Since she had made up her mind to invest, Shu Qingqing hesitated no more. After going back, she contacted the director on WeChat to schedule the contract signing for the next day.
The next morning, both of them arrived right on time. After signing the contract, Shu Qingqing thought her business there was done, but the director didn't let her leave.
"Qingqing, why don't you come with me to audition some actors?"
Shu Qingqing was taken aback for a moment. "Audition what actors?"
Director Fang said, "For the female lead of our 'Limited Heartbeat'! Since Feifei left, we need to quickly recruit a new female lead so we don't delay the shooting schedule."
Director Fang then explained a lot more to her, mentioning that even though they were changing the lead actress, some of the previously shot footage could still be used.
"Plus, the location we rented costs money every day, so we need to lock in our female lead as soon as possible."
Only then did Shu Qingqing learn that the shooting period for a short drama was usually about half a month, or at most twenty-odd days.
A sense of urgency crept up on her. "Then let's hurry up and go to the auditions, Director."
Director Fang took her to his studio. As soon as they walked in, Shu Qingqing saw that many actresses were already waiting.
The audition process quickly began.
Director Fang had the actresses perform the most exciting scene in the script: the male and female leads arguing over a misunderstanding caused by the supporting female character.
The original author had written this scene brilliantly. When Shu Qingqing read it, her heart clenched, and she had wanted nothing more than to jump into the book, clear up the misunderstanding for the leads, and beat up the supporting female character while she was at it.
Therefore, she remembered this plot point vividly.
However, throughout the entire morning, they auditioned a total of seven actresses, but none of them managed to capture the feeling Shu Qingqing had in mind.
Initially, Shu Qingqing thought her standards were just too high. To her surprise, when she asked Director Fang, he also shook his head repeatedly, saying that he hadn't seen an ideal candidate either.
The two had no choice but to wait to continue the auditions in the afternoon.
Just as they were about to leave, Liu Piaopiao knocked and entered.
"Director, Mrs. Lu, are the auditions over?"
Director Fang replied, "They're over. We were just talking about going to grab some lunch. Come with us."
Liu Piaopiao gripped the script in her hands tightly. "Director, Mrs. Lu, could you give me a chance? I want to audition for the female lead."
Hearing this, Director Fang was taken aback for a moment before he began to hesitate. "You want to play the female lead? Then what about the second female lead? Besides, if we do that, almost all the footage we've shot so far will be unusable."
Liu Piaopiao had mustered up a lot of courage to volunteer herself. Hearing the director's response, she shrank back a little.
Shu Qingqing took the script from her hands, looked through it, and handed it to Director Fang.
Director Fang flipped through a few pages. Inside, there were highlights in two different colors of marker, along with many handwritten annotations. "You memorized the female lead's lines too?"
Liu Piaopiao nodded. "Because I have a lot of scenes with the female lead, and Feifei often forgot her lines, I memorized her lines too so I could remind her. But Director, I really love the character design of the female lead, which is why I wanted to put myself forward."
Shu Qingqing put down her bag and sat back in her previous seat. "Director Fang, let her try. The worst-case scenario is that we find a new second female lead. We have to hold auditions anyway. Plus, since you have a new investor in me, it's the perfect time to start fresh. You don't need to worry about the money."
For some reason, Shu Qingqing had a feeling that Liu Piaopiao could play the female lead well.
Not just because of the hard work she had put in privately, but also because she had a fighting spirit.
Director Fang already had a good impression of Liu Piaopiao, and with Shu Qingqing making such a promise, he hesitated no longer and took Liu Piaopiao straight to audition.
Five minutes later, Liu Piaopiao finished her audition.
Shu Qingqing felt that Liu Piaopiao interpreted the character perfectly, but since Director Fang hadn't spoken yet, it wasn't her place to speak first.
The room was quiet for a few seconds before applause suddenly broke out. "Piaopiao, that was a fantastic performance. The role of the female lead is yours."
Liu Piaopiao cried tears of excitement, and Shu Qingqing joined in the applause.
The audition for the second female lead in the afternoon was also very successful.
Director Fang immediately announced that they would start reshooting the next day.
Since there was still time in the afternoon, Director Fang called the wardrobe and props teams to organize their things.
Out of curiosity, Shu Qingqing followed along.
But when she saw the row of clothes on the racks in the room, she couldn't help but frown. "Director Fang, these aren't the clothes the female lead will be wearing, are they?"
Director Fang nodded. "They are. Piaopiao has a great figure, so she should be able to fit into all of them."
Shu Qingqing pulled out a few pieces to look at, and her frown deepened. These clothes were a mess of all sorts of styles, but the female lead was supposed to be a pure and resilient innocent girl. These clothes didn't match her character design at all.
Moreover, heaven knew how many production crews had borrowed these clothes before. Not only were some of them pilling, but several pieces even had loose threads.
"Director Fang, these clothes won't do. We're aiming to produce a high-quality boutique drama, and these clothes will only lower our standards."
Director Fang scratched his head. "I know what you mean, but I was trying to save on the budget. Plus, going out to buy new clothes would waste a lot of time."
Shu Qingqing really wanted to tell him to just go buy them and not worry about the money, but she suddenly realized: wasn't she in the clothing business herself?
If the drama became a hit, the female lead's outfits could become a trend. Wouldn't that be a win-win situation?
Shu Qingqing immediately called Feng Xiangdi and asked her to have someone deliver a batch of clothes for Liu Piaopiao to try on.
Feng Xiangdi delivered the clothes personally. By combining them with Shu Qingqing's explanation of the character design, they mixed and matched, finally settling on ten outfits.
Among these ten outfits, three were brand new styles they had just picked up from the factory and were planning to launch. Shu Qingqing immediately discussed it with Feng Xiangdi, deciding to hold off on releasing these three sets until the day the short drama premiered.
After that, Shu Qingqing followed Director Fang to prepare some other things before they finally began shooting again.
However, a new problem quickly emerged.
The male lead was great when acting opposite the female lead, but as soon as the scene switched to business warfare, his performance was immediately full of holes.
Aside from minor issues with his lines, more importantly, the male lead failed to portray the decisive and ruthless aura of a domineering CEO.
Director Fang hadn't interacted with many CEOs, and the ones he knew were the type with beer bellies and bald heads. He didn't really know what a true domineering CEO was like, so he humbly asked Shu Qingqing for advice: "What exactly is the feeling supposed to be?"
Shu Qingqing used several idioms to describe it, but Director Fang still didn't understand. "I think our male lead is doing pretty well. Why don't we just let it pass?"
Shu Qingqing, however, did not nod.
Just as she was thinking about how to explain it clearly to Director Fang, her phone dinged with a notification.
It was a message from Lu Bochuan, asking her what she was doing.
Shu Qingqing suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Why struggle to explain it? If she brought a real domineering CEO over, wouldn't Director Fang understand immediately?
