Gavin looks down at the stack of folders in front of him and begins to place one at each seating. In less than two minutes he was going to be meeting with Erica and the new cast of "New Beginnings" and from her attitude earlier this was not going to be an easy meeting. But, he also knew she would come around to his thinking especially after she took a good look at all the revamping that was going to be done more so when she realized it would also contain the "Raising Kane" Productions copyright. He looks at his watch then picks up one of the folders and flips through it just as Krystal, Carmen and Opal step into the conference room all beaming and chatting happily. Well at least seventy five percent of his cast were showing excitement for this project.
"Good morning ladies!" He smiles coming toward them and greeting each one.
"We're still waiting for a couple more people to join us in the meantime please help yourselves to coffee pastries courtesy of the "Serving Spoon". I would have had them delivered from "Krystal & Carmen's" but I didn't want this to feel anything like a PCTA meeting where you have to bring your own snacks." He says with a chuckle making them all laugh. He looks down at his watch again then smiles up at the ladies who sit and chat amiably. He walks to the intercom just as Conrad comes into the room carrying his his leather bound folder.
"Good morning everyone." Coban says nodding to Opal, Carmen and Krystal as he makes his way to the head of the table followed by Kendall and Corban's other staff members. Kendall walks to the group and squeals of delight erupt among them. Gavin looks at his watch as he reaches out to Coban's extended hand and shakes it then turns to his cast seated at the table for the exception of Erica. More than likely she was waiting to make her grand entrance. He checks his watch noting the time he should be annoyed at her grandstanding tactics but instead decides to proceed with the meeting on schedule.
" We didn't know you would be here too!" Carmen says coming to Kendall and kissing her cheek.
" Yep! I won the bid I put in for the redesign of the set!" Kendall says with a squeal hugging an equally squealing Carmen to her as Opal watches on with a frown.
"Does your mother know?" She hoarse whispers and Krystal and Carmen lean in listening intently. Kendal shrugs then pulls her shoulders back her chin tilted definitely.
"She will when she gets here." She says reaching for a cup and pouring coffee into it as she mentally braces herself for her mother's wrath.
"Good morning Corban! Everyone if you'll be seated please. This is Corban James he's one of our new producers here at WRCW. He's going to be consulting on the revamping of "New Beginnings." He announces pausing for the polite and approving applause before continuing.
" Everyone here was chosen for the unique abilities they bring to our project. Our new host represent the viewers in each of our demographics. Mrs. Hart-Slater brings her award winning design expertise. We'll also be using Ms. Lavery's remarkable Marketing talents to develop our campaign and lastly Mr.James and his team will be developing our programing. So if you all would turn your atten..." His voice fading off as Erica burst into the room pulling all eyes to her.
"Good morning everyone sorry I'm late!" She announces as she looks around the table spotting Kendall sitting across the table her suspicions peaked.
"Kendall! What are you doing here?" Her voice filled with honey and silk her eyes speaking a different tone of annoyance and betrayal.
" Thank you for joining us Ms. Kane. Had you been on time you would have heard the announcement that Ms. Slater-Hart is our set designer. Please have a seat so that we may continue. You'll find the details of our meeting in front of you." He says enjoying the snap of her mouth and purse of her lips as she sits down quietly fuming as he continues without missing a beat.
"So if you would all turn your attention to Ms. McDermott." He finishes waving his hand towards Anne who stands.
" Good Morning everyone. As you all know I'm Anne McDermott I'm going to working on the marketing plan for the relaunch of "New Beginnings"." She pauses reaching for the the remote control and lowering the screen and projector as Kendall hands out the packet of information she'd bought.
"Kendall and I have been talking since Gavin approached us a couple of days ago and we decide our theme is going to be "New Beginnings" New beginning! Mind you this is just an idea right now but..." She stops as Erica snort silences her. Gavin quietly grinds his jaw keeping his annoyance in check.
"Do you have something to add Ms.Kane?" He asks staring at Erica pointedly. The later stares back at him smiling devilishly then glaring at Kendall as she speaks her words venomous.
