Chapter 192

192 Earning His Approval

“Did you get a chance to take a look at the storyboard that we sent?” Jeremy asked.

Just like always, Jeremy didn’t look nervous about having a meeting with Ace. On the other hand, I was plagued with worry. Jeremy flashed up our presentation on the large screen and a knot formed in the pit of my stomach.

“I’ve seen it,” Ace replied simply.

I couldn’t tell from his tone whether or not he liked what he had seen. Ace’s hazel eyes settled on the large screen before he cocked his head slightly to the side as if he was thinking of something.

“You two give me a proper run-through one more time, please,” Ace said as he waited for us to do his bidding.

“Umm...ok...” I replied before getting to it.

Jeremy helped me as I presented the storyboard to Ace while highlighting the parts that we have changed while including the reasons behind the change. Ace didn’t seem impressed, but he didn’t stop me from continuing and that meant that it must have been somewhat passable.

“We think adding in some emotional scene here and some music here would help,” Jeremy helped chime in where appropriate.

Ace’s eyes narrowed when we came to the end of our presentation. Time was running out and I knew that Ace knew this as well. If we don’t get it right this time around, there was a high chance that Ace would take this out of our hands and deal with it himself. I didn’t want it to come to that at all because it would mean that Jeremy and I have failed somehow to live up to his expectations. Worst of all, it would mean that our failure would be adding to Ace’s plate of surmounting responsibilities. Becoming a burden to Ace wasn’t what I wanted.

.....

“What do you think?” I dared to ask Ace when our presentation came to an end.

Ace was silent for a moment as he seemed to consider something. I glanced nervously at Ace and then at Jeremy who was standing by my side. Jeremy nudged me and I snapped out of my thoughts and followed him to take our seats close to Ace at the meeting table.

“It’s not perfect, to be honest...” Ace said after a moment of thought.

“Right...” I murmured as I tried my best to keep my disappointment out of my voice.

“However, it is passable. We’ll go with this...” Ace said before he grinned at us.

'

I had never won the lottery before, but the feeling of joy mixed with the pleasant surprise that I felt at that moment must have been quite close to the happiness of winning the lottery. It was quite unbelievable, but it made me so exhilaratingly happy.

“Really?!” I exclaimed before my mouth dropped open.

Jeremy seemed surprised as well, but he had better control over his reaction. On the other hand, I couldn’t care less how excited I came across because I was just so thrilled.

“Yes. This is good work; however, just like I said, it is not perfect. The ending isn’t impactful enough and some scene transitions seem a little off...” Ace commented without bias.

If there was any bias, he was very tough on us instead of helping us along. That was the be expected.

“I see...” I mumbled, my prior excitement dying down a little.

“This isn’t something that we can’t figure out when we actually get to filming and production. With the actual shots from production, we will have a better view of how to adapt it to make everything perfect before the launch,” Ace said with a firm nod of his head as his eyes stared straight at Jeremy and then at me.

“Does that mean...” I murmured still in disbelief.

“Yes, it does. We will now move on to the production stage of this project,” Ace announced confidently.

“We’ll talk to the head othe f production right away,” Jeremy quickly jumped in.

“Yes, we’ve run through this version with him already but now that we have your approval we will make quick progress on it right away,” I said as I felt so thankful for his approval.

The commercial wasn’t perfect in the presentation right now, but I was sure that we could make it better once we work with the production team. I thanked Ace silently for believing in us.

...

After getting Ace’s approval, everything at work got even busier. We have now moved onto the production stage and what that meant was that instead of working internally in our team, we had to work across departments with the production team as well. Although we were not in charge of production, we still had to make sure that what the production team was doing aligned with what we had in mind. Even the smallest detail could throw the whole vibe of the commercial off.

“Does it get busier than this?” I mumbled my complaint.

“You’re already complaining?” Jeremy said as he turned to glare at me.

“If you’re already complaining, you’re going to die when we start the editing process,” Richard said before he also gave me a warning look.

“In short, things will get a lot busier than this and fast. After shooting and reshooting until we are fine with everything. Then we move on to the editing part. This is the most important part and Ace will get involved full stream in making sure that the commercial lives up to his expectations. So yes, we will get a lot busier than this. If you have dates scheduled or any important appointments, cancel them all!” Jeremy explained before he laughed loudly.

Perhaps the no-dating rule should apply out of the office as well. With how demanding this job was, it was a miracle that anyone had a successful relationship outside of work not to mention a well-functioning family. However, I knew that this period of turmoil wouldn’t last forever. We just need to win this company and then this year will be a breeze for us and our company. We’ll rake in projects and the company will grow. Then when next year comes around, we’ll hack it out with the competitors to win this competition again.

–To be continued...