"Miss Lindsay Beale, please have a seat here and wait for a moment."
Eva, the receptionist at Sandsea Entertainment, gestured towards a bench near the entrance and spoke to a girl with long golden-brown hair, "I'll call you when it's your turn."
Lindsay Beale placed her handbag down and, after sitting, glanced around the company. It wasn't large, with at most twenty people.
But she had heard of Sandsea Entertainment; they had a huge box office hit with "The Purge."
"Will I pass the interview?" Lindsay Beale wondered, "If not, I'll have to go back and ask my parents for help."
Having graduated from university, she had no reason not to be independent anymore. Her parents worked hard, and it wouldn't be fair to have them help pay off her student loans.
This path was harder than she had expected. Maybe she should have interned at a commercial company after graduation instead of naively coming to Hollywood to become a screenwriter.
If there had been a better choice, Lindsay Beale wouldn't have taken this path.
Her university was barely third-rate, and business administration was an oversaturated major. Even with good grades, coming from an ordinary family without a master's degree and lacking work experience meant she would mostly start as an intern.
After graduation, Lindsay Beale found a few jobs, but the income was too low to pay off her student loans while covering basic living expenses.
A friend from the literature department planned to come to Hollywood to be a screenwriter. After chatting with him, Lindsay Beale also decided to take a chance in Hollywood.
Her friend had said that there was a lot of money to be made as a screenwriter in Hollywood. A single idea bought by a Hollywood company could sell for tens of thousands of dollars or more. If you had talent, making a name for yourself was not difficult. Selling a script brought in royalties, and if it was made into a movie, you could get a share of the box office.
There were also guilds to protect screenwriters' rights.
The pressure from student loans and the hope for a promising future brought her from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, only to find out her friend's words were just a dream.
New screenwriters were ignored. After much effort, she joined a screenwriting team but was only an assistant. Forget about having her name on the script—she hadn't even met the head writer.
In her three months in Hollywood, she had found only two jobs: one paid $220 a week to write dialogue for college girls in a script, and the other paid $300 a week to write college life scenes.
Her colleagues said she was incredibly lucky to get these two jobs.
For a new screenwriter, it was normal to be unemployed for half a year.
The writers' guild had minimum wage standards, but when she inquired, she found the guild had high entry requirements. Someone like her might not qualify even after two more years of work.
Luckily, she had saved some money from college article submissions. Otherwise, she wouldn't have lasted these three months.
Recently, her luck had run out, and she hadn't found any work for over a month.
"Miss Lindsay Beale, please follow me."
Hearing the receptionist's words, Lindsay Beale quickly stood up, following her and checking her breath for any unpleasant odors.
Next, a woman much older than Lindsay came out of the office ahead, walking towards them and nodding to the receptionist.
Lindsay Beale took a good look at the woman, sensing a fellow job applicant.
Had she failed the interview? She didn't look too pleased.
Failure would be good.
This job wasn't great, but it was what Lindsay Beale urgently needed.
If she couldn't find work, she'd have to go back home and ask her parents for help. If she did, she could stay here.
Entering the office, Lindsay Beale was surprised to see the person behind the desk. He seemed younger than her.
Ronan pointed to the chair opposite him and said, "Please have a seat."
Then he couldn't help but scrutinize her.
This woman was likely under twenty-five, dressed simply in a cheap black blazer, slightly worn tight blue jeans, and discolored gray flat shoes. She appeared about 165 cm tall, with an oval face, high nose bridge, and soft, delicate features, framed by curly golden hair.
Her slim figure and delicate face stood in contrast to the typical American look, more suited to Eastern aesthetics.
Ronan was puzzled. Was she here to apply as a ghostwriter or an actress?
"Lindsay Beale?" Ronan asked.
The woman seemed nervous initially but quickly adjusted, smiling and revealing two cute rabbit-like teeth. "Yes, I'm Lindsay Beale."
Ronan nodded slightly and introduced himself, "I'm Ronan Anderson, president of Sandsea Entertainment."
Lindsay Beale understood this was the person looking to hire a ghostwriter.
Ronan didn't waste any time and asked directly, "Have you worked as a screenwriter?"
"Yes," Lindsay Beale answered honestly. "I worked in two writing teams. I didn't have any writing credits; the team leaders assigned the writing tasks, and I completed them as required."
Ronan asked curiously, "You graduated from business school. What made you decide to become a screenwriter?"
Lindsay Beale, having seen some of the Hollywood scene, had already steadied her nerves and said, "Writing is my personal hobby. During college, I published over twenty articles in the school newspaper, most of which were stories. I also published a short story in the science fiction magazine Analog."
