Chapter 174: Elevator Pitch
Chapter 174: Elevator Pitch
As for where to use the S-Rank Rank-Up Ticket...
There was no need to decide that yet.
Right now, this was the time to focus on what was in front of me.
I sincerely wanted to wholeheartedly congratulate Director Baek Junbong on his award too.
When Director Baek Junbong stepped onto the stage, he held the trophy carefully in both hands and remained silent for a while.
As if weighing its heaviness.
Or as if reflecting on the years that had passed.
The audience also held their breath, waiting for the master’s first words.
“...Thank you.”
Just two short words.
His voice was strangely hoarse.
“I’m not very good at speaking in places like this. When I’m filming, I nag the actors just fine, but the moment I step onto a stage, I turn into a mute who swallowed honey. That’s why I always think actors are truly amazing.”
Quiet laughter leaked out from around the hall.
“The Grand Prize in the Film Category... I really have been at this for a long time. Looking back, I think the reason I was able to endure so long in this rough film industry was not because I was especially skilled, but because the people I worked with were so wonderful.”
He slowly looked out in front of him.
The actors and staff who had worked with him.
He met each person’s eyes one by one.
Those whose eyes met his answered him with bright smiles.
“To be honest, after I announced my retirement, people around me said many things. They asked if it wasn’t a waste to retire after making such an outstanding work. But... I no longer had the confidence that I could become someone new. And films, in the end, have to be new.”
That drew puzzled reactions.
Because Vacuum State was a film more new and more groundbreaking than any recent release.
“The truth is, this work was not my last script... it was my first.”
In an instant, the hall froze.
The word first seized everyone’s minds at once.
“It was a practice piece I scribbled in a notebook before I had even truly begun making films. I had no money, no camera, nothing at all, so I simply wrote it down as a story for ‘someday.’”
““......””
“I only filmed it now. Because I have only now become someone who could film it, and because I finally met an actor who could make it.”
As he said that, the director’s gaze landed precisely on me.
“Actor Ryu Sunho.”
The spotlight spread to me in an instant.
Hundreds of eyes turned toward me.
The director looked straight at me and held out his hand.
“Would you come up here for a moment?”
My mind went blank.
Because this was a scenario I had never expected at all.
...Can I really go up there?
Wouldn’t I be taking the focus away from the director’s final acceptance speech?
In the moment I hesitated—
......!
I looked at Director Baek Junbong’s hand, still stretched straight toward me.
Right.
This was not the time to worry about how other people might see it.
For the director’s sake, I had to go.
I stepped onto the stage.
The moment I stood beside the director, the audience’s cheers swelled another level higher.
The director gripped my hand tightly.
“I suppose I should shorten my words now. If I go on too long, everyone will complain that they’re getting home late, won’t they?”
Another round of laughter.
The director continued in a notably serious tone.
“There is only one final thing I want to say.”
He tightened his hold on my hand.
“Our film industry always moves on by standing on someone’s back. The seniors open the road, and the juniors widen that road... that is how we have come this far. So.”
The director tilted the trophy slightly toward me.
As if passing a baton.
“I leave the next generation of the film industry in your hands.”
““......!!””
In that instant, the audience exploded.
“Waaaaaaah!!”
“Clap clap clap clap!!”
“Wheeeeee!!”
Hot applause, cheers, and whistles crashed against my ears in a chaotic mix.
I felt like I had never heard such thunderous applause before.
The director turned toward me and whispered softly.
“So don’t be afraid, and keep going in your own way. You are more than enough.”
Swallowing the surge of emotion rising in my chest, I bowed my head deeply.
“Thank you. It was even more of an honor for me to be part of your final work.”
The director smiled brightly and patted my shoulder.
Then he raised the trophy high toward the audience, bowed, and said his farewell.
“Thank you. Now I, Baek Junbong, will step down behind the stage. Live like a film.”
And so the master’s exit came to a beautiful and perfect close.
[At the Baeksang Arts Awards, Doctor Princess and Vacuum State each take the top prize in their respective categories... A result no one disputes]
[Ryu Sunho conquers both film and television at Baeksang... Best Acting Performance + Television Grand Prize triumph]
[Director Baek Junbong wins the Grand Prize for his “retirement work,” and passes the ending to Ryu Sunho... A moving “declaration of generational succession”]
[“Films are made by people” — Director Baek Junbong’s sincerity becomes Baeksang’s most unforgettable scene]
People said that a much-talked-about feast often had nothing to eat.
