‘So film characters are memorable – should be memorable – if you can get a sense of their interior life. If you can imagine their hopes and their fears, what their past was like, their insecurities and weaknesses.’

The kids are nodding, but I have no idea if any of this is actually percolating into their brains.

‘So your challenge, as a screenwriter, is to write a character who isn’t just a cliche because she’s pretty or because he … fights well. But a character who could have started out as someone you knew in real life. Someone believable.’

They’re still paying attention to me, so I continue on.

‘Movies are about the suspension of disbelief. People can fly, cities can get blown up, sure. But in order for the movies to work, you have to believe in the characters first.’

My students gaze back at me, an inscrutable herd.

Danny raises his hand. ‘Sarah?’ he asks.

‘Yep, what is it?’

‘Speaking of believability, what do you think about all these accusations going around?’

I look at him, and I feel my pulse increase, even though I doubt my students suspect anything.

I stay silent, giving him space to continue.

‘You know, all this stuff about Bill Cosby and that Weinstein guy… All these women accusing them of assaulting them over the years. Do you believe all those stories? I mean, it’s crazy, isn’t it?’

I am careful about how I craft my words, careful to maintain a teacherly tone. ‘What do you think is crazy about it?’

‘I mean, why’s this all coming out now, when they were quiet about it before? It’s kind of suspicious, isn’t it?’

And I am stuck, wishing, for one moment, to launch into a real lesson for the students: how the industry really works, all the improbabilities and the hierarchies and the crushing desperation of wanting that career. But there are limits to what I can teach as their lecturer.

‘I don’t think … Just because they’ve waited so long to tell these stories … I don’t think that necessarily means these things didn’t happen. Maybe we listen to them first before forming an opinion.’

Danny has an odd, unsatisfied look on his face, but before I can say anything, Claudia pipes up, her hand raised hesitantly.

‘Um, Sarah? I saw on the IMDb that you and Holly Randolph worked together on a film. Is that true?’