Unlike Xu Qingdong's excitement, after hearing the proposal to make the first independent film in China, Cao Zhiqiang was not the slightest excited.

"Don't be stupid." Cao Zhiqiang shook his head calmly. "Director Xu, why are you more naïve than me?

Don't find a studio, make your own independent films? What do you want? This is not a foreign country!

Don't you know that only film studios can make movies in China, and private individuals are not allowed to make movies?"

Indeed, it's no wonder that Cao Zhiqiang is so cynical, it's really in China at this time, and individuals can't make movies at all.

Because during this period, the country was basically a planned economy, and movies were the same.

If you want to make a movie, you can only make it in a film studio, and if a film studio wants to make a movie, the leaders above make a plan, and then set up a project, and then ask for funds after setting up the project, and then calculate the funds after you ask for the funds, and after the accounting is completed, allocate the funds, and then prepare the film crew, and officially start shooting.

The whole process is quite cumbersome, so much so that many films may have been approved a long time ago, but by the time the official shooting is made, it may have been a year or two or even three or five years.

Even if the film is filmed, it must be reviewed by the Film Bureau, and after the review, it will be handed over to China Film to buy your film, and then China Film will copy the film and distribute it to various local screening units according to administrative regions, that is, various cinemas.

In this review and issuance process, it is also very cumbersome, and if something goes wrong, it may be pressed for several years.

In other words, even if Cao Zhiqiang raises his own funds, writes and directs scripts, and even brings his own photographic equipment, if he wants to make a movie, he must at least find a film studio.

And after making a movie, if you want to release and distribute it, you have to let the affiliated film factory come forward for review, and then after review, it will be acquired by China Film, and China Film will arrange your movie to be released according to its own plan.

But when it will be released, it is still not you who have the final say, but the leaders of China Film who have the final say.

Of course, if you have a big relationship and background, you can directly find the leaders of the Film Bureau or even China Film, then naturally everything is easy to say.

At this time, the Film Bureau belongs to the Ministry of Culture, and if you can find a more powerful leader of the Ministry of Culture, you can also speak well.

For example, it is okay to sneak in the queue and play it at a good time in advance.

It can be said that if you want to make a movie and distribute it in China, it is not whether you have money or not, but whether you have a relationship.

You have a relationship, and you have a unit to cover it if you don't have any money.

For example, this Xu Qingdong, how did he know Cao Zhiqiang?

It's not that Xu Qingdong wants to make the first domestic music movie, but he is short of money, so he asks Director Liu, the old boss of the Art Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, for help.

Director Liu wants to make progress, for the sake of Xu Qingdong's parents, and wants to help Xu Qingdong and win a good impression, so he will pull Cao Zhiqiang, an upstart in the Beijing circle, to invest?

Of course, Director Liu is not a white wolf with empty gloves, he has to do things for others when he asks Cao Zhiqiang to invest.

Arranging work for Cao Zhiqiang's so-called friends is Director Liu's return.

Therefore, it can be seen from Xu Qingdong's body that if you want to make a movie during this period, the key must be related.

This relationship can be built by yourself from scratch, such as those famous directors; It can also rely on the relationship between parents, such as Xu Qingdong.

Anyway, in China at this time, if you want to make movies freely, you must first have a relationship, otherwise, you can only slowly boil up your qualifications.

And independent films, in fact, are personal films, which is precisely the situation that is simply not possible in China at this time.

"Who says you can't make movies privately?" Xu Qingdong suddenly smiled, "Which law and which regulation says that private individuals are not allowed to make movies?"

"Huh?" Cao Zhiqiang was stunned.

"Apparently so?

Doesn't the Film Bureau have that, the film management regulations, which stipulate that only film studios can make films, and before you can make a movie, don't you have to get a film production license before you can make a movie?"

Xu Qingdong frowned, and then laughed: "I don't know where you heard this nonsense.

Film regulations? I've never heard of such a thing in the film bureau, but each film studio has its own factory rules.

As for the film production license, this is even more of a no-brainer.

In our country, each studio decides what movie to make, and then submits it for review after it is filmed, but it is not allowed to be released if it is submitted for review, and no license is required at all.

Therefore, we can make a movie in our own name, and after the film is filmed, it will be submitted for review.

I have a good relationship with Director Liu of the Ministry of Culture, but when I look for someone, there is no big problem with the review of this movie.

As long as it passes the review, it will be acquired and distributed by China Film, so whether it is a work of the film factory or not, what's the problem?"

Speaking of this, Xu Qingdong rubbed his hands: "Besides, reform is being talked about everywhere now, and many of the original regulations can be relaxed.

As long as our movie is made well, when the time comes, let's find a relationship together, it will be no problem!"

Hearing this, Cao Zhiqiang shook his head: "Forget it, it's too risky to make an independent film on your own, so don't do it."