But this Baeksang was an exception.
There was so much to feast on that one could burst from overeating.
Starting from the surprise performance by Ryu Sunho and Moon Ganghyeok, there was an abundance of things to see from every angle.
Most of all, Director Baek Junbong’s final acceptance speech brought tears to the eyes of the entire nation.
Thank you for everything you’ve done for Korean cinema, Director. Please stay healthy. ㅠㅠ
He was so amazing right to the very end, seriously. ㅠㅠㅠ I got chills when he called Ryu Sunho up
This really feels like the greatest ever... If someone asks about the future of Korean cinema from now on, you could just show them this acceptance speech
And while the presence of the name Ryu Sunho continued to grow even larger in South Korea—
At The Movie Pictures headquarters in Los Angeles, California, after hearing the report from David, Head of Production, Michael, the COO, firmly shook his head.
“No. The risk is too great.”
“But Michael, Quentin wants this very strongly.”
David tried persuading him with a few more words, but Michael cut him off decisively.
“It’s a deal the investors will never welcome. Maybe if it were back when the PC craze was at its height. But that’s not the atmosphere now, is it?”
Michael was cold.
He methodically pointed out the limitations of an Asian actor as the sole lead.
The risk was too high, the marketability too low.
In other words, there was nothing to gain.
“He may have won Best Actor at Cannes, but that’s something only cinephiles really know. Ordinary moviegoers don’t care that much. It’s not as if he’s the first actor in Hollywood history to win Best Actor at Cannes.”
Michael tilted his head and drove the point home.
“And realistically, how good could a Korean actor be at performing in English? Maybe if it were a supporting role with short, clipped lines. But if the accent or nuance feels awkward even a little, immersion shatters instantly. There’s no way a homegrown actor who has only acted in Korea could sound native from the start.”
David could not argue.
Because every word of it made sense.
He was caught in a dilemma.
“But... Quentin is adamant. He says that if Ryu Sunho does not take the lead, he’ll take the script to another production company. Isn’t losing Quentin a huge loss too?”
At David’s words, Michael paused.
Quentin Marino.
One of the few masters who commanded both box office and critical acclaim.
Losing him would be painful.
Michael moved his fingers for a moment, then came up with an idea.
“I know how stubborn Quentin is. So instead, we have to break the other side’s will.”
“The other side?”
“That actor. Ryu Sunho.”
Michael tapped his finger against the desk.
“First, contact the actor and ask him to meet before the casting is finalized so we can at least see his face once. Then, in front of the contract, lay out the realistic risks point by point. Problems with English pronunciation, cultural differences, the burden if the project fails, and so on. He won’t be able to refute those so easily himself.”
“Even if you discourage him like that, will it really matter much?”
“We can’t stop there. We subtly steer it into an audition. As if it’s some kind of compromise for everyone’s benefit.”
Michael raised an eyebrow and continued.
“If it’s Quentin’s project, even Hollywood top actors will come running while drooling over it. We say we should have them compete fairly. Then we simply pass another white actor instead.”
After the awards ceremony, the company gave me a few days off.
Leisure, for the first time in a while.
I sat on the sofa and looked at my phone.
Ryu Sunho, the national representative actor appointed by Director Baek Junbong, damn
But it’s probably not just directors. Actors must want to work with Ryu Sunho too... Whenever they work with him, they end up showered in awards
└ Agreed. His acting goes without saying, and his buzz is top-tier too, so it’s just absurd;
His image in Korea had definitely settled properly as that of an irreplaceable actor.
Now the goal is to become the best actor in the world...
I looked at the S-Rank Rank-Up Ticket and thought it over.
Appearance and Dialogue Delivery.
Which one should I raise for a greater advantage on the world stage?
If I raise Appearance... first of all, I could deliver visual shock.
I’d gain the power to overwhelm people visually beyond language.
It would probably help a lot with casting too.
But it was not directly connected to acting ability.
If anything, Appearance could create limitations in roles.
I could end up being overshadowed by my looks and have my acting undervalued.
Just as I was deep in thought, my phone suddenly rang loudly.
It was Team Leader Jo Sehun.
He had told me to rest well and that he absolutely would not contact me during my break.
But now he was calling out of the blue.
What was going on?
“Hello?”
