The Pitch

## Episode guide

"**The Pitch**" is the first episode of the first season of *Mass Media*, and the first episode of the series overall. It was released on January 9, 2019.

## Synopsis

Feeling unsatisfied with her role at the McCormick School newspaper, freshman Angie digs into the story behind the recent firing of the school's student council treasurer. Savannah and Kelsie struggle to get along. John-David and Javier make a new friend at soccer tryouts.

## Plot

The episode opens at the tail end of a meeting for the staff of the McCormick School newspaper, *The Daily Saints*, during lunch. Editor-in-chief Maribel asks the freshman members of the school paper—Angie, Javier, Daphne and Teddy—to stay behind to go over story pitches. She accepts Daphne and Teddy's shared pitch and Javier's, but rejects Angie's idea to write about how the freshman class student council elections are biased in favor of legacy students. Maribel suggests she write a profile on the student council freshmen instead of doing an exposé. The bell rings, indicating the end of lunch.

After school, Angie finds her roommates Savannah and Kelsie in the middle of a heated argument about Kelsie’s refusal/inability to keep her side of the room clean. The argument is broken up when Kelsie’s friend Jess knocks on the door and Kelsie leaves to hang out with her. Savannah points out the irony in Kelsie’s friendship with Jess, a student council member who would hate her were it not for Kelsie being a legacy student, while Angie bemoans her inability to talk about legacy students for the paper at all.

Meanwhile, Javier meets up with John-David at soccer tryouts. While they stretch and talk, John-David gets hit in the face by a soccer ball. The perpetrator, Aaron, runs up to retrieve the ball and apologize, offering to pay for both boys’ dinner using his meal swipes to make up for it before being shooed away by Norman.

That night, Angie reads a previous *Daily Saints* article about freshmen student council representatives Aaron Turner and Amanda Hill, while Javier, John-David and Aaron have dinner together. John-David and Aaron get along particularly well. Kelsie returns to the dorm after all the freshmen have been sent to bed, sparking another argument between her and Savannah. This one is put to an end by Carnegie captain Regina Sanchez, who gives them both detention for disturbing the dorm.

During post-assembly announcements the next morning, Javier tells Angie that he booked her an interview with Aaron during lunch. Student council president Irene Roussopoulos then announces that the council’s treasurer, Amina Malik, has agreed to step down from her position effective immediately, shocking some members of the student body and sparking Angie’s interest.

In detention during lunch, Savannah tries to keep calm while Kelsie bonds with the detention monitor, Shane, whose older brother her sister was friends with in high school. Meanwhile, Angie’s interview with Aaron soon veers off into a discussion about Amina. Aaron doesn’t know the circumstances of Amina’s firing, but he thinks it has something to do with a dispute over funding for scholarship students and that it will make a lot of people angry.

Angie presents her updated pitch to Maribel in the computer lab after school, but she rejects it, claiming that Amina has stated a desire not to be interviewed. Angie’s protests to this are shut down. After she leaves, Javier catches up with her and offers to support her if she decides to pursue the idea any further, even if it has to be done behind Maribel’s back. That night, Angie stares at her blank computer screen. She types in several possible headlines for an article profiling the student council freshmen but deletes them all and instead writes, "WHY WAS AMINA MALIK FIRED?"

## Cast

### Starring

* Ally Joyner as Angie Maynard
* Danika Benson as Savannah Austin
* Audrey Elwood as Kelsie Rhodes
* Antonio Galarza as Javier Ríos
* Cyrus Moran as John-David Beckett
* Zoey Kapsimalis as Daphne Roussopoulos
* Luke Szostak as Aaron Turner

### Featuring

* Leo Fleischer as Shane
* Emma Heijmans as Maribel Ferguson
* Cindy Norris as Jess Mitchell
* Chandler Lovell as Norman Farrow
* Lexi Ocampos as Regina Sanchez
* Kayla Oriol as Irene Roussopoulos
* Dae-jung Son as Teddy Kyung

## Episode navigation

 *Strange New World* | "Woodycrats" • "Top of the Class" • "Freedom of the Press" • "Witness Intimidation" • "Portrait of a Football Star" • "Heated Halloween" • "Priorities" • "Scorched Earth"