Chapter Seventy-Two: The Unlucky Director Hu
Chapter Seventy-Two: The Unlucky Director Hu
Chapter Seventy-Two: The Unlucky Director Hu
Gu Tingxiao shook his head under the expectant gazes of Zhou Ran and Xia Chengping.
"No, it's not that it flopped, it's that none of them were ever released."
"ah?"
Gu Tingxiao found it amusing too.
Seeing other people's misfortunes and comparing them to my own miserable situation definitely makes me feel much better.
"He filmed a supernatural drama three years ago, the kind with ghosts and monsters."
I've read the script; the story is good, and the plot twists are nice.
Who knew that when it was submitted for review, a document came down from above ordering a strict review.
All the supernatural dramas were blocked; only 20% were approved because the scripts were bad and didn't seem like supernatural dramas.
Director Hu's well-made drama, which was full of ghosts and monsters, was shelved.
Once the policies are relaxed, the endings of other people's stories can be changed, and the plot can be broadcast.
The revisions needed for his drama were too extensive, and the cost of revising them was comparable to the cost of reshooting, so it's been shelved until now.
Zhou Ran nodded. It was indeed very unlucky. A perfect work was shelved for this reason, and there was no way to save it. Most people would have a heart attack from this.
"Director Hu was so anxious during that time that his mouth was covered in blisters, but that's just how the policy is, and there's nothing anyone can do about it, so we advised him to think more positively."
I approved some investment for him so he could find other themes to film.
He chose a fairly standard fantasy romance drama, with a somewhat clichéd story.
It's about some unparalleled deity falling in love with a mortal—it's all about the thrill.
Even if the filming is terrible, it won't flop; it will always have an audience, and all you need to watch is enjoyment.
"Yes, I love this kind of thing, flying around, doing good deeds, and slapping people in the face."
Xia Chengping really liked this; what teenager doesn't have a bit of a "chuunibyou" (middle school syndrome) at some point?
"Is something bad going to happen again?"
"Yes, during filming, the wire broke once, almost causing a fatality."
The person was rescued, compensation was given, and the matter was brought under control.
They replaced the actor at the last minute, and finally managed to finish filming.
Less than a week after its release, the male lead was exposed for cheating on his wife and sleeping with a fan.
Xia Chengping's mouth dropped open, thinking that Director Hu was just a born unlucky person!
Thank goodness, he ran fast just now.
"After the show was taken down, Director Hu originally planned to replace the male lead with an AI face, then review and put it back on the platform to recoup some of the losses."
Before the face was even changed, it was revealed that the second female lead was a mistress and was caught in bed with another man by the wife, who then filmed the incident and posted it online.
The play was put on hold; no one dared to move, and even those who had acted in it were trembling with fear.
"What bad luck!"
Zhou Ran and Xia Chengping sighed at the same time. They had done just as much work, but not a single drama had aired.
"That's not all. Director Hu felt he couldn't be this unlucky."
He secured another investment, planning to cater to audience tastes by producing a suspense drama, the kind that solves crimes.
"I like this, it's my favorite to watch."
Zhou Ran loves watching crime investigation dramas that unravel cases step by step. They're thrilling to watch, and she can learn from the experience to prevent herself from making any careless mistakes that could give the cops something to use against her and get her arrested.
"Everything was fine, but not long after the machine was turned on, the police came to the door and arrested a wanted fugitive among his group of staff."
Wow!
When you're down on your luck, there are always unexpected surprises; this is a different kind of starting point.
"It was a staff member who was temporarily filling in for someone else. He was spotted by sharp-eyed members of the public, and someone kindly called the police, which is how the police came to find him."
That staff member was the leader of their group of extras. He had known Director Hu for two years and, in Director Hu's opinion, was a good person.
Who knows if you can judge a person by their appearance or their heart? They might be a wanted criminal or a murderer.
Now, everyone in Director Hu's team was in a state of panic.
The police investigated all the members of the film crew and arrested one fugitive.
This time it was a little less serious; it was a thief who was caught by his family while stealing.
He stabbed the man and ran away.
Thanks to timely rescue, the injured person survived.
I heard that only by getting past that wanted criminal can one stay in the film crew.
This time, once they found out, they simply packed everything up and had the police take it away.
With such a large-scale operation, it was impossible to hide it.
The news spread quickly and everywhere, and investors preferred to lose money rather than invest.
That suspense drama was cancelled; behind the scenes, everyone called him Director Hu, or Hu Meimei.
Zhou Ran and the other person nodded frantically; they were indeed quite unlucky.
Some people may never encounter such a strange and significant event in their entire lives.
Unfortunately, Director Hu encountered all of these problems, but he's incredibly resilient and can still keep working hard.
"This time it was his effort that secured the release, and he promised that if it still couldn't be released, he would quit the industry and go home obediently."
Because of these words, Gu Tingxiao felt that Director Hu was capable and had a chance to turn things around, so he agreed to invest.
However, this investment is extremely small compared to his previous investments.
Director Hu was delighted and quickly reassembled the team to begin casting.
Because of past lessons learned, and because the budget was indeed limited.
This time, he preferred to choose clean, non-celebrity people rather than use those big stars.
"What bad luck! I don't want to get involved. Gu Tingxiao, when you have time, take my contract back and let him find another actor."
I'll pay him whatever penalty he demands; I won't take advantage of him.
The penalty for breach of contract wasn't much, and Xia Chengping wasn't going to take advantage of that. What if he got bad luck in the process?
