I became famous in the entertainment industry by burning incense

After Jinli and Gu Cheng finished offering incense, they left the Taoist temple.

It just so happened to be the peak time for people to go out, and the roads were jammed with long lines of cars.

But Jinli and Gu Cheng were both in a good mood and in good condition.

Because they were traveling in the same car, they chatted about their studies, recent plans, and future ideas.

Gu Cheng: "I was exposed to more theoretical knowledge in my freshman year. Starting from my sophomore year, I had to shoot some short films, about five or six minutes, or about ten minutes long."

I asked a senior student in this major, and he said that when we enter our second year, the school will assign some short film tasks related to themes such as humanities, heritage, and intangible cultural heritage for us to practice, or we can choose a topic that interests us.

Filming on topics set by the school will get you more opportunities to be featured and recommended, and if you film well, you'll be recommended to major TV stations.

Every year, major TV stations have tasks they need to complete, and they'll purchase a batch of student work. This is a rare opportunity for our major to earn money.

Jinli understood.

"Studying directing requires investing a lot of money in equipment. After training, you have to learn from the market. Just when you finally get the job accepted by the audience, you have to face the problem of investment."

Gu Cheng nodded: "That's right, so even though China's film and television industry is developed, it is still eager to learn about many talents."

Let alone the demand for directors and screenwriters, even when it comes to actors, don't netizens complain every year that there are no fresh faces on screen and they're tired of seeing the same old ones?

Jinli, being an actress, often hears this kind of comment.

Some actors repeatedly play the same type of role, and maybe they themselves haven't gotten tired of it, but the audience has already gotten tired of it.

To be honest, there's nothing wrong with staying in your comfort zone, but it takes a lot of courage to leave your comfort zone and venture out into the world.

However, in reality, celebrities are often affected by netizens' comments and are often powerless to control their own lives.

Whether a celebrity can stay in their comfort zone or when to step out, the market will provide clear feedback, leaving the choice to the celebrity themselves.

Jinli asked, "You're only a freshman, yet you're already bringing up sophomore course content. Do you already have ideas about it?"

Gu Cheng nodded: "I am personally interested in photography. Before studying this major, I had shot some short films, so I plan to skip the short film shooting stage and go directly to shooting micro-dramas."

Jinli asked, "How short is a micro-drama?"

Gu Cheng: "Half an hour to an hour."

Jinli pondered for a moment: "I feel that this length is a bit awkward. It's too short to tell a complete story, but too long to express a simple story."

Gu Cheng nodded: "So I plan to start with TV series. I plan to buy the script myself or ask a screenwriter to write a script and film each episode as a short drama."

Each episode is a complete short story, but the ending of each episode can lead to another short story. This episodic theme has given me several ideas for different genres, and I'm struggling to choose a topic.

Jinli asked with interest, "Can you tell me about it?"

Gu Cheng smiled gently: "Three topics: suspense, family, and career."

I think all three topics are fine. Could you help me choose one?

Jinli's eyes flickered slightly, a sly glint in them.

"Why not shoot them all? Try them all, and you'll find subjects and shooting styles you like better."

Gu Cheng was somewhat tempted, but the practical issues remained.

“If I only shoot one of the topics, it will only take up a small part of my time. If I shoot all three topics, Brother Guang might not be happy because I won’t have much time to run around for gigs.”

Jinli thought for a moment and said, "Then you should take good photos and showcase your work; that will also generate some buzz."

Although you haven't been doing any promotional appearances, you've remained active in the entertainment industry. Besides, being a celebrity is actually quite good; you could also make more public service announcements or commercials, which would be very meaningful.

Gu Cheng said softly, "I can't guarantee other films, but if I'm going to make a public service film, I hope you will be the leading lady in my film."

Jinli looked at him.

Gu Cheng felt that the starlight in her eyes was incredibly dazzling; these were the clearest and most compassionate eyes he had ever seen.

"In my eyes, you are the most perceptive."

Jinli coughed a few times after being told that, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she turned to look out the window.

Everything was fine...

What sweet words are you saying?
-
After being stuck in traffic for four hours, the car finally arrived at their booked hotel and met up with their respective agents.

As everyone knows, during the long weekend, tourist attractions all over the country are packed with people; everywhere you look, there are crowds of people.

Therefore, the two agents arranged their schedules directly in Beijing.

