It was just that Owen Brooks repeatedly failed whenever he tried to break into the big screen, and was even criticized by a certain famous director for overacting, saying he was only suited for loud TV dramas and variety shows, and couldn’t handle films that required subtle acting and artistic expression.

This also caused Owen Brooks’s reputation to suffer, and within the company, his status could only remain below that of Jane Scott.

The entertainment industry truly is a place full of turmoil and controversy.

Ethan Brooks shook his head, looked away, and then noticed some newly posted posters of Emily Foster.

There was the poster from her last historical IP drama, “Alluring City, Alluring Country,” where she played the third female lead, Tuoba Wuyang. On the poster, she’s riding a horse, holding a red-tasseled spear in one hand, looking valiant and heroic—a striking image of a beautiful woman in armor.

There was also the new promotional poster for the S-tier urban workplace drama “I’m Not a Top Lawyer,” in which she plays the second female lead. The character is a young lawyer, fresh out of school, her face full of collagen and youth.

In addition, there were various medals from government departments, photos with leaders, and displays of various literary and artistic achievement trophies and other honors.

These are all traditional skills of entertainment companies—showcasing their projects and resources as much as possible to every guest who visits, conveying the concept of “we’re strong, we have many successful projects on hand.”

In this way, they can gain more leverage in upcoming negotiations or collaborations.

Ethan Brooks didn’t pay much attention to these, and walked straight to the door of an office, gently knocking.

“Come in.” A crisp female voice came from inside.

Ethan Brooks pushed the door open and entered, seeing a mature woman in her thirties or forties, dressed in sharp business attire, still graceful, with a cold expression as she spoke on the phone: “No, there’s no room for discussion on this matter. That’s it, I have something else to do, I’m hanging up now.”

This woman was, of course, Ethan Brooks’s current agent—Emily Bolton.

After Emily Bolton hung up, she turned to Ethan Brooks with a smile: “Yixia, you really pulled it off. Without saying a word, you gave me such a big surprise.”

Ethan Brooks naturally understood what she meant, and with a shy smile said, “Sister Emily Bolton, I just saw that Sister Miller was anxious, so I thought I’d help boost the publicity a bit. I didn’t expect that the video I shot casually would go viral.”

“All right, don’t be so modest.” Emily Bolton waved her hand and smiled, “Grace Miller bombarded me on WeChat last night, praising you to the skies. But honestly, your video was really cool—even I couldn’t help but become your fan.”

As she spoke, she took a film project proposal from her desk drawer and tossed it to Ethan Brooks: “Take a look at this big project. I was still hesitating about how to handle it. But with the quality and popularity of your video yesterday, we can really go all in.”

Ethan Brooks took the project proposal and first looked at the project title.

“Republican Era: The Daring Magician Heist Crew.”

Just seeing the name made the corner of his mouth twitch.

The name alone made it obvious they were trying to emulate the Hollywood blockbuster “Now You See Me.”

So this is the big project Ms. Bolton was talking about?

Why is it that your big projects are either copying Hong Kong films or Hollywood?

……

Chapter 9: The Role of the Magician

……

Sure enough.

The one-line introduction on the cover of the project proposal blatantly stated: “The Republican Era version of ‘Now You See Me.’”

But after flipping through it, he found that the project was initiated by “Red Guoguo Pictures,” with Harry Young as the producer, and a total investment of twenty million.

Ethan Brooks had recently acted in two web movies, so he had some understanding of the industry. Red Guoguo Pictures is a very successful company in the field, having produced many hit web movies and web series.

Harry Young is also a well-known producer in the industry, having overseen several blockbuster web movies.

In addition, the director of this project is also a famous director in the web movie circle.

Because of this, the project easily completed its initial financing, and all the investors are well-known companies or individuals in the industry—even Ethan Brooks’s own company, H City Entertainment, invested three million.

The story outline is also quite simple.

During the Republican era, a local warlord wreaked havoc in a region, amassing a large amount of goods and converting them into gold and jewels, which he then tried to transfer overseas under the protection of his trusted followers and soldiers.

A mysterious patriot organized a group of extraordinary individuals and meticulously planned an operation, carried out in broad daylight like a grand magic show, to rob the warlord of all his wealth and make his men pay the price they deserved.

In the end, the patriot donates all the gold and jewels to the resistance organization, making a contribution to the nation.

Of course, to fit local culture and distinguish itself from “Now You See Me,” the story uses traditional magicians.

Then, Ethan Brooks skimmed through part of the script—the dialogue and characters were quite interesting, making it a pretty good work.

However, in the film industry, no one dares to guarantee a movie will be a hit. In the end, it still has to stand the test of the market.

After Ethan Brooks finished reading, Emily Bolton finally asked, “Yixia, what do you think of this project? Which role are you most interested in?”