Ye Zhen recalled what she remembered about Ning Yang’s movie in the novel. Other than Meng Jie, the other actors and actresses weren’t famous. Ning Yang even picked up one of the actors that would play a supporting character at the entrance of a film studio. It took over two months just to find enough actors and actresses. Ning Yang couldn’t even afford any actors and actresses with good appearance and good acting skills, much less famous stars, who were dismissive of Ning Yang’s script. Fortunately, the actors and actress he was able to hire had excellent acting skills.

In the novel, since Ning Yang wasn’t able to find an investor, the filming was repeatedly postponed. As a last resort, Ning Yang spent all of his savings to make the movie. Even so, his savings were only a drop in the bucket. There wasn’t enough money for the cast and crew. Due to lack of funds during filming, Ning Yang reluctantly abandoned many of the magnificent and epic scenes he had originally planned to do.

After the filming was done, Ning Yang rushed about busily. He couldn’t get this movie past review. He was a nobody and didn’t have a powerful backer. Half a year passed waiting for his movie to be reviewed, and then the process continued to be dragged out. After a delay of a few years, there was still no response for this movie.

(T/N: In China, movies have to be reviewed by the China Film Administration. It determines whether, when, and how a movie gets released. All films have to obtain a special license if they are to be shown in movie theaters, film festivals, TV, or streaming sites )

Ning Yang almost went bankrupt. In the end, he sold the movie to a streaming site for a low price. The movie got pretty good word-of-mouth reviews, but without any publicity, the audience remained small. Under these circumstances, Ning Yang submitted his movie to a certain highly prestigious international film festival. His movie won the Best Picture Award, and he became an overnight celebrity.

It had been ten years since a Chinese film had won the Best Picture Award in this famous international film festival.

When the news traveled back to China, many people in the film and television circle as well as movie enthusiasts said they had never seen this movie. When they learned that this movie was from a certain streaming site, the website reached a record high in views from that movie alone.

Many people expressed that it was a pity they weren’t able to watch Ning Yang’s movie at the movie theater and that if Ning Yang made another movie, they would definitely buy a movie ticket to see it.

Unfortunately, Ning Yang never made another movie after this one.

What goes up must go down. Ning Yang was in the prime of his youth and had skyrocketed in fame. He didn’t have any background or a powerful supporter. He had done too well for himself and attracted the jealousy of others. In the end, he was blocked by others and toiled in obscurity for the rest of his life.

However, this was just what happened in the novel. After Ye Zhen finished recalling what she had read in the novel, she tossed it to the back of mind. The current Lu Corporation was rich and powerful, and she was Ning Yang’s powerful supporter. She would be the giant tree that sheltered this seemingly ordinary young director that was brimming with talent under her branches!

After she had reached an agreement with Ning Yang, in order to avoid problems that may be incurred by a delay, Ye Zhen officially signed a contract with Ning Yang on behalf of Lu Corporation.

The contents of the content were as follows: Lu Corporation was the sole investor of Ning Yang’s movie, Ye Zhen was the producer, and the terms were written in a way that gave Ning Yang the greatest degree of preferential treatment. Ning Yang had been an assistant director for seven years and naturally knew he was currently unworthy of Lu Corporation giving him these various preferential treatments.

However, Ye Zhen had repeatedly urged him that the filming was the most important part for the director and that he didn’t have to worry about anything except that.

So, getting sponsors and investors, gathering the filming staff and choosing the other actors and actresses would fall under Ye Zhen’s responsibilities.

Lu Corporation was rich and imposing and could cover the roles of the investor and the sponsor by itself. Ning Yang had been an assistant director for seven years and had the filming staff part taken care of. So Ye Zhen didn’t need to worry about either of those things. The only thing that Ye Zhen had to check on herself was choosing the actors and actresses.

At present, the main demographic for the movie market was young to middle-aged workers. people. People of this age group weren’t that picky. As long as the plot was interesting enough, the pace wasn’t draggy, and the actors and actresses had good acting skills, the box office wouldn’t do badly.

