Kiera found herself nervously waiting in a meeting room. Before long there was a knock on the door and as it opened, she found herself standing up reflexively as a statuesque woman came in followed by several others.
Kiera focused on the older woman as she took the seat at the end of the conference table. There was an air about her that just commanded attention and obedience.
"Please take a seat." The woman across from her remarked as everyone else sat down. "Let me introduce everyone before we begin. I am Ava Grey, the vice-chairwoman of Onyx and together with me is the majority shareholder of Onyx, Evelyn Devereaux.
"Myself, together with the rest of our panel were quite impressed with your audition and we believe it will be a waste of everyone's time if we ask you to continue on to the second audition. We have decided to offer you an exclusive contract to become of the actresses under our agency."
Hearing those last work Kiera clasp her shaking hands together to keep them still and to try to clear her head. 'If that was all they wanted to say then they didn't need to bring the majority shareholder here.'
"Someone from our team would go over the details with you and share with you a draft contract that you can have your legal counsel look over. There is another matter we would like to offer you. I would like to preface that whether or not you accept this offer, it will not impact whatsoever on the initial contract that we will be offering you."
She leaned forward and looked straight into Kiera's eye, "But I would like you to consider this very well as we would not be offering this a second time around."
Kiera fought the urge to gulp and managed a nod.
"There's no need to be so nervous." Ava gave her a little smile, "Essentially, Onyx is planning on training specific actors and actresses towards specific roles. We have obtained data over several years and several agencies and found that those actors who have focused on a niche are more like to get projects and actually obtain accolades.
"This project is designed for our actors to focus on specific characters. The more curated your training is towards that the easier it is to get in. Once our actors are able to be on several shows that is when we would widen the net so to speak. Get them other projects with tweaks to the main character they have been portraying. It's more of a get in and get noticed then that's when you'll have more chances select from more projects. There is a change of getting pigeon-holed into a character type and that is a risk we will need to take. High risk, high reward, so to speak."
Kiera digested the plan and thought, 'That's how they got so big on such a short amount of time.' She thought back on several very successful actors under the agency and the initial characters they played on screen.
"Ms. Moireach," Evelyn broke the silence, "We saw your audition and you are a diamond in the rough. You have the talent and if we hone that we believe that you will be able to make it. But actresses that are starting out are a dime a dozen. Hundreds of women will be fighting over the handful of main characters of the show. Even getting into an audition is practically a war between agencies and which string they can pull. I believe you know this well yourself.
"To be honest, it was the first impression I had of you that made me offer this to you. You have the features of someone who would have a hard time in this industry if you are not given the right resources. But with your looks you would not suit to become some faint-hearted background character. You would steal scenes from people that don't shine as brightly as you do; so there will be people who will put you down to get your light dimmer. And won't that be a travesty?"
Kiera tried to blink away the sudden tears threatening to fall. It might have been the best compliment she has ever received in her life.
"What character are you planning for me to focus on?" she dared to ask tentatively.
Evelyn leaned back against her chair and grinned at her, "Why it's to be a villainess, my dear."