Hearing that, Lu Zhan looked at Gu Ning with an astonished face. He obviously understood what Gu Ning was talking about, but he didn’t know why she brought it up. Could she help him? Nevertheless why would she? No matter what, Lu Zhan still answered Gu Ning’s question with sincerity, “Of course I do.”
He had worked in the entertainment industry for more than half of his life, and it was already part of his life, so he had a high standard for his works’ quality. Unconsciously because of that, he had annoyed a powerful figure and had been shut out till now.
“If you trust me, you can cooperate with me,” Gu Ning said.
“You?” Lu Zhan was surprised as well as curious.
Gu Ning added then, “I know that I’m young and that you might doubt my ability, because many people have done the same thing but all of them changed their minds in the end. You can never judge a person from appearance. I’m a businesswoman, and I appreciate your way of directing and your talent. I have always wanted to get involved in the entertainment industry, and I think that you’re a great choice to be the general director in my company. What do you think?”
Lu Zhan was shocked after that. What? This girl is going to be involved in the entertainment industry?
Lu Zhan indeed doubted Gu Ning’s ability because of her young age. However, just as Gu Ning had said, it was unreasonable to judge a person from their appearance. He had met many different kinds of people in the entertainment industry, and he was able to form an accurate opinion of a person at first sight. Seeing Gu Ning being so serious and sincere along with her air of maturity, Lu Zhan believed that she wasn’t lying and she had no reason to deceive him. However, what worried Lu Zhan was the fact that Gu Ning would be affected because of him.
“Miss Gu, I’ve angered a powerful figure so he shut me out. Even if I finished a great TV show or a movie, it wouldn’t pass the censoring,” Lu Zhan said. Although he was badly in need of help now, he didn’t want to hurt anyone else’s career.
“It will,” Leng Shaoting said with confidence before Gu Ning could say a word,. He didn’t care about the Tang Family at all.
Lu Zhan was surprised. Are they more powerful? Lu Zhan wasn’t dumb, and he sensed that Leng Shaoting wasn’t simple after he said that. In addition, Leng Shaoting had an air of nobility and power.
“Director Lu, please don’t worry about that. Since I came to you during this time, I don’t care who has shut you out,” Gu Ning said with confidence too.
It seemed like they could indeed help Lu Zhan. “Do you know who has shut me out?” Lu Zhan asked. Lu Zhan actually had no idea who the powerful figure was.
Gu Ning laughed lightly and said coldly, “The Tang Family.”
It wasn’t a surprising answer to Lu Zhan. He thought for a while before opening his mouth again. “Miss Gu, thank you so much for your approval. Nevertheless, since you already know me, I assume that you must be aware of my way of working. I’m very strict with the actors in each show, especially the leading actors. I have no request for famous ones, but he or she must be skillful at acting.” Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been shut out just because he had refused to use an actress without any acting skills.
Lu Zhan added later, “As for the script, I must be involved too. I will only use scripts that I’m interested in, so that I can get absorbed in shooting the story. Of course, I know that it’s important to satisfy the audience’s need, and I will certainly do that, but I can’t promise that each of my works will be popular. Instead, I can only promise that I’ll do my best every time.” Lu Zhan thought that it was necessary to lay his cards on the table, in case they disagreed with each other while working together in the future.
Hearing that, Gu Ning smiled, “I can’t agree with you more, and I value quality the most as well.”
Lu Zhan was excited to hear that. “Well then, I think that we can have a great cooperation!” They shared the same values and the same goal, which was quite exciting.
“I’m looking for a suitable office building for my company at the moment, and I won’t register a new company until the office building is settled, so we’ll begin to work after the New Year festival,” Gu Ning said.
“Sure,” Lu Zhan replied. He was a little uneasy that the company hadn’t been established yet, but all he could do now was to wait.
“As for the actors and scripts, you can have complete control of it as long as you’re the director.” Gu Ning would allow Lu Zhan to make the decisions all on his own, but there would be more than one director in her company.
“I already found an interesting novel about an imperial-harem drama and you may read its extract first. If you’re interested in it too, we can shoot the story first once our company is established. If you’re not interested, I can hire another director to shoot it, and you can prepare for your own shows,” Gu Ning said.
“Sure, I will,” Lu Zhan said. Then Gu Ning took out pieces of paper with the extract on and gave it to Lu Zhan.
Lu Zhan read the story and his eyes lit up. Apparently, he liked it too. After reading it, Lu Zhan complimented the story plainly, “I think that it’s a great story! It’s very different from previous ones, and I’m interested in the details of the story.” Lu Zhan was satisfied with the extract, but he hadn’t read the whole novel, so he wasn’t sure whether its details were also attractive.
“Well, I’ll send you the novel then. If you’re interested, we can buy this IP[1]. I already hired the writer to be a scriptwriter in our company. You can talk to her if you have any questions after the New Year festival,” Gu Ning said.
Till now, they had made great progress, and they would discuss the rest after the company was established.
[1] IP stands for Intellectual Property which has been copyrighted.
