Participants:
| Scene Title | Executive Decisions |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | The television branch of Studio K has a meeting to pinpoint where it was, where it's at, and what's on the docket for the future. |
| Date | January 6, 2011 |
Studio K
Laundry day~
See you there~
Underthings tumblin'~
The core meeting room of K Studios has a round table, a presumably 'sad' attempt at making all of the hosts feel like they live in a democratic world. But those that have been around for awhile know that Kristen rules with an iron fist. The room has a high ceiling, turquoise coloured walls, a skylight, but no actual windows, thereby eliminating any daydreaming out the window. This meeting has been in progress for awhile. On the table today? Too much. Including production information, show changes, Advocate lineup, and a supposed visit from some grumpy network execs.
"I think it sounds pithy," Bradley Russo leans back in his leather chair— the office kind that leans back just a little too far making its occupants nervous that they'll tip it over. But Brad has been in here enough that he knows how far he can lean without consequence. "But I don't think it'll fly. It's not… a show anyone would watch." His eyebrows escalate predictably as he laces his fingers together and sets his hands on the table in front of him. This is his first day back at work since Christmas Eve. Aside from the New Year's party. "I don't care if the man can get stains out of silk. It's boring." Not that Brad's opinion counts for anything. About anything.
"Besides, shouldn't you be more concerned about the network execs coming and cancelling your money-making shows instead of expanding into… loserville?" he nods slightly as his pale blue eyes seek out the dark ones of his producer.
Of all the pitches that have been mailed to her, Kristen has never been exposed to anything like this. Sitting forward in her leather chair, her dark eyes have been glued to the screen for as long as the clip has been going on. Mouth agape, pen dropped to the pad of paper, and breath stopped. Slowly, her eyes slide to the star of the show, Dirk, and lock on him for the rest of the time the end credits are rolling.
"Is this what you use Studio funds for?" A hand flails angrily at the screen before she scrambles for the remote to push every button on it in order to turn it off. "Seriously Dirk? I take a few days away and you … How many more are there? And did you scare off all of Tahir's models?" She can't imagine too many of them stuck around after being approached for costar roles in this sort of thing.
She ignores Russo. Just like she has been since… well she's been trying to. Focusing on Tahir she raises her chin and waves one finger toward him again. "Mister Dunham… I'm suse you've noticed that the network that's picked up your show put you in the slot of death. I'm cutting it as of now." Such a matter of fact way of telling someone 'you're fired', well she's never been one to mince niceties. "Dirk, send a muffin basket to Fox and tell them that we've decided to go in a different direction… offer the laundry loser as a consession. I doubt they'll pick it up.. but.. Oh and no segway, scooter, quad, trike, bike, wheelchair, or other motorized apparatus for a month. You're grounded for making me watch that crap. Dunham… welcome to late night. You have five minutes to pitch me."
Five minutes, but just before it begins there's a door that opens. The attempt at demoncracy had been missing a certain someone, but suddenly there he is. And Kincaid August appears bearing coffee, in a portable cardboard holder. Six cups. Never hurts to bring extra, right? "Sorry I'm late," he says, as if trying to dismiss the fact he's over a week late, in all manners of the word.
But to this particular meeting, he's less late than he could be. Without another word he hands out the coffee, starting with Kristen, followed by the guest and then Russo, and finally Dirk, who is the only one he briefly meets eyes with, before he finds a seat and sits down, with his own cup.
A few moments later a folder is flipped open to blank pages, and a pen pulled out, for note taking. Seems he's trying to act like he never missed a day.
There's probably a reason that Tahir Avery Dunham is not the man of the hour. It very much has something to do with his laid back, nonchalant attitude and his tendency to take the most belittling approach to seriousness as humanly possible. He's currently seated in his own chair, though he's leaning back as far as possible and his feet are kicked up onto his section of the round table. He may or may not be listening, Which is why it is taking him a while to actually figure out what in the heck is going down when he's talked to.
It takes him 45 seconds of his Five Minutes to realize that he has been fired and rehired for something else. "One sec." is what he quips towards Kristen, while his thumbs are working over the touch screen of his phone! Annnnnnd… "YES! Haha! High Score, baby!" Tahir is hopping out of his chair and raising his hands in the air. Like he just don't care! "Angry Birds Champion! Right here!" Tahir is about to reach for a Victorious High Five from Russo when he realizes he's down to four minutes. Crap.
