“Are we talking about some sort of format change for the show or a role change for myself or Darla?” Blake asked. “Because as it is, Darla and I won’t be interacting much.”
“The judges and the host have plenty of interaction during the live shows,” she corrected. “Which is what we want to play up.”
“Play up?” Darla asked. “I’m not following, Megan.”
“The details will have to be fine-tuned based on your input. But what we know for certain is that we’ll emphasize a rivalry between you two and tease the audience with the battle and/or sparks that might fly.”
Blake’s brow lifted. “Sparks?” His gaze flickered to Darla, who had turned paler still when he hadn’t thought she could do so.
“Viewers love a good rivalry,” Meagan explained. “They will either want you to clash or want you to fall into each other’s arms. It will be a fun battle of the sexes theme we can use.”
“I know you mean it when you say this is going to be good for the show and for us,” Darla said. “And I believe you when you say that the studio is supportive of this idea, but I’m concerned this could backfire on me. I’m looking for longevity, not my fifteen minutes of fame. I’m the outsider, the one from a competing network. One misstep that makes them see me as having allegiances to this network over them could cost me my job.”
“One of your jobs,” Meagan said. “But you aren’t going to leave either show on anyone’s terms but your own. You’re too good to have this end any differently.”
“You don’t know that,” Darla argued. “This first season for me is more like an audition,” she glanced at Blake, “and we all know it. If I get bad feedback from the audience, I’m gone.”
“You won’t,” Blake said, unwilling to let her allow fear to affect her decision-making. He might not be a hot Hollywood star, but he knew opportunity when he saw it. “They’ll love you just like your audience loves you.”
“This is a different format from my show,” Darla said. “I’ll be openly critiquing people’s performances, building and destroying dreams. Blake won’t have that pressure, nor will he have the competing network issue.”
“Stepping Up is going to be highly invested in you both,” Meagan assured her. “We’ll be doing a print and television campaign featuring the two of you. Any way you look at that, you two are the reasons both networks get this exposure—and Darla, your network gets it for free. Because of you. It’s a sweet deal for them. Call your agent and your producer and talk it out at the next break.”
“She’s right, Darla,” Blake said. “It’s a sweet deal for your network—and even mine, for that matter. They win ratings and advertisers.”
Darla shook her head, rejecting his encouragement. “Ultimately we’re still competitors, Blake. The last one standing keeps their show and this one right along with it. You know that’s how this ends.”
“I don’t know any such thing,” Blake said. “And you could easily have this network pay you enough to make your show a nonissue.”
She narrowed her gaze. “And you get rid of me as a competitor?”
“No,” he objected. “Come on, Darla. You know better than that.”
“How?” she asked. “How do I know better? I barely know you. And we both know our new variety-type shows could stay on the air for twenty years. Prime time rarely hits five seasons. Keeping our day jobs makes sense.”
“Hey,” Meagan sniped, “don’t be numbering our days already. We are going to keep this show new and fresh, just like we’re trying to do with you two injected into the season full-throttle now.
“Your daytime shows are your daytime shows,” Megan assured her. “The idea is simply that this show gets your shows more exposure.” She glanced at her watch. “Yikes! Okay. We don’t have much time. You both have concerns. I understand fully, but I sincerely think you will be glad you did this. So let me just arm you both with information to think about and to talk to your representation about.” She glanced at Blake. “Blake, we don’t need you at every audition since we don’t shoot those segments live. We piece together random footage for audition segments. This gives us time to finish planned shows in New York and pretape others to give you breathing room. Vegas week is when we select the final twelve dancers, which will be crazy insanity, with emotions high and contestants sleep-deprived. But it’s also a perfect time to do some playful rival clash stuff between the two of you. We’ll talk through details. I have ideas. Lots of ideas.” She let out a breath. “That brings me to the here and now. Blake, the studio wants to see you at eight tomorrow morning to talk about contract terms and how you are going to juggle two shows. That means you need to go catch a flight to NY now. Your agent is working on finding you one.”