When Laila arrived at the company, she saw some people holding various signs, protesting against Robert Downey Jr. desecrating their Iron Man. The situation was even worse on the internet, with some people even going to the official White House website, hoping Laila would change her mind and not let a fallen addict ruin their beloved superhero.
As for her Facebook page, it was flooded with protest comments. Some people softly begged while others were straightforwardly abusive. Although some supported Laila, they were often pushed down after just a couple of comments, in an awkward position.
Even if Laila was slow on the uptake, she knew that someone was using paid commenters to attack her. In her previous life when she worked in the television industry, some actors were criticized as unsuitable for certain roles, but in the end, they still played them, and it even attracted more attention because of the controversy. So in her mind, being criticized or being a target of negativity was never considered a very miserable situation. Whether it's criticism or praise when your work doesn't even generate a discussion, will anyone bother to watch it?
This time, just like before, upon learning that so many people wanted to replace Downey, Laila was initially surprised but then went on to film her movies with the attitude of "I'll just quietly watch as you all help me hype it up."
It was only when Louise called her to come back and deal with the situation that she realized things had gotten this bad when she wasn't paying attention.
"Isn't this great?" Laila saw the reports of comic book fans protesting everywhere on her computer and laughed, her eyes narrowing with amusement.
"..." What's so great about it? Louise swore that she couldn't see it. But as long as Laila thought it was great, it meant that the current situation wasn't really a problem. It might be hard for outsiders to believe, but the 20-year-old Laila had already reached a point where the entire company had immense confidence in her. Whenever she appeared in the company, even if there was chaos outside, she would simply smile and not think it would cause any issues.
"Do we need to do something about this?" Louise asked with some hesitation.
Laila smiled at her, "Do you think they will keep protesting for so long? We've set the release for next summer season, and we have a lot of time before that. Do you really believe they will continue to protest once the movie starts filming? Plus, many scenes won't even be shot in the United States."
Louise asked, "Are we just going to leave it as it is? Will it harm the company's image?"
Laila waved her hand nonchalantly, "It's okay. I'll respond to some questions on Facebook and increase our visibility there. You don't need to seek help from other media outlets."
Louise agreed, realizing that Laila was giving her face by not blaming her for the current situation. What she didn't know was that Laila saw this as an opportunity to promote her Facebook platform. With so many people following the casting controversy, Facebook was the only platform to get her responses. As the news spread, more users would join the Facebook community.
By using features she had learned from future social media platforms, Laila believed that once she had a significant market share, nothing could threaten their position. Although Facebook was not currently generating much profit, she knew that once it reached a near-monopoly status, numerous revenue opportunities would present themselves.
On the weekend, Laila returned to New York. As soon as she got home, her grandfather summoned her for a talk.
"Been pretty busy lately?" the old man asked her, looking somewhat strange.
Laila felt a bit uneasy, wondering if she had done something to displease her grandfather recently. After reflecting, she couldn't think of anything out of the ordinary and smiled, "Not too bad. The movie I'm working on will be finished in a couple of days."
The old man, sipping his tea, maintained his cryptic attitude, "You've been busy shooting three movies, and you call that not bad? It's not like our TV station where nothing's coming up."
Laila quickly understood what was going on. Her grandfather was seeking more creative ideas from her.
"Have you used up all the ideas I gave you before? Your reality show and TV drama concepts should have lasted quite a while, right?"
The old man harrumphed, "How much brainpower does it take to make a movie? If you had the time, you could've come up with more TV show concepts. I'm telling you, our ratings have dropped recently, so you need to come up with something to boost them!"
What an extortion! That's what it was! She finally realized why her grandfather was putting on this act. It seemed he couldn't bring himself to "beg" her openly for some program ideas and decided to leverage her obligation to him instead.
"Grandfather, if you want some programs, just say so. No need to make a scene like this. Would you prefer me to ask you for money right here and now?"
The old man, whose hidden agenda had been exposed, didn't blush but rather appeared quite satisfied. "Would that be the same? You owe me, which is better than me owing you."
Laila sighed and rubbed her forehead, saying, "Fine, I'll think about it when I get back. When people request programs all the time, it's as if it's easy. If I come up with ideas on the spot, other TV stations will go crazy if they feel like I've taken all the good ideas."
"By the way, a foreign media company is interested in purchasing the rights to our shows. What do you think?"
"That's great. Who wants to buy, and what do they want?"
"England wants to buy the rights for 'American Talent.'"
"Sure, we can sell it! They can produce 'British Talent' themselves. We can sell to other countries as well; selling the rights to multiple countries would be quite lucrative."
The old man and Laila chuckled together. If anyone happened to walk in, they'd likely be scared by their laughter. They didn't seem like a grandfather and granddaughter at all; they looked more like a fox and a raccoon!
"Laila, you're not getting any younger. When are you planning to take over my position?"
Just as they were laughing, the old man suddenly threw this question at her, startling Laila, who almost choked on her saliva.
"Grandfather, why are you suddenly asking this?"
Oswald coughed artificially and said, "I'm getting old, and passing on my responsibilities sooner would ease my mind."