It’s a pitch for a twenty-second video ad for a lifestyle app. The app combines social media with restaurant recommendations and food reviews. It notifies you if a friend is eating within a certain radius by sending an alert. You can also read friends’ notes and reviews on various establishments. I’ve never really understood the need to brag about what you’re eating. And alerting people to where you are? Doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest. What if you don’t want to be found? I guess that doesn’t matter. What matters is this is my job, and a new client has spent a boatload to have the video air in the middle of other videos for some up-and-coming YouTubers who have bajillions of viewers. So basically, we can’t screw this up.

“Here are details and a cost analysis. And my idea for the, uh, video.” I clear my throat again and shuffle my paperwork.

They take the pages from my trembling fingers. I breathe in slow and deep, trying to calm my heart rate. I’ve practiced this pitch a thousand times. I can do this.

“It, um, it opens with a restaurant at night.” My voice is pitched too high and too loud. I stop, clear my throat and try to speak at a normal volume. “There’s a, uh, glowing ambiance, you know, soft lighting, it’s very warm and aesthetically pleasing. The camera follows a waiter moving around the restaurant, bringing people plates. Eventually he stops on a large group of friends. They’re laughing, enjoying the meal, barely noticing he’s there. And then the ad line comes up on the screen, I’m thinking a happy, bouncy, font that’s also readable, and it says, ‘Enjoy more of life with Splice.’ ”

Stacey puts down her paper and gives me an encouraging smile to continue. The others are silent. Drew is frowning down at the paperwork and Blade seems to be staring somewhere off to the side but slightly down, like he’s pretending to look at it.

“It’s short, but effective. The concept cuts down the ad time, which will save the client money, while still getting the point across as to the purpose of the app, and it’s more likely to keep viewers engaged.”

Drew and Blade share a glance and then Drew speaks. “It’s fine, Jane, but it’s not quite there.”

My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.

“It lacks emotion. In fact, a lot of the ideas you’ve proposed in the past have this same flaw. I know you’ve been given this feedback before. The best ads give some kind of emotional impact, or nostalgia, something that makes people relate and feel.”