The literary era since 1979

The tranquility of Lama Temple Street was broken by a burst of whistle sounds.

The Citroën parked steadily in front of the door of the editorial office of "Mystery World", and Fang Yan and Gong Xing got out of the car.

At this moment, Shi Tiesheng, Wang Shuo, Zhong Acheng, Lu Haiyan, Chen Ximi and others gathered together, talking and laughing.

"Hey, Teacher Fang!"

When they saw Fang Yan and Gong Xing, everyone's faces were filled with enthusiasm and they greeted them one after another.

Wang Shuo said with a playful smile: "Teacher Fang, you called us here so early in the morning, there must be something important, right?"

"I got some big jobs in Hong Kong this time."

Fangyan held up three fingers.

When Wang Shuo, Lu Haiyan and others heard "Hong Kong" and saw him pointing with three fingers, their faces changed drastically and they were all shocked.

"Two are with Golden Harvest, and the remaining one is with Shaw Brothers."

Fangyan sat down and briefly introduced the general situation and requirements of the script.

"This is indeed a big deal, but Mr. Fang, we have never written a script for an entertainment film. We are all rookies."

Wang Shuo's face was full of embarrassment.

Zhong Acheng echoed, "I'm afraid that Haiyan is the only one who can help with the 'cop and gangster movie' you just mentioned."

"I can't do that either." Lu Haiyan shook his head and said, "For police and criminal investigation novels like "Criminal Investigation Team", I can help Teacher Fang, but if it's a script..."

Fang Yan smiled and said, "Police Story is a spin-off series of Crime Squad. You must be involved in this script."

Wang Shuo opened his mouth: "Teacher Fang, then we..."

Fang Yan raised his hand to interrupt, then took out a thin piece of manuscript paper from his briefcase and assigned tasks to them one by one. "Police Stories" and "Die Hard" were assigned to him, Zhong Acheng and Shi Tiesheng, while the Shaw Brothers' film scripts were to be written by Wang Shuo and himself.

"Yanzi, if you let me lend you a hand, that's no problem."

Shi Tiesheng took over Die Hard and flipped through it. "But I have to say this beforehand. I really know nothing about entertainment films."

Zhong Acheng also replied "Me too", but he didn't expect that Fangyan and Gong Xing were obviously well prepared and handed over books.

"The Hero with a Thousand Faces", "Guidelines for Using 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces'", "Standards for Creating Film Scripts"...

Seeing so many pamphlets, Wang Shuo was shocked. "What is this?"

Gong Xing explained with a smile that most of these books are movie script guides written in dialects, which have been on the New York Times bestseller list for many years. Even Hollywood producers, directors and screenwriters regard them as treasures and try to learn the essence and secrets of them.

"I have already written the story outlines and character relationships of Die Hard and Police Stories."

Fang Yan said: "Next, we just need to follow the above theory and fill the skeleton with flesh and blood, and the first draft will be done."

Wang Shuo was very surprised, "Teacher Fang, you have such a good treasure, why don't you show it to me?"

Shi Tiesheng was also puzzled. "Yes, these days, the newspapers are full of reports and comments on your views on entertainment films, but they never mention the guidebooks you wrote."

"My plan is to let the Humanities Publishing House publish these guidebooks after people have become more open-minded about entertainment films."

Fang Yan said, "For now, it will be used as internal study material for the studio. You should study it carefully and then apply it to Police Stories and Die Hard. Won't you gradually learn how to write the script for entertainment films?"

Shi Tiesheng was overjoyed and said: "This is called 'combining theory with practice'!" "Entertainment films are still a blank in the domestic film market. I guess few people know how to write and shoot them now."

Fangyan said: "This is one of our great advantages. When entertainment films become popular in the future..."

"Hey, then we'll be rich!"

Wang Shuo stood up excitedly.

Zhong Acheng still had concerns and said, "Although the concepts of 'genre films' and 'main melody' mentioned by Mr. Fang support entertainment films, the current public opinion environment is still not very friendly to entertainment films. I saw a critical article in the Literary Gazette today."

"Facts speak louder than words. As long as we make a good and popular entertainment film, nothing they say will matter!"

Wang Shuo rubbed his hands together and asked eagerly about the story they had jointly prepared for Shaw Brothers.

Fang Yan and Gong Xing smiled at each other and handed over the last portion in their hands.

Wang Shuo looked carefully and saw the name "Baby Smart Star" in his eyes.

The story revolves around a boy who is often ignored by his family, so he always acts naughty in the hope of attracting his parents' attention. However, he is disliked by his whole family. So on Christmas Eve, he makes a wish for his whole family to disappear.

Unexpectedly, the next day, the whole family really disappeared, but in fact, the family members went back to the mainland to visit relatives and accidentally left him at home.

At first, the boy felt excited and enjoyed his freedom at home, but he soon found that his home was targeted by two "stupid thieves", one fat and one thin, who tried to rob his home. So the boy used various home traps to protect himself and guard his family.

In the end, the clever capture and humorous and funny methods gradually forced the two stupid thieves into a desperate situation and brought them to justice. The family also realized that it was better to leave the boy alone at home and return home before Christmas. They came to understand each other and the previous barriers were gradually resolved.

There is no doubt that this foundation is the plot thread of "Home Alone".

The dialect slightly modified the plot that did not fit the local situation in Hong Kong, and absorbed funny elements from "Tricky Brains", "The Young Wizards", "Shaolin Soccer", etc., replacing some inappropriate American comedy plots with Hong Kong and Taiwan nonsense.

“This book is well written!”

Shi Tiesheng said with a smile: "It is humorous and childlike, witty and funny, but also meaningful, and it hits the theme of 'family affection'."

Zhong Acheng readily agreed: "At first, the child was forgotten by his family at home. He was lonely and helpless. In the process of gradually adapting to living alone, he realized the importance of family. Then, in the battle of wits with the thief, he gradually realized the importance of independence and family affection..."

"This movie is perfect for children. It would be best if it could be shown on Children's Day."

Wang Shuo licked his lips excitedly.

"It's probably too late for Children's Day. I estimate that it will be released on Christmas at the earliest."

He said it in a serious tone.

Wang Shuo asked worriedly, "Christmas? It's only seven or eight months away, Teacher Fang, isn't this too fast?"

Fang Yan said: "The speed of filming in Hong Kong is very different from that of our mainland film studios."

Gong Xing agreed with this deeply. When he was filming "Once Upon a Time in China" with Xu Ke, he felt that the shooting speed of Hong Kong films was too fast.

“If everything goes well, it may even be released in East Asia and Southeast Asia.”

Fangyan thought that as long as the "Baby Smart Stars" series made money, he could continue filming.

Even more, the original crew can be asked to shoot Chinese versions of Home Alone movies such as "The Young Master" and "Shaolin Soccer".

As for the director and actors, Wang Jing, Zhou Xingchi, and Wu Mengying should all still be at Shaw Brothers... (End of this chapter)