"Man or woman between 18-30 years old to play a drag queen for an independent production" was the first ad that Kori saw when opening the page. A frown was the first expression that appeared on her face. Not exactly the kind of roles she was looking for. On the other hand, the pay never hurt and the more filmed material she had for the reel, the easier it would be for future jobs.

The last successful casting of hers having been two months ago, Kori would be lying if she didn't say she was losing faith in her acting career, added to the fact that she had always had little confidence in her artistic abilities. Her future, it didn't look promising. Although she was not unhappy as an employee at a women's clothing commerical, she had a good boss and her coworkers were nice, it was just a temporary job, acting being her true passion and her first goal. She did not regret having moved from the other side of the country to follow her dream, but her mind could not help but wonder what would have happened if she stayed in Gotham City and pursue a career that would provide her with more financial security as a lawyer or engineer, as they had her parents had suggested.

Letting out a sigh, Kori looked down at the next notice. "Man 60-70". No. "Woman 30-35 for advertising." No. That was how most of her mornings passed before going to work. She in her apartment with a cup of coffee in her hand and seeing hundreds of casting notices to end up sending her resume to a few. The redhead looked at her watch. 8:40. She still had a few minutes before she had to leave. 24 minutes was the time it took her to get there, by clock.

Turning her attention back to the computer, she noticed an ad that caught her eye. "2 women ages 20-25 (Kate and Holly) and a man age 20-25 (Michael) for a Jump City university film student series project."

Being a student project Kori knew she probably wouldn't be paid, and the notice was pretty vague. On the other hand, nice material often came out of this type of project and the fact that it was for a series made everything more attractive. If chosen, they are already tied to you and you to them. Deciding that this was going to be her morning's ad, Kori attached her CV and hit the send button. Ready, let X'hal with with her. She finished her coffee, got up, grabbed her bag, as she liked to call her almost purse, and left to work.

"Over two hundred curriculums for 3 characters for a student series with a thousand dollar budget for the first chapter" Richard cried as he clutched his head. "In less than 2 days." Having spent a good deal of time looking at each one, it was easy to tell that it was weighing heavily on his psyche.

From the other side of the screen Barbara laughed. "And you were afraid that few would arrive, look at the bright side"

"We have no structure for this," Richard said, his face still buried in his hands.

This was already the third meeting by zoom that they had this week alone concerning the casting. The first two being to determine what they were looking for in the characters, the third to choose the candidates to take to casting.

Richard loved Barbara, that's why he hadn't hesitated to ask her to be assistant director, but the truth was that she could sometimes be a little distracted and not entirely trustworthy. That is why he had imposed on himself the responsibility of viewing each of the candidates that arrived, a task well below those of a director.

His thoughts were interrupted by Barbara. "We already have five cast per character, five Kates, five Hollys and five Michaels. I say that we call it a day and send them an email with the scene for the casting."

Richard nodded. "Yeah, you probably right, do it."

With his approval, Barbara began to compose the email. "So, how´s your day for tomorrow? What do you have to do? she asked him as she typed.

"Scouting with Victor, first the cemetery and then the cafe. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"My father's birthday, I can't"

Richard nodded. There was always something.

"Remember to clarify that the casting is via zoom next Saturday the 15th."

"I'm on it"

"Okay, I think we're done with that, let's hang up and when you're done send them to them" Richard said, it was already late, and the call had been going on for more than three hours. It pained him that in five hours he was going to have to get up to meet Victor in the cemetery, as they had arranged.

"Perfect Dick, see you, good luck tomorrow."

"Thank you, rest well, dear."

And with that Richard Grayson ended the call and leaned back in his chair. He was excited for his first time as a director and the more for being something he had written, but these last few weeks had been very tiring and the stress was mounting. Every day there were meetings with the heads of each of the areas. Production meeting with Victor, photography with Garth, sound with Garfield or art and costumes with Karen. Richard admired the work they were each doing, giving it 100% of their efforts to help him with the series. They had to check every detail, everything had to be perfect. And the filming date was getting closer and closer, 8 weeks to go.

The budget for the first chapter came from savings from small editing jobs he had done over the past year. His adoptive father, Bruce Wayne, being the tycoon he was, had offered him an absurd amount of money to finance the series. But Richard didn't want that. He wanted something that was his, that was financed by him and then look for producers interested in his project, the traditional method, and not something that fell from the sky. Nowhere in the credits was Bruce Wayne's name to appear.

Richard closed the zoom tab and was going to do the same with the series mailing tab when he noticed fifteen new posts from candidates. Richard laughed. Fifteen new ones in three hours. The truth was that the call was already closed and none of these had a chance, but Richard had already become addicted to seeing new candidates.

He unplugged the computer from the desk and lay down on the couch, placing the computer on his waist. He started opening one by one, looking at the CVs and reels. Neither was very impressive. Neither of them fit the type of character he was looking for or they were too far out of the age range. There was a 46-year-old Martin Mod. Yes, his career was impressive, but nowhere near what he was looking for.

Suddenly one caught his eye. "Kori Anders" said her name. 21 years old, redhead, tall, anyone with sight would say she was beautiful, her attached photos proved it, although they seemed more like something out of a dating app than a resume, which looked good, but there was no attached reel. She was probably just getting started. Although for Richard it fit the character of Kate that he was looking for, the truth was that he could not trust someone who had no experience with something like that.

Then he saw something that made him change his mind. A lot of the acting schools she'd gone to were in Gotham City, maybe she had lived there, which meant he might have the accent. Kate's character hailed from Gotham City. Richard's mind began to wonder with possible scenarios in which this could help the character and make her more realistic.

Deciding that it was worth at least listening to, Richard copied the email Barbara had written to the other actors and sent it to this Kori Anders. Ready. The worst that could happen was that she was not talented, and he lost twenty minutes of his life next Saturday. Yeah, it wasn't that bad. There were going to be 6 Kates on Saturday.

Let me know what you think. This is my first FanFiction. If the story is liked i´ll continue it. English is not my first language so please excuse my grammar mistakes.