Chapter 65: No Fear of Competition

The popular actor that the other party is bringing is Liu Jianing, who has acted in some hit dramas.

She once played the role of a queen in Hengdian, and Xia Dan, as a special actor, even played the role of her maid.

Obviously Liu Jianing also recognized her, and there was a hint of disdain in her eyes.

"Sister Juan, let's go in." she said.

Sister Juan was the agent of Yin Yang Hua. At this moment, Sister Juan said, "I was hoping to catch up with you, but maybe next time."

The implicit meaning of their words seems to be that they have no rivals for this role.

Even secretly indicated that they could go home.

Sister Hua's face turned pale with anger: "The female lead hasn't been decided yet. Anyone can compete."

They were like this at the door, and some people were secretly looking over here, but Sister Juan was not known for her good temper in the industry, so even if everyone wanted to watch the show, they had to do it secretly. They would not stand out openly.

Soon, someone from the crew came out to smooth things over: "Hey, Sister Juan, Sister Hua, why didn't you tell me you were coming? Come on in!"

Soon they entered the house.

There sat the producer, screenwriter, director and some casting directors, and there were six people sitting on the judges' panel.

Xia Dan took a look and found that four of them were the ones she met at the dinner table yesterday.

When we met again today, they seemed a bit aloof, as if they were not the ones drinking and chatting happily yesterday.

The producer's eyes lit up when he saw Liu Jianing: "This is the actress known as Little Meng Yao on the Internet. She is very smart." She has filmed many dramas, three of which have been shelved. I heard that they are all popular IPs.

Once it becomes a hit, it will be a great publicity for their movie.

The director looked up at Liu Jianing and nodded.

Sister Hua didn't expect her to come.

This is a low-budget film, meant to compete for awards. But Director Meng's luck with awards isn't great; he's been nominated every time, but always ends up being a runner-up.

In the past, his dramas were very popular and were fought over by big stars, but in recent years, famous actors no longer look down on this opportunity.

Now even second-tier actors are fighting for the popular IPs.

This time, Lemon was the investor of this drama, and it was originally a sure thing.

Who knew that Sister Juan would bring her second-tier artists to get involved.

The producer's first words seemed like a simple introduction, but in fact they were already biased.

He also mentioned the nickname Xiao Meng Yao.

So who is Meng Yao? She's a top-tier actress internationally. She's won three Best Actress awards, but she's retired in recent years to become a judge.

She is the actress that all directors most want to work with.

Now, directly saying that the second-tier actress in front of them was Meng Yaoping's stand-in aroused the interest of many people present.

The director said, "Give them a clip of their audition. Let them prepare for ten minutes and then they will audition later."

The director team gave each of them a thin two-page audition clip.

Sister Hua noticed that Xia Dan had received more lines. After receiving the lines, she went to the next room to prepare.

Sister Hua felt something was wrong, so she secretly said to the assistant director, "Isn't this the same clip?" The two scenes were too subjective, and it was not a fair competition at all.

The assistant director frowned. He shouldn't have said that, but since Sister Hua was his longtime friend, he could only whisper a reminder, "Director Meng has been working on this script for three years. It's an award-winning piece. And when the lead actress wrote it, she wanted to work with actress Meng Yao, but she turned her down."

There was something unspoken in his words. Now that little Meng Yao had arrived, she would be given priority.

Director Meng has become a bit crazy when it comes to winning awards. Even investors have to give in.

When Sister Hua heard this, she felt very disappointed.

She wanted to use this film to promote Xia Dan. For a little-known actress like her, being nominated for Best Actress is also a great honor.

Now the crew is clearly going to sacrifice them.

The entertainment industry is a snobbish place. They prioritize popularity and reputation. Hua glanced at Xia Dan, who was memorizing her lines. She could only make her next move.

No matter how powerful Sister Juan is, she can't dominate the industry. Since she can't get selected by famous directors or plays, she can gamble on new directors.

She still remembered that among the projects she invested in Lemon last time, there was a suspense script that was quite innovative, and maybe they could talk about it.

In a corner, unnoticed, Xia Dan was memorizing her lines. Giving her too many lines wasn't necessarily a good thing. After all, she only had ten minutes to prepare. If she couldn't even speak her lines properly, let alone perform, she wouldn't be able to do it.

Xia Dan was reciting the poem, and it hadn't even been ten minutes when a staff member knocked on the door: "Liu Jianing is ready. The director wants you to come over together."

Sister Hua's face was extremely grim. She was convinced that the other party must have done it on purpose, because their role was simple, so they prepared early and interfered with them.

Watch them embarrass themselves in front of the director and everyone else.

Sister Hua is a protective person: "We talked about it for ten minutes before..." She wanted to argue.

Who knew that Xia Dan grabbed his arm and said, "Let's go. I'm ready."

Xia Dan is a little-known actor who got this opportunity by taking advantage of the influence of the investors and drinking with Sister Hua one cup after another.

Because she kept everyone waiting, it would naturally give people a bad impression. This was Sister Juan's conspiracy.

Even if he knew it, he had to do it. But there was no trace of relief on Xia Dan's face.

Sister Hua wanted to say something to comfort her, but with the assistant director next to her and staff members waiting across the street, she couldn't say anything.

Xia Dan and Sister Hua returned to the house together.

The gloating in Sister Juan's eyes was about to overflow. She looked at Sister Hua with a face full of provocation.

Sister Hua was so angry that she clenched her fists in her sleeves. She wanted to rush over and slap her twice.

"Director, I'm ready." Liu Jianing said.

The director hummed, "Find him someone to act with."

Then Liu Jianing showed a shy look: "Will you really be good to me forever?"

"Yes, as long as you agree, we will get married and have a bunch of children. I will love you forever."

"Hate it, I haven't agreed yet. If you want to be my man, I have to test you." Facing the poker-faced actors in the crew, Liu Jianing performed the little girl's joy and shyness to the fullest.

Sister Juan felt assured when she saw the judges nodding frequently.

Liu Jianing has played this kind of role so many times that it has even become a conditioned reflex for her to perform.

Even without a male actor to act with, she can still achieve this effect when facing the tree stump.

This is the artist she carefully selected. She is much better than the unknown little actor she brought in.

After the two or three minute audition performance, the director wrote something on a piece of paper.

The casting director said, "Excellent. You can go and have a rest now."

Liu Jianing bowed to the director and said, "Thank you, director." She seemed well-behaved, obedient and polite.

"Next." said the casting director.

Now it's Xia Dan's turn.

They'd probably already chosen the right actor. The remaining interview was just a way to explain things to the investors. So when Xia Dan came on stage, many people were still whispering and commenting on Liu Jianing's audition.

Sister Hua used to be a celebrity escort and was rarely humiliated by being ignored.

It just so happens that my former rival is in this room. It's really embarrassing.

She tried to hold on, but Xia Dan was still young and probably couldn't bear this level of disregard.

Who would have thought that Xia Dan would act like nothing had happened, and she went up and introduced herself confidently: "Hello, teachers. I'm Xia Dan. I played the leading female role in the movie Camellia before, and this time I'm auditioning for the female lead."

This kind of situation, which even Sister Hua couldn't stand, was something she had experienced over the years.

At least this time, other people are willing to watch her audition clip, right?