C.O.Z.Y

Chapter 8: Deal or No Deal

"JESSICA!"

The poor intern's hands shook as she tried to place the lid on the coffee cup, each shake of her small hands caused more hot liquid to spill on her, Amara couldn't just watch the young girl struggle, so she moved her purse from her shoulder and wore it as a cross body. The small discomfort the hot drink caused was more than worth it when Jessica sent her the most great-full smile, cups in hand they headed into the office.

They barely placed the coffee on the table before the hordes launched at them for the caffeinated sustenance. Amara looked around; rarely does she have to drive down to Jamie's actual office, but everything was haywire.

"Ahh...liquid life"

The content on Jamies face after a long sip was the cue Jessica needed to slink out of the office. When Jamie finally noticed Amara, she welcomed her with a quick hug and was back to her computer

"Damn, when you said all hands-on deck you really meant it"

"uh-huh"

"All right but that doesn't explain why you texted me, and I quote, 'ditch the sweats I need you in the office'"

Jamie looked away from the screen and scanned Amara's outfit, the brown high waisted pleated shorts and billowy white top complimented her shape and skin tone while the boater hat brought a casualness to it.

"Yes, I actually do need your help but not with office work..."

She nodded at two of the interns who pulled out a ginormous gift basket wrapped in cellophane and a gold bow

"I need you to make a delivery for me...I don't know the location yet"

"Fine, whatever, that's not even what I'm curious about, how the hell did you get the network to approve this, don't they hate us?"

A smile broke on Jamie's face, her heart still humming from the rush of getting a project approved

"After the shoot, I sent an urgent email to the Network begging them to strike while the iron's hot, I mean all they had to do was look at the massive live viewing numbers which is small in comparison to the re-watch views. If that wasn't enough there's the follower surge on all his social media, even if they hate the messenger, they can't just ignore the message"

"and they let you take point even after last year?"

Jamie cringed as she thought about the last season of Girl Talk, it had been a great season and with great seasons come greater budgets. The flow of new money allowed for new equipment, better sets, bigger wardrobe budgets and more hired help. The over worked planning department finally got a break in the form of a bigger crew, everything was great...until it was time to start filming and production realized that a whole week worth of guest speakers, promotion, planning, most importantly money was missing.

This was a huge deal because, the entertainment industry is not forgiving, and reputation is just as monetizable as physical money. A bad reputation will destroy a good producer and there is no worst reputation than the one that comes from a mismanagement scandal, it makes the show look bad, it makes the network look bad and it makes the producer unreliable. That could have been the end of Jamie's career but she was saved by the high viewership numbers of the current season plus the recovery of the missing funds (the money was just added to the set budget) and the quick thinking of the cast to regain a stable reputation. Even with everything technically "fixed", a show gets one chance to massively fuck up with the network and "Girl Talk" has used theirs, the last thing Jamie needed to do is stick her neck out.

"Yes, I may have insinuated that I had an inside with our up and comer and that if I don't run point, there's no show."

Both women sent each other a small smirk, nothing feels better than getting your way