EPISODE 8, SCENE 57:
Meet deBos

[Setting: As they emerge from their meeting with Marv deBos Jr., Casey turns to Lorenzo and whispers: “Before you say anything, brother, lemme remind ya of our first meeting with … deBos.]

**FLASHBACK** 
deBOS Boardroom, Several Months Earlier

NARRATOR:
Casey and Lorenzo were first invited (somewhat begrudgingly) to meet with Marv deBos — a high-ranking record exec, known for his no-nonsense demeanor and cold efficiency. This is their shot. Kat is back at the Writer's Room, waiting for the verdict.

[They’re led in by Clem Farmer, a long-suffering underling who championed Cheap Whiskey early.]

CLEM (monotone):
Mr. deBos will see you now.

[They enter. Lorenzo stops cold when he sees the desk plate:]
MARVIN deBOS JR. – SENIOR VP, A&R STRATEGY

[Lorenzo freezes. Squints. Looks at Casey. Back at the plate. Then just breaks.]

LORENZO (barely breathing):
No. No no no no no. This cannot be real.
You’re tellin’ me… this guy’s name… is deBos?!”

CASEY (under his breath, deadly calm):
Lorenzo. I swear to God. Not. Now.

LORENZO (bent over, wheezing with laughter):
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. This is not disrespect. Sir,
I am not laughing at your name — I promise you that.

MARV deBOS (stone-faced):
Then what are you laughing at?

LORENZO (wiping tears, trying to steady himself):
The irony, sir. It’s just… this happens to me a lot.
The bald guy named Shears walks in to help us write a song about hair.
And now you, sir — your name is literally deBos.
And you are… da boss.

(pauses)

LORENZO (sincerely):
I’m sorry. It’s just… the universe really goes hard sometimes.

CASEY (jaw locked, not making eye contact):
We’re deeply grateful for your time, Mr. deBos.

LORENZO:
Let’s be friends, Mr. deBos.
I swear — I love your name.
I just wasn’t ready.

deBOS (still unreadable):
Sit.

[They sit. Pure silence.]
[Lorenzo is doing breathing exercises. Casey is vibrating with rage.]

LORENZO (whispers to Casey):
It’s not like I planned that.

CASEY (hissing):
You broke three unspoken rules in twelve seconds.
You’re lucky I still love you.

[FADE OUT]

SCENE 58:
I Heard an Eko

NARRATOR:
While Lorenzo and Casey are in Chicago fumbling through their existential career moment, Kat is back at home handling shit. She tracks down Julian Eko a long-haired, 27-year-old introvert from the failed freelance auditions.

[Kat is rereading old YouTube comments from ‘Cheap Whiskey’ rehearsal footage — searching for inspiration. One comment catches her eye…]

JULIAN EKO (Voice Over):
I think the ‘Cheap Whiskey’ team is building something eternal.
I just hope they find the right scaffolding.”

[Kat quickly contacts Julian via email, and he agrees to meet for an interview the following afternoon...]

[...Kat watches as Julian exits his 2025 Buick Skylark, noticing a bright blue ‘Gretchen Whitmer’ bumper sticker proudly on the back bumper. Long hair. Hood up.]

JULIAN EKO:
Hi. You told me to come back if I wasn’t done writing.
I wasn’t.

KAT (startled):
I told you that?

EKO:
Not in words.

[She nods slowly. Then extends a hand. The two INFJs quickly hit it off.]

EKO:
I confess: I’ve never been as ‘prejudiced’ against a whole swath of Americans as I am toward MAGA voters right now.”
(pauses)
And for a while, I felt guilty about that—like any decent progressive does.
But here’s the truth:

[He underlines CHARACTER on his notepad.]

It’s not about their skin or where they’re from.
It’s not about anything they can’t help. 
It’s about the decisions they made — and kept making — when the whole world was watching.

KAT (calmly):
Technically, Julian, that isn’t prejudice.
That’s discernment.

EKO:
Exactly! I didn’t pre-judge them. I post-judged them.
After ten years of receipts, observing, talking, we’ve earned the right to make a character assessment.

KAT (smirking):
Are you sure this is the soapbox you wanna die on today?

EKO (laughs):
Oh, I’m dying on it. Happily.

(pauses)

I used to feel guilty for judging MAGA voters.
Then I realized it’s not prejudice if you watched the show for ten years…
and decided you don’t respect the reruns.

[He caps the marker with theatrical finality.]

