FLME Ch3: Here Comes the Gossip

After signing the contract, they walked side by side out of the company building, chatting happily.

Boss Xie’s full name was Xie Jiamao. He mentioned that the company was recently in contact with some good directors. Yu Wen, having just secured a 5,000 base salary, immediately started kissing up, “Boss Xie truly manages a myriad of affairs every day. With Boss Xie stepping up personally, it will definitely be a guaranteed success…”

During their chat just now, Xie Jiamao had revealed some of the company’s future development plans to him. Starlight Media’s business didn’t just include artist management, but also film and television planning, production, and distribution. Although he didn’t know if they could pull it off, Boss Xie still humbly stated: We’ll try it first.

Yu Wen roughly knew why the boss had mingled in so many circles—because he wanted to “try it first.”

Xie Jiamao shook his head, a trace of sorrow hidden on his handsome face that was weathered by time. “I’ll take your word for it… They are all my old friends. If they are willing to come, the company definitely won’t treat them poorly. Unfortunately, their desire to come doesn’t seem very strong…”

Yu Wen thought to himself, It’d be weird if it was strong.

In this book, the entertainment industry’s landscape could roughly be summarized as ‘one superpower, many great powers’, with the protagonist top Feng Chengzhou’s Huiteng Group dominating as the superpower. There were also various other entertainment companies with strong momentum, but from beginning to end, Yu Wen had never seen the name Starlight Media.

Besides, Xie Jiamao perfectly matched what others said about him—unreliable, but honest.

A person who was both unreliable and excessively honest would find it hard to be a qualified leader. It was only natural that others didn’t trust him. Unless it was someone like Yu Wen, who only cared about the base salary and didn’t give a damn about future prospects.

Yu Wen could only comfort him: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

He was about to take a taxi back to his rental apartment. Before leaving, he remembered something. Afraid the boss would think he was too impatient, he purposely acted sweet and smiled brightly. “By the way, Boss, who is my manager? I’d like to treat him to a casual meal, since we’ll have to get along well in the future…”

The extra work at the film set wasn’t over yet; there would likely be another round. Since he had signed with a company, he still needed to notify his manager if he took on outside gigs. This was the basic spirit of the contract.

Xie Jiamao lowered his head and awkwardly scratched his hair. “You also know our company just started… We haven’t hired a manager yet. I didn’t even expect someone to voluntarily send their resume to our company…”

Yu Wen: “?”

“But don’t worry, there will definitely be a manager. It’s just that they might not be very professional, so you’ll have to make do for now.” Xie Jiamao pounded his chest forcefully. “Although I’ve never managed anyone, I have a certificate! I’m certified for this job and absolutely trustworthy!”

Yu Wen: “…”

#My boss was my boss at first, and then he became my manager#

Yu Wen’s worries were not unfounded. That very night, the assistant director sent him a new casting notice.

—It was a featured extra role for the Fenghua crew.

Director Gao, not knowing which nerve had short-circuited, wanted to add more scenes to his previous character. Although Yu Wen found it baffling, since he could get a handsome payout, he immediately agreed with his tail wagging.

That night, Yu Wen reviewed the relevant plot points around this time. An entertainment circle novel had been condensed by him into a mere fifty thousand words. With a beginning and an end, the middle details were like a castrated version.

…Meaning, even if he pre-studied, he wouldn’t know what was going to happen next.

Yu Wen repeatedly read the thin three pages involving the Fenghua crew, and tried hard to remember, but ultimately gained nothing. He put it back in the drawer.

He gave Xie Jiamao a heads-up that night. The boss was currently stubbornly trying to recruit directors and was extremely busy. Hearing it was an unnamed minor role, he didn’t ask much.

As mentioned earlier, Director Gao was a rigorous person who had produced quite a few hit dramas. His most famous traits were two points: 1. Thrillingly beautiful cinematography; 2. Fleshed-out character designs.

Stereotypical characters were rarely seen in his dramas. Even common minor characters would have their traits deeply grasped, making them three-dimensional and vivid.

Insiders once joked that even if Director Gao’s drama turned out as bad as dog shit, there would always be someone willing to taste it, because these two points were eye-catching enough.

The filming of Fenghua was already halfway through. The upcoming plot revolved around the conflict between Gongsun Daiyu’s “people-oriented” philosophy and the exploiting classes like the old nobility. The character Yu Wen played represented the old nobility.

To express the conflicts hidden beneath the calm surface more sharply, and to highlight the changes in the female lead’s state of mind, Director Gao added a scene.

—The noble young master played by Yu Wen recklessly rode his horse through the streets, causing one death and three injuries, and was executed on the spot by Gongsun Daiyu.

This was the female lead’s first time killing a defenseless person. The young master’s face would be covered in tears as he begged, but his words would inadvertently reveal his arrogance and contempt for life, making Gongsun Daiyu realize that advocacy was useless. Their beliefs had to be shaken from the root. How to shake them? With blood.

