Page 89 of Coach Sully
“I’ll pay double your rate to have you pull the footage and make me a sizzle reel, or whatever Kendra called it. Something to pitch to the network, about Kendra and I meeting.”
What Joey said the other day hit me, America just wants a love story. They want to root for somebody.
“You want a pitch tape.” His eyes light up with recognition when he sees where I’m going with this. Kendra is my love story, so if that’s what they want, then I’m ready to give it to them, but only if it’s real. “Okay. Yeah… Yeah, I’m loving this idea, actually.” He rubs his hand over his mouth and stares at the table, the wheels turning in his head. I’m so thankful he’s on board.
“But Vault can’t know about it. I don’t want the show unless Kendra can do the storyline herself.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Still working on that side of things. But it’s gotta stay quiet for now.”
He nods. “I’ll need to bring in an editor. You’d be pitching the show without a proof of concept, it has to be perfect. That’s out of my wheelhouse.”
“Scoring with Sullydidn’t have proof of concept, and they picked it up,” I argue.
“Yeah, and then it bombed—no offense—so they’re going to be extra cautious the second time around. I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you, man. It’s going to be a hard win. And how are you planning on getting rights to the footage?”
“You still have access to the files, right?”
Lance sits back in his chair, crossing his arms. “Man…”
I dip my head and nod. I’m asking him to take a risk. “Look, I have a contact at MNSports. I’m meeting with the network in a few days, along with my lawyer to run it by them and see if I can pull some strings. But this can’t get back to Pierce or Jeremy.”
Lance takes a sip of his coffee. “There’s a lot we can do with editing, but it might take a little bit of time. How much can you give me?”
I wince. “Couple days?”
“Seriously? Okay. Let me go through some of the highlights tonight and see what I can come up with. Luckily, I’ve got a little extra time since they scrapped it.”
I exhale a sigh of relief. “I owe you, man.”
He chuckles. “You definitely do. I’ll be sending you a bill. So will the other guys.”
“Done.”
Lance got the promo reel over to me less than an hour before my meeting with the network. Now I need to pitch it to MNSports and have them agree to it. Walking into that conference room feels like walking into the lion’s den. The tension is palpable. It’s awkward. They’re disappointed in what happened, but deep down, I feel zero shame. I love Kendra. I’m happy I met her. Vault Productions on the other hand? Fuck ’em.
“I understand you want to get Kendra’s job back, but it seems your motives are personal. There’s a zero-tolerance policy for fraternization. We aren’t going to be airing a scandal.”
“Why… Because you think that will make people watchless?” I respond. One of the network reps clears their throat and passes a glance with another. I didn’t major in marketing, but after being in the spotlight for most of my life, I know for damn sure a love child scandal is more exciting than any run-of-the-mill dating show. My lawyer’s gaze burns into my temple. He tuckshis phone away and places a relaxed palm on the black marble conference table. It’s a signal for me to stand down. I take a deep breath, then continue.
“You’ve already paid for the footage, you can’t pull your sponsorship until next season, so why not do something with what you have. It’s better than whatever dating thing you’re currently working with. The coach that fell for the producer of his own dating show? You want a story, this is a fucking story. Better than anything you’re going to get with Vault.”
The MNSports creative director waves a hand and shrugs. “Yeah, ’kay. Let’s see the demo. Is it ready to play?” They’re writing it off before they even see it. Fuck, this will be a hard win.
The room is quiet as the A/V assistant loads the media file that Lance put together. I only saw a snippet of it, so I’m counting on Lance and the editor he brought on to make it something the network will want.
My hands sweat when it begins. I don’t know what these things are supposed to look like, but it seems solid. The guys did a good job from what I can tell.
One of the execs whispers to another while it plays. On the screen, there are small clips of me and Kendra. Little snippets of our hidden relationship. Snapshots of our affection that we’ve had to hide: the discreet touches, making her laugh at my jokes, moments I’m caught staring at her from across the room. It’s like watching us fall in love from a distance. I can’t wait to show this to her, hopefully soon.
There’s a long-distance shot of me with her in the hallway when I’ve got her pinned against the wall. Shit, I didn’t know that was going to be in here. I didn’t even know that was captured. Three people at the conference table exchange glances. I don’t know what it means. There’s a lot of judgment coming down on me. They must have hired a voice actor to narrate the premise, which they nailed. The end of the reelfeatures my mic’d up audio telling Jeremy I’m taking Kendra to the hospital. I never was good at working those mics, and this time, I’m glad for it. They had a lot more material than I thought. I would watch this.
The trailer ends, and the lights turn on again. It’s quiet.
One of the ad execs rubs his chin. “This is… something. Who put this together?”
I’ve got them. That’s all I needed. I school my expression to not give away my excitement.