Chapter 143 Guiding the Maze (Fourth More!)

Many filmmakers in Xiangjiang are not very professional.

Many film companies in Xiangjiang have the idea of ​​making a fortune and leaving. They have never thought about doing this business for a long time, let alone maintaining this market.

Therefore, they are usually like sharks. When they see which type of movie makes money, they rush to follow suit and shoot until the series is badly shot and the audience doesn't buy it at all.

Historically, it was the zombie movies created by Hong Jinbao and the others, which were crazily shot down in just a few years.

Then came the biopics of heroes that started around 1985, such as Lei Luo, Rimbaud, Lai Hao, etc., but they were also swarmed by bad movies and couldn't be shot anymore.

In the 1990s, gambling movies were the first to bear the brunt. In just two or three years, more than 30 gambling movies were released, and people felt like throwing up after watching them.

later on...

There will be no future for Xiangjiang Films.

If it weren't for brazenly relying on the mainland market to survive, Xiangjiang Films would have been basically finished around 2000.

The root cause of all this is not simply due to filmmakers and speculators, but the entire Hong Kong society and the overall atmosphere of Hong Kong.

All Xiangjiang people do everything in the same way as making movies, so movies are the same as their previous toy industry, small electronic product industry, etc. It is normal that they collapse after being brilliant. normal.

However, it cannot be said that Xiangjiang Film cannot find even a discerning person.

There are still many people with vision.

The first one is Zou Wenhuai, He Guanchang, and Cai Yongchang, a group of senior executives from Golden Harvest.

They have always attached great importance to foreign markets, and have been developing towards Hollywood. They have spent a lot of profits for this, and the results they have achieved are still very mediocre. It was hard to continue and fell into loneliness.

And Wu Siyuan in front of him is also one of them.

It may not be obvious in the 70s and 80s, but after 2000, he worked hard to develop towards the mainland and became a pivotal figure in the connection between Hong Kong and the mainland film industry. This shows that he has a very long-term vision. eyes, and a filmmaker with superb means.

In his previous life, Wu Siyuan, although he was born in the Shaw family, had always had a good relationship with Zou Wenhuai and the others. Since the 1980s, Siyuan Company has been a satellite company of Golden Harvest, and he himself also held a position within Golden Harvest, which is why he is now One of the important reasons for coming to Hong Jinbao's celebration and thank you banquet.

Cheng Long's "Serpentine Hand" released in March this year was produced by Wu Siyuan's Siyuan Company. Cheng Long also borrowed it from Luo Wei. At that time, he gave money and made an appointment for Cheng Long to make two films for him. , now that "Serpentine" has been released, and "Drunken Master" is scheduled for the beginning of next month, Wu Siyuan is both looking forward to it and has some suspicions.

After all, he is not the boy in front of him, not the genius who writes a popular script like drinking water. Although he has done his best in "Drunken Master", it depends on the market to decide what the situation is.

Today's banquet was originally without Wu Siyuan. Except for him, most of the people were from the Seven Little Fortunes. Lin Zhengying also knew Hong Jinbao for more than ten years, and was considered the most important martial arts instructor of the Hong family class. It can be regarded as one of our own.

In addition to learning martial arts from his father, Yuan Heping also studied drama with Master Yu for a period of time, and he can be called Hong Jinbao and his fellow students. ——By the way, the famous work of Cheng Long's "Serpentine Hand" was directed by Yuan Heping.

In comparison, Wu Siyuan's relationship is still much farther away.

But today, seeing Cheng Long changing into new clothes in a flamboyant manner and preparing to go out, he asked casually. He heard that Hong Jinbao hosted a banquet for a big meal, and the guest was Yin Junshi, who has been in a big mess in Hong Kong's TV industry recently. Wu Siyuan was immediately moved, and after calling Hong Jinbao, he followed him.

He is definitely not for food, but for something else.

Therefore, in the middle of the banquet, while Hong Jinbao was drinking happily with everyone, Wu Siyuan quietly talked to Yin Jun for a few words.

At around 9 o'clock, after the banquet was over, Wu Siyuan stopped Cheng Long who had already drank a lot.

"What? Brother Yuan?" Cheng Long was a little drunk, but he had a good capacity for alcohol, so he wasn't drunk.

"Go to the bathroom inside and wash your face, and then follow me to a place." Wu Siyuan pointed to the inside of the restaurant and said.

