Chen Kaige wrote the script of "Little Shoes" very well. He has the sensibility and freedom of a literary man. The warm and restrained style of "Little Shoes" actually suits him perfectly.
However, his shortcomings in writing scripts are difficult to correct. He always resorts to long shots, incomprehensible metaphors, incomprehensible dialogues, and a little sensationalism, completely covering up his advantages.
Taking advantage of nothing to do today, Lin Chaoyang carried out a comprehensive "surgery" on his script.
Seeing Lin Chaoyang's big pen waving continuously, Chen Kaige's heart was bleeding. This was a script he had written for more than half a year!
"You are directors, not screenwriters. You can participate in the script, but you cannot dominate.
When directors write scripts, except for a few successful cases, most of them fail."
Lin Chaoyang was talking about two people, but he was actually referring to Chen Kaige. He always thought highly of his talent in literary creation.
Chen Kaige came here with full confidence today, but he was beaten to pieces, and he responded in frustration.
"Kege, your script is actually good, but your Uncle Lin's requirements for you are different from those of ordinary directors.
You want to hit the three major European film festivals.
The script must be refined and never be sloppy.
If this movie is polished, it will probably be too late for next year’s West Berlin Film Festival. By then, it will be a sure bet to hit Cannes or Venice.”
Just after receiving a slap from Lin Chaoyang, he turned around and received a sweet date from Tao Yushu. Chen Kaige immediately became excited.
I couldn't help but glance at Zhang Yimou. It doesn't matter if I don't participate in the West Berlin Film Festival, it has the weakest influence among the three major European film festivals.
After Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige left, Lin Chaoyang asked Tao Yushu: "Isn't it wrong for you to fool Kaige like this?
+
Lin Films has plans for award-winning films. This year, Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum" participated in the West Berlin Film Festival and won the Golden Bear Award, exceeding its mission.
The filming progress of Xu Anhua's "Parasite" has not been fast, and she was a little nervous to participate in the Cannes Film Festival. Tao Yushu simply arranged for the film to be screened in Cannes next year.
Just enough to maintain the rhythm of one major award-winning drama a year.
"Parasite" and "Little Shoes" are both films produced by Lam Pictures, so they cannot fight each other. In terms of emphasis, "Parasite" is definitely better than "Little Shoes".
So "Parasite" will go to Cannes next year, and "Little Shoes" will have to wait for Venice next year, or simply wait until the year after that.
"How can I be cheating? This is called planning for the future. Since it is a plan, it must be somewhat biased." Tao Yushu's tone was confident, and he even slapped him, "If you hadn't hit him so hard, I wouldn't be like this.
explain."
Lin Chaoyang secretly cursed, is it possible that after becoming a boss, people are self-taught in painting cakes?
After Chen and Zhang left, it was rare for the family to be quiet.
Tao Yushu was tired from driving last night, and the couple went to bed early. Finally having some time today, Tao Yushu shared with Lin Chaoyang the development of Lin's Pictures in recent months.
Movies are still the main business of Lam Pictures. Since "God of Gamblers" became a hit in December last year, Lam Pictures has been producing frequent hits in the past six months.
"God of Gamblers" has a box office of HK$36.29 million, "Lucky Star" has a box office of HK$20.41 million, "The King of Gamblers" has a box office of HK$25.8 million, "The God of Gamblers" has a box office of HK$39.55 million, and "Fantasy 2" has a box office of HK$21.39 million.
The film industry releases new films almost every month, and each film almost dominates the same period.
The momentum is astonishing.
In just half a year, the local box office of Lam Films has reached a total of HK$160 million. Together with the box office of other places,
The cumulative box office is approaching 400 million Hong Kong dollars.
The proportion of overseas box office sales has increased significantly compared with the previous two years. The reason is of course that it has won the Bay Island market.
