With the fake blood and the medical equipment it was impossible to tell it was not Denise. And the few words she spoke while “dying” even sounded like Denise. The professionals who saw it saw something in Amy that they liked. She did bits in ten other shows during the year including three episodes in one very popular drama and got good returns fore each of them. By the end of the year the Denise episode was honored several times by police, safety, education, government and anti-drunk driving organizations all over the nation. The episode was aired two more times during the year, once before prom season and once before graduation week. It had higher ratings those weeks than at the initial showing. Parents with teens who never watched the show made watching these showings mandatory. With Denise gone the sultriness of the show diminished and more parents wanted their teens to see it. The following year Amy was signed for a secondary part in a week night drama for over a million.

With the termination and her “death” on School Days Denise was out of work but this did not concern her. She called her agent and soon she was doing appearances on talk shows and was offered four movie contracts. She signed them, this was less work than a series and it brought in more money. Doing a series that was hard work. A movie would run less than two hours, an hour long series would be nearly fifteen hours. The filming time was proportionately longer.  It was a lot more time working. With the free time her partying increased. By the time the third movie was finished she had alienated everyone on the set including the janitorial staff and security. It was estimated that she had cost the company more in lost time by her fits of temper and absence than in her pay. She was told that if the next film did not go better there would be no future contracts.

By the end of the fourth film the studio did not offer another contract. Amy was offered the part in the next film at just over one third the amount Denise was getting, but still over two million dollars. Again the blond Amy’s hair was dyed dark to make her look more like Denise. Her couple of minutes on screen as “Denise” was paying off.  She signed and although the film grossed two million less than the best of the four Denise starred in, the reduced cost made it a winner for the studio. Amy was signed for two more films at slight increases with a clause to have her a better share in the returns. She was wise enough to know that the studio would give up some money easier if it was from money they were making rather than ask for big bucks now that they might not get back. The studio started to arrange for more exposure on talk shows. After the third movie which grossed more than any Denise did she kept her hair a dark brown with a tint of red. She joked that as a blond she couldn’t get work till she dyed her hair.

Denise was now a leper. When you are black balled in Hollywood everyone knows. She did a couple specials and more talk show appearances but by late spring these were not enough to pay the bills. Her agent had difficulty getting anyone who would hire her for anything. She was still a hit at parties.

Denise Chapter 01: Success in Hollywood

Denise Chapter 02: Denise Falls From Favor

Denise Chapter 04: Hollywood Marches on Without Denise