At least when necessary, the subway is absolutely punctual, which is better than traffic jams on the road.

Before the two artists arrived, Sui Lingfang and Zhang Guang had already exchanged pleasantries at the hotel. As soon as the artists arrived, they immediately parted ways.

Jinli glanced at the schedule that Fangjie had just handed her and remained silent.

After a long pause, she hesitated and said, "Why do I feel like there are even more notices here than I saw three days ago? Can you guarantee the rest time?"

Sui Lingfang: "After a round of adjustments, don't worry, you will get a full eight hours of sleep."

There are also some break times, but they are rather fragmented, and makeup and styling will be done during your breaks.

Starting tomorrow morning, Jinli will be attending two brand events.

During the lunch break, I ate lunch, changed clothes and makeup, and headed to the third brand event venue.

Two more brand events were scheduled for the afternoon, so I ended up attending four brand events during the day.

Participating in brand events occasionally is quite easy, and Jinli doesn't need to do anything.

She usually just shows up, chats with fans, takes photos with brand executives, and then sits in the audience smiling and clapping occasionally.

But running around for brand events at high intensity can be a bit exhausting.

The time for every activity had to be precisely managed, as if even the time spent practicing breathing was being calculated.

When Jinli saw this schedule, she thought of the time when Qi Guanmingzhu went to Tianding Entertainment and ran a joint trip with Ji Qinglian.

That's pretty much the same schedule she has now.

The intensity isn't actually that high, but it's extremely fragmented.

Pearl was overwhelmed because she had to accomplish many things simultaneously in fragmented time.

However, considering her health, Fang Jie did not schedule each brand event too tightly.

Two hours is about right for a brand event, and there's time to relax and take a break.

The most significant change is in the evening schedule.

Fangjie originally planned to attend another brand event that evening.

But now the schedule has been changed to doing two live streams in the evening in cooperation with the brand, which is a bit tiring.

Jinli felt that the intensity of the evening was a bit unreasonable. Just as she was about to bring it up, Sister Fang explained: "The biggest adjustment this time is the evening event. Originally, we were going to arrange another brand event for you."

But I'm worried that you'll be too tired from running around during the day, so let's switch to brand live streaming instead.

Don't worry, I've already talked to them. You'll be doing live streams for the brand, but you won't be selling anything. You'll just be sharing your impressions of the brand, helping to promote its image, chatting, and answering some questions.

As for the questions the brand might ask, we need to get them in advance, and if there are any inappropriate questions, we can communicate with the brand directly to have them removed.

Looking at these brand events, Jinli suddenly realized that she actually had quite a few brand endorsements.

She deals with everything from clothes, shoes, bags, and makeup—items that girls frequently use.

In addition, there are some brands that have launched good co-branded products and have various co-branded collaborations in the future, so their brand activities should not be promoted.

During her trip on the third day of the holiday, Jinli saw a brand event for [Yajun Watches] and took a picture to send to Gu Cheng.

Will you participate in this event?

Gu Cheng, who was in the car, replied quickly: [Yes, I'm the national spokesperson for the "Gift" series. I have to attend every one of Ya Jun's events. Are you attending too?]

Jinli: [Yajun and I had previously discussed a collaboration on women's watches, and a contract had already been signed. However, they keep making adjustments to the women's watch offerings, and the final plan is still pending.]

Gu Cheng: [Shall I ask for you?]

Jinli: [No need, I'm not the one in a hurry. I've already received my signing bonus and guaranteed minimum payment.]

Gu Cheng: [You'll stay by my side at this event, and I'll introduce you to some of Ya Jun's senior executives.]

Jinli: [That's unnecessary, I want to keep a low profile.]

Gu Cheng: [But I want to stick to you.]

Jinli: [...]

Tsk, my little brother is so clingy!

Regardless of personality type!
Jinli put down her phone and asked about the collaboration watch between Sui Lingfang and Yajun Watches.

When this was mentioned, Sui Lingfang was speechless for a moment.

"I don't know what they're thinking. The contract was signed last summer, and now that summer is almost here, the co-branded watch they're working on with you still hasn't been designed."

People who know Ya Jun Watches are meticulous, but surely they can't be so meticulous that they can't come up with a single design even after a year?

Sui Lingfang: "I have two guesses. Either they are striving for perfection and want to collaborate with you on a super popular watch."

