chapter1: the 7STARz
june 23, 2008

 
 They’re one of the biggest acts in the world. They’re one of the most popular acts to come from the Disney Channel. They’re right up there with High School Musical, Hannah Montana, and Camp Rock. They’re hits on Radio Disney. They compete with the likes of Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.

 This is a pop group. They’re thought of as the teenage, more innocent, pop-rock version of The Black Eyed Peas. They’re compared to early 2000s British pop group S Club 7, and Mexico’s mid-2000s pop band RBD. They have a hit TV series on Disney.

 They are 7STARz. This pop group is a 7-piece, mixed-gender act. They were formed in 2006. After seeing how successful High School Musical and Hannah Montana were, the Disney Channel executives wanted to capitalize on teen musicals. They decided to combine the two concepts, and the end result was a TV series about a couple of teenagers in a private high school forming a pop band. That series spawned the world’s hottest teen mixed group.

 When the band was formed, the members were around 16 and 17. Now they’re almost 20. The members are, Molly Jackson (current age, 19), Matt Bradford (19), Stacey Ronald (19), Caleb Peters (19), Sarah Hartsfield (19), Luke St. James (18), and Breanna Trevino (21).

 Since 2006, 7STARz have released two hit albums, two live albums, and two concert DVDs. They’re in the process of recording their third studio album and a Spanish album. During all of this, they’re busy with North American arena tours and filming their hit series, popSTARz.

 But just because they’re a product of Disney, it doesn’t mean they’re sweet and innocent. In 2007, just when the band’s first tour, The 7popSTARz Tour, was just starting, the most popular member of the group, Stacey, had nude photos leaked out. Their PR team had to work like crazy in order to clean up Stacey’s image.

 Then there were alleged gay rumors on Luke and Caleb, debating if they’re dating, even though they have girlfriends! There were reports of Matt smoking weed, and Caleb and Luke joined him. Supposedly Molly was cheating on Jonas Brothers member Joe Jonas with Kevin Jonas. There were photos of the band’s wild partying, doing drugs, and drinking.

 All these rumors and scandals turned 7STARz from a group of sweet teenagers to the most rebellious act ever in America. Yet, this made the band a lot bigger. They started having Top 10 hits, multi-platinum albums, sold-out concerts, and very high TV ratings.

 As for the Disney executives, they’re not happy with 7STARz. The band received numerous complaints from conservative parent groups, demanding to get 7STARz off their TVs. So the executives met with band’s manager, Seth Ferris, for a solution. After much talks, they finally agreed on what to do with 7STARz and their bad behavior.

 As soon as 7STARz returned to Los Angeles from their sold-out, over-capacity tour, they were sent to their manager for a meeting. When they arrived, they wore sunglasses, as they were jet-lagged.

 Once they sat down, Molly asked tiredly, “Seth, why are we here? Can’t you tell we just back from a tour?”

 Seth said, “I know you just got back from your tour. Look, you can go back to your mansion after this meeting. This is very important.”

 Matt asked, “What’s more important than a coffee-fueled nap?”

 Seth started a slide show, and showed all the headlines of the band’s scandals. He explained as the slide show was going on, “7STARz are a Disney brand. You’re supposed to be tween-friendly. Instead, you act very irresponsibly. You do everything a troubled starlet might do, like partying, drinking, drugs, nude photos, bisexual experimentation. I get this made you mainstream, but there are very strong complaints coming from parents and the Disney executives. They want me to terminate your contract with Disney, and dismantle 7STARz.”

 That woke up the members. Stacey said angrily, “You can’t split us up! We’re on top of the world right now!”

 Seth said, “Let me finish. The Disney executives approached me for a solution and a compromise. After intense talks, we came up with an agreement. Your contract with Disney will expire in January 2009. But as for 7STARz, I found a record company that’s willing to take you in. That will give you the freedom to do whatever you want. You’re already mainstream compared Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.”

 Molly asked, “So, we’re staying?”

 He said, “Yes, you’re staying.”

 Luke said, “Great. Can we go home now?”

 Seth said sternly, “Not so fast. Disney wants to continue with the STARz franchise, but they don’t approve of your behavior. So we came up with a solution to keep the brand on Disney.”

 Matt asked, “What is it?”

 Seth replied as he showed a picture of a logo, “The solution is juniorSTARz. This would be a 7-piece mixed pop group. This band would be filled with a younger set of teenagers. They will take over your TV series, popSTARz, and they’ll have a tween-friendly image. Since they’ll be a couple of years younger than you, they shouldn’t be inclined to bad behavior.”

 The 7STARz members sat there, stunned. They took off their sunglasses, revealing their blood-shot eyes. Then Breanna asked, “You’re joking, right? You’re going to form a band that will replace us? No one can replace us. Not even a bunch of kids can take our place.”

 Seth said, “Breanna-“

 “Don’t ‘Breanna’ me!” she said angrily. “If this fucking kiddy band gets one taste of fame, they’ll want to completely replace us. They’ll take everything we worked our asses off!”

 “Breanna, none of you worked for your fame. All you guys did was behave very unruly. That’s how you got to where you at today.”

 With that, the 7STARz members stormed out of the meeting. They couldn’t believe that their own manager is planning a tween spin-off band just to replace them.

 Once they arrived at their mansion in Beverly Hills, they started complaining about this spin-off group. Caleb said angrily, “How can Seth just drop this on us? I mean, kiddy version of us?”

 Molly said, “Maybe they won’t be so bad. Look, we’re very scandalous and we’re hits on the mainstream charts. I think it’s a good idea to have a group of younger teenagers to be on Disney.”

 Breanna said in an irritated tone, “Molly, what are you doing? These kids will get famous, and they’ll take everything from us. They’ve already taken our TV series, and they’re not even formed yet. Next they’ll take our fans, our record sales, the press, everything.”

 Matt asked, “So, what are we gonna do? We can’t stop juniorSTARz from being formed.”

 Breanna said firmly, “We’ll do whatever it takes to hold back juniorSTARz from international fame. Keep them stuck on Radio Disney, and keep them kid-friendly. If they feel the need to become a global sensation, we’ll force them to split up.”

 The members were concerned about Breanna’s strong, negative reaction towards juniorSTARz. But they didn’t want to lose everything they got. So they agreed to keep this spin-off band from fully taking off. Will this work?
 
 
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IN THE PIC IS 7STARz>>>