Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 357 The winner of the “Best Screenwriter” award is…

"Tongtong, I'm hungry, food~~"

"Don't shout so disgustingly! Come and help me get it."

Li Yitong walked into the house with a takeaway bag and shouted in annoyance.

"okay!"

Jin Chen, who was originally lying on the sofa, immediately responded and stood up to help set the food aside.

Don’t ask her why she is with Li Yitong again. The answer is that she has no job now and can only rely on her best friend for food and drinks.

Since she lost the lawsuit against Tangren at the beginning of the year, the conflict between her and the company has been completely torn apart. From the beginning of the year to now, not only has the company itself had no resources, but even her attempts to get some external dramas have been rejected with excuses.

In this case, Jin Chen simply gave up. Anyway, there was still half a year left on the contract, so he could just bear with it.

By the way, she has been preparing for a second-instance appeal. Although she knows it is useless, she just wants to disgust the company.

Li Yitong took a sip of the takeaway soup and asked casually, "What time is it now?"

"It's about eight o'clock... half past eight."

"Half past eight? Turn on the TV, turn on the TV!"

Li Yitong hurriedly looked for the remote control to turn on the TV, and then tuned to Dragon TV. On the large TV screen, the opening scene of the "24th Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Award" flashed by.

"It's okay, it's okay." Li Yitong breathed a sigh of relief, "It just started."

Jin Chen, who was standing by, looked at her nervous expression and asked in confusion, "Why, has any of your dramas been selected?"

"No. If I did, you shouldn't be seeing me on TV right now."

"Then why are you so excited...ah——" Jin Chen suddenly realized, "Is it the drama starring Teacher Meng?"

Li Yitong nodded.

"Don't be so anxious. Teacher Meng's nominations are at the end. You can still check them in an hour."

"It's already started, so let's just take a look and see the process." Li Yitong smiled, "In case we have to go to the site in the future, let's familiarize ourselves with it in advance."

“Oh, I love hearing this.”

The two girls sat side by side on the carpet, chatting while watching the awards ceremony. However, as Jin Chen said, most of the first half of the ceremony were awards in niche fields, and there were no performances, which looked very boring.

It wasn't until the "Best Art" award began that they finally perked up.

"It's a pity that I didn't win the prize." Li Yitong pursed her lips, "The judges' taste is too poor."

Jin Chen glanced at her. Not to mention the nominated dramas, even if "Dream of Red Mansions" was taken out now, she would probably think it was not as good as "Peace Hotel".

After the two technical awards were presented, the first important award of this year's Magnolia Awards, the "Best Supporting Actress" selection, followed.

"Eh?"

As he watched, Jin Chen suddenly let out a surprised cry, then he touched Li Yitong beside him with a teasing expression. When she looked over, he pointed at the screen.

The TV was playing a segment about Li Qin from "White Deer Plain".

"What?"

"Nothing, I just didn't expect she would be nominated as well."

"If there is, then there is. 'White Deer Plain' is a serious period drama. It is normal to have a nomination." Li Yitong looked nonchalant.

She just turned around and looked at the stills of Li Qin on the screen, and the corners of her mouth curled up unconsciously.

The award presenters for the Best Supporting Actress award were Zheng Kai and Chen Qiaoen. As the screen of the nominated TV series ended, Chen Qiaoen glanced at the card in her hand and said directly without any sense of suspense: "The winner of the Best Supporting Actress Award is Xu Di from My First Half of Life."

"it is good!"

Li Yitong shouted, and when her best friend looked over, she continued calmly, "What a pity!"

Jin Chen: (*￣︶￣)

Li Yitong pretended not to see it. At this moment, the camera was focused on the vicinity of the "My First Half of Life" crew. She immediately saw Meng Bai in the corner of the screen, who seemed to be looking down at his phone.

Are you not nervous at all?
She thought about it, took out her phone, and started sending messages to Meng Bai.

Li Yitong: [The results are about to be announced, you look quite relaxed. ]

Meng Bai: [Are you watching the live broadcast? ]

Li Yitong: [Yes, I just happened to see you secretly playing with your phone. ]

Meng Bai: [Who said I was playing with my phone? I was checking to see if anyone hadn't sent me a message. I'll write it down in my notebook and give them a hard time one by one.]

"puff--"

Li Yitong looked at Meng Bai's reply and couldn't help laughing.

Jin Chen glanced at his friend who was smiling brightly, rolled his eyes, and said coldly: "Don't say I didn't remind you, the 'Best Supporting Actress' and 'Best Supporting Actor' are over, it's your teacher Meng's 'Best Screenwriter'."

“Is it finally here?”

Li Yitong cheered up and sent Meng Bai another "come on", then stopped disturbing him and waited quietly for the awards to be announced.
-
[The awards ceremony is about to begin. I won’t bother you yet. I’ll congratulate you after you finish. ]

[It's just a small white magnolia, not Cannes or Oscars. I'm not nervous, why should you be nervous? ]

[It’s the first grand prize anyway, I’ll take the rest later. ]

[Okay, take two at a time, I'll keep one and give you one.]

