At 750 Nathan Road in Mong Kok, there is a Lisheng Cinema, opened in 1960, with more than 1,400 seats, in addition to showing ordinary 35mm film, it can also show 70mm widescreen movies, is one of the best cinemas in Hong Kong, in the sixties and seventies only showed foreign language films, but in the early 1980s, with the decline of foreign language films and the rise of Hong Kong films, this theater joined the Golden Princess Cinema Line established by Lei Juekun and began to show Hong Kong films. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Room 601 on the sixth floor of the building attached to Lisheng Cinema is an office of less than 100 square meters, the decoration is very simple, there are no high-end office equipment such as typewriters, photocopiers and computers, only a few old desks, old chairs and a telephone, when Luo Weiming and Qiu Liben are chatting in the spacious and bright café of the Oriental Charm Building, there are three people meeting here.

"In the film industry, there are three genres that are enduring, one is comedy, one is action, and one is romance......"

A young man wearing a short-sleeved shirt and black-rimmed glasses knocked on the newspaper on the table and said: "Shen Caishen has said that comedy is loved by both men and women, and I will make comedies when I see our entrepreneurial work." ”

"The cost of comedy is low, the shooting is fast, and there are many people watching it, I agree." The bald guy sitting behind the desk said: "Boss Lei took a fancy to us and was willing to invest, just because the comedy was well shot and creative, which impressed him very much." ”

"Comedy again?" The thin man who was sitting on the sofa like a bamboo pole frowned and said, "I've been making comedies for ten years, and now I want to shoot something else." ”

If Shen Chong saw it, he would definitely recognize it, the three people in it are the three-headed monster of Xinyicheng entrepreneurship - Huang Baiming, a glasses boy, Mai Jia, a bald guy, and Shi Tian, a thin bamboo pole.

"What else to shoot? Let's have millions of dollars now, can we shoot "Die Hard"? If you lose your capital, do you still want to support your family? Boss Lei, how do you explain that? Don't forget, this office is owned by Boss Lei. ”

Mai Jia's series of questions made Shi Tian unable to refute, he pursed his mouth and stopped talking, which was a tacit acquiescence to the decision to make a comedy.

"If you make a comedy, who will you look for?" Huang Baiming helped his glasses and said: "Sanmao is red and purple now, it is impossible for Jiahe to let him go over to help us film, even if we let him over, we can't afford to pay for it, when filming "Die Hard", Shen Caishen gave him 1 million Hong Kong dollars, and the bonus will be calculated separately. ”

Mai Jiamo rubbed his bare head and muttered, "His grandmother is a bear Shen Caishen!" ”

This guy was originally a science and engineering man, immigrated to the United States in his early years, worked as an engineer in the New York Telephone Company after graduating from college, and his hobby was to go to Chinatown to watch Hong Kong movies, and the Hong Kong movies at that time were either men who took off their shirts and played around, or women who took off their pants and were coquettish, he scolded bad movies while watching, and after watching too much and scolding enough, he couldn't help but want to do it himself, so he quit his job and went to New York University, first studied film and then art, and in 1973, when he was 29 years old, he ran back to Hong Kong with his belongings of $1500, ready to make a big splash in the film industry.

It's a pity that the ideal is plump, the reality is skinny, Mak Jia just returned to Hong Kong, was cheated out of money and creative outline by a screenwriter, and it took two years, until the end of 1975, he partnered with two friends, and set up a film company called "Pioneer", these two friends are called Wu Yaohan, one is called Lai Ying-chiu, the former is a comedy star, the latter is a Wing Chun master, the three of them partnered in 1976 to make a movie, called "A Singleton Walks the World", but unfortunately it is not popular, and film critics think it is an "innovative work", But the box office only received 740,000, and it went offline within a week of release, with a big loss of nearly 300,000.

Although the movie was a big loss, Mai Jia made three friends, one is Sammo Hung, one is Shi Tian, and the other is Zeng Zhiwei, in 1978, Wu Yaohan was poached by Golden Harvest, Pioneer Film Company closed, Mai Jia and Sammo Hung formed another "Garbo" company, and became their own director, Zeng Zhiwei was the screenwriter, Sammo Hung and Shi Tian starred, and filmed "Tiger Field Chicken", the box office received more than 2.4 million, ranking 11th in the annual box office list, and made a small profit, has also become famous in the Hong Kong film industry.

