Entering the Plam restaurant, Lin Chaoyang met a man and woman with very special looks.

Tsui Hark and Shi Nansheng are the kind of people who can be recognized at a glance in a crowd, not because of how beautiful and handsome they are, but because of their sharp clothing and temperament.

The man has a goatee, the woman's hair is shorter than the man's, and the clothes are more fashionable than the other. What stands out is that one is unique.

Lin Chaoyang had met the two of them at the Academy Awards, but it was only a quick glance in the crowd.

After saying hello and sitting down, Shi Nansheng asked Lin Chaoyang what he wanted to drink. Lin Chaoyang said: "Is there any coffee? Let's have a cup of coffee."

Originally, Lin Chaoyang wanted to have a cup of tea, but it was probably not available in the restaurant, so Shi Nansheng ordered him a cup of coffee.

Tsui Hark and Shi Nansheng were very Western-style people. They wanted whiskey and seemed to regard this place as a bar. They and Lin Chaoyang were not seen outside. After greeting each other, they relaxed and chatted while drinking.

At the beginning, the main topic was focused on the Academy Awards a few days ago. After all, the two parties were not familiar with each other, so this was the only common topic.

Tsui Hark admired Lin Chaoyang's script very much, which is why he contacted Lin Chaoyang.

In his opinion, Lin Chaoyang's creative style has an upright and upright atmosphere, which is completely different from the eccentric style of most screenwriters or directors in Hong Kong today.

It’s hard to judge which of these two styles is better or worse, but Tsui Hark has been in the industry for so many years and has gradually become tired of some of the stereotyped creative content in Xiangjiang. This is one of the reasons why he left New Art City.

"When the movie "The King of Chess" was released, I made a special trip to see it. The film was quite good, and I even bought the novel.

I especially like the stretched shot at the end of the movie, which has a cruel poetic romance."

"The movie was well made, and Director Chen deserves a lot of credit."

"Yes. I think he deserves a Best Director Award, but it's a pity..."

While Tsui Hark and Lin Chaoyang were chatting animatedly, Shi Nansheng was waiting quietly by the side.

Although she looks very strong on the outside, she is unexpectedly gentle in front of Tsui Hark, which has a sense of contrast.

Seeing that the two of them had not talked about the topic for a long time, she asked: "Lin Sheng, the recent movie "The Truman Show" that you and Xu Anhua collaborated on has been very popular. Hong Gu said that Xu Anhua wanted her to play the heroine."

The Honggu in Shi Nansheng's mouth is "Zhong Chuhong" who is now famous in the Hong Kong film industry. Lin Chaoyang replied: "Yes. Director Xu has a good relationship with her, but unfortunately, she has negotiated "Dao Ma Dan" with you first."

Chung Chu-hong starred in Xu Anhua's famous work "The Story of Hu Yue". Last year, Xu Anhua's assistant director Guan Jinpeng started to start his own business. Xu Anhua even specially matched him and asked Chung Chuhong to star in "A Woman's Heart" directed by Guan Jinpeng.

Shi Nansheng said with a smile: "It doesn't matter. The big deal is that she will be in drama. Hong Gu is so popular, so it would be abnormal not to be in drama."

The master's next film, "Swordsman" won't start shooting until October, and I heard that "The Truman Show" will start shooting in August, so we can stagger most of the time."

"Master" is Shi Nansheng's private nickname for Tsui Hark.

In the mainland film and television circles of later generations, doing drama was often regarded as an unprofessional practice, but in Hong Kong today it is an extremely common thing.

Nowadays, movie stars in Hong Kong would be embarrassed to say they are famous if they don't run two or three sets every day.

Shi Nansheng continued: "The master has another idea recently. He wants to remake an old film. He may film it after the filming of "Dao Ma Dan" is completed. I would like to ask you to help write a script."

The film companies that contacted Lin Chaoyang all came because of his script, and the ideas of Tsui Hark and his wife were within his expectation.

Shi Nansheng mentioned that Tsui Hark wanted to remake old movies, and several movies flashed through Lin Chaoyang's mind. Among the many classic movies made by Tsui Hark, a considerable number were adapted from old movies produced by Shaw Brothers in the 1960s and 1970s.

piece.

Lin Chaoyang asked what movie it was, and to his surprise, Tsui Hark directly took out the script. It turned out to be "A Better Tomorrow" produced by New Arts Pictures in 1967.

This movie is directed by Long Gang and stars Xie Xian and Shi Jian.

In the 1960s, the Cantonese film market was still dominated by dramas and romance films. "A Better Tomorrow" tells the story of a prisoner being released from prison and does not involve love between a man and a woman at all. It was a bold innovation at the time.

It received a good response after its release, with box office revenue as high as HK$400,000.

This number is pitifully small now, but in 1967, this number could have ranked among the top ten box office of that year.

That year, Chang Cheh directed "The One-Armed Swordsman", which became the first film in Hong Kong film history to have a box office of over one million. Chang Cheh was therefore known as the "Million Dollar Director".

When the script was put into his hands, Lin Chaoyang immediately understood Tsui Hark's thoughts.

"I want you to rewrite this script..." Tsui Hark made his request to Lin Chaoyang.

The 1967 version of "A Better Tomorrow" is a social-themed film with a dark realistic style. Tsui Hark liked the story, but what he wanted to pursue was a heroic spirit, which was missing from the original script.

After hearing his idea, Lin Chaoyang did not talk about the script anymore, but seriously discussed the issue of remuneration with Shi Nansheng.

He knew that Shi Nansheng was in charge of everything in the film studio, and Tsui Hark was only responsible for making movies.

Lin Chaoyang had just won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay, so when he was asked to write a script, Shi Nansheng was already mentally prepared.

"I heard that Lin Sheng used the script as an investment in the movie "The Truman Show"?"

