119 The Pride of Men (1/2)

Ye Shuang had always known that things were rough for her cousin, but without seeing it in person, she had no idea how rough it had actually been. Ou Qianru flew in and out of the nation every three days, bringing gifts like wine from France, handmade chocolate, and more. But what about Brother Luo Ce‽

Ye family only saw the man during big holidays like Chinese New Year. Most of the time, the man was busy taking his artists to casting, auditions, and meeting people.

After meeting Luo Ce, Ye Shuang understood why her cousin refused to marry Ou Qianru before he made a name for himself. They both had the same starting point, but their development was vastly different. If they got married, Ye Shuang could see people talking about how he was living of his wife. Any man's pride would be hurt by rumors like that.

After a short silence, Ye Shuang patted Luo Ce's shoulder. ”I just arrived today, and I'm supposed to treat Director Zhou and the crew to dinner tonight. If Brother Luo doesn't mind the crowd, why not join us? Help me save the trouble of clearing my schedule to treat you another time.”

Luo Ce understood this was Ye Shuang doing him a favor. Normally, people would not drag a stranger to a dinner meeting. If Ye Shuang was really a selfish person, she could have not done this; after all, there would be chances for Luo Ce to interact with the film crew in the future. However, stating her stance and allowing things to happen naturally were two different things. For the former, even if Director Zhou was not impressed by Luo Ce, he would be kind toward him, and if he had no use for Luo Ce, he might introduce him to his friends out of giving face to Ye Shuang. While for the latter, if Luo Ce did not come with Ye Shuang's recommendation, Director Zhou might not even glance at Luo Ce.

Luo Ce, who understood Ye Shuang's meaning, was naturally incredibly appreciative. ”Of course, I won't mind. Many people in the industry hope to have dinner with Director Zhou, but will it be too troublesome for you?”

”It's no problem. We're family, right?” Ye Shuang sighed and used the toilet as an excuse to leave. Then, she found a spot that was quiet to make a call. The dinner was not planned, but for her cousin, she had to make it happen.

”Dinner‽ Thanks, but that won't be necessary. You're not familiar with Jing Hu City, and most of the crew are staying at the bungalow. We'll just buy some ingredients for steamboat; it's more economic and less troublesome.” Director Zhou did not get what Ye Shuang meant. After hearing Ye Shuang's invitation, he rejected it quickly.

Ye Shuang thought about it; eloquence and persuasion were not really her forte, and even if they were, she would not be able to rival this old fox who had been in the business for decades already, so she decided to be forward about it. ”Dinner is not that important, but I have a close friend who is a manager, and the artists under him haven't had any good job opportunities. I'm wondering if Director Zhou could lend him some help.”

Director Zhou did not know how to respond for a moment. This was also the first time someone had been so forward with asking for a character from him. Even the most famous director had friends and families. No matter how hard Director Zhou tried to keep it professional, to say he had not done a professional favor for others like fitting a friend into his movie was going to be a lie.

For a normal-sized movie, after the first ten actors, the rest of the casting list could be used to do favors like including the sponsors' people or some new artist from agencies that he had a close working relationship.

After all, extras that might not even have a name would not affect the quality of the film, and people would not recommend him people who were too horrible to be even seen on screen. If someone insisted on photobombing his shoots, then of course, Director Zhou would still kick said person out of his set. However, no matter their intention, those who wanted to squeeze people into his movie were also tactful and polite… not because they were afraid of Director Zhou but because they gave face to the director.

Facing Ye Shuang, who made her request as straight as an arrow, Director Zhou had a hard time responding.

”Help… you say… Let me think…” Director Zhou paused for half a minute before he recovered. At the end of the day, he still needed extras to fill up some scenes, so adding in a new character with some lines was totally fine. However, he was afraid Ye Shuang's people wanted a complete role with full characterization.

After some thought, Director Zhou decided to clear the air first. ”You said your close friend is a manager? Half of the movie has been done already, so fitting in an extra is easy, but a full character would be difficult.”

Extras could be added to the background, but fill characters were involved with the plot.

”So even if I really use any of his artists, the people who benefits will be the artists and not your friend,” Director Zhou explained clearly. ”Before asking me, you should have thought about it properly. I don't want you to end up doing a favor for the wrong person and it only benefitting a stranger.”

Unless Ye Shuang decided to use the rest of her life to make introductions for Luo Ce, a manager without contacts had zero competition power.

Director Zhou wanted Ye Shuang to think about it carefully and closely. When it had nothing to do with filming, Director Zhou was a friendly person. Ye Shuang was still young, so he did not mind giving him some advice.

Ye Shuang understood what Director Zhou was getting at, but she just wanted to give her cousin a head start—what he did after that was his own problem. After making the connection and getting the role… if Luo Ce was really talented, with this introduction and a few more meetings with these influential people in the business, when they needed casting, they would think of Luo Ce and perhaps give his artists the opportunity. If Luo Ce still could not make anything of himself after Ye Shuang had done him this favor, then perhaps he was not meant to be in this business, and Ye Shuang would advise him to switch for a different path in life.