Hollywood:Starting out as an MV director

The next day, as Reggie stood in Tristan's office listening to him summarize the bids, he was a bit dazed.

Because he heard the name of Supreme Creativity.

"California, highest bid $75 million, Supreme Creativity."

Reggie looked at their bid sheet twice, then his expression grew complicated.

"Didn't expect this..." he murmured.

"I didn't expect it either," Tristan said, sitting on the sofa holding the bid sheet. "It's only $500,000 more than Crown Creativity, and Crown Creativity is $500,000 higher than Ogilvy Advertising. Look at this coincidence—if this gets out, these companies will regret it, haha."

He laughed and then went over the other bids.

Crown Creativity won New York and Florida, Ogilvy secured Texas with a second price increase, but everyone in the room agreed that Supreme Creativity was the real winner.

Because California's advertising channels were the most complete, and it was the only channel that balanced income and expenses. Perhaps it just lacked a bit of innovation.

Unfortunately, International United Media couldn't wait any longer, the new leadership was eager to shift into the internet space and make a big move, so their subordinates naturally had to help them solve problems.

When this news spread, Supreme Creativity's office was filled with cheers.

"Fernando, you're our greatest contributor," in the office, Ethan raised his champagne glass and clinked it with a few others, with Caden pouring drinks for them.

Fernando's beard trembled with a smile. "But honestly, the most crucial part was your decision, Ethan. If you hadn't prepared three bids, we wouldn't have had any chance this time."

"Exactly!" Jimmy downed his champagne. "When I heard that guy mention $74.5 million, I just kept thinking, 'Oh my God!'"

"I didn't expect Crown Creativity to be so powerful, and Sig is their CEO," Ethan said, pursing his lips. "Looks like the New York advertising market is going to get tough."

"Sig? The IPD executive? He's just a defeated general. Ethan, just like before, we'll beat him with creativity," Jimmy said dismissively.

"Do you remember what I once said? To underestimate the enemy strategically..."

"Respect them tactically, Ethan, I remember," Jimmy followed up, shrugging. "But I don't think we need to take Crown Creativity that seriously. Our businesses don't overlap that much."

Supreme Creativity focused on high-end brands and industry leaders, while Crown Creativity concentrated on small and medium-sized businesses and mass-market companies. There was some overlap, but overall, the two could coexist.

But Ethan had a sense of crisis.

"No, Jimmy, listen to this name—Crown Creativity. Now think about our name, Supreme Creativity." Ethan waved his fingers. "Their intentions are very clear. They want to replace our position. That name is no coincidence."

"Hmm... that makes sense, Crown means Supreme, right?" Jimmy touched his mouth, grinning. "Looks like we have a challenger."

"But for now, that's not important. What matters is the management of California's advertising channels. Fernando..."

Meanwhile, in a quiet corner of the building downstairs, a girl with light yellow hair, wearing a speckled sparrow-style outfit, was smoking and cautiously watching her surroundings while answering a call.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't expect him to prepare three bids."

"Wiretap? No, no, no, Ethan is very cautious. I always have to have a good excuse when I get close to his office. And I can never stay too long."

"Tonight? After everyone leaves? Maybe, but it's a little dangerous. Please, I'm a Corporate spy, not 007."

"The client is willing to increase the price? How much? $150,000? Alright, I'll take the job."

The girl hung up, quickly smoked two puffs, then stuffed her phone into her chest to make it look fuller.

As she walked into the customer service area, she called out to a girl standing by the wall, "Rachel, do you want to get a haircut this weekend? My ends are a little frayed."

"Oh... sorry, I've got some things this weekend," Rachel replied with a fake smile before quietly cursing under her breath.

Looking around at the other customer service girls, all dressed up, thinking about how to seduce the company's bosses and managers as if their lives depended on men, Rachel felt disgusted. She felt uncomfortable speaking to them every time.

But there was nothing she could do. She still had to continue working. She needed to gather enough dirt or help her employer bring down the company to leave.

That's the duty of a Corporate spy.

Unfortunately, Ethan was too mysterious, and his office was off-limits.

If she had the opportunity to install a wiretap, she wouldn't have missed the critical information about Supreme Creativity's three bids.

Honestly, if Jimmy hadn't hand-written the bid amounts, she wouldn't have been able to slip in with her prepared client information and see that number.

What she didn't expect was that this was just one of the numbers.

The company was furious about this failure, but there was nothing they could do. The easiest way to join Supreme Creativity was to be a customer service girl.

But Jimmy's standards were high. Luckily, Rachel was indeed beautiful, which caught his attention.

Thinking about how she might have to sell her looks made Rachel sigh.

And thinking about the weekend night spy activities, sneaking into Ethan's office to install the wiretap, made her want to sigh even more.

At the same time, Ethan received a call from the Memoirs of a Geisha film crew, saying that the actors had been assembled, and the main female roles would undergo a five-month training session in Los Angeles, including Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, and some supporting roles.

Although Ethan thought Zhang Ziyi's acting wasn't perfect, compared to other actresses, she could at least fully express the purity and stubbornness of the character

For Ethan, his concern was how to help her understand and perform the concept of elegance.

As for the film's male lead, Ethan ultimately passed on Chow Yun-fat, because his appearance didn't fit the image of a Japanese man, too round.

Perhaps due to weight gain, his face wasn't as sharp as Ken Watanabe's.

But Ethan didn't want to use Ken Watanabe either, so after some thinking, he suddenly remembered someone.

Zhen Long.

He hadn't thought of him before because Ethan always felt that Zhen Long didn't belong to this era. But after watching his performance in the 2001 film Rush Hour, Ethan felt Zhen Long was also quite suited for the role of the president.

Although he was already 52 years old, his skin care kept him looking very young.

