Born and raised in Los Angeles, Caitlin spent her childhood on and around the sets of television shows written, produced and directed by her dad. She is a life-long writer, an Author Mentor Match R7 mentee, and a lover of angsty love stories filled with all the tropes and delicious celebrity drama.

From what I’ve witnessed, a set is like a living organism. Possibly an octopus. With, like, eighty thousand tentacles. Which is why it makes the perfect high stakes setting for a love story. Especially a complicated one like in my debut romance, On Screen & Off Again.

All at once a set is chaotic and loud and glorious, a hundred people on the move. Some slip in between takes to powder a beautiful face or remind an actor that it was their left hand that was holding that Snickers bar in the last take. Some stand on x’s made of tape as lighting is adjusted for camera. Others move hulking set pieces into place, walkie talkies chirping. Production assistants scramble. Then there are some that have more unconventional jobs, like stocking tubs of Red Vines for the craft services table or preventing a group of high school girls from walking into the middle of a shot.

Okay, so that last one needs an explanation.

I was born and raised in Los Angeles and was fortunate to attend a beautiful all-girls high school in Pasadena that used to be a mansion. It’s a sprawling property with an historic feel, classic architecture and wrought iron gates. Because it’s such a gorgeous campus, film and TV crews flock to it for all kinds of projects (Legally Blonde, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Heroes, Switched at Birth to name a few). Many of these productions must film during the school day, much to the rabid elation of the girls on campus.
When I was a student, Heroes was filming on campus. More importantly, Milo Ventimiglia was filming on campus. How, I ask you, is a room full of human women supposed to remain calm and focused on their extremely patient teacher when THE Jess Mariano is filming a scene directly outside their classroom?
We were feverishly excited, to say the least. Instead of an afternoon lecture, we formed a cluster on the balcony outside of our classroom and watched, awestruck, as Milo worked on the patio below. Every now and then, he’d look up and wave. Now, as a rational adult, I understand that our stifled giggling was probably extraordinarily distracting to him—a person trying to do his job—but in the moment, it was delicious.

This day on set is only rivaled in my memory by the time that Twilight’s Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz were on campus during the school day playing high school lacrosse players in a teen movie called A Warrior’s Heart. And oh my god, the giddiness was at an all-time high. This was smack in the middle of the Twilight craze. Crew members communicated by walkie talkies and held us back from utilizing certain corridors during passing periods while scenes were filmed close by. A walkie would chirp, “cut!” would be called, and they’d let a group of us pass by between takes.

I am lucky enough to say that neither of these incredible instances was my first time on a set. That first time, I was on set as the director’s kid.

Throughout my childhood, my dad, Alan Cross, worked as a writer/producer/director on a few popular television shows (Weird Science, Dawson’s Creek, Desperate Housewives, Star Trek: Enterprise and more). I was little, probably four, when my mom brought me to the set of Weird Science to watch him direct an episode. And it was like Disneyland to me. When I wasn’t goofing around with the cast, who were awesome and kind, I was running amok, ding dong ditching the offices of the writing staff. Later, my mom and I were extras in the background of a scene that called for a character to be pushing a newborn in a stroller, and when we wrapped, I was gifted the prop baby doll. Playtime, pranks, and toys?! Four-year-old me was living.

When I was a teen, my dad wrote an episode of Desperate Housewives, which we got to watch being filmed on location. I watched Eva Longoria prepare for the scene, sitting with her script in hand, wearing a gorgeous costume (paired with Uggs because this was the 2000’s and such is law), and I remember thinking how glamorous and simultaneously normal she was. An A-lister in her element. That dichotomy was what I wanted to bring to On Screen & Off Again, paired with the authenticity of my own experiences. Childhood best friends who fall in love and fall apart but make them costars.

On Screen & Off Again takes place in two timelines, on the sets of two very different projects. One is a Disney Channel-esque television series that my main characters, Wil and Dax, star on as kids and into their late teens. It’s a colorful, off-the-walls show in the vein of Hannah Montana where Wil and Dax run wild behind the scenes, pulling pranks and bonding over newfound stardom. For them, this set is a place that is foundational to their real-life friendship, and their fame, but it also shapes the trajectory of their careers and lives. When the show is canceled, Dax sheds the glitter and goes on to Yale’s drama school, then full stardom. For Wil, Hollywood isn’t as kind. In present day, she’s a heist-pulling tabloid darling, sure her acting career is dead in the water. Until Dax re-enters her life with a film role tailor-made for her.

The present-day set of To The Stars, a period romance film reminiscent of The Notebook, that Wil and Dax star in is a whole other beast. It’s mostly shot on location in South Carolina, making the forced proximity of a set even more intense. For Wil, it’s a huge test. She must ace this role to reclaim her standing in Hollywood. For Dax, this film will open every door he’s ever dreamed of, if he can stay focused. In between performing scenes that feel achingly like the love story they left behind years ago, Wil and Dax must contend with the pressure and chaos of a major movie set, along with lingering feelings they can’t ignore, contentious costars and Hollywood big-wigs out for revenge.

Reading On Screen & Off Again will feel like you’re watching a movie. You’ll know your way around the sets, you’ll read the script, you’ll attend the premiere. And hopefully, like Dax and Wil amidst the chaos, you’ll fall in love, too.

On Screen & Off Again by Caitlin Cross

Former childhood sweethearts Wilhelmina Chase and Daxon Avery reunite as co-stars years after their hit kids’ TV show ended—and their breakup shattered them both. Wil, now more infamous than successful, is desperate to revive her career, while Dax is on the cusp of A-list stardom. When their undeniable chemistry reignites on set, they must decide whether their second chance is just for the cameras or something real.

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