Generation Next (18 page)

So there we were the next morning, sitting around a weird space-age-looking glass table loaded down with a massive box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and cartons of Tropicana orange juice, in the offices of Herald Media in Universal City, Burbank. To be honest, I wasn't feeling good vibes from the minute we walked out of the elevator into the unfriendly, sterile environment, but maybe that was because by that time my brain and body didn't seem to know whether it was morning, noon or night. Whatever happened, I'd told myself I was going to keep an open mind. Just like AJ said on the car journey over there, the people at Herald Media had offered to pay for our time, so we at least had to be professional and show our faces.

“You might be the hottest thing since Netflix right now, boys, but we don't want to slam the door in
anyone's face at this stage,” he told us. “That would be a big mistake.”

Austin, who was looking very sharp in a shirt, jacket and slim-cut khaki chinos, seemed a little more intrigued about the whole thing than I was, and while we sat making introductory small talk with the company president, Angela Linford, and her male counterpart, it dawned on me that he might be more open to some kind of involvement. In fact, I wasn't really sure what he thought. Jeez! Maybe I should have discussed it with him before we walked in; maybe we should have had a game plan. Typically, I'd just imagined he'd be on the same page as me—sure that GenNext didn't need anyone else—but I didn't really know.

Angela was a tall, self-assured blonde in her mid-thirties with the whitest teeth I'd ever seen. Her business partner, Tyler, looked like Will Smith, only a bit younger—tall, super-confident and totally slick. They were exactly the kind of people you'd expect to meet in Hollywood and both looked like they could have been movie stars themselves, or at least robot versions of movie stars. They were a bit too perfect for me and I found it all slightly disconcerting.

“Jack, Austin, we are truly thrilled about the prospect of working with you guys,” Angela said. She gave us a shiny white smile so wide I imagined you could see it from space. Hang on, what the hell? She seemed to have
assumed that working with us was a definite. Beside me, AJ looked a little taken aback.

“Sorry, can you explain what you mean by that?” I said, doing my best to sound polite. “You're a big company out here in LA and we're working out of a basement in Hertfordshire. I mean, what's the attraction for you guys?”

“We may be thousands of miles apart, but we know something hot when we see it, Jack,” Angela said, her eyes gleaming. “Yes, you may be a small operation, but you're already known all over the world. You've tapped into a way of presenting and interviewing and reviewing that people love. It's captured the zeitgeist; the essence of now. I'm talking about an investment on our part, Jack, a coming together of ideas. We would love GenNext to become a part of what we have here at Herald, and we feel we can offer you something in return. Something we have that you don't.”

OK, now I was convinced that Angela was an actual robot. Her patter sounded so rehearsed and phony; it was like she'd reeled it off a thousand times and just changed the names to suit the occasion. My stomach was tying itself into a knot just listening to her. I looked over at Austin, who was nodding along with Angela as she spoke, and my heart sank like a stone when I spotted the eager expression on his face.

“And what is that?” I said, finally.

“I'm sorry?” Angela said, smiling pleasantly.

“What is it you have that we might want?”

“Money, for one thing,” Tyler jumped in. Jeez, this guy didn't beat around the bush.

“GenNext is doing pretty well financially,” AJ said calmly. “If it's just a money thing, then—”

“Our clients are some of the biggest companies out there, Mr. Perera,” Tyler said. “Soft-drinks companies, fast-food chains. Waving a few hair products in front of a camera for a couple of hundred bucks is an impressive start for Generation Next, but we're talking a whole different ballgame here. This is about us seeing the potential for development in this project, and providing you with the resources to take it into the big league.”

Tyler definitely wasn't as nicey-nice as Angela was clearly trying to be; in fact, he was pretty bolshie. I wasn't at all keen on him, and I think Angela sensed my discomfort because she jumped right back in to smooth things over.

“What Tyler means by development is—well, you guys have some rough edges that we could help smooth out. You're still inexperienced, but there's a charm in what you do. It's won you such a big audience so far and it's something we can really tap into. Let me tell you a bit more about the sort of vision we have for you.” She sat forward and smiled again. “Ultimately we're talking about creating a fresh new brand for Generation Next that we could sell to one of the big networks out here, with, eventually, the prospect of a major new prime-time
TV show. Ella Foster certainly has a great face for the small screen, so the idea is that she and you, Jack, could even end up anchoring the project yourselves. The possibilities are endless; you see that, don't you?”

I flinched at the mere mention of Ella's name, and Austin shot me a worried glance. We hadn't mentioned her sudden departure, obviously. And what did Angela mean—that Herald would sell our brand, and that Ella and I could “even” end up anchoring the project ourselves, like that wasn't a certainty? Surely she didn't imagine we were just going to hand GenNext over to them and walk away, did she?

“Look,” Tyler said, “Herald Media are in the business of building brands and commercial success. That's where we can really help you guys.”

“Well, we definitely like the idea of commercial success, right?” Austin said nervously. AJ nodded.

“And what about connecting with your audience?” I said. “What about that?”

“That goes without saying,” Angela said, the toothy grin making a sudden reappearance.

“You see, the thing is, I think we know our audience better than anyone,” I said.

Angela and Tyler gave each other a swift look. “Well
of course
you know your audience, Jack,” Tyler said patronizingly. “Our plan would be to expand that demographic; make GenNext really fly. There's a lot of money to be made if you—”

“We're talking
a lot
of money where you're concerned,” Angela said, smoothly cutting her partner off before he could get my back up any more. “A life-changing amount, in fact.”