And his elegance was so captivating that even now, he could charm a group of twenty-year-old girls.

So Ethan had the casting director contact Zhen Long to check his availability.

Meanwhile, the original male lead, Ken Watanabe, was assigned the role of the businessman Shinjō, who admires Xiao Baihe in the latter half of the film.

Thinking about the contrast between Zhen Long and Ken Watanabe's looks, it made more sense for Xiao Baihe to wait for Zhen Long for years.

Because the crew's notice came suddenly, Ethan's flight was scheduled for the evening.

But before heading to the airport, he asked Tom to take him to the company first to pick up some materials.

"Wait here," Ethan said as he entered Supreme Creativity's door.

Tom nodded and waited by the car.

Upstairs, Rachel was climbing through the window, wearing black yoga pants that tightly wrapped around her figure like a nimble cat, sneaking into the company.

The office was empty, only moonlight shining on the floor, illuminating half of the wall.

Rachel twisted her neck and approached the office door, trying the door lock.

Sure enough, it was locked.

Rachel pulled out the lock-picking tool she had prepared and fiddled with it for a moment.

"Click." The door opened.

She carefully pushed the door open, scanning the room and finding Ethan's office to be very neat, with only a computer and a few documents on the desk.

Just as she was about to approach the desk to find a spot to install the wiretap, footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door.

"Damn!" Rachel hissed quietly, nervously looking around for a place to hide, then suddenly remembered she hadn't locked the door properly. She hurried back to the door and locked it again.

"What now!" She pressed against the wall in panic. This was her first time doing something like this, and she was quite inexperienced.

But the footsteps grew louder.

"Guess this is it!" Rachel bit her lip, making up her mind.

"Click..." Ethan opened the door with his key, humming a Taylor Swift song.

Recently, under Nathan's guidance, Taylor Swift had been improving rapidly, and her new album was already planned. The songs written were getting better, and Ethan found himself getting a little obsessed with them.

He turned on the lights in the office, walked to the desk to pick up the two documents, and subconsciously glanced at the chair behind the desk.

"Tap tap tap." The sound of leather shoes grew closer. Hidden under the desk, Rachel didn't dare to make a sound.

Her entire body was curled up, back pressed to the floor, knees tucked to her chest, watching Ethan's legs in front of her, afraid that his face might appear next.

But Ethan didn't do that. He simply picked up the documents, rummaged through the drawer for something, and then left the office.

After waiting for a while, hearing the footsteps fade away, Rachel sighed in relief and crawled

"Really unlucky," Rachel muttered as she looked around the dark office, not daring to waste any more time. She quickly installed the bug under the chair and then sneaked out of the office.

Once at the window, she climbed up the window frame onto the water pipe and slowly descended using the prepared ladder.

When everything was silently completed, Rachel finally relaxed.

She turned and walked down the alley to the street, cautiously checking her surroundings. Seeing no one, she hopped onto her motorcycle and sped off.

"Vroom!" The sound of the motorcycle grew fainter.

At that moment, two people in a car parked by the side of the road suddenly sat up.

Tom glanced at the taillight of the motorcycle. "Should I go after her?"

"No need," Ethan chuckled. "I just didn't expect that someone would use such a method against me."

His vision and memory were beyond ordinary, and he clearly remembered the angle and position of the chair before he left the office.

But just now, he had noticed that the chair had been moved.

So, after going downstairs, he immediately walked around the building and found a ladder.

Now that he was certain of the spy's identity, Ethan wasn't worried anymore.

Because once the bugging was out in the open, the initiative would no longer belong to the other side.

"Tell Jimmy to investigate this girl's background and secretly gather evidence. Make sure not to show any different attitude toward her," Ethan said, tapping his knee with his fingers. "I also want to see who's behind this investigation of us."

"Understood," Tom nodded and then drove Ethan to the airport.

After Ethan arrived in Los Angeles and rested for a night at the hotel, he went to the training grounds rented by the film crew.

Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li were already receiving guidance from their teacher.

When Ethan walked into the training room, he saw them sitting on tatami mats in their everyday clothes, tossing fans.

The two fans were like circus props in the teacher's hands, skillfully flipping up and down, dazzling to watch.

But when the fans were in the actors' hands, they went straight up and down, thrown out clumsily, rolling on the floor in all directions, looking extremely awkward.

Ethan stood beside and observed their training as the technical director, Lisa, walked over. "Ethan, we'll be relying on you soon."

There were two purposes for Ethan's appearance here. One was to give the actors a preview of their roles and help them understand their character's state. The other was to confirm the final looks for the actors.

"It's no problem…" Ethan nodded and asked, "How's the progress on the racetrack construction?"

"The main building is done, but the decorations and setup will take some more time."

"I see."

The production of Little Miss Sunshine had officially wrapped and entered post-production.

Ethan planned to have it participate in film festivals first, then release it for distribution.

This approach worked best for small-budget films and was also beneficial for Oscar competition.

The teacher continued guiding Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li for 40 minutes. Next, the makeup artist took over for the final styling session.

Rob and Steven also arrived at the scene.

Not everyone would stay for the full five months. After a month of intensive training, Ethan and his team would leave, and the actors could continue learning in batches.

The final makeup session lasted three hours, after which the main cast settled on their general looks, and the makeup artist would continue fine-tuning them.

Next was Ethan's lesson session.

This was a focused acting training, especially for Zhang Ziyi.

"Come on, take a look at this script and try to perform it," Ethan said, expressionless, as he handed the script to Zhang Ziyi.

Zhang Ziyi took a deep breath. Since the last time she had been scolded by Ethan, she had done a lot of homework.

Now was the moment to show her skills; she was going to impress Ethan with her acting.

.....

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