Literary Master 1978

Zou Wenhuai worked in the news industry in his early years and achieved considerable success. He entered Shaw Brothers in the late 1950s through the introduction of a friend and was deeply appreciated by the boss for his outstanding language talent and intelligence.

At his peak, his influence in Shaw Brothers was higher than that of the boss, Mr. Shaw. Many Shaw Brothers staff only knew Zou Wenhuai, but not Mr. Shaw.

This is also one of the two fundamental reasons why Zou Wenhuai left Shaw Brothers - his achievements overshadowed his boss.

Another reason was that Zou Wenhuai was dissatisfied with Shaw Brothers' harsh treatment of employees and proposed the idea of ​​dividends to the boss, but Mr. Shaw suppressed it and introduced Miss Fang to check and balance Zou Wenhuai in the late 1960s.

So Zou Wenhuai's generosity to celebrities after establishing Golden Harvest may be due to the mentality of "having been caught in the rain, he also wants to hold an umbrella for others".

Of course, in business, as a boss, he is willing to give dividends to his stars, more because these stars can make money for him.

Otherwise, why doesn't he give dividends to the behind-the-scenes team?

If we make an analogy with the three overlords of Hong Kong film industry, Shaw Brothers is equal to all. No matter what stars, famous directors, famous screenwriters, they are all cattle and horses to me.

As for Golden Harvest, Zou Wenhuai learned from the experience and lessons of Shaw Brothers and regarded stars as the first productive force.

But his thinking is also limited. Otherwise, why would Cinema City rise in just two or three years?

Because Cinema City grasped what Zou Wenhuai ignored, that is, compared with stars, the behind-the-scenes production team is a more important productive force.

By analogy, it is not difficult to find that the three overlords represent the three development stages of Hong Kong film industry.

This time, Xu Guanwen wanted to transform and brought in Lin Chaoyang and Li Hanxiang, and agreed to the dividends and investment requirements of these two behind-the-scenes personnel, which did not conform to the style of Golden Harvest. Instead, it was a bit like the approach of its rival Cinema City.

And the reason why Boss Zou agreed was not without a trial.

Entering 1985, Shaw Brothers was already in decline. Most of the first half of the year had passed, and so far, no film produced by Shaw Brothers had a box office of more than 10 million Hong Kong dollars.

Not only the local box office is in decline, but also the foreign market is the same.

In March this year, Run Run Shaw died of illness. He was the "brother" in the "Shaw Brothers". In 1958, he and Run Run Shaw co-founded Shaw Brothers Film (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd.

For more than 20 years, the two brothers worked together to build a huge empire for Shaw Brothers in the Hong Kong film industry, with influence radiating Southeast Asia.

With the death of Run Run Shaw and the company's declining performance year after year, there have been rumors that Shaw Liuye has intended to close Shaw Brothers Film.

Now Shaw is old and there is no need to worry about it.

Golden Harvest is in its prime, and Cinema City is in its heyday. In the next few years, the Hong Kong film industry will definitely be a battle between the two.

So at this stage, Boss Zou must unite all the forces that can be united to meet the challenge of Cinema City.

Xu Guanwen's transformation work, he wants to take the lead himself, and brought in Li Hanxiang and Lin Chaoyang, and Zou Wenhuai is happy to see it happen.

On the one hand, it shared the risk of Golden Harvest's investment. On the other hand, Boss Zou also wanted to try out Cinema City's approach and increase investment in behind-the-scenes talent to see what the return would be and whether it was worth his investment.

Several people talked in detail for more than an hour in Zou Wenhuai's office and determined some specific details of the film's investment and production.

The investors of the new film include four parties, namely Golden Harvest Films, Hui's Films, New Kunlun Films and Lin Chaoyang. The total investment in the film is 5.5 million Hong Kong dollars, and the investment ratios are 4:3:2:1 respectively.

Among them, Lin Chaoyang used the script discount of 550,000 Hong Kong dollars as an investment and enjoyed an equal share of dividends.

"As for the director, I plan to let Ann Hui come. What do you think?"

