Page 17 of Hot SEAL, Under Pressure

“Brandon fromBed & Breakfast with Brandon and Brittanyhas been canceled,” Joanne announced with a barely controlled smile.

“The show’s been canceled?” Lucy asked.

“Brandon’sbeen canceled. He got caught with his pants down, literally,” Joanne explained with a glee the situation didn’t warrant. “We can thank today’s cancel culture that the show has been cut from the network’s schedule immediately.”

Every person at the table, except for Shelly, had their cell phones out. No doubt they were all Googling, looking for digital evidence of what Joanne had just told them.

“Holy shit,” Jonas breathed. “Social media is tearing him apart for cheating on her.” He glanced up. “And it gets worse than that.”

“How can it get worse?” Shelly asked.

Lucy, cell in hand, jumped in. “It looks like Brittany defended him and though I suppose I should respect her for sticking by her man and all that, social media really latched onto that.”

“It was like throwing gasoline on a fire. Half the audience supported her decision. The other half condemned her,” Jonas continued.

“What does this mean for us?” One of the social media coordinators asked.

It was a good question. B&B wasn’t one of New Millennia Media’s shows. As their competition for ratings, the fate of the show was of interest, but B&B’s downfall didn’t directly affect them at NMM.

“It means there is now a big hole in The Reality Network’s line-up. TRN isn’t even airing the rest of the season’s episodes that are already in the can. That hole in their schedule is one I want us to fill.” Joanne redirected her focus to Shelly. “And I want to fill it with the SEAL competition you pitched to me.”

Shelly’s eyes flew wide. “Under Pressure?”

Joanne nodded. “I called the executives over there the minute I heard. They greenlit ten episodes ofUnder Pressure. And they need them now.”

“Now? We—how?” Shelly stuttered.

“We only need to have episode one to them to air next week. We’ll just deliver the rest as we get them edited. We’ve worked on a tight deadline before.”

“Yes, but—” Shelly tried to protest as Joanne turned to Lucy, who was apparently jumping in to work as the social media coordinator for this last minute project.

“We’ve got the bios and the headshots for the cast already, so there’s basic content for all the contestants to work with. Can you throw together a website for the show today?” Joanne asked.

“Yes, ma’am.” Lucy nodded with a smile of confidence that Shelly only wished she felt.

Joanne moved her attention to the head of the editing department. “We've got the footage we shot for the sizzle reel. I think from that we can create the intro show pretty easily.”

Editing nodded. “I agree.”

Joanne finally brought her focus back to Shelly. “You just need to schedule the challenges and start filming for the rest of the episodes.”

Just. Like it was going to be easy. Shelly sat, speechless.

Meanwhile, the moving train that was Joanne continued to barrel down the tracks. “We have to move on this quickly, people. We’ve been handed an opportunity. Let’s not screw it up. That’s it. Go. Make me a show.”

The room emptied out, except for Jonas and Shelly and Joanne. Shelly’s assistant was probably waiting for her to tell him what to do to help her. Meanwhile, she still had the task of breaking the bad news to Joanne about Clay and Tasha dropping out.

And she’d better get on that fast. Joanne was already heading for the doorway.

Shelly scrambled, her chair leg getting stuck on the carpet as she tried to shove away from the table to chase after Joanne.

Finally free, she stumbled and had to struggle to remain upright as she said, “Joanne!”

The woman turned, one brow cocked up.

“Tasha is pregnant.” She hadn’t meant to blurt it out quite like that. Too late now.

Both of Joanne’s brows rose higher. “Really? That’s good news. We’ll have to plan for next season’sHot Houseto feature a nursery renovation.”

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