"Oh, that's a pity." Xu Qingdong sighed, "This is likely to be history, it's a pity not to do it."

Cao Zhiqiang smiled slightly: "I'm not you, my family has a big business, but I can't afford to take this risk."

Speaking of this, Cao Zhiqiang's eyes suddenly rolled: "Wait, you said, if we set up a film studio by ourselves and then make films in the name of our own film studio, will we have a head?"

"Start your own film studio?" Xu Qingdong was stunned, "This, this ......"

Obviously, he couldn't keep up with Cao Zhiqiang's train of thought.

"That's right." Cao Zhiqiang nodded, "Let's set up a new film studio first, and then use the name of this film studio to make my movie, isn't that it?"

Xu Qingdong shook his head: "Yes, but it is not so easy to set up a film studio."

"It's up to people." Cao Zhiqiang smiled, "This publishing house of mine is also a state-owned enterprise, and it applies to open a film factory in the name of the publishing house, do you say it's okay?"

"I'm afraid not." Xu Qingdong shook his head, "If you want to set up a film factory, there are many indicators, and at the level of your publishing house, I'm afraid it will be difficult to start a film factory, after all, you are an enterprise, and film studios are public institutions."

"Not necessarily." Cao Zhiqiang said, "It's not all public institutions, don't you look at the factory?"

"The factory is a special case." Xu Qingdong said, "And even state-owned enterprises can run film studios, but your other indicators are not good.

It's not easy to set up a film studio, it's not just about the equipment, it's about having enough film workers."

"That's right." Cao Zhiqiang touched his chin, "There is!"

After speaking, Cao Zhiqiang raised his head: "My publishing house is too small, it's really not good, but I'm still a member of Hongguang Machinery Factory."

Our Hongguang Machinery Factory is a unit directly under the Ministry of Metallurgy, and it is absolutely qualified in terms of level qualifications.

Moreover, the tertiary production scale of our Hongguang Machinery Factory is very large, with its own cinema and film team, as well as its own art troupe.

Although there are not many employees in the cinema and film team of our factory, only more than 100 people, there are enough employees in our art troupe.

The Hongguang Art Troupe of our Hongguang Machinery Factory includes more than 300 people in the vocal group, performance group, logistics group and so on.

Strictly speaking, these people also have something to do with filmmaking.

It should be no problem to integrate these people and form a film studio under the Hongguang Machinery Factory, right?

Yes, absolutely!

Hahaha, I'm such a genius!

Any idea, and it's a lot of money, hahaha!"

"This ......" Xu Qingdong frowned, "President Cao, although your idea is good, when will it take for you to set up a film studio?" Why don't we make a movie first and then think about it slowly?"

Cao Zhiqiang looked at Xu Qingdong: "You mean, cut first and then play?"

"That's right!" Xu Qingdong touched the Panavison camera again, "With this, no matter how rich you are and have a script, you don't have to worry about making movies."

As for other problems, I asked an old friend for help, and it should be solved.

Let's take advantage of this summer to shoot this movie first, and after filming, it's not too late to slowly think about the ownership of the movie."

Cao Zhiqiang frowned and began to think about the possibility of this matter.

Indeed, if there is no so-called film production license at this time, it is indeed possible to shoot first.

And it seems that in the history of China, there is no precedent for such individuals to make movies.

Because he suddenly remembered that there was a movie in his previous life, which was shot in the eighties, and it was a film shot by a person, not through a film studio.

The name of that movie, called "Father and Son", is a comedy movie, starring Chen Wall and his son.

The reason why I have an impression is because this film is not only the only film shot by an individual in the 80s, but also the only personal film in domestic history that can be officially released in cinemas without a factory standard.

When Chen Wall made this movie, he looked for Xiying at the beginning, but unfortunately Xiying was not interested in his comedy and refused to invest in filming.

Chen Wall later ran to many film companies, but they were all politely rejected.

In the end, Chen Wall was also an axis, and the film company didn't shoot, so he relied on his old face to find a private company to invest, and then without any film studio, he prepared a film crew and shot it himself.

It is said that during Chen Wall's filming of this movie, the Film Bureau also warned him, saying that private individuals were not allowed to make movies, and that it was best for him to be attached to a film studio.

In fact, people also have good intentions, after all, with Chen Wall's popularity at that time, it was very easy to find a movie to be affiliated with.

But Mr. Chen just didn't do it, he had to shoot it himself, or he didn't hang on, and he also went to the film bureau to shoot the table and stare at it, arguing with others.

In the end, it may be that there are indeed no clear laws and regulations prohibiting private filming, and Mr. Chen is famous and well-connected, so in the end, this matter will not be resolved.

After the film was filmed, China Film did not dare to accept it, because the film was shot by an individual and there was no studio involved.

