‘Long Island Iced Tea’ was released in North America and other countries for a month and received a super high box office of $437 million. It squeezed into the top 10 of the North American box office history.
In the category of literary movies, it had surpassed many classic movies in the past and became the current top box office movie for literary movies.
Ji Li and Qin Yue attracted the love of countless movie fans and friends and became two well-known Chinese actors overseas. Directors and producers sent countless movie invitations.
In addition, the first round of the ‘Best Actor’ screening at the Yana Film Festival had yielded results. Ji Li and Qin Yue had successfully entered the second round of the competition, and the final shortlisted results would be announced a month later.
If they were lucky enough to enter the final competition, then by mid-May, the two of them would attend the venue of the Yana Film Festival with their work ‘Long Island Iced Tea.’
Once the overseas movie promotion was temporarily suspended, Ji Li and Qin Yue flew back to China and were each busy with their own schedules.
In Chaoying, Baozi approached the lounge with fix or six overseas movie invitations and script outlines. There was a bright and proud look in his eyes. “Brother Ji, look at this pile first!”
“There are also invitations for three domestic movies. I’ve brought them to you!”
In the past, it was difficult for Ji Li to pick a good script. Now Chaoying’s inbox was filled with all types of movie invitations, and it was completely possible to choose from the best of the best.
Brother Ji was too amazing!
His career had flown up again and again, and now he could directly set his sights on the world!
“Where is Sister Yu?” Ji Li didn’t rush to look at the movie invitations on the table.
“She is coming soon.”
The moment Baozi’s answer came out, there was the familiar sound of high heels. Yu Fuya’s voice was heard before she came.
“Are you anxiously looking for me?’
“Sister Yu, ‘Demon Monk’ has finished filming, and ‘Long Island Iced Tea’ has been released. But it seems like I haven’t discussed my career goals for the new year with the company yet?”
Ji Li got straight to the point. He didn’t slack off at all when it came to his future career.
Yu Fuya sat down and smiled. “Don’t worry, I have already informed everyone that we will be holding a team meeting tomorrow afternoon.”
She pointed to the script invitations on the table. “There are so many movie invitations for you. Look at them slowly, and tell me if you like anything.”
“There is no hurry.” Ji Li shook his head. “I promised Director Yao and Teacher Fang. Wasn’t it said that filming for ‘Special Operations II’ would start at the end of this month? What about the script? Why haven’t you sent it to me yet?”
“I was going to talk to you about that,” Yu Fuya answered.
The movie was originally scheduled to start around March, but Fang Zhixing was a notoriously strict screenwriter when it came to the script. At the beginning of the year, he said that the plot had to be polished again.
Director Yao Chuan knew his friend’s temperament, so he clapped his hands and readily agreed.
Now the movie project had been directly rescheduled to the end of May, and the crew was still working on the preliminary preparations.
Ji Li frowned slightly when he heard this.
Chaoying originally signed a preliminary filming contract with ‘Special Operations.’ Suddenly two and half months extra were added to the schedule, and his time was stuck.
“Overseas movie projects are almost always launched in mid-April, and the filming cycle is between two and a half months to three and a half months long. If you are interested in any of them, I can help you talk with ‘Special Operations’.”
Of course, this didn’t mean that they would break their contract with ‘Special Operations’. They would just discuss a further extension.
Yu Fuya was an agent who could clearly see their current situation.
The momentum of ‘Long Island Iced Tea’ was just right. Ji Li had to seize this moment and rush forward. Otherwise, if he missed this advantage, it wouldn’t be that simple if he wanted to continue to develop internationally.
The entertainment industry was originally a circle that chose based on merit.
It wasn’t that filming of ‘Special Operations’ wasn’t good. However, if there was a better opportunity, they had to make full use of it and adjust the time difference of various jobs.
“No, let’s just wait until the end of May for ‘Special Operations’ to start. It takes no effort for me to wait for the crew, but it is too exaggerated to ask the entire crew to wait for me.”
Baozi and Yu Fuya exchanged looks, and Baozi tried to persuade him.
“Brother Ji, these overseas movie invitations are very good, no matter whether you consider the director or the production team. Isn’t it a pity to give them up? If it really isn’t okay, we can also accept a domestic movie script?”
It was only mid-March. If Ji Li found a script, signed the contract quickly, and the new crew hurried in terms of their shooting time, it wouldn’t be completely too late to follow up with ‘Special Operations.’
Ji Li shook his head firmly again.
“First of all, Director Yao and Teacher Fang are mentors to me, and I already made a promise to them and the crew of ‘Special Operations.’ I don’t want to break the contract, and I can’t film whenever I want.”
Two years ago, perhaps his career path wouldn’t have developed as smoothly as it did now if Yao Chuan and Fang Zhixing hadn’t let him play the role of Xie Yan in ‘Schemes of the Great Zong Dynasty Youth.’
He had to remember this grace.
“Secondly, I have to treat any script with all my heart. I need to make adjustments from my previous role and expend energy researching the new script character.”
A seamless transition did ensure that his jobs were stable, but as far as Ji Li was concerned, this was being irresponsible to the two crews.
