Chapter 417: Chapter 329: You Know, I Know
"The progress of the shooting is much slower than expected," Zhou Yun said on the phone to Zhou Lan. "Brother Shen was delayed by food poisoning and had to be hospitalized for a day, and now Meng Ran has gone to record a show and can’t return. We’ve adjusted the shooting tasks temporarily, but the progress has been significantly delayed. Previously, it was said that I would only shoot for two weeks, but now it seems that the two weeks won’t be enough."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Lan said, "I’ll go and negotiate with the crew, so it won’t drag on too long for you."
"Um, if it’s because of Brother Shen’s food poisoning and we need to extend the shooting time, I think it’s fine to delay for a few days. But what I’m afraid of is that they want to wait for Meng Ran to come back. Today I only shot one scene, and for tomorrow’s schedule, there is still only one scene. If we continue like this, I estimate it’ll take a month to finish," Zhou Yun said.
Zhou Yun has already shot three movies, and "Warm Little Horse" is her fourth, but this one is the easiest she’s ever done. Just one or two scenes a day and then she can wrap up and return to the hotel.
She was even somewhat unaccustomed to such a relaxed pace.
It was clear that they could shoot faster. Looking at the crew’s schedule, Shen Yao didn’t have more than two scenes more than her either. Either she was being overly sensitive since it was her first time shooting a film and this was just the usual slow pace, or the crew, despite being truly upset about Meng Ran leaving the cast, was deliberately slowing down the shooting pace before Meng Ran returned.
She and Shen Yao clearly had more scenes to shoot together. Without Meng Ran, they could’ve arranged to shoot these scenes first.
The stories all took place in a hair salon, without any extra requirements.
Zhou Yun couldn’t figure it out and could only take the current arrangement as the crew’s "plan," creating an atmosphere that the crew wasn’t completely halted due to Meng Ran’s absence—if that were truly the case, she had no complaints, and Zhou Lan would come over to handle it.
Zhou Yun’s time was valuable, not to be wasted just waiting for Meng Ran.
What made her anxious was that Meng Ran hadn’t returned after leaving the cast for three days.
She still only shot one scene that day.
She pressed her doubts and dissatisfaction down in her heart and waited for Zhou Lan to come and deal with it.
In the evening, after Zhou Lan spoke with the producer, she came to see Zhou Yun.
The first thing she did when she came in was to take off her high heels.
"Damn it, my feet are going to be ruined."
Zhou Yun poured a glass of water for Zhou Lan and asked, "What was the outcome?"
Zhou Lan said, "Meng Ran won’t be able to return for at least a week."
"What? The producer told you this?" Zhou Yun said, greatly surprised.
She hadn’t expected that.
Zhou Lan said, "Of course not. Why would they tell me this news? I found out myself. Meng Ran didn’t go to record a show at all; her company secured her a cameo in another movie, which will take five days."
"Another movie? Do they know about that here?" Zhou Yun asked.
Zhou Lan said, "I guess they do. The movie she’s doing a cameo in is also produced by the production company of this movie."
"..." Zhou Yun had a look of disbelief, "So, the only reason we’ve been deliberately delaying the filming schedule is to wait for Meng Ran’s return?"
No wonder they only had her shoot one scene a day.
Zhou Yun felt a surge of anger.
Zhou Lan nodded, "That seems to be the case."
"Why would they do that?" Zhou Yun frowned, "We’re all just waiting for her?"
Zhou Lan shook her head, "Of course we can’t wait. We initially only gave two weeks of our schedule. If we have to stay another week because of Meng Ran, who’s going to compensate for the lost time? I’ve already told the producer today, if the shooting continues at this pace from tomorrow, once the time is up, they have to either pay us the additional shooting fee as per the contract, or we leave the production."
Zhou Yun nodded.
Zhou Lan said, "This is all due to indulgence."
"If Brother Shen didn’t have food poisoning, would Meng Ran still have left?" Zhou Yun asked.
"Of course, this kind of thing must have been arranged well in advance," Zhou Lan said, "If it weren’t for Shen Yao’s food poisoning, they would have come up with some other excuse, like taking a leave of absence or something."
"If that’s the case, why not tell us early to adjust the shooting schedule instead of having a bunch of people waiting here for her?" Zhou Yun asked angrily.
Zhou Lan smiled, patted Zhou Yun’s cheek, and said, "It’s because they had you signed on, they stumbled upon a treasure. If they had changed the shooting dates, we would have a legitimate reason not to shoot this film, and of course, they are afraid you wouldn’t perform."
Zhou Yun was dumbfounded; she didn’t expect things could work out this way.
"Well, it’s okay. From their perspective, I also understand why they do this. They want to take advantage on all fronts, but we can’t be kept in the dark and treated like fools," Zhou Lan said. "Wang Jing also faced a similar issue, but for Wang Jing, it was a blessing in disguise. The lead actress of ’Dark Sky’ secretly took on another movie, running back and forth, causing a lot of trouble for ’Dark Sky.’ Now the scriptwriter is pulling a lot of the lead actress’s scenes to give to Wang Jing."
After hearing this, Zhou Yun pursed her lips and said, "How oddly would that turn out when shot?"
Zhou Lan said, "For the crew, when facing such a thing, they either have to trouble the lead actress for compensation, or they can only mitigate the damages and find a way to complete the shooting and get it aired. If they choose the former, they also face a risk. In the current policy environment, if the lead actress exposes problems with professional ethics, even the whole show might not be aired, as the main cast could be considered to have ethical issues."
"..." Zhou Yun was shocked, "Isn’t that a paradox? Instead of exposing the lead actress’s lack of professionalism, it seems to encourage that behavior, as they don’t have to face any punishment."
Zhou Lan shrugged her shoulders, "That’s why they dare to do so."
Zhou Yun said, "Then, wouldn’t Gu Huaichun be extremely vexed?"
Zhou Lan nodded, "Definitely vexed, but there’s no choice but to continue shooting."
Zhou Yun shook her head in disbelief, mimicking Zhou Lan’s catchphrase, "They are truly spoiled."
Zhou Lan smiled, stayed the night there, and left early the next morning.
Zhou Yun received the new schedule, and finally, her shooting returned to normal.
On the set, no one raised any objections about the sudden change in the schedule, even Shen Yao acted as if nothing had happened, performing the scenes with her, laughing and joking as usual.
Zhou Yun suddenly felt dispirited.
The more everything seemed unchanged, the more it made her realize that she was the only one kept in the dark before.
Even the friendly smile on Liu Yuqian’s face made her feel false, like winter sunshine.
That evening, an explosive report suddenly appeared online, pushing Meng Ran, who had been absent from the set for several days, into the eye of the storm.
The news that Meng Ran’s absence had delayed the crew’s shooting somehow leaked out and spread uncontrollably.