Kiera hesitantly entered the meeting room. It was supposed to be an ordinary training day but someone had informed her she was needed in a meeting. So here she was trying to think if she broke some sort of rule or there was a problem with her recent performance.
She tried ignoring the fact that she was in her training clothes of loose shirt with a workout bra underneath and leggings. Not really the clothes you want your bosses to see you in.
As she entered, she saw an obviously unhappy Sophia glaring at a man across from her. She recognized the vice-chairman and the other man.
"Kindly take a seat Kiera." Ava indicated the chair beside the fuming Sophia. "I apologize for taking you out of your class but I thought you might like to have a say in your own future. Emmanuel is the head of our Production and Investment team and he has a proposal for you."
Emmanual looked Kiera in the eye, "This is a once in a lifetime chance and I want you to consider very carefully. The Company has invested in a series production of "You're All I Need", it's based on a very popular web novel. The cast and crew are supposed to begin filming in a month or so but the second female lead had to back out for personal reasons. Now all the companies that invested in this are fighting to get that role. Some of the other producers hid this fact from us and they've had weeks to scheme with each other and they have decided on an actress that they believe is already a shoe in for the role.
"But I found out who they want to take over and after much discussion and as one of the biggest investors we were able to request for another audition. We want to fight for this role because the person they want to put in it will ensure we will not be getting our money's worth.
"We will be the underdogs for this audition. Most of the producers have already traded with each other and they're mostly set on having that woman act in this series. We needed someone who will be able to perform under that kind of pressure. We just want to offer an option several times better than the one they're backing so that if they still choose her, and the ratings tank, because it will. We will be able to say we brought forward a better option and they didn't take it."
Emmanuel paused to take a sip of water and let the details sink in, "We want you to audition for Veronica York, she is essentially the villainess in this story and she is an essential linchpin to the entire plot. Put someone incompetent to act as her and we'll be watching those rating go down week on week. The audition is this Friday. You will have four days to prepare."
Sophia snorted, "My dear, he means you have four days to understand the character, go through the script and prepare mentally for this. It will not be easy and you are not yet ready."
Kiera sat there in stunned silence. She remembered You're All I Need; it was one of the most anticipated series of this year. The novel became tremendously popular among the romance and drama enthusiasts and the excitement came at an all time high when the series was announced to be available on Beeflex, a very popular streaming site.
She had been too busy then to actually watch the show but she did hear the outrage. She remembered that the first few episodes did very well until the crucial part of the story and it went all downhill from there. The online bashing went on an all time high against the entire cast.
It got so bad the fans decided to boycott the entire thing. The producers decided to cut the entire thing short and it ended as flat as it could.
No one in the cast was left untainted by the devastation and the stigma followed them for years.
Rabid fans were bad but disappointed rabid fans were the worst.
She knew the future; she knew this show will do badly. She should say no right now and excuse herself. Say she's not ready.
But Emmanuel was also right, the actress for Veronica was what caused the initial outrage and disappointment. Would she be able to do better than that actress? She honestly didn't know. And she wouldn't know unless she tried.
She can't just work for shows that she knew did well, sometime a little gambling might be worth it. The worse case scenario right now is if she doesn't pass the audition. She can't go and think about anything beyond that.
She took a deep breath and looked at Sophia, "I'm willing to try."
Sophia buried her face in her hands, "We'll be cramming! This isn't the type of thing you cram for!"
Kiera wanted to pat her back to reassure her but held off, "I've read the book and I have an initial understanding of her character. But I'll have you to help, won't I?"
Sophia glared at her, "All of you are too optimistic about this!"
"I'm willing to at least try it. If I don't get it then it should be fine."
Sophia seemed to make up her mind, "Fine! You all win! We'll go through everything and you better be ready to cram all the information in your head!"