They begin shooting with the balcony scene, where Death confronts Dream about condemning his girlfriend to hell 10,000 years ago. Before they start, Byron gives his star some pointers: it is his first acting experience. "Okay, you've just left the dining room in anger, because your siblings all got on your case about what you did to the girl 10,000 years ago. You're very self-righteous, I need to see that. You don't think you did anything wrong. Your sister, Death, the only one you're really close to, follows you out. You think she'll be on your side, but she's not. She agrees with the others..." Byron directs him.

"Maybe she didn't want to be a goddess, Little Brother. Did you ever consider that? Anyway, condemning her to an eternity in Hell, just because she turned you down.....That's a really shitty thing to do." Astrid/Death speaks her line perfectly, exactly what Byron wanted in this character. And Gavin/Dream gets the exact expression of pain & regret this moment called for..this is going perfectly,

Until Gavin/Dream suddenly falls out of character, breaks down in front of them and tries to kiss Astrid/Death...who smacks him in the face before he can get near her...there is obviously a problem with his actors here. "Gavin, you ass, I'm playing a part here. This isn't about us, there was never an 'us' for it to be about. The whole time I was with you, I was screwing her too," Astrid yells at Gavin, gesturing at Alison, who sits up, startled & alert.

"Cut! cut!" Byron yells, "She's Death, she's your sister, you're not supposed to kiss her!" All these years, Byron had never really paid any attention to what his crews were up to in their dressing rooms & trailers, and he doesn't care if they manage to eke out a social life behind the sets, but he's not going to let it ruin his movie.

"I don't know what's going on here, Gavin, Astrid, but I'm not having it," Byron shouts as he gets up from his chair. "Gavin, I don't know what that was about, but if you have something going on with Astrid you can't deal with, we can get another actress," he tells his star. Gavin's inexperienced, but with some help, he will shine in this role, Byron can feel it, and he intends to make it happen. He'd like to keep Astrid as well, but not at the expense of his Dream.

"Whatever it takes to get this movie done," Byron says. "You have to be your character, but you are not your character, your life can't take over the script....Okay, Take 5, all of you," he calls out to the crew. His star needs a break already & they haven't finished single scene.

Then he turns to Astrid, "I expect you to be better than that, Astrid. You're a professional, if he breaks down & makes it personal, don't respond to it. If you're going to stay in this project, you'll have to be on my side & help him through it, understand?" Astrid looks up at him with, quavering the way actresses do. "I understand," she says solemnly. Byron nods, "You better understand, Astrid. There could be sequels to this, with a much larger role for you, so you better commit yourself to it." Where the hell is Serena? Byron wonders. Didn't he call her? He can't remember, now.

Byron complains to Alison about how these romantic entanglements ruin a shoot. "Listen, Alison, I expected Serena, my psychic to be here, but I think I forgot to call her. I want you to keep her informed of our schedule so she can be on set. And give her a call for me now. I want to try shooting this scene again in 10 minutes." Alison sighs, "Byron, its 1am, do you really want me to call this woman?" "Really? That late?" Byron laughs, "No I'll call her in the morning myself, but get in touch with her tomorrow & start keeping her on schedule for me."

NEXT