At this time, Hong Jinbao and the others had already left. Although Cheng Long had a big mouth, he was not an idiot. He knew that Wu Siyuan must have something very important to stay, so he hurried in to wash up.

Cheng Long has debuted for so many years, and he didn't feel popular until the beginning of this year, and the driving force behind all this is Wu Siyuan, and Wu Siyuan treats him very well, of course he is willing to listen to Wu Siyuan's words.

After a while, Cheng Long came out after washing his face. Although his face was still dizzy from alcohol, he was generally sober again.

Wu Siyuan signaled him to follow him, and the two immediately walked into a tea restaurant more than ten meters away from Xueyuan Hotel.

Tea restaurants in Xiangjiang generally operate relatively late, and some are open all night. Now after 9 o'clock, there are still many people in this tea restaurant.

Wu Siyuan led Cheng Long through the first floor, and on the second floor, there were a lot fewer people here, and Cheng Long saw Yin Jun sitting at a side table at a glance, drinking milk tea slowly.

"Why is Ah Jun here?" Cheng Long muttered.

"I invited him to come here, you should talk less later and be smarter, you know?" Wu Siyuan whispered.

"oh."

After Cheng Long finished answering, he followed Wu Siyuan and walked towards Yin Jun with a smile.

"Mr. Wu, Brother Long." Yin Jun stood up and greeted with a smile.

"Ah Jun, sit, sit!" Wu Siyuan was very polite, "I'm older, if you don't mind, just call me Brother Yuan."

"Okay, Brother Yuan."

Yin Jun sat down with them, and after the waiter came to order, Yin Juncai said again: "Brother Yuan, you asked me to come over to talk about something. If I'm right, it should be because of Brother Long's movie, right?"

"That's right." Wu Siyuan didn't expect Yin Jun to be so direct, but he was not a coy person, and said straightforwardly: "I want Ah Jun to write a script for Aaron, what do you think? Don't worry! Yuan Brother will not treat you badly, Jiahe will give you 1 million, and I will give you 1 million."

Yin Jun was taken aback, "Didn't you only have two movies with Brother Long?"

"We can talk about this with Ah Wei. He couldn't find Aaron's development direction before, but now I've done him a favor. I believe it's not difficult." Wu Siyuan said with a smile.

"Mr. Luo is not such a talkative person, especially Brother Yuan, you no longer have this opportunity." Yin Jun said meaningfully.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I've seen the promotional posters in the movie theater. In two weeks, Brother Long's "Drunken Master" will be released, right?"

"yes."

"I don't know how you estimate the box office, Brother Yuan?"

Yin Jun talked in circles like this, Wu Siyuan was a little confused, why did he come here again?

But he still honestly expressed his guess, "Aaron's movie is very good. If there are no accidents, I think it should be better than "The Serpentine Hand". It should reach a high box office of about 4 million."

"In my opinion, Brother Long is a star with great potential, but his path has gone astray before." Yin Jun dare not say that he is an international superstar, let alone that Cheng Long can win the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement Otherwise, the two of them must have thought he was crazy, "After your enlightenment and inspiration, Brother Yuan, I believe that Brother Long has already figured out the path he will take in the future. Then from now on, what lies in front of him is the Golden Road.

The box office of "Drunken Master" will definitely be very high, I estimate it should be more than 5 million. If it's really this box office, do you think Mr. Luo will be willing to let Brother Long give you money again, so that you can make money? And if Brother Long reaches this level, do you think Jiahe will stand by and watch? Don't forget, they have always wanted to find a second Li Xiaolong, can you compete with Jiahe? "

When Wu Siyuan heard the words, he suddenly realized that what Yin Jun wanted to say was here.

However, Cheng Long listened to "the second Li Xiaolong", showing a trace of unnaturalness on his face.

Yin Jun smiled when he saw this, "Brother Long, this is just people's prejudice. Everyone admires Li Xiaolong's achievements, but Li Xiaolong is Li Xiaolong, he only has one. And you are Cheng Long, ********** *****, Cheng Long who turns into a dragon in one encounter! As long as you follow your own ideas, you will surpass Li Xiaolong sooner or later!"

At least Li Xiaolong did not win the favor of Oscar.

Yin Jun added such a sentence in his heart.

Some people say that Cheng Long received the Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award because he was lucky. After the 21st century, the influence of the Chinese market is getting bigger and bigger, so Hollywood also kneels and licks China, and the Oscars are naturally not exempt.