"Okay, I got it." Tahir's phone is set on the table and he goes to work. Improving right off the top of his head like he's had this thing rehearsed. "Dunham Nights. Starring Yours Unruly? Me. Tahir Avery Dunham." He pauses and brings his hands up to look as devilishly innocent as he possibly can look. "We take the best of Chinny Chin Chin, throw in some sketch comedy value of The Barbarian and throw a little splash of sexism and misogyny?" Tahir claps his hands in Male Rachel Rey style. "BAM! You got the best thing to hit the late night airwaves since they cancelled Son of the Beach."
Tahir's not even going to wait for them to catch up to that reference. "I'm gonna' make it all about the most important things in the world to me. Women, A Good Time and Fun. You let me run with this, K-Diddy? And I swear the ratings'll be so high, you can retire before the end of the first season." How many minutes was that?
"This is is AMAZING, K!" Dirk insists as he stands up next to the television featuring his face. He literally touches the top of the screen, "It will make you a foooooooor-TUNE. And I say tune because boss, it'll make you siiiiing~ " He turns off the television now as he eyes her. "I neeeeeed the segway! Besides I think you owe me for letting boy wonder punch me at your New Year's party! I was your date, aren't you supposed to like defend my honour or something? And…" he frowns considerably at this next bit, "someone" his eyes track to the Advocate host, "gave me my scooter. All smashed. For Christmas." His eyes narrow as he watches Russo with that steely look, but Brad is, conveniently staring at his own hands.
Dirk actually winks at Kincaid when he's given his coffee, particularly as he remembers he has other means of occupying his time aside from his motorized vehicles. Including using more studio resources to make more audition tapes.
Brad stares rather openly at Kristen for several moments before his eyes flick to his coffee, "Thanks Joe." The cup is brought to his lips and sipped while he leans back in his seat again, this time pushing harder against the back than he ought, nearly willing it to fall over, but it doesn't comply.
Tahir's pitch, however, warrants a broad grin. "Now that," Russo points at his neighbour and colleague, "that is a show I would watch. As long as it's funny. And makes people look ridiculous. Besides, the studio is totally missing that niche, and Dunham here has … " there's a small shake of Brad's head as his eyebrows tick upwards, "a way about him. I swear, the kid's going places— "
The coffee is taken graciously, though Kristen's gaze could freeze a polar bear as her eyes follow Kincaid around the table. She clears her throat and murmurs a thanks before taking a long sip. Extra large, non fat soy latte no foam… Blessed be, the boy remembered. Which might be his saving grace. Putting her coffee cup down, she point a finger to Dirk who lets off a loud sigh.
Like he's being puppeted to do it rather than of his own volition, the blonde secretary (executive assistant), raises his hand and smacks Kincaid up the side of the head. Thankfully, it's not too hard, there's workman's comp to consider, plus assault charges. Final point, Kristen possibly just wants the man to think before disappearing next time.
"Like the show idea, don't like the title… We need something with more pizazz. Audiences we need to lure are Late Show with Letterman, The Tonight Show with Leno, Late Late Show with O'Brien, Late Night with Fallon… Notice a theme in those titles? Get the think tank on it." The producer's eyes waver over to Kincaid for a moment before she purses her lips into a thin line and raises her chin expectantly. "K-Too, you pitched me a show over a month ago. How's the timetable looking on that do you know what guests you're going to line up? On that same note… Russo, who do you have lined up for a follow up on the Christmas special? I think we need a victim child, what do you think?" Exploitation? Maybe.
"I think most of my guests are falling through," Kincaid admits as he rubs the back of his head where it's been smacked. It doesn't ache too much, but if he rubs it maybe she'll think it hurt more and she won't eye her assistant to do such a thing again? Small hopes.
"I haven't been able to get ahold of Peyton Whitney for a while now, and Pierce— well it be best she not be included. But I'm adjusting to make it different, less guest dependant. I have a plan— We might even have footage of a Humanis First violent assault to show while we interview people."
There's a pause, as if he's hesitant to pitch the full idea. He has a plan, but God laughs at plans more often then not. Like his last one was laughed into nothingness. "Can still get Magnes Varlane, no matter what, though. And maybe I can find out whatever happened to Whitney."