After discussing the investment share, Zou Wenhuai asked everyone about their opinions on the director.

Ann Hui is one of the new directors emerging in the new wave of Hong Kong films. In recent years, she has directed masterpieces such as "The Story of Woo Viet" and "Go to the Wrath of the Sea".

Not only has it gained a good reputation, but its box office performance is also unexpectedly good, which makes her have an excellent reputation in the industry.

Ann Hui is not tied to any film and television company. In recent years, she has cooperated with many major film and television companies in Hong Kong. For example, she cooperated with Shaw Brothers in "Love in a Fallen City" last year, and cooperated with Golden Harvest in "The Lucky Stars" the year before last.

This candidate was obviously discussed by Zou Wenhuai and Xu Guanwen. Lin Chaoyang had no objection. In his impression, Ann Hui has always been a director with stable output.

Except for the two films after her old age that were a bit absurd, the quality of the films she created was quite high most of the time.

"Wenhuai, actually I..."

As soon as Li Hanxiang opened his mouth, Lin Chaoyang knew that he was still greedy and coveted the right to direct the film.

Zou Wenhuai listened to Li Hanxiang's thoughts and frowned, "Aren't you always tinkering with historical films? You haven't touched this kind of modern theme, don't force yourself."

Zou Wenhuai's words almost pointed at Li Hanxiang's nose and said, "You have a little bit of B in your mind." Being looked down upon by his old friend, Old Li couldn't help but look unhappy.

"Ann Hui's films may not be as good as mine!"

He said this sarcastically. His psychology at this time was probably similar to that of Ah Q, but no one paid attention to him.

Zou Wenhuai added: "I have only communicated with Ann Hui at the moment. Whether she will accept this film or not depends on the script."

At this point, his eyes fell on Lin Chaoyang, who immediately understood what he meant, "The script will be out within a week."

Zou Wenhuai nodded with satisfaction, while Li Hanxiang muttered, "She's still being picky."

"Then after the script is finalized, we'll ask her out for a formal talk."

"Okay."

As everyone chatted, it was almost noon. Zou Wenhuai originally planned to invite a few people out for a meal, but by chance a clever fat man walked into his office.

"Mr. Zou!"

"Sanmao!"

Sanmao is Sammo Hung's nickname. Zou Wenhuai took Sammo Hung and enthusiastically introduced him to Lin Chaoyang and the others.

Sammo Hung greeted them one by one, but he looked a little worried, as if he had something important to talk to Zou Wenhuai about, and had no intention of chatting with Lin Chaoyang and the others. Seeing this, Lin Chaoyang and the others said goodbye.

After several people left Zou Wenhuai's office, Li Hanxiang asked Xu Guanwen with a smile: "I guess Sanmao is here for the dividends from other places again?"

In the Hong Kong film industry, people say that Boss Zou is generous to his stars, but this generosity is also limited.

Golden Harvest has always been very happy to pay the box office share in Hong Kong, but when it comes to the box office share in other places and the share of copyright buyouts, the efficiency is very low.

Of course, there are restrictions on the external environment, but in the final analysis, they are still reluctant to give up this big piece of fat meat. These days, the overseas revenue of Hong Kong movies is much greater than that of local movies.

"I hope Boss Zou won't play this kind of trick on us." Li Hanxiang said faintly.

Xu Guanwen said with an embarrassed look: "The overseas revenue is a bit slow, but at least it has been paid all the time."

Li Hanxiang smiled. With his status in the world, he was naturally not afraid that Zou Wenhuai would drag his feet and not pay.

Xu Guanwen looked at Lin Chaoyang, afraid that the conversation between the two of them would cause Lin Chaoyang to mind, but Lin Chaoyang's face was normal, and it was hard to guess what he was thinking.

A few days later, Lin Chaoyang finished writing the script and called Xu Guanwen to make an appointment.

The meeting place this time was not chosen in the office building of Jiahe, but in a coffee shop called Hoi On Coffee Shop in Sheung Wan.

