Chapter 864: Appointment

Lin Nan Film Industry, Jiang Xuerou's office.

"Do you really want to retire at the company? You sign whatever is given to you without even looking?" Watching Reba's firm attitude of choosing to trust the company without reservation, Jiang Xuerou couldn't help but tease her.

That's right, Reba hadn't even flipped through the acting contract for *Detective Chinatown 2*; she had simply picked up a pen and signed it.

Because in her eyes, the contract prepared by the company didn't need to be read at all; there was definitely no problem with it.

And to put it bluntly, she herself was eager to be "scammed" by the company. Hmm, preferably a thirty-year indenture contract.

Furthermore, she was also very certain that Zhang Yi and the other two definitely held the same mindset as her; even Zhang Yi himself was nakedly open about it and never hid it, because he had truly "succeeded" before.

It was just that Lin Dao had forcibly "broken the contract," not only terminating it early but also kicking him from Lin Nan Film Industry to Shanhai Media and opening a studio for him!

"Of course, Sister Jiang." Reba nodded with a grin. She naturally felt much closer to Jiang Xuerou, who had personally signed her at the Shanghai Theatre Academy.

"You really know how to dream." Jiang Xuerou was amused and shook her head with a smile. Immediately after, she turned and took the script from the bookshelf to give to Reba.

"*Detective Chinatown 2* is still a male-led film, but there will certainly be no shortage of female roles. This time, what I'm giving you is the female lead. Her background is set as a Chinese-American criminal police officer in New York's Chinatown, and she has quite a lot of scenes.

After you go back, read the script thoroughly in advance. The film's start date should be in early August, so pay attention to arranging your schedule reasonably. Actually, your temperament is indeed more suited for this type of mature urban beauty, this kind of 'big sister' type..."

Lin Nan was unaware that Reba had returned to the company this morning to sign the acting contract; at this moment, he was online watching the drama surrounding Huang Lei.

If netizens' attitude toward Huang Xiaoming's *A Life Time Love* was one of "mouth says no, body says yes" while complaining, then their attitude toward Huang Lei's *Midnight Diner* was undoubtedly one-sided criticism.

Once upon a time, the latter also had acting skills. But now? Perhaps it was truly because he appeared on too many variety shows, and they were too messy; the masks he wore were also too many and too thick. He was now virtually devoid of any acting ability.

The original version of *Midnight Diner* told the stories of a group of living, breathing people, while Chef Huang's version was just a group of actors performing awkwardly.

A vivid description would be:

In the reality shows, however the guests praised Huang Lei and marveled at his talents, that is exactly how they acted in this *Midnight Diner*; in the reality shows, however Huang Lei happily accepted compliments and put on airs, that is exactly how he continued to put on airs in this *Midnight Diner*!

From Huang Lei to the celebrities who came to eat, it was exactly the same as in the variety shows; one couldn't say it was similar, one could only say it was identical!

So much so that the feeling given to the audience was that this drama didn't look like a group of "real people" acting there at all, but rather like a group of emotionless robots executing thoughtless program flows—dialogue, cooking, eating, marveling, flattering, smiling in response... all of the above, constantly repeated, numb and tedious.

"This broke their defense already?" Seeing Chef Huang get roasted so hard he turned off his Weibo comment function, Lin Nan couldn't hold back his laughter; this was simply too funny.

"Not just that, your school's Performance Academy has also been pushed to the forefront of the storm. People are saying that if someone like this can teach in the undergraduate performance department, it's no wonder the students of the Beijing Film Academy's performance department get worse with every passing year."

Shu Chang wasn't from the Beijing Film Academy, so she had no psychological burden when relaying the aggressive language from the internet; the smile on her face as she watched the drama was even more radiant.

"Although these words are harsh, they are indeed blunt but true; there's no refuting them." Lin Nan affirmed quite helplessly; after all, the Performance Academy was indeed at the very bottom of the contempt chain among all the secondary departments within the school.

"Lin Nan, don't just focus on watching the drama, you should look at the messages too. Teacher Jiang is looking for you; he even tagged me." Liu Yifei walked over, kicking her flip-flops; she held an ice cream in one hand and swiped her phone screen with the other.

"Let me see." While speaking, Lin Nan put down his tablet and picked up his phone. Good heavens, there was something disgusting going on?!

After pondering for a few seconds, he still returned a call to Old Jiang, Deputy Director Jiang.