As a result, the old man went to China Film Company again to slap the table and spill it, and asked China Film Company to agree to the acquisition, but the price was very low, basically a cost price acquisition, and it was not acquired in accordance with conventional practices at all.

In this way, "Father and Son" was distributed by China Film Company, becoming the only commercial film that year and the only commercial film in China that could be publicly released and distributed in cinemas, but without a studio logo.

It is said that the film was still a milestone event, and since then, the independent producer system of the film has begun to arouse discussion and become a historical benchmark.

Later, in the reform of the film system, it is said that this movie will always be used to talk about things.

In this era, Mr. Chen also has it, and his reputation is still there, but he didn't expect to do it yet.

After all, strictly speaking, Old Man Chen can do this, which is also characteristic of the times.

Because when he filmed "Father and Son", it was already 1986, when the country's reform had been relatively deepened.

Among other things, at least at that time, individuals were allowed to open private companies, and private individuals were also allowed to run film production companies.

It's just that there weren't many individuals who really became private film companies back then, and most of them were short-lived, and they gradually disappeared after the 90s.

However, it was 1983, and it was not even allowed to open a private private company, let alone a private film company.

Moreover, the current film studios are basically public institutions affiliated to various cultural bureaus, and they have not been transformed into state-owned enterprises as they were later.

The large-scale separation of government administration from enterprise management was only after October 1984.

However, Cao Zhiqiang has an advantage, that is, he is an employee of a state-owned enterprise, and he is still a leader who can make decisions.

Not to mention the three state-owned enterprises directly controlled by Cao Zhiqiang, namely Hongguang Publishing House, Huaxia Audiovisual Company and Hongguang Department Store.

Let's talk about the headquarters of these three companies, Hongguang Machinery Factory, although Cao Zhiqiang's superficial position in it is not high, he is only the deputy director of the tertiary production office, but he is a person who can really make decisions.

At the same time, he is now the main person in charge of the tertiary production department of the machine factory.

Hongguang Machinery Factory has many tertiary employees, more than 5,000 people.

Among them, in addition to the security department and the transportation department with the largest number of people, the third largest number of people is the Hongguang Art Troupe.

Due to its special nature, the Hongguang Art Troupe itself is a section-level unit, at the same level as the Propaganda Section, and is not a subordinate unit of the Propaganda Section.

In the heyday of the Hongguang Art Troupe, it is said that there were more than 1,000 people, and even now, there are more than 300 people.

Nowadays, various units are laying off redundant personnel, and their Chinese trade unions and the like are the first to be laid off.

If there is no accident, once the Hongguang Machinery Factory is annexed and rectified, this kind of art troupe will definitely be the first department to be abolished, just like the army art troupe where Hao Shuwen once stayed.

Although Cao Zhiqiang has engaged in a convenience kiosk project before, and this project is in full swing.

However, this project is aimed at those logistics support personnel in the tertiary industry, such as warehouse management personnel, and the actual number of people that can be absorbed is very limited.

In other words, before the official and comprehensive promotion of the convenience kiosk project, purely from the perspective of the current experimental promotion, the number of people absorbed is quite limited.

And even if it can be fully promoted, those people in the art troupe are probably not willing to go to the convenience kiosk to become salesmen.

But if it is not annexed, there is no excuse to directly dismantle it, and if it is not abolished, it is necessary to find a job for these people.

Now it seems that it should not be a big problem to apply for the establishment of a film studio under the pretext of finding a way out for these people.

Although the large-scale transformation of the film studio into an enterprise was carried out after '84, it was not impossible to do it in '83.

After all, as Xu Qingdong said, this is an era of change, and everything is possible.

Thinking of this, Cao Zhiqiang suddenly laughed.

He thought of his original intention of building the Red Light Publishing House.

At the beginning, he just didn't want his doomed best-selling works to be taken by the publishing house, but he didn't have the slightest say.

That's why he wants to build a publishing house that at least has the final say, so that he can give himself a high royalty share.

And that's exactly what happened.

After he finally founded the Hongguang Publishing House in the name of the machinery factory, the first thing he had to do was to publish his own book "Jianghu Xing", and by publishing this book, he directly entered the level of the million club.

Later, when he came up with a record, he first set up a Huaxia audio and video company by himself, and then used the name of this company to release a record for himself, and also gave himself a high share of his works.

Just imagine, if he is not the person who speaks for these two companies, no matter how talented he is and how popular his works are, it is impossible for him to get a high sales share, and he can only be bought out at a low price.

In the same way, now that he wants to make his own movies, he actually has to find a way to open a film studio first.

This is really, in order to eat that vinegar, you have to make dumplings first.

Thinking of this, Cao Zhiqiang suddenly sighed.

"It turns out that this is the tail of that passionate years, this is the prosperous 80s!"