Page 132 of Just One Fake Date

“And anyone who sees that billboard,” Shannyn put up Kyle at Times Square again. “Can experience your brand and add to your bottom line, even if they’re visiting from Paducah, even if they never physically visit this building.” She took a breath. “The thing is that you want to be consistent with your quality to date. I shot this to show you the kind of quality you can get, filming a video on your phone with some minimal set-up.” Shannyn showed a video of herself, holding her camera. “Today, we’re going to talk about getting the most out of your digital camera, specifically in choosing the right setting for light conditions,” she said in the recording.

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as polished as Cassie might have liked.

“And this is what happens with the same material when you use a professional, like yours truly.” The second video showed Shannyn again, saying the same thing. It was lit more evenly and more brightly, though, and Shannyn looked more natural. There also was a website url across the bottom, and there was a close-up cut into it, showing the settings and the viewfinder as she gave her explanations. The audio was more consistent and better modulated, too.

“You’ll not only have better sound and video quality, but you can brand it and add any kind of graphics. For the breakfast smoothies, there could be recipes, for example, or links for special offers. You’ll end up with a more polished product without a very big investment on your end.”

“Contracts,” Ty said. “If instructors are going to create content that we market, we’ll need contracts to ensure they don’t take any advantages away.”

“Of course,” Shannyn said to him. “But you don’t have to be jerks about it. You can create partnerships that give your instructors the ability to build their brand elsewhere, maybe that encourage them to direct traffic back to you. In an ideal world, everyone could build success together. You do have this sense of community here that shouldn’t be discarded.”

“A high tide floats all boats,” Kyle said with satisfaction.

“We could ask Jax for suggestions,” Damon said. “She knows the expertise of our instructors best.”

“We could have an inhouse competition,” Theo countered. “Who’s going to host the first five F5F programs?”

“Who’s got the social media platform to help with visibility?” Meesha said, and then the discussion erupted from all sides, ideas flowing and flying in the way that the partners did best.

Only Ty was silent.

Well, Ty and Shannyn. Shannyn stood back, watching the team’s excitement, as if she wasn’t sure what to expect.

“Can you show me that image of Kyle again?” Cassie asked.

“Can’t get enough of number one,” Kyle teased as she got to her feet.

“As if,” Cassie said with a shake of her head. “These billboards need slogans.” She went to the screen. “Right here,” She indicated a space before Kyle’s chest. “Get wet at F5F.”

Theo hooted and Kyle laughed out loud.

“Oh, yeah. That is kick-ass!” he crowed. He high-fived Theo before Ty cleared his throat.

“Give us a number.” he said and the others sobered at his tone.

“I don’t know about the billboard space,” Shannyn admitted. “I only know about the photography.”

“But you have these images already,” Theo noted.

Shannyn shook her head. “They’re not good enough for this. To be that large, the images have to be perfect. That’s easily two hundred feet high. You’ll need high quality, high resolution studio shots...”

“How much?” Ty asked.

Shannyn met his gaze and said the number out loud. It was less than Cassie had expected. “That would be for each custom shoot and you’d have five of those. Hair, make-up, wind machine, lighting, whatever we need to get it dead perfect. You’d own every image from the shoot and could do whatever you wanted with them. That’s separate from the video and podcast filming, which could be billed at an hourly rate.” She gave that number, too, and Ty wrote it down, his expression giving no evidence of his reaction.

The room was humming. Cassie knew that as soon as Shannyn left, the partners would erupt with ideas, tests, and plans.

Ty stood up and offered his hand. “Thanks, Shannyn. It’s a great idea and we appreciate you presenting it to us.” He spoke coolly, as if he wasn’t interested in what she’d said, which made no sense at all. Maybe he didn’t see the potential.

Cassie had a hard time believing that. Something else was going on.

“We’ll be in touch if we can use your services,” she added.

“Thanks for the opportunity to present it to you.” Shannyn unplugged her laptop from the projector. She packed up quickly before leaving the office, without one glance at Ty.

As soon as the door closed, five of them were talking at once, with Ty taking notes. Meesha and Kyle were bouncing ideas off each other at lightning speed and Cassie didn’t know whether to be thrilled or annoyed when Theo said the obvious.

“We should hire her full time,” he said, his low voice stopping the discussion cold. “It’s got to be cheaper than all this freelance work, and she’s really good.”

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