The literary era since 1979

At noon, at Liufu Restaurant.

Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua booked a private room, set up a banquet, and warmly entertained Fang Yan.

On the table were delicacies such as steamed scallops, salt and pepper abalone, salt and pepper mantis shrimp, and Longjing chrysanthemum smoked pigeon.

Run Run Shaw wiped his hands with the hot towel and said, "Yanzi, the seafood and Cantonese cuisine here are quite good, you should try them."

Fangyan picked up a piece of salt and pepper abalone and took it in his mouth. It was crispy yet soft and smooth, chewy and tasty.

Seeing that he was enjoying his meal, Fang Yihua smiled even more brightly and took the opportunity to ask:

"Yanzi, you just mentioned three options. What are the remaining two?"

"The second one is naturally adaptation, but I don't have many novels I can use at the moment."

Fangyan said casually that "Artificial Intelligence" had been chosen by Kubrick.

Upon hearing this, Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua's faces instantly became bright. They knew that Fang Yan had a wide network of contacts in Hollywood, but they didn't expect it to be so wide. Not only did he know two of the four great men of the New Hollywood, but he was also connected to the "genius director" Kubrick.

"Besides that, the Once Upon a Time in China series has been handed over to Director Xu's studio."

Fang Dialect listed them one by one: "As for mystery crime novels, I am afraid they do not suit the appetite of Hong Kong audiences. The only one left that is worth reading is probably Farewell My Concubine, which was co-written by me and my Hong Kong friend Miss Li Bihua. It is also published and sold in Hong Kong..."

Fang Yihua suddenly interrupted and said that she bought a copy because of its reputation. Although the content was excellent, if it was adapted into a movie, it would probably be an art film. It was not that art films were not good, but that Shaw Brothers Films had fallen to its current state because of commercial films that had greatly hampered it.

Right now, Shaw Brothers may have a glimmer of hope only if it makes commercial films.

"indeed so."

Run Run Shaw agreed very much, "Yanzi, to be honest, the film market in Hong Kong and even Southeast Asia is different from that in the mainland. The films that can make money are basically entertainment films for the general public. They like to watch martial arts, fantasy, and comedy, but asking them to appreciate art is like talking to a cow."

Fangyan was not annoyed. In fact, even if Shaw Brothers was willing to film "Farewell My Concubine", he would still be reluctant to give it to them!

So he raised his third finger and said that the third option was the original script.

This answer was most in line with what Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua wanted.

Fang Yihua asked curiously, "So it's back to the original question. What kind of script is Yanzai going to write? Is he going to continue the martial arts film like "Huang Feihong"? " Then she added, "Martial arts is one of the signatures of Shaw Brothers Films."

"Hong Kong's martial arts films, I discussed this with Director Xu when we were filming Once Upon a Time in China."

Fang Yan said: "We all feel that traditional martial arts films have reached a dead end. Otherwise, we wouldn't have launched the banner of 'new-style martial arts films', and martial arts films are also moving towards modern martial arts films like 'Best Partner' and 'The Lucky Stars'."

Then he picked up a piece of green beans, which were cooked to the best of its ability. Not like the ones cooked by Mr. Huang, which could make people poisoned, vomit, and need stomach lavage.

While eating, he said, "I'm going to say something that may make Uncle Six and Aunt Six unhappy. Shaw Brothers Films lost its reputation due to commercial films, but in fact it lost its reputation due to the declining martial arts films."

"Snapped!"

Run Run Shaw also knew the problem of Shaw Brothers Films very well. He slammed the table and raised his wine cup:

"Yes, you are right. The rise and fall of Shaw Brothers are due to martial arts."

Fang Yan drank a toast with him and said, "So if Shaw Brothers wants to turn things around, they have to find a new type of film to replace the martial arts movies."

Fang Yihua agreed repeatedly, "Then what kind of film do you think can replace Shaw Brothers as the mainstay?"

"That's where the difficulty lies. I need to think about this carefully and not jump to conclusions."

Fang Yan smiled and said, "After all, this involves the life and death of Shaw Brothers Films, so we have to be cautious."

Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua smiled at each other and felt that he was mature and steady, and was the most suitable person to save Shaw Brothers.

"But Uncle Six and Aunt Six, I have already said something."

Fangyan narrowed his eyes, changed the subject and mentioned his remuneration.

With his current status, even Ni Xun, the top screenwriter in the Hong Kong film industry, is not on the same level as him.

Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua were also mentally prepared, but when they heard that Kubrick asked him to be the screenwriter of "Artificial Intelligence" and paid him over one million US dollars for the script, they were really shocked. After all, the exchange rate between the Hong Kong dollar and the US dollar was fixed in those days.

