NOVEL NEXT Chapter 259: Executive Discussion (4)
"William hmmmm…"
There was a quiet hesitancy in the room as the execs stared at each other before somebody finally spoke up.
"We've received several reports from the production team that have made us reconsider him as a good fit for the team."
"Reports? Such as? Why am I not aware of those reports?" Wilford Forbes turned to glare at PD Emily, but she maintained a polite smile on her face as she stared him in the eyes, responding coolly.
"Maybe they got lost in your inbox. We send you a lot of things, and we know you're a busy man."
And you choose to ignore them, hence the reason why we're having this discussion here and now.
"While we have the reports, I feel like the PD can do a better job of articulating the issue. Emily?"
"Sure." PD Emily stood up and cleared her throat.
"As you know, we regularly do evaluations of the contestants along with sending out surveys to the public so we can get a general idea of how people are feeling and make the best decision about which contestants to highlight or pass over. In our recent survey of the remaining contestants, over half of them indicated being uncomfortable with William as a person and teammate. If we limit it to the current top 10 contestants and even those contestants that this board wants to push, over half of those contestants have expressed displeasure at the thought of having William on their team and have stated that they do not get along with him and don't want to debut with him if possible. Additionally, many of them are not on good speaking terms with him."
"They're boys. Friction happens especially in such a tense environment. They'll fight one day and be perfectly fine the next day. It's not a big deal, and I don't understand why that would skew the minds of anyone." Wilford Forbes interrupted, but PD Emily continued as if he hadn't said anything.
"Before her departure, multiple-time Grammy award winner Jelissa, who was the vocal trainer for high-ranking contestants such as Carlos, James, and even Ariel, was going to lower his vocal ranking because of his inconsistency, among other things. The same goes for the dance instructor, Kim Young-woo. When contestants were asked to choose who they wanted to debut with, William had one of the lowest votes among contestants. James Jones III, one of the best producers for his age and hailed as a musical genius, has said, and I quote, 'I think he's a terrible person to have on any team. He makes the people around him worse and is one of the least musically inclined individuals I've ever seen or worked with, and hasn't actively improved during this entire process. His ear and sense for music is terrible, I don't understand why he's here when he behaves like he wants to be a solo act or is above criticism from people who have put in years of hard work in this field, and I sincerely hope I don't have to work with him in the future, otherwise writing songs or even performing with him would be quite tough.' There are other quotes from other contestants, but I thought this was the most relevant as it was echoed by other contestants. Even outside of the contestants, William frequently has one of the lowest engagements and mentions compared to other contestants; his fans are also the ones frequently isolated, and when seeing the lineup trends that the public wants, William often loses out to other contestants with similar vocal tones to him, especially when compared head-to-head like with contestant Ariel." PD Emily finished concisely, as she threw William under the bus as much as she could.
While she was unable to expose other things that he had done due to her previous agreement with Wilfred, this much was enough to give the other executives at least a heads-up about the possible team dynamics as they decided on how to manipulate things on the back end.
After all, they were trying to form a group that would last a long time and make a lot of money, and if the dynamic was off from the beginning, clearly that group wouldn't last long, or the conflicts would be so bad that no work could get done, which meant less money would be made.
The added satisfaction of screwing Wilford Forbes over was just icing on the cake, and she hoped that this would be the push that would get his nephew and his insidious hands away from her.
At her words, the execs just quietly nodded while hemming and hawing until Wilford finally spoke up.
"So, what you're telling me is that you don't see William in your final lineup."
"We're not saying that…naturally, if he makes it to the final lineup under whatever criteria we choose, then we'll welcome him. It's just as of right now, we have some….reservations as we consider the whole picture holistically, especially since you're pushing for him to get the leadership position. As the reports say, his performance is inconsistent, there's friction with other contestants, and when considering his popularity which is on the lower end of the spectrum, it's just food for thought especially since we're tabling a contestant like Ariel despite his popularity with the GP and the sheer amount of eyes he's brought in from the beginning." One executive who was usually at odds with Wilford Forbes calmly stated the facts while taking pleasure in Wilford's anger.
"Again, boys are frequently in conflict, and everything else can be attributed to the production team giving William lowered visibility and minutes, right?" Wilford snarled at PD Emily.
"Do we need to dive into why that decision was made? Why Jelissa left the program?" PD Emily stroked her binder with her perfectly measured, polite smile.
As everyone looked on curiously at the clearly hidden story, Wilford smoothed out his expression, "Of course not. Why don't we increase the minutes for William a bit? He could take over the reduced amount for contestant Ariel, and I'll have a talk with him to tighten up. He's a good boy, very talented, and I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding."
"Sure, sure."
"Why not?"
As the issue was passed over, they continued discussing other topics on the agenda.
And at the end of it, PD Emily walked out with a much brighter smile and a much fatter wallet.
"How did it go?" PD Ji-ho, who had been waiting for her outside the meeting room, asked curiously.
"Pretty good. You'll have to do the heavy lifting in Korea while I gut out all the rats in our staff, but I should be able to join you in a couple of weeks."
"Naturally. I've already contacted my connections, and things should go smoothly while we wait for your return."
The two of them were silent until they got into the car and PD Emily began driving.
"Any update on the contestants?"
"The executives' chosen top 10 more or less stayed the same, with a few they want pushed more for the next couple of rounds. The ranking system has changed, and we have the right to deal with the Temple family as long as it's resolved peacefully without the lawsuit continuing or any media blowout. All the other noise is meant to be ignored until it goes away, and under no circumstances are we to take responsibility for anything."
"What about Contestant Ariel?" PD Ji-ho mentioned the contestant who was constantly talked about these days.
"Tabled. And ideally eliminated."
"Really?" PD Ji-ho looked at PD Emily in surprise, "Even with his popularity and after knowing that he's connected to Martin? His votes literally…"
"I didn't bother to share those facts."
"Why not?"
"Why would I? You think Contestant Ariel getting to this level is an accident? That he improved his skills dramatically in such a short time? That he just so happens to be that talented school-wise? That Martin just came to see him because of the cat he 'just so happened to find with Pink Puma' on the day he 'just so happened to be interviewed several different times while doing community service?' There's clearly an agenda being pushed and several big names behind him. It's just not as obvious as William's is. Since William and Ariel are at odds, I think it would be fun to see the powers that are behind them battle it out. That way, they can keep their grubby hands off my show and focus on each other."
"Well, if you put it that way…"
"I waffled over it for the longest time, but he's clearly a plant. You can tell by the way that his community is run compared to other contestants, his school history, the spike in his popularity, and even with this sabotage issue. This is not the work of the average angry fans; this is a clearly coordinated attack by a PR company, and I refuse to give in to it."
PD Emily recalled the spiteful yet politely worded rejection email that spat on the job offer before shaking her head.
"Let the people behind them fight it out; all we need to care about is our ratings and making great TV. We'll take this week to regroup, get Jelissa back, and whitewash the program's image before continuing as usual."
"Right. And if some contestants have to suffer, then so be it."
The two PDs stared at each other while laughing.
*************
"Send my driver to go and pick up William. He and I need to have a conversation." Wilford ordered one of the young assistant secretaries who had started working for him a couple of months ago as he stomped into his office.
Taking a deep breath, Wilford Forbes sat at the expensive wooden desk, sipping espresso ground from the most costly beans, as he stared out the window at the people crawling around on the ground like ants.
On his table were the accumulated reports from PD Emily, but also things gathered from his own investigation.