Loan

Irene called her father, but the result left her completely discouraged.

MGM stated that they were not intentionally withholding the box office revenue, but since the film was still in its theatrical run, even with a reduced screen count, hundreds of theaters were still showing Legally Blonde. They were trying to push the box office numbers higher, which would also benefit future television broadcast fees and home video rental revenue.

However, because the film had not yet finished its theatrical run, the theaters would not settle the accounts with them, and it was impossible for her to receive her share of the dividends.

"I have a suggestion," Shelly Ovitz said in a relaxed tone.

Irene leaned back against the sofa and glanced at him, "Let's hear it."

"You can use the contract you signed with Echo Pictures to apply for a bank loan."

"Would a bank accept that?" Irene frowned slightly. Was that even possible?

"Of course. You are simply using your future earnings to make a deal with the bank and taking the money out early to use. As long as you can provide compliant and legal evidence, whether the loan is approved or not will naturally be determined by the bank staff." Shelly Ovitz's tone was natural and certain, as if Irene were guaranteed to get the money as long as she went.

"Then help me schedule a meeting with a bank manager quickly. Time waits for no one; be fast." Regardless of whether it would work, it was worth a try. If it really failed, she could always borrow from Edward, that wealthy second-generation heir.

"Honestly, you could completely leave these things to your assistant to handle." Shelly was happy to offer ideas, but he wasn't quite as willing to run errands.

"That's only because I haven't found one yet, so you need to work hard. Help me find an assistant soon so I can be free." Irene waved her hand, completely unbothered by Shelly's grumbling, and made a move to shoo him away.

After comparing the banks, Irene chose Merrill Lynch, which was more professional in handling Hollywood loans, over National Wealth Bank.

At this time, Merrill Lynch had not yet been acquired and was still one of the largest and most influential comprehensive securities firms in the world. It was not just a stockbroker; its business tentacles reached into almost every financial field, including investment banking, asset management, and trading, making it incredibly powerful.

Their core competitiveness lay in their well-trained team of financial advisors who earned high commissions. They made money by providing comprehensive, expensive financial services.

However, even a giant like them was being constrained by the rapidly developing internet. This year, they were forced to launch online trading services, which attracted quite a bit of attention.

But none of this had anything to do with Irene. What she needed right now was a modest loan, and Merrill Lynch's approval process was fast. Although there was a limit, 6 million dollars was a very common figure for them.

Perhaps after the internet bubble began next year, she could officially enter the U.S. stock market.

Over the next few days, Irene spent her time discussing the loan details with Morley Leonard, one of the loan officers at Merrill Lynch whom Shelly had introduced, while also revising her script.

The original script was a 1:1 copy of the film, just like Legally Blonde, but she had added some content to make the script look more substantial.

The idea to add an Asian actor only came to her after she went to Hawaii.

She changed the protagonist's friend, Janis, to be Asian and renamed her Janis Huang, making her seem more like a Chinese-American.

She was highly intelligent but could never be fully accepted due to her skin color, which gave her a similar point of commonality with the protagonist, who was ostracized for returning from Africa, making their friendship seem more reasonable.

Adding some elements of racial discrimination would give her sense of loneliness and her rebellion against the hypocritical mainstream culture represented by The Plastics more depth and realistic significance.

This way, she could gain some recognition from Asian audiences without letting the film go off track. With her current abilities, she couldn't make major changes to the film, but tweaking the performances of some supporting roles was a good exercise for her.

Irene had many ideas for this character's conception. She wrote three full pages just on the character biography and family background, but a voice in her brain kept telling her not to let Janis Huang steal the spotlight—Cady was the protagonist of the film—so she barely managed to control her creative urge.

She handed the revised script to her mother, who was a screenwriter by trade, to look over.

Her mother praised her character-building ability once again, fully agreed with the addition of the Asian character, and said it was brilliant that she had thought to use the banner of racial discrimination at her age.

However, she also offered a suggestion: the Asian character's screen time was still a bit too much. Her film was just a campus comedy; the topic of racial discrimination should be touched upon lightly. If it were depicted too much, the theme of the film would become inconsistent, and an imbalance in proportions would only please no one.

Irene sobered up immediately. At the end of the day, people wanted to see how Cady Heron would outsmart The Plastics, not the discriminated life of Janis Huang.

On the day before the official actor auditions, Merrill Lynch brought good news: they had approved Irene's loan application. The 6 million dollars would be deposited into her account in a week. The last concerns before filming disappeared, and she could finally devote herself entirely to the movie.

"Boss, this is the list of actors coming for auditions tomorrow. The first page is a table I made based on your script, matching the characters with their corresponding actors. Take a look first; if there is anyone you are particularly interested in, you can let me know in advance."

Irene looked up at the assistant in front of her and took the list, "I will look at it."

This lady, Vera Cecil, was a senior from her school who had double-majored in economics and film studies. She had always wanted to enter Hollywood, not as an actress, but with higher goals in mind.

However, she had the degree but absolutely no work experience, and her family had no background in the industry to help her.

Therefore, after graduation, she could only do odd jobs on independent film sets, working as a runner, a purchaser, a temporary actor's assistant, and even various temporary stand-ins.

The environment on many independent film sets was extremely chaotic, and she was exhausted at the end of every day.

But it had to be said that such situations were very good for training a person. She was someone who was very good at learning and observing, and two months of odd jobs had given her a preliminary understanding of film.

Just as she was preparing to submit her resume to more professional crews, she discovered that Irene's studio, Echo Pictures, was hiring.

It was a brand-new production company, the boss was a director who had just made the hit film Legally Blonde, and the position was for her assistant, with the job content being to help her coordinate all work-related issues.

To be honest, this job looked quite unreliable. For example, the boss was too young and still a sophomore in college, perhaps too reliant on theory or intuition, and prone to bossing her around.

Also, the scope of the work was too broad. No one wanted to wake up in the middle of the night to help the boss deal with problems—unless the pay was high, of course, but the "salary negotiable" on the job posting was another red flag.

Therefore, this job might not be attractive to some experienced workers, but for a Hollywood newcomer like her, it was an indispensable opportunity.

An assistant to a director could intuitively understand everything happening on a film set, which was incomparable to the random odd jobs she had done before.

She gathered all her focus to prepare for the interview, and in the end, she successfully became Irene Coppola's assistant.

Her first day on the job was spent organizing the resumes of all the actors auditioning in two days.

To make the correspondence between actors and characters clearer for her boss, she spent a day and an entire night reading the whole script carefully, analyzing the characteristics of several important roles, and then matching them with the actors coming to audition, creating a table in the hope of gaining her boss's approval.