Tahir is still standing up when Kristen moves on to the other topics that seem to be more important. He doesn't say much of anything at all, though, when the name of the show is dissed. Hard. He just drops himself down into his seat and mutters a bit to himself. "I think it's a hot name. It's Nights and it's Me. What else do you need to know?" Yeah, that's just the Tahir muttering to himself, as he pulls up an app on his iPhone to do a little more research about this new show that he's going to get. Which means he's think tanking and not listening to whatever else is happening in the meeting.
"So Much Later with Tahir Avery Dunham." Frown. "Later For You with Tahir Dunham!" Frown. "Up All Night with Tahir Avery Dunham?" Slight Frown. Slight Smirk. "In Bed with Tahir Avery Dunham." Smile.
"Late Nights with Dunham," Russo suggests as he tightens his finger grasp as he leans back in the chair even more, this time drawing the front legs of the chair off the ground, only making him lean forward so as not to completely fall over. With a heavy sigh, he hmmms. "If we're going to have a kid, I want a real kid. None of those nearly eighteen children that people think of as hooligans rather than actual kids." Although, he thinks of his younger sisters as kids. "If we're using a kid she needs to be under ten." And a her, apparently.
"Also, can we not appeal to all of the bleeding hearts liberals in the world and straddle the fine line between conservative and liberal by making her look all American. And come from some hardworking middle class family who came into hard times… or make up a story about her hard working middle class family that came into hard times…"
"Dirk, get on that… scour the obits for any soldiers or evolved victims that might have left orphans." There's a pause while Kristen considers quite a few possibilities and her gaze flickers from Tahir to Dirk to Kincaid, finally to Russo who she pins with a hard stare. "Up All Night.. I like that one. Dirk try to find a kid from Queens, they're generally middle working class, no gingers… they creep people out."
"Kincaid, lets get this put together and on a schedule. At this point it could star a wino in a Gumby costume and as long as it hits the airwaves I'd be happy. Russo…" Another pause. "…Get Nichols in for a follow up too." The last bit has her eyes dropping from his and she turns away, effecrively shutting him out.
There's something decidedly funny about the no gingers that makes Kincaid laugh to the point of nearly choking on his coffee. Maybe he agrees on that sentiment? It takes a few moments before he clears his throat and nods. "I'll discuss the details with you later." Cause it seems he wants to keep them close to the chest, and he's still avoiding looking directly at either Kristen or Russo. Perhaps guilt, that.
"Staten Island is also a good place to look for a kid. Or Roosevelt. But Queens will likely work just as well. Just different kinds of things going on in their lives in the other two areas." And both the areas have special checkpoints just to get into them. One would wonder what kids might think of that, specifically. "Doctor Brennan has daughters, for example. You could always bring in one of them as a follow up. I don't think any are gingers, and one's deaf."
"Up All Night with Tahir Dunham. It's magical." Tahir is very good at what he does and already he's typing away in the little keypad on his phone to start making some formatting notes. "I'll have the blueprint on the show to you by the end of the day, K-Didz." Tahir blinks a littl ebit as he finally decides to pay a little more attention to what in the heck is going down. "Hold on. Wait. We're buying kids now? What the hell?" And then he's back to making plans about his own show. "Desk props. Giant Bowl of Skittles…"
Dirk gives a quick nod and an overemphasized salute, "Aye aye, mon capitaine!" He turns back to his chair and spins in it several times. If he can't have his motorized vehicles, he'll have a great time spinning around and around and around.
The mention of Nicole nearly makes Russo's eyes roll. They'd tried to discuss this after the New Years Eve incident. But it hadn't happened. Not adequately. Running a hand through his hair, any thoughts are left unuttered. The bit about Brennan's kids though, "Oh! K, a deaf kid would go a long way." He strokes his chin. "And Brennan always does well on air…"
With a smirk he turns to Tahir, "Do the ladies say that it's magical, or just you?" He winks. "Just make sure you leave the partying alone until after the show, eh? Few people can drink on air and pull it off." His eyes shift towards Kristen for a moment, only to turn back to Tahir.
"No skittles, they give me the willies. Brennan's kid is out, she's not an orphan and I don't think November 8th made her suffer so much. She still has two parents, right? Didn't his wife just give birth to twins too? So she'll be a little too happy." K's mind is working a little too fast at cutting off the ideas. Focus back to Kincaid, she raises her eyebrows and taps the desk with one fingernail quickly.