[After the nearly three-hour “interview,” Kat hired Julian Eko for a freelance position.]

[FADE OUT]

SCENE 59:
Do Your Friends Call You Cheap?

[Setting: Lorenzo and Casey briefly retreated to the deBOS lobby. Casey points to two posters of Cheap Whiskey plastered on the wall, one in mid-howl, mic in hand. The name “Lorenzo” is nowhere to be seen. They both notice, as they return to the boardroom...]

MARV deBOS (arms folded):
Alright. Let’s hear it. What’s next, Cheap Whiskey? Album-wise?…
What do your friends call you, by the way?…
‘Cheap?’”

[Music swells faintly. The room slows.]

[Lorenzo blinks. The table dissolves. deBos’s mouth is still moving, but we hear nothing. A soft keyboard pad kicks in — Phil Collins style….
Spotlight. Smoke. The screen drifts into dream performance mode.]

SCENE 60:
***MUSICAL NUMBER: “Please Call Me Lorenzo”***
[Dream-sequence performance — full staging, slow pan-ins, Lorenzo solo on stage]

“Cause ‘Cheap’ was just the cover / Hiding what I really feel.”

STAGE RETURN:
[The music fades.]

[Marv deBos is still talking. Casey is watching Lorenzo.]

deBOS (voice much louder):
Cheap Whiskey… Cheap Whiskey?…
Cheap Whiskey!!

LORENZO (shaken, back to reality):
Yes! …
We’re leading with ‘Please Just Call Me Lorenzo.’…
Ironically enough.

deBOS (confused):
That’s the next single?

CASEY (nodding):
Yeah. It’s real. Stripped down.
Emotional truth.
It’s what comes after the party.

deBOS (flat):
You’re telling me… we’ve got buzz building around Cheap Whiskey, and now you wanna pivot to…
what, a Phil Collins–style identity crisis?

CASEY (gently):
It’s not a pivot. It’s a reveal.
He is Lorenzo.
‘Cheap Whiskey’ was never actually the man.
It was a mask.

deBOS (grabbing paper):
Look, this is the last seven days’ ratings: 
‘Hot Damn & Cheap Whiskey’ is climbing like a goddamn rocket.
People want swagger. Sweat. The vibe.
Not… feelings.

CASEY (level):
They’ll come around.
This track isn’t for the buzz.
It’s for the ones who stay.

deBOS (scoffs):
Y’all gonna make the radio cry itself to death.

LORENZO (sharp):
We didn’t sign up to be a gimmick.
If all they want is Cheap Whiskey, they can pour it themselves.

deBOS (leaning in):
Don’t get righteous on me, Cheap Whiskey! 
You wanted to be heard. Now you are.
Don’t be shocked the voice they’re hearing ain’t yours.

LORENZO (soft):
It is mine. It just took a while to find it.

[CUT TO: A dim hallway. Lorenzo walks out first. Casey catches up.]

CASEY (dry smile):
That went well.

LORENZO:
They’re gonna kill it, aren’t they?

CASEY:
They’ll bury it deeper than your high-school poetry.

LORENZO:
You still think it’s a great track?

CASEY:
I think it’s you. And the world’s not ready for that every time.

LORENZO (laughs, but not really):
Next time maybe we’ll write something about doing shots off a jukebox…. 
Might hit #1.

CASEY:
Make it a duet. We’ll give ‘em feelings and the shot glass.

LORENZO:
Pretty cool how Grief’s Got Five Names increased our momentum like that.
First they banned us, then they blessed us.

[FADE OUT]

SCENE 61:
She Stayed In Touch

[Lorenzo and Casey are back in West Michigan safely. Kat and Rickles are lounging. Julian Eko floats in like a barefoot Buddha, with a demo track already in his hand. Lydia Cross sits quietly, making a cryptic note.]

KAT (chatting with Lydia):
Most of us here are all INFJs, Lydia. Did you know that?

RICKLES:
Yeah, no wonder this place is so fucking emotionally loud.

CASEY:
He’s getting Ricklish again.

RICKLES:
Are you making that an actual word now?

CASEY:
I don’t make words. I realize them.

LYDIA:
You don’t need louder voices. You need a better room.

[Lydia walks swiftly from the room.]

CASEY:
She’s hired.

KAT:
That wasn’t an audition. She’s worked with us for almost six days.

CASEY:
Exactly.