Without waiting for the other party to react, Lin Nan started complaining first: "It's only mid-June, and they've already set the premiere for September? Are they afraid that we people will refuse with the excuse of being temporarily unavailable?"

"Hahaha, I have to say it's still you; your brain reacts really fast. That's right, the Performance Academy personally came forward to communicate, attempting to invite you big directors, big producers, and A-list actors to attend the premiere ceremony of *Pure Heart · Dream Chasing Entertainment* at that time. Oh right, there's also the first screening at the Shanghai International Film Festival in two days..."

"Then I can tell you very bluntly right now, and you can relay it directly to them: not close, no time, no interest." Lin Nan interrupted Old Jiang's words quite speechlessly; this was simply unreasonable.

"Hmm, I guessed it long ago; I will help you decline. Besides, let alone you, Professor Cao Baoping, Professor Xue Xiaolu, and the others—one by one, they all refused directly. The face of the Performance Academy is about to be beaten to a pulp, heh heh..."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Nan spread his hands toward Liu Yifei and Shu Chang with a playful expression, "Cannon fodder for the National Day slot, and they have quite a lot of drama. No, this so-called 'movie' might not even have the qualifications to be cannon fodder."

"Listening to this, does that mean Xixi and I, and Han Jia'nu, have to stay far away when we are at the film festival in a few days?

By the way, why couldn't the Beijing Film Academy's performance department support a better movie? Just because the director is a master's student from the performance department and a PhD from Peking University?" Shu Chang looked at Liu Yifei with a smile.

"Maybe there are connections at home." Miss Liu smiled vaguely.

Hearing Shu Chang's question, Lin Nan suddenly remembered something he and Liu Yifei had seriously discussed with her a long time ago: letting her go to the Central Academy of Drama's performance department to study for a master's degree and get a formal background.

As it turned out, she shook her head and decisively refused, saying it was troublesome and unnecessary, because she already had big thighs like Lin Nan and Liu Yifei to lean on!

The college entrance exam had been over for four or five days, which also meant that the annual graduation season was upon them again.

Especially for the students of the class of '13 from the three major art institutions, they would completely leave school, head fully into the film and television industry, and officially begin the "full-time" slaughter of their professional careers... although many people had already successfully gotten a head start, for example, Chen Yao, Meng Ziyi, and others.

"I told you, you really should have waited a bit longer back then. Look at you now, after signing with Tang Ren, what good resources have they given you? Almost all supporting roles! That female lead number two, Yue Qiluo, in *Wu Xin: The Monster Killer*—you only became famous because you acted well..."

Meng Ziyi chattered and muttered to Chen Yao; the two of them had just finished auditioning for *Ever Night*.

Chen Yao was the first to audition, but she was directly cut; yet even so, she was still waiting outside for Meng Ziyi to go back together.

As for Meng Ziyi's audition result, it was a bit better; in her own words: because Chen Hong felt her external conditions and her temperament when silent were very good, very suitable for "Dao Chi" rather than "Hua Chi," so she could enter the next round of costume auditions.

"What's the use of saying these things now? I know my path ahead is not easy to walk. Although Tang Ren is not good, at least they let me enter the industry, didn't they? Forget it, let's talk about you. You are different from me; I sincerely hope you can get the role in this big drama. When you are completely famous in the future, remember to help me..."

One was fiery, one was quiet and gentle; this was the difference between Meng Ziyi and Chen Yao.

Hearing these words of blessing, Meng Ziyi was speechless and emotional for a moment; after all, they were classmates for four years. She opened her mouth, her voice a little low: "Is Tang Ren's contract termination fee really that high?"

"High or not, it has nothing to do with you, and I have already prepared myself mentally to finish the entire contract period like this. Furthermore, the matters of Lin Gengxin, Jiang Jinfu, and Jin Chen with the company beforehand destined that I, a latecomer, wouldn't be able to run."

"Heh, speaking of this matter, even I, an outsider, feel scared; your boss is truly ruthless. In just this short half-year, Jin Chen's reputation on the internet has become rotten beyond words; the rumors are coming one after another... That contract termination lawsuit of hers, I'm afraid it won't be easy to fight, right?"

Looking at the boisterous Meng Ziyi, Chen Yao smiled helplessly, "She has a high probability of losing. Cai... the company has made up its mind to freeze her, just like they froze Jiang Jinfu..."

The sun on the morning of the 14th seemed to have risen a bit early; it was only a little past seven, and it was already hanging red in the east.

Of course, Liu Yifei and Lin Nan also got up very early, because they were flying to Shanghai this morning.

