Page 92 of Coach Sully
“I’ve got some good news. I’ve been talking with the team, they are willing to bring you back on.”
“They want to give me my job back?” I sit up and glance at Sully who furrows his brow.
Pierces continues. “So, that’s the thing, you couldn’t be a producer, but we could make that a probationary thing. You could work your way up again, maybe in a year or hell, maybe even a few months, you could take part in another show.”
“Oh…” My heart sinks. “So I’d be, what, a PA?”
“Hang up the phone, Kendra,” Sully says softly. I crane my neck to look at him. He shakes his head beside me. “No.”
“Yeah, executive PA.” Pierce continues. “You would still keep some of your same tasks as before though. We could give you more responsibilities.”
“For less pay, I assume.”
He sighs on the other end. “Unfortunately, yes. But it’s something, for now. The studio knows you’re an asset.”
I nod. Sully pinches my thigh to get my attention, and I’m torn on what to do. I had come to terms with them letting me go. I accepted it, but if they’re willing to give me another shot, it would be nice to have something locked in before the baby is born. That means no break on my resumé, and if they hired me back, I could someday use them as a reference again. Maybe after a couple years?
“Can I think about it?” I ask.
“Of course, but don’t take too long. I would hate for somebody to change their mind and have the window of opportunity close on us.”
“Okay… okay. I’ll get back to you soon. Thanks, Pierce. I appreciate it.”
“You bet. It would be great to have you back. Take care, okay?”
“You too.”
I end the call and turn to Sully. “They want to hire me back,” I say with a smile—one he doesn’t return. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t take it.”
“Sully, this could be really great for me. It would get me in with a studio. I don’t know if I’ll be able to find a new production house that will take me before the baby is born.”
He sits up and takes my hands in his. “I was going to wait until dinner to bring it up, but…”
What does he have to say? I’m getting nervous. “But what?” I ask, my voice is high pitched with anxiety.
“I’ve been talking with MNSports.”
“What? Why?” Did he get in trouble? This is news to me.
“They own the rights to the raw footage that Vault shot.”
I know this already. “Get to the point, Sully.”
“I think you should start your own production company?”
“Huh?” In a flash, I’m on my feet. “But what about the network, finish telling me what’s going on. Why have you been meeting with them?”
He smiles, and it gives me an inkling of relief, but I’m still confused. “Don’t be mad… but I met with Lance after I landed earlier this week to find out how much they had of us. I want them to do the show, but it needs to be real, to be our story. I had him put together a promo reel thing—with footage of us. He had one of the editing guys help him, and it was beautiful, Kendra. I met with MNSports a few days later and they took the bait. I think they’re all in. You just have to sign off on it. They want to meet with you.”
Holy shit.
“But here’s the best part, you would get to produce it. Fuck Vault and their bullshit offer, start your own production company. You can pick your own team of people. We can start hiring contractors. I’m sure a bunch of your colleagues would jump at the opportunity to work with you again. People love you, it’s why they want you back so bad… But they don’t deserve you—they fucked up and they know it. Please, Kendra, don’t take a step backward when you’re capable of doing so much more. You were born to do this, you’re a creator. You can knock this project out of the park.”
“And they would continue to sponsor the Rogues?” I ask. I want to make sure this would save the team’s sponsorship.
He nods. “But even if they didn’t, it wouldn’t change anything. This is a great opportunity for you to spread your wings. We can even take more footage, all decisions are up to you. We pitched it to show some of the dating show in the beginning, but as the show progresses, you can see all of our little moments and you can see something develop between us. It’s a love story among chaos. But it’s your footage. You can do whatever you want with it.”