But they didn't want to think about it, why Cheng Long and not someone else? Without Cheng Long's 40 years of hard work in filming, could Oscar give him a Lifetime Achievement Award?

When Cheng Long heard it, his face immediately looked much better.

He is not famous yet, what he fears most is being regarded as "Li Xiaolong's successor" or "Li Xiaolong's second". As a person with career ambitions, he is naturally willing to be Cheng Long's number one.

Wu Siyuan's face was a little ugly.

Reflecting on what Yin Jun said, he certainly understood what Yin Jun meant.

No matter how optimistic he is about Cheng Long, his cooperative relationship with Cheng Long should be just this "Drunken Master".

Even if Cheng Long leaves Luo Wei's company in the future, he will not come to his Siyuan Film Company, and Jiahe will definitely snatch him away.

Therefore, Yin Juncai said that Wu Siyuan did not have this opportunity.

He worked hard to dig out the characteristics of Cheng Long, tailor-made a movie for Cheng Long, and spent a lot of connections to invite Mr. Yuan and Yuan Laoba to help set off Cheng Long. " was a huge success.

Seeing the popularity of "The Snake-shaped Hand", Wu Siyuan immediately knew that he was in the right direction, and quickly collaborated with Cheng Long on another "Drunken Master". This "Drunken Master" Cheng Long has Even He Guanchang of Golden Harvest believes that he is much more mature and sublimated than "Serpentine Hands", and gradually has the shadow of a superstar.

Even a big man like He Guanchang...

wait a minute!

Wu Siyuan was shocked.

I don't know when it started, but He Guanchang came to the set every now and then, even every day, to watch the filming of "Drunken Master".

If it was in the past, he still wouldn't feel that, hearing what Yin Jun said now, this old fellow He Guanchang must have planned it long ago!

No wonder, no wonder he praised Cheng Long a lot, and often chatted with Cheng Long, explaining to him the details that should be paid attention to in the movie!

That's right!

The old fox!

While Wu Siyuan's heart suddenly became clear, he also sighed.

Since Jiahe really has this intention, how can he, a small film company, compete with them?

Thinking of making a wedding dress for someone else after working so hard on himself, Wu Siyuan felt angry again.

At this time, Cheng Long beside him was also drenched in cold sweat.

Without Wu Siyuan's knowledge, He Guanchang had invited him to dinner several times, and there was more or less a solicitation in it.

Especially during this one month, He Guanchang had clearly stated that he wanted him to join Golden Harvest, and that all liquidated damages were fine, and he even gave him a cash check of 1 million first!

Cheng Long's heart was moved at that time.

After the success of "The Serpentine Hand", Wu Siyuan gave him 50,000 yuan, and Cheng Long was also simple and honest, so he directly gave 50,000 yuan to his boss Luo Wei.

Luo Wei is also able to do it. He signed Cheng Long before and said that he would give him 3,000 for a play. Now he has already collected the money for lending Cheng Long to Wu Siyuan. Then Cheng Long himself earned 50,000 and gave it to him. Have to give half?

No, Luo Wei still only gave Cheng Long 3000.

Cheng Long didn't say anything at the time, but he still felt a little uncomfortable.

The contract between him and Luo Wei expired in 1979, and now it is only about a year.

He is already quite famous, but Luo Wei still treats him like a little guy, Cheng Long is naturally not very happy.

Thus, He Guanchang's 1 million cash check was carried into Cheng Long's arms in a daze.

The person Cheng Long trusted the most was naturally not Luo Wei, let alone Wu Siyuan, but his manager Chen Zhiqiang.

At that time, Cheng Long felt that he had no hope of filming, so he ran back to Australia to prepare for other jobs. It was Chen Zhiqiang, who was still a manager of Luo Wei Film Company at that time, who chased him to Australia and found him back.

Moreover, Cheng Long's stage name was also chosen by Chen Zhiqiang for him. Before that, Cheng Long's stage name was Yuan Lou, and Yuan Long was his senior brother Hong Jinbao.

It is precisely because of sharing weal and woe that Cheng Long regards Chen Zhiqiang as his elder brother, and Chen Zhiqiang is also his manager, so he will tell him everything.

Cheng Long told Chen Zhiqiang about this when he went back. After Chen Zhiqiang heard about it, he immediately asked Cheng Long to return the money.