Both "The God of Gamblers" and "The Gambler" were produced by Lam Pictures through Leather Packaging Company, and could be sold to Bay Island. The box office of the films in Bay Island was higher than in the local city, with a total of 82 million yuan.
Box office in Hong Kong dollars.
It is worth mentioning that the two works "Lucky Star" and "The Gambler" were huge hits, and Stephen Chow's popularity skyrocketed.
Within Lin's Pictures, everyone regards "The God of Gamblers" as a sequel to "God of Gamblers", but the outside world doesn't know this and generally believes that it is a follow-up to "God of Gamblers".
But in the eyes of outsiders, it is a follow-up film, but its box office performance has simply surpassed that of the original work, which inadvertently allowed Stephen Chow to surpass Chow Yun-fat.
In the past two years, entertainment reporters often called "one trip a week", referring to the two most box-office superstars in the Hong Kong film industry, Chow Yun-fat and Cheng Long.
In the past two months, "one trip per week" has become "one trip every two weeks"
Although this statement has not been recognized by most people, some people have begun to shout. As long as Stephen Chow can produce a few more movies with good box office in the future, this statement will basically become true.
The box office success of movies is only one aspect of the company's development. The company has also recruited a lot of talents in the past six months.
In terms of art consultants, the company has added Wang Tianlin this year.
Wang Tianlin is Wang Jing's father. He is not a genius in the fields of television and film, but whether he is a director or a producer, his threshold is very high.
At this point, father and son are exactly the same.
Lin's Pictures is now growing bigger and bigger, with more than 10 projects being filmed at the same time, and it needs the help of someone like him.
As for directors, John Woo and Tsui Hark had a falling out due to the poor performance of "A Better Tomorrow 2". Tao Yushu took a fancy to his talent in the field of gunfight films and recruited him to work under him.
When John Woo came to Lin's, he actually felt a little regretful. Lin Chaoyang had deliberately recruited him after "A Better Tomorrow" was released, but at that time, New Art City was in full swing, so he didn't care.
Two years later, Lin's Pictures has soared to great heights. When he comes back, the courtesy he receives will naturally be different from what it was back then, especially with Wang Jing's success story standing there.
Wong Jing can now be regarded as a successful example of the daughter of Lam Pictures. Since joining Lam Pictures, all of his films have been hits.
Not only did it bring huge benefits to Lin's Pictures, but he also earned himself tens of millions of dollars.
There has been a wild rumor in the Hong Kong film industry that Wang Jing's box office dividends from one of his movies are as high as 15%.
In fact, Wong Jing's income is more than that. What he gets is not the box office income, but the overall income of the film.
And in every movie he makes, Wang Jing Film Studio participates in investment.
Wong Jing holds 30% of the shares of the film studio. These investments may seem inconspicuous, but they add up to a huge amount of income.
Now, every time he makes a movie, he earns at least HK$3 million in revenue, rarely misses a hit, and has become a box office guarantee in the Hong Kong film industry.
In the past two years, there have been reports of film companies poaching him from time to time, but none of them are true. The reason is simple: Wang Jing doesn't want to leave.
Except for investing in his own movies and becoming his own boss, it would be impossible for Wang Jing to earn so much after leaving Lam Pictures.
But if he really becomes his own boss, he will inevitably have to bear the risk of the film's failure. He will have to worry about investment, production, distribution, and promotion, and he will also have to deal with various relationships.
It's not as easy as he is now. He only needs to be responsible for filming, and if it succeeds, he will receive almost 1/4 of the movie's income. It's not too cool at all.
In just two years, Wong Jing's net worth has surpassed that of most stars and famous directors in the Hong Kong film industry. Only a few top money-grabbing kings such as Cheng Long and Chow Yun-fat are above him.
In addition to Wang Jing, many key players of Lam Pictures have also made fortunes riding on the company's success.
For example, Gao Zhisen, who specializes in low-budget comedies, has successively produced two well-known works, "Rich and Rich" and "Rich and Rich Again". With his small skills, he easily earned more than 3 million Hong Kong dollars.
