In another time and space, 1993 is considered to be a turning point for Hong Kong cinema from prosperity to decline. ≧ novel,

Around 1992, a large number of production companies emerged in Hong Kong, such as Liu Dehua's Tianmu, Wang Jing's Jingyi, Wong Kar-wai's Zedong, Li Lianjie's Zhengdong, etc., and the behind-the-scenes funders of these companies are all Taiwanese film companies.

Taiwanese studios have been very generous, and as long as Hong Kong producers come up with a story theme and a star lineup, they can first put up millions of cash to buy the plan (commonly known as "buying the film"). For example, Wong Kar-wai relied on the all-star lineup of Leslie Cheung and Lin Qingxia and the "plan" of adapting Jin Yong's martial arts to deceive scholars into investing tens of millions of dollars.

It is precisely because it is too easy to make money that most filmmakers in Hong Kong have an unprecedented increase in self-confidence, and they have made up their minds to make a fortune before the return of 97.

Unexpectedly, before the year of the return, Hong Kong films have already reaped the consequences.

Around 1993, Hong Kong films followed the trend and ran rampant, with a single theme type, and the box office plummeted, but the shooting cost continued to increase due to the skyrocketing salaries of celebrities. After this vicious circle, no matter how abundant the funds of Rao is Taiwan businessmen, they will not be able to resist the long-term disproportion between income and investment.

Taiwanese businessmen became more and more dissatisfied with Hong Kong producers, and even "Jigong" starring Zhou Xingchi was sold to Taiwanese filmmakers for a high price of more than 30 million, and the Taiwanese filmmakers lost all their money. This incident triggered Taiwan's eight major film companies to begin negotiations with the Hong Kong Film Practitioners Association on "how to curb the cost of Hong Kong films and reduce the remuneration of Hong Kong films". Negotiations broke down.

Taiwanese studios then reduced their investment in Hong Kong films and joined forces to boycott Hong Kong films that exceeded a certain budget. Instead, he asked the Taiwan authorities to relax restrictions on Hollywood films.

In 1995, the Taiwan authorities lifted restrictions on Hollywood films at the request of film companies. As a result, Hong Kong films gradually lost the Taiwan market.

Due to the butterfly effect brought by Kang Jianfei, Hong Kong films have prospered for at least two or three years in advance, and Shao Yifu also announced that he will no longer invest in films, so "Jigong" produced by Shaw Brothers will naturally not appear again.

Although there is no "Jigong" street incident that triggered a collective backlash from Taiwanese film companies, the deterioration of Hong Kong films is even worse than the original time and space, shoddy production, single genre, blind follow-up, and inflated costs...... All of this has made Taiwanese film companies have a hard time.

Finally, "Weilong Fujiang", which was released in Taiwan during the Spring Festival this year, swooped down.

This movie is a kung fu comedy co-produced by Taiwan's Longxiang Pictures with Hong Jinbao and an investment of 20 million Hong Kong dollars with Shuanglian Cinemas. Longxiang Pictures only owns the distribution rights and box office revenue in Taiwan and Nanyang, and as a result, when the film was released in Taiwan. only got a box office of more than NT$8 million, which made Longxiang Pictures unable to cry.

Longxiang Pictures was originally the leader among the eight major film companies in Taiwan, and when the investment failed, it immediately approached its peers to discuss it. Coincidentally, Changhong's "New Meteor Butterfly Sword" and "Urban Heroes" invested by scholars also failed at the box office, and finally the heads of the eight major film companies gathered in Hong Kong to talk to the Taiwan Hong Kong Film Practitioners Association about negotiations.

The so-called eight major film distributors in Taiwan, namely China Film, Scholar, Era, Long Xiang, Judeng, Changhong, Xiongwei, and Fugui, are all Taiwanese film investment and distributors who invest and buy the most Hong Kong films every year.

……

Hilton Hong Kong.

Taiwan's eight major film companies stayed here, and the place for the negotiation between Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers was naturally chosen in the hotel.

It's only nine o'clock in the morning. Representatives of the eight major film companies have gathered in the conference room to have a final pre-meeting communication. Their purpose is to force Hong Kong producers to reduce costs and star salaries, and if the talks fall apart, then they will have to go back to Taiwan and be ready to turn the table.

9:14 a.m. Huang Baiming, the representative of Xincheng Cinema Line, came, entered the conference room and said hello to the eight major filmmakers, and then sat there and waited. Subsequently. Luo Jiecheng (Yonggao Cinema Line), Chen Rongmei (Shuanglian Cinema Line), He Guanchang (Golden Harvest Cinema Line), Jiang Zhiqiang (Oriental Cinema Line) and others also attended one after another, and some ** producers such as Xiang Huaqiang, Li Xiuxian, and Mai Dangxiong also attended.

(Note: The once-glorious Golden Princess Cinema has closed.) Its theaters were acquired by Chen Rongmei, the owner of Xinbao Cinema Line, and reorganized into Jinsheng Cinema Line. Jinsheng and Xinbao are collectively referred to as "Shuanglian Cinemas")

On the Taiwan side, Yang Dengkui is the head of the chairman, who is the chairman of the Taiwan Producers Association, and he is accompanied by Wang Yingxiang, Cai Songlin, Xu Anjin, Qiu Fusheng, Gong Xiangquan, Wu Dun and others.

