Upfront With My Friends

Today was Nickelodeon's annual Upfront where we present our upcoming new series and promotions to our key advertisers (you know, people that give us lots of money to keep the network on air like Kellogg's, Kraft, P&G, McDonald's, Mattel). The presentation is given by our key executives and usually includes some of our celebrity talent as well (to keep the advertising big wigs feeling good about themselves . . .).

This year, Keke Palmer was on hand to present her newest show True Jackson, VP; Nick Cannon was on hand to discuss his newest show for TEENick called The Halo Awards to honor teens in their community; and the big surprise of the day was having Dev Patel arrive to introduce his role in The Last Airbender, our blockbuster movie planned for next summer. Even being a seasoned employee at Nickelodeon (I believe I can say seasoned now; I've been here a year) and meeting these folks regularly, I felt a little leap in my stomach when Dev walked onto the stage. The audience gasped; even we Nick employees didn't know he would be appearing. He was very charming and talked about how excited he is to be walking away from his newly found stardom on Slumdog Millionaire to now be a part of The Last Airbender filming. We're really hoping that his recent addition to the cast will help to make the film extraordinary at the box office (ergo our bonuses) . . .

The Upfront then closed with a jam session with Colbie Caillat and Wyclef Jean . . . my little perks at work are great!