It is called a coffee shop, but in fact it also does business as a tea restaurant, which is also the business habit of coffee shops opened in the 1960s and 1970s.

When Lin Chaoyang arrived, Xu Guanwen had already arrived. Li Hanxiang was busy with the post-production of "Fire Dragon" and did not come today.

The two sat in the coffee shop sipping coffee and chatting for a while before waiting for Ann Hui.

Among directors, Ann Hui is very young. She has a mushroom head that reaches her ears, wears plain cloth shoes, and even wearing glasses can't cover her dark circles.

After saying hello, Ann Hui's eyes fell on Lin Chaoyang, with a curious look in her eyes.

When Zou Wenhuai contacted her a few days ago, he had already talked about the general situation of this movie. The comedy king wanted to transform, so he found a mainland screenwriter and invited her, a female director who specializes in art films. It was interesting to think about it.

After a few pleasantries, Xu Guanwen handed the script to Ann Hui, "Ann, please take a look at the script first."

Ann Hui took the script. There was no packaging, just ordinary manuscript paper, and even the text was simplified Chinese. The writing habits were completely different from those in Hong Kong.

She didn't care about these details, and her eyes were locked on the name of the script

-"The Truman Show".

Lin Chaoyang still insisted on the translation of the movie in China in later generations, rather than the direct translation of "The Truman Show" or "Reality Show" in English.

Ann Hui had heard Xu Guanwen talk about the general plot of the movie before, and now she could finally see the complete script, and her heart was full of expectations.

Opening the script, she habitually lit a cigarette for herself, her eyes on the script followed the text, and her brows were locked together from time to time.

Today was the first time that Xu Guanwen and Xu Anhua saw the complete script. It was estimated that they would have to read it for a while. Lin Chaoyang drank coffee leisurely and stood up from time to time.

After waiting for nearly two hours, the two finally finished reading the script one after another.

Although he had known the outline of the script for a long time and was very confident about the finished product of the script, Xu Guanwen was still full of surprises after reading the script.

"Mr. Lin, the character of Truman is so well written!"

Unlike Xu Guanwen's surprise, Xu Anhua frowned more tightly after watching the movie. She sat there thinking for a long time.

"Mr. Lin, when you wrote this script, what was the preset style for it?"

Xu Anhua's question hit the point. She is a director. Unlike Xu Guanwen as an actor who focuses more on the characters, she must consider the integrity and style of the story.

A mentally sound and mature man has lived in a reality show for thirty or forty years without realizing it. The core of "The Truman Show" is undoubtedly very sci-fi and thriller.

But when reading the script, Ann Hui also found that Lin Chaoyang completely abandoned the color of science fiction when writing, and did not deliberately exaggerate the horror in the core of the story.

He replaced the darkness and depression that the script should have shown with a sunny atmosphere and a brisk rhythm, making the overall atmosphere of the story more relaxed.

It should be said that the current script presents more comedy than plot, and maintains relative restraint, without dispelling the seriousness and thought of the story itself.

"In terms of style, it's a light comedy. The core of this script is already heavy enough. If it is written too deeply, it will be too heavy from the perspective of the audience, which is not good for the distribution and release of our film."

Ann Hui nodded slightly after listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, but she did not completely agree with Lin Chaoyang's words.

If Ann Hui were to write this script, she would definitely continue to dig along the original thriller core and explore human nature in depth.

She also did not believe that as a creator, Lin Chaoyang would take the initiative to give up the original plot tension with extremely strong extensibility.

Considering that this was Xu Guanwen's transformation work, Ann Hui guessed that he must have put a lot of pressure on Lin Chaoyang, so that Lin Chaoyang made a compromise on the script.

What a pity...

If Lin Chaoyang had created it according to his own ideas and the original core and context of the script, how amazing would this script be!

She thought so in her heart, sighed imperceptibly, and even shook her head unconsciously.

This made Xu Guanwen, who had been paying attention to her, feel uncertain. Could it be that such a script could not satisfy her?

Little did she know that Ann Hui was not dissatisfied with the script, but with him as the male lead!