elroycohen
Steampunk Psycho
~BBW (Multiple), Stuffing, ~XWG - A television producer decides to start up a reality show he has a special interest in.
Warren Navis reluctantly looked toward the huge pile of file folders on the desk of his Hollywood production office. As a successful television producer he should have been eagerly anticipating his next big project, but instead he had been putting off sifting through the possible ideas for weeks now.
That only allowed the pile to get taller as his assistant compiled information on every possible show idea they he ran across.
The only thing networks were green lighting nowadays was reality shows. Show originality or quality had nothing to do with their selection as evidenced by the fact that Warren had just wrapped a competition show for dog groomers. After overseeing the project that had a host whose only claim to fame was being on another reality show that no one remembered and where the winner ended up not even being a real dog groomer, Warren felt as if he had just wasted the last eight months of his life.
He knew the next project was bound to be just as mindnumbing, if not more so, but he figured the sooner he got it over with the better. With a deep sigh of exasperation Warren picked up the top four folders and paged through them.
All of them were from has-been movie stars from the eighties looking to make a comeback by having cameras follow them around. Even though he was going to pass, Warren knew he would see most of these guys on VH1 during summer programming. The next few concepts were even less promising.
Then, about midway through the stack, Warren came across an idea from the swimwear division of a plus-size clothing retailer that stood out: The Swimsuit Challenge Watch women prepare their figures for swimsuit season in reverse.
Underneath the intriguing title, notes were scribbled about a competition where women would model their favorite bikini that fit their bodies perfectly and then over the course of year, instead of struggling to keep their bikini ready bodies, they would gorge on food and lounge around a beach house in an attempt to be the one who was least able to squeeze into the suit the following summer. Weigh-ins would be done every other month and the clothing store would put up $150,000 for the most weight gained and another 150K for the contestant who got the best reaction from viewers when the too-small bikinis were displayed. Of course, plus-size bikinis that made the contestants softer, fuller figures look sexy would be given by the sponsor to all who participated.
It was a ridiculous, shallow and nonsensical idea, Warren thought. Perfect for reality television.
Not to mention an idea of great interest to Warren, who had yet to have a girlfriend who did leave the relationship heavier than when she had entered it.
Casting might be the one problem to overcome, Warren figured, so he had his assistant do a quick preliminary online poll for the show in the usual locations: LA, New York and Atlanta. Contrary to the reaction he expected, within a week he had responses from over 27,000 people wanting to audition. If he had thought people would react that way, he would have had the idea himself long ago.
No matter; time to see what the networks think.
Of course, the network that was in fourth place in the overall ratings was Warrens first thought for a possible home for the show. He was right. Thirty seconds into his lunch with the network executive the show was given the okay.
Talk to my people about how much money you need. I see this as a great idea, Will. What better way to make couch potatoes feel good about themselves then to watch people turn into bigger couch potatoes.
Warren did not bother to correct the executive on his name. And even though he was just 30, Warren had been in the business long enough to be ready for the contingencies that came throughout the course of lunch: Depending on scheduling the network might bump the show to one of the sister cable networks further up the dial at any given time. Then there was the warning to expect much less money than Warren would ask for, as contract negotiations for the network's teen drama were due in a couple months.
Warren just nodded and waited patiently for the lunch to be over so he could get busy on the next step: casting.
The Swimsuit Challenge
by Elroy Cohen
The Idea
Warren Navis reluctantly looked toward the huge pile of file folders on the desk of his Hollywood production office. As a successful television producer he should have been eagerly anticipating his next big project, but instead he had been putting off sifting through the possible ideas for weeks now.
That only allowed the pile to get taller as his assistant compiled information on every possible show idea they he ran across.
The only thing networks were green lighting nowadays was reality shows. Show originality or quality had nothing to do with their selection as evidenced by the fact that Warren had just wrapped a competition show for dog groomers. After overseeing the project that had a host whose only claim to fame was being on another reality show that no one remembered and where the winner ended up not even being a real dog groomer, Warren felt as if he had just wasted the last eight months of his life.
He knew the next project was bound to be just as mindnumbing, if not more so, but he figured the sooner he got it over with the better. With a deep sigh of exasperation Warren picked up the top four folders and paged through them.
All of them were from has-been movie stars from the eighties looking to make a comeback by having cameras follow them around. Even though he was going to pass, Warren knew he would see most of these guys on VH1 during summer programming. The next few concepts were even less promising.
Then, about midway through the stack, Warren came across an idea from the swimwear division of a plus-size clothing retailer that stood out: The Swimsuit Challenge Watch women prepare their figures for swimsuit season in reverse.
Underneath the intriguing title, notes were scribbled about a competition where women would model their favorite bikini that fit their bodies perfectly and then over the course of year, instead of struggling to keep their bikini ready bodies, they would gorge on food and lounge around a beach house in an attempt to be the one who was least able to squeeze into the suit the following summer. Weigh-ins would be done every other month and the clothing store would put up $150,000 for the most weight gained and another 150K for the contestant who got the best reaction from viewers when the too-small bikinis were displayed. Of course, plus-size bikinis that made the contestants softer, fuller figures look sexy would be given by the sponsor to all who participated.
It was a ridiculous, shallow and nonsensical idea, Warren thought. Perfect for reality television.
Not to mention an idea of great interest to Warren, who had yet to have a girlfriend who did leave the relationship heavier than when she had entered it.
Casting might be the one problem to overcome, Warren figured, so he had his assistant do a quick preliminary online poll for the show in the usual locations: LA, New York and Atlanta. Contrary to the reaction he expected, within a week he had responses from over 27,000 people wanting to audition. If he had thought people would react that way, he would have had the idea himself long ago.
No matter; time to see what the networks think.
Of course, the network that was in fourth place in the overall ratings was Warrens first thought for a possible home for the show. He was right. Thirty seconds into his lunch with the network executive the show was given the okay.
Talk to my people about how much money you need. I see this as a great idea, Will. What better way to make couch potatoes feel good about themselves then to watch people turn into bigger couch potatoes.
Warren did not bother to correct the executive on his name. And even though he was just 30, Warren had been in the business long enough to be ready for the contingencies that came throughout the course of lunch: Depending on scheduling the network might bump the show to one of the sister cable networks further up the dial at any given time. Then there was the warning to expect much less money than Warren would ask for, as contract negotiations for the network's teen drama were due in a couple months.
Warren just nodded and waited patiently for the lunch to be over so he could get busy on the next step: casting.
