Chapter 657

Zoe’s eyes shifted.

All of a sudden, she saw Jay appear, and he was surrounded by many cameras too.

They were probably filming behind-the-scenes of the rehearsal.

There was not much footage to offer here, though, given that she was all alone.

“Where is Candice Lowe and Wynn Yaden?” the director asked.

“They aren’t free.”

“You’re the only one rehearsing?”

“I don’t have anything else to do anyway,’ Zoe said with a smile.

The director did not say anything further, and he led the camera crew away without a word.

“Wait,” Jay suddenly called out.

“Mr. Parker, what’s the matter?” the director asked politely.

“Since we’re already here, let’s have a look at Zoe York’s solo performance.”

“All right.” The director agreed before turning to Zoe. “Give your movie excerpt a shot.”

If Zoe were honest, she would have said that she was not willing to do it.

There were many scenes of conflict which made it hard for her to get into the mood all by herself.

“Zoe York, put your best foot forward. There’s a chance we might include this footage,” the director reminded her.

Zoe gritted her teeth and acquiesced.

She began acting out her part in front of the crew.

She did her best to get into the mood, but the overall scene did not look good.

Zoe saw Jay’s face change and knew that something was wrong.

Did he feel like she was an insult to his work?!

It was at that moment that Zoe noticed Jay leaning against his walking stick.

Did he fall and break his bone a few days back?

The thought of Jay sprawling on the floor made her almost gleeful about his misfortune.

“Not too good,” Jay commented.

“Yes, I’ll continue working on it.” Zoe admitted that her performance was lackluster.

“You must work on understanding the character, what she is thinking, what she has to bear under, and where her point of breakdown is at. You need to build up your skills to portray these angles and resonate with the audience.”

“Yes,’ Zoe said respectfully.

Jay probably thought that she had ruined his movie.

After all, this movie was Jay’s debut into the film and movie industry and meant a lot to him.

After Jay was done giving his comments, he left together with the director and the crew.

Zoe heaved a huge sigh of relief.

In fact, she had considered and thought through all that Jay had pointed out earlier.

Her greatest challenge right now was not having a partner to work on the scene with.

Outside the rehearsal room, everyone accommodated Jay’s walking pace given his condition.

“When the production team signed contracts with the actors, didn’t you make it compulsory for them to come to the TV station for centralized rehearsals?’

“We did.” The director clarified, “But some actors do have other commitments. With their managers calling in and explaining things to us, we have no choice but to accept it.”

“I personally feel that since there’s a contract signed, they should adhere to the contractual terms. If you give one or two actors the leeway, others will find all sorts of reasons to be absent from rehearsals and that will negatively impact the TV program. I suggest for you to be relentless on this for the sake of program quality.”

Having watched a few groups’ performances, especially that of Zoe, the director was indeed feeling anxious.

If everyone were to start neglecting centralized rehearsals and rush at the last minute, the program quality would certainly be negatively affected.

“Okay, I’ll make it clear to everyone that starting tomorrow, it will be compulsory to come to the TV station for rehearsals!”

The next day, Zoe was surprised to see Candice and Wynn at the TV station for the rehearsal.

Didn’t Wynn say that he could only come tomorrow afternoon?

Candice, however, did say that she would be here when Wynn came.

“Done so fast with filming your other program?” Zoe asked in a friendly tone.

Since they had to work together, it was imperative for Zoe to build a positive relationship with her partners.

“Don’t talk about it. The director previously agreed for me to take leave, but yesterday, I was informed that I’m no longer allowed to take leave from this program. You have no idea how rushed things were for me, wrapping up work and flying back to North City through the night. I barely slept for two hours and they had to call me here for the rehearsal. I can literally fall asleep standing right now.”

“Why don’t you take a nap? Candice and I can get started first.”