Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

Chapter 60: Chapter 56: The Most Expensive Kind

She asked around, but everyone said they hadn’t heard any whispers yet.

The novel was so popular that a bunch of people asked her in surprise if she had gotten some inside information.

It made her wrack her brain trying to give vague answers, which used up so much energy that she only got hungrier.

It wasn’t like she was lying; she didn’t know the specifics either!

If she knew, would she need to be asking around everywhere?

Seeing her frown and lightly place her right hand on her stomach, Sang Yuan immediately shot up and went to the door to hurry the kitchen along.

Before long, the manager himself came up pushing a food cart, apologizing as he introduced the dishes. His expression was one of someone trying his utmost to curry favor with Sang Yuan.

Sang Yuan smiled and thanked him, quickly sending him on his way. He turned to see Ni Bingyan pointing at her phone, her eyes shining as she looked at him.

"I finally found someone in the know after asking around! My agent just told me that the film just got greenlit and is about to enter the casting phase. If everything goes smoothly, filming will start after the New Year. She was just getting ready to have me audition!"

"Oh? What a coincidence! Now that you mention it, I think you’d be perfect to play Lu Lingling! You have to go try out!"

Thanks to knowing who she played in his past life, he felt no pressure at all acting like a die-hard fan now.

But when he remembered he had to go home and stay up all night reading the novel, Sang Yuan’s smile became a little strained.

Ni Bingyan was in no mood to tell whether his smile was fake or not.

Her idealized image of him had already shattered, and now with him acting all silly, she didn’t have the slightest desire to even look at him.

’I’m getting a new job!’ was the only thing on her mind.

’Since I can bring investment to the production, the female lead might be a long shot, but they have to give me the second or third female lead, right?’

’What’s been going on with me lately? Nothing but good luck!’

Seeing Sang Yuan still going on and on with his "thank yous," Ni Bingyan, who wasn’t a petty person, told him directly:

"You’re not the one asking me for help; you’re the one helping me out in a huge way. If this works out, my chances of landing the role will be even better! If I get it, I’ll definitely treat you to a meal!"

Now, Sang Yuan was genuinely happy too.

’She was the star of this movie in my past life. Even if something unexpected happens in this life, I’ll be watching over it. I’m definitely getting that meal!’

’Sigh, we just finished one meal together, and the next one is already waiting.’

’I’m one step closer to waking up and seeing her first thing in the morning!’

Sang Yuan was thrilled and gave his performance today a perfect ten.

Having settled the matter, both of them were in high spirits.

They happily finished dinner and went straight home.

Since it was on the way and Sang Yuan had just had a beer, Ni Bingyan generously gave him a ride.

Duanmu Li sighed as she drove the two of them back.

Right after dropping him off and leaving the residential complex, she called Wei Shuojie and explained the situation in detail.

**

A head agent like Wei Shuojie usually had a very heavy workload.

Besides connecting her artist with film and television resources, she also had to find endorsement deals and arrange various events.

If there were major events like film festivals or charity galas, she also had to oversee her client’s hair and makeup, borrow jewelry for her, and borrow gowns. The number of miscellaneous tasks was endless.

Once the artist had her own studio or became more famous, the head agent would also be responsible for managing her team.

That was why Wei Shuojie wasn’t always by her side.

The person who was always with her now was her personal assistant, Duanmu Li. In the future, when things got busier, there would also be an executive agent responsible for accompanying her on set and to public appearances.

Duanmu Li was an employee of the management agency. In addition to assisting Ni Bingyan with her work, she was also responsible for monitoring her.

If she broke the law or did something immoral, Duanmu Li had to communicate with the agent immediately so the company could react quickly and prevent its interests from being harmed.

If she started a relationship, she also had to inform the agent right away to prevent her from getting involved with the wrong person and ruining her own career.

A situation like this, with a suitor appearing, was a development that couldn’t be ignored.

How to handle it was up to the agent to decide; she was only responsible for reporting it.

This was why celebrities preferred to use their own relatives as assistants, even if the relatives were far less professional.

Wei Shuojie was already nursing a headache from a parent-teacher conference where the teacher had told her that her son’s grades were slipping. When she received the call, her brow furrowed into a knot.

"How did Bingbing act? Is she interested in that guy too?"

"No, Sister Bingbing actually dislikes him a little, but this deal is a good thing for both sides, which is why she’s planning to make the connection."

"Then don’t worry about it."

Wei Shuojie was about to hang up, but then she thought for a moment and added, "Still, keep a close eye on things, and find a chance to tell Bingbing what you’ve noticed. She’s not a muddle-headed person. She’ll be unhappy if we make decisions for her behind her back."

Seeing Wei Shuojie’s attitude, Duanmu Li also breathed a sigh of relief.

’It’s great that I don’t have to be caught in the middle.’

Just as she answered, "Okay," and was about to hang up, she heard Wei Shuojie say, "On second thought, never mind. Let me think about how to handle this. You just stay out of it for now."

She didn’t want her artist to date and increase the risk of her career tanking, but she also didn’t want to be the bad guy and damage her relationship with her client.

Duanmu Li couldn’t help but sigh to herself.

’It’s always easier to see things clearly from the outside.’

’If she were good at handling these kinds of problems, the incident with Granny Sun back then wouldn’t have gotten so out of hand.’

Duanmu Li agreed and hung up the phone.

Wei Shuojie, however, agonized over it for a long time.

Ni Bingyan, unaware of all this, went home, took a shower, and happily went to sleep.

The next morning, she went to the set to film as usual.

Right now, they were mainly filming Liang Hongying’s work life, which was all indoor scenes. The location was still that same film and television studio lot.

For her, this was the most relaxing period of the shoot.

The commute was short, there were few location changes, and it was all dialogue-heavy scenes. Even with a lot of lines, she wasn’t afraid.

Her memory was excellent, and she had undergone professional memory training, so she was very good at it.

Over the next few days, Director Deng focused on filming her scenes. Because she was so well-prepared and the set arrangements didn’t take much time, the pace of filming sped up considerably. In the end, they smoothly finished all the scenes at this location several days ahead of schedule.

For the next few days, until they moved to the new location to shoot the campus scenes during the National Day holiday, she didn’t need to be on set.

She originally thought she’d have to ask for time off to shoot the lipstick endorsement, but now she could go directly.

Celebrity endorsements are generally divided into three types.

One is a portrait endorsement, commonly known as a "photo-supply" deal.

After signing the contract, the artist’s side selects a few high-definition photos for licensing. The brand is then free to print them on packaging, photoshop them onto their products, or use them for promotion on platforms like Weibo and public accounts.

Another type is a print endorsement, which involves taking photos according to the brand’s requirements.

For example, holding the company’s product, wearing specific clothes as requested, and so on. This creates a much better overall fit with the product, but because it increases the artist’s workload, the endorsement fee is also higher.

The last type is a media endorsement, which requires shooting a certain number of commercials according to the client’s demands. Compared to the other two, this adds advertising channels like television, making it the most expensive type.

The lipstick endorsement Ni Bingyan had accepted was the most expensive kind.