Chapter 445: Chapter 445: Not Asking Your Opinion, Just Informing You of the Decision!
A call from the great Shen Ying?
Ma Xiaogang frowned.
This original author, Shen Ying, true to her name, is very mysterious, rarely showing her face and keeping herself well hidden.
But in the past couple of years, she’s created a few quite popular works and has a lot of loyal readers. Nowadays, TV series, movies, and web series all like to hire her as a screenwriter, and it’s said that any project she writes for will inevitably become a hit. Thus, she has quickly risen to be a top figure in the screenwriting circle.
"Nuwa and Fu Xi" is no exception.
This story involves investors buying partial rights to Shen Ying’s short story and then adapting and reworking it.
Therefore, Shen Ying has a certain amount of say in the casting of the TV series.
Ma Xiaogang was in a hurry to convince Zuzi to join the crew, not wanting any distractions, but due to Shen Ying’s status, he had to give her some respect.
He answered the phone, intending to keep it brief: "Miss Shen Ying, if you have any new ideas, we can set up a time to meet with the crew."
The woman on the phone had a somewhat ethereal voice, as if she were in a particularly vast place, her words almost echoing: "No meeting. Just one thing, I’m recommending a candidate for the female lead to you."
So mechanical, so impersonal, she’s truly a lofty screenwriter bigwig.
Ma Xiaogang patiently said, "What a coincidence, I also found an excellent candidate for the female lead today, and I wanted to discuss it with you. But she hasn’t agreed yet, and I’m working hard on it."
Shen Ying chuckled mechanically: "I’m not discussing with you; I’m informing you."
Ma Xiaogang: "..." He considered her a female author, always polite and agreeable, but this attitude was a bit disrespectful, wasn’t it?
Ma Xiaogang had a rather bad temper, almost about to explode: "Then tell me, who do you have in mind?"
If it were Zuzi, he would decide to forgive this female author’s rudeness.
Shen Ying: "Gu Pingting. Someone just sent me a video of her performing the Drunken Immortal Dance on site, and it’s exactly the aesthetic I envisioned. It has to be her."
What?!
The pretentious and clueless novice, Gu Pingting?
Ma Xiaogang was practically laughing.
"You just haven’t seen better girls, capable of playing unique ancient music."
"Nuwa doesn’t need to play an instrument. Being able to dance is enough."
"Are you sure? Shen Ying, I doubt if you truly researched Nuwa’s history? You’re telling me Nuwa doesn’t understand music? Are you joking? Do you have any professionalism?"
"Who is the original author, you or me?"
"It’s your book, but you can’t ignore history, make things up, and disrespect Nuwa."
"Enough nonsense, for the female lead I wrote, I only acknowledge Gu Pingting."
"You’re interfering with my casting! As an author, you should just focus on writing the script; it’s my job to handle the actors."
"You’re wrong, the investors entrusted me with the whole production."
"Damn!"
Ma Xiaogang ended up smashing the phone.
As a renowned director, he’s known for being strict and short-tempered, so much so that when he works, he doesn’t recognize anyone. However, smashing a phone—this was the first time for his team to see.
Assistant Director Zhao Jin had a loud voice just now, so everyone knew the call that the director smashed was from the great Shen Ying, causing their hearts to skip a beat.
Oh my.
The director and the screenwriter clashed over the female lead!
The great Shen Ying is quite the formidable figure, since she keeps such a low profile, who knows which big shot she really is in real life.
Although Director Ma is an international director, offending Shen Ying could make it tough to survive in the industry in the future.
Not to mention that he probably won’t be able to get hold of any hit scripts!
What about making an epic masterpiece that could win the Golden Throne Award?