There is also Johnnie To, who had almost no chance to make independent films in New Art City. After coming to Lam Pictures, he made "A Lang's Story", a box office hit of 30 million Hong Kong dollars, and gained both fame and fortune.
John Woo's departure from Xinyi City is largely inevitable.
The reason why this film giant, which has been plagued by internal strife since its establishment, has been able to develop continuously over the years is ultimately due to the bonding of interests.
As long as the company can make money, everyone can always adapt to each other even if they don't fight each other.
In the past two years, the internal fighting in New Art City has intensified, and conflicts have long been on the table. The three giants of New Art City are fighting on their own, and the company's development situation has been stagnant for a long time without realizing it.
Last year, Xiangjiang was still discussing the script of Golden Harvest, New Art City, and Lin's Three Kingdoms in the film industry. However, since the beginning of 1988, Lin has been making rapid progress, and now only Lin's back can be seen in New Art City.
The original three kingdoms gradually turned into a situation where Chu and Han were fighting for hegemony.
Spring River Plumbing Duck Prophet.
Xinyi City relied on a group of talented filmmakers in those days, including not only the Big Three/Seven Monsters, but also many backbones.
In the past two years, the three giants have been at odds with each other, and the people below are also in a dilemma.
At this time, Lin's Pictures took advantage of the situation, with more money, less work, and high remuneration. Naturally, it became a good place for many filmmakers who were not happy in New Art City.
In addition to John Woo, a powerful director, Lin's Pictures has successively accepted many directors and screenwriters from New Art City in the past two years.
As long as there is a box office and a talent pool, Lam Pictures' current development can be said to be smooth. Tao Yushu optimistically estimates that by the end of this year, the surplus on Lam Pictures' accounts will be enough to pay off the loan from the Bank of East Asia.
"You can repay a three-year loan in one year?" Lin Chaoyang asked.
"Of course not. I'm just describing the company's current rate of making money. Even if the money is paid back to Bank of East Asia, it will not affect the company's operations."
After talking about the situation of Lin's Pictures, Tao Yushu talked about the development of Yulang Organization in the past few months.
When Lin's Pictures acquired Yulang Agency, Huang Yulang was almost sent to jail. There was a chaos within Yulang Agency, and everyone thought that the new boss would definitely conduct a major purge within the company after taking over.
It just proves that the people at Yulang Agency think too much.
After Tao Yushu took over the Yulang organization, he did carry out a purge, but the scope was not wide. Only Huang Yulang's sister Huang Miaoling, secretary Liang Wanmei and a few other Huang Yulang's diehards were eliminated.
Afterwards, she announced a 10% general salary increase for all employees. Within a short period of time, she quickly took control of the situation of Yulang Organization.
After the stock market crash and the chaos of acquisitions, Yulang Institution gradually returned to normal development speed.
As the uncrowned king of Xiangjiang comics, Yulang Agency’s monopoly position and speed of making money need no introduction.
As early as 1984, Yulang Organization's comic business revenue reached HK$112 million.
In the past few years, the company's revenue has been growing at a rate of more than 30% every year, and last year's revenue was close to HK$300 million.
One of the reasons why Yulang Organization's comic business has grown so fast is that Hong Kong's rapid economic development in recent years has indirectly released the purchasing power of teenagers in the field of comic consumption.
The second reason is that Yulang Agency continues to annex local cartoonists in Xiangjiang. For example, Shangguan Xiaobao, who was as famous as Huang Yulang in the past, was taken over by Huang Yulang when Yulang Agency was listed.
The third reason is that Yulang Agency has boldly introduced many Japanese comics in the past two years.
With the rise of Japanese comics in the 1970s, Xiangjiang Comics was once defeated by Japanese comics.
In the end, in order to save itself, Xiangjiang Comics followed the example of beauty and Japanese comic creation forms, introduced Japanese comic split-shot painting methods, European and American human body structure painting methods, and then integrated local martial arts novels to successfully restore the decline.
