Reborn in the Hong Kong entertainment industry in the 1980s

Yuan An'er didn't dare to dream of becoming famous. She just wanted a job with a decent income to support herself and her family. She came with Xiong Caiwei prepared to be rejected, just like the film companies she had visited before.

Larger companies don't want her, and smaller companies offer her a base salary that's too low, not even enough to cover her food expenses, and the contracts are extremely harsh, like indentured servitude.

She heard Xiong Caiwei say that Shengshi Entertainment's contracts were very fair and the base salary was high. This was told to Xiong Caiwei by several artists from the dance school who had signed with Shengshi Entertainment.

Xiong Caiwei, a graduate of a dance school, kept in touch with her former classmates. Upon hearing that Hu Xiaoxiao had become her own boss and signed with the school's staff, she immediately considered joining her. Because Hu Xiaoxiao was a female boss, it was considered safer for attractive actresses; they wouldn't have to worry about being sexually harassed by her boss.

Hearing that Shengshi Entertainment offered a higher base salary than other companies and that their contracts were not harsh, Xiong Caiwei immediately brought Yuan An'er over.

"Mia, take them to register," Hu Xiaoxiao instructed her secretary, Mia.

Mia responded and led Xiong Caiwei and Yuan An'er to the personnel department to report for duty and sign contracts.

The HR department has a dedicated manager in charge of contract signings. Xiong Caiwei has a certain level of fame, so her base salary and commission are much higher than those of newcomers. Although Yuan An'er is not well-known, she has been in the industry for two or three years, is skilled in martial arts, and because she is Hu Xiaoxiao's person, the HR department simply gave Yuan An'er the same treatment as Xiong Caiwei.

The two were overjoyed to see the base salary and commission rates in the contract.

Xiong Caiwei whispered to Yuan An'er, "I told you our principal is a good person. See, I didn't lie to you, did I? You were hesitant to come before. If you hadn't come, you would have missed out."

Yuan An'er nodded heavily. Seeing such a high base salary and commission, she felt a little guilty and thought to herself that she must work hard to make the filming worth the money and not disappoint Sister Xiao.

After the two completed their onboarding process and signed contracts, Mia told them, "After joining the company, you will have to go through an assessment. Only after the assessment will you be assigned a dedicated agent to mentor you."

"What will the assessment cover?" Yuan An'er was a little unsure again.

Mia led them to the training room and practice room, saying, "The training room has acting classes, and the practice room has martial arts classes. Passing one of their classes is considered passing. If you pass both, you will receive many more resources, and agents will come to take care of you."

Mia explained a lot about the company's rules and regulations to the two of them, and then showed them the responsibilities and positions of each department.

Shengshi Film originally had only one floor of office space, but after being reorganized and renamed Shengshi Entertainment, it rented two more floors, making the space much larger.

After Mia finished her introduction, she led the two women to the training room floor and let them familiarize themselves with the place.

Seeing that there were artists in the training room, Xiong Caiwei pulled Yuan An'er over and saw several junior students from the dance school. Hearing that a performance teacher would be giving a lecture later, the two of them immediately found seats to sit down and listen to the lesson.

Having free acting lessons and the opportunity to seek guidance and answers was a rare opportunity for Xiong Caiwei. Since her debut, she has relied entirely on self-exploration, and only she knows the hardships she has endured. How could Xiong Caiwei let such a great opportunity slip by?

Yuan An'er is in the same boat. She has mostly worked as a stunt double and extra in the film industry, and has almost never played a proper role. Her acting experience is pitifully small. Now that she has a teacher, she cherishes this opportunity even more than Xiong Caiwei.

The two studied very hard. After finishing their acting class, they went to the training room to familiarize themselves with the situation.

Seeing that it was a place for martial arts training, the two of them followed along and learned some skills.

Xiong Caiwei had a background in dance, so she learned much faster than a complete novice. In addition, she had worked hard to learn martial arts for several months. After her performance, Nie Jinlong nodded in approval.

What pleased Nie Jinlong the most was Yuan An'er. Her martial arts skills were those of someone from a pure martial arts background. When asked, Yuan An'er said she had been learning martial arts since elementary school, which made Nie Jinlong even more satisfied. He immediately treated Yuan An'er as half a disciple and taught her.

Knowing martial arts is very different from being able to act in martial arts scenes. Yuan An'er only realized after being taught by Nie Jinlong that she really didn't know how to act before, whether it was a dramatic scene or a martial arts scene.

The new artists are constantly learning and striving for improvement, all ambitiously wanting to get on Hu Xiaoxiao's new film. Although they don't know what the genre is, they are all full of confidence. Hu Xiaoxiao is already a box office guarantee; as long as you can get on her film, you'll become famous.

Liang Jiafeng had already polished the script and delivered it to Hu Xiaoxiao as soon as possible, introducing the new script to her.

"This is a police thriller, tentatively titled 'Baogang Female Police Officer,' which tells the story of a female police chief's battle of wits and courage against criminals..."

Through Liang Jiafeng's narration, Hu Xiaoxiao learned the general plot. Undoubtedly, it was an action movie, with many fight scenes specifically designed for Hu Xiaoxiao's strengths. Even the protagonist's hairstyle was based on Hu Xiaoxiao's current shoulder-length short hair.

After listening to the gist of the story, Hu Xiaoxiao began to flip through the script in her hand. After browsing through a few pages of the main characters and settings, she noticed that there weren't many female characters. She said to Liang Jiafeng, "Since the film is titled 'Baogang Female Police Officer,' let's change the female lead's colleagues into women."

Liang Jiafeng asked, "Sister Xiao, aren't you afraid they'll steal your spotlight?"

He chose a male police officer to complement her because he believed Hu Xiaoxiao would stand out more among the men and attract more attention. He was there to serve his female boss, so he naturally had to consider everything to make her more outstanding, charming, and unique.

But Hu Xiaoxiao has absolute confidence in herself. "Before I debuted, in the Miss Baogang pageant, so many carefully selected beauties couldn't steal my spotlight. Do you think I, who have been in this industry for so many years, would lose to a few newcomers?"

These words were like a wake-up call. Liang Jiafeng said, "I was being too attached to appearances."

In the past, when film companies wrote scripts, they would always tell the characters that the script was written for so-and-so, and that no one else should steal the spotlight from the lead actor. For a moment, people subconsciously regarded Hu Xiaoxiao as one of those stars who were easily overshadowed, forgetting that Hu Xiaoxiao herself was a radiant person.

Hu Xiaoxiao selected the three roles with the most screen time and had Liang Jiafeng change them to women, so that the play would have four female leads.

"Four female leads?" Liang Jiafeng asked. "What about the male lead's scenes? If there are four female leads, they will steal the male lead's thunder."

Since they are the main characters, they should naturally have more screen time. If there are four female leads in a drama, they will take up most of the episodes, leaving much less screen time for the male lead.

“It’s been cut,” Hu Xiaoxiao said. “He’s just a man, we just need to add some variety. There’s no need for him to have a romantic relationship with the female lead. Audiences come to action movies mainly to see exciting fight scenes and a great plot. If they want to see a romance, they’ll buy tickets for a romance movie separately.”