After the two sides exchanged greetings and shook hands, Yang Dengkui glanced at the Hong Kong representative and asked, "Didn't Mr. Kang and Boss Zou come?" ”

He Guanchang said: "It is enough to have me to talk. ”

Jiang Zhiqiang also smiled: "Mr. Kang has other important matters, and I have full authority to represent Oriental Cinema Line, Oriental Entertainment Distribution Company and Oriental DreamWorks. ”

"Ahem," Yang Dengkui coughed and said, "All of you here are representatives of the Hong Kong and Taiwan film industry, first of all, I want to admit that everyone has cooperated relatively happily over the years, and I also hope that everyone can continue to make a fortune together in the future...... However, the cost of Hong Kong films is getting higher and higher, the salaries of stars are increasing, and there are many Taiwan-invested Hong Kong films that cannot be delivered on time, all of which make us Taiwanese film companies suffer heavy losses. Today, I hope that you can sit down together and solve these problems properly. ”

On the Hong Kong filmmaker's side, Xiang Huaqiang spoke first: "How do you want to solve it?" ”

Wang Yingxiang, the boss of Longxiang Pictures, said: "Standardize the remuneration of celebrities, urge Hong Kong films to be delivered on schedule, and distribute Hong Kong films in a commission manner." ”

He Guanchang's eyes narrowed and asked, "What is the commission division?" ”

Cai Songlin, the boss of Scholar Pictures, explained: "Films with a box office of less than 10 million will receive a 20% commission, and films with a box office of more than 10 million will receive a 15% commission. ”

The 20% and 15% commissions are only distribution fees for Taiwanese studios, not box office shares for theaters.

Jiang Zhiqiang directly vetoed: "I don't agree with this distribution method. ”

Wu Dun said: "Why did we change to commission issuance? is because Hong Kong films are now shoddy, with a regular box office of less than 10 million, and the purchase cost of films is inflated. This is very unfriendly to us Taiwanese film companies, and it is fairer for everyone to change to the method of commission distribution. ”

Jiang Zhiqiang smiled disdainfully: "Then with the box office of more than 200 million Taiwan dollars in "Jurassic Park", is the distribution fee going to give you 30 million?" ”

"Uh......" Wu Dun choked for a moment and said, "Mr. Kang's film is just a special case, apart from him, which Hong Kong film has broken 100 million at the box office in Taiwan?" ”

Jiang Zhiqiang was unforgiving: "So, there are loopholes in your way of issuing commissions!" ”

Taiwan's eight major film companies looked at each other, and then exchanged ears for a while, saying: "We just discussed that the commission for films with a box office of more than 50 million is 13%, and for every 10 million box office that goes up, the distribution commission will be reduced by 1%, and the minimum will be reduced to 6%. ”

Jiang Zhiqiang calculated an account and found that this method of commission issuance was beneficial to DreamWorks, so he nodded and said, "On behalf of Oriental DreamWorks, I agree to issue commissions." ”

Xiang Huaqiang strongly objected: "No, you are transferring the distribution risk to the producer." ”

Yang Dengkui is now the boss of the Heavenly Dao Alliance, he is not afraid of Xiang Huaqiang, and sneered: "Why does DreamWorks agree, but you Yongsheng disagrees?" It's not that I'm following the trend and shoddy, I'm afraid that the box office in Taiwan will be below 10 million. ”

Wu Dun also did not want to be strong, and said: "We, the Taiwanese film companies, are not fools, we buy bad films and buy the distribution fee of the film, and this business will continue?" ”

Xiang Huaqiang sneered: "Will you lose money?" Except for the people of China Film, none of you started by distributing Hong Kong films! ”

Qiu Fusheng coughed and said: "That was before, and now it is no longer profitable to distribute Hong Kong films, and the money has been earned by your Hong Kong producers, directors and stars." ”

Qiu Fusheng still didn't say one thing, that is, Taiwan's theater companies also made a lot of money, but theater companies are not among the topics of today's negotiations.

The two sides have been arguing for a long time and still can't get along. Except for DreamWorks and Golden Harvest who agreed to take a commission to issue the issue, all the other Hong Kong representatives refused.

In the past, Taiwanese film dealers negotiated to buy films, and they had to pay for the Taiwan distribution rights of Hong Kong films first, and then use them to be distributed and released in Taiwan. This transaction method has two advantages for Hong Kong producers, one is that the return of funds is fast, and the film can get the purchase fee before it is released in Taiwan; The second is that it is not used but risky, even if it is a piece of, anyway, when selling the film, the money has already been obtained, and whether it can make money at the box office is something that Taiwanese filmmakers need to worry about.

Once the commission distribution method is adopted, then the Hong Kong producers will have to wait until the end of the film's release to recoup the funds, and if the box office is too bad, they will have to pay high distribution fees. This scheme is a good thing for large companies such as DreamWorks and Golden Harvest, although there are some small troubles in the return and issuance of funds, but it can better highlight the capital and quality advantages of large companies.

For those companies that want to make money by shoddy manufacturing and blindly following the trend, it is tantamount to bad news from the sky, and their speed of making money is at least several times slower than before.

This alone makes the contradictions between the two sides irreconcilable at all.

And Jiang Zhiqiang and He Guanchang sat firmly in Diaoyutai, laughing at people from other companies tearing up with Taiwanese filmmakers.

This negotiation is an opportunity for Golden Harvest and DreamWorks to give full play to their own advantages. Regardless of whether other companies agree or not, Golden Harvest and DreamWorks will definitely contact Taiwanese filmmakers in private anyway, and there is no psychological burden at all to sell their peers.

The issue of commission distribution could not be discussed, so Yang Dengkui had to put forward the second topic, he threw out a table and said: "As of April 1 this year, a total of more than 250 Taiwan-funded Hong Kong films have not been delivered on schedule, I hope your association can urge the relevant producers and directors to complete the project with quality and quantity!" ”

Jiang Zhiqiang smiled and said: "DreamWorks never accepts investment from Taiwan, you talk slowly, I'll smoke a cigarette first." (To be continued......) uR1071