Sheng Tang received a call from Zheng Weiwei.
Five years ago, Zheng Weiwei invited her to apply to the Beijing Film Academy. Sheng Tang passed the preliminary test but did not attend the retest. Although Zheng Weiwei was polite, she was not very satisfied with Sheng Tang.
Zheng Weiwei now has her own film production company, handling both production and marketing.
She doesn’t write scripts herself much anymore but rather purchases scripts she believes have great potential.
She has always been very successful and is quite renowned in the industry. The number of movies she personally oversees is not large, just one every two years, but the box office has always been guaranteed.
"Do you remember me?" she asked Sheng Tang with a smile.
"Sister Zheng, how could I forget?" Sheng Tang smiled, "Happy New Year to you, though belatedly."
"It is indeed belated." Zheng Weiwei laughed heartily on the other side, and then she chatted with Sheng Tang for a bit.
She told Sheng Tang she had watched Sheng Tang’s "The Road to Ascent": "Extremely impressive. I watched it with our company’s director team, and they all agreed that this movie wasn’t well marketed.
If our company had done it, the box office would surely have exceeded one billion. The director is very talented, and your acting is also astonishing."
Sheng Tang expressed her thanks.
"Here’s the thing, I have a movie that’s about to be produced and there’s a very antagonistic, very bitchy second female lead. I haven’t found a suitable candidate." Zheng Weiwei explained, "Your acting can both grasp the character well and add depth to the role, ensuring she doesn’t drag the movie down. Are you interested?"
To work with a big name like Zheng Weiwei means box office success, exposure, and recognition. Only a fool wouldn’t agree.
"I’m already intrigued." Sheng Tang laughed, "Sister Zheng, thank you for thinking of me, I’m very interested in trying it out."
"That’s wonderful," Zheng Weiwei laughed.
With Sheng Tang’s breakup with Gu Shiting, Zheng Weiwei finally realized that she wasn’t a member of Huishi Gu Family but merely Young Master Gu’s first love.
This time she called to invite Sheng Tang purely because she admired Sheng Tang’s acting skills.
"...I’ll send you the script by courier," Zheng Weiwei added, "The audition is scheduled for the 21st, please arrange your time accordingly."
Sheng Tang agreed.
One day later, she received the courier.
The script was not thick; it included the story background and lines of the character Sheng Tang was to play.
This was a workplace story, targeted towards women, interspersed with some fashion elements.
Sheng Tang’s role was the second female lead, the current girlfriend of the male lead, while the female lead was the male lead’s ex-girlfriend.
The male and female leads want to reunite, with the second female lead adding resistance between them. According to the script’s setting, the second female lead must be prettier, more domineering, showy, and even more charming than the female lead. This way, the audience will look forward to the female lead defeating the second female lead and feel their movie ticket is worth it.
Thus, the second female lead has quite a bit of screen time, at least fifteen minutes, possibly even twenty.
Sheng Tang told Ke Fei about this.
Ke Fei had some connections with Zheng Weiwei as well, and immediately called her.
Zheng Weiwei was quite surprised: "Is she your artist now? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?"
"I didn’t know you knew Sheng Tang. She’s not very famous yet. Wouldn’t recommending her to you, Screenwriter Zheng, be an insult to you?" Ke Fei said humbly.
Indeed, leveraging a minor connection to recommend completely mismatched artists could be considered inept.
Zheng Weiwei laughed: "I’ve met Sheng Tang before. I have a great deal of confidence in her acting. I invited her to audition on the 21st, you should come too. I still owe you a meal."