In particular, the emergence of Huang Yulang, a hunk from heaven, completely disrupted and reshaped the creation and production mechanism of Xiangjiang comics.
He subdivided the comic production process into details such as screenwriting, drafting, hooking, bodywork, filling in headers, and inlaying words, etc., forming an assembly line operation between each link.
As a result, Yulang Organization's comic production not only improved the quality, but also produced far faster than its counterparts working alone. In just a few years, it monopolized the comic industry in Xiangjiang.
In the competition with Japanese comics, Xiangjiang Comics gradually gained the upper hand by relying on its local advantages. However, Huang Yulang did not give up because of comics, but chose to continue to introduce Japanese comics.
To a certain extent, it has also expanded the audience group of readers of Xiangjiang comics.
In addition to the growth of local revenue, the biggest growth point of Yulang Agency's comic business is overseas. Since 1980, it has been seeking to go overseas. In five or six years, Yulang Agency's comics have swept Southeast Asia and exported to Japan and the United States.
, Australia and other countries.
"Putting aside his character flaws and acting style, Huang Yulang is indeed a genius in the field of comics.
In the past few months after taking over Yulang Agency, I found that the comics business of Yulang Agency is really solid.
Not only has it completed the unification of Xiangjiang Comics, but it has also expanded its overseas layout.
Unfortunately, apart from Southeast Asia, Xiangjiang Comics can only be considered an entry in other countries, and its influence is minimal."
Lin Chaoyang held Tao Yushu's shoulder. After listening to her, he said: "There is still a barrier between Eastern and Western cultures that is not easy to break through. We still have to fight it steadily."
"You're right, I think so too.
After all, the market in Xiangjiang is too small. The reason why the United States and Japan are major comics countries is because they have a population of over 100 million to support them.
Hong Kong has a population of just over five million. If it does not develop outward, it will end up trapped in a corner, waiting to die.
Now that the Southeast Asian market is doing well, I plan to let the people from Yulang Agency run the markets in China, Japan, and South Korea—"
Tao Yushu talked endlessly about the plans of Yulang Organization, and she was very excited in her words. Her character likes this kind of operation of opening up territories and forging ahead with determination.
In Japan and South Korea, the comics of Oklang Agency have already entered the market, but their influence is very small and they need to be developed slowly.
There are no comics in China today, only comic strips. Different from the concept of "animation is for children" in later generations, domestic comic strips experienced a period of vigorous development after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Many high-quality comic strips have been produced, many of which can be called works of art and have extremely high sales.
At that time, the monthly magazine "Huan Hua Bao", which published comics exclusively, had a monthly sales volume of 1.2 million copies, and its audience size was no less than that of literary readers.
In the 1980s, influenced by the friendship between China and Japan, the country began to introduce Japanese animations, comics, and many classic works such as "Astro Boy" and "Doraemon", which impacted the domestic comic book market to a certain extent.
Tao Yushu's idea is to cooperate with mainland publishing houses to introduce established Hong Kong comic works to the mainland. It is best to cooperate in establishing one or two comic publications.
"The business situation of Lao Li and his publishing house has not been ideal in the past two years. You can contact them."
The domestic publishing field has not yet opened up. The best way for the comics of Yulang Agency to enter the country is to find a cooperative publishing agency.
Huacheng Publishing House is located in Guangdong and has an open atmosphere. Its business situation has declined in the past two years, so it is a good partner.
Tao Yushu also thought this was a good idea. She asked, "Wasn't Lao Li's publishing house very good before? Your novel was published by them and the sales have been good!"
"It was pretty good before, but they couldn't keep the money they made!
In the past two years, the overall sales volume of the book industry has declined, and prices have risen a lot, so their lives are not as smooth as before."
Tao Yushu nodded, "That's good. I'll go talk to them when I pass by Guangzhou this time."