Ye Zhen might not be able to get all of the actors and actresses that Ning Yang had found in the original novel, but there were countless capable actors and actresses in the entertainment industry. So, there was no way she would have a problem filling out the cast for the movie.

Ye Zhen wasn’t going to contact those actors and actresses herself. She planned on assigning Qin Zhiyin this task.

As soon as Ye Zhen thought of Qin Zhiyin, she didn’t have a clear conscience. In the novel, Qin Zhiyin had been Lin Zhan’s valuable assistant. It was truly unkind of her to sneakily poach Qin Zhiyin from him. She had read about Qin Zhiyin’s skills. There was no industry that Qin Zhiyin couldn’t handle when it came to dealing with PR crises, and she was especially adept with handling the entertainment industry.

Ye Zhen was currently sitting across from Qin Zhiyin. Smiling, she asked, “Miss Qin, I heard that you have experience working as a star’s agent?”

That experience had only lasted a year. It ended because the star, who she had helped to debut, dismissed her in favor of a famous agent. It was also because of that one year’s experience that Qin Zhiyin had seen enough of the entertainment circle’s various rules and was determined to not have direct contact with people from that industry. She shifted to going behind the scenes to handle various PR crises.

“I have a year’s worth of experience.”

“You know that the company is investing in a movie. There are some things where it would be inconvenient for me to appear personally, but I don’t feel at ease leaving it to someone I don’t know either. So, I have something I need your help with.”

“Mrs. Lu, feel free to say it. I’ll do it as long as it's something I can do.”

Ye Zhen took out a piece of paper and placed it in front of Qin Zhiyin. There were about ten names written from top to bottom.

“These people all have excellent acting skills. Although they might be soured by disappointment, their skills shouldn’t be underestimated. I would like you to contact these people and send them our movie script. Be sure to ask them to consider participating in the filming of the movie.”

As Ye Zhen was saying these words, Qin Zhiyin quickly skimmed through the list. Ye Zhen hadn’t spoken wrongly. From what she remembered, most of these people weren’t famous and were struggling to make a living by playing the role of supporting characters as seven or eight line actors and actresses. But as for whether or not their acting was excellent...

“Mrs. Lu, are you sure these people have excellent acting skills?” Qin Zhiyin was skeptical.

Ye Zhen: “You’ll know after contacting them. However, before things are settled, don’t let too many people know. Don’t let anyone know I’m the producer of this movie either.”

“Why?”

Ye Zhen thought over her answer. “You’ll know in the future.” She knew that people in high positions were more liable to be attacked and that it was inevitable that people would question her series of actions. Lu Beichuan trusted her, but as for other people...

Qin Zhiyin nodded and set off to do this task.

These were just seventh-line and eight-line actors and actresses. It didn’t take Qin Zhiyin too much effort to finalize contracts with most of them. It was only the actor that Ye Zhen chose for the male lead part that was more difficult.

After all, there was a tide of foul criticism online about this chosen male lead. For example, that he was unfaithful and a violent drunk. If Qin Zhiyin didn’t know the underlying rules in the entertainment circle, she might have believed those false rumors.

The chosen male lead’s name was Guan Ming. He had regular features. At first look, he wasn’t some unforgettable handsome guy. But if you took a careful look, he had looks that could withstand scrutiny. He had been acting for ten years and hadn’t hit fame yet. He seemed to have offended someone recently. His reputation had been completely tarnished by these false rumors, and his agency could only stop all of his jobs. He was currently at home, doing nothing.

Qin Zhiyin contacted his agency. His agency had no clue how to resolve his problem. Other than issuing clarifying statements, they had done nothing. When the company learned why Qin Zhiyin had contacted them, they immediately contacted Guan Ming and told him to come to the office. After all, Qin Zhiyin was offering a heavy remuneration.