Man Behind the Production
Jul 9, 2024 14:49:10 GMT -5
Cory Chevelle and Blade "The Future" LaVigne like this
Post by Jackson Burnside on Jul 9, 2024 14:49:10 GMT -5
During the evening of June 30th, just a day after the last episode of Eruption, Jackson Burnside finds himself alone in a motel room once again. He is surrounded on the full size bed by loose pieces of notepaper, a small personal laptop, and an open pizza box with one slice of pepperoni and banana pepper left. The sun has not yet set on the final day of June, and Jackson wants to figure out what's going on. Something last night caught him by surprise, a video package he didn't know was being made, containing voice clips that certainly weren't recorded for such a use. He had checked with the production crew, with the guys who run the socials, and the people putting the show together.
The video had been given to the crew on a thumb drive. They had been told "Jackson Burnside asked if they could spare a few minutes of screen time during the show to air it." Viewing it ahead of time and clearly happy with the quality, it was set aside and used to open the show. Everyone who turned on the TV in time to catch Eruption heard a candid side of the Weatherman they weren't used to seeing. They had seen UWL footage, personal clips from his own life and wrestling footage he assumed was lost media. A call home revealed somebody had asked his wife for the clips they could add to the video. "Jason and Mr. Harper." The names she told Jackson didn't check out with anyone on staff, but what she said about the men made it obvious. He knew the names though, and recalled what she had said, "One man did most of the talking. He was friendly, sounded like he might be from New York, a bit nasally. The other didn't say much. But he did talk a little, and his voice was rough, gravely. Sounds like he has throat cancer or something."
He only had one point of contact, and it was time to see what this was about.
Burnside takes out of his phone, scrolls through some call history, and finds the name he's looking for. "Jason C." The phone rings loudly for awhile, Jackson places it down at his side with the speaker turned on. After a few rings there's a pick.
Jason:
"Hello?"
You know how someone sounds when they aren't expecting a call? When they're wondering if they should have answered at all?
Jackson Burnside:
"Jason, it's Jackson Burnside. What's up dude?"
Jason:
"Burn- Burnside? Jackson, it's a bit late. Almost 8:30 where I am. What's up, everything okay?"
Jackson Burnside:
"You catch Eruption last night?"
Jason:
"No. Uh, no. My kid had an uh, something. We were out late and beat."
Jackson Burnside:
"Got a question for ya. Well, actually no not for you brother. Your boss. I never seemed to get his number, can you text it to me? I need to talk with him."
Jason:
"My boss? He uh, yeah I can't give his number out. Leave a message, I can talk to him on Monday."
Jackson Burnside:
"Sure. Ask him why snippets from the sit-down we had the other weekend made it into a video package for UWL. You were there, remember? We grabbed lunch and you asked me a bunch of questions for the article. Now why do I feel like that's not coming out?"
Silence on the other end of the line.
Jackson Burnside:
"Jason?"
Jason:
"Okay. Alright. I'm not dealing with this..."
That last comment was mumbled. Something Jason said to himself, not to Jackson.
Jason:
"You'll find out anyway. My name is Alexander, I'm an actor. I got hired to pretend get you in for the interview. Help get you in with the other guy so he could talk to you."
Jackson Burnside:
"That's absurd. Why?"
Alexander:
"I don't even watch wrestling man, I don't know. He told me to play the part of a personal assistant, get some dialogue from you for a project. I actually thought the guy was a writer. Guess I figured you were tough to approach or somethin'. Made no sense to me, but I got paid and that was the end of it."
Jackson Burnside:
"So, wait... You're telling me you got hired... to pretend you were an assistant to a guy who writes articles for wrestling rags. That's all you know? You have no idea why recordings from that, God what was it? Three hour lunch and interview we had? Why those wound up on UWL TV?"
Alexander:
"I don't. Sorry."
Jackson Burnside:
"What do you know about this guy? He comin' for me? You guys called my WIFE! Got clips of me an' my daughter, aired 'em on TV?"
Alexander:
"And I'm sorry! Really! He duped you, duped me. At least I got paid."
Jackson Burnside:
"Can you tell me anything about him?"
Alexander:
"I can't. He referred to himself as Harper, same he told you. I'm guessing that's a fake name too. I wish I could help you. The guy, he sounds scary but he seems harmless enough. Maybe he was just trying to get a production job over at your company huh? Maybe the video was like a resume?"
Jackson Burnside:
"A resume..."
Alexander:
"If I remember anything else I'll call you. Don't sweat it, you got time off? Go home, take your family to see the fireworks this week. If 'Harper' means harm to you, well he's an idiot. I wouldn't pick a fight with a big guy like you."
Jackson Burnside:
"Okay. Thanks Alexander."
The call disconnects.
Jackson spends some time processing this information. With the help of the last remaining slice of pizza he thinks. He mulls over the information he has. Harper, a fake name. A man who keeps popping up. He's resourceful, able to get places he shouldn't be at. He has the mans to set up an elaborate and unnecessary fake article in a sports magazine, even hiring an actor to play a role. Why? To get some voice clips? To get closer to Jackson on a personal level? To use clips with existing footage to make a video package, obviously. How did he get the raw UWL footage? 'Unless he archived it from a replay. An editor too, to put it all together. Staff to source the appropriate clips to go with what he was saying.
