Started as an independent producer in 1988

Chapter 177 Who are you going to kill? !

In the screening room, the play in early spring in February had come to an end. Chen Shiping came in from outside the screening room and sat back in his seat.

Dong Liao, who was sitting next to him, turned to look at him and asked, "What happened? Why did it take so long?"

"I met an old friend and had a chat."

Chen Shiping gave a simple explanation and then focused on the movie.

A few minutes later, the movie ended, and there was warm applause in the screening hall.

After the lights came on, the host came to the stage and invited Mr. Xie Tieli to come to the stage to share.

The film exchange meeting lasts for half a month. Every day there will be a key movie to be promoted, and the director will be invited to the stage to share.

This is an opportunity for communication. Ordinary directors do not have the opportunity to communicate on stage.

Mr. Xie Tieli should have the most experience in directing. After all, at his age, there is no one here who is more experienced than him.

Many of the things Director Xie shared were very helpful to young directors, but Chen Shiping didn't listen very seriously.

After all, I had been working with Director Xie on the Red Mansion crew for so long, and many things about directing were taught by Director Xie himself.

The sharing soon ended, and the formal exchange meeting began. The Cultural and Art Center prepared a total of three screening rooms, which can rotate seven movies every day.

At this time, the audience can choose the movie they like to watch.

Chen Shiping has only two movies in total. Xu Sanguan's Blood Seller will be released today, and Wives will be released in seven days as a promotional film, and he will go on stage to share it at that time.

Among the three halls arranged for the exchange meeting, the first hall is for mainland directors. It says Mainland Film Screening Hall on it. The area is not very large. Anyway, it is not as big as the halls in Xiangjiang and Wanwan.

There were not many people at the entrance of the screening room, and most viewers did not choose to come to mainland cinemas.

But the most directors come to this hall, including many directors from Wanwan and Xiangjiang.

In terms of film art, the mainland has always been the leading one among the three places across the Taiwan Strait. Ordinary audiences in Hong Kong may not like it, but the director will definitely come to see it.

This scene is about Chen Shiping's Xu Sanguan's Blood Seller, a film that won the Cannes Grand Prix and is very attractive to many filmmakers.

What director doesn’t want to win an award?

A director who doesn't want to win awards is not a good director.

Among the audience who came to support Chen Shiping were many people from the film company. Whether it was Wanwan or Xiangjiang, many filmmakers had never seen Xu Sanguan's Blood Seller.

Xu Sanguan's Blood Seller has not been screened in Hong Kong or Wanwan.

Chen Shiping stood at the door of the screening room, nodding to every audience member who came in.

Soon someone who interested Chen Shiping came. He took the initiative to step forward and stretched out his hand and said: "Hello, Director Yang, I am your fan."

Edward Yang was surprised and quickly held Chen Shiping's hand and said, "I am also a fan of your movies. I have watched your movies many times."

"Thank you, please come in quickly. We must have a good chat later." Chen Shiping said with a smile.

Yang Dechang nodded and entered the cinema.

Chen Shiping stood at the door and glanced at the watch on his wrist. It only started in ten minutes, so someone would probably come over.

At this time, Leslie Cheung led many celebrities over. When he saw Chen Shiping, he couldn't help but stretched out his arms to hug him and said with a smile, "I'm sorry, I just came to see you today."

Chen Shiping smiled and said, "It's okay, I know you are busy."

Several celebrities following Zhang Guorong were sizing up Chen Shiping, and today they were all attracted to support him.

It's not accurate to say that they were brought here. Today, all well-known directors from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and three places are gathered here. You would be a fool not to come.

Chen Shiping looked at the celebrities behind Zhang Guorong, smiled and nodded. Most of them he recognized, and some he didn't recognize looked familiar.

Zhang Guorong smiled and turned around and introduced to his friends: "This is Director Chen of the Beijing Film Studio, and he is also a very powerful director."

After saying that, he turned to Chen Shiping and said, "These are all friends from the entertainment industry in Xiangjiang, and they all want to come and get to know you."

"Thank you all for your support. We hope we will have the opportunity to work together in the future." After Chen Shiping finished speaking with a smile, he invited them in.

After Zhang Guorong and the others entered, Guan Zhilin also came, and he was still with Zhang Min.

Chen Shiping squinted his eyes and wondered how they got together. Didn't Zhang Min say he wanted to leave the entertainment industry and go into business?

But now that there are so many people, it’s hard to ask some questions. Let’s wait until the movie is over before asking.

It was about to show time and when Chen Shiping was about to go in, Li Lianjie hurried over.