That is, 7.8 Hong Kong dollars equals 1 US dollar, which is equivalent to a dialect fee of over 800 million. This price is unique in Hong Kong. Even Cheng Long, who is very popular in Southeast Asia, only gets million for a movie.

What's more, this was the price before he won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. Now the price is already different, starting from at least 300 million US dollars!
Don’t think it’s too expensive and there’s no discount. Our great writer Fang is worth the price!
Even so, there are so many Hollywood companies that want to kneel down but have no way to do so, they are all scrambling to cooperate!
Even for the sake of Fang Yihua and Run Run Shaw, the friendship price given must not be lower than 250 million US dollars, otherwise it would be too embarrassing!

"This this……"

Fang Yihua and Run Run Shaw exchanged glances rapidly.

The atmosphere at the dinner table gradually became solemn and tense. In order to ease the awkwardness, Fangyan mentioned another mode of cooperation.

That is to follow the Hollywood model, use part of their own screenwriting fees as the investment in the film, and when the box office revenue is divided, they will get their deserved share, and the scope of the distribution is not limited to Hong Kong, but also includes the Asian market and even the entire global market.

This is one of the reasons why I asked Rodion to register an independent production company for me.

In addition, the movie IP also belongs to his own company, which means he has the final say on plans for sequels or spin-off movies!
Faced with all these conditions, Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua neither refused nor agreed immediately:
"Yanzi, this is a serious matter. Can you give us some time to think about it?"

"Of course!"

Fang Yan smiled meaningfully and said, "I need to use this time to think about what kind of script can help Shaw Brothers."

…………

After the meal, Run Run Shaw, to the surprise of everyone at TVB, arranged his own car to take Fang Yan back to the hotel.

Fang Yihua took care of everything as he instructed, and quickly returned to the office, where she saw Run Run Shaw standing in front of the window, looking down.

"Everything has been arranged. The car has already left."

"You've really worked hard today."

"Let's not talk like this between us."

Fang Yihua handed over the teacup, "How about Yanzi's conditions? What do you think about it?"

Run Run Shaw couldn't help but sigh: "It's true that it's not so easy to cooperate with a talent like him."

"But the salary he proposed is too high, and the conditions are a bit too harsh."

Fang Yihua frowned and said, "And what I'm most worried about is that if I really agree to his request, the senior staff of Shaw Brothers and TVB's screenwriter department will be dissatisfied and will all join in the rebellion and demand a pay raise. After all, 'the problem is not the lack of money, but the inequality of the money'."

"That's why I only gave Bruce Lee $2500."

Run Run Shaw said with a straight face, "If I had given Bruce Lee more than 1 US dollars, I would have raised the salaries of dozens of people. But in the end, Wen Huai used 1.5 US dollars to pry Bruce Lee away, which allowed Golden Harvest to come back to life and completely turn things around."

Looking through the window, I watched my car disappear from my sight and sighed quietly:

"When it came to Cheng Long, it was different. I had offered 500 million Hong Kong dollars, 20 Hong Kong dollars more than Golden Harvest. But because I was one step behind Wen Huai, Golden Harvest got there first. Shaw Brothers' martial arts films have never been better than Golden Harvest's since then."

Then he turned around and looked at Fang Yihua, "Now, Golden Harvest is competing with Shaw Brothers again. If Wen Huai really helps Cheng Long and Fang Yan to cooperate, how can they not make it to Hollywood? By then, Golden Harvest will be more successful, and Shaw Brothers will have to stop production and close down."

"So you must fight?"

Fang Yihua understood what he meant.

"I want to save my reputation and also give Shaw Brothers a glimmer of hope."

Shaw Yifu said seriously, "This is a dispute of pride, but also a dispute of business. You must understand my intention, right?"

"When I made the arrangements just now, I specially sent two cars."

Fang Yihua nodded in agreement: "I asked the people in the other car to secretly keep an eye on Yanzi, and report to me immediately if Jiahe comes into contact with him." Then she raised a mysterious smile, "As for Yanzi's car, I also asked Zuxian to accompany him to Kowloon Tong."

Run Run Shaw was very surprised. "I don't think Yanzi is the kind of person who would use a beauty trap. He took the initiative to ask Zuxian to..."

"I requested it repeatedly."

Fang Yihua asked Fang Yan to give her a ride under the pretext that Wang Zuxian was going to see Xu Ke to discuss the promotion of the movie "Working Emperor".

Run Run Shaw smiled knowingly and said, "We need both secret agents and sentries, but I don't know if the people you picked can do it." (End of this chapter)