Chapter 72 Romance [VIP]
Chapter Summary: It feels like it's hard to keep him in check.
Mu Zhi recalled You Zhou's apology earlier.
He was probably unaware of the matter and seemed somewhat ashamed in front of Mu Zhi, his face showing shame and helplessness, but not anxiety, perhaps because he had anticipated the consequences he would face from the production team.
“It was Youzhou’s agent’s doing. Logically, since they are a team, Youzhou should be held responsible, but... I want to give him a chance.”
Ji Binghe on the other end of the phone: "Okay, I understand."
"I will pass on your opinion to the production team, and we'll see what their decision is."
In the afternoon, the crew of "The Edge of the Blade" sent out a notice in their internal group chat.
The gist is that the film set is no longer open to Youzhou's agent.
You Zhou stayed and will continue to play the fourth male lead.
This incident also served as a reminder to the entire production team that they need to strengthen management in all aspects.
You Zhou came again to thank Mu Zhi.
He learned from Director Pan Yan: "If you want to thank someone for this, thank Mu Zhi. The production team made the decision after fully considering Mu Zhi's opinion."
After all, the person who will be acting opposite You Zhou is Mu Zhi.
If Mu Zhixin has any reservations about acting with You Zhou, the production team, considering the negative impact of the matter, will choose another actor from the original audition cast to replace You Zhou.
A new actor is not irreplaceable.
Replacing the actor playing the fourth male lead won't have much impact on the production team.
You Zhou had originally planned to leave the film crew, but things took an unexpected turn.
Extremely grateful, she came to thank Mu Zhi: "Teacher Mu, thank you. I don't know how to express my gratitude and apologies to you. I will definitely perform well."
It was only because Mu Zhi, the person involved, was generous and didn't hold a grudge that he was able to stay and continue filming.
Mu Zhi simply said to You Zhou, "The current entertainment industry environment is still very good. If an artist is exploited by their management company or agent, or feels that their development is being restricted, then they will be in trouble."
Once you've established yourself, you can make a different choice.
These words were like a lamp, giving the boat, which was lost in the fog, direction.
You Zhou bowed to Mu Zhi and said, "Thank you!"
After the pleasure boat left.
Minmin gave Muzhi a thumbs up: "Sister Zhizhi, you look so cool when you 'hold an umbrella' for others."
Mu Zhi:?
"Recently, there's been a saying in the industry that artists who have reached a certain level of fame and status will remember their own experiences as unknown artists when they see newcomers or artists who need help, and they will lend a helping hand."
Because I had gotten wet in the rain, I wanted to hold an umbrella for others who were getting wet.
Mu Zhi: ...I guess Minmin was right.
She had experienced a similar situation.
I don't want to see a new actor's future jeopardized because of their agent's mistake.
I lent a helping hand within my own capabilities.
They also didn't want to delay the filming schedule.
However, now that we know who the culprit is, the matter of Mu Zhi being framed is certainly not something that can be easily dismissed as just as Chai Wu being "expelled" from the crew.
The next day, it was revealed that Chai Wu frequently ripped off artists by treating them to meals under the guise of negotiating contracts, always choosing expensive restaurants and ordering expensive dishes, with each meal costing two or three thousand yuan.
Several newcomers who wanted to sign with Yima Media said that after having dinner with Chai Wu, nothing happened. They later realized that they had been fooled and that Chai Wu had never considered signing them.
It's hard to imagine that a well-known agent would be so low-class.
Moreover, Chai Wu appropriated gifts that fans gave to his artists.
There are also unreasonable schedules arranged for the artists:
Working more than 16 hours a day.
They exploit artists and don't allow them to take leave when they're sick.
Providing endorsements for celebrities to micro-businesses and to stand up for the micro-businesses' anniversary celebrations, taking photos with them and charging money, etc.
All sorts of scandals were listed and compiled into a collection, giving Chai Wu a good publicity boost and warning naive newcomers to avoid this agent.
Chai Wu's Weibo account was so bombarded with criticism that he had to disable the comments section.
Minmin exclaimed with delight, "Director Ji is awesome! Experience really pays off!"
Ji Binghe believes in "everyone keeping to themselves and avoiding trouble," but if anyone dares to bully her artists, she will naturally make them suffer.
Sometimes, a counterattack serves as a reminder to those who are secretly watching the drama unfold or are plotting something. Mu Zhi's team has zero tolerance for being smeared. Otherwise, if this matter is handled lightly, everyone will think that artists and their teams are easy to bully and will keep smearing them.