The more Jackson thought about it, the more he saw that an inordinate amount of effort went into this video. What did the video do? It made him look good. People were talking about it, only a day old and the video had over a hundred thousand views on YouTube. He even has to admit that it inspired himself. Seeing how far he had come what winning meant to him. Why the secrecy? The roundabout way? Alexander suggested Harper was showing his stuff to UWL production, maybe looking for a job. A resume. Yeah, that was starting to make sense.
If he's right, then it's only a matter of time before he runs into "Harper" again.
The video had been given to the crew on a thumb drive. They had been told "Jackson Burnside asked if they could spare a few minutes of screen time during the show to air it." Viewing it ahead of time and clearly happy with the quality, it was set aside and used to open the show. Everyone who turned on the TV in time to catch Eruption heard a candid side of the Weatherman they weren't used to seeing. They had seen UWL footage, personal clips from his own life and wrestling footage he assumed was lost media. A call home revealed somebody had asked his wife for the clips they could add to the video. "Jason and Mr. Harper." The names she told Jackson didn't check out with anyone on staff, but what she said about the men made it obvious. He knew the names though, and recalled what she had said, "One man did most of the talking. He was friendly, sounded like he might be from New York, a bit nasally. The other didn't say much. But he did talk a little, and his voice was rough, gravely. Sounds like he has throat cancer or something."
He only had one point of contact, and it was time to see what this was about.
Burnside takes out of his phone, scrolls through some call history, and finds the name he's looking for. "Jason C." The phone rings loudly for awhile, Jackson places it down at his side with the speaker turned on. After a few rings there's a pick.
Jason:
"Hello?"
You know how someone sounds when they aren't expecting a call? When they're wondering if they should have answered at all?
Jackson Burnside:
"Jason, it's Jackson Burnside. What's up dude?"
Jason:
"Burn- Burnside? Jackson, it's a bit late. Almost 8:30 where I am. What's up, everything okay?"
Jackson Burnside:
"You catch Eruption last night?"
Jason:
"No. Uh, no. My kid had an uh, something. We were out late and beat."
Jackson Burnside:
"Got a question for ya. Well, actually no not for you brother. Your boss. I never seemed to get his number, can you text it to me? I need to talk with him."
Jason:
"My boss? He uh, yeah I can't give his number out. Leave a message, I can talk to him on Monday."
Jackson Burnside:
"Sure. Ask him why snippets from the sit-down we had the other weekend made it into a video package for UWL. You were there, remember? We grabbed lunch and you asked me a bunch of questions for the article. Now why do I feel like that's not coming out?"
Silence on the other end of the line.
Jackson Burnside:
"Jason?"
Jason:
"Okay. Alright. I'm not dealing with this..."
That last comment was mumbled. Something Jason said to himself, not to Jackson.
Jason:
"You'll find out anyway. My name is Alexander, I'm an actor. I got hired to pretend get you in for the interview. Help get you in with the other guy so he could talk to you."
Jackson Burnside:
"That's absurd. Why?"
Alexander:
"I don't even watch wrestling man, I don't know. He told me to play the part of a personal assistant, get some dialogue from you for a project. I actually thought the guy was a writer. Guess I figured you were tough to approach or somethin'. Made no sense to me, but I got paid and that was the end of it."
Jackson Burnside:
"So, wait... You're telling me you got hired... to pretend you were an assistant to a guy who writes articles for wrestling rags. That's all you know? You have no idea why recordings from that, God what was it? Three hour lunch and interview we had? Why those wound up on UWL TV?"
Alexander:
"I don't. Sorry."
Jackson Burnside:
"What do you know about this guy? He comin' for me? You guys called my WIFE! Got clips of me an' my daughter, aired 'em on TV?"
Alexander:
"And I'm sorry! Really! He duped you, duped me. At least I got paid."
Jackson Burnside:
"Can you tell me anything about him?"
Alexander:
"I can't. He referred to himself as Harper, same he told you. I'm guessing that's a fake name too. I wish I could help you. The guy, he sounds scary but he seems harmless enough. Maybe he was just trying to get a production job over at your company huh? Maybe the video was like a resume?"
Jackson Burnside:
"A resume..."
Alexander:
"If I remember anything else I'll call you. Don't sweat it, you got time off? Go home, take your family to see the fireworks this week. If 'Harper' means harm to you, well he's an idiot. I wouldn't pick a fight with a big guy like you."
Jackson Burnside:
"Okay. Thanks Alexander."
The call disconnects.
Jackson spends some time processing this information. With the help of the last remaining slice of pizza he thinks. He mulls over the information he has. Harper, a fake name. A man who keeps popping up. He's resourceful, able to get places he shouldn't be at. He has the mans to set up an elaborate and unnecessary fake article in a sports magazine, even hiring an actor to play a role. Why? To get some voice clips? To get closer to Jackson on a personal level? To use clips with existing footage to make a video package, obviously. How did he get the raw UWL footage? 'Unless he archived it from a replay. An editor too, to put it all together. Staff to source the appropriate clips to go with what he was saying.
The more Jackson thought about it, the more he saw that an inordinate amount of effort went into this video. What did the video do? It made him look good. People were talking about it, only a day old and the video had over a hundred thousand views on YouTube. He even has to admit that it inspired himself. Seeing how far he had come what winning meant to him. Why the secrecy? The roundabout way? Alexander suggested Harper was showing his stuff to UWL production, maybe looking for a job. A resume. Yeah, that was starting to make sense.
If he's right, then it's only a matter of time before he runs into "Harper" again.
