Rise To Stardom - Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Unexpected Traction
[That was some really nice PR kid!]

Those were Jeffrey’s exact words the moment Kyle picked up the phone call, followed by the old man’s hearty laughter.

No sooner had Kyle gotten off-stage did the series of event that took place at GrooveFest 10’s Vancouver concert, make its rounds around the internet.

So many clips of the beautiful crowd moment littered the internet, drawing a lot of people’s attention.

Along with that were the various clips of Kyle handling the misfortune he encountered like a champ, turning it into an opportunity for something great.

Add that along with a few more clips of him engaging with the crowd, in addition with his last few statements and once again, the young man was in the spotlight.

Currently trending from 1 to 5 on TweetTalk were; #KyleKestisRules, #GrooveFestVancouver, #Shirtless Kyle, #EpochOne and #StrangeCanvas.

Needless to say, that simple statement from Kyle had also garnered a lot of people’s interest in the upcoming movie again.

Though most still felt like Kyle’s scenes were probably not that much in the movie, they were still planning to verify the authenticity of his words.

“It was really just a spur of the moment thing though.” Kyle replied whilst scratching the back of his head, a wry smile on his lips.

He’d never expected the movie to start trending again solely because of his words.

He’d expected it to garner a few more interests yes, but not suddenly begin to trend on TweetTalk again.

[Regardless of your intents, it’s being a major help to the movie’s production and PR team.]

[Apparently, they’ve been struggling to keep people’s interest in the movie ever since the trailer for [Bohemian Days] dropped.]

[So I’m definitely sure Hank and the rest of the crew are practically dancing off their pants right now.]

“I’m glad I could be of help to them then I guess.” Kyle finally smiled and said, chuckling a bit at Jeffrey’s words.

[You should kid. You’ve been quite the find, haven’t you? Anyway, enjoy the rest of your concerts.]

[Oh and you’d better show up in Seattle! My grandkids want to see you perform.]

“I’ll make sure to do that Jeff.” Kyle laughed a bit, exchanging a few more pleasantries with the old Hollywood star before finally cutting off the phone call.

It didn’t even take a few seconds after he had done that before Hank, Bruce and Mark respectively, called to also give their appreciation.

A few minutes later, after all that was done, Kyle was finally left to enjoy the night’s breeze as he leaned on the bonnet of their rented car.

He had actually excused himself from Oliver and the rest of his friends whom had gone to a nearby outdoor restaurant, one that GrooveFest themselves had made available in between concerts, to receive the phone calls.

Usually there was a concert in the late evening, one in the early hours of the night and one in the late nights.

So, basically, all seven of them from the ‘Buzzing 100′ charts had been the opening show, with the more mainstream artists performing later at night.

Staring at the lively venue of the event, beautifully designed lanterns littering the area, glowing as they brightened up the night, Kyle soon noticed a familiar figure walking over to him, two smoothies in hand.

“And, if you miss or lose an opportunity, you make your own opportunity. Those were your words man. And you’re living by it.” Ryan said as he kept walking over.

Kyle simply smiled in response and shrugged.

“You’re amazing; you know that right?” he offered one of the drinks upon reaching him.

“I honestly just try my best. Amazing feels so far off from that.” Kyle obliged to the drink, both of them now leaning on the car’s hood.

“Doesn’t make you any less amazing though.” Ryan simply shrugged, sipping on the straw of his smoothie.

To that, Kyle humbly accepted the compliment, a warm smile nestling on his lips.

“So, how’s it feel being everywhere?” Ryan questioned, a strong hint of curiosity in his tone.

“Overwhelming, mostly. Still very surreal too but I’m managing.” Kyle replied honestly.

“Well, for the record, you seem to be handling it like a champ.” Ryan gave his honest thoughts.

Nodding at that, both men simply enjoyed the quiet ambience of the night, the tranquil, cold night’s breeze, washing over them.

“Will you and Joe be attending all of GrooveFest’s concert?” Kyle broke the silence with a curious question.

“Uh… No. We’ll attend most, but not all. We still need to squeeze in time to prepare for the release of our first album.” Ryan replied, earning raised brows of surprise from Kyle.

“That’s fantastic!” he said and Ryan simply laughed at his enthusiasm.

“I’ll be buying your album on day one! Both physical and digital!” Kyle added, his expression determined.

“We’d appreciate it.” Ryan laughed again, after which he then said;

“And we’ll also squeeze in time to see your movie on the first day it releases in theatres.”

“I do wanna see a shirtless Kyle Kestis after all!” Ryan added playfully and Kyle jabbed at him for that.

“Oh shut it you!”

* * *

In the marketing room, one that BlackBox Films had allocated to the marketing team of [Bohemian Days], John Woods was currently in a restless state.