Lin Chaoyang reminded: "Those comics in Xiangjiang are going to be introduced to the mainland, and some of the content -"
Tao Yushu immediately understood what he was talking about. Hong Kong comics are famous for their pornography. The content of some works is nothing in Hong Kong, but it is extremely outrageous in the mainland.
When Tao Yushu was doing research on her comic works before, she found some contents that even a person in her early thirties felt embarrassed to read.
"I know, I will have a dedicated person responsible for adjusting these contents later."
After she said this, she couldn't help but think about it.
"China has a population of one billion. What a huge market this is. If the comics of Yulang Agency can enter, it will not be a problem to increase the market value ten times."
Affected by the stock market crash, the Hang Seng Index is still half-dead this year. After Yulang Agency was acquired by Lam Pictures,
It was a blessing in disguise that he escaped his tragic fate.
The stock price has risen steadily over the past six months, and its market value has exceeded HK$700 million.
This market value is still far from the peak of Yulang Institution, but it can still have such an upward trend amidst the wailing of the Hang Seng Index. Yulang Institution is already one of the lucky few.
Next month, Yulang Institution will announce the group's stock issuance plan. This move is to deal with the unfavorable factors of excessive concentration of Lam Films shares.
At the same time, approximately 20 million of the newly issued shares will enter the option pool to reward employees who have made outstanding contributions to the group.
For example, Ma Rongcheng, a fierce general who has made great contributions to the development of Yulang Institution, Tao Yushu plans to reward him with 3 million share options.
Based on the current stock price of Yulang Institution, these options are equivalent to Ma Rongcheng's income for three years. If the company's stock price continues to rise in the future, the value of these options will increase again.
After the issuance of new shares, Lam Films' shareholding ratio will be reduced from the original 82.7% to about 70.3%, getting rid of the shadow of delisting.
Lowering the shareholding ratio and using 20 million shares to reward employees is of course not for charity, but for the better development of Yulang Organization.
Options tie up core employees and enhance the company's cohesion and combat effectiveness.
The funds raised from the additional stock issuance are at least a conservative estimate of HK$80 million. These funds will become ammunition for the future development of Yulang Institution, and the control power is still in the hands of the major shareholder, the Lin Group.
Tao Yushu believes that after such good news is released, the stock price of Yulang Institution will inevitably reach a higher level.
When Lin's Pictures acquired Yulang Institution, it spent almost 420 million. Now, the value of the equity held by Lin's Pictures alone has reached 570 million, and the value may continue to increase in the future.
What's more, Lin's Pictures also controls Yulang Institution, a leading listed company that is close to a regional monopoly.
This acquisition is a huge profit!
That afternoon, Tao Yushu called Wu Tianming and communicated about Zhang Yimou's new movie.
He proposed that Lin's Pictures could make a co-production with West Film Studio to test the waters for Zhang Yimou's first commercial film journey.
Wu Tianming was naturally ecstatic when he heard the news.
"The King of Children" and "Red Sorghum" have successively won film awards abroad. Lin's Pictures, which directed these two films, has become famous in China, and studios are eager to cooperate with them.
The next afternoon after this call was made, Wu Tianming rushed to Yanjing after a long journey. He received the call yesterday afternoon, and then bought a plane ticket this morning and flew to Yanjing.
After the meeting, Wu Tianming enthusiastically took out several script outlines, which were all scripts written or currently being written by the screenwriters at West Film Studio. He said they were for Tao Yushu's reference.
"Director Wu, for the script, I want to use the story of a female writer in Xiangjiang, which tells the story of——————
The story Tao Yushu told Wu Tianming was Li Bihua's "Qin Terracotta Warriors".
Last night she asked Lin Chaoyang what kind of script Zhang Yimou should write for a commercial film, and Lin Chaoyang recommended this novel. Tao Yushu had full trust in Lin Chaoyang's vision.
