Chapter 116 | Shooting

"I don't know, Hannah. Your life is just so... PG-13." Liz said, taking a sip from her drink.

"My life is not PG-13!" Hannah shouted. Her mouth opened wide in shock.

"It so is. You've never left LA. You pass the bar, and you're going to be a patent lawyer, probably married to that snooze-fest Richard. I worry about you, is all. Hell, you've resorted to fantasizing about Noah `Big-head' Lincoln."

"He's funny," Hannah said shamelessly, but she looked adorable.

"He looked like a carrot, honey."

Hannah laughed at that.

"Who?" Both their eyes turned to meet the masculine voice.

"Cut! Ah, the emotions, Ryan. I know what you're feeling, but that's not it. I want the cockiness to show through your confidence. It's a hard one to pull off, but this girl would be like, 'oh my gods, ' and your actions should be confident enough, and I want to see it from your face when the camera is in your face. And do you need a break?" Ian asked after explaining how the scene wasn't as he expected.

"Yeah, five would be great," Ryan said and walked towards the restroom after Ian agreed to take five.

"I can't wait to see the last cut of this scene. It's too good to be spoiled," Niko said, walking towards Ian.

"I'm sure it wouldn't be any less from what we have in mind."

"Have you heard from Raelynn? She should be here at any moment," Mason asked, walking towards Ian and Niko.

"Yeah, " she said, how persistent goofy sounded while she signed the last paper off. "At least she escapes. Her words, not mine," Niko said. Ian scoffed, and Mason chuckled, walking back to where he was.

After a brief break after the Avatar filming, Raelynn wanted to end the contract and deal with Goofy considering how inconsiderate her future could be—besides the tremendous amount of salary they signed her up for. But after many thoughts and discussions, she knew that Renner Studio had much more potential. Being 25 years old, apart from achieving the highest destination in her career, she wanted a workspace that could provide her with the artistic freedom she craved. And meeting Ian was a blessing for her. Regardless, from this day, she would be a cinematographer for Renner Studio.

[...] After five minutes, the bar was ready and prepared to take a retake.

"And… Action!"

"Hi. Who looks like a carrot?" Cal questioned. This time, his actions spoke louder than his words—and Ian nodded.

"Noah Lincoln. My friend Hannah thinks he's sexy."

Ian had changed the script from Conan O'Brian to Noah Lincoln, an equally successful actor in the industry. Still, Ian didn't find the potential he did with Conan, but he just went with Noah.

"I think your friend Hannah is sexy," Cal said, making Hannah laugh.

"Cut! What are you doing over there, Blue dress?" Ian asked.

"I'm sorry," The girl in the blue dress was startled.

"It's alright. Let's take another shot. The background honestly shouldn't be messy or out of place. The entire dining should be as I planned. Are we ready?" Ian asked while everyone nodded.

"Yes!"

"Let's do it!"

Everyone regained their hype and started to get back to their jobs. Ryan Gosling, on the other hand, was confident in himself. Although the first shot was nerve-wracking, he got an espy about how the character is.

"I feel like the character is like me now," he said before while Ian personally talked to him about the character—right after he messed up thrice in a row.

"....Action!" Ian commanded.

"I think your friend Hannah is sexy," Ryan said.

"You didn't just say that." Scarlett laughed and muttered out.

…The rest of the conversation went smoothly, and rewriting the dialogues would make it boring considering how perfect it was, almost like the original. Still, the actress and the background were different.

"Answer this quickly, without thinking about your answer: do you find me attractive?" Ryan asked.

"I don't," Scarlett said, but a laugh slipped her mouth as soon as she said the words. "You ARE attractive!" She then said, making everyone laugh.

"Cut!" Ian said, still laughing at Scarlett's expression. Her eyes widened when she laughed, unable to suppress her lie any longer. "Acting is lying—Make it believable to you so that I can. Don't even flinch, Scarlett," Ian said. Still, a smile plastered on his face.