And the main force in the industry had been heading to Shanghai one after another since the day before yesterday, for example, Yue Jun, Wu Jing, and others.

At eight o'clock sharp, Lin Nan, Liu Yifei, and Han Jia'nu and Shu Chang, who had run over to gather early, four people with assistants totaling three cars, headed straight for the Capital Airport. In addition, everyone had already made an appointment with Tang Yan that the latter would treat them to lunch at noon...

While Lin Nan's group was boarding the plane, Wang Wei had already arrived in Shanghai again.

As of today, the roadshow schedule for Tudou's listing had all ended; there were only two weeks left before it officially landed on the Hong Kong stock market!

And the latter's trip to Shanghai this time was mainly to take advantage of the Magnolia and Shanghai International Film Festival platform to stock up on more goods for Tudou before the listing; in addition, the main force could also go directly to Hong Kong from here after the film festival closed.

In general, in the days before Tudou officially listed, he, the helmsman, had to increase exposure as much as possible while continuing to expand Tudou's copyright library.

And because Tudou was an internet platform rooted in the film and entertainment industry and developed in the internet industry, he naturally had to lead the team to Shanghai to attend the Magnolia and the film festival!

"Wang Zong, Youku snatched the exclusive online broadcast rights for *The Advisors Alliance* from our hands."

Just after arriving, Wang Wei heard bad news. The procurement department, which had rushed over more than a week in advance, had actually had a big drama that was highly anticipated by the whole internet snatched away?!

"Is Zhang Qiang here?" In just two seconds, Wang Wei reacted. Because Tudou could currently be considered wealthy, the only one who could snatch food from the tiger's mouth was another "tiger" taking action personally.

"Yes. But we believe that with Youku's market share, bidding higher than us is a very unreasonable decision. This drama is indeed very good, but top-tier hits don't just appear whenever you want them to!"

"Others never thought about making money just through the broadcast of the drama, or rather, whether Youku makes money is secondary; the traffic of this drama won't just stop at Youku, its destination is Alibaba's e-commerce business... They snatched Fan Bingbing's *Win the World* in advance for the same reason; traffic is king!"

Wang Wei was very clear about Alibaba Pictures and Youku's operational processes and goals, but he was also very helpless at the same time. Because from the perspective of buying dramas and copyrights, Tudou's opponent wasn't Youku, which was also a video platform, but Alibaba.

Of course, fortunately, Tudou had accumulated a super-large copyright library in the early stages, almost monopolizing the old dramas and a large number of old films from the previous twenty years; these were the confidence that belonged exclusively to Tudou, and they had to thank Lin Dao!

"Alright, if we didn't get it, we didn't get it. Did you help me make an appointment with the production team of *Ever Night*?" Wang Wei stopped thinking about *The Advisors Alliance* and asked about *Ever Night*, which was also something Wang Changtian had greeted him about.

"Wang Zong, the appointment is already made."

"That's good."

If one were to ask which city's airport could rival the capital in the number of paparazzi inside and outside, it could only be Shanghai.

And so, at 11:30 in the morning, just after Lin Nan and the others landed at Hongqiao Airport, the relevant entertainment news immediately appeared on Weibo, and it was hung right under the information about them appearing at the Capital Airport two hours ago. Hmm, both were on the trending list.

The combination of handsome men and beautiful women with black shades was undoubtedly extremely eye-catching, especially with four big stars appearing together.

But the disadvantage was also very obvious, and that was that the group was almost blocked to death by paparazzi and fans! Fortunately, Yue Jun had brought several people to pick them up, which "rescued" Lin Nan and Liu Yifei.

Miss Liu, Shu Chang, and Han Jia'nu got into the same car; they were going to call Tang Yan to make an appointment for a place. As for Lin Nan, he went into another car with Yue Jun, because the two of them also had serious business to talk about.

"Lin Dao, I heard that Director Chen Kaige will meet with the Disney people for the second time on the 17th."

"Director Chen has always valued the 'fame' of 'fame and fortune' very highly in his life. Most of his 'fame' in this life comes from Cannes and the Golden Globes, so I can understand his 'anticipation' for this kind of Chinese-element global project." Lin Nan smiled and nodded.

"That's true." Yue Jun echoed with a smile, then immediately spoke about the thing Lin Nan cared about most:

"Lin Dao, I have already communicated with the Disney side, and I have scheduled a meeting for you and them on the morning of the 20th..."

"Good." ===== CHAPTER 865 =====