The literary era since 1979

"call."

Du Qifeng paced back and forth in front of Wang Jing, a cigarette in his mouth, his face full of anxiety.

"Ahem, how many cigarettes have you smoked today?"

Wang Jing coughed repeatedly.

Du Qifeng stopped and said, "Too many, too many to count."

"Then don't smoke. For every cigarette you smoke, I'll smoke half a cigarette."

There was a hint of disgust in Wang Jing's tone.

Du Qifeng put out the cigarette in the ashtray. From morning till now, the two of them had been waiting anxiously in the office.

"Mrs. Fang should have picked up Mr. Fang and his wife at the dock by now, right?"

Wang Jing opened the window and let the breeze dilute the turbid air in the room.

Du Qifeng exclaimed, "Fang Sheng's wife?!"

"Yes, she is said to be a very famous actress in the mainland."

Wang Jing said: "She played the role of Aunt Thirteen in Once Upon a Time in China. This time she accompanied Fang Sheng to Hong Kong. It seems that she came to attend the premiere and cooperate with the film promotion."

"What do you think we should do if Mr. Fang designates his wife as the heroine of the movie?"

Du Qifeng hesitated for a moment, "Do you agree or disagree?"

"Let's wait until we become film directors before we worry about this problem."

Wang Jing picked up the phone and said, "It's almost noon. Let's order something to eat. Sir Du, what do you want to eat?"

"I can't eat now."

Du Qifeng wanted to smoke another cigarette, but suddenly realized that the cigarette box was empty and the one he just smoked was apparently the last one.

"How can we not eat? I think Mrs. Fang will definitely take Fang Sheng and the others to have dinner with Uncle Six."

Wang Jing grinned and said, "This meal will take at least half an hour."

Du Qifeng nodded in agreement: "Sixth Master and Mrs. Fang regard Mr. Fang as the last straw of Shaw Brothers. Given their cautious nature, they will definitely ask for everything clearly at the dinner table before they feel at ease."

As they talked, they both turned their eyes towards Tsim Sha Tsui.

The Peninsula Hotel, which Run Run Shaw visited most often, is located here.

At this moment, gusts of sea breeze blew through the window into the box and onto the script of "Baby Smart Star".

Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua passed the copy around, occasionally letting out a chuckle.

"Yanzi, I am very optimistic about your book, but I still have some concerns."

"You say, Uncle Six, I'm listening."

"Can this comedy script really bring Shaw Brothers back to life?"

Run Run Shaw's reason told him that Shaw Brothers was in a dire situation and that the situation could not be reversed simply by a comedy.

After all, it’s not like Shaw Brothers has never made a comedy that was a box office success.

For example, "The Frog Prince" directed by Wang Jing last year, starring Maggie Cheung, Rosamund Kwan, Cherie Chung, and Pak-cheung Chan, the whole film had a cumulative box office of 1800 million Hong Kong dollars as of its closing time, but for Shaw Brothers, it was still a drop in the bucket and did not help.

"Uncle Six, there is a gap between comedies."

Fangyan smiled.

"What's the explanation?"

Fang Yihua and Run Run Shaw looked at each other.

“Although I haven’t done in-depth research on Hong Kong films, I have a rough understanding of them.”

Fang Yan said, "The movies that are occupying the box office records in Hong Kong now seem to be all comedies, right?"

Fang Yihua listed them all, saying that Cinema City has the "Best Partner" and "Happy Ghost" series, and Golden Harvest has also created the Five Lucky Stars series to compete.

Fang Yan smiled and said, "Yes, compared with Cinema City and Golden Harvest, Shaw Brothers has many comedy films with good box office, but they cannot be made into a series of movies. They cannot tap into the maximum value of the IP, and thus they are missing an important trump card."

"According to Yanzi, this "Baby Smart Star" is only the first part, and there will be a second and third part..."

Run Run Shaw understood what he meant.

“If I can keep making money, why not?”

The dialect is full of confidence.

"But this is different from what we talked about before. I thought Yanzi would find a genre of film that can replace Kung Fu films for our Shaw Brothers."

Run Run Shaw took a sip of his tea.

"Uncle Six, Aunt Six, I'm sure you two should also know that for patients who are terminally ill, you can't use strong medicine, you can only use warm tonic, otherwise it will be counterproductive, and in the end it will not cure the disease, but kill it." Fang Yan said seriously, "The same is true for Shao's case."

Noticing that Run Run Shaw's frown had relaxed, Fang Yihua smiled and said:

"What Yanzi said does make some sense, but..."

"Given Shaw's current situation, I think the most suitable type of film is the one that achieves a big return with a small investment."

Fang Yan said: "That is, comedy and horror films. As for horror films, since Fangtai has already bought the batch of "The Ring", I think it should continue to dig deeper into the field of comedy films and create a series of comedy films that are not inferior to "Best Partner" and "The Lucky Stars"."

Run Run Shaw nodded in agreement, estimating the filming cost of "Baby Smart" to be only one or two million Hong Kong dollars.

After all, the directors, actors and crew members are ready and can be transferred directly from Shaw Brothers and TVB.

However, compared with the cost, Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua were more concerned about the box office expectations of "Baby Smart Star".

"If this story can be made into a movie, the box office of the first part will definitely not be less than 20 million Hong Kong dollars."

