Utopia Show

A small crew is bustling around, adjusting the lights.
Props and microphones are laid out. The filming stage was always challenging, but interesting.
The location has a gloomy Halloween atmosphere; the air is still dry, unclogged by drama, and everything seems safe. Carved jack-o-lanterns grin at the camera.

Evgeny stands, checking the storyboard on the tablet, looking at it meticulously and attentively.
Out of habit, he already runs scenes through his head, phantom-like—he always does this in advance, so that he can sense the material not just as words on a screen, but as tone, movement, breathing.

He mutters under his breath:

• We need to pause here...

There is a gentle knock on the door.

A new actor comes in.