[Okay. (I believe you.JPG)]

Meng Bai looked at the cute emoticons sent by Song Zhi and chuckled. Then he ignored the row of small red dots on WeChat and put away his phone.

On the stage, Yu Hewei, who had just won the "Best Supporting Actor" award for his role as "Cao Cao" in "The Advisors Alliance", was giving his acceptance speech.

After he finished, the award for "Best Screenwriter" was presented.

Meng Bai took a deep breath. Although he said he didn't care, when the time came, his emotions were still a little fluctuating.

Qin Lan beside him sensed his change, tilted his head towards him and whispered, "Are you nervous?"

"Rather than being nervous, I'm more excited." Meng Bai smiled confidently.

Regardless of whether we win the award or not, our main focus is to have a good attitude.

Yu Hewei is also a middle-aged actor who has won many awards. He is very experienced in giving acceptance speeches and his speech ended in a neither too long nor too short time.

"... Next we will announce the winner of the 'Best Screenwriter Award'. Please welcome the award presenters, one is Gao Qunshu, a judge of this year's TV drama unit, and the other is the famous actor Huang Zhizhong. Let's give them a round of applause."

The two award presenters came on stage and said a few words to each other, and then the five films nominated for this year's Magnolia "Best Screenplay" flashed one by one on the big screen.

"I am Sima Yi, the son of Sima Fang..."

"The two most important people to me are together..."

"Let them know that the land is our lifeblood..."

"If we don't beat Sha Zhu down, we won't have any prestige in this courtyard..."

"Time, no matter how cruel you are, my love will live forever in my poems - Shakespeare!"

The picture on the big screen froze on Qin Hao's "wronged" face in the play, and the lights on the scene brightened again.

Meng Bai leaned forward and looked at Qin Wen who was not far away. Coincidentally, his senior sister also looked over. The two smiled politely and then retreated.

The cantilever camera passed overhead, aiming at Gao Qunshu on the stage and the winner card in his hand.

As the cards were slowly opened, countless people at the scene and in front of the live broadcast fell silent, waiting quietly for the awards to be announced.

"The winner of this year's Magnolia Award for Best Screenwriter is..."

Director Gao Qunshu paused as usual, then looked at the camera and the audience.

"...Peace Hotel, Meng Bai!" "Yeah!!!!"

Before Meng Bai could react, Qin Lan cheered loudly.

"We got one, so we won't lose out now!"

"congratulations!"

"Congratulations, Mr. Meng."

"..."

Meng Bai was immediately surrounded by countless voices of congratulations. Meng Bai stood up and bowed to everyone around him.

As his eyes flashed, he saw Li Qin standing not far in front of him, clapping at him with a smile on her face.

Meng Bai raised his eyebrows at her, but the jib camera was facing him and there was no time, so he couldn't say anything.

The classic BGM of the Magnolia Awards, "Songs and Smiles", came from the speakers on the scene, and he walked quickly onto the stage along the steps of the guest seats.

"Congratulations."

“Congratulations on winning the award.”

Gao Qunshu and Huang Zhizhong handed the rolled-up trophy certificates to Meng Bai respectively, congratulated him, and then walked to the side, leaving the main stage entirely to him.

Meng Bai looked down at the golden magnolia trophy in his hand. He had no idea what it was made of. It was lighter than he had imagined.

I finally got it! He sighed in his heart.

Whether it was because of previous connections, the quality of the show, or because the judges gave higher ratings to original scripts...

In short, he has indeed won this year's Magnolia Best Screenwriter Award.

But now was not the time for him to think too much. He walked to the microphone with the trophy in one hand and the certificate in the other, and began the speech he had prepared long ago.

"Hello everyone, I am Meng Bai, the producer and screenwriter of Peace Hotel. Many friends may know that we have been making web dramas before. Peace Hotel is our first TV drama project. I didn't expect to be so lucky to be favored by the Magnolia Awards. I am very grateful to our organizers and judges."

This statement may sound a bit crazy, but no one thinks there is anything wrong with it, after all, it is telling the truth.

Furthermore, his age is there. At 28, he is barely on the tail of "young people". He is even probably the youngest winner of the "Best Screenwriter" in the history of the Magnolia Awards. It is normal for him to be a little crazy.

"Thanks to the entire Peace Hotel production team, thank you to our director Yang Lei, thank you to sister Qin Lan and teacher Qin Hao for their wonderful performances, thank you..."

The main content of an acceptance speech is to express gratitude and tribute. If it were another screenwriter, he might have to thank the producer, company and producer, but for Meng Bai, all of these are his own, so naturally he would not need to mention them.

"…Finally, I would like to thank a special friend. Although I was not able to sit with her today, she has been accompanying me and encouraging me. So I want to say, thank you!"

