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Fuck, this was sobering. A heart-to-heart at, what, four in the morning? Business-related or not, this was Roe reaching out to me.
“What do you suggest?” I asked. “You wanna do the podcast?”
“Yeah,” he replied bluntly. “We have a modest audience to build on. We need to be on social media. We need to promote ourselves—and our show—and reveal who we are. So we’ll be visible to more people, more potential viewers and listeners.”
I’d already acknowledged to myself that he was right. I knew he was. He made perfect sense. It was just—I didn’t fucking know what to talk about.
“You know what John and Ortiz said about the third season,” he said.
I nodded once and started tapping my foot restlessly.
Of course I remembered. If we got green-lit for a third season, we’d discuss more than a new raise. That’s when sponsors entered the picture. Sponsors were the big money.
Michael Ortiz had turned out to be a great producer, and he was less of a network suit than John. I appreciated that in a guy.
“I’m not a content creator,” I said. “If I don’t know what to talk about, I’m just not gonna do it. I ain’t sayin’ you need to feed me lines, but I’m not a natural in front of the camera. You know that.”
“I actually think you’re wrong, but we can discuss that later,” he responded. “I will give you topics and talking points, Jake. Trust me. Let me work out a concept for us, some sort of theme, and then you can see for yourself.”
Since I had no argument for why this wasn’t a good idea, not even my own reluctance to be the center of attention, I agreed. And whatever he thought I was wrong about, he could keep to himself.
*
“We good?”
“Yup.” I pressed record and joined Roe at our lunch spot for the day. The tailgate of our rental truck had been dropped, and he’d rolled out his sleeping mat across it for a comfy seat.
I was a pig in shit, to be honest. Surrounded by mountain ranges, prairies, and an open road. We were just off the side of it, and we hadn’t seen anyone drive by in over an hour.
The trees were changing colors. The air was crisp. The sky was blue.
I bit into my sub, having looked forward to it all fucking morning. We’d bought them on the way, and mine was filled with turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and some sauce that was un-fucking-believable. And the bread, fluffy and baked this morning. Heaven.
“So we’re in Back Country, Wyoming, this weekend,” Roe said. “No, wait. I didn’t like that. Roll again.”
When was he gonna learn? We didn’t roll. We kept shooting, and I edited it all together later.
“We’re in Back Country, Wyoming. Is that a good tone?”
I chewed and made a rolling motion. We needed alternates anyway. They were good for trailers and teasers we released online.
“Wait, I think I got it,” he said. “Say you don’t know where we are when I ask. We’ll do it a few times, so mix up your replies.”
I snorted and took another bite. All right. We’d used a similar angle before, and it’d been a crowd-pleaser according to focus groups.
“Jake?”
“Yeah,” I answered with my mouth full.
“Where are we?”
I straightened a bit and glanced out over the prairie. “I have no idea.”
He scratched the side of his head, then brushed crumbs off his hoodie. New take. “Greetings from… I don’t even know! When did we pass the last town?”
I checked my watch. “About three hours ago…?”
He nodded and looked into the camera. “That’s as accurate as it’s gonna get. We’re in Back Country, Wyoming, this weekend.”
I liked that one. The details would be added in editing later, our exact location and so on. As well as a list of cities we’d recommend originating from for this trip. So, if you had a hundred bucks to spend on a weekend, and you were from places like Salt Lake City, Billings, Denver, and a few others, this was a good budget journey.
“Do the listing thing now,” he said. “Conversation-style?”
Yeah, that one was best. Less scripted and forced.
I chewed what was in my mouth and started ticking off Wyoming attractions. “Yellowstone.”
“Of course. Grand Teton and Hot Springs.”
I added two fingers. “Flaming Gorge, Buffalo Bill, and…” I trailed off and stopped counting.
“All fantastic sights—and obviously we’re not doing any of them,” Roe chuckled, facing the camera once more. “In this episode, Jake and I are hiking down a lesser-known canyon to spend the night in an actual ghost town.”
“The way you say actual makes me worried you think there will be actual ghosts,” I told him.
“No!” he laughed and shoved at me. I smirked. “But we have so many ghost towns in this country that’ve turned into tourist attractions—and this is one of those that hasn’t. It’s actually a ghost town. Completely abandoned.”
