The film and television city starts from the courtyard

That day, Zhao Shucheng was preparing for the film crew when Zuo Yongbang suddenly knocked on the door in the middle of the night, and even brought Luo Shuquan along.

"No, what are you doing here in the middle of the night, making a scene?"

Zuo Yongbang sighed, took out a cigarette, and slowly lit it.

Luo Shuquan went straight to the kitchen, got some beer, and handed it to Zuo Yongbang. The two of them drank it at a slow pace.

"No, what exactly do you want? Just tell me!"

Seeing the two of them like this, Zhao Shucheng had no choice but to put down his work and watch them.

Zuo Yongbang sighed and said, "Xiaobai, I'm so bored right now."

Zuo Yongbang wasn't just whining; he was genuinely feeling down. At first, being supported by Mi Qi after leaving his job didn't bother him, but as time went on, the inner turmoil became unbearable.

He had considered looking for a job, but the industry he was in was highly competitive. Everyone in that circle was constantly moving from one company to another. It seemed like only a small group of people were constantly changing jobs, but if you weren't in the circle for a long time, you were essentially forgotten. Even if you weren't forgotten, your job would already be taken, and your network and resources would dwindle day by day, eventually disappearing completely within a year.

What upset Zuo Yongbang even more was that when he went for a job interview at a company, the client director was not even thirty years old, but Zuo Yongbang was offered to be his subordinate, which made Zuo Yongbang very resentful. Moreover, the salary offered did not meet Zuo Yongbang's expectations.

Zuo Yongbang's salary offers were unacceptable, and he looked down on the jobs that did offer him. To make matters worse, Mi Qi was recently promoted to a salary of eight thousand a month, with an additional three thousand yuan for pocket money.

What hurt Zuo Yongbang even more was that someone from his former company called him and invited him to Mi Qi's promotion party, which left Zuo Yongbang with mixed feelings.

Luo Shuquan said, "Isn't this instant karma? Now it's reversed."

"It's karma, isn't it? I feel awkward being around Miki right now, so I came to find you."

As Zuo Yongbang spoke, he looked at Luo Shuquan and asked, "And you? What's your situation?"

Luo Shuquan shook his head in distress and said, "I can't explain it either, I don't know how to say it."

"What's there to hide? I've already told you such an embarrassing thing, what else is there to hide?"

"I don't know what my feelings are for Yang Jingjing right now?"

"what?"

“We’ve agreed to get married, but now I keep asking myself every day if I love her. If I love her, why do my legs feel weak every time I walk, and why can’t I speak clearly to anyone? If I don’t love her, how could I have agreed to get married? Especially since I was the one who proposed. I’ve never thought about marrying anyone before.”

Zhao Shucheng said, "You're all just idle. If you were busy, you wouldn't have time to think nonsense."

Zhao Shucheng said, "Yongbang, what you need to do now is find a job as soon as possible, otherwise being supported by Miqi will cause problems in your relationship sooner or later."

Zhao Shucheng wasn't just talking nonsense. The relationship between Zuo Yongbang and Mi Qi wasn't a simple love from the beginning. It was a case of the man being stronger and the woman being weaker. So, what Mi Qi liked was the spirited and fearless Zuo Yongbang.

But now that Zuo Yongbang has lost his job, his vitality seems to have disappeared as well. He looks rather desolate now. If things continue like this, Mi Qi will definitely be disappointed and eventually choose to leave.

"Shuquan, your problem is much simpler. You just have pre-wedding jitters. Everyone who is about to get married goes through this, but some people are better off and some are more severe. Just close your eyes, kick the bucket, and you'll be fine after you get the marriage certificate."

"Really?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "Of course, otherwise you can ask Yongbang; his first marriage was definitely like this too."

Zuo Yongbang nodded and said, "Xiaobai is right, so just get through this."

So you got divorced later?

Upon hearing Luo Shuquan's question, Zuo Yongbang immediately felt a pang of regret, realizing he had made a terrible mistake in choosing friends.

