Director Jones was in a dilemma. For twelve years he had been making variety shows. For a decade, despite his efforts and dedication, even if his shows were not lost, they couldn't be called success.
It was only two years ago did he gain his breakthrough with the first season of 'Happy Trip Together,' with 0.2 being the least and 2.3 being the highest viewership rate of the show.
He even got nominated for the best direction of a variety show.
When he organised the second season of this show, he had high aims. He convinced many investors and increased his budget. The fame of the first season made that job easier for him.
In the first season, 6 personalities of the entertainment industry were invited and travelled to various places. And in this season, he made various changes to make the show even better.
Director Jones and the show planner arranged the format of the show. They invited 6 individuals as permanent guests and 4 temporary guests for each week. They kept on alternating the trip between a leisure one and games embedded ones to keep the audience's interest.
Director Jones invited well known personalities of various fields and expanded his audience by not restricting the invitation to only those of the entertainment industry.
All these updates turned out to be better planning as proven by the viewership they received. The least rate was 0.9 and the highest was 2.6 which was a great success for a variety show.
But Director Jones wished to break through 3 which no domestic variety show had done. He brought in Madeline Wells, the hottest actress at the moment. And signed for 3 trips which equaled 6 episodes.
Her presence in the show did bring in huge popularity to the show. But not enough to break through the 3-point rating. And hence the invitation of Viviana was made at a high price, despite the 3rd tier actress not really being worth that much.
He was seeing the hype of the fans and netizens, and thought that he would really breakthrough this time. But who would have thought that Madeline would suddenly withdraw from the show and was even ready to pay the full amount of monetary compensation.
But to keep the connection healthy, he took the compensation of only two episodes she did not shoot. Now the director and the planner were in their office stretching their heads out.
They had already agreed to pay Viviana a high amount but it was of no use if Madeline was not in the show. What he wanted was not the actress but the traffic brought by the conflict between the two actresses.
While the two were lost in their worries, Producer Li, the producer of Happy Trip Together, came into the office.
"Why are you two in such stress?" He asked as he took a seat on the couch.
"How can I not be stressed? We've signed to pay 400,000 yuan to a 3rd tier actress who is of no use now. I was ready to invite this trouble into the show only because I wanted to increase the viewership using the conflict she has with Madeline. Now she's only a waste of money."
"Hmm…" Producer Li nodded to the director's words.
"Madeline had been very easy going throughout the show. Who would have thought that mentioning the very name of Viviana would make her flee. Even ready to pay the full amount of the liquidated damages."
"Even if her agent assured that the hype between Viviana and Han Jun would still do the job. It was not the same." The director added.
"The Agent…. Director Jones!"
The planner who previously looked like she had lost everything she had in this world stood up abruptly in excitement.
"I have an idea!!"
"What idea?"
"Viviana. It would not be a waste of money to invite her if my idea comes into reality."
"Don't go around. Just get onto it!" exclaimed the impatient director.
"With Viviana's personality, Madeline is not the only one she has conflict with…" The planner analyzed.
"Why don't we invite someone she has constant conflict with, just like Madeline?"
"But who would readily jump into a battlefield. Even the most calm Madeline ran off." Producer Li voiced his concern.
"Sir there is. There is someone who would readily do that!" argued the planner.
"Who???"
Both the director and producer stood up too. Eager to know who the person was.
"The person who's a victim of Viviana's bully. The whole internet knows about this…."
But the young woman kept on building up the tension.
"FUCK!!! Just tell me who it is, DAMN IT!!!" Finally, the director exploded.
But Planner Tang was unbothered. And with a wicked smile, she continued,
"Well… The person is …"
.
.
.
"Lyra will be joining you in Happy Trip Together."
"…"
It was early in the morning, barely a few minutes had passed 6 when her constantly ringing phone woke her up. It was a call from the Agent, commanding her to reach the company before 9.
She called Elisa and updated her on her schedule. When the time came, the assistant arrived to pick her up and brought her to the company. She was wondering what the agent wanted from her. But it was only to say this to her.
"You could have told me this on the phone." The actress showed her dissatisfaction.
'Or better, never tell me at all.'
"I wanted to tell you this face to face." Replied the agent.
"…"
"Viviana. I hope you know your role, don't you?" inquired Agent Yan.
The man was not without a worry when the thought of Lyra being in a variety show with Viviana came up. The former was a gem he had been religiously polishing. The later the background to make the gem shine bright.
If it was half a year back, he would have not been this worried. But after what happened between Lyra and Viviana a few months ago, the latter, who had been a mute dog following what he said, had become unpredictable. He feared that she would do something that would ruin all what he had been doing so far. Or worse, hurt Lyra disregarding the camera around them.
It would not be a first for Viviana to do that.