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

Chapter 8: Handsome guys are starting to eat gigolos

North of Beijing, Sanlitun.

It is early September and the temperature has not dropped yet, and there is no coolness even at night.

Meng Bai sat on a bench by the roadside, his eyes unconsciously jumping from one simply dressed long-legged girl to another simply dressed big bear girl, while his mind was thinking about the results of the cooperation negotiations with various video websites in the past two days.

Just as Meng Bai told Li Qin that day, several websites were very interested in Meng Bai's scripts and his "development of video website and online self-made dramas", but when it came to actual investment, they all showed a cautious attitude.

Youku's response is similar to that of Qiyi TV before. For the time being, it only has plans for short dramas in its own series.

The person in charge of the Souhu Film and Television Project Department was very interested in Meng Bai's suspenseful and supernatural story, but he also admitted to Meng Bai that the website would only purchase finished films at present and had no plans to invest in production.

In comparison, Penguin Video, which Meng Bai had not had much hope for before, was very interested in this matter. The manager of the film and television department who was in contact with Meng Bai even talked to him for a long time about the future development of online dramas.

It was also from this manager that Meng Bai learned that Penguin Video had actually cooperated with Ciwen Media to launch a web drama adapted from a novel called "The Darker Side".

Ciwen Media is considered an old traditional film and television company in the industry. Zhou Xun's version of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Liu Tianxian's version of "The Return of the Condor Heroes", and the so-called "Little Fish and Flower" which is said to be "killed to the point where only the title is left" are all their works.

It can be seen from the representative works that Ciwen has bought the film and television copyrights of many popular novels, and they are waiting in line for film and television adaptations.

The same is true for "The Darker Side", which is a collaboration with Penguin Video this time. It is an adaptation of Zhou Haohui's best-selling novel series "Death Notice", a suspenseful criminal investigation novel focusing on social reasoning.

This project is still in the early stages of preparation. Penguin Video invested in this drama mainly to explore the path of online dramas in advance.

Because of this, although Penguin Video was very interested in Meng Bai's script and did not directly reject the investment, the answer given to Meng Bai was to "wait a little longer." Only after the broadcast results of "The Darker Side" came out could they consider Meng Bai's project.

"Huh——" Meng Bai sighed.

That's fine, think about it in a positive way, this is at least a way out. If there is really no other way, you can try Penguin Video again.

Now the only hope left is here at Leshi.com. I just don't know if the person I want to invite today can help me make an appointment with the person I want to meet.

"Hello, little brother."

A clear female voice interrupted Meng Bai's thoughts. He turned his head and looked in the direction of the voice. He saw a sweet-looking young girl standing next to the bench, blinking her big eyes at him.

"Is there anything wrong?" Meng Bai gave a warm smile.

"Um, I want to ask... Is Gongti in that direction?"

The girl's tone seemed a little nervous, and her cheeks were slightly flushed.

Meng Bai looked around the girl and looked behind her. Two girls of about her age were looking at her with mischievous expressions, as if they were watching the fun.

Meng Bai was distracted for a moment, then smiled knowingly. He didn't point it out, but just nodded and introduced: "That's right, go over there, go east at the first intersection."

"Okay, thank you." The girl paused, as if she had gathered up her courage, and continued, "Um...brother, can you add me on WeChat? In case I can't find it, I thought I could ask you again."

Such a familiar saying.

Meng Bai was in a trance for a moment.

I seem to have used the same excuse to chat up another girl before...

Memories flashed through his mind, and Meng Bai came back to his senses. Looking at the girl in front of him with a face full of anticipation, nervousness, and shyness, he smiled and said, "Sorry, I don't have WeChat. But my girlfriend does. You can add her and ask her when she comes over."

"You have a girlfriend!" the girl blurted out subconsciously, and then hurriedly said: "No, sorry, sorry to bother you, sorry to bother you..."

