go back in and do some reshoots."

"Why?"

"I don't know," said Penny. "I got a call today asking if I can be there on Monday, at ten. Of course I said yes, and I started to ask why and Tina simply said, 'good, see you then,' and she hung up. I guess I'll find out Monday. So where are you taking me for dinner?"

Stage 25, 9:45 AM, Monday, Mar 20th, 2012

Penny was in the makeup room, Linda was fussing with her hair. Linda was the hair person for the show, and she was trying to get Penny's hair to look like it did on the screen in front of her. On the screen, was a shot of Penny from the taping, over a month ago.

Finally, Linda said, "Got it. You're fine now Penny."

"Thanks Linda," said Penny. Just then, Kelli walked in, and seeing Penny said, "Hi Penny, how are you?"

"Fine Kelli," said Penny. "What are we reshooting?"

"Just a few scenes," said Kelli. "There is a very good chance we won't have Dana for the series. He's been offered a lead role in another pilot, and there's possibly another reason, we just can't say anything about because it's not finalized yet. We've agreed to release him from the contract, and we've brought someone else in."

"Really?" said Penny. "Where is he? Who is he"

"As a matter of fact," said Kelli, "he's already shot his scenes. His name is Brent Crawford. What we're doing here is cleaning up some lines that had to be changed, due to the actor change, and because of how different he looks. The reshoots today are simply for you and Jeanie," said Kelli.

"Where is Jeanie?" asked Penny. "I haven't seen her."

"She's out on the set," said Kelli, "which is where I'm heading. But I have to run to my office first. I'll see you out there in a few."

"OK, see you out there." Penny and Kelli both left the makeup room, but while Penny headed toward the set, Kelli turned left, toward the offices.

As she got to the set, she heard "Penny!" and she turned to see Jeanie running towards her. When they met, they hugged, both talking rapidly, trying to catch up on what had happened, since they finished the taping. They had been talking only briefly when Kelli, Jim and another guy came walking up. The guy turned out to be named Don. He would be directing the reshoots, as Ron, their previous director was now busy with another show.

Tina passed out about 12 pages, which were three scenes from what Penny could see. Kelli told them they would have about an hour to look over the scenes. Penny and Jeanie went to the apartment set and Don explained what he wanted for their blocking. Once they had that, they spent their hour going over their lines and movement.

After an hour, Don took his time to run through the first scene several times and afterward, they taped it twice. There were no problems either time and they moved on to the second scene. Don had them repeat the process and in another 30 minutes, they were finished with the second scene.

There was a break for lunch, and then Jeanie and Penny had to change their costumes for the final scene. Again, the same process was run through and after another hour, they were finished with the final scene.

Penny changed out of her costume, grabbed all of her stuff and was heading out, when she saw Jeanie. She stopped and they talked for a bit.

Kelli walked up and Penny asked, "This is gonna make it take even longer before we find out, right?"

"Actually, no it isn't," said Kelli. "The network executives have seen it, and have liked it. The change of actors we've done isn't a big deal. When we explained the problem, the network execs are the ones that gave us Brent, so they are already happy with him. The audiences they've shown it to, have mostly liked it. I'm thinking it's going to be another two to three weeks before we find out. So be patient."

Penny nodded, "Ok, keep in touch Kelli. Bye Jeanie, call me and we can go out for lunch in a week or two." Jeanie nodded and Penny hugged her, then headed out of the stage, heading home.