After listening to Tao Yushu tell the story of "Qin Terracotta Warriors", Wu Tianming felt very novel.
He is a film director and has watched many more films than the average audience. He has also watched Hong Kong movies, but listening to the story of "Terracotta Warriors" still felt refreshing.
I thought to myself, no wonder the commercialization of Xiangjiang movies is so good, with so many fantastic ideas, it would be strange if it doesn't work well.
Looking at domestic film creations, the artistic quality is good, but the entertainment nature is much worse.
In recent years, although domestic film studios have been held back due to institutional constraints, many people of insight have realized the importance of film commercialization.
As the director of Xiying Film Studio, Wu Tianming still has this pattern and understanding.
"This story is good. It will be interesting to shoot. Mr. Lin is indeed an expert, so I will let your opinion be the main one." Wu Tianming thought for a moment and said happily.
Tao Yushu continued: "I plan to let Yimou go to Xiangjiang first to familiarize himself with some production processes and techniques of commercial films. During this time, he will perfect the script, and then find him a more mature team to shoot. What do you think?"
Wu Tianming smiled boldly, "Mr. Lin has thought so carefully. If I have anything else to say, I will listen to you."
After he finished speaking, he said to Zhang Yimou: "Yimou is lucky to meet an investor like you who thinks about him!"
Zhang Yimou showed an honest smile and agreed.
"Yimou is someone I like very much. If he has ideas, I will definitely support him with all my strength!"
Tao Yushu's words made Zhang Yimou feel warm in his heart, and he had the urge to die for his confidant.
Lin Chaoyang listened silently, feeling that his wife's ability to win people's hearts was getting stronger and stronger!
After discussing the new movie, "Red Sorghum" was officially released two days later, with a final box office of 40.62 million.
With today's statistical methods, this number is definitely far away from the true level.
But Hao Sui can get a share of the box office.
Although the account sharing ratio is only a pitiful 13%, it is still divided at least.
After paying taxes, the share of "Red Sorghum" was NT$4.22 million, which is only about NT$8.85 million converted into Hong Kong dollars.
It's a bit less, but mosquito legs are still meat no matter how small they are. After all, it's a good start.
The box office division required a settlement process, and Tao Yushu didn't have time to spend time in Yanjing. The day after "Red Sorghum" was released, he and Lin Chaoyang took a flight to Guangzhou.
The next day, Lin Chaoyang made an appointment with Li Shifei to the Taipingguan Western Restaurant. Li Shifei's home was just above the Western Restaurant, which was very convenient for him.
After the meeting, Lin Chaoyang first chatted with Li Shifei about what happened after the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award.
For Li Shifei or Huacheng Publishing House, the closest connection between the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award and them is "The Ordinary World."
Since winning the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award, "The Ordinary World" has become one of the focuses of many domestic media reports for many days in a row. The sales of the novel have also changed from the previous slump and have been rising all the way.
Speaking of this matter, Li Shifei was inevitably a little disappointed. It would have been better if he could have persisted at that time.
"Although sales volume has nothing to do with you, winning the award is inseparable from you." Lin Chaoyang comforted him.
Li Shifei shook his head and smiled: "Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. What do you want to do when you come back?"
"Let Yushu tell you."
The domestic press and publishing industry is strictly regulated. Before 2003, foreign investors were not allowed to engage in book, newspaper and magazine business in the country.
Xiangjiang is also owned by foreign investors, so it is definitely impossible for Yulang Organization to co-organize the magazine.
Tao Yushu's idea is to let Huacheng Publishing House create a comic magazine. The main content of the magazine is to serialize the comics of Yulang Agency. Yulang Agency will license the copyright to Huacheng Publishing House for a nominal fee.
After this comic has cultivated a certain readership for Yulang Organization, many comics under Yulang Organization will be published and distributed by Huacheng Publishing House in the form of single volumes. The publishing review work of the introduction of comics will need to be coordinated by Huacheng Publishing House.
Chapter completed!