Thread: Paragon, Feminist (Vicious and Supple)

It had been nearly two years since Austin Walker had been appointed CEO of what once was Wholesome Family Television WFT, and the bankrupt, destitute companys turnaround under Mr. Walkers direction was truly remarkable. Within a month of Walker's arrival the ten-year institutional programming channel had been renamed to Creative Unlimited Television, their slogan becoming a CUT above the rest, and half of the current programming had been cancelled. Shows that had been running for half a decade or more were unceremoniously trashed, and replaced at first with reruns from whatever syndication deals CUT could afford at the time. Really, without the reputation of Austin Walker, no bank on Earth would have given the flailing network the loan it needed to survive another year. Even then, half of the banks passed on the risky opportunity. Many of those bank Presidents and CEOs would be fired a year later. Austin Walker had been known for his ruthless, efficient, and relentless work ethic. He had saved more than half a dozen companies from the brink in the past, from a small local construction company when he was twenty-four, to his five-year stint at a national electronics brick-and-mortar, Austin had made quite a name for himself. Wall Street was shocked at Walkers decision to move to the disastrous, outdated television network, as his name was in such high regard, and he could have taken nearly any open position at any billion dollar mega corporation. But, as Walker had put it at the time, higher risks mean greater success. He was always confident about any challenge that faced him. If something could feasibly be done, then he could definitely achieve it. He much preferred the exponential rewards, both fame and fortune, to the more relaxed, expected, boring nature of working at a mega corporation. Wholesome Family had not been able to afford a person of Austin Walkers standing, which was what made the position so appealing to him. WFT was only able to entice Mr. Walker to their company by offering him an outstanding amount of company stock. The only thing that had ever slowed him down in the past were stubborn shareholders, board members, and federal regulations. The idea of having the largest ownership in the company he intended to save was the best deal he could have ever asked for. After making some much needed cuts, Austin went to work completely reformatting Wholesome Family, and the first direction was to not limit the network to a singular focus. Anything that got ratings is what Walker wanted. An MMA Fighter reality show starring the best looking man in MMA, a cooking show featuring a pair of adorable twenty-something southern sisters, original science fiction programming, an adaptation of an underground and beloved comic book franchise Unlimited Creative became just that a place where all options were on the table. Within a year, most of the other half of WFTs legacy had been cut from the network, and it wasnt long after that that CUT became the destination for all things interesting on TV. While people channel-surfed looking for something to catch their interest, it was always a CUT program that caught their attention. It was something they didnt expect they knew what they would see on ESPN, Food Network, NatGeo, etc, a minute before they even stumbled upon it. But CUT was always surprising. One of the only shows remaining from WFTs legacy starred one Sarah Morten, a noticeable asset for any programming corporation. Yet, while her show was WFTs only success at the time of Austins arrival, even it had its issues, and could easily be improved on. Though he knew the complete overhaul he would have wanted for Ms. Mortens show wouldnt be possible due to the stars stubborn nature, Walker never thought of canceling the popular show entirely. He did however call the program's executive producer and make some changes to the traveling schedule. Instead of spending only 10-20 of the shows time in more tropical environments, from now on the show would spend 70-80 of its time there. And, if the show wanted to feature some locations from say, Greece, or Japan, for example, the crew would need to visit in the summer months. After all, travel was less expensive in the warmer months, or so Walker had said. And most importantly, Walker had spoken to the director and strongly urged him to spend less time staring at pots and dirt, and more time focusing on the journey time at the airport, on the boat, in a hotel, walking through a jungle, up a mountain, down a hill, or in a pool of water. That was the shows real potential. A few other subtle changes were all that were needed for the already popular show to become a smash. Sarah went from a low-tier faux-celebrity to the most popular woman on Earth. Gossip shows, including the most popular one, Hot Chat Daily which aired weekdays from 4pm-5pm on CUT, mentioned Sarah at least once a week. She was on the cover of a rag magazine nearly every week. Youtube videos of her being spotted at an airport or university had hundreds of millions of views. And of course the rest of the internet had her on their minds twice as much. Sarah and her show were clearly the biggest success for CUT for any network since American Idol, truly. CUT was currently the most popular cable channel ever, even more popular than at least one broadcast station. It was something Walker was of course very proud of and it irritated him that anyone, including Sarah Morten, would question his efforts. And two days ago, she did just that. On another network, she had made some harsh remarks criticizing CUT, the PR team, even the audience itself. Of course, social media and even the normalized media had rallied behind her, bolded her points, cheered her on while still showing stills of her in a tight tank top for minutes at a time. Austin had arranged via the company lawyers a meeting the very next morning, 1000 am sharp at his office at the company headquarters, which as of last month was the top suite in the newest skyscraper in downtown Miami. It would just be he and her, alone at his desk. He always preferred meetings such as this go this way, so he could waste as little time as possible. He was quite busy, after all. Austin was in his office at 600am, as he was every morning, even on the weekends. When Sarah got off her elevator and entered the waiting room, she didnt even have to take a seat or even say hello before the office manager, Cheryl, greeted and directed her. Good morning, Ms. Morten. Go right on in, Mr. Walker is waiting for you. Twin giant steel doors confronted her as she approached, but to everyones amazement the giant, heavy pieces of metal moved with but a feathers touch, and without a sound. Inside the office was immaculate, if not barren. The floor was made of light grey, almost glass-like material, as smooth and sparkling clean as the day it was made. There was a long, opulent, fully-loaded bar to her left, and a collection of televisions and monitors to her right, at least fifty of them, placed all along the wall. The office had to be at least two-thousand square feet, with a brilliant view of Miami behind the desk, the entire back wall nothing put floor-to-ceiling windows, which curved slightly to extend the view even that much more. All of this for one man. In front of her, Austin stood behind his desk and straightened his suite. He was a fairly tall man, an inch over 6, with fairly broad shoulders and a lean, strong physique. He was a bit older now, almost 50, and his hair was a short salt and pepper black-gray. He wore a finely tailored darker grey suit, with a dark purple tie and handkerchief. He offered his guest a polite smile, though not much of one, not showing any teeth, as he buttoned up his jacket and extended a hand towards one of the two metallic chairs placed in front of his desk. Ms. Morten, thank you for being on time. Please, have a seat. Once she was seated, Austin sat himself down and then took a look at the clock. This shouldnt take more than a few minutes, he thought. He knew how to handle a woman. So, before I begin, perhaps you'd like to explain what happened?