The door opened to reveal a tall, well built asian man in a tight fitting navy blue suit. He held a stack of papers in his hands, and was grinning at us over the top of it, stopping to study each of our faces before he finally spoke.
"Hello everyone, and welcome! Thank you all so much for driving out. We had a bunch of contestants, but we thought you five offered the best variety for our pilot!"
His words were fast and excited, and I smiled despite myself. He was so eager it was kind of cute.
"Now," he said, stepping forward and placing the papers on the table in the middle of the room, "I know you guys have been drowning in paperwork ever since we called you about the show, but I have one more tiny little waiver to sign. It'll just be a minute, and then we can bring you out to the sound stage! Trivia Transformations is ready for its first episode!"
The five of us mumbled our assent, and each took a form. My eyes skimmed it for a moment, and glazed over. It felt awkward blatantly not reading the form in front of the guy that had given it to us, but did he really expect us to read all this fine print? I skimmed the first few pages without processing a word, before turning to the last and scanning the last couple lines. "After completing the competition, the studio will have no liability for the state of contestants," I read. Huh. That was a bit odd. It was just a trivia show, after all. Was all this paperwork to protect against them getting sued for psychological damages or something? I shrugged, and signed my name. Work was work, and money was money. Looking up, I saw that the other four were finished too, and the man was beaming.
"Thank you! Now, before we begin: my name is Takashi Hart — uh, you can call me Mr. Hart — and I am one of the cowriters and lead producers of Trivia Transformations! This show has been my baby for almost a decade now, so treat it well, and above all, have fun!"
I smiled weakly, but no one in the room could manage as much enthusiasm as Mr. Hart.
"Now, follow me, and I'll lead you to the sound stage. It's just a test audience, and a small one, too. Hell, I know half the guys in the front row. Have any of you not been on camera before?"
Brady, Leo, and Wally all raised their hands, and Mr. Hart gave them a reassuring smile.
"Don't let the nerves get to you. This is just a pilot, and it'll probably never get out to the public, so the most important thing is to enjoy yourselves! You'll barely notice the audience is there. Now, follow me!"
We did as we were told, and I felt a shiver of anticipation. I'd been auditioning like crazy for the past few months, but I barely got any gigs. It had been ages since I'd been on camera. Even if nobody ever saw this, and it was just some dumb gameshow, I missed the feeling.