The girl apologized and walked away quickly, returning to her two friends who were still watching the fun, dragging them away. From a distance, she could still be heard saying to her friends: "Nan Nan, I said I wouldn't go over there, it's so embarrassing, she has a boyfriend..."

Watching a few girls who were at most college age leave, Meng Bai couldn't help but chuckle and sigh, it's great to be young. The little girls left, and a big woman came. A white Mercedes-Benz SUV stopped in front of Meng Bai, the main driver's window lowered, and a woman wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses stuck her head out and greeted him: "Meng Bai, here!"

Seeing that the person he was waiting for finally arrived, Meng Bai stood up. He couldn't stop the car on this road, so he didn't say much, raised his hand to respond, and quickly walked to the passenger side, opened the door and got in the car.

The girl who had just chatted with Meng Bai happened to turn around. Seeing this scene, she couldn't help but complain to her friend: "Wow, it's true... Nowadays, handsome guys have also started to live off women. What should we do?"

……

"I didn't realize, Xiao Meng, you're quite popular with girls!"

Meng Bai had just put on his seat belt and sat down when he heard the woman in the driver's seat speak in a teasing tone.

"Nothing." Meng Bai said in a tone of being accustomed to it: "It's just that her appearance is a bit ordinary."

"Oh, you're still pretending to be nice to me." The woman said "tsk tsk" twice, and then asked in a gossipy tone: "I saw that girl ran away in the end, you didn't reject her directly, did you?"

"I told her that my girlfriend would pick me up later and she could talk to her if she wanted."

"Tsk tsk, the little guy is taking advantage of his sister. But it is indeed a very convincing reason, hahaha..." The woman laughed as she spoke.

Meng Bai, who was standing by, didn't care about the ambiguity in his words. He glanced at the woman in the driver's seat and couldn't help but say, "Well, Sister Qin Lan, although I respect everyone's different driving habits, but can you really see the road clearly wearing sunglasses at this late hour?"

"Ah? Sunglasses... Oh, I was wondering why I always felt that the lights were so dim when I was driving tonight."

Hearing this, the woman glanced at the rearview mirror in the middle of the car, and then quickly took off the huge sunglasses on her face, revealing a face full of mature charm.

The woman's name is Qin Lan, and like Li Qin, she is also an actress.

The reason why Meng Bai knew her was because they had worked together in a drama called "Legend of Chu and Han".

The main screenwriter of that drama was Wang Hailin. The script he originally wrote was called "The Legend of Liu Bang", but due to some problems between the investors and the production company, it was suddenly changed to "The Legend of Chu and Han" when filming was about to start.

The theme of the drama has changed, so the script has to change accordingly. However, it is definitely too late for the main screenwriter to write 80 episodes, so the production company recruited a group of episode screenwriters to share the script writing work.

Meng Bai was one of the episode screenwriters recruited at that time, and the plot he was responsible for included the part of Lu Zhi played by Qin Lan.

Because the crew had already started filming, Meng Bai and his colleagues basically wrote the script on the spot, submitted it for review, and then directly explained the next plot to the actors.

They wrote and filmed at the same time, and basically Meng Bai and his crew stayed on the crew as long as the actors filmed.

It was at that time that Meng Bai became familiar with Qin Lan.

As for why there are so many screenwriters, Qin Lan only knows Meng Bai - it can only be said that even if you work behind the scenes, face is still very important.

After the filming of the TV series, the two of them got to know each other. Qin Lan would occasionally take some scripts she received and ask Meng Bai about their quality, and the relationship between the two became more and more familiar.

It is precisely because of this relationship that Qin Lan came to attend the appointment tonight.

However, Meng Bai's search for Qin Lan has nothing to do with her identity as an actress.

Meng Bai had previously told Li Qin that he knew someone who could help him contact the boss of Leshi.com.

This "acquaintance" is referring to Qin Lan.

One of her good friends in the "girlfriend group" is the boss lady of Leshi.com, Gan Wei.

(End of this chapter)