Stand-In

Straight-laced mathematical and financial genius Atterbury Dodd works as Executive Vice-President for Wall Street Pettypacker & Sons, which has among its portfolio Hollywood movie studio, Colossal Pictures. Despite Colossal's poor financial state, Atterbury advises company owner, Fowler Pettypacker, not to accept the $5 million offer by Ivor Nassau for Colossal, which goes against Pettypacker's own thoughts. By his calculations, Atterbury knows Colossal should be making money and is worth twice Nassau's offer, which means there is a problem somewhere within the Colossal machine. So Pettypacker issues Atterbury an ultimatum: go to Hollywood with full control over the studio to turn its fortunes around, or don't come back. In Hollywood, Atterbury finds that running a studio isn't quite what he expects, as he knows nothing about popular culture. He is assisted in learning the ropes of Hollywood and studio life by former child star and now stand-in Lester Plum. Miss Plum immediately falls in love with Atterbury, who has no idea since male/female relations are foreign to him. Colossal's fortunes are riding on its latest picture, "Sex and Satan", produced by Doug Quintain, directed by Koslofski, starring Colossal's leading actress and Quintain's love interest Thelma Cheri, and publicized by the studio's chief publicist Tom Potts. What Atterbury is initially unaware of is that three of the four are working in cahoots with Nassau to bankrupt the studio for the sale. When Atterbury finally learns what's going on, it may be too late, unless he can orchestrate a slightly illegal plan, which may have the unintended consequence of losing Miss Plum's much desired admiration.