As soon as Ye Zhou said this, Zhu Ning was stunned for a moment, and then quickly shook his head.
Zhu Ning smiled and said: “The contract I signed with Summit Entertainment is for fifteen years. I can’t go anywhere before the contract expires.”
Although Ye Zhou was mentally prepared, he still sucked in a breath of cold air when he heard the duration of the contract. A 15-year contract basically covered the peak years of an artist’s career.
Counting the time, Ye Zhou realized that Zhu Ning had only debuted for a little over a year. He had just turned 20 this year. By the time the contract ended, Zhu Ning would already be 34 years old. Although male artists generally have longer shelf lives than female artists in the entertainment industry, there was no shortage of fresh young idols.
Summit’s plan for Zhu Ning was to make him a traffic star. This could be seen from the jobs the company arranged for him. He had high publicity but without any substantive works. He was on different variety shows every other day and had cameo roles in idol dramas.
Traffic stars have high popularity and can crash social media platforms with a simple Weibo post. However, overusing one’s popularity without sufficient works to showcase acting skills, even top influencers can only stay popular for so long.
Outsiders only see the tremendous earning power of traffic stars, but do not see the countless young idols willing to ruin their own images just to successfully transform from ‘traffic star’ to ‘idol with acting skills’.
There was no shortage of traffic stars in the circle, but very few could successfully transform into true actors.
According to the novel’s plot, Zhu Ning was still filming a variety show the day before his body collapsed. It was clear Summit never intended to properly plan Zhu Ning’s transformation. They saw him as a cash cow they wanted to squeeze dry.
Thinking of this, Ye Zhou hesitated before tactfully saying, “Why don’t you consider switching companies? With your abilities, there should be many companies willing to help you deal with the issue of liquidated damages. Change to a company that is a little more relaxed, and maybe you will have better room for development.”
In fact, what Ye Zhou was a little confused about was that since Zhu Ning came to save the situation for his small crew just because of Boss Jiang, and he must have a good relationship with Boss Jiang, why didn’t he consider changing jobs to join Jingzhe.
Regardless of the company’s reputation, overall strength or the treatment given to its artists, Jingzhe is considered a leader in the industry, far better than Summit Entertainment.
It seemed Zhu Ning understood Ye Zhou’s implication. His lips quirked as he explained, “You’re wondering why I don’t go to Jingzhe, right?”
Ye Zhou nodded frankly, as he was seen through.
Zhu Ning laughed out loud, “I’d like to, but Jingzhe doesn’t accept just anyone, not to mention I have an astronomical penalty fee.”
Ye Zhou frowned and subconsciously asked, “Aren’t you friends with Mr. Jiang?”
Hearing him ask this, understanding dawned on Zhu Ning.
“Of course not. In fact, the reason why I came to the rescue was because I came to Mr. Jiang to talk about endorsements that day.” Zhu Ning seemed a little embarrassed when he said this.
“Mr. Jiang said that if I am willing to come, he will sign a three-year endorsement deal with me.” Zhu Ning did not hide it and revealed the whole deal with Jiang Tingyuan straightforwardly. “After considering it, my company felt it was a good deal, so I came.”
Ye Zhou did not expect so many twists and turns. He was momentarily at a loss for words.
He had to kneel down to the boss. His connections were just too powerful. It made him so nervous, truly.
Zhu Ning had extremely high emotional intelligence. Seeing Ye Zhou’s expression, he seamlessly shifted the topic elsewhere to relieve the awkwardness.
Due to the delayed morning shoot, lunch break was shortened. After the two had lunch, Ye Zhou discussed Zhu Ning’s scenes, and it was nearly time to resume filming.
Perhaps it was because he had rested for a while during lunch break, but Zhu Ning’s condition in the afternoon was much better than in the morning. At least the situation of erratic behavior basically did not happen again.
This scene, which had been filmed for a long time, was finally completed smoothly with Ye Zhou’s line “Okay, that’s good.”
The entire crew heaved a sigh of relief as the tense atmosphere eased considerably.
The next scene was between Xie Gefei and Liu Ruihua.
The photo that rich second-generation Xu Fei gave to Meng Yida was a photo of his father and his illegitimate son Xu Xiang. After going through several hands, it had been completely altered by the time it reached No. 3, causing him to mistake the target of his mission.
At the critical moment when No. 3 was about to take action, he suddenly received a call from Fang Wei.
The bullet went astray, almost exposing No. 3 to Mr. Xu in the room. The two played hide and seek until finally No. 3 managed to escape unharmed.
This scene was quite difficult, requiring some parts to be completed using wires. Ye Zhou glanced at Xie Gefei, who was already strapped into the wires, and after confirming the camera positions were ready, he nodded to the clapper loader.
With the clapperboard snapping, Xie Gefei dressed in black swiftly ran under the green screen. Following his movements, the wires slowly lifted him up. Thanks to martial arts training, his actions were clean and agile. Even suspended high in the air, he remained steady, portraying the scene aptly.
This shot went very smoothly, with Ye Zhou calling cut after only two takes. Xie Gefei was carefully lowered from above. Seeing his pale complexion, Ye Zhou immediately said, “Take a 10-minute break before the next shot.”
But before he could finish speaking, Xie Gefei shook his head and said with a white face, “Director Ye, I’m fine. We have an intense schedule today, let’s keep going.”
Seeing his insistence, Ye Zhou didn’t try to dissuade him further, only gesturing for a crew member to bring him a cup of hot water. The hot water seemed to help, bringing some color back to Xie Gefei’s face.
After making sure he had recovered, the crew strapped him back into the wires. Xie Gefei climbed onto a platform about 4-5 meters high and signaled to Ye Zhou that he was ready. As soon as the clapperboard snapped, Ye Zhou suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
Seeing Xie Gefei about to jump, he cried out in alarm as he leapt up from his chair, “Don’t move!”
Xie Gefei had already committed to the jump, leaning forward from inertia. He was on the verge of falling when the cameraman behind him grabbed him, barely keeping him steady on the platform. If he had really fallen, it would have been catastrophic. Since they were filming indoors without protective padding, he would have been completely dependent on the wires to cushion the impact. Even a broken arm or leg would have been considered light injuries.
Ye Zhou’s forehead was suddenly beaded with cold sweat though no one else had reacted yet. He rushed towards Xie Gefei, shouting as he ran, “Call the police! Lock down all the doors, don’t let anyone out. I want to see who has the audacity to try something right under my nose!”
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