Zhang Shaolin came to Hong Kong with CCTV this time, nominally to learn and exchange, but in fact, the main purpose is to determine the time for the co-production of TV dramas.

This is not a request made by CCTV on its own initiative, but by ATV.

At present, the efficiency of TV and film shooting in the mainland is really not high. Let's not mention movies, many TV series start from the creation of scripts, to submission for review, to the approval of the TV station for filming, to the arrival of funds to the recruitment of actors, and finally three or five years have passed when the TV series starts filming, "Journey to the West" is one of the most typical cases!

CCTV's proposal to shoot four famous novels was actually as early as the late 70s. But at that time, not long after coming out of the turbulent era, everything in the country was not stable, and it was not until 82 that "Journey to the West" was finally approved to be filmed as the first four famous novels, but only part of the funds were in place.

Because only a few leaders of CCTV supported the filming, and many more people either waited and watched or actively opposed it. So much so that during the filming of this TV series, the filming stopped, and the director Yang Jie even had to come to the door repeatedly to ask for funds, and I heard that there was also a matter of sleeping outside the director's office with a bed.

Although slow work is a matter of importance, it is not surprising that it can no longer keep up with the trend of the times in the era of big industry when time is money.

ATV has a mature TV drama shooting system, a TV series can generally be completed within three to six months from the introduction of the script to the revision, filing and preparation for filming, to the allocation of funds and the selection of actors. While the shortening of time may result in some works being a little rough, there are also classics.

So overall, ATV's shooting regulations summarized in the competition with its old rival TVB are still very good. Therefore, whether it is Lin Xiaozhi or ATV, they can't accept that they have invested tens of millions of dollars to co-produce a TV series with the mainland, and they will have to wait until two or three years later to see the filming completed. Seeing that although the mainland agreed to co-produce this TV series, there was no follow-up after the delay, so I had no choice but to take the initiative to invite the other party to Hong Kong for a detailed discussion, and by the way, I also let the future crew of "Water Margin" see ATV's TV series shooting regulations.

Throughout the afternoon, Zhou Yemang dutifully drove Zhang Shaolin around Kowloon, and they even crossed the sea to the island before dark. Because he had asked for leave for the CCTV leaders who stayed in the hotel, Zhang Shaolin was not going to go back at night, Zhou Yemang warmly invited him to stay in his rented place at night, and the two bought some ingredients after they were tired of shopping, and Zhou Yemang was not in a hurry to return the car and drove him and the ingredients back to his rented place.

Zhou Yemang's residence is in an ordinary community in the northwest corner of Hong Kong Island, the location is not bad or good, it is better to be close to the ferry and convenient to cross the river, and the community is not far from the police station with good security, otherwise most people are unlikely to accept the fact that the rent is expensive.

Parked the car in the parking space in the community, Zhang Shaolin got out of the car to help pick up the ingredients, followed behind him curiously looking around at the layout of the community in Hong Kong, and walked into a unit building after two turns. followed the elevator all the way to the ninth floor, Zhou Yemang took him out of the elevator, stopped in front of an apartment, took out the key and opened the door, and let him in while letting half of his body in, although his face was embarrassed, but his tone was somewhat smug: "Director Zhang, don't be surprised, don't dislike my dirty place!" ”

The lights in the room were originally on, Zhang Shaolin walked into the house, and he heard a sound, and followed the sound to find that there was a four- or five-year-old child peeling the candy on the coffee table in front of him and eating, and the source of the sound was a twenty-four-inch color TV in the house.

"Man, Daddy is back!"

Zhou Yemang changed his shoes and closed the door behind Zhang Shaolin and introduced him: "Director Zhang, this is my son, boy, it just so happened that he came to Hong Kong with my lover to see me these days, and he lived with me temporarily!" ”

As he spoke, a woman came from the balcony with a watering can, apparently watering the flowers and plants on the balcony.

Without Zhou Yemang's introduction, Zhang Shaolin came in from the other party and recognized this woman as Xi Meijuan at first sight. She graduated from the Performance Department of Shanghai Theater Academy and starred in the mainland's first freehand drama "Chinese Dream" in 1988, which won the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre. Three years ago, she just participated in the first movie "Fake Girl True Love", and also won the Best Actress Award at the 11th Golden Rooster Awards, Zhang Shaolin has seen her a few times.

Zhou Yemang and his wife are typical strong women and weak men, although Xi Meijuan is not beautiful, her acting skills are first-class, and her first movie has won an amazing reputation, and her career in the mainland in recent years has been far more successful than her husband Zhou Yemang, and it is not an exaggeration to say that she has received a soft hand in the play.

On the contrary, it is Zhou Yemang, who has been widely restricted since his debut because of his too handsome appearance. In the mainland, which has just come out of the turbulent era, there is no doubt that the most filmed film and television dramas in recent years are either the Anti-Japanese War, the War of Liberation, or ancient performing arts, all of which are related to wars, and then some local dramas, many directors and crews exclude him when they see his appearance. In this era, at least in the mainland, it is really difficult for a handsome boy like him to stand out in the film and television industry.

