Luckily, September began with good news.
The metrics for August came out and it saw an overall increase in ratings and viewership. Especially the two new weekly programs they launched received good reviews.
While the two programs had not even reached a single month mark, they still showed potential with the number of viewers they were pulling in. The ratings were also quite good.
However, compared to Rumor Roundup, Party Hoppers that aired on Sunday Night 9 PM slot looked almost like a dark horse with the numbers it was pulling in. Just as he suspected, Lilith was a big hit with the audience of MusixZ TV.
Only three episodes have aired and fan mails were already arriving at the office premises for Lilith. The plan was to have 24 episodes in the first season, with 10 episodes for each theme of indoors and outdoors, and 4 episodes of special events.
Reading the fan mails, Lilith became quite ecstatic and devoted herself more to the program. One of the most frequent requests from viewers was that Lilith give an update on what party was happening in the city each week in advance so that they could attend it.
After discussion, Liam approved the addition as it was just a single static slate with Lilith's voiceover from behind. It would be put at the end of each episode starting from the September ones.
However, good things didn't last.
When Liam watched the finished version of Roadies pilot episode, he felt like spitting blood. His inattention to the project due to the hectic last two weeks in August came back to bite him in the ass.
"Nathan, I think I made it clear how I wanted the final show to look. I told you to focus on realism, but this looks like a bloody romantic road trip. For God's sake, those people aren't even couples. They are strangers. How did it turn out like this?" Liam roared, shocking everyone from the production house.
The proud looks on the faces of everyone dimmed.
Liam had been a hands off shopkeeper after hiring the personnel. He didn't interfere in the matters related to production mostly. He trusted their judgement and left them to complete the filming plan. He only wanted to see the final product.
The result was these folks taking too much creative freedom. They had assumed that Liam would be happy with whatever they brought forth. They acted too self-importantly and ended up facing Liam's muzzle.
Unfortunately, some people still didn't realize how pissed off Liam was.
"These are all real scenes, Mr. Liam. Look at how beautiful they have turned out to be. This could be made into a great road film if we want. The visuals are astonishing."
"I didn't ask for beauty, Nathan. I asked for realism," Liam ground out.
"In my professional opinion, beauty always sells. Too much realism is not good. Listen to me, this will do great," Nathan's voice bordered on patronizing, causing Liam's hackles to immediately rise up.
"Listen to you?" Liam sneered. "This is my company Nathan. I only listen to myself."
Nathan's face changed for a moment. However, he either still didn't realize how close he was to the abyss or didn't care.
"I have been in the film industry for 15 years. My experience tells me that too much realism makes people averse. A road movie like this needs a sense of beauty to sell. We don't have any stars on our project. All of these guys are newbies. Some of them can't even act. Focusing too much on them will turn the audience away," Nathan continued in a serious manner as if he was imparting wisdom.
This caused Liam's eyelids to twitch.
"I know you are the owner of this company," Nathan continued, oblivious to the blowout heading towards him. "But, professional matters should be left to professionals. In my experience, I feel that…"
"You are fired."
Liam's words interrupted Nathan in a calm, calculated manner. He didn't shout. He just stated with absolute certainty. And Nathan's eyes bugged out in shock.
Absolute, pin drop silence occupied the room following Liam's words. No one expected Liam to be so decisive. His words were ruthless. He didn't leave any room for negotiation. Everyone held their breath.
"Pardon…" Nathan said weakly, not able to comprehend what just happened.
"I said you are fired. Pack your things and leave the office within fifteen minutes. Your salary will be settled tomorrow. The same goes for anyone else as well," Liam stated calmly and looked around at everyone coldly.
"In this place, I make the rules. Your industry seniority, experience, professional expertise, and all that jizz doesn't matter," Liam continued looking at them. "I give you the money. You work for me. It is as simple as that. If I ask for a rock, you bring me a rock. Not a beautiful pebble you smoothed out from a rock."
"If you think you can't follow that simple expectation, you can pack your bags. I have no time to waste with fools who have no clue which side their breads are buttered. You all have five minutes. Decide among yourself."
Liam rose from his seat, not paying the shell-shocked Nathan any mind and walked towards the door of the viewing room.
"Oh, and editor, I want to see all the material that was filmed. I will personally oversee the edit. And you will cut it to my specifications. Get the editing room ready in half an hour. Our work will begin today itself," Liam said absent mindedly and walked out with Rosa in tow.
"You will ruin this! You have no taste! You are just a rich kid playing with money! You will desecrate this art!" Nathan howled.
Liam paused in his steps at the door.
"Heh, I paid for it. So, I have the right to desecrate it as well. When you can pay the money, go and create art to your heart's content. Using my money to pursue your art, do I look like a fool to you? Did you ask for my permission?" Liam retorted mercilessly without even turning back and walked away.
Nathan's eyes looked bloodshot. But there was nothing he could do. The other party was within his legal rights to do what he did. Nathan's grand aspirations of making a comeback all vanished in that moment. He sat down on the floor with a crestfallen look on his face.
Nathan had been rolling in the film industry for years. His dream was to direct and make a film that would earn him fame and fortune. He never got a chance to direct. Nobody trusted him to direct a film by himself.
However, he had a knack for finding beauty in unexpected places. His administrative skills were quite good as well. So, he eventually became an executive producer, responsible for a film's final cut and overseeing the crew.
Initially, Nathan was diligent in his work. He worked hard and earned the trust of his film company boss. So, he was given more leeway during his work. As with everything, things started small.
Nathan would interfere in shooting some fringe scenes once or twice when the B-unit direction team worked out of the sight of the director. Using his power and position, he would force them to shoot those scenes to his specifications, to scratch his direction itch. The B-unit members didn't want trouble and didn't complain upwards.
In the post production, he would try to forcefully include those scenes into the movie. While it was fringe scenes, it was fine. The B unit direction team didn't have many important shots for them to film. So, this didn't create any issues.
But, the repeated success emboldened Nathan. He thought his talent for direction was shining through and began to become arrogant in his heart.
Things went like this for a while, but soon, Nathan felt that he could do better than the directors hired by the company. So, he began to interfere with directors during shooting. And he picked his targets well. He only threw his weight around newcomers. When experienced directors came, he went to bother the B unit.
One day, he got a chance to work with a new director and tried to interfere. But, the man was bold and escalated the issue. Investigation revealed Nathan's past misdeeds and he was fired.
After being jobless for more than a year, Nathan converged his mentality and tried to find some job first. Enter Liam, a new born calf entering an arena he wasn't completely clear about. Nathan managed to convince Liam with his resume and got the job.
After Liam hired the basic personnel and threw everything to Nathan, Nathan's old itch started to act up. Understanding that Liam was busy with channel work and only cared for the final product, he hired a newbie director whom he could control completely and decided to take the production under his control.
With Liam busy with his work and being unable to attend the filming in person, he was like the uncrowned emperor in the set.
This immediately made him go crazy.