" It sounds rather trite to me." she says receiving a chuckle from a couple of people on Cobans staff and they in turn getting a quelling look from him and a satisfied smile from Erica. Gavin clears his throat and smiles.
" Anne and Kendall showed us the galies before the meeting and the two of us were very impressed. We found it quite clever considering the theme of the show please, continue." He quips effectively shutting down her rebuttal leaving Erica once again seething.
Erica glares at Gavin a moment as Anne continues pulling the mocking stares back to her. Gavin grins then picks up his pen and continues taking notes effectively dismissing her. She sits back in her chair and watches the short presentation flipping to the pages of the galies and begrudgingly admits to herself it was very good and probably just what the project needed but she would never admitted that to her traitorous daughter or equally traitorous friend Anne.
No she wasn't going to make it easy for either of them to come in here and hijack her show even if it was for the better. She just had to be more careful of the battles she picked and use her head not her anger. When Anne is finished she hands the floor to Kendall who reviews her plans for the new set which Erica again had to admit were gorgeous. That admission leading to another, that this Gavin Blackwood knew his business and knew it well. He'd chosen his team well their thoughts were both insightful and well planned. What she still wasn't sure of was what Corban had planned she watches in distaste as Corban climbs to his feet and begins to speak.
"Thank you Annie and Kendall. I speak for Gavin, Erica and myself when I say we appreciate all the wonderful work you have both done in such a short amount of time. If this what you both come up within less than seventy two hours to do it I personally can't wait to see what you come up with when we give you actual time to do it. " He finishes with a laugh waiting a moment for the chuckles to die down before continuing.
" My staff and I have come up with what we think will be interesting and very sensational topics that will take us through the first ratings quarter." He continues as his assistant distributes the documents.
" We tried to stick to topics that we thought would be interesting to our audience as well as fit your comfort zones or strike a cord of decent because we all know people won't keep watching if everything is sunshine and lollipops everyday."
"Oooo! I like this one "The value of the mature workers in the workplace" Opal shouts out nodding in approval as Krystal taps on the paper excitedly.
"Or this one 'The struggle women face when opening a business"
"and this one we thought you would especially enjoy researching Erica since it's something you personally are experiencing. Changing Life in mid gear how stay in the fast lane. This particular segment will chronicle you through the changes happening to new beginnings as well as your new role as a a producer on "Raising Fire". We also thought of it as way for to help separate fact from fiction." He finishes directing a bright hopeful smile at Erica as he braces for the worst.
Erica glances down at the galley's actually liking what she saw surprising her self at the same time. Corban's selections were both insightful and tailored to the skills and strengths of each host yet contained a common core to the topic that would add spice and controversy without devolving pandemonium.
"I have to admit Corban when this was all first mentioned I was extremely skeptical" She says pausing then looks form Corban to Gavin who's expression remained blank giving her nothing to weigh her next comment with before speaking them.
"But, I can see you and your team have done a wonderful job with your topic searches and with a little fine tuning they will be absolutely perfect. However I do have one question exactly how much of this behind the scenes filming are we going to do? As you all know this has been quite a difficult year for myself and my extended family I would prefer to have them involved and or affected by this as little as possible." Corban stares at her a moment mildly dumbfounded by her response while Gavin looked on seemingly amused but still saying nothing. Unlike Corban who couldn't hide his enthusiasm at her acceptance of his plan he was practically gushing.
"This is only in the planning stages and I'm sure we can work around your personal life and keep as much of them out of this as the subject matter will allow." Gavin internally shakes his head and rolls his eyes and Corban groveling and Erica lapping it up.
"I have absolutely no reservation that the two of you will find some common ground. Now shall we move on we have a lot more to cover." He says flatly hoping to end the conversation and having to listen to Corban's placating tone. He just hoped in his zeal to please her as well as make this project successful he didn't lose himself in the process. Erica watches Corban and then Gavin then smiles to herself. One down and one to go.
Takes Pine Valley Chronicles Erica and Gavin
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