“Do you guys have money?” Luo Ming asked.
” Sister Wen, didn’t you just say that this director is most likely a rookie just starting out, and he’s shooting a micro-film? I think it probably won’t cost that much. I have 100,000 on hand.”
” Keep your money for yourself!” “Luo Ming” interrupted Chen Sichu: “Wenwen, we can pay for this, right?”
“Sure! Just have the director give a thank-you credit at the beginning.” Luo Ming also agreed.
“Thank you, Sister Wen. Thank you, President Luo.” Chen Sichu said gratefully.
“Doing your job well from now on is the best repayment to me. You two give the director’s phone number to President Luo.”
After the Chen sisters gave the phone number, Luo Ming hung up.
Lin Shuwen looked at the phone number written on the paper, quickly formed a rough idea in her mind of how to communicate with the other party, and then dialed the number.
After the dial tone rang twice, the other side picked up.
Liang Hanwen, 24 years old, was born in the directing department of the Beijing Film Academy. After graduating in 2011, he worked as an assistant to a senior schoolmate through a teacher’s introduction.
After working diligently for two years, he finally saved up 100,000 in startup funds and was preparing to shoot his first micro-film, then submit it to next year’s Shanghai College Student International Micro-Film Festival.
But even for a micro-film, 100,000 was still a little short. He definitely could not afford big-name stars, so Liang Hanwen had only two choices in front of him: first, go back to his alma mater and find a few students to act; second, find some experienced extras to act.
Liang Hanwen chose the latter. He had always felt that knowledge from paper is ultimately shallow, and only practice can reveal the truth.
When it came to acting skill, some experienced extras were much better than students who only buried their heads in books.
So, using the name of a Beijing Film Academy graduate, Liang Hanwen moved around the sets where various senior schoolmates were working, and finally selected Zhou Qiutong to be the female lead of the micro-film.
Zhou Qiutong was actually one year younger than the Chen sisters, only 21. Her looks were not stunning, but she was very easy on the eyes. Most importantly, Zhou Qiutong’s gaze was clear and her smile was sweet, which fit the image of the girl-next-door in his script very well.
And Zhou Qiutong’s acting, after several days of observation by Liang Hanwen, had also gained his approval.
So Liang Hanwen could hardly wait to settle on this female lead.
And these past few days, Liang Hanwen had been choosing the male lead.
After a whole day of searching today and still finding nothing, Liang Hanwen returned to his rented room and let out a long sigh: “Ah! Why is casting a role so—ring ring ring—”
Before Liang Hanwen could finish speaking, his phone ringtone went off.
Liang Hanwen glanced at the caller ID, found it was an unknown number, hesitated for a moment, and still answered the call.
“Hello—”
“Hello—sir, are you Director Liang Hanwen?”
The address “Director Liang” made Liang Hanwen feel comfortable all over. No one had ever called him Director Liang so politely before!
” Ahem, yes, it’s me. You are—”
“I am a manager at Zhuoguang Technology. My surname is Luo.”
“So it’s Manager Luo. What can I do for you?”
“It’s like this. Previously, Director Liang, you chose a girl named Zhou Qiutong to be the female lead in your micro-film, right? Something happened on her side.”
Lin Shuwen told Liang Hanwen what had happened, and Liang Hanwen was completely stunned.
Who is Qin Le? He did not know! He had never even looked carefully at the people around Zhou Qiutong.
“Director Liang, Zhou Qiutong’s current situation definitely means she cannot start filming right away. Do you have any thoughts about replacing her?” Lin Shuwen asked tentatively.
After struggling with it for a while, Liang Hanwen gritted his teeth and said, “If there’s really no other way, then I can only replace her.”
Hearing this, Lin Shuwen’s eyes lit up. Liang Hanwen had taken so long to speak, which showed that he himself was very fond of Zhou Qiutong.
“Director Liang, our boss’s investor knows Miss Zhou. He doesn’t want you to replace her. If you can wait a while, our company is willing to invest in your film.”
“Investment? How much!” Liang Hanwen asked excitedly.
“The exact amount will depend on your script. You’re in Shanghai, right?”
“Yes.”
“If it’s convenient for you, you can send the script to Huayue Entertainment and give it to Miss Lin Shuwen’s assistant. She also knows our boss.”
“Lin—Lin Shuwen? The young diva who sang ‘Light Years Away’?”
“Correct.”
“Good, good, good! I’ll send the script over tomorrow.”
“Then you can contact Miss Lin’s assistant in advance. I’ll give you her number.”
Liang Hanwen hung up, looked at the long string of phone numbers on the paper, and his heart began to beat faster despite himself.
Was his luck about to turn?
The next morning, Liang Hanwen contacted Chen Junmiao, then delivered the script downstairs at Huayue Entertainment.
Chen Junmiao got the script very smoothly. When the two met, Liang Hanwen also did some probing.
It seemed that after the initial excitement, he had come back to his senses.
Actually, at this point Liang Hanwen himself was not sure either. He was not even certain whether the person on the other end of the phone was telling the truth, so why had he agreed to send the script over?
But all this doubt and unease vanished completely after Chen Junmiao took out her phone, opened Weibo, and showed him that the account logged in was Lin Shuwen’s Weibo.
This person was 100% Lin Shuwen’s assistant. If she were not someone close to Lin Shuwen, how could she log into her Weibo?
“Th-this young lady, c-can I take a photo?”
“Of course.”
Liang Hanwen picked up his phone and took a picture of Lin Shuwen’s Weibo page. Now he was completely reassured.
At noon, Chen Junmiao came back with Liang Hanwen’s script.
Luo Ming took the script and quickly skimmed through it. The story felt quite familiar, a bit like “You Are the Apple of My Eye.”
The male and female leads met and got to know each other in high school. Three years later, for various reasons, they failed to get into the same university. When they met again, it was already the scene of the female lead’s wedding. This reunion was also their final farewell.
A thought arose in Luo Ming’s mind. He asked Chen Junmiao, “Miaomiao, have you read this script?”
“I’ve read it.”
“How does it feel?”
“It’s a very common campus romance story, but some of the plot arrangements are quite interesting, very much like what high school students that age would do.
The wedding scene setup is also relatively interesting. It does have some things of its own.”
“Then if we could add more scenes like that, and add a pretty outstanding song, would this micro-film have a chance of becoming popular?”
“I feel there’s some chance.” Chen Junmiao thought for a moment and gave her judgment.
“Bring the guitar over.”
“Huh?”
“What do you mean, huh? Hurry up!”
Looking completely bewildered, Chen Junmiao went to Lin Shuwen’s bedroom and carried the guitar out.
“Chuchu, turn on the camera and record this.”
After Chen Sichu got ready, Luo Ming plucked the guitar strings.