"Director Chen! Sorry, there's a traffic jam on the road. You're not late, are you?"

Li Lianjie said apologetically that he admired Chen Shiping very much. He not only helped him get out of the quagmire and reach a higher level, but also single-handedly promoted film exchanges between the two places. The future is limitless.

Chen Shiping looked at the traces of makeup on Li Lianjie's face and asked with a smile: "Just came from the set?"

"Yes, I just accepted a movie." Li Lianjie looked at Chen Shiping and felt a little hesitant to talk about the movie he had accepted.

The drama he took on was called "The Dragon Walks the World" and it was a modern version of Once Upon a Time in China.

Xu Ke originally wanted to shoot it in 1989, but in the end, Chen Shiping shot Huang Feihong first, and it has been shelved ever since.

Now they are making a stir-fry again, and they have chosen Li Lianjie to play the role, just to rub off on Once Upon a Time's fame.

Chen Shiping heard Xu Kehe say that he only borrowed the framework from Huang Feihong, but it was actually different from Huang Feihong, so he didn't care.

Isn't that what Xiangjiang is like? It always likes to take out hot topics and shoot them repeatedly until the IP is copied to death.

Since Once Upon a Time was released, many similar movies have been released, including third-level movies such as Once Upon a Time: The Kung Fu Kid and The Thirteenth Aunt of Lust.

Just like after God of Gamblers became popular a few years ago, a series of gambling movies appeared, such as Gambler, King of Gamblers, Saint of Gamblers, Young God of Gamblers, etc.

This is also one of the reasons why Hong Kong movies are in decline. It is too easy to make money and the movies are shoddy until the reputation collapses and the market does not buy it.

A good situation was ruined by myself.

In the screening room, Chen Shiping sat in the front row and deliberately sat with Yang Dechang, wanting to talk about movies with him.

However, Edward Yang seemed a little reserved and was very focused while watching the movie, so Chen Shiping had no choice but to give up.

Xu Sanguan only wrote the script and storyboards for "The Story of Selling Blood". Strictly speaking, it is not a work directed by himself.

But now that he is famous, everyone thinks he directed this movie. As for Tian Cangcang, he has been forgotten in the corner.

If it weren't for Tian Chongchong's name in the subtitles at the beginning of the movie, no one would have remembered that this was a co-directed movie.

Movies like Xu Sanguan are inherently incompatible with the film environment in Hong Kong, and many Hong Kong audiences found it quite boring.

They still prefer lively and action-packed movies. There is really no market for literary and artistic films in Hong Kong, so that no one made literary and artistic films later on.

Not to mention that the general audience didn't like it very much, even many actors and stars frowned while watching it, feeling that the movie was a bit boring.

The directors on the scene watched it with great interest. Different people's eyes can naturally see different things.

After the movie was released, many directors wanted to communicate with Chen Shiping.

The celebrities who came to support him also came to say hello to Chen Shiping and wanted to chat for a few words.

No matter that Chen Shiping's movies are all boring, it never hurts to get to know another director and a powerful figure in the mainland film industry.

What's more, co-productions are quite popular right now, and I might have the opportunity to collaborate someday.

Zhang Guorong also knew that Chen Shiping was busy, so he took the initiative and said, "Let's have dinner together tonight. Thank you for taking care of me when we are in the mainland."

Chen Shiping took one look at Li Lianjie, who also wanted to treat him to a meal, and he immediately took the initiative and said, "Let's get together tonight. I also want to treat Director Chen to a meal. Give me a chance to pay for it."

"That won't work." Zhang Guorong said with a smile: "You can have midnight snack at most!"

A few people chatted and laughed and settled the matter. After they left, Chen Shiping sat down with the directors to talk about movies.

Most of them are directors from Wanwan, and there are very few directors from Xiangjiang. However, there is one that Chen Shiping is very familiar with, and that is Ann Hui.

Xu Anhua should be the face of Hong Kong literary films, and he is also the only director who persists. It is not easy.

Sitting together with a group of directors, it felt like chatting around the fire. Chen Shiping said with a smile: "This film culture exchange is done right, otherwise we would not have the opportunity to discuss it with so many outstanding directors."

Edward Yang nodded and said, "Such activities should be done more often. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait and the three places have the same roots, and they should learn from each other in terms of movies."

Xu Anhua also smiled and said: "The political environment was not good in the past and relations were relatively tense. There will definitely be more opportunities for communication in the future."

A few people sat together and chatted about movies. After a while, a few more people came over and sat down.

Chen Shiping took a look and found that they were people from the Wanwan Film Bureau, but there were also a few who looked like businessmen.

