Mr. Johnson (Second Unit)

Not a name, a line on a call sheet. Pays on time, pays in full, and answers every question but one.

He doesn't give a name. He gives a line on a call sheet. The job in run 01 arrives as a genuine production document (scene numbers, unit, location, a call time), and the unit printed on it is second unit, which in the trade means the crew that shoots the parts the principals don't have to be present for. Asked what to call him, he taps that line and says nothing.

He has answered to it since, and it is the most accurate thing on the page.

Fifties, evening wear at any hour, as if he is due somewhere better afterwards. No watch, no jewelry, nothing on him that has a serial number he didn't choose. A face you can describe perfectly, which gets you exactly nothing. He is unfailingly polite, pays in certified credsticks, and asks no questions about method.

What the crew knows#

• He pays more than the job is worth, every time, and does not explain why.
• He has never once been late, changed terms, or haggled.
• He knows things about the crew's previous jobs that he should have had no way to learn, and mentions them casually, as reassurance.
• Ask him who he works for and he will say pleasantly that he can't, and then take the next question and answer it at length. Nobody who has dealt with him has come away feeling stonewalled, which is not the same as coming away informed.

Contact#