Taylor Swift Comfort Imagines

Panic on Set

TW: Anxiety

Context: You're a 19 year actress, and you've been on Disney Channel shows. You're close with Olivia and Sabrina as well.

Taylor Swift decided to make a short film for the folklore love triangle, in 2024. I am playing Augustine; I know what it's like to be the 2nd choice, so I can play my part so naturally. Olivia Rodrigo, one of my costars from HSMTMTS, is playing Betty. Over the past few weeks, we've been rehearsing. I've done better than I expected: I've ran through my lines pretty smoothly and I haven't had a panic attack yet. Today we're shooting the official short film, and I can already feel my guts tangled into a knot. My legs feel like Jell-O as I pack my tote bag with some snacks, my phone, and folder which had my lines. I drive over to the place where we're shooting the scenes. Today we're shooting the school scenes because it's summer so it's easier to shoot them. The place where we're shooting it just happens to be my old high school: a place that holds many awful memories of bullying.

In the middle of shooting a scene, I mess one of my lines up and freeze. I can hear ringing in my ears and the heartbeat thumping in chest. My calves ache and my vision becomes clouded with black spots, popping up and down. I feel like someone put a rubber band around my neck as I try to take deep breaths and gather myself. 

"Are you ok?" I hear a soft and concerned voice ask me. I see that it's Taylor, and quickly nod. I can't speak right now, this happens when my anxiety gets really bad. "It's alright. Do you want to sit down for a little bit?" I nod again, and she guides me to a sofa and gets me a cold water bottle. "Here, if you put this on your face, it might help." she offers. I nod again. I feel bad that I can only nod right now. "Do you want me to stay with you or do you need some time to yourself?" she asks softly, not trying to pressure me towards either decision. I don't know how to respond to that for two reasons: 1. I am in a state of panic and cannot verbally answer anyone or anything right now. 2. I don't want to bother her by making her stay with me when she should be filming a project she worked really hard on; but I also don't want her to feel like I'm pushing her away. When I don't answer, she offers a way for me to communicate. "Could you give me a signal for what you're more comfortable with? One finger if you want me to stay here, and two fingers if you need time to yourself?" she offers, being more understanding than I expected.

I hold up one finger, completely horrified by the idea of being alone during a bad panic attack. "Ok. Thank you for telling me. Just try to take some deep breaths," She continues. "Just breathe in for four seconds, hold for four, and breath out for four." Taylor continues, guiding me through my breathing. I try, and it takes a few rounds to slow down my breathing. "You're doing great, just keep taking steady breaths babe," She reassures me, softly rubbing my back. 

"I'm sorry for interrupting," I finally say.

"No worries, buddy. We can just shoot the scene again when you're ready. I promise that things like this happen every time we make a video, and that we usually need to redo some things. I'm glad I was here to help," Taylor says, reading my mind about messing everything up. 

She probably thinks that I was rude for not answering her. 

"I'm sorry for only being able to nod. I wasn't trying to be rude," I continue, feeling the need to apologize.

"It's ok, you don't have to apologize for something you can't control. I didn't think you were trying to be rude." Taylor replies, pulling me into a hug. "Are you ready to redo the scene?" She asks.

"Yeah, thank you for being so nice to me," I reply, shocked because a lot of directors have been really mean. 

"Of course! I just need to make sure everyone is ok," Taylor answers, smiling at me. 

I walk back out and re-do my lines, this time not missing a beat.

Sorry this one is shorter and not very good

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