Xi Meijuan smiled and nodded with him: "When did Director Zhang come to Hong Kong?" You sit down first, and I'll pour you a cup of tea!" ”

She took the purchased ingredients from Zhou Yemang and Zhang Shaolin, said a word and walked to the kitchen, she was really a good woman living at home, which made Zhang Shaolin secretly ashamed. He had heard that their husband and wife were not in harmony before, but now when he saw the two husbands singing and following each other, he felt that he was a little too villain behind his back.

But I don't know that the rumors have never been windless, and if he Zhang Shaolin wants to break his head, I am afraid that he will not guess that the Zhou family will have such a change in a short time, in fact, it is all because he came to Hong Kong.

Zhou Yemang's son was just four or five years old, and he seemed to be a little afraid of life, so he timidly called 'uncle' at his father's request and ran to the kitchen to find his mother. The two of them were not surprised by this, but Zhang Shaolin was a little envious, "The boy is good, he is so educated." The girl in my family can't beat or scold, and her grandfather is in pain. ”

During this period, Xi Meijuan came over to help pour a cup of tea, and went back to the kitchen to Zhang Luo for dinner.

Zhang Shaolin glanced at the apartment a few times, and was a little envious: "Xiao Zhou, I heard that you have only been in Hong Kong for half a year, do you seem to have done a good job here?" ”

The apartment building rented by Zhou Yemang, which belongs to the third generation of apartment buildings built in Hong Kong in the early 80s, is the kind of standard two-bedroom, one-living room, bathroom and kitchen, and the interior decoration is not magnificent, but it also looks much better than the apartment on the mainland that still has the template of the old Soviet tube building. He has a refrigerator, a TV, a washing machine, and even a lot of large electrical appliances in his house. Especially during the exchange in the afternoon, Zhang Shaolin already knew that he had only come to Hong Kong half a year earlier than himself, and he had a place to settle in Hong Kong in such a short time, which shows that Zhou Yemang is still very good here.

Zhou Yemang didn't hide it from Zhang Shaolin, nodded and replied: "I was the first batch of people who came to exchange and study half a year ago after being recommended by Shanghai, and I want to say that this time I came to Hong Kong in vain." I spent most of the first month learning Cantonese, and in the second month, I was studying at Asia Television, and then a director from the TV station said that I was good-looking, so he came to me and asked me if I wanted to play a small role in their TV series. ”

Speaking of this, his face was faintly happy and a little proud, "I agreed as soon as my head was blindfolded, and later after filming that scene, the Hong Kong director saw that I liked it very much, so he helped introduce it to the person in charge of Media Asia Film Group to choose the actors to film, and then took over the scenes in several movies and TV series, although they are all small roles, at least there is no need to worry about eating and drinking!" ”

In this era, for a male artist like him with a somewhat soft appearance, it is obvious that there are few opportunities to stay in the mainland. However, Hong Kong is different, now Hong Kong is known as the 'Hollywood of the East', producing three or four hundred commercial films and nearly 100 TV series a year, which requires all kinds of actors. Like him, Zhou Yemang, graduated from the Performance Department of Shanghai Theater Academy, and acted in dramas and TV series when he was in the mainland, and his acting skills are definitely much better than many locally trained grassroots actors in Hong Kong, so as long as he is given a chance, it will be a different world.

Zhang Shaolin was a little surprised to hear it, he had heard someone from CCTV mention it before he came, saying that since the boss of Media Asia, Lin Xiaozhi, set up exchanges and cooperation with the mainland when he visited the north, the mainland has indeed sent a lot of actors, directors, and screenwriters from all over the world to exchange and study in the past year, and some of them have been favored by Hong Kong during this period and have been invited to participate in the filming of some TV series and movies.

But hearsay is not as shocking as what he has seen and heard, and now he sees an actor who is difficult to receive a play in the mainland because of his appearance, and after coming to Hong Kong, he quickly develops, and the magic of this miracle city once again imprints an expectation in his heart.

"Actually, I'm nothing. Let's just say that my house is actually rented. Electrical appliances are also provided by the landlord, so it is a little more expensive, at least more than 3,000 Hong Kong dollars a month, water and electricity have to be calculated separately! Fortunately, I took on a few plays, and the salary before and after was more than 100,000 yuan, otherwise I really couldn't afford to rent it. Asia Television Station, which cooperates with us in the mainland, needs a large number of actors to shoot dozens of TV dramas every year, and as for Media Asia Film Group, it is even more amazing, I heard that Mr. Lin Xiaozhi's company, together with some affiliated film companies, almost shoots hundreds of movies every year, and the shortage of actors needed is even greater. Many of us who come to the mainland for exchanges, as long as the exchange is not a problem, can basically receive filming. For example, some people such as Zhang Yimou, who I know, have a salary of hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars for a movie after taking a few plays, and that is what can really be mixed! ”

After another pause, he said with a longing face: "I'm not very good at taking on dramas in the mainland, and I see that the time for exchange is coming to an end, and recently I am ready to apply to ATV or Media Asia, and I am ready to sign a three-to-five-year long-term contract with them, anyway, Hong Kong will return in a few years, and I plan to work hard here!" ”