For this scene, Yu Wen’s task was quite heavy. Arrogant in the early stages, terrified in the later stages, he also had to cry with snot and tears in front of the female lead, and he had a whole bunch of lines to babble out.

Holding the script, Yu Wen fell into deep thought.

Zou Ming was very happy that he could get a role with such weight. “What’s wrong? Happy silly? Calm down, seeing how much Director Gao likes you, you’ll definitely have more lines in the future!”

Zou Ming was in his early twenties, a few years older than Yu Wen. His jaw was a bit square, and paired with an accent he couldn’t get rid of, he gave off an honest and simple vibe whenever he smiled.

“It’s not because of that,” Yu Wen pointed to a few words on the script. “‘Turning pale with fright’, ‘tears and snot flowing’, ‘fleeing in panic’… How do you act these? Do you know how?”

Zou Ming: “…”

Yu Wen wasn’t even skilled as an extra yet. Giving him so many lines right from the start was truly making things difficult.

He spent ten minutes interpreting the script, feeling deeply inadequate. He turned around and ran to ask the director if they could change actors.

“What? You don’t want an opportunity when it’s given to you?” Director Gao sounded like his usual short-tempered self as soon as he opened his mouth. Yu Wen was startled by his loud voice and silently rubbed his ears.

It was said that the main reason Director Gao was so irritable lately was that a friend wanted to invite him to join his company to hold down the fort. He didn’t say exactly how, but every time Director Gao answered a call, his mental state would deteriorate.

Was that a friend? More like an enemy.

Yu Wen showed him the densely packed script. “Director, do you want to present the best visual effect?”

Director Gao: “Cut the crap.”

“Right now there’s a big bug, and that’s me,” Yu Wen said honestly. “Replace me, and the completion degree of this segment will immediately increase by fifty percent.”

“…” Director Gao laughed in anger. His lip muscles twitched slightly, presenting a twisted aesthetic. “When you were notified to come, didn’t you promise to complete the task?”

Yu Wen hesitated, then said, “When you notified me, you didn’t say there were lines.”

Director Gao: “…”

Yu Wen: “…”

The two looked at each other as silence spread.

This was the truth. When the assistant director told him to come, he only said there was a scene. The flying pages hadn’t been written yet. The assistant director thought it was a minor cannon fodder role with no lines, and even comforted Yu Wen that there would be lines in the future.

And so Yu Wen had come with peace of mind.

Director Gao’s lips moved. After a long while, he squeezed out a sentence: “Can’t you have some ambition?! Challenge yourself?!”

He knew his own flaw. Detailed character portrayal was a double-edged sword. Done appropriately, it was the finishing touch of a drama; overdone, it became bloated. Before adding this scene, he didn’t know he would end up adding so much.

The initial version was even more complicated than this. This current version was the result of the screenwriters drastically slashing away more than half of it.

Yu Wen: “I can’t do it.”

Director Gao: “You can.”

Yu Wen: “…”

This plot had a front-and-back connection with the female lead’s bandit-suppression scene, so they could only look for someone among the three featured extras who participated back then. Among them, Yu Wen was the best-looking. Most importantly, Director Gao hoped the actor’s tearful pleading toward the female lead would be enough to soften the audience’s hearts, so as to highlight the female lead’s ruthlessness when she swung her sword.

Yu Wen’s face was already quite convincing.

“Your scene is in the afternoon. How about this, go to the washroom over there, practice in front of the mirror. Practice more. As long as you can cry, it’s not hard at all.” Director Gao didn’t have time to talk nonsense with him and pushed him back. “Come on, I believe you can do it.”

Yu Wen didn’t get his wish and came back pouting.

He truly didn’t know how. Crying scenes required talent. He hadn’t cried many times since he was a child, making it hard for him to empathize.

He had seen actors scrambling to beg the director, but never a director insisting on drafting an extra.

Since he had already taken the job, he couldn’t let this scene flop because of him. Yu Wen could only brace himself and go to the restroom to practice.

At noon, the crew provided boxed lunches, and there was a short break. Those with ample free time found a place to nap for a while, while those with less time gathered indoors to scroll on their phones.

The director was in a small room nearby, staring at the monitor and watching playbacks. The door was open, and occasionally someone would go in. Given Director Gao’s recent temper, most of the staff tacitly avoided disturbing him.

Yu Wen came out of the restroom with eyes puffy like walnuts.

The makeup artist sister saw him and laughed: “Oh my, how did you cry yourself into this state? You’ll probably need ten layers of foundation to cover it up later.”

Yu Wen had worked as a PA for a while, and the Unit B staff all remembered him. He had a young face and a sweet mouth, making him very likable. Everyone often gave him harmless little conveniences, like a small folding stool or a cushion. He was most familiar with the teachers in the makeup team; they would even bring him a cup when ordering milk tea.

Yu Wen said pitifully, “I thought of every sad thing in my entire life.”