The entry time of last year’s ‘Reverse Hunting’ and ‘Demon Monk’ were very tight, but he still had a month of adjustment in between the two roles.
If he accepted a new script, he would be particularly rushed when entering the ‘Special Operations’ crew.
“Sister Yu, Baozi, I understand that you and the team are thinking about me.”
“I am still on the rise in my career both internationally and domestically. I’m not afraid of being tired if I have to stay in a crew all year round, but I have to take responsibility for each one of my roles.”
Ji Li looked at the scripts on the table and resolutely said, “Help me thank these movie producers for their invitations. No matter how good the script is, let’s wait until the filming of ‘Special Operations’ is completed.”
Yu Fuya couldn’t help but chuckle when she heard Ji Li’s cautious words.
“Come on!” Baozi put away the scripts and looked at Yu Fuya with a smile.
“Sister Yu, you really guessed correctly. Brother Ji is an ‘axis’ child in terms of his selection of scripts.”
“……”
Ji Li was stunned and unable to react for a while.
Yu Fuya explained with a smile, “I guessed that you would insist on waiting for the script of ‘Special Operations’. I just wanted Baozi to bring these scripts over to see if they could arouse your curiosity.”
The script invitations were indeed really good, but Yu Fuya didn’t want to force Ji Li to take on any jobs. The other person had already taken big and stable steps over the past two years.
A seamless transition into new crews sounded awesome, but it would have a very strong impact on the artist’s body and mind.
Yu Fuya still loved her children. No matter how important work was, it wasn’t comparable to a healthy and orderly development.
“That’s fine. There are still two and a half months before the filming of ‘Special Operations’ starts, and you can rest well in the interim. Maybe we can go to the Yana Film Festival in late May.”
If Ji Li was shortlisted for the final round of the Yana Film Festival or directly took the title of ‘International Best Actor’, was there any need to be afraid that he wouldn’t receive good international movie invitations in the future?
Ji Li’s mind returned, and a smile appeared on his face. “Thank you, Sister Yu.”
During the two years that Yu Fuya worked with him, it was just as they had agreed in the beginning. In terms of script selection, he was given 100% of the rights to select his own scripts.
“If you are thankful, then I have a request,” Yu Fuya said jokingly.
“What request?” Ji Li asked.
Yu Fuya asked Baozi to take these scripts back to the department and instructed him to grab a file folder.
Yu Fuya started the topic. “Ever since you became the advertising spokesperson of Ying’s Perfume, you haven’t taken over the TV shooting of other advertisements, have you?”
Ji Li nodded.
In the past two years, he had received many brand endorsements, but they were all at the level of photos and image promotion. He had indeed not been contacted for a video advertisement like Ying’s Perfume.
“The endorsement of Ying’s Perfume has expired. Both parties intend to suspend the cooperation.” Yu Fuya opened her mouth and reported this fact.
“I know.”
After Ji Li endorsed Ying’s Perfume, the advertisement exploded and the international award was given to them. The two sides moved toward a win-win situation.
Then after the contract expired last year, Ying took the initiative to renew the contract with Ji Li for a print promotion. They still identified Ji Li as the sole spokesperson.
Yu Fuya saw him nodding and continued to explain. The thoughts of the two sides behind not renewing the contract was based on two reasons.
First, the status of ‘full-time spokesperson’ would restrict Ji Li’s access to other luxury brands of the same type.
Secondly, the public would have a ‘visual exhaustion period’ for the spokesperson. To put it in layman’s terms, there was a lack of freshness.
Two years of cooperation was long enough.
Yu Fuya had no intention of renewing the contract, and Ying’s senior management also planned to try using a new spokesperson.
There was no displeasure in Ji Li’s eyes. For him, the considerations of both sides were completely reasonable.
“Who is Ying’s new spokesperson?”
“Fertile water doesn’t flow to the outside fields. No matter whether it is our Chaoying or Ying’s investor, the Ji Group, the first choice of spokesperson is Ji Yunqi,” Yu Fuya answered directly.
Ji Li heard his friend’s name and laughed. “It is only right that the new spokesperson is him.”
Ji Li was originally worried that his acceptance of the perfume endorsement before Ji Yunqi would accidentally impact the other person’s path from the original novel.
Yu Fuya saw that Ji Li didn’t feel any loss from this ‘competition of peers’ and added, “According to Agent Yin, she has been going crazy due to the Third Young Master for the past two days.”
“What’s going on?”
“Ying’s Perfume has been promoted as the number one domestic perfume brand over the past two years. After it became known that you would no longer be the spokesperson, I don’t know how many celebrities and entertainers rushed to ask for the spokesperson position. Yet Ji Yunqi refused to accept it after receiving the invitation…”
Ji Yunqi shouted:
“This is the endorsement that Ji Li received, and he has been such a good spokesperson for the past two years! You can’t cross him and come directly to me. This is related to my revolutionary friendship with him!”
“Why don’t you continue to choose him? Ji Li is excellent!”
She had seen artists who sharpened their minds to grab endorsements, but she had never seen an artist try to persuade an advertiser to continue using their former spokesperson. Ji Yunqi was completely unusual.
Proofreader: Azure
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