Before the Lantern Festival, under the leadership of Li Tang, Chen Chong went to the studio of Great Wall Film Company and met Zhang Xinyan.

He didn't have much in-depth conversation, but just chatted about some of the past of his father. Before leaving, Chen Chong suggested that he wanted to join the crew to learn how to shoot a movie. Zhang Xinyan did not object and agreed to arrange a free job for him in the drama.

After the Lantern Festival, with the saturation of the market and the erosion of piracy, the sales of the Rubik's Cube further declined. Previously, it could sell five or six thousand yuan a day on average, but now it has dropped to less than two thousand yuan. Fortunately, Taiwan and Japan have successively received several large orders with good quantities, and the overall profits are still good.

Lee Kaiyuan was worried about this, but Chen Chong was able to see it. After he got his first pot of gold, local retail in Hong Kong was no longer important. With the launch of the boxed Rubik's Cube and the release of "Scientific American" at the end of the month, the company should switch to wholesale.

It has been almost a month since it was launched on January 15th. Not counting orders from other markets, but only in Hong Kong, nearly 200,000 Rubik's Cubes have been sold. The sales volume is amazing. The sales are so good. On the one hand, the launch time is good. It is the Spring Festival, and the consumer market is booming. Buy a few Rubik's Cubes, whether it is for your own children to play with or give them to other children as gifts. It is "cheap" and smart, and everyone is happy.

On the other hand, the Rubik's Cube is a new thing, with a news gimmick. After it became popular, many newspapers reported it, which not only advertised for free, but also invisibly created a fashion trend that was not big or small, pushing up the sales of the Rubik's Cube.

There are 200,000 Rubik's Cubes, and the mirrored Rubik's Cubes account for one-third. Among them, more than 20,000 golden mirrored Rubik's Cubes specially used to cheat people were sold. That's 168, and the profit is amazing. For every time a Rubik's Cube is sold, Shen Chong will charge a 10% patent fee. With the company's dividends, he made five or six million in the past month.

VisiCalc is still in development state, so Shen Chong naturally won't pay $100,000 in full. He only left 20,000 US dollars in R&D expenses for Bricklin and the others, and the rest will be reinvested after the development is completed.

It didn't cost much money to acquire "Movie Biweekly". Even if the preparatory fund was invested in advance for the magazine revision, it only cost 1 million yuan.

As for personal matters, Chen Chong has no special hobbies and lives a relatively frugal life. The biggest private expense is probably the ruby ​​pendant he bought for Li Kaiyuan, which is only a few thousand dollars.

With money in hand, Chen Chong naturally tried to mess with what he planned. As for the daily operation of the Rubik's Cube, he was completely abandoned to Li Kaiyuan. After the Lantern Festival, he went to work every day and went to the newly rented office upstairs, and the sign was also hung, "Oriental Charming Film Production Co., Ltd.".

He has no talent for naming. "Oriental Charm" was a network company that Hong Kong artists tweeted at the peak of the Internet bubble in 2000. He did not create any climate. He was useless with such a good name. Chen Chong took it over and used it without any psychological pressure.

February 14th, Valentine's Day.

Shen Chong was in the office, waiting for the journey through time, an important step in life would come.

Of course it wasn't a proposal - it was Ann Hui who finally built the crew of "Crazy Joe" and was about to sign the contract today and prepare to start filming.

At about ten o'clock, the phone on the Shen Chong table rang.

"Mr. Chen, Director Xu and Screenwriter Chen are here."

"Let them come in." Chen Chong held down the call button on the phone and ordered: "Come in too and make the meeting minutes."

Chen Chong specially divided the small office of 60 or 70 square meters into two rooms, put the newly recruited assistant outside, and then made two telephone numbers. If there were any phone calls or anyone who came to visit, he asked the assistant to come first and then notify him. In fact, with his narrow interpersonal circle and penniless state, almost every call was called by an acquaintance and had to be answered, and the visitor? Ann Hui was the first...

This is Chen Chong's evil taste. In his previous life, he liked watching "Mad Men". The scenes of a secretary relaying a phone call appeared frequently in the play, which made him very envious. He always wanted to try this X-protective mode, but he never had the chance, and now he has fulfilled a wish.

