CHAPTER 120: CHAPTER 120 THE YOUNG FILM CREW TEAM

Su Xingwan glanced through the materials she sent over. The pay wasn’t as high as what short dramas offered, but the episodes for long dramas were more, and payment was per episode.

In comparison, they were about the same, except it would be a bit more tiring for herself.

[Miss Su, I know the pay I’m offering you is a bit low, but I promise that if this series does well, I’ll share some of the profits with you.]

[Don’t I need to audition?]

[Miss Su, just dropping by and showing your face will do. I’ve seen clips of your acting online, and I can honestly say, it’s your looks I prefer. They fit the image of the female lead in my drama perfectly.]

??

She felt a bit surprised by this candid-speaking director.

[Of course, I don’t mean you can’t act, just that your image aligns more with the female lead I envisioned.]

Realizing she made a mistake, she quickly tried to patch things up.

[When can I come over?]

[Whenever Miss Su is free, you can come by anytime.]

After saying this, the other party immediately sent her the address.

Su Xingwan felt that this director was a bit different from those she knew before, and she developed a slight curiosity about her.

[Great.]

Once Su Xingwan finished her work, she went to what they called a film crew.

As soon as she got off the car, a young woman in a clean, fresh plaid shirt came to meet her.

"You... you’re Miss Su, right?" Xu Huanyan faced her, slightly nervous, not knowing where to put her hands.

Su Xingwan: "Yes, where is your director?"

Xu Huanyan coughed.

"I’m sorry, Miss Su, I’m the director here."

Su Xingwan was surprised, looking her up and down. She seemed only about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, and she was the director?

Xu Huanyan saw the doubt and a hint of curiosity in her eyes, nervously said, "Yes... yes, don’t be fooled by my young age, actually... I am quite capable."

When she said this, she lacked confidence, mostly because it was indeed her first time directing.

She had earlier invited some actors with a little fame, but they refused after seeing her young age and the crew’s poverty.

Because she spoke too truthfully, those actors felt she was just playing around with filming and didn’t trust her enough.

Thus, she was still unable to find a satisfactory lead all this while.

Inviting this Miss Su required a significant amount of courage.

Just because out of all the actors she had seen, her demeanor and personality were the most in line with the female lead in her best friend’s novel.

But she also feared she would be rejected like those previous female leads.

Thus, seeing her made her instinctively nervous.

Su Xingwan noticed her nervousness and said, "Could you show me around your set?"

"Su... sure," Xu Huanyan quickly escorted her inside.

Then, Su Xingwan saw that the entire crew behind the scenes were quite young, like they were pulled straight from a university, with few members, where one person had to handle multiple roles.

Director Xu was only just twenty-six this year, and the scriptwriter looked about her age or even younger.

Su Xingwan gazed forward.

The girl typing away at the desk was the scriptwriter introduced by Director Xu and also her best friend.

She had a rather cute appearance, with a round, slightly naive-looking face.

Wearing glasses, with faint dark circles under her eyes, dressed in a fluffy pink bunny pajama set, her hair was messy and casually draped around.

She typed while pounding her back, with a cup of coffee beside her. Whenever she couldn’t recall the plot, she would scratch her head, sip her coffee, and continue her battle.

The entire team gave off an unreliable vibe, and she roughly understood why the director would get nervous upon seeing her.

But to their credit, they were all very enthusiastic.

Seeing Su Xingwan looking at her best friend, Xu Huanyan said, "Cheng Ke, put down your work first, the Su Xingwan you like has arrived."

Upon hearing "Su Xingwan," Cheng Ke quickly raised her head, and when she saw her, she was stunned.

"You’re prettier than I imagined!"

Cheng Ke excitedly got up and ran over to her.

"Can’t you act a bit more like a scriptwriter?" Xu Huanyan looked helpless.

The best friend was a novel writer, somewhat famous online.

And she studied in the directing department.

A few months ago, they brainstormed and conceived the idea of co-producing a series.

She was a doer.

So, they both contributed their savings, sought out a team, and scouted for actors.

However, they encountered various problems right at the start.

Assembling the team took them a month or two, and finding actors took even longer.

Fortunately, they had quite a few acquaintances from the acting department in university, and some were willing to come here and act.

But only a few played leading roles.

Since the actors they found for the series lacked acting experience, they were concerned about the series failing, so they initially targeted a few with acting experience.

But all were rejected. In looking elsewhere, either the acting wasn’t up to par, or the look wasn’t right, and so on; up until now, they hadn’t found a suitable candidate.

Cheng Ke apologized, "Sorry, I got too excited."

She continued, "I really like you. I’ve watched all your short dramas, and seeing you in person, you’re even prettier than on camera. The filters actually mar your looks."

Su Xingwan laughed, "Thank you."

"Is this your first time directing?" she asked.

"Yes... yes. Miss Su, even though we’re first-timers at directing, we’re dedicated and confident we can produce this web series well."

"Then why not start with short dramas first? As I know, short dramas require the smallest investment, and you wouldn’t have a big burden."

Xu Huanyan: "Initially, we indeed aimed for short dramas, but my best friend’s first work is something she wanted done well. Coincidentally, our savings were sufficient, so we chose to do a medium-length drama."

"Oh, and my best friend is an author on a certain novel website, and this novel is quite popular."

Su Xingwan was surprised, "Can I take a look at your novel’s script?"

Xu Huanyan heard there might be hope and quickly brought over the script outline.

"Miss Su, please take a look; don’t rush to reject it. We’ve put a lot of effort into this script."

Su Xingwan sat in a chair, opened the script, and skimmed through it.

The story was about an ancient lady marrying off to follow her husband. On their wedding day, her husband left for the frontier to fight. The female lead managed the household tirelessly for decades, painstakingly raised younger generations in the family, served her in-laws, and remained chaste for her husband, never remarrying.

At the age of forty, she’d become an old, yellow-faced woman with no offspring. Her presumed-dead husband suddenly returned, and the female lead thought her hardship had finally paid off.

However, the husband didn’t return alone; he brought back a young and beautiful wife and several children, demanding a divorce upon his return.