“Su-Sunho...! Can you come to the company right now?”
“Did something happen?”
“Quentin... Quentin is at the company right now! He says he wants to meet you!”
“......What?”
“Long time no see, my friend.”
Quentin waved happily the moment he saw me.
A loose T-shirt and suspenders.
He looked exactly the same as he had in Cannes.
“What brings you to Korea?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I said I was writing a script for you. It’s finished, so I came to show it to you.”
...If that were the case, couldn’t he have just sent it by fax or email?
That thought crossed my mind.
But Quentin added with a grin, “I wanted to see your vivid reaction right after reading my script for the first time.”
I nodded and accepted the thick stack of pages Quentin handed me.
The title was Check Mate.
It was written in English, but there was not the slightest discomfort in reading it.
To begin with, I was already used to reading original English texts, and thanks to the Language Slot, my understanding of cultural sensibilities had risen quite a bit.
▶ English Lv.7
— Listening Lv.7
— Pronunciation (Accent) Lv.7
— Cultural Sensibility Lv.6
Because of that, I could understand American humor and slang without difficulty, almost as well as a native speaker.
“As you surely already know, ‘Alex Han’ is the name of your role here. The protagonist.”
Quentin leaned one arm on the back of the sofa and spoke confidently.
He looked eager to see my reaction as soon as possible.
I read through the script at high speed.
As expected, all I could do was admire it.
A multiple-personality character built by personifying chess pieces.
A noir that blended action and drama exquisitely.
This was the real thing.
“Wow... this is...”
“Isn’t it killer?”
“It’s so good. It honestly feels like pure luck that a script like this came to me.”
At my answer, Quentin clapped his hands in delight like a child.
Then he abruptly held out his hand.
“Then come to LA with me.”
“LA?”
“Yes. The production company representative wants a meeting. Time to stamp the deal.”
Quentin explained the situation.
He made it sound long and elaborate, but in summary, it was this:
Let’s use the meeting to coordinate the contract details and let you meet the production staff.
Quentin spoke with a broad smile as if it were merely a simple procedure.
...But it doesn’t feel like they’re calling me in order to finalize the casting.
Hollywood was a society built thoroughly on contracts.
If the casting for the lead actor had already been finalized, then the production company’s legal team or the agency would have first sent a deal memo to the agency.
But instead, they suddenly wanted to see my face first, with no lead-up at all?
There was clearly a strong intention either to put me through a strict verification process or to find some excuse to reject me.
There’s no way a major Hollywood studio would easily approve an unproven Asian actor.
When my expression quietly settled, Quentin asked, “Why? Is something bothering you?”
“There’s something about it that feels a little strange.”
I chose the direct route.
When I told Quentin what seemed strange to me, his face gradually hardened.
He looked like he was about to get angry, but perhaps realizing my reasoning made sense, he relaxed his flushed expression and said, “...That sounds plausible. That bastard Michael is a bit too picky. A real ink-stained type.”
Just as I thought.
He would probably try to put me down using one reason after another.
But I had no intention of giving up.
If anything, it only made me want to shatter their prejudice.
If so, how could I shake them?
While thinking it over, a good idea suddenly flashed across my mind.
Elevator Pitch.
A term said to have originated among Hollywood film directors.
An unknown director would wait for an investor to get on an elevator, ride with them, and during that brief time before getting off, give a powerful explanation of the core of the script in order to win investment.
In other words, it was a business communication skill for appealing to the other person about yourself or your idea during the short time of an elevator ride.
It was a concept often used in advertising too, and even without knowing the term, anyone in advertising instinctively acquired it as a skill.
Captivating the other person within a short span from which they could not escape.
It was the same principle as seducing consumers within a fifteen-second ad.
“Quentin, do you happen to know what an Elevator Pitch is?”
The moment I brought up Elevator Pitch, Quentin flew into a rage.
“...Hey, just because I came all the way to Korea to see you, do I seem easy to you? I’m not at a level where I have to bow my pride and give anyone an elevator pitch.”
It seemed he had misunderstood.
I shook my head and spoke calmly.
“Of course the director should not be the one giving the Elevator Pitch. Hollywood would bow to you even if you just sat still.”
Then I turned my finger toward myself.
“I’m the one who’ll do it. The pitch.”
“...What?”
“But not as Ryu Sunho.”
I changed my gaze and said, “I’m thinking of doing it as Alex Han.”