"Let's not talk about us, Xiaobai, you seem to be doing pretty well lately, right?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "Compared to you guys, it's much better. After all, they each have their own jobs, and they get along well. But they'll be joining a production soon and honing Xiao Min's acting skills, so they're incredibly busy and don't have time to think about anything else."

"very nice!"

Zhao Shucheng said, "If you think it's good, you can give it a try."

"Let's forget it. I can't even handle one Yang Jingjing. If another one comes along, I'll definitely go crazy."

Zuo Yongbang waved his hand and said, "I finally managed to get Miki back together with me. If I start having affairs again, Miki will definitely leave me, and it will be even more difficult to win her back."

"It's good that you know."

The day filming began.

Zhao Shucheng arrived at the scene early to coordinate with the staff.

Mo Xiaomin looked at Zhao Shucheng, who was busy at work, and was momentarily lost in thought. She couldn't help but think of the scene when she first met Zhao Shucheng. Back then, he was just a greenhorn, but now he had started to direct and even arranged things in an orderly manner.

When the time was almost up, Zhao Shucheng did not see Shanli. He wondered if she had not come or was deliberately avoiding him.

Zhao Shucheng couldn't wait for Shanli to leave indefinitely, so he could only hold a launch ceremony with the crew first.

As the female lead of the film, Mo Xiaomin naturally joined Zhao Shucheng in removing the red cloth from the camera, and amidst applause from the others, filming officially began.

To bring good luck, Zhao Shucheng's first scene was a shot of Mo Xiaomin.

Because of the filming of "The First Cangxi", everyone, regardless of whether they had scenes or not, stayed and watched with great interest.

But when the actual filming began, Zhao Shucheng couldn't help but frown as he looked at the screen on the monitor.

However, since it was the first take, Zhao Shucheng didn't say anything, but simply asked everyone to rearrange the set and reshoot the scene.

But the repeated retakes finally made Zhao Shucheng unable to suppress his anger, and he shouted at Mo Xiaomin:
"Do you even know how to act?"

Mo Xiaomin was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and looked at Zhao Shucheng with a somewhat aggrieved expression.

“I asked you to express the feeling of losing something, of something that can never be regained. But you’re staring straight at the camera, not moving an inch. Why are you glaring at me? Do you think I’m acting for you?” Mo Xiaomin said. “But you didn’t specify what it was.” She became increasingly assertive, retorting, “The feelings I can express for many different things that can never be regained are different. For example, first love—once lost, it can never be regained. Although I’ll be sad, I’ll also look forward to a bright future. At that moment, my feelings will be a mixture of sadness and excitement…”

Zhao Shucheng glanced at the rest of the crew and said, "You continue!"

"And, for example, if my loved one has an accident, the grief of losing them and being unable to take them back is so intense that I cry my heart out, and I can never cry enough."

Zhao Shucheng said, "Have you even read the script? What does the script say you lost? Don't you know anything about it?"

"I know, it's just a breakup."

"So you know, can you act out this feeling of loss and no way to get it back?"

Seeing that Mo Xiaomin remained silent, Zhao Shucheng said, "Then think about me, think about how you would feel if you lost me."

Mo Xiaomin suddenly fell silent, tears streaming down her face.

Zhao Shucheng said, "Okay, that's the feeling you just got. Remember it, and you need to perform like that when the camera starts rolling."

"understood!"

Mo Xiaomin answered in a muffled voice, glanced at Zhao Shucheng, and then looked at Shanli who was peeking at them from not far away. Suddenly, his fighting spirit was ignited.

Looking at Mo Xiaomin, Zhao Shucheng said, "Something's not right. You're acting like a cockfighting rooster. Do you look like you've lost something? I think you're trying to take it back."

"Is it not possible?"

"Of course not. You should be very familiar with this plot. It's about something that can't be recovered after it's lost. If it can be taken back, the plot will fall apart. Do you still want to film it? If you don't, just say so I can quickly replace the actor."

Mo Xiaomin breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Director, I understand. I'll adjust myself."

She realized that reality is reality and the plot is the plot, and she shouldn't have confused them, putting Zhao Shucheng in a difficult position.

