The Write Match // Bill Hader

Ten

Bill and I sit in the empty writer's room. My laptop is open in front of me, John's notes laying on the table. Bill is also writing something, but he won't tell me what it is, and I'm not allowed to look.

New York City is truly the city that never sleeps. It's two in the morning, and the sound of traffic echoes throughout the quite room. I've worked my ass off on this sketch, but I'm nowhere close to being done. I usually like working alone when I write so I can concentrate, but since Bill made me stay with here with him, it's hard to focus since he would hum or make a joke every now and then.

We stayed quite for a little bit, I'm typing on my laptop and Bill is writing on a yellow legal pad. I always thought that writing with company would be horrible but looking up from my laptop from time to time and seeing Bill giving me a sweet smile, made it kind of nice. I don't want to get used to writing with company, but I don't think I would mind it.

The inspiration for the sketch was there and I was about to finish up my first draft, but I still needed character names.

"Dammit!" I yell, and Bill looks up to me as I close my laptop with a frustrated look on my face. He puts his pen down and focuses his attention on me.

"What's up?" He asks, hoping he could do something to help. He knew how exhausting writing could be sometimes.

"Nothing. I just need help with names. John has 'Zolesky Brothers' written on this, but I want to come up with something on my own." I say, rubbing my eyes in frustration. He looked at me in silence, thinking about what he was going to say next.

"I came up with that name actually and I want you to keep it." He tells me, looking back down at his notepad.

"Oh, I'll keep it then." I say, clearing my throat. "Okay, everything I've written so far shows one brother being completely normal, but the other one is a little out there. So, one of the brothers' names needs to be basic and then we have to come up with some crazy name for the other brother." I tell him and he thinks.

"Can we name one of them David, for the guy we met in the restaurant a little while ago?" He asks, and looks to me again, I nod, writing it in my notes. I put my head in my hands, staring at the table under me and at once the name hits me.

"Stefon." I say and look at him.

"Stefon." He thinks for a second. "That's the perfect name." He says, giving me a soft smile, trying to encourage me.

I open my laptop again and Bill moves over to sit next to me. I type the names in and move the screen in front of him, he started reading the words I wrote. This was the first sketch I've been nervous about since I've been writing for SNL.

"It's really good." He says, his eyes still scanning the screen. I even noticed him smiling at some of my jokes, which made me feel good.

"I don't know though..." I sigh again. "Is this what John would have done with it? I feel like I should take most of the jokes out..." I tell him.

"Meredith, it's great, it's perfect actually." He says, telling me his sincere opinion. "This is your sketch, so you should write whatever you want to write. If you think the jokes are funny and like them, keep them in there."

"I just feel like it's going to blow up in my face." I look at him in the eye, and I feel like he can feel my anxiety as I talked, which is something I hope he can't feel.

"Well, I can almost guarantee that it's not going to." He put his arm around me, trying his best to support me.

"What if John hates it or better yet, what if Lorne hates it?" I close my eyes, thinking of the worst possible outcome. I loved writing under this kind of pressure, but it's not something I enjoy all the time.