"How does Humanis First work for membership? They're mostly underground, right? Like the KKK? Getting a few on the air won't be easy, so lets stick with the footage and get some guests on that can admonish their actions. Maybe we'll get a call in from an irate member. The DEoA should have a slough of people to pick from in regards to that. Praeger has good star quality, a man with style." Picking up a pen, she wings it at Dirk to stop him from swinging around in his chair and with a glare in his direction, silently orders him to stop.
"Now then, Tahir… I want a lineup of guests that you want for your show so I can get to work on it. Kincaid, let's get this thing rolling.. Too much set up will only take away from the actual show, we want to surprise our viewers so stop interviewing possibilities and start booking. We'll start with Russo's Christmas follow up and your show will be right after it, does this sound good for everyone?"
"That should be enough time," Kincaid says, though there's hesitation in his voice and eyes, and even then he finally looks up directly at Kristen. Only for a moment. He probably understands her hesitation to even give him those two weeks. Sink or swim at this rate—
"You've got mail."
It would seem that Tahir Avery Dunham is already a couple steps ahead of the game. Those words of his are tossed to Kristen, where he will have sent her a list of names of the hottest female stars that he could come up with on such short notice. He's very good at what he does, though. And he does ladies. And now he's going to have a shot at some of the hottest celebs in the business.
"If you can get me Scarlett Johansson, ASAP, that would be awesome." Y'know, because, he wants to help her get over her break up. Ahem.
"And, by the way, the ladies don't say it's magical. They are usually busy trying to come down from their One on One with God." Tahir is flashing a smile while talking himself up some more. Man, his ego is just so: Tahir.
"Sounds good to me, boss." Tahir is up on his feet and looking at the exit. "I'm gonna' go make some calls. I've got the perfect house band in mind…" Uh oh. There's that Zack Morris grin.
"Christmas follow-up. I think I can handle that one. Aside from the kid," Brad agrees with a small hmmm. The kid thing is Dirk's job anyways, which leaves him at least moderately pleased. "And I'm flexible, I like the plan for the next few weeks though. We just need to stay on top of it all." Russo plants both of his hands on the table. "And Tahir? If you need anything from me, I'm willing to help in some way." Like drinking after. That's helpful.
Brad smooths the lapel on his jacket. "And what about the mucky mucks from the network coming in for a meeting next week?" his grey blue eyes glance at Tahir knowingly before turning back to Kristen. "Do you need us to plan anything for that? I know how you like to impress them…"
"Yes, there's a rumor going around that we're getting some network execs in the studio for some kind of audit on our shows… I haven't been able to confirm anything but I want everyone— " A hard look is thrown to Dirk, then to Russo, then to Tahir, she doesn't have to worry about K2. "— to be on their best behavior. This could be a make or break for the studio, we need network execs to like us in order to make money. If Kristen Reynolds doesn't make money, the rest of you get fired."
Folding up her laptop and then flipping open her notebook, she glances between the people gathered again. "First order is to put out top quality shows. Dirk- NO LAUNDRY LOSER. Russo, keep doing what you're doing. Tahir, I want a balance of males too, see if you can get Quinn on board with your show. Hit up Magnes Varlane too, I think he could use some crossover and our audience usually loves him, lets see how he does with yours."
Oi, audits. And fired. There's a stiff nod, from Kincaid, because it seems Kristen found a word that lights a fire under his butt. He's even squirming a moment before speaking up on the topic of Tahir's show— even if he's kind of been avoiding looking at the new man much. Probably to avoid rolling his eyes— or laughing.
"Isn't Quinn in an almost all girl's band? It could be handy to do a show with all of them. If they're half as good as I expect, they'll need to get used to a little publicity." Or a lot.
"… I didn't think of that. An all girls band. Dude! You are a genius! Whoever you are? GENIUS!" Tahir is looking back over his shoulder and pointing at Kristen. "Give this dude a raise! He just got my show twenty more points in the ratings! Yes!" Tahir is way too excited about having his own show. This is going to rock hard. He's whirling back around, pretending to not have heard Kristen's words about 'males'. Feh! He'll get 'em in later. "Russki! Get at me later, Broski! Totes McGotes!"
Tahir has no idea what he's talking about, but he's leaving the room and bringing his phone up to his ear at the same time, "Yo! Bobby! It's Tad, baby! Listen… know any hot all girls bands?" Pause. "Non Lesbian Hot All Girls Bands…" Oh brother.