Mid-January.
Within Jing Yu's company, the new 'Artoria Route' of the 'Fate/stay night' series had already been approved for filming. But Jing Yu no longer interfered much with the new 'Fate/stay night' drama.
Anyway, in the 'Fate/stay night' storyline, three actors were fixed:
The actor who played Kotomine Kirei in 'Fate/Zero',
Tang Rui, who played Artoria,
and Jing Yu, who played Gilgamesh.
Aside from these three, the rest of the cast could be recruited temporarily.
And while Gilgamesh had a strong presence in the story, he didn't appear often. His scenes wouldn't interfere with Jing Yu's new movie plans.
But in Great Zhou's drama industry——
News that the 'Artoria Route' from the 'Fate/stay night' game was about to begin filming spread across the entire industry within just two days.
Jing Yu was already a top-tier figure in the TV drama world. Not only him—
Even Cheng Lie's influence in the industry could no longer be described in just a sentence or two.
In terms of production capability, BlueStar Media couldn't compare to the Six Major Stations—
Decades of accumulated talent couldn't be matched by Jing Yu's one or two years of development.
But for actors seeking fame—
The BlueStar Media name now stood above the Six Major Stations.
It was in a league of its own.
Jing Yu's level was too high; he was aloof, had few industry friends, and therefore no one bothered him at times like this.
But Cheng Lie… was another story.
Everyone had seen how explosively popular 'Fate/Zero' was.
And the sequel—
It was simple: if any actress landed a major supporting role like Illya, Matou Sakura, or Rin Tohsaka, she had a very high chance of skyrocketing from a newcomer to one of the top fifteen actresses in Great Zhou.
Even roles like Sister Rider or Sister Caster—
For first-tier actresses, landing them would still boost their résumés.
And since the 'Fate/stay night' drama would almost certainly become No.1 in ratings——
Cheng Lie's phone was blasted nonstop from morning until noon by industry acquaintances.
Connections were wonderful when you needed them,
but sometimes… You had to pay them back.
Jing Yu had no time to handle the casting of every character in 'Fate/Stay Night'.
Everything was handed to Cheng Lie, who now had enormous authority over the project.
Of course, he knew very well—
Even with great authority, he couldn't simply hand out roles unfairly.
Giving roles to familiar friends was acceptable, but at the very least, those people needed to have a suitable appearance and acting ability.
Otherwise, he couldn't face Jing Yu.
After handling dozens—possibly over a hundred—role-seeking calls that morning, Cheng Lie was worn out.
He headed to the company and arrived outside Jing Yu's office.
He hadn't visited for a few days, and as usual, he pushed the door open directly.
What did he see?
Jing Yu was actually working seriously at his desk—
not slacking off or playing games?!
"I've told you so many times—knock first."
Jing Yu's expression was exhausted.
After redeeming the three works, he had spent several days furiously writing scripts.
"You again? New project?" Cheng Lie instantly understood from Jing Yu's face.
"Didn't I tell you already? I want to expand into the film industry next. You thought I was joking?" Jing Yu replied.
"I thought you'd start in another month or two. The company has so many projects now. 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' is airing, the game is in development, the 'Fate/stay night – Artoria Route' was just approved, and 'Natsume's Book of Friends' hasn't even finished airing yet." Cheng Lie said.
"Our company is already mature. I write the scripts, hand them to the team, and let them create freely. If I had to personally supervise every crew, I'd drop dead from exhaustion." Jing Yu muttered.
"And even though we have a lot going on, most of it is scattered. At least in films, we've been silent for two or three years. Look at our company name—'BlueStar Media & Film Company'. Film. We've been doing nothing but TV shows for two years."
"That's true," Cheng Lie nodded, no longer surprised.
It was a good thing that Jing Yu, despite earning so much, had no intention of retiring into salted-fish life.
Cheng Lie picked up the stack of printed scripts and sketches on Jing Yu's desk.
Jing Yu had more or less completed draft scripts for 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky' and 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'.
'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'?
The moment Cheng Lie read several scene descriptions, he understood——
Another one of Jing Yu's favorite small-scale romance films.
Everyone in the industry knew Jing Yu loved romance.
Though in the past year he worked mostly on large-scale special-effect blockbusters,
his heart always leaned toward those earlier, gentle works.
Cheng Lie could see that Jing Yu preferred those types of stories.
But the earlier works lacked strong commercial value, and the company needed rapid growth.
Jing Yu had limited energy, so he adjusted his style—
not lowering quality, just evolving strategically.
Interesting.
While Jing Yu focused on reconstructing the musical score for 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky',
Cheng Lie examined the scripts.
He didn't dwell long on 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'—
Instead, he looked at 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky'.
Just from the twenty-something character-design sketches Jing Yu had prepared,
He could tell—
This was the one Jing Yu poured his soul into.
A floating city in the sky.
Ancient technology.
A boy and a girl's grand adventure.
Just reading the script and matching it with the sketches,
Cheng Lie felt a spark of wonder.
"Where do you get so many interesting ideas?" he exhaled.
"Practice makes perfect," Jing Yu deflected as usual, then asked:
"Well? How do the scripts feel?"
"'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' is charming. Script-wise, it's mid-to-upper tier among your works.
But 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky'… definitely more interesting. It'll explode when filmed."
Jing Yu wasn't surprised.
Among Miyazaki's many masterpieces, 'Laputa' easily ranked in the top five.
And its theme song remained a timeless classic in his past life.
"Get ready. In the next one or two weeks, about… hmm, three films and two short-drama scripts will be completed. Our company is about to get very busy."
"…Huh?"
Cheng Lie's eyes widened.
He thought he had heard wrong.