"Mr. Chen, why did you invite Sister Zhen here?" After entering the office, Ann Hui said in surprise: "When I first went to TVB, I was very cared for by Sister Zhen. I didn't expect that now I will be cared for by Sister Zhen again when I made my first movie."

"I am a novice and have never made a movie. I'm afraid I'll do it badly." Chen Chong and Anhua and Chen Yunwen shook hands respectively, greeted them to sit down, and then said, "It happened that Sister Zhen's contract on TVB has expired and she wanted to change the environment, so I asked for help. Now that the company has just been established, she is poor and has to let her be an assistant first."

Sister Zhen, named Zeng Lizhen, joined TVB in 1974, started from the bottom of the stage, and had done all the work behind the scenes, such as actors, assistant directors, etc., with rich experience. During the interview, Chen Chong found that she was very professional and had a good manner of doing things, and did not compromise easily, which made him very satisfied. So he offered a double salary of TVB and dug her over. (Note 1)

After chatting for a few words, Ann Hui took out the planned list of crew members and handed them to Chen Chong.

Chen Chong took it and looked carefully. Ann Hui filled out the list in categories according to his requirements, and put the salary requirements at the back.

Director—Ann Hui;

Screenwriter-Chen Yunwen;

Both of them did not write their salary requirements later. Chen Chong pondered for a moment and knew the reason. As a director, Anhua Xu could talk directly with the producer, and of course, it was appropriate to have a salary interview. Chen Yunwen was probably a little short of breath by his script and was embarrassed to make a request directly.

Read more.

actor:

Chang Aijia - plays Lian Zhengming, 30,000;

Zhao Yazhi ——played by Li Wan, 20,000;

Wan Ziliang - plays Ruan Shizhuo, 20,000;

Lin Zixiang - plays the doctor, 10,000;

Zeng Jiang ——played as agent, 5,000;

Xu Shaoqiang——played by the crazy man, 3000; (Note 2)

...

Although I had known that it was such a team, Chen Chong could not help but have a little starlight and secretly admired Anh Hui's connections. He could find such a luxurious lineup in a short time.

In 1979, the Hong Kong film industry was in a period when the old-style blockbuster system was quietly collapsed. The new star system had not yet been born. The pay for actors was not high. On this list, the most famous and most expensive Sylvia Chang, only 30,000 Hong Kong dollars, was pitifully shabby compared to the pay for actors who often exceeded one million in later generations.

Chen Chong took the list and pretended to be unfamiliar, asked Ann Hui and Zeng Lizhen, and understood the current situation of these actors.

In his early years, Sylvia Chang was a dubbing student at Jiahe. Later, she returned to Taiwan to shoot many movies. She won the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1976. She played Lin Daiyu in the sensational movie "The Dream of Red Mansions" of Li Hanxiang the year before. She is currently a TV host and has a good relationship with Zhou Liang Shuyi, who was once a TVB executive. The two have also cooperated to open a small film company.

Zhao Yazhi has made several movies, such as Xu Guanwen's "Half a Tale" and John Woo's "Fare Money Han", but they are all vases and just go through the motions. She has not yet taken the lead in TVB, and she plays supporting roles. Her most famous role is last year's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", playing Zhou Zhiruo.

Wan Ziliang has only filmed a TV series on Li's TV station, "The Sword of the Third Young Master". He is not very famous and acts in some stage plays to pass the time.

Lin Zixiang was a first-time filmmaker. He filmed a movie last year and had no response. He had released several Cantonese albums before, which is quite famous.

Zeng Jiang is an old actor. He was filming in the 1960s and was once a popular young actor. However, he did not develop very well in the film industry later. Now he is a contracted actor of Lide TV.

Xu Shaoqiang is also a basic actor of Li's TV station. He used to film the Gu Long martial arts film with Chu Yuan, one of the four major directors of Shaw Brothers. I heard that Chu Yuan admired him very much, but in order to ensure the top spot, the protagonist always gave Di Long and Yue Hua the popular young actors, and did not give him the chance to be the protagonist.

Chen Chong thought about the information in his memory and couldn't help but sigh that he could only describe this list by chance and by chance...

Sylvia Chang will become a senior executive of New Art City in two years, firmly ranked first among Hong Kong film actresses in the early 1980s, and became a key figure in the development of modern films in