"Okay, I'll take care of it."
"Give this to Director Hu as well, and ask him to call me when he has time."
Zhou Ran took out a pen and paper, wrote her phone number on a sticky note, and handed it to Gu Tingxiao.
Gu Tingxiao raised an eyebrow, indicating that he was interested in Director Hu.
I don't know what it was that I just said that piqued this person's interest.
He will find out later what Zhou Ran is up to.
Gu Tingxiao put the note away, indicating that he would pass it on.
"Alright, we should go now. Xia Chenggan should be off work soon. We had plans to go out for dinner."
"Just leaving like that? You won't stay long."
Gu Tingxiao had a great excuse to slack off, he was so envious, he also wanted to go to the party.
Xia Chengping didn't notice, simply waved his hand, turned around, and went out first.
Zhou Ran realized that she didn't want to invite him; she didn't like the look of him, and seeing him during the meal would ruin her appetite.
He slowed down and spoke in a low voice that only the two of them could hear.
"I heard that the Best Actress is currently facing a lot of trouble."
Gu Tingxiao was taken aback. A movie queen? He looked at Zhou Ran, about to ask another question.
Xia Chengping went out and, seeing that Zhou Ran hadn't come over, opened the door and came back to greet her.
"Brother Zhou, hurry up!"
"Okay, coming."
Zhou Ran walked out with a smile, as if nothing had just happened.
He followed Xia Chengping downstairs.
Gu Tingxiao quickly followed to see them off.
"I'll take you downstairs."
"No need, Mr. Gu, please go back to work. You've been quite busy lately, and you might even be working through the night. Don't waste our time. We know the way."
Zhou Ran refused outright and got into the elevator with Xia Chengping.
The elevator doors closed, and Gu Tingxiao resumed his expressionless demeanor.
Zhou Ran's purpose in coming today can be summed up in those last two sentences.
One sentence was a reminder of the trouble the actress was in.
One part was to remind him to deal with the trouble, and the other was to tell him to stay up all night and not go home.
Zhou Ran is the most annoying kind of person. She never says half of what she means, and she doesn't give direct hints, making people guess and investigate on their own.
If Zhou Ran knew what Gu Tingxiao was thinking, she would definitely slap him.
You could call him crazy.
I also hate it when people only say half of what they mean, and they should first look at themselves to see if they're any better.
A crow landed on a black pig, seeing that others were black, but not its own.
Gu Tingxiao is a clever fool who is suspicious by nature and thinks everything others say is a conspiracy.
How could I believe it if I didn't find it myself?
If Zhou Ran were to give a direct answer, someone with Gu Tingxiao's personality would likely investigate further, question things, and then take action.
Zhou Ran is nobody to Gu Tingxiao, they have no relation, why bother with all that effort?
Not standing idly by and watching him get into trouble is already out of consideration for Xia Chenggan.
They really think they're something special, that everyone should go along with them, flatter them, and pamper them.
He has the life of a domineering CEO, but is addicted to sweet and doting love.
To reiterate, Gu Tingxiao may have questionable character and personality, but we cannot question his ability to get things done.
He quickly ordered an investigation into the matter.
The investigation results soon appeared on his desk in the form of a document.
The assistant stood respectfully to the side, waiting for Gu Tingxiao's order.
Gu Tingxiao frowned as he looked at the information above.
The document lists two actresses who match Zhou Ran's description of the incident.
One is veteran actress Mi Hong, who is over forty years old but looks like she's in her thirties, with a fantastic figure.
She was once the go-to leading lady for a famous director. With his strong support, she went from an unknown beauty to a household name and a film queen.
She was considered a national goddess back then, a well-known beauty.
Although Zhaohua has passed away, her charm remains.
The resources are still there, and the filming is still going on, though not as much as before, but it's still manageable.
One is Qiao Han, a newly crowned Best Actress, who is just thirty years old this year and is in the prime of her life.
With a round face that looks like a maid, she managed to stand out from the crowd of maid roles and become a leading lady in her own right.
She knows what she wants. Like a workaholic in the entertainment industry, she's always working. Recently, she has three dramas coming up, all of which are lead roles.
The information on these two people is here, with particular emphasis on recent events.
The assistant thoughtfully highlighted important and controversial information in red.
Gu Tingxiao finished reading it quickly.
After analysis, he focused on the newly crowned Best Actress, Qiao Han.
For no other reason than choosing her would be a scandalous news story.
Paparazzi photographed Qiao Han with Shao Yang, a wealthy second-generation male celebrity.
Their information is more detailed; the paparazzi found Qiao Han's agent.
Through negotiations with the agent, the agent bought all the photos taken by the paparazzi.
This news was not made public.
However, as the boss, he has access to detailed information.
Gu Tingxiao suspected that Zhou Ran was referring to Qiao Han because he knew that Shao Yang was indeed a third-generation rich kid.
In the entertainment industry, personas are either given by the company or managed by the artist's team.
Some are exactly like the person, while others are ridiculously different from the person at all.
Being a rich second-generation is the easiest thing to fake, and it also generates a lot of buzz.
Ten out of ten celebrities are like this, subtly flaunting their wealth in a way that is both low-key and high-profile.
He doesn't say which family he's from; it's all up to his fans' imagination.
I'm not worried about being exposed; they haven't told anyone. Author's note: Thanks to my mentor 9492239 for their support! For more exciting content, please leave a message for this book on Liancheng Reading.
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