“The general public’s interest has been reignited in [Epoch One] and judging by the looks of it, it seems like a lot of them will be going to the cinemas on day one.” one of the employees read out from the tablet in his hands, giving a status report to John and the rest of the employees in the room.

“We can’t allow them to gather enough momentum!” the producer gestured to the rest of the people in the room, pacing back and forth as he said.

At first, John had been confident in the script of [Bohemian Days].

Truly, it was a good script, one with very relatable storylines that was sure to resonate with a lot of people.

However, when it finally got down to shooting the movie itself, the cast of actors and Ava herself, the director, had made filming a nightmare.

Considering they had used a lot of big names and A-listers in the movie, a lot of egos had clashed and a lot of unnecessary drama, unfolded on set.

Actors disagreeing with other actors and the Director, the Director being biased towards Austin, her nephew, despite him not even putting in half the effort to portray the nuances in his character, yet still expecting more than 100% from other actors who were truly giving their all.

This, among many other issues had thrown a serious wrench into the entire filming process and had made the movie a hassle to finish up.

Add that to the fact that some higher-ups wanted to push some political agendas here and there, investors bombarding him with calls day and night, along with him having to also manage a number of other duties, John had suddenly grown three years older in the span of just three months.

But even then, he hadn’t been too worried because despite all that, the movie was still okayish to watch and with some heavy PR, they could even make back their investment and then some.

All that went to shit though the moment a smaller company, who had literally no movie to its name, announced a project in the works, starring Bruce Gunn and Jeffrey Dickson.

At first, John had planned to brush it aside, believing that they wouldn’t particularly get a lot of people in the theatres even with that level of star power.

However, when the trailer of the movie, [Epoch One], dropped, John realized that he had grossly underestimated Bruce’s millennial fans and Jeffrey’s star power, along with the kind of traction a certain young man was bringing along with him.

“Damn it! If only Ava had casted that kid!” John massaged his temples in frustration while muttering to himself.

John was saying this because just a few minutes ago, [Epoch One] started trending at number 4 on TweetTalk, along with other things GrooveFest and Kyle-related, completely pushing [Bohemian Days] down to number 6 from its previous 4th position.

The cause was of course, Kyle’s announcement at GrooveFest, one that had garnered a lot of attention from the general public.

This had been a real blow to them because despite people’s interest in [Epoch One] already fading a bit, mostly due to their marketing team’s heavy PR on [Bohemian Days], they had been on the path to suppressing the movie in people’s minds, only for Kyle to disrupt that entire plan.

John had also heard from one of his contacts in a distribution firm whom had partnered with Dot Productions for the movies’ release, that the movie was truly an action-packed rollercoaster that was going to keep people on the edge of their seats from start to finish.

That had actually been the main cause of worry for him because the general public, would rather watch a good movie ten times over than watch a bad movie even once.

And it wasn’t that [Bohemian Days] was bad per-say but, it wasn’t a good movie either.

“Guess we’ll really have to push the date back…” John muttered out loud, causing the employees in the room to look at each other.

They had wanted to give the same solution but had instead decided to wait for their producer to stop his frantic back and forth pacing.

It seemed like there was no helping it at this rate.

A Box Office clash was inevitable.

* * *

The week following the events at GrooveFest 10, Vancouver, was packed with non-stop travelling and concerts for Kyle.

Despite telling himself he was going to take it easy, he wasn’t particularly afforded the opportunity to rest.

A lot of his fans, some of whom were chanced to attend the events at the various locations closest to them, wanted to see him perform.

Not wanting to let them down, Kyle attended every single one of the events.

Because he had to attend all the events too, sometimes Kyle was required to sleep in a van while Oliver drove him around to the next venue or flight.

Not that he complained even once.

Having had to sleep in his rented taxi a few times in his past life due to his inability to afford even the cheapest apartments at times, a van was truly a big upgrade.

That aside though, asides from running into his friends a few times here and there, along with some other musicians and Mike especially, one who seemed to hate him for some reason or the other, the concerts themselves had been truly fun.

Watching people excitedly come up to him for autographs, photos and the likes, was something he was still getting used to but gradually, Kyle was getting a bit more comfortable with the current fame afforded to him.

Ladies still threw their purses and what-nots at him for reasons Kyle couldn’t wrap his head around but, he was getting very adept at dodging them concert after concert.

All in all, the concerts had been a much needed experience for the young man.

And then, after GrooveFest 10 finally ended, the young star decided to take a long break, planning to get the much needed rest he deserved.

But even that was only a temporary plan as the week just after, [Epoch One] would finally hit the theatres, clashing on day one with the multi-million-dollar movie [Bohemian Days], at the Box Office.