Sammo Hung is a signed artist of Golden Harvest, involuntarily, it is inconvenient to start a company independently, Garbo hurriedly closed after filming two films, Mai Jia then formed his own struggle film company, and made three movies in a row, "New Paste the Wrong Door God", "Crazy Boss" and "Salted Fish Turn Over", the box office is very good, the martial arts actions of these three movies are designed with the help of Sammo Hung and his Hong family class, among which "Salted Fish Turns Over" also participated in person, and it is the success of this movie, Let the real estate tycoon Lei Juekun take a fancy to the small independent film production company of Struggle and is willing to contribute to it.

Because Shen Chong, in order to ensure the quality of the movie, did not allow the crew members to take part-time private jobs outside, Sammo Hung participated in "Die Hard", this partnership was interrupted, and "Die Hard" swept the world, the box office was at its peak, Sammo Hung became famous, and there was a faint momentum to become an international superstar.

"Sanmao can't come, no one can fight, so we don't want to make kung fu comedies." Shi Tian interjected and said: "Shen Caishen said that Hong Kong is now urbanized, and no one likes to watch the movies of poor boys in the countryside, so it is better for us to make a comedy with an urban theme." ”

Shi Tian is thin and tall, sharp-beaked monkey cheeks, looks very cunning and ridiculous, but in fact he is a person who has a lot of ideas and pursuits for movies, he joined the Shaw Brothers actor training class in 1968 and graduated in 1973, because of the bad appearance, the Shaw Brothers did not pay attention to it, so he worked in large and small film companies such as Golden Harvest, Xu's, Longbow, etc., and played small supporting roles for six or seven years. Not only was he not eliminated, but gradually changed from a small supporting role to a starring role, becoming a well-known comedy star in Hong Kong, and when New Arts City was established, he became the third largest shareholder after Lei Juekun and Mai Jia, with 19% of the shares.

"It's okay, Baiming, you write a notebook and come out first."

Mai Jia and Lei Juekun jointly own 72% of the shares of the new art city, Lei Juekun is a real estate tycoon, with many industries and billions of assets, of course, he will not personally manage the small film company, so Mai Jia is the boss of the new art city, and he makes decisions.

Huang Baiming entered the industry from a screenwriter, and writing scripts is his job, he hummed and asked: "I write the screenplay, you director, Shi Tian starring, who else are you looking for?" ”

After getting Lei Juekun's investment, Mai Jia went back to New York to deal with family affairs, and just came back yesterday, he asked: "Is Chen Xunqi free?" Ask him to come over and help. ”

Chen Xunqi was 15 years old under the music master Wang Fuling as a teacher, learning film scores, in 1971 when he was 20 years old, he became the queen soundtrack of the Shaw Brothers, a year less than three or five, more than a dozen - in 1975 even for 20 films - can be called the king of Hong Kong film scores, he is young, good appearance, good temperament, although he is doing behind-the-scenes work, but has the popularity and exposure of stars in front of the stage.

After doing the soundtrack for a long time and seeing more movies, Chen Xunqi moved the same idea as Mai Jia at the beginning, planning to start filming in person and transform into a director and starring actor, but the internal system of Shaw Brothers is rigid, and the director needs to work hard for qualifications, so it is not so easy to be, so he went to Mai Jia and said that he was willing to be an assistant director for him, learn how to film, and the salary is negotiable. If you want to be a director, you can actually be an actor first, "dig to Golden Harvest to be an actor......

However, the deal is not benevolent, Mai Jia and Chen Xunqi missed the fate of master and apprentice, but they also maintained a good friendship, and the soundtracks of the three movies shot after the establishment of Struggle Film Company were all handled by Chen Xunqi, so now when the play is to start, in addition to Sammo Hung, the first thing that comes to mind is him.

"Chen Xunqi has gone to Oriental Charm, and he is directing and acting in a play, and Oriental Charm has never allowed the crew to make extra money."

"What about Wu Yaohan?"

Wu Yaohan went to the United Kingdom to study drama in 1955, joined BBC TV after graduation, returned to Hong Kong in 1970, hosted a comedy show on TVB, and co-founded Pioneer Film Company with Mai Jia in 1975. has become a well-known comedy star in Hong Kong, and his momentum is not weak.

"I'm filming for Oriental Charm."

"Zeng Zhiwei?"

Zeng Zhiwei joined Zhang Che's Longbow Film Company in 1974 as a dragon and tiger martial artist, and in 1976, during the filming of "A Singleton Walks the World" for Mai Jia, he not only often added plots during filming, but also often went to Mai Jia to chat and tell stories and talk about the script, which attracted Mai Jia's attention, and when Garbo was established in 1978, he wrote the script for the entrepreneurial work "Tiger and Chicken", and also starred in "Salted Fish Turned Over".

