Chapter 72

Joanne Caroline, however, pushed Simone Milton’s hand away. She smiled and said, “No, I think before I give you an answer, I should first show you what I’m worth. Then you can decide whether or not to hire me.”

After all, Joanne Caroline isn’t very confident about whether she’ll be satisfactory to Simone Milton in the end.

She thought to herself that if she agreed to it with enthusiasm at that time, then that would be fine.

If, after she actually joins the team, Simone Milton still thinks her professional skills aren’t up to par, then things are going to be interesting.

Just thinking about facing such a situation made her scalp tingle with fear, and she felt terrible overall.

Simone Milton thought there was no need for that. After all, in the original story, Joanne Caroline single-handedly worked with Truda Lambert to push Katie Adams to stardom.

If Joanne Caroline really had no talents at all, how could she possibly have served as Katie Adams’ “lucky charm,” helping her become a superstar?

But it was clearly impossible for her to tell those words to Joanne Caroline.

Simone Milton thought for a moment and agreed that it made sense. At least, things needed to seem presentable on the surface.

So she nodded and slowly led Joanne Caroline over to Director Pond.

At this moment, Director Pound was discussing script-related issues with the screenwriter.

For now, there don’t seem to be any obvious problems with the script in their production team. At least, based on the scripts everyone has received, the logic seems quite coherent.

If nothing goes wrong, there’s really no need to make any changes to this script at all.

But sometimes, accidents just happen completely unexpectedly.

“I really had no choice. If the actor playing that character hadn’t suffered an accident all of a sudden, we wouldn’t have had to write his character out so early…” Director Pond looked at the disgruntled screenwriter with a troubled expression.

The screenwriter, wearing thick glasses, rolled his eyes at Director Pond’s words. He took a deep breath, barely managing to prevent himself from exploding with anger on the spot.

“I say, Director Pond, great Director Pond! Don’t you think you’re overestimating us? Do you really believe this is just about writing someone’s death scene? He died ahead of time—what impact does that have on the rest of the plot? Have you even thought about that?” The screenwriter stared at the director with wide-eyed disbelief, demanding an answer.

Director Pond laughed awkwardly. Of course, he understood how hard the screenwriter worked. He also knew that although this was just a minor role, not even as important as the third female character, it still had a crucial impact on the overall plot.

But isn’t it inevitable when something unexpected happens to someone?

If someone else were to reshoot it, then all the progress they’ve made so far would have to be halted, and they’d essentially have to start over from scratch.

Such losses on the set are unacceptable to them. There’s no other way – the economy doesn’t allow it. They’ll have to turn to the script itself and see if they can make sense of it somehow.

“No, absolutely not. I won’t allow anyone to impose any more burdens on me! Otherwise, I’ll just die right here!” The desperate screenwriter spoke angrily.

Joking aside, he’s still young, but he already has very little hair left. If he continues to stay up late and work overtime like this, the little hair he has will completely fall out.

He absolutely refuses to accept Ao Ye.

This was his last act of stubbornness.

Standing by and witnessing the entire incident, Simone Milton couldn’t help but feel sorry for the screenwriter, whose hairline was quite high.

“Ahem…” Simone Milton cleared her throat and said to the constantly arguing screenwriter and Director Pond, “Director, you seem quite busy right now…”

Simone Milton’s sudden outburst caught the director off guard; he was somewhat confused.

Even so, he couldn’t help but wonder if anyone had seen him begging the screenwriter to change the script.

If anyone sees me like this, it would be a huge embarrassment.

After all, he’s the director of the crew. It’s embarrassing to be seen in such a humiliating situation.

“Ahem, so it’s you! How did you get here?” Director Pond, acting as if nothing had happened, asked Simone Milton with a smile.

However, by this point, Simone Milton had completely been brainwashed by Pound’s obsequious behavior earlier on. So, when facing the serious-looking Pound, she found it hard to look him in the eyes.

Simone Milton coughed, pushing those untimely thoughts out of her mind. Then, she pushed Joanne Caroline, who was beside her, forward.

Who is this? What are they doing here?

Whether it’s Director Pond or the screenwriter, this question comes to mind for both of them.

“Director Pond, this is the screenwriter I met today. She’s quite talented. I wonder if she’d be suitable for the job…” Simone Milton spoke bluntly, with no intention of covering for anyone.

Director Pond was momentarily stunned.

Many big celebrities hire screenwriters to work with them on set, and during filming, they have these screenwriters make revisions to the script.

This makes it easier for certain celebrities to play the roles they want to play, and also helps make the characters they portray look more impressive and attractive.

Strictly speaking, this can also be considered an unwritten rule within the industry.

What Director Pond didn’t expect was that Simone Milton, who seemed so approachable, would actually resort to the same tactics as certain celebrities.

Perhaps it’s true that you can’t judge a book by its cover? Or maybe Simone Milton has started to lose her sense of reality.

Regardless of which explanation is given, Director Pond disapproves of such behavior.

“That’s not quite right…” Director Pond pretended to be troubled as he looked at Simone Milton.

His underlying message was clear: he hoped that Simone Milton would have enough self-awareness to take back everything she had said earlier.

After all, he still didn’t want to go to blows with Simone Milton. Ending things on bad terms would be detrimental to both of them.

“I think we should give her a chance. By the way, Director Pond, didn’t you just say you wanted to discuss revisions to the script with the screenwriter? Let her give it a try. It’ll be much easier if two people work on it together than if one person does it all by themselves.” Simone Milton looked at Director Pond with sincere eyes.

If he hadn’t known how harmful it is to work with a group of screenwriters, Director Pond might have been moved by Simone Milton’s sincere demeanor.

“Do you think I’m an idiot? Simone Milton, let me tell you something: those ideas of yours might work in other production teams, but they’re not allowed in mine! I won’t tolerate any screenwriters who work alongside the main cast on my set. Do you understand what I mean?” Director Pond’s smile had completely disappeared from his face.

He certainly doesn’t want his script to be messed up, and even less does he want his film, which could have earned a lot at the box office, to turn into a complete mess.

Upon hearing this, Simone Milton knew right away that Director Pound had completely misunderstood what she meant.

Actually, it was her own failure to explain things clearly that led to this situation.

If she makes it clear that she has no intention of using Joanne Caroline to boost her own role in the play.

I just want to see how good Joanne Caroline is, to give her more work experience, without offending Director Pond.