Meng Bai raised the trophy and waved his hand. However, his eyes were somewhat distracted, and it was unclear whether he was looking at the camera or the audience.

……

Li Qin, who was sitting in the audience, looked at Meng Bai's gaze and her cheeks suddenly blushed.

Although I couldn't mention their names because of her, I was the only one who "didn't sit together at the scene".

Humph, really, it’s so obvious, what’s the difference between that and just saying the name!

……

Jin Chen looked at Li Yitong, who was staring at the screen with her eyes curved into crescents, and shook his head, unable to bear it any longer.

But then again, Teacher Meng was so brave. There was another person sitting there who didn't speak for her, but instead mentioned her best friend.

What? You're not talking about Li Yitong? How is that possible!

Since they said “we weren’t able to be there together”, those who were there are naturally excluded.

"Do you think I should go to Shanghai tomorrow?" Li Yitong suddenly turned to ask Jin Chen.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to drop someone off from afar?" Jin Chen rolled his eyes. "The activity ends today, and I guess Teacher Meng will be back the day after tomorrow. If you go there now, you'll just end up missing out."

"Yeah, that's right." Li Yitong nodded, "Then I'll wait for him at home."

"..."

……

Lying on the bed, Song Zhi listened to Meng Bai's words coming from the live broadcast on his mobile phone, and immediately smiled.

As soon as the two of them finished sending WeChat messages, he said something like "I was just accompanying him and encouraging him", isn't this talking about himself!
"Hey!"

Halfway through her laughter, she lost control of her phone and it hit her in the face. However, Song Zhi didn't care at all, he touched the area that was hit, and then smiled foolishly at the screen again.

……

At the Magnolia Awards, as Meng Bai finished her acceptance speech, the next "Best Director" segment began.

Meng Bai sat back down and breathed a sigh of relief. On the way back, people he knew and didn't know congratulated him, and he could only smile and nod in greeting.

"Tsk tsk, it's different after winning the award. You can also confess your feelings on the spot." Qin Lan on the side joked.

"Isn't this a confession to you, sister?" Meng Bai said without hesitation.

"No, I can't afford it." Qin Lan waved his hand, "Besides, I'm sitting with you, so this doesn't meet the requirements."

"How is it not appropriate?" Meng Bai said, "You were sitting next to me, how can we sit together?"

Qin Lan was stunned: "So unless I sit on you, it's considered 'not sitting together', right?"

Meng Bai spread his hands: "It depends on how you like to understand it."

“Hmph, hmph—”

Qin Lan snorted twice, silently saying "scumbag" in her heart. But thinking of what he said before, she couldn't help but feel happy.

But she was only distracted for a moment and soon became nervous again.

The last two awards to be presented tonight are the remaining two nominations for "Peace Hotel", "Best Actress" and "Best TV Series".

Although it has been said before that only Meng Bai had a chance to win the "Best Screenwriter" award, at this point, everyone hopes there will be a few more miracles.

Unfortunately, their luck tonight seems to have run out.

This year's "Best Actress" award was finally given to Ma Yili, a Shanghai insider.

And the "Best TV Series" that Yang Lei had been eyeing was given to "White Deer Plain" without any surprise.

The 24th Magnolia Awards came to an end. Peace Hotel won one of the four nominations and successfully took a share of the prize.

Of course they had to celebrate after winning the prize. Although there were only three of them as the main creators and actors of the crew, there were also many other staff members of Arc Light.

As the new winner of the "Best Screenwriter" award, Meng Bai was not stingy. But it was a little late today, so we could only celebrate a little. We would have a proper celebration banquet when we got back to Beijing.

Before leaving, he found time to talk to Li Qin. Like him, the crew of "White Deer Plain", which won three awards, also wanted to celebrate. The two could only go about their own business and contact each other after returning to the hotel at night.

The Magnolia Awards ceremony began with admission at 6:30 p.m., officially started at 8:30 p.m., and ended at around 10 p.m., a total of more than four hours.

Especially for actresses like Qin Lan, in order to ensure the effect of makeup, they dare not eat after noon, and they are already very hungry now.

Meng Bai was behind the scenes, so he didn't have to worry about his image, so he ate a little before entering the venue. But young people have good metabolism, and with the energy consumption of more than four hours, the little he had eaten before was already digested.

The group found a nearby restaurant and had a quick bite to eat. When they returned to the hotel room, it was almost twelve o'clock.

After washing up in the house, Meng Bai sent another WeChat message to ask about Li Qin's progress. Fortunately, she also said that she was almost ready to come back.

Meng Bai casually placed the trophy and certificate he brought back on the table, took out his mobile phone, and began to reply to the blessing messages from his friends on WeChat.

I was just thinking about whether to post on WeChat Moments when a phone call suddenly came in.

He glanced at the caller's name.

It’s Meng Ziyi.

(End of this chapter)