The New Manager (Pentatonix)

5.

"...and we have with us today the new management for the a capella group, Pentatonix! Please welcome Ms. Esther Kaplan, and Ms. Michelle Coby!" The talkshow host said.

The management duo walked onstage, to a loud applause.

"So, Ms. Coby. I don't think that I've heard of you before. Care to enlighten us on yourself?"

Michelle smiled. "Of course. My name is Michelle Coby. Im 27, and was born and raised in Texas. I moved to LA with my band, and left to go solo after a few years. That didn't work out so well, and I took a break from music, before starting back in management. I'm also a huge fan of how Pentatonix used to be, and I intend to help make them great again." She finished, turning to Esther to smile.

"We are very excited to have her join our team. Michelle has already met the band, and has already made suggestions for improvement." Eather piped in.

The host looked impressed. "Much done in such a short time, Ms. Coby! May I say, I'm quite impressed!"

Michelle flashed her a huge smile.

"We also have another announcement!" Esther said, excitely.

Michelle took a deep breath. "We have re evaluated our group, and decided that it is un-optimal. Mr. Brandon Collingham has had his contract cancelled."

There was a resounding gasp from the audience.

Michelle bit her lip, continuing. "As that means we are short a person, we are pleased to announce that we are holding auditions. We are looking for a tenor or soprano. To be applicable for audition, you must have at least a two octave vocal range, be committed, and be able to move to LA if we select you. For details, check out PTX official on twitter!"

"Drastic, perhaps?" The host asked us, wide eyed.

"Perhaps," Esther started.

"But desperate times call for desperate measures." Michelle finished.

"We are going to make Pentatonix great again." Esther said, calmly.

"Well, that's all the time we have for today!" The host said, wrapping it up.

They all walked off stage, and Michelle and Esther headed to the studio to meet with the band.

"Ms. Coby?" Kevin called out.

Michelle cursed internally, before turning to the beatboxer.

"Yes, Mr. Olusola?" She asked.

"Just Kevin, please." He asked.

Michelle smiled. "Then just call me Michelle."

Kevin smiled. "Of course. Anyways, I wanted to apoligize for yesterday. I'm just wary of change. The last major one made us lose Mitchy, and none of us have heard from him since." He confessed.

Michelle was ready to cry.

"I-I'm so sorry, Kev. I'm sure he doesn't mean anything by it... he probably just needs space." Michelle blubbered.

Kevin looked at her like she was crazy, before brushing it off as her being sensitive.

Esther called everyone to the table. Michelle looked down on her slimming black dress, smoothing it before sitting down.

"Okay. Where are we going to hold auditions?" Michelle asked.

"There's a concert hall around here. We can rent it out. Make people perform infront of everyone whos auditioning, along with the six of us." Scott suggests.

"How are we marking them? What are we making them do?" Michelle prodded.

Avi answered this one. "They need to do a range check, a few basic range and breathing exercises, and then we do a cut. After that, everyone performs a song of their choice. Another cut here, before we split people into groups to learn Run To You- well, Mitch's part. We all go around and weed out anyone we dont think would fit- for instance, assholes. So we don't have another Brandon. Then, they perform one-on-one with us, infront of everyone else."

"And then everyone decides who deserves a call back. We still need to figure out what to do for the call back." Scott finished.

Michelle pondered that for a second. "How many applicants are we expecting?"

"A few hundred. A lot get cut after the first two cuts. By the time we teach them a song, we should have less than a hundred. After that, we should have twenty max." Avi said.

Kevin looked up. "I really dont want to do that whole thing. When do we get started?"

"Next week." Kirstie said.

Everyone groaned.

Michelle winced. "You guys really hate the idea that much?"

Everyone groaned in unison.

She felt like crying for everything that she had put them through.

"Okay... I'll send out a tweet from the official account to tell everyone about it." Esther said, typing quickly on her phone.

Michelle's phone dinged instantly.

Everyone stared at her. Scott had amusement twinkling in his eyes.

"What? I already told you I'm a Pentaholic." Michelle said, embarrased.

Scott and Kirstie cracked up.

Avi and Kevin shared an amused glance.

Esther just buried her face in her hands.

"Okay but seriously. Let's get ready for this thing!" Michelle called out, and everyone left to get things ready.