Austin was still nodding, like he'd been hypnotized or something, and I looked over at AJ, who'd stayed eerily quiet throughout, just to see what he might be thinking. I couldn't read his expression, or make out what his reaction to this pair was. What was it Angela had said? Smooth out the rough edges? Network TV? The whole point of GenNext was that teenagers could dive in and watch whatever content they wanted whenever they wanted; it wasn't some lame weekly program you could nestle between a crappy game show and
The Real Housewives.

It suddenly hit me that I didn't have anything else to say to these people—I'd had enough. It was just like Callum all over again, but now I was in a fancy office instead of at a fancy party.

AJ picked up the slack just as I clammed up. “It's very important to the guys that they feel they still have full control over their own company,” he said, firmly. “GenNext is something they've built from the ground up; they don't want to let go of it just when things are getting exciting.”

“Mr. Perera, we wouldn't dream of having it any other way. Isn't that right, Tyler?” Angela put her hand over her heart, her eyes wide and innocent.

Tyler nodded, slowly and, to me, unconvincingly.

Angela went on, “It's clear to us that Austin and Jack here are extremely talented and informed—how else would they have created such a phenomenon? If they were to partner with Herald, they would of course retain full creative input and control.” Her voice was laden with an insincerity that seemed lost on Austin and—worryingly—on AJ, who looked like he believed her.

“What do you think, guys?” Tyler leaned over the desk toward Austin and me. “Can you see yourselves living in a nice pad in West Hollywood? Great car, beautiful weather, successful global company?”

Austin's eyes widened at this. He was smiling like something amazing was going on, clearly entranced by the possibilities.

“Look, why don't the three of you grab a coffee and read through our proposal, and then if everyone's happy we can move forward and get some contracts under way?” Angela said, sliding sheets of paper across the desk toward us.

“What,
now
?” I sprang into life again, practically yelling the words.

“We'd like to move quickly on this.” Angela flashed another megawatt smile, as if the deal was already in the bag. “It's an amazing opportunity for all of us, and it would be great to get the paperwork signed while you're in town.”

There was definitely a control panel somewhere under her smart black dress, I was sure of it. I sat motionless, horrified at the prospect of being strong-armed into a deal right there and then, hoping that AJ would put the brakes on this madness.

“No, Jack's right,” AJ said eventually, getting up from his chair. “This is something we need to digest properly and discuss with the other members of the team.”

I felt a massive surge of relief sweep through my body as he spoke.

“Well don't digest for too long, Mr. Perera,” Angela said, the fixed smile slipping slightly. “As you'll see from the figures, this kind of partnership deal doesn't come along every day. I'm afraid that with such an enormous investment involved, I can only extend the offer for a limited amount of time.”

“I see,” said AJ, frowning. “And how long would that be?”

“The offer will stay on the table for the duration of your stay in LA. Any longer and we'll be obliged to withdraw it,” Angela said pleasantly. She glanced briefly at me, her gaze momentarily cool. “I do advise that you consider it
very
carefully. You may not find another quite as generous.”

“Right.” AJ looked a little uncomfortable. “We certainly will. Thank you very much for your time, Ms. Linford, Tyler.”

“You'll be hearing from us very soon,” Austin added eagerly, clearly unable to help himself. I could practically see the cartoon dollar signs flashing in his eyes.

“I'm sure we will, Austin,” Tyler said smoothly, gripping Austin's hand like they were old friends. When he shook my hand, it was a different story—cold and indifferent. He'd obviously realized that I wasn't quite as sold on the virtues of Herald Media as Austin seemed to be.

We said our goodbyes, smiled politely and then, finally, we were in the elevator, heading down. I was so happy to be back out on the street again, soaking up the gorgeous California sunshine. I'd felt as though I couldn't breathe in that room, but even out in the fresh air, the sense of dread I had about Herald and their plans for GenNext was growing by the second.

The moment we were outside the building, Austin confirmed my worst fears.

“Oh my God, wasn't that incredible? Boys, we've been in LA for less than a day and we've been offered a partnership with a major media company. Sweet!”

“Sweet? Are you kidding me?” I snapped. “I couldn't wait to get out of there.”

“What do you mean?” Austin looked horrified at my outburst of negativity.

“I mean they don't get what we're about. They want to change us—didn't you understand that, Austin?”

“I understand that they want to develop GenNext, but why is that such a bad thing?” he said, slightly bewildered. “Isn't that what we wanted, to get bigger and better? Isn't that why we came here in the first place?”

“Yes, of course, but those people, they were just . . . just . . .” I felt like I was losing the plot and couldn't believe I was even having to explain this to Austin when it was so obvious.

“Just what, Jack?”

“They were . . . there was just something dodgy . . . they wanted to move way too quickly. GenNext should be about the five of us and our philosophy, not some big corporation. We've still got a long way to go before we start thinking about someone else coming in and taking over. We've . . . Oh, I don't know.”

“No, you obviously don't know,” Austin said, shaking his head. “Sometimes I don't get you at all, J, I really don't.”

“OK, let's not argue the point right outside their office,” AJ interrupted, ushering us away from the front of the building toward a nearby coffee shop. “You boys are clearly coming at this from different angles; we need to sit down and talk it through.”

“Come on, J, we've got to at least think about it,” Austin said.

But I'd thought about it already and I knew that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with Herald Media.