I finally make my way up to the front desk of the hotel, exhausted from my God must be punishing me trip from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale. I was supposed to get there mid morning but Mother Nature stopped cooperating somewhere around Texas and I had to wait for hours before we were back in the air,
"I'm Priscilla Maisonave, I need to check in." I handed the cheerful desk clerk my ID and waited as she typed in her little computer,
"Ah, Ms. Maisonave, here is your key. The elevators are to your left." The bellboy who helped me carry what seemed like my entire life filled in a mini trunk and two suitcases, not to mention my briefcase and a carry-on waited for further instruction,
"Ok, can you secure these, I'm not sure what I'll be doing with them." He nodded and I walked over to the elevators and decided to call Pete,
"Hi Pete. Yes, I'm finally here." He was meeting me downstairs so we could take care of my things before I got too comfortable. I stood by the elevators and smiled as he approached me,
"Hi Priscilla." He extended his hand,
"Hi, good to see you." He smiled,
"Same here, let's get you taken care of then I can give you an overview of what we have planned."
Sitting in Pete's room as we went over the group's schedule I wanted to call Leonard and ask him how could I possibly enjoy anything when I was going to be working twenty hours a day. Pete seemed to be reading my mind and chuckled,
"It just seems overwhelming now, once you do it and get in the groove it's a piece of cake." I laugh cautiously,
"I'll take your word on it." I turn to the next day's schedule of events,
"Ok so tomorrow it's MTV, the Miami Herald interview, MuchMusic from Canada, VIVA from Germany and an interview with Launch.com?" He nodded and popped a french fry in his mouth,
"Yep. That all needs to be done by four. It's a light day." I frown,
"Light day? And they are going to be rehearsing for opening night of the tour? How?" He laughed,
"That's where you come in." I look at him and he laughs harder,
"It's easy. Everyone will want to manipulate and get all the time and they'll want all five of them. That can't happen. Even MTV has to settle for two or three boys in an interview. It's all on you...and me. Remember the tour manager will be making sure people, props, security, finances are all where they are supposed to be, he doesn't have time for this. And even he will come to you and try to get something with the boys slipped in from time to time. Anytime someone wants to meet the boys, meet and greets, you're responsible for that too, not just media." I sigh,
"And when you say you, you mean we right?" He laughed at my overwhelmed state of mind,
"Yeah, for now but eventually I'm going to throw you in the deep end and you're going to sink or swim." I nod, out of repetition not because I was ok with everything that was being said,
"Ok, so where do I start?" He smiled,
"Well actually you tell me? How would you handle tomorrow?" I looked over the itenirary,
"OK, I see all the TV people will be hanging around at the same time. I would let them get some behind the scene footage and give them thirty minutes a piece with the guys. Then they could do the internet interview and the newspaper." He nodded,
"You're being too nice. What about rehearsing? They will be doing a full run through with costume changes. Thats about two hours for one run through. Who knows how many times they will need to stop and do it over again. And thirty minutes is way too long, ten minutes is more than enough and they should be split up." He looked down at his paper,
"We have three different TV crews." I sighed,
"I thought it would be good to give them alot of time since only two foreign outlets are here." He nodded,
"Like I said..too nice." He smiled,
"Remember MTV is all over the world. MTV will give footage to all it's other markets." I nod as he continues,
"And they still have to record some stuff for their website and other little things like that." I sat back and sighed dramatically,
"I quit." He laughed,
"You'll catch on. You just have to remember it's not abuot making friends it's about getting the job done. Sometimes even the client themselves won't agree with what you think is in their best interest." We worked for another half hour before he told me to get some sleep, I'd be meeting my new family in the morning for a brief.
Chapter 4a
Total Control
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