LORENZO (laughs):
Wait … when was Lydia hired? Where did she even come from?
[incredulous]
That’s not that woman who whispered her loglines like spells during the auditions,  is it?

KAT:
She stayed in touch.

[Lydia returns to the Writers Room. Stops. She unplugs an overhead monitor that had been slightly flickering. She plugs it back in and continues thru the other door. No words. Just a look at Lorenzo. The monitor comes back on. No flicker.]

LORENZO:
Dang, should have hired her in here a lot sooner.

CASEY:
Hired who sooner?

KAT (pointing toward Julian):
OK, everyone, let’s all welcome Julian Eko.
Julian is … well, you’ll see.

SCENE 62:
Aren’t You That Cheap Whiskey Guy?

[Setting: Writers Room conference table, mid-meeting. Kat and Casey go meta between takes. Morgan snoozes near the whiteboard.]

KAT:
So… have you been recognized yet? Out there?

LORENZO:
Only when I don’t want to be.

KAT:
Celebrity smells weird, doesn’t it?

CASEY:
That’s a yes.

LORENZO:
Alright, couple of times.
(beat)
Roll montage….

Grocery Store Clerk squints.
“Hey, aren’t you that Cheap Whiskey guy?”
Lorenzo: “Nah… I just smell like him.”

Parking Lot Attendant hollers, “Hot Damn!”
Lorenzo (ducking): “I thought my car was on fire!”

[Laughter echoes over jump cuts]

Church Fish Fry – someone yells, “He’s the Cheap Whiskey guy!”
Half the room bows deeper; half applauds louder.

Karaoke Bar – Lorenzo signs up under a fake name.
The DJ grins: “Ladies and gents… Cheap Whiskey in the flesh!”
He finishes the song, tips twenty, bolts out the kitchen door.

[Cut Back to: Writers Room]

CASEY (looking out window):
Man, you’ve got fans waiting outside right now.
Actual posters.

LORENZO:
They want Cheap Whiskey.
I’m just the container.

[Lorenzo and Casey glance out window, where a middle-aged woman waves a small, dog plush with a “Morgan Forever” button pinned to it.]

CASEY:
Containers still sign boobs, brother.

[FADE OUT]

SCENE 63:
Respectfully Terrified 

[Setting: Lorenzo paces the Writers Room with his phone in his right hand, vape pen in his left. Kat sits cross-legged on the couch, watching him with quiet curiosity. Casey leans against the doorframe, while Rickles rummages through a crate of old lyric sheets.)

NARRATOR:
These INFJ Introverts didn’t set out to be performers. They set out to tell their truth. But sometimes, the truth drags you onto a stage you built yourself.

LORENZO (voice cracking): 
Six thousand people? That’s…that’s like…
a minor-league baseball stadium.

RICKLES (dry): 
Yeah. Minus the beer. And with worse odds.

LORENZO (staring at the phone): 
This was just supposed to be a songwriting hobby.
‘Teach me how you write ‘dem ‘dere songs, Casey.’ 
Then do my karaoke act for a quickie album.
That’s all I signed up for.

CASEY (smirking): 
Brother…you realize you named the album I’m Not Cheap Whiskey Anymore? 
You can’t slap that on a record and then act surprised when someone asks you to sing.

KAT (gently):
It’s okay to be scared, Lo.
Most people never get this chance.

LORENZO: 
I’m not scared. I’m…respectfully terrified.

[Kat hides a smile.]

RICKLES: 
Look on the bright side — opening for a couple B-rate Classic Rock bands means half the crowd will be in the beer line.

CASEY: 
Or in the parking lot.

LORENZO (groans): 
Fucking great. That’s even worse -- playing to a half-empty shed.

KAT (calm, reassuring): 
Or maybe…maybe six-thousand people hear something they didn’t expect to hear. And maybe that’s enough.

[Lorenzo rubs his temples, then looks at Casey.]

LORENZO: 
You’re coming with me, right?

CASEY (pretending to think about it):
Hmm…nah. I think I’ll stay home and watch it on a grainy livestream.

CASEY (smiling, warm): 
Of course I’m coming with you.
Someone has to remind you why you started.

[Silence as that sinks in.]

RICKLES (under his breath):
God help us all.

[Kat lifts her glass in a small toast.]

KAT: 
To the hobby that got out of hand.

[Lorenzo closes his eyes, exhales, and finally nods.]

LORENZO (voice low): 
…I’m gonna puke.

[FADE OUT]

[END OF EPISODE 8]