Travis was a fairly popular actor who had been asked to be the spokesperson for the "See Youself Boutique". He personally didn't get the name of the Boutique, but he had still accepted the gig.
The commercial was supposed to advertise their new location. For the commercial Travis would be using their services to transform into a girl, and star in their commercial in his new female persona that he was considering calling Theresa. He wasn't sure of the name yet but he had time before he needed an official one for his performance.
They also wanted him to star in a show as a woman as part of a promotional stunt. He had already lined up an audition for a guest appearance on a show. For now they were casting the various rolls for the before and after shots. Travis was currently in a meeting room viewing audition clips for the commercial.
Also in the meeting was Matt, the director, Samantha, the script writer, Laura the branch manager who had commissioned the commercial, and Will, a marketing consultant who was providing notes on what scenarios proved the most compelling.
"I'm afraid that the honey-moon changes aren't very compelling." Will argued.
"But the honey-moon package is one of our most popular deals." Laura countered.
"While it's popular to use, it doesn't mean it is going to attract the most costumers." Will continued. "You want a commercial that is going to attract the most people, and the majority of people in these demographics are married, or single. Engagement is a relatively short time frame and therefore not as compelling." He turned towards Matt. "If you want to cut for time, that's where you need to cut."
Matt thought about it. "Laura, even if you wanted to buy a longer commercial, we would have to go over the industry standards of length and I wouldn't recommend it. People hate ads to begin with. Asking them to watch a longer one is just asking for trouble. One of these ideas have to go, and I trust Will's judgement."
Laura sighed but relented. Samantha crossed the honey-moon scene off her list. "Let's review what scenes we have left and who we are casting. First up, the scouts."
"I'd cut them too but Laura jumped the gun with some of her casting announcements." Matt answered. While somewhat uncalled for, Laura had put in the papers some of the potential roles they would be casting, which had locked in some of their choices. It had also ruffled some feathers with the promises she made.
Despite his own annoyance at Laura, Travis defended the idea. "I think it's cute. Shows that it's fun for all ages."
"Thank you." Laura nearly shouted.
Will scowled. "We could have done fun for all ages without using a niche example like scouts. Not everyone joins boy scouts or girl scouts. Birthdays however, are something everyone has. We could have pitched a birthday party package." His voice took a softer tone. "Imagine a birthday party package. Maybe a slumber party even. Sometimes, parents won't let some of your friends stay who aren't the same sex. We can fix that for you."
Laura thought about that for a moment before taking a note. "That's a really good idea, we should have one."
Travis flipped threw the script. "Are we pitching permanent changes or temporary changes?" He asked.
Laura, Samantha, and Matt all answered together. "Either or."
"Let them choose the duration of the change." Will added. "Make sure we mention all changes are reversible so they aren't as hesitant at trying it. People are more likely to say yes if they know they have the option to turn back later."
Matt decided to get the conversation back on track. "As we know, Laura held a small raffle for scout troops who wanted to be in the commercial. Who won?"
Laura flipped a few pages. "Troop #645 of the boy scouts."
Matt nodded. "So this will be one of our boys to girls segments."
"Yeah," Laura confirmed. "Most of our entries were boy scouts so I guess Travis is more popular with young boys." This made sense. The action figures he played were generally in movies more popular with boys when it came to 12 or under. The girls that liked him were generally high-school to mid twenties.
Samantha spoke up. "That means we will have a scene of the boys camping with male Travis, and then female Travis will accompany them selling cookies. Per the contest rules, you actually have to camp and hang out with them after the filming is over." Samantha glanced at Travis to make sure this was acceptable.
"Yeah, that's fine. Kids are great. They are always so excited to see me." The room seemed to relax a little. Some actors wouldn't be so forgiving for having responsibilities added to their contract after signing, but he wasn't going to hold that against the kids. They had won a day with him (two actually since they would be hanging out post change) and he was going to deliver. It wasn't their fault that the terms were changed. He wasn't too keen to work with Laura again though.
Matt nodded. "So we turn a troop if boys scouts to girl scouts. Next?"
Samantha read her list. "This will be female to male. High-school student Ashley is a gifted basketball player that made her school's team. She is the only girl on the team and wants to be a boy, since she thinks it will help her game and help her relate to her teammates better. This is the last of Laura's casting choices."
Matt nodded. "And our segments?"
Will pulled out to photos. The first was a blonde bombshell, and the second was a woman of Asian descent. Her photo was taken from behind while she looked over her shoulder. Both were gorgeous and in bikinis. "We javelin two bikini models who will turn into body builders. We were thinking of scenes of Travis flirting with both forms."
Travis looked closely at the photos. "So Ashley is doing a long term change, but what about these two?"
"They are professional bikini models so they are only doing it for the shoot. They plan on turning back to normal to continue their modeling careers." Will answered. Suddenly a confused look grew on his face. "Wait, why?"
Travis shrugged. "Just curious. " he mentally took a note to get their numbers.
Samantha took over. "The final segment we are filming is feature a man in his mid-twenties turning into a woman. We will have her winning a beauty pageant, which will be MCed by female Travis."
"What is the pitch for the beauty pageant again?" Travis asked.
"Have a more fulfilled self. You know those who always wanted to be a pretty girl or handsome man."
Matt nodded. "Right, so according to you schedule Travis, would you be able to switch back and forth as we film, or do we need to film all of the before scenes first and the after later?"
Travis pulled out his PDA to see when he needed to be male for filming. Switching back and forth would drag out filming but he was busy, and filming the after scenes would take a bit with the locations they had planned. Staying a woman long enough for all of them in one change may be problematic. In the end he went with what worked best for his schedule which was...