Before we knew it, the day's filming was over.

Instead of going back to rest, Zhao Shucheng went to the editing room to organize the day's footage, checking which parts were usable and which needed to be reshot the next day.

When Zhao Shucheng saw Shanli's fleeting figure in the crowd in the photographer's casual shot, he suddenly understood what Mo Xiaomin's fighting spirit was all about.

He knew that having his woman work in the same place would inevitably lead to these kinds of problems. However, as long as they don't undermine each other at work, there shouldn't be any major issues.

However, in a place like a film set, the actors' emotions are crucial, so when two people meet, their emotions fluctuate greatly, directly affecting the actors' performances.

When Zhao Shucheng came out of the editing room, he saw Shanli standing there, seemingly waiting for him.

"Shanli, why didn't you call me when you got here? I would have come out earlier."

"I know you're busy with work, and work is important, so waiting a little while is fine."

"Since you're here, why didn't you show up sooner? I saw you on camera."

Shanli said with a smile, "I just wanted to observe your work situation. After all, in my opinion, work is work and life is life, and it's better to keep them separate."

As she spoke, Shanli glanced at the others not far away and continued, "It seems my judgment is good. Although I didn't watch on the monitor, I saw the on-site filming, and it should be pretty good. Especially considering that Mo Xiaomin is your girlfriend, you didn't show any favoritism. On the contrary, you were meticulous and made sure my money wasn't wasted."

Zhao Shucheng said with a smile, "Of course, I'm the kind of person who either doesn't do something, or I do it to the best of my ability."

"Really? But your previous script seemed to..."

Zhao Shucheng said, "Then you're wronging me. The previous script was written for the production team. It had to correspond with what others wrote. I can't write something fancy while everyone else's is bland and tasteless. If the plot is disjointed, how can it be watchable? So, for sitcom scripts, moderation is the best choice."

"That makes sense. By the way, I came to see you not only to congratulate you on launching your new computer, but also because of something else."

"whats the matter?"

"Xiaobai, you're not only a screenwriter now, but also a director, and even a relatively well-known writer. Before, you handled your work yourself, or your company arranged it for you, but now the situation is different."

"Why is it different?"

"You'll have more and more work in the future, including film crew work and other tasks. You can't possibly do everything yourself, can you?"

"So what do you mean? You want to be my assistant and help me with these tasks?"

Sanli shook her head and said, "Of course not. I'm not good at this kind of work, and besides, the company I co-own doesn't allow me to give up my own job to be your assistant."

"Then who are you?"

Shanli said, "What I mean is, since you're definitely going to develop in the entertainment industry in the future, and even achieve more success, why not make a plan from the beginning and find a professional agent to help you with other tasks, such as career planning, project recommendations, contract negotiations, industry resource connections, and so on."

Zhao Shucheng was stunned when he heard this. This was a question he hadn't thought about before. He had just thought that Shanli might find him an assistant, but he didn't expect her to ask him to find a manager.

After a moment of contemplation, Zhao Shucheng said, "But you should know my situation very well. I can't let her know about my situation if she's not someone I can trust."

Shanli nodded and said, "Of course I understand what you're saying, and I also know that you might not want to sign with an entertainment company. So my idea is that you set up your own studio, and then your work in the entertainment industry can be handled by your agent. You just need to focus on filming and cooperating with promotions."

Zhao Shucheng said, "That's fine, but I don't have much contact with agents. The agents from the companies where I signed script collaborations before aren't suitable to poach. Do you have any recommendations?"

Shanli smiled and said, "Of course! Since I said that, I naturally have suitable people to recommend. Mo Xiangwan, although she's only a relatively new agent, she's very insightful, and she can sign an agency agreement with you."

"Mo Xiangwan? Not a bad name. Mo Xiangwan, Liangge Baishu, Bi Cong Shen Shen You Gou Zhou."

Shanli said, "Since you've agreed, I'll arrange a time for you two to meet."

"Okay, you set the time, and I'll be there." (End of Chapter)