Listening to Shi Nansheng's words, Lin Chaoyang was slightly surprised.

When most film companies hear his request, their first reaction is to refuse it, but Shi Nansheng took an unusual approach and took the initiative to mention it.

After thinking for a moment, he probably guessed what Shi Nansheng was thinking.

The financial backer behind the film company she and Tsui Hark run is Boss Lei, and most of the investment comes from Boss Lei and New Art City. Therefore, a larger or smaller share of investment will not actually have a big impact on the couple's income.

.

On the contrary, if you can get Lin Chaoyang's script without spending a penny, it will reduce the production cost of the film, which may be more beneficial to the development of the film studio.

After understanding this truth, Lin Chaoyang chatted with Shi Nansheng for a while.

With the case of "The Truman Show" in the past, Shi Nansheng did not get too entangled and quickly agreed to Lin Chaoyang's request to use the script remuneration as investment, and the proportion was still 10%.

Tsui Hark then chatted with Lin Chaoyang about some of his thoughts on the script. Lin Chaoyang accepted all his information and then summarized it with his own thoughts.

"I understand what you mean. You want to make a martial arts film with an urban style, where you are framed, support justice, liquidation and revenge, and two heroes fight for hegemony. These elements of martial arts films must be present, but it must have modern characteristics.

of.

The most important thing is to have a heroic spirit. If you have shortcomings in small details, you should not fail in big ones. You must not be sloppy."

After hearing Lin Chaoyang's summary, Tsui Hark felt like he had met a close friend, with excitement written all over his face, "Yes, yes, yes, you are absolutely right. This is the feeling I want."

After dinner, Lin Chaoyang promised Tsui Hark to hand over the script within two months and left the restaurant.

After returning home, Lin Chaoyang told Tao Yushu what happened today, and then said to her: "We will register a film company later, and you will be the boss and the investor of "A Better Tomorrow" this time."

Lin Chaoyang wanted Tao Yushu to open a film company, but it was impossible for him to invest or produce movies independently from the start.

Based on the current situation of the couple, temporarily cooperating with others is the best way.

Cooperating with a film studio is a good choice. Firstly, Tsui Hark's performance is relatively stable. Secondly, the film studio is not large in scale and is not afraid of big stores bullying customers. Thirdly, with Lin Chaoyang's cooperation with the film studio, Golden Harvest

Don't dare to go too far there.

"Do we need to take care of the residence matter?"

"Definitely." Lin Chaoyang teased her again, "Let me say a few words in Cantonese."

The couple has been in Xiangjiang for more than three months. The reason why they have not applied for Tao Yushu's identity is mainly to give Tao Yushu time to become familiar with the environment, culture and language of Xiangjiang.

Tao Yushu is the one in the family who goes out and interacts with people the most on weekdays. She is also studious and has become quite fluent in Cantonese in a few months.

In the next few days, Tao Yushu, with the help of Zhang Cuiying, went to the Immigration Department to apply for identity, and then registered a film company.

The film company was named casually, Lin's Pictures, with Tao Yushu as chairman and general manager.

The chairman of Lin's Pictures, whose surname is Tao, has a dark sense of humor.

When the new company was established, Tao Yushu had an additional general, deputy general manager, director of the legal department, and director of the administrative department Tao Yumo.

As for Lin Chaoyang, as casual as he is, he will definitely not be able to work. At most, he will be a part-time non-staff screenwriter.

The first thing when the company was established was to find an office location. Chairman Tao spent several days arranging the surrounding area with the Oriental Garden as the center, and finally settled on the Prince's Building at the intersection of Prince Edward Road and Kitty Road.

It is less than 300 meters away from Oriental Garden, and the monthly rent for a 500-square-foot office is about HK$3,000.

Tao Yushu calculated an account and found that 3,000 Hong Kong dollars a month is 36,000 Hong Kong dollars a year. The price of the property in Prince's Building is only 950 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, and 500 square feet is less than 500,000 Hong Kong dollars.

If you rent for more than ten years, you will get your capital back.

Beginning in the early 1980s, the world economy experienced an overall recession due to the oil crisis. In addition, China and Britain launched negotiations on the Hong Kong issue but failed to reach a consensus.

As a result, the real estate market in Xiangjiang has continued to decline in the past few years, with the cumulative decline exceeding 30%.

It was not until the conclusion of the negotiations at the beginning of this year that housing prices in Xiangjiang turned from negative to positive.

But it will take at least a year to return to prices before the 1980s.

Therefore, this period is not considered a prime time for bargain hunting in the property market, but it is still a good time.

Chairman Tao listened to Lin's analysis of the world situation and market conditions, and believed that renting is worse than buying. With a wave of his hand, he spent nearly 500,000 Hong Kong dollars to buy the 500-foot-long sixth floor of the Prince's Building, which is approximately 46.5 square meters. property.

After the purchase, Tao Yushu was still a little dissatisfied because she heard from the agent that a house here only cost 850 yuan per square foot last year. In just half a year, the price per square foot had increased by 100 yuan.

“If I had known I would have bought it last year!”

Chairman Tao expressed his heartache after spending an extra HK$50,000.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said: "Be content, you didn't come last year."

Tao Yushu said regretfully: "It's a pity that the company also needs funds, otherwise it could buy more houses."

Since this period of time, Lin Chaoyang has successively received three royalties from Ming Pao Publishing House, and the couple's deposits have reached HK$1.5 million.

After spending 500,000 Hong Kong dollars to buy the property in Prince's Building, I still have 1 million Hong Kong dollars left. This 1 million Hong Kong dollars is the start-up capital of Lam's Pictures.

Copying properties is a typical business speculation, so it is naturally impossible for Tao Yushu to invest all his money here.
To be continued...