Mike Chandler was a young, up and coming stand up comedian.
He wasn't a big shot. He mostly did guest appearances on shows. Very rarely did he get a chance to shine and be the lead. This music festival was a three hour show and he was the lead presenter. Such an opportunity was rare for him. He wanted to grab this opportunity and rise.
So, he didn't have any pretentiousness.
He was down to earth and tried to accommodate everyone while trying to ensure his time to shine wasn't reduced. Thankfully, Liam's arrangements weren't unreasonable. While the sudden addition of a female presenter worried him a bit, luckily there wasn't any preferential treatment for the parachuted female presenter.
According to the arrangements made by Liam, Mike was the lead presenter. He was mainly responsible for the gags and quips. His role was to have an overall control over the presentation and keep it as entertaining as possible. Moreover, as this was a music festival, a festive mood must be present throughout the show. As for the female presenter, she was simply there to add contrast and be the eye candy.
Such an arrangement suited Mike fine. He knew that his limelight would not be stolen. And he was quite aware of how much having a female presenter took away the pressure on him to keep's audience's attention. So he didn't have any issues and in fact welcomed such an arrangement.
For Lilith, being a presenter/host was her dream. And this was her first opportunity to realize it. Liam gifting her this opportunity on a silver platter didn't mean she took it less seriously. In fact, she took it far more seriously than anyone else present on the program team.
She knew she didn't have the necessary experience in managing a show like this. Moreover, as a newcomer, she still had plenty to learn. So, she reduced her presence and let Mike lead willingly. She was aware that she was being used as eye candy by Liam, but she didn't begrudge him for it. In this industry, using females as eye candy is a common thing. This wasn't an exception.
While Liam was taking advantage of her sexy figure, he was also providing her opportunities to shine. She had individual segments with fans and artists backstage arranged for her. And Mike's leading style allowed her to shine a little as well. Mike's style of comedy was witty quips interspersed in banter and sharp observations in a humorous tone. Such a style gave her enough room to perform as well.
For Rosa, this was a big opportunity to prove her worth. In the entire production team, she was the only one who knew how much Liam valued this program. She knew how much hope he had for this program as well. Liam handing over the coordination of such a big project to her made her very excited.
Deep inside her, Rosa knew that her position as Liam's personal secretary wasn't because of her skill. It was because of Liam's appreciation of her. She knew that she definitely wasn't qualified for this job. She didn't care about it much on normal days. But, there was always a desire to prove herself.
And this opportunity was just right for that.
Moreover, her responsibilities weren't that big. The professionals were taking care of professional things. She only needed to coordinate between them and arrange for things. She acted mostly like a supervisor and an extension of Liam's authority in the team. No one made things difficult for her.
If she couldn't even manage such a cushy responsibility, then even God can't help her in the future. So, she was quite determined to do a good job and earn Liam's praise. As for what she would demand as a reward, that could be better discussed with Liam behind closed doors after the event is broadcasted.
As for the rest of the production team, they were divided into two groups- the main team which covered the event that was sent by Liam's old man and the independent team sent by Dave to take care of peripheral matters.
The main team knew Liam's identity and status clearly. They were industry veterans who had seen all kinds of stuff. As long as it didn't interfere in their professional matters, they didn't dare to say anything. They wanted to cultivate a good relationship with the young boss and were planning to work diligently for this event.
Thankfully, Liam was measured as well. He didn't favor that female presenter who was new and still left most matters in the hands of experienced professionals. In this industry, programs with good potential being ruined by inexplicable reasons was quite common. And some young females being given too much importance was half the reason for stuff like that happening.
Everyone knew what the industry was like. Such things are very common when the one in-charge of the program parachutes a young female with no background into the program. So, they were a bit worried before the meeting.
Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case with this one. As for those individual segments arranged for that female presenter, that didn't matter too much. Compared to some stuff they have witnessed in the circle, this wasn't even worth a mention.
Also, Liam left the professional matters to professionals. He simply set the direction, stated his expectations, solicited relevant advice and finalized things. The rest was left to the program team to fill in with their expertise. That sounded good to them.
So, they were quite content with the working conditions. And likewise, their respect for the young boss grew as well. To them, Liam knew his limits and kept what should have been a priority as priority. This was more than what several insiders could manage. Such a young boss made them have hope for the TV empire's future.
Second generation kids playing on the set and ruining things were pretty common in the industry. Unlike the film industry where the investment is in millions, the TV circle had more second generations running amok. So, this was always a fear in the hearts of experienced veterans.
This time the big boss not only sent them over to help the young boss. He also asked them to keep an eye on the young boss and asked them to restrain him if he crossed the line. No one wanted to be the person to spoil young men's fun and earn their enmity. These second generation kids are quite petty and are narrow minded. So, they were worried about this job assignment.
Luckily, things didn't progress the way they had feared. When the boss had parachuted in a female presenter at the last moment, they had despaired in their heart. They knew that such last minute additions always have some other behind the scenes secret. So, they prepared themselves for a tough time. But, all their worries came to naught.
This not only relieved them, but also motivated them to perform well. If the young boss was being this serious, what right did they workers have to slack off? So, no one created any issues.
As for the independent team, they knew their status well. So, they simply acted like props and obediently listened to instructions, without trying to show off. This independent team was mostly made up of college students and unsuccessful adults. They knew that this was a big opportunity for them.
This opportunity was not just to learn from veterans and have on-hand experience. Adding this work experience in their resume will give them bonus points. Most crews will select them based on this experience alone. So, they too were diligent.
Thus, a very motivated group of people worked round the clock to make sure that the production went without a hitch.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Weber and his friends suddenly found that a lot of doors that were closed to them earlier were open to them now. People were very active in discussing sponsorship. Even some old sponsors called back to increase their sponsorship amount.
Artists, who ignored them and always were too busy for them, suddenly had time for them. Some of them even expressed their intention to participate in the Music Rain Music Festival openly. Many more independent artists agreed to be a part of the event as well.
Everything changed because of a single broadcasting agreement.
It was one thing to hear Rosa explain to them. It was another thing to experience it first hand. Weber's entire event team was gratified with such a change. They were all happy with Weber's capability to snag such a broadcasting agreement.
Even those who were initially dissatisfied with MusixZ muscling into the event team were left speechless with the benefits that arrived. They knew that their little music festival wasn't little anymore and now had a weight. This gave them a lot of indirect prestige as well.
Thus, they too were motivated to deliver the best music festival possible.
Thus, with both ends working hard, the music festival began to bloom in the following weeks. After Liam sent over Dave's independent production crew along with Lilith to handle the promotional videos, the music festival organizers accommodated them very well and tried to cooperate with them to the best extent possible. Even the independent artists put down their arrogant demeanour and cooperated with the promotions obediently.