The makeup artist asked: “So do you know how to act it now?”

Yu Wen shook his head like a rattle drum.

The whole makeup team burst into laughter.

He did gain a little insight into the crying scene, but the transition between a few emotions was still stiff. He really couldn’t figure out where the problem was, and planned to find a teacher to give him some private tutoring.

Director Gao’s door was open. Yu Wen said hello to the makeup team and was about to head over. Just as he stepped onto the stairs, he heard a few low, irritable roars from inside the room:

“If you want to ask about the script, just ask! Why are you pressing yourself against me?!”

“Damn it, I’m not gay! No, wait—I don’t do casting couch rules!”

His tone was a bit lower than when he normally scolded people, probably wanting to save some face for the other party. However, he was used to speaking loudly, so even lowered a few degrees, it was still resonant.

At least everyone within a ten-meter radius definitely heard it clearly.

At this moment, aside from Yu Wen, there was a boy in costume outside the door. He was around the age of a recent college graduate, with handsome, delicate features. Holding a script in his hands, he stood frozen on the spot for a moment. Not knowing what he thought of, his face suddenly turned pale.

—The protagonist of Rise! Best Actor, Chu Han.

The air stagnated for a dozen seconds. Soon, the young man walked out of the room with a panicked stride, awkwardly used the script to block his face, and scurried away.

Yu Wen had an impression of him. He was an eighteenth-tier minor star playing a young bodyguard beside the male lead in the drama, a role with a decent amount of screen time. He didn’t know why this guy had a death wish and went to touch Director Gao’s bad luck. He guessed that because rumors of Director Gao being gay had been flying everywhere recently, some people actually believed it.

Chu Han had also thought of certain rumors. Standing by the door, his face turned blue and then pale. Gripping the script tightly, he turned to leave.

It wasn’t that he wanted to use the casting couch; it was precisely that he didn’t want to. Only after realizing the underlying meaning of actions like “discussing the script” did he become panicked.

He vaguely remembered this part of the plot: [Zhang-jie said that networking in the entertainment circle relies on one thing: performance. Interact with the director more, ask questions when you don’t understand the acting, and even when you do understand, communicate with the director often. Who doesn’t like a hard-working good seedling? However, the director is busy during the day, so it’s best to go to him at night.

Chu Han took Zhang-jie’s words to heart and went to chat with Director Gao about the script whenever he had time.]

Zhang-jie here was the extra coordinator who brought Chu Han into the industry. As the title suggests, she was the head of the extras. As a link between the crew and the extras, she took care of Chu Han before he became famous, so he was very grateful to her.

Chu Han’s entry into the industry was an accident, and he didn’t plan to make a living out of it, so he hadn’t signed with an agency. Now that his status was around the third or fourth tier, his acting contracts still went through Zhang-jie, which was considered his way of repaying her.

But he truly didn’t expect that while he was thinking of repaying her, Zhang-jie was thinking of sending him to the director’s bed.

A moment after the boy left, Director Gao walked out of the room, unable to conceal his anger, with his hands on his hips.

Yu Wen was still rooted to the spot and hadn’t had time to leave, and Chu Han had just scurried away. Director Gao’s gaze swept over him and the retreating figure, his expression subtle. “Are you also here to discuss the script?”

Chu Han had some social anxiety traits and was just a student freshly entering society at this time. Hearing the hidden meaning in his words earlier, his face had instantly turned red, and the fingertips gripping the script turned white.

Breaking the eerie atmosphere was a sound of “Yeah” from Yu Wen. As if he couldn’t read the room, he said straightforwardly, “I cried in the toilet for two hours, and came to report my results to you.”

Director Gao: “How are the results?”

“Greed, foolishness, anger, and resentment are all sins; joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness should not be forced. Amitabha, my Buddha is merciful.”

“Speak plain English.”

“I cried until I went numb.”

A small, scattered burst of laughter instantly rang out in the surroundings. The teachers from the makeup team weren’t afraid of Director Gao and laughed the most unrestrainedly. Director Gao paced back and forth with his hands on his hips, looking like he wanted to rush up and poke Yu Wen’s forehead. “So can you act or not? If you can’t act, get the hell out of here!”

Yu Wen knew clearly in his heart that if there really was a backup, Director Gao would have tossed him out when he was backing down just now. Obviously, out of the three featured extras, only he showed up today.

“I can act! Xiao Yu will definitely do his best! But let me give you a heads-up first. Due to my garbage acting skills, the final result might not be as good as expected. I hope you mentally prepare yourself and don’t ruin your health over me.”

Director Gao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and scolded him: “So little confidence in yourself? Stand up straight! Even if you don’t fight for a steamed bun, you have to fight for your dignity!”

Yu Wen: “Fighting for everything will only harm me.”

The surroundings erupted in laughter again. This time the laughter was hearty and bright. The wave of sound quickly suppressed the weird atmosphere from just now, sweeping it completely away.