"Director Chen, I heard that you are promoting the reform of the film market in the mainland and have made many remarks about film development in Hong Kong. I wonder what you think of the current predicament of Wanwan Film? What is the main reason?"

A man in a Chinese tunic suit looked at Chen Shiping with a smile. He was the representative of the Wanwan Film Bureau.

Chen Shiping looked at him and tasted something different, "Wanwan Movies, why are you asking me?" Are you going to act with yourself and hit Hong Kong movies?

After thinking about it for a while, Chen Shiping said with a smile: "Wanwan's new wave of movies is a pity, but from the perspective of the development of the entire movie industry, it is beneficial."

"The film market needs commercial operations. Now the Wanwan Film Market only sells imported films, which is very unfriendly to local filmmakers."

"At the same time, it will have a certain impact on Hong Kong movies. The current Xiangjiang Film Company has a consensus."

"As long as a movie is made and screened in Bay Area, the cost can be recovered, while the money from other regions will be wasted. This will lead to a large number of shoddy movies, which will not only destroy the market, but also damage the reputation of Hong Kong movies."

Chen Shiping's words fell on the ears of several Xiangjiang directors, making them a little angry. Wasn't this trying to cause trouble?

What do you mean? Encourage Wanwan to restrict Hong Kong films? You are ruining people's jobs!

Chen Shiping ignored those malicious looks at all. This is a conversation between decision-makers. You can just listen to it!

"In the long run, this will cause Wanwan Capital to give up the development of local films and instead invest funds in other regions. In the end, local directors will have no money, and cinemas will be filled with foreign films. Wanwan Film will really die."

"From a decision-making perspective, it may be a good choice to encourage the development of local films and appropriately restrict foreign films."

Someone from the Wanwan Film Bureau couldn't help but say, "Then why doesn't the mainland restrict co-productions?"

"Because the co-production model has changed, with the mainland taking the lead, it is a good decision for both local filmmakers and the overall film market. Dominance is very important."

"Leadership"

After the people from the Wanwan Film Bureau repeated it, they discovered that Wanwan seemed to have the initiative when it came to Xiangjiang Films and could decide which films would enter the market, but in fact the money was still made by others.

However, the mainland's co-production model is different. The mainland takes the lead in filming and half of the investment is in the mainland. It not only makes money but also cultivates local filmmakers.

This is using Xiangjiang to lay its own eggs. If the development goes smoothly, it will be able to kick Xiangjiang away and develop its own commercial movies in a few years at most.

Looking back at the current situation in Wanwan, local filmmakers are either drooling with envy, or they dive into art films, and the rest are invested in others.

Investors in Wanwan are now either investing in mainland movies or Hong Kong movies. Anyway, they are very disappointed with local movies.

In the long run, it seems that BayWan Movies is really going to die.

Edward Yang couldn't help but interjected at this time: "Hou Hsiao-hsien and I talked about this issue. He said that Bay Area Cinema is almost dying of us. Too many directors have been affected by the New Wave. Now many people want to learn from mainland co-productions. Model, I want to develop a different way.”

In recent years, under the leadership of Chen Shiping, the initiative and investment rights in co-productions have been taken back, and the overall development has been very good.

How could the Wanwan filmmakers not be blind and not see it? They all want to learn this model.

We have our own money and directors, so why should we make money for Xiangjiang? Why can't we use their model to cultivate local commercial films?

The people from the Wanwan Film Bureau smiled and said: "These issues are correct and we are also considering them. However, there is no good solution yet. However, Director Chen's approach in the mainland is worth learning and we can take back the initiative. Well."

Chen Shiping said with a smile: "We learn from each other, we are all one family."

The person from Wanwan stopped answering, just smiled and changed the topic and said, "I will ask you for more details when I have the opportunity, so I will leave today."

Chen Shiping didn't care and said with a smile: "Okay, we can talk if we have the opportunity. Maybe the mainland and Wanwan can also strengthen their cooperation in movies, not just in TV series."

After seeing off the people from Wanwan Film Bureau, Chen Shiping and the others continued chatting.

However, the conversation just now has been spread. At this time, everyone in the exchange meeting knows about the conversation they just had.

Wu Siyuan and other directors from Xiangjiang were dumbfounded, what are you doing here? Are you discussing the death of Xiangjiang Film in an honest and fair manner?

Hong Kong films have no say!

We have a huge influence across Asia, how can you ignore it!

We also need to find a leader!

Uh, I definitely won't be able to find the gentleman, he will run away soon.

Then go to the leaders of the Mainland Film Bureau?

Doesn't that mean looking for Chen Shiping?

Gan!

(End of this chapter)