INT. PROVINCIAL NEWSPAPER OFFICE. DAY.
Liza was sitting at her desk, completely absorbed in the world she was creating on screen. The keyboard dutifully tapped out the rhythm of her cherished film script until her creative flow was interrupted by Volodya—a handsome blonde with sky-blue eyes. He was wearing a biker's leather jacket and holding a scarlet rose between his teeth.
"How about we stop pecking at that keyboard like a woodpecker? Care to take a break for a cup of coffee?" he asked, barely audible because of the rose.
Liza tore her gaze away from the monitor and laughed.
"Oh, Volodya! Why are you holding a rose in your mouth?"
Volodya removed the rose and gallantly presented it to Liza.
"Just trying to get a little closer to your idea of a romantic hero," he replied.
At that moment, Vika, a busty brunette, called out to them, pointing at the television screen hanging in the corner of the office.
"There's Liza's romantic hero!" she threw in acidly and turned up the volume.
On the screen, a host was interviewing Gleb. The segment revealed that the actor had starred in a new film by a famous director and was nominated for Best Actor at a major international festival, scheduled to take place in the capital in a few weeks.
"See? Your favorite actor will get an award again, but just not in your film!" Vika teased Liza.
Liza instantly sprang up, her eyes blazing.
"Yes, but I won't miss the chance to offer Gleb a role in my film! I'll offer him the script right at the film festival!"
Before she could finish the sentence, she was already running towards the manager's office. Her intuition told her: her moment of luck had arrived.
INT. PROVINCIAL NEWSPAPER OFFICE. DIRECTOR'S OFFICE. DAY.
Liza burst into the office without knocking. Vyacheslav Sergeevich was intently assembling a complex, multi-layered mechanical 3D puzzle that he had been painstakingly building for weeks. Because of the unexpected intrusion, the manager's hand knocked over the construction, which scattered across the desk with a crash. Liza was so emotionally charged that she didn't even notice the catastrophe. Without giving her boss a chance to speak, she immediately began:
"Vyacheslav Sergeevich! There's a film festival happening in the capital! I urgently need to go! Send me on a business trip to get an exclusive interview with famous actors and directors!"
Vyacheslav Sergeevich, sighing heavily over the ruins of his work, replied:
"Liza, all the information for an article can be taken from the internet. You know we're a small provincial newspaper. We don't have the money for such pointless and expensive business trips to the capital."
Rejected, Liza headed for the exit, but stopped right at the door, turning sharply.
"Fine. I'll pay for the business trip myself! The only thing the publication needs to do is secure my accreditation so I can conduct the interviews smoothly."
Vyacheslav Sergeevich liked Liza's proposal.
"Accreditation... Alright, Liza. Go for it."
INT. PROVINCIAL NEWSPAPER OFFICE. DAY.
Liza returned to her workspace, beaming. Her colleagues immediately rushed over to her.
"Well? Did you manage to talk Vyacheslav Sergeevich into it?" Vika asked.
"Yes! And I won't miss this opportunity. You'll see, he will definitely star in my film!"
Volodya joined them, who had been listening to the conversation, gazing at Liza with adoration.
"I admire you, Liza! You're so driven," he said.
"True," Vika added. "To not give up when studios rejected you dozens of times, when you faced failure after failure... that takes real guts."
"Yes, I'm over thirty, and many laugh at me, but I can't betray my dream," Liza clenched her fists. "It's better to try and fail than not to try at all. You never know what the result will be. My intuition tells me: this time, everything will work out!" Liza stated confidently.
"Yes, you don't know what the result will be," Vika concluded with a smirk. "Especially when you start your dance with a romantic actor!"
"And what if he turns out not to be a romantic?" Volodya jealously countered.
"An actor's persona and the real person are two different things, Liza," Victoria quipped again. "Aren't you afraid of being disappointed?"