Chai Wu dared to target Mu Zhi probably because Mu Zhi's team wasn't very effective when she was at Xinghe Culture, which gave him a false impression.
This time he took a heavy hit, and he'll have to be more careful in the industry from now on.
The crew of "The Edge of the Blade" has returned to calm and resumed filming.
Half a month has passed since the computer was turned on.
October 1st is National Day.
During the 7-day holiday, watching movies became a popular choice for many people.
Mu Zhiren was busy filming on set and couldn't find time to go to the movies.
However, during major holidays, she would always open the ticketing app to check what movies were showing, how the box office and reviews were, and also pay attention to the promotion, production company, director, and lead actors of individual movies.
When a movie becomes a hit, ordinary viewers mainly focus on the lead actors and the director.
Those working in the field focus on more fundamental and essential aspects.
All the movies in this National Day holiday season will be released on September 30th, a Friday. Mu Zhi counted, and there are a total of 9 movies.
Today, the 1st, are the top three box office hits.
The first one is a patriotic war film, and the second one is a science fiction film.
The third film is a suspense film with some comedic elements, starring Liu Rui.
Mu Zhi curiously checked the information about the movie starring Liu Rui. It was a low-budget film. The director had previously made two suspense films, which had mediocre box office and critical reception and neither of them broke 100 million yuan.
The movies released during this National Day holiday have already grossed over 30 million yuan at the box office today. With the preview screenings and the box office from the 30th, they will soon break 100 million yuan.
Low-budget films generally struggle to compete for screen time with blockbuster films because they lack funds and have limited marketing and distribution efforts.
The film starring Liu Rui has received considerable publicity.
Minmin asked curiously, "Sister Zhizhi, you said that if an actor makes a movie and the production company hires a great publicity team, wouldn't the box office be a breeze? That must be so awesome."
If actors specifically seek out production companies with strong marketing and distribution capabilities, will they be free from the risk of their films flopping at the box office?
Mu Zhi: ...You've got the priorities backwards.
"No matter how good the marketing is, the film's quality still has to be up to par, otherwise it's just losing money and making a lot of noise."
However, even the best wine needs advertising.
A good film, if its promotion and distribution efforts are insufficient, may not even outperform a film that is merely passable in the same period.
Forget it, let's not discuss this issue any further.
Sometimes, actors are just tools in a machine.
If an actor can carry the box office and has box office appeal, they can collaborate with top-notch teams in all aspects, and the film's promotion will generally be strong.
Mu Zhi hasn't even gotten her foot in the door of the film industry yet.
She has been following film-related news for almost a year.
Over the past year, the vast majority of films released have been stories told from a male perspective, covering a wide range of genres. Films starring female actors have mostly been romance, drama, suspense, or comedy.
Mu Zhi thought of the phone call she had with her agent a couple of days ago, where they talked about the scripts she had recently received.
"The movie script...has not been received yet."
It's estimated that we'll have to wait until "Back to 17" is released and the box office results are in.
Only when one's performance in a movie is recognized can film resources begin to move?
Regarding the release date of "Back to 17".
News has recently surfaced.
"The production company's current plan is to release the film on February 14th, around Valentine's Day."
The spy drama "The Edge of the Blade" started filming in mid-September, and Mu Zhi's personal scenes are expected to be filmed until mid-December, a total of 3 months.
If the movie is indeed scheduled for Valentine's Day, then "The Edge of the Blade" will have just finished filming and will be dubbing the movie.
Valentine's Day on February 14th is not a good time to go...
Once I joined the crew, I lived a life of going back and forth between the film set and the hotel.
Mu Zhi doesn't have many scenes, and this filming experience was easier compared to "The Bell Ringer" and "Back to 17".
When there are no night shoots, we can usually wrap up work around 5 p.m. every day.
After returning to the hotel, I first rehearsed the scenes I would be filming tomorrow.
The rest of the time can be spent reading scripts, watching classic films, and surfing the internet before bed.
A month passed quickly.
As November arrives, wearing just a short-sleeved shirt can feel a bit chilly, so you'll need to add a light jacket.
On this day, Mu Zhi finished work at 5 o'clock as usual.
Today is my personal assistant's birthday, and Mu Zhi and her group are having a meal outside to celebrate.
It was almost 8 o'clock when I got back to my hotel room.
During dinner, I overheard a staff member mention that "The Legend of the Flying Immortal," in which Lin Xuan and Lü E had a heated argument during filming, premiered tonight.
Mu Zhi sat on the sofa and curiously clicked on the Weibo trending topics list.
