Limitations: Open to all, though some roles have specific requirements.
Deadline: December 19, 11:59PM KST
Before even premiering, Hot Topic (stylized as Hot Topic(k)) has the attention of idol fans across the nation. Though not explicitly part of base’s programming, some of base’s resources have been put toward the show as Gold Star is involved in the production and their CEO Bang Sunyoung will be serving as the show’s host. As a result, the show’s production team is working through base to cast mentors from the three companies for upcoming episodes of the program.
IN ‘VERSE INFO
For this opportunity, on November 30, idols under the three companies were informed of the offer to apply for casting to appear as a mentor on a new boy group survival show. They have been offered to apply for a spot as a mentor on select episodes: either episode three/four (senior artist covers), episode five (idol tips & tricks), or episodes six and seven (position evaluation).
The casting information is as follows:
Episodes three & four (Senior artist cover songs, filmed December): Up to four open mentor spots.
Requirements: Open only to boy group members, Dimensions Soloist 2, Gold Star Soloist 3, and/or Element’s main dancer/lead rapper + main rapper/lead dancer.
Description of role: Mentors will appear as a special benefit to half of the teams for this round. They will help a team performing one of their/their group’s songs to prepare for their performance.
Episode five (Idol tips & tricks, filmed January): Up to ten open mentor spots.
Requirements: None, open to all.
Description of role: Mentors will appear for a special workshop episode to teach and evaluate contestants about aspects of being an idol other than singing, dancing, and rapping, such as stage presence, maintaining their visuals, variety skills, modeling, songwriting, acting, fan interactions, etc.
Episode six & seven (Position evaluation, filmed January): Up to two rap mentor spots, two vocal mentor spots, and two dance mentor spots.
Requirements: Open only to main rappers, main vocals, main dancers, and soloists.
Description of role: Mentors will appear as experts in their area (rap, singing, or dancing) and help remaining contestants prepare for position evaluations in their area.
Muses will be required to apply for casting by December 10 in-’verse.
OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO
This mini-event is only a short opportunity and not a long-term commitment as each muse will film only during one of two blocks, but those signing up their muses for consideration are still expected to be willing to use the opportunity to develop their muse and participate in the writing prompts.
If you’re interested in having your muse participate in this opportunity, there are two steps.
STEP ONE: If you are interested in your muse being a mentor for the show, please fill out this survey here out-of-character. This will be your official expression of interest for the opportunity but step two must also be completed in addition to step one order to officially enter your muse into consideration for being cast as a main cast member! You will have until Saturday, December 19, at 11:59PM KST to complete this step.
You may submit multiple muses for consideration to be cast in this Base event on separate forms, but muns will only have multiple muses cast if there are remaining open spots. Please indicate your muses’ order of casting priority if you submit more than one.
STEP TWO: Complete this form in-character and tag it with #fmdhtcasting. Please answer this as if your character is filling out the form to submit to production for casting. You will have until Saturday, December 19, at 11:59PM KST to complete this step. Muses may collect one point for doing this.
Note: For this show, step two can be completed without step one for the point if you do not wish for your muse to actually became a mentor, just make sure not to complete step one if that’s the case!
Any further questions should be directed to the main’s ask box!
GUIDELINES
CASTING:
If the number of muses interested in the opportunity exceeds the number of available mentor slots, final casting of muses as mentors will be done by random generator for fairness.
LINKS
Hot Topic(k) Show Information
Casting Form
POINTS AVAILABLE
Total available points: 1 point (Please note this points is available for all muses, whether signing up for actual consideration or not.)
+1 point: Complete step two listed above and post it in the #fmdhtcasting tag by Saturday, December 19, at 11:59PM KST to qualify for points.
Those involved in Hot Topic(k) this month may earn up to 6 points total for writing, by the end of January 31 KST:
Completions of the two interviews included in the in-character prompt. (1 point each, up to 2 points total)
A headcanon of 400+ words of your muse’s “lesson plan”* before going in to complete their mentoring gig. (2 points).
A solo para of 400+ words based on filming |OR| a thread with the mentor for the same skill of at least six posts. (2 points *points may only be collected for one or the other).
These do not count toward monthly limits or toward normal schedule points. All posts for this task block should be tagged with #fmdht2.
IN-’VERSE INFO
A week before they’re scheduled to film, the idols chosen are informed that they’ve been cast as mentors for the episode 6 & 7 block of the show. They’re informed of their filming time, the skill they’ve been chosen to give a workshop on, and the other idol that will be helping with the same skill. They will also be told the songs and arrangements the idols will be performing for their respective position evaluations. Dance mentors will also be given the choreography ahead of time to familiarize themselves with.
There will be five contestants performing each song.
Episodes 6 & 7 (Position Evaluations) - January 11
The mentors will arrive at the studio where the show is filming on January 11. The vocal mentors will coach in the morning, the dance mentors in the afternoon, and the rap mentors in the evening. The pair will be filming their mentoring at the same time, though they may mentor separately, together, or switch on and off as they see fit.
Before doing any other filming, the mentors are pulled aside for a short talking head interview as follows:
Which song do you consider to be the harder performance of the two?
If you were a contestant on the show, which song of the two would you have wanted to chose to perform?
What do you expect a pre-debut trainee to struggle most with for their position evaluation?
The pairs will mentor the first group listed for around an hour and then switch to the second group listed.
Once inside each room, they’ll introduce themselves and the members of the group they’re helping will introduce themselves to them (note: Muns of mentors may write interactions with NPCs in the groups to their liking, but please avoid writing detailed interactions with every single member of the group since some contestants may later not be NPCs).
The group will then show the mentors the current state of their performance. The mentors will be expected to give initial critiques and feedback on their performance before working more in-depth to help improve their performance over the course of the hour they have with each group. Though other performance elements may be in play in a performance other than the specific skill the position evaluation is for, the mentors are suggested to keep to advising on the specific skill they are there for.
At the end of their time mentoring, each mentor is asked to pick an MVP from the contestants based on what they’ve seen from the workshop. They may use their own criteria to pick this.
After they have completed their time mentoring, they will be asked to give one more talking head interview before leaving:
How do you feel your mentoring session went?
Did anything happen that threw you off of your original plans? Did you realize they were struggling with anything unexpected or did you add on any other tips in the moment?
Do you feel you’ve grown or learned anything from mentoring? Do you feel that vocals/dance/rap is in good hands with the next generation of idols?
The position mentors are also invited to come and be filmed watching the live performances for their specific position on filming for the final stages on January 15 to react to the stages. This is optional.
OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO
Every mun who submitted for this casting should have at least one muse receiving a mentorship role, either during this filming or the last one. Most muns should have gotten their first choice muse in, but a few may have gotten a second or third choice muse in and not their first choice. This is simply because the first choice muse was submitted to fewer categories and/or only to more selective categories and has lower odds of being selected, while the second or third choice muse was submitted to more categories and/or less selective categories and had higher odds.
* = The “lesson plan” headcanon doesn’t have to take a specific format or resemble any kind of real lesson plan; it should just detail what your muse is anticipating having to teach and help with and what they did to prepare for mentoring.
Any questions can be directed to the main’s ask box!