Cheng Long was unwilling, so Chen Zhiqiang said three words to him.

"Are you willing to forget Luo Wei's support for you in the past few years, and leave with a reputation of being ungrateful?"

"Golden Harvest over there, the conditions for poaching you are so high, the contract must be more stringent, otherwise how will they make money back?"

"Why don't you wait until you're more accomplished and then sell it? Do you think this is your limit?"

Hearing this, Cheng Long suddenly came to his senses and returned the money to He Guanchang, which surprised He Guanchang a lot.

But He Guanchang was not angry, on the contrary, he admired Cheng Long more and more, and proposed to accept Cheng Long as his godson.

With He Guanchang's status, being Cheng Long's godfather is purely flattering him. With He Guanchang's help in the future, Cheng Long will naturally develop more smoothly in the film industry.

Cheng Long was still hesitating about this matter, after all he knew that He Guanchang was just trying to recruit him to Jiahe, and with Chen Zhiqiang's reminder, he hadn't made a decision yet.

Today Wu Siyuan came to ask Yin Jun to write a script for him, Cheng Long was very happy.

Because of Yin Jun's script, senior brother Hong Jinbao has suddenly raised the box office from the previous one or two million to five million. It is really wishful for such a genius to write a script for himself.

But Cheng Long didn't expect that Yin Jun not only didn't agree to write the script, but also directly explained why he didn't write the script, which involved Cheng Long's future.

The key to Cheng Long's horror is that Yin Jun's analysis is similar to the future path that Chen Zhiqiang analyzed for himself. He has never been in contact with himself before, so why he is so familiar with himself is simply too scary!

Fortunately, Wu Siyuan didn't have the heart to pay attention to Cheng Long now, otherwise he would definitely find that Cheng Long and Jiahe's contact was deeper than he imagined.

Wu Siyuan's head is now full of mud, anger, helplessness, despair... and other negative emotions have accumulated.

"Brother Yuan, I don't think you need to be disappointed." Yin Jun waited for a while before speaking: "Actually, I think this is a good thing for you."

"Good thing?" Wu Siyuan smiled wryly.

"It will let you see yourself clearly, so you can find your own direction." Yin Jun said.

"Um?"

"What I said proves that you are not suitable for cultivating stars by yourself and then growing your own film company. You are suitable for inviting good stars to star in your own movie after you have a good script, so that everyone can cooperate to make money." Yin Jun said, " For example, Brother Long, you said that because of your kindness in helping him find the right direction, if there is any movie, you ask him to help make one, he will not disagree, right?"

"Of course not." Cheng Long said quickly at this time, "Brother Yuan, I'm not an ungrateful person, as long as you call, I will definitely try my best to help."

"Then, you have an outstanding vision, so you can see that other people's scripts are good, so you can invest in them, cooperate with that director, and everyone will make the movie together. Isn't this making money together again?" Yin Jun said, "You Just like this, an investor instead of an operator can make money in the same way, can he improve his status?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Siyuan's eyes became brighter and brighter.

When Yin Jun finished speaking, his eyes gleamed, obviously inspired.

Just like Yin Jun said, stop from this road, and then look at other roads, maybe it will be wider and straighter, and it will be easier to lead to success?

In fact, after Wu Siyuan failed to recruit Cheng Long in his previous life, he did not go to failure, because Jiashi went bankrupt just at this time, and he signed the newcomer producer who performed well in Jiashi to his company.

The producer's name is Xu Ke.

Although Xu Ke was recruited by Xinyi City only after making two films, Xu Ke still remembers Wu Siyuan very much.

So after he established a studio, he deepened his cooperation with Wu Siyuan, including Li Lianjie's Huang Feihong series, which was basically funded by Wu Siyuan, and then he personally helped to make the producer. In the end, the two worked together in martial arts movies. achieved great success.

This happened to be the same way as Yin Jun pointed to him.

A person like Wu Siyuan who doesn't have a big backer but has excellent eyesight and superb communication skills is suitable for this kind of routine!

And Yin Jun still has something to say to him.

If Wu Siyuan has experienced this for a few years, after Yin Jun's film and television business starts, he will be entrusted to go to the mainland to carry out the first step of cultivation and development.

Wu Siyuan, who has rich experience, will definitely be in his element at that time, and he will definitely be able to pave the way for Xiangjiang Films to enter the mainland market and pave the way for a bright future!