"It's under construction, and it's also a play of oriental charm."

"Grandma's bear!" Mai Jia was a little irritable, he touched his bald head, and said: "The actor is looking for another one, set the photographer first, does Tang Baosheng have a schedule?" ”

Tang Baosheng is the cinematographer of "Salted Fish Turns Over", the movie has a good box office, an auspicious name, and brought Lei Juekun's investment, so Mai Jia wants to keep the original team......

"Filming Yu Yunkang in Oriental Charm."

"Oriental charm, oriental charm, oriental charm!" Mai Jia slammed the desk hard and said angrily: "Is there anyone who hasn't gone to the Oriental charm?" ”

"Oriental Charm started filming 9 films at the same time, which almost pulled all the filmmakers in Hong Kong over." Huang Baiming pushed his glasses again, and said with a wry smile: "Among the people we know, only He Ming has a schedule now, but he asks for 50,000 yuan." ”

He Ming is the photographer of "Tiger Field Chicken" and an old acquaintance of Mai Jia......

"50,000?!"

"50,000."

"Why is it so expensive?" Mai Jia was shocked and said: "He only received 10,000 yuan when he filmed "Tiger Field Chicken" two years ago. ”

"Now the market is up." Shi Tian, who had not spoken, opened his mouth to explain: "After the release of "Die Hard", all photographers in Hong Kong who are a little famous have increased their prices, He Ming has risen less, Tang Baosheng filmed for Oriental Charm, the salary is 80,000, Huang Yuetai is more expensive, he filmed a new drama for Golden Harvest, and asked for 150,000. ”

"Not only photographers, in fact, after the Academy Awards, everything is rising, and after Liu Jialiang won the Best Martial Arts Instructor Award at the Academy Awards, his salary directly doubled." Huang Baiming pointed to the newspaper in front of him and said: "The God of Wealth said, the box office used to be calculated in millions, so there is no way for everyone's salary to be low, and now the box office is calculated in tens of millions, if everyone's salary does not rise, it is unreasonable, there are statistics in "Film Times", the average cost of each play in Hong Kong last year was 1.2 million, and it has risen to 1.8 million in the first half of this year. ”

"His grandmother's Shen God of Wealth, do you want anyone to live?" Mai Jia grabbed the newspaper, drew a cross on Shen Chong's portrait with a pen to vent his anger, and then angrily reprimanded: "If you are rich, it doesn't mean that all people in Hong Kong are rich!" The box office of your drama exceeds 10 million, which does not mean that everyone's drama can exceed 10 million! ”

"What's your name with the newspaper?" Shi Tian was amused by him, and laughed and mocked: "You have the ability to say this in front of Shen Caishen." ”

Mai Jia's eyebrows and eyes twitched, and he vented his anger, and sat in his chair without speaking.

"We all came from this circle, in fact, we also understand in our hearts that Shen Caishen is right, the income is more, the salary will not rise, it is unreasonable, if it does not rise, no one will want to film." Shi Tian lit a cigarette, took a puff, and then said slowly: "Before you come back, Bai Ming and I have found someone to calculate, even if the cost rises by 50%, there is still money to be made, firstly, the ticket price of the movie has risen, last year's ticket price was 9 yuan, and now it is 12 yuan, in the past, a drama was considered a blockbuster for 2 million, but now it takes 5 million to be considered a blockbuster, and secondly, there are many places to sell ports, after "Die Hard", many European filmmakers went to Hong Kong to buy films, and the price given was good, Third, we can sell the copyright of the videotape to Galaxy Images, which was not available before, but now it is extra out of thin air, if the box office is good, it will not be a problem to sell three or five hundred thousand. ”

"There is one more thing...... Huang Baiming probably deliberately teased Mai Jia, putting the good news at the end, he broke the news: "Wu Yusen called last night and said that he promised to film for us last year, and now that agreement is still valid, but he is now short of time and has a contract with Golden Harvest, so he can only use a pseudonym, and he can only shoot for a week." ”

Mai Jia was overjoyed, jumped up, clapped his hands, and urged: "Then what are you doing sitting stupidly, hurry up and find someone, and start filming tomorrow!" ”

Just kidding, John Woo is now the hottest director in Hong Kong, and with him in charge, even if he is a pseudonym, he doesn't worry about the box office at all......