Everyone went silent at his sudden motivational advice, yet the environment became normal and severe in a while—serious enough to start the shooting.

-

Angela Bird was an award-winning director. Although she had tough times, she was now back in the industry and felt more vital than ever. She spent her entire previous night sleeplessly. Something she had as a habit was the first day before the shooting—it would be a tough hell night for her.

Yet, here she was.

"Well, Clara… It would be best if you looked more surprised. Like, 'is that what my voice seriously sounds like?!' I'll be expecting that," While Angela was explaining to Clara, the A-Grade actress who played the role of Alice in Resident Evil, the make-up artist had her hands on Clara's face.

This was the third day that the filming had started.

Finally, she had her sequence of the scenes she thought she should begin shooting with, and the entire cast, including Clara, the producer Mason, and everyone else, followed Angela's words.

"Yeah, gotcha. One more time?"

"Whenever you're ready, Simon, can you get closer to her face? The expressions are pretty important," Angela talked to the cinematographer.

He nodded with a thumbs up, and the rest of the shooting continued.

"....Roll Camera….And Action!"

As soon as the command was given, Clara took a framed photograph on the desk. It was of her and a handsome man.

Camera 2 caught her and a handsome man standing in front of the rose bushes in the garden. He had his arm around her. He wore a wedding ring.

"Business!" Angela commanded.

Clara turned her head down to look at her hand. She, too, wore a sample gold band. 'This man was her husband?' The question arose.

A sudden shadow fell across the desk. It was none other than a teammate of theirs.

"Cut!" Angela's voice came out, yet Clara had already done her part, part where she jumped, startled.

"Let's take a break of five," Angela said while staring at the monitor screen in front of her.

The entire set went back to relaxing. Then, finally, Clara walked back and sat on the actress's chair while talking with her boyfriend, who was on the scene, watching how she was doing.

"Angela is strict. I never thought she was as strict as the other people say," She sighed and gulped down a good amount of water.

"You got this; forget about her, think about your role."

"Yeah, I know, dear director. Thanks for your kind words," She muttered and picked up her phone from the table near her.

-

In a particular magazine studio.

There were three men and a lady sitting on their respective chairs. They could easily categorise all of them to be in their middle age—but don't let looks fool you.

"I can't believe I'd interview Ian Renner tomorrow," the girl who was already scribbling things to question Ian said to all the three people in their office.

"I don't know if you should be sad or happy," the one with a long beard commented.

"Why?" "Huh?" "What do you mean?"

The questions were expected, but he didn't expect it to sound creepy when they all talked in sync. Instead, it almost took him off-guard.

"Well, the thing is…. I know the man has won Oscars and then always successfully makes movies that possibly take millions of people by surprise. But right now, as we all know. He is associated with Goofy. From what I know, Goofy is a company which possibly makes friends but only if they need future benefits—"

"What's your point, Alex?" the girl questioned, clearly curious about what he was about to say.

"Well, as far as I know, Ian wants his way in Hollywood. He goes with genres untouched. He aims high and might even surpass Goofy, but Goofy. They have their own story. They're the type to crush anyone who tries to surpass them, although they don't show it. You guys remember how many studio-related people came crying to promote their story in our magazines?"

Everyone nodded while the girl shook her head, understanding his point.

"So… My point is, maybe Ian would hit a downfall, eventually. I can't say for sure since things are going great for him."

"Why care about it, anyway?" One guy said. "Even if he was hit down, it would be a great story to us. People die in shame when they return to their words; words they were on top, and internally die when they hit rock bottom."

"Ahaha… I remember William's story. Haha. His face was bitter when one of our team asked what happened to his words from before. And… just, don't get too excited thinking, 'Oh, it's iAnN.' Just treat him as another successful director, and try to find anything possible to make a good story." Alex said with a blank expression.

"Okay, senior," she said and started cutting some of her questions off, clearly affected by what her colleague said.

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