After a few more minutes of waiting, the main cast finally arrived, this time around the entire room seemed to come alive at seeing Anastasia after several years of hiatus.
"Good morning to all. Before we begin todays first table reading, I would like to introduce everyone. First of all, I'm Nathan and I will be the director of 'You're All I Need'. I'm looking forward to working with everyone." Nathan continued to introduce the main and secondary leads. When he got to Anastasia the cameras went wild.
Cameras from the journalists focused on her and as Nathan went on to introduce Gregory, it was then that they realized who was at his other side. Melissa Matthews and Anastasia Estelle in the same project.
The excitement in the room became palpable.
Two rivals actually who haven't shared the same screen since before any one of them got their first award. And the fact that there would possibly an onscreen fight, as one of them was the legal wife while the other would be acting the mistress.
Shooting hasn't even started but the speculations were already high about the success of the series.
Everyone would be keeping tabs on the behind-the-scenes drama, because there will be real life drama. Despite the two women standing near each other and smiling cordially with everyone, the seasoned journalists could feel the tension between them.
Before Anastasia's hiatus, rumors were banded about how the two A-list actresses never saw eye to eye. Some even said they hated each other. No one had ever verified the rumors, but during award ceremonies they were never seated near each other.
It seemed like the organizers and producers knew never to put them together.
John could imagine the glee of all the online tabloids. Just resurfacing previous rumors would ensure people to continue waiting for more news.
John can bet that everyone would be fighting to be invited to the first press conference. Even now, everyone was fighting the urge to shout out a question for the two of them.
Paparazzi would be sure to start steering the pot and start churning gossip from any glance, any gesture.
John would be sure to reach out to his usual sources of photos to ensure his own supply.
He also wanted to applaud the crew or whoever thought of inviting more journalists today. This was a great marketing strategy; the show was getting free publicity for the price of several meals for around 10 journalists. But with this scoop, John was sure none of his colleagues would mind.
This show already had fans anticipating for the first episode, most of them fans of the original novel. But with the additional news there would be a spike of fans waiting in anticipation. Just accounting for Anastasia's fans there would be thousands willing to support the show even before it airs. Include into the mix the passersby who are just curious from all the gossip that will surely surface.
Instead of focusing on the tried and tested veterans, John shifted his attention to the younger cast members.
Having Dylan and Sylvia, two up and coming actors who have done well in their last school romance drama as the main leads was a wise move.
Before they worked together on their last show, there were barely any mention of them individually but their chemistry in the last drama was enough to spark a craze.
So much so that their agency and their fans had wished for them to get together in real life.
Last he heard they were actually dating. Just that fact boosted their desirability in romance dramas. Getting cast as main leads here and being together with highly rated experienced actors would surely boost their own rating.
He looked at the reviews from their previous drama and noted some critics mention, "The only reason these two have gained so many fans are not because of their mostly mediocre acting but the chemistry between them. It's unarguable that their romantic scenes together were the most viewed episodes. Though we do not know how they would fare in a more complex plot that would require more than staring lovingly at each other."
John highlighted that criticism for later. After reading quick notes on the novel's plot online he knew that it would take more than mediocre acting to embody the various scenarios in it. He would either bring up this criticism later on to say it was right or to say that the pair had proven themselves to have improved beyond expectation.
After years as a journalist, he didn't have much expectation for the latter but some had surprised him.
He studied the second male and female leads who were seated beside each other and across the main leads.
His intern seemed to have read his mind when his whispered, "They look terribly good in camera." He showed his tablet to show their heads together as the woman pointed out something.
John hummed noncommittally, "Pin that one, we might be able to use it later on."
His intern continued to swipe through various pictures and paused on a group photo of the main leads, secondary leads and the veteran actors.
"Is it just me or is there a color scheme in this?" he muttered as he shifted his tabled closer to John.
John looked closer and raised an eyebrow at his intern who then explained while pointing at the photo, "The main characters are all shades of blonde. While we have the secondary leads to have ebony hair. Quite a weird coincidence if you ask me."
"Good job on spotting that. Draft an article around that and get it to me by tomorrow." That visibly perked up his intern.
He studied the secondary leads again and took note of their names. There was something about them that made him pay closer attention to them.
"But focus on what's happening right now, don't go writing your article in your head just yet. We might have more scoops here than we thought."
Call it a veteran's gut instinct but something was telling John there would be more headline for today.