I saw that Lin Xuan and Lü E's names were trending on social media.
#Lin Xuan and Lü E are co-starring as two female leads# trending at number 29.
There might have been some changes to the script, and it's now a dual-female lead drama, which has actually resulted in a split billing.
As soon as I entered the trending topics, the infighting between the two fan groups hadn't stopped, with one side promoting their own while the other dissed the other.
Lin Xuan has more fans, giving her the upper hand.
The entertainment news has the hashtag #TheLegendofFlyingImmortalsPremiere# trending. I stayed up all night to finish reading the original novel in order to audition for this drama.
Mu Zhi wanted to see how well the show was received.
Uh, after clicking in, I found that the Weibo posts from random accounts were all complaints.
Most of the complaints focused on Lin Xuan and Lü E's poor acting skills and the somewhat messy editing of the plot, probably because it was downgraded from S-level to A-level. After watching the video cuts posted by marketing accounts, the scenes, costumes, and props all gave off a cheap feeling.
I wonder if director Wu Ce gave up after being bothered by the actors' bickering and the added scenes and extra pages? The filming quality is below par.
The story of the novel is quite good.
It's a pity that the film and television adaptation turned out this way.
After browsing for a few minutes, Mu Zhi lost interest and logged off, about to put her phone aside and go take a shower.
I saw a teaser post trending high on the hot search list, featuring the name of a certain paparazzi, claiming that a member of a girl group is in a relationship and that the news will be released tomorrow.
Five Flowers is the only girl group in China that hasn't disbanded yet.
Mu Zhi immediately thought of Zhou Jingzhu.
He found Zhou Jingzhu's phone number in his contacts and dialed it, but no one answered.
Open WeChat, and the "Botanical Garden Beauty #3-person group is unusually quiet today".
Mu Zhi sent a message to Zhou Jingzhu on WeChat, but after two minutes, she did not receive a reply.
I opened Weibo again and went to the #Zhou Jingzhu# super topic to take a look.
Half of the fans urged people to trust their idols, saying that since the paparazzi haven't revealed anything, people shouldn't speculate about their idols' relationships.
The other half of the fans, including the fan site admins who frequently follow Zhou Jingzhu's schedules, must have known something about the situation and were giving the fans a heads-up, saying that as long as it doesn't affect her career and there's no official announcement, they hope everyone won't interfere in Zhou Jingzhu's private relationships.
Seeing this, it's highly likely that Zhou Jingzhu is the one whose relationship was captured by paparazzi.
She's not answering the phone or replying to messages, so her family probably already knows and is dealing with it.
The paparazzi and marketing accounts didn't reveal the information directly, but instead used this teaser approach, probably because they wanted to gain benefits from Zhou Jingzhu.
Whether their relationship will be exposed depends on how Zhou Jingzhu chooses to handle it.
Based on Mu Zhi's understanding of Zhou Jingzhu, their relationship is likely about to come to light.
The next morning.
On the set of the TV series "The Edge of the Blade".
Mu Zhi's scenes haven't started yet; she's waiting to be filmed.
Minmin, standing nearby, called out, "Sister Zhizhi!" and held out her phone.
Sure enough, Zhou Jingzhu's relationship was exposed.
#JasperZhouJingzhu'sRelationshipPhotographed# is the 13th most searched topic.
Jasper? Mu Zhi seems to have seen this English name in a small group of three or on the trending searches.
Upon entering, you'll find a "thoughtful" introduction from a marketing account that reposts paparazzi scoops.
It turns out he was the champion of a rap show three years ago. Jasper is his English name. In the photo, he has single eyelids, a melancholy look, and is wearing a red floral shirt. He has the kind of bad boy cool style.
Zhou Jingzhu and Jasper met through a music program.
The paparazzi captured the two together, and the released GIFs have definitively confirmed their relationship.
They kissed and hugged in the car, then entered a high-end hotel together. Two days later, they walked out of the hotel one after the other.
Minmin frowned, and said to Muzhi with some concern, "To be frank, it's not that I'm prejudiced, but rappers generally don't have a good reputation for their private lives. This Jasper is quite talented, but he was photographed in a relationship last year. His ex-girlfriend was a clothing influencer, and they broke up quickly as soon as they were photographed."
Teacher Zhou felt it was difficult to keep up with him in their relationship.
Mu Zhi recalled that Zhou Jingzhu had talked to her before, and had hesitated about whether she really wanted to start this relationship, but in the end she still plunged headlong into it.
That evening, Mu Zhi received a phone call from Zhou Jingzhu.
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