Host kit · 10–16 players · 3 hours

The Côte d'Azur Affair: the whole evening.

A free sample: the host guide, the invitation to send, the first prop, and the opening act of the player scripts. Everything else — the other acts, the words you say aloud and the sealed solution — unlocks with the paid kit below.

Back to the kit

A producer, a leading lady, a screenwriter and the money have been gathered at a villa above the bay to read a new script. The script is a masterpiece, the financing is not, and by the time the sun goes down the studio's auditor is dead in the pool house with a page of dialogue in his hand.

Before the night

Print the booklets and hand each guest a page of 'sides' with their character's biggest scene typed on it — the actors in your group will use them.
Set the table outside if you can, and put a lamp in the pool house position (a side room or a hallway) for the Act II discovery.
Make the clapperboard and the reel early; the reel is the prop guests remember, so give it a label in your own handwriting.
Chill something rosé and have a jug of something without alcohol in it. This is a summer kit and the table should never be empty.

Running order

7:15 pmArrivals and casting

Hand out the booklets at the door with a card that says 'you are reading for the part of…'. Let guests introduce themselves in character as they arrive.

7:30 pmAct I — The Read-Through

Seat everyone, read the welcome as the producer, then take the Act I pages in order. End the act on the argument about the ending and send everyone outside.

8:00 pmDinner

Serve the main course in the garden. Keep it to one plate — the read-through is the entertainment.

8:20 pmAct II — The Pool House

Announce the body, hand out the three evidence envelopes, and switch off one light so the villa feels emptier.

9:30 pmAct III — The Final Cut

Screen the accusation round: each guest pitches their theory as a scene, then read the solution as the final reel.

10:00 pmWrap party

Hand the guilty guest the confession card and let them take a bow. Photograph the table with the clapperboard.

Seating

Seat the leading lady beside the writer and the producer opposite them both, with the secretary at the end nearest the door where she can watch everyone. If you have more than six players, add 'studio' guests who sit together and are allowed to whisper.

If it goes wrong

If the table gets shy, ask each guest to pitch their character's next film in one sentence — it breaks the ice better than any rule.
If somebody finds the reel too early, say the projector is broken and it will have to wait for the final cut.
If the conversation turns into real film-industry gossip, bring it back with 'cut — from the top, Act II'.

After the night

The clapperboard is the party favour. Keep the reel for the next table; the label peels off cleanly.

Send this

You are invited to a read-through at the Villa Marchetti. Bring your sunglasses and your worst behaviour.

Arthur Getz requests the pleasure of your company at a private read-through of his new picture, 'The Second Summer', at the Villa Marchetti above Cap Ferrat. Drinks at seven thirty, pages at eight.

The studio is sending money, the writer is sending revisions, and the leading lady is sending apologies in advance. Guests are asked to arrive as their character and to leave as somebody else.

Dress: linen, white, and slightly too expensive. The photographer will be discreet.

Reply to the production office by Tuesday. The villa sleeps twelve and the guest list is shorter than the script.

If you send it digitally

Send it as a call sheet: scene number, location, cast list, and the three paragraphs underneath. A typewriter font and a coffee ring sell the period better than any ornament.

Three physical props carry this story. Each one is buildable in under half an hour with things you probably already have.

Prop 01 · 25 minutes

The clapperboard

Sets the scene and hides the fact that the film's title changed after the money arrived.

What you need

Black card or a clipboard painted black
White chalk or a white paint pen
A ruler
A strip of white tape for the clapstick

How to make it

Cut two rectangles of black card, one wide for the board and one narrow for the clapstick, and hinge them with white tape.
Rule three lines across the board and write: PROD. 'THE SECOND SUMMER', SCENE 14, TAKE 3, DIR. A. GETZ.
Write the title in chalk, then smudge it and rewrite 'THE LONG SUMMER' above it in a different hand.
Leave the board on the drinks table so guests handle it before Act I begins.

Sealed in the paid kit

The other 2 props

The remaining build sheets: materials lists, cutting guides and the folds that make them convincing by candlelight.

Unlock the full kit — $36

Print one booklet per guest from these pages. Each act has a line to read aloud and a secret for that character alone — the lines are what the table hears, the secrets are why they lie.

Act I · 7:30 pm

The Read-Through

Host: Stand as the producer, welcome the table to the read-through, then hand the first pages round. Let each guest read their Act I scene in turn, and let the ending argument build.

Delphine Marchetti

The leading lady

I was promised top billing in this picture and I have been promised a great many things by this table. I will read the part as written, and then I will tell you what is wrong with it.

Only you know You have been offered a better picture in Rome that starts shooting in three weeks, and you need this one to fall apart so you can leave without paying the penalty clause.

Arthur Getz

The producer

The picture is a masterpiece and the money is a formality. I have financed nine films on a handshake and I intend to finance this one the same way, only faster.

Only you know The money is not a formality. You have already spent the studio's advance on the villa, the cars and the leading lady's contract, and the read-through is a performance for the man from the studio.

Bunny Lowell

The screenwriter

I wrote the ending, then I rewrote it for everyone in this room, and I have brought the version that is true. If the producer prefers the other one, he can write it himself — he has certainly paid himself enough.

Only you know The true ending kills the producer's character. You wrote it that way after he refused to pay you for the last three drafts.

Nadine Perrin

The secretary

I type every contract and remember every omission. The studio's signature is on page four of the financing agreement, and page four is the page that is missing from this copy.

Only you know You have been altering the financing documents to protect the studio's money, and Arthur found the altered page this afternoon.

Sealed in the paid kit

The other 2 acts

Every remaining character script, the line they read and the secret they are protecting, laid out to print and fold into booklets.

Unlock the full kit — $36

The welcome

“Welcome to the Villa Marchetti and to the read-through of 'The Second Summer'. The studio has sent money, the writer has sent revisions, and the leading lady has sent word that she will be late and magnificent. Pages at eight. Please do not discuss the ending before we have read it.”

Sealed in the paid kit

The dinner toast and the accusation

The two speeches that open the second half and close the night, with the cue for when to stand up and how to hand over the confession.

Unlock the full kit — $36

Host’s eyes only

The culprit, the method, and how the clues fit

The solution never appears on this page. It arrives with the paid kit, sealed, to be read aloud only after every guest has accused.

Unlock the full kit — $36

Unlock

Everything, printed.

What you have just read is the sample. One payment unlocks the whole kit on this page — every act, the props, the speeches and the solution — ready to print the moment the card clears.

3 acts of player scripts, one booklet per guest
3 prop build sheets
The dinner toast, the accusation and the cue list
The sealed solution, for the host only

One payment, one kit, yours to print again for the next party. Bought it already? Open the printable kit.