Fang Yihua and Gong Xing's faces changed slightly, but Run Run Shaw, who had seen a lot of ups and downs, remained calm. He wiped his mouth and said, "Yanzi is so sure?"

"Of course!"

Fangyan is very confident. Although he can't remember exactly how much the global box office of "Home Alone" was, he vaguely remembers that it set the highest box office record for a live-action comedy in history. It is at the same level as "Saving Private Ryan", so it is no problem for it to rake in hundreds of millions of US dollars.

Considering the market differences between the United States and Hong Kong, the box office of 20 million Hong Kong dollars is already the most conservative estimate.

"Of course I believe you, but the film market in Hong Kong is not that big. So far, there are only a handful of films that have grossed over 2000 million Hong Kong dollars. Our Shaw Brothers' most popular film, The Frog Prince, only grossed over 1800 million Hong Kong dollars."

Fang Yihua gave a reminder.

You should know that Xinyicheng’s first film "Best Partner" only had a box office of more than 2600 million, which was already a major event that shocked the film industry at the time. However, "Summer Lucky Stars", which was released during the Spring Festival this year, broke the 3000 million mark for the first time with the support of a luxurious cast and a series of IPs, setting a new record for Hong Kong movie box office.

If he hadn't been speaking in dialect, I would have suspected that he was crazy and asked the security to throw him out of the hotel.

"How about this, after the movie is finished, if the box office after it is released is less than 2000 million, I don't need to take a penny."

Fangyan did not argue, "But the premise is that we must film it the way it is written in the script."

"Why do you say that, Yanzi? Your reward cannot be reduced by a single cent!"

Run Run Shaw waved his hand with great generosity.

Fang Yihua smiled knowingly and cooperated with him tacitly, thinking that even if the deal failed, there was still friendship, and she had to win over Fang Yan no matter what.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was festive and harmonious, and the four of them enjoyed the meal very much.

Fang Yihua even held Gong Xing's hand and chatted with him in broken Chinese, being even more cordial than she was with Wang Zuxian.

"She can be an assistant director, no problem, we at Shaw Brothers will definitely welcome her!"

"Thank you very much, Uncle Six and Aunt Six."

Fangyan held Gong Xing's hand and the couple thanked him repeatedly.

"Not so polite."

Run Run Shaw said that mainland directors had already reached an agreement with the Film Bureau to go to Hong Kong Film Company to learn how to make entertainment films.

"Yes, but I didn't expect that the first student would be you."

Fang Yihua said with a kind look.

Gong Xing blushed and smiled without saying anything.

Fang Yihua turned around and asked, "Let's go pick some directors later and see who's lucky enough to catch your eye?"

…………

Before I knew it, the clock on the wall had reached half past twelve.

Wang Jing and Du Qifeng sat there bored. The takeaway boxes on the table were never cleared away, but the ashtray was full.

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door. Wang Tianlin pushed the door open and said directly:

"It's your turn, follow me."

"Dad, what's going on?"

There was a hint of worry in Wang Jing's words.

"Your chance has come. The previous waves before you all failed."

Wang Tianlin revealed that Fangyan dislikes those directors who are rigid and conservative, inflexible, and most importantly, do not know how to make comedies.

Hearing this, Wang Jing and Du Qifeng immediately perked up, straightened their ties, followed Wang Tianlin into the meeting room.

When Fang Yan, Fang Yihua and others came into view, I heard my father's whisper beside my ear: "Call someone."

The two of them were startled and greeted each other respectfully.

"This is Du Qifeng, a TVB director and producer, and my apprentice."

Wang Tianlin introduced: "When I was filming The Legend of the Condor Heroes before, he was my executive director..."

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes is now being broadcast in mainland China and it is very well made."

Fangyan said "oh" and took the initiative to shake hands with Du Qifeng.

Without waiting for Wang Tianlin to speak, Fang Yihua began to introduce Wang Jing.

"Mr. Fang, I've heard a lot about you. It's really my honor to meet you!"

There was a shrewd light in Wang Jing's little eyes.

Fang Yan smiled and said, "I heard Mrs. Fang talk about you on the way. She said you are the director who understands comedy films best at Shaw Brothers."

"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it. I just made a few profitable movies. I don't have artistic taste like Fang Sheng."

Wang Jing said this, but his chin was slightly raised, showing a sense of pride.

Looking at the "King of Bad Movies" in front of him, Fang said seriously, "There is no distinction between art and box office. It is perfect to make a movie that blends commerce and art, but it is rare." Then he smiled and said, "In fact, it is amazing to make a movie that is popular."

"Yes, yes, I have only one standard for making movies, whether they make money or not."

Wang Jing's eyes suddenly lit up, "If the movie doesn't sell, the director should die."

Fang Yan patted his shoulder, turned to Fang Yihua and said, "Sixth Aunt, the director should choose these two."

Wang Jing and Du Qifeng looked at each other in shock and doubt. They had thought that there would be a complicated and difficult test, but this was the result?
Isn't it a bit too hasty to just drop the hammer in such a confused manner?
Fang Yihua had the same idea. Although she was inclined to this decision, she still asked a few more questions.

"There are ten commandments in the Bible, but in Hollywood there is only one commandment, which is to lose money if you don't sell out. This is a capital crime."

Fang Yan said seriously: "I think with their awareness, they can definitely make a good movie of "Baby Smart Star"!" (End of this chapter)