She took out a bound set of copies from her handbag and placed it on the desk. "These are the articles I have published."
It was these articles that helped Lindsay Beale land her previous two jobs.
Ronan took them and slowly flipped through them, glancing at Lindsay Beale as he did. The nervousness she had at the beginning seemed to have disappeared.
"Getting a science fiction story published in Analog, even a short one, is no small feat," Ronan noted, aware of the magazine's significance in the sci-fi literary world. "Why didn't you stay on the East Coast to become a literary writer instead of coming to Hollywood?"
Many literary types looked down on Hollywood screenwriters, especially those on the East Coast.
Hearing this question, Lindsay Beale quickly thought of Ronan's position as the head of a film company. Coupled with her own experience as a Hollywood screenwriter, she replied, "No matter how much the elite writers on the East Coast look down on Hollywood screenwriters, I believe that the opportunities I gain here are unimaginable to those novelists, poets, and playwrights. No revered serious writer can make their work resonate with millions, but a film screenwriter can!"
Ronan was intrigued by her words. A screenwriter who could articulate such thoughts was quite remarkable.
While money was the most obvious reason screenwriters stayed in Hollywood, some sought to explore a new medium because they found limited opportunities in the literary and theater circles.
Ronan added, "A film screenwriter is never seen as an artist. A screenwriter should be used to the role of a regular executor."
He needed a ghostwriter.
Lindsay Beale understood this well. "I understand."
Ronan stated directly, "For this job, you won't have any writing credits or rights."
Lindsay Beale, well aware of the concept of a ghostwriter, said, "I understand."
Ronan took out prepared paper and a pen, placing them in front of Lindsay Beale. "Using the traditional Hollywood female character template, like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, write a passage from the male lead's perspective, expressing his admiration for the female lead."
Lindsay Beale didn't say a word. This was the current trend. There were quite a few such novels in the market, and she had read some during her school years.
Ronan added a second requirement. "The second part. Write about an independent female lead. This character should be proactive and not need a man to rescue her; instead, she should be the one rescuing the man."
"Alright, start now," Ronan said, checking the time. "You have half an hour. There's no word limit or specific background requirement. Write it and give it to me when you're done."
Lindsay Beale moved her chair closer to the desk, picked up the pen, and started thinking.
Ronan, for the time being, left her to it and turned his attention to the premiere plans for Final Destination.
Just over twenty minutes later, Lindsay Beale put down her pen and said, "Mr. Anderson, I'm finished."
Ronan took the pages she handed over and read them carefully. The Mary Sue aspect was well-written.
Mary Sue female leads were the current trend, the most typical example being Julia Roberts. A call girl making a wealthy man fall madly in love was even more far-fetched than Fifty Shades of Grey.
Lindsay Beale's capability in this regard was not a problem.
The independent female lead was somewhat raw, likely influenced by the environment. Truly independent female characters were still rare in movies and literature at this time.
Overall, though, it was pretty good.
Ronan, a bit unsure about the latter, asked, "How do you think you can create an outstanding female character?"
Lindsay Beale thought for a moment and replied, "The character should be relatable and can have flaws since perfection is boring. Also, the character must have motivation, not just for men or children. A male screenwriter I worked with said he could think of 300 motivations for his male leads, but for female leads, the only one he could think of was saving children."
"This subconscious bias must be eliminated," Lindsay Beale, evidently thoughtful, continued. "And there's a cliché that should never appear: when the male lead stops his mission to disable a nuclear weapon to save his girlfriend first. And succeeds! Of course, they will stop the nuclear bomb from exploding, but I always wonder: doesn't the girlfriend want him to save the city? Or is she just a selfish person? And you're still dating her?"
Ronan carefully read Lindsay Beale's two passages again and said, "Miss Beale, you are hired."
Lindsay Beale breathed a sigh of relief and then asked, "What about my compensation?"
"A weekly salary of $1,000, with bonuses for timely completion, and additional bonuses if published," Ronan said straightforwardly. "You will need to write three novels following the outline I provide. After completing the first, your weekly salary will double for the second and so on."
He dangled the bait. "If you can impress me with these three books, I will hire you as a credited screenwriter for Shahai Entertainment."
"Really?" Lindsay Beale was tempted.
Ronan smiled and said, "If you have an agent or lawyer, bring them over to sign the contract tomorrow. If not, I can provide a notary lawyer."
Lindsay Beale immediately said, "Okay, see you tomorrow."