Either they design an entire series, and the watch you endorse is one of the models in that series, allowing the other watches in the series to ride on your fame and boost sales.

Even if your co-branded watch becomes a bestseller, other watch models will also sell out quickly. Even if they have to pay you a high percentage of the sales after those models become bestsellers, the sales of other models will boost your profits, so you won't lose money.

Jinli raised an eyebrow. "Judging from your tone, you think it's the second one?"

Sui Lingfang calmly said, "From the capitalist's perspective, only the second option would allow them to spend a year without finalizing the product."

Because they are designing an entire series, and this series includes more than one watch—maybe ten or more—that's why it takes such a long time to complete.

Jinli asked, "Has Yajun not reported to us on the progress of the collaboration product?"

Sui Lingfang shook her head: "No, I only reported once that the design had been finalized, but it needed to be modified, and then I didn't tell Chenxi Entertainment about it again."

I did ask them a few times on behalf of Chenxi Entertainment, but their answer each time was that the design wasn't finished yet and we needed to wait.

She said, "Through this collaboration, I discovered that there were shortcomings when we initially drafted the contract, namely, the timing was not properly defined."

"If we had known earlier that Ya-jun would drag things out for a year or even longer, we would definitely have set a fixed timeframe. The longer the timeframe extends, the higher our share of the profits will be."

Jinli smiled and said, "You learn from your mistakes. There are no perfect contracts in this world."

When Ya-jun approached us, we were already quite difficult to secure a high revenue share for the collaboration. We never imagined that the sweet talk from a big company wouldn't be so palatable.

The next day, Jinli was dragged out of bed early in the morning to get ready.

She believes that every celebrity develops a special skill: sleeping while getting their makeup done.

Otherwise, it would take more than an hour to do a full makeup session, and you have to stay still the whole time, which would be so uncomfortable.

Of course, it can also be uncomfortable if you sleep too deeply.

After all, keeping your neck in a suspended position for a long time will make you feel uncomfortable when you wake up, and you won't be able to sleep soundly.

But there are more comfortable ways.

The makeup artist that Jinli had worked with before has been signed by Chenxi Entertainment to work as a makeup artist for artists. During this May Day holiday, this makeup artist went on a solo trip with Jinli.

They had a great understanding with each other, and the makeup artist had also developed the skill of making Jinli lie down while getting her makeup done.

When lying down, Jinli has never lacked sleep.

When she wakes up, she will be greeted with exquisite makeup. At this point, she only needs to make a few adjustments to her eyelashes, which is very quick.

Despite her busy schedule, Jinli managed to get enough sleep and once again experienced the frantic pace of studying for exams.

She couldn't help but feel nostalgic for this long-lost time of practicing coding problems under timed conditions!
She had that same feeling about her when she was preparing for the college entrance exam.

Just as she was thinking about last year's college entrance examination, Sui Lingfang told her some good news when she picked her up.

The movie "Counterattack" is finished editing!

Jinli was a little surprised and was about to say, "So fast?"

But then I thought about it again. In China, where the film and television industry is very mature, the fact that "Counterattack" was filmed before the Lunar New Year and edited in May is actually not fast; it can only be considered average.

It was because the directors of the dramas she had filmed before were always striving for perfection, which slowed down the editing process and gave her the illusion that "film and television dramas are edited slowly".

In fact, the pace of the drama "Counterattack" is normal.

Sui Lingfang: "I haven't seen the finished film, but the director showed it to some investors, and they were all very satisfied. The director has already submitted it for review, and we're just waiting for the State Administration of Radio and Television to issue the approval document."

Jinli thought for a moment: "If they submit it for review at this time, are they trying to get it released during the summer season?"

Sui Lingfang nodded: "Yes, although the college entrance examination is before the summer vacation, the scores are released during the summer vacation. If 'Counterattack' is released, it can attract a lot of traffic from the candidates, and it is also very meaningful."

Youth is the time to strive and fight, let's turn things around together!

The director of "Counterattack" has already come up with the advertising slogans and sent them to her last night.

Jinli: "What about the publicity? When do they plan to start?"

Sui Lingfang: "It will be released in July. The production team plans to start promotion in mid-June, which is roughly after the college entrance examination."

Jinli nodded: "The timing is also perfect."

Sui Lingfang smiled and said, "This director has a knack for publicity. I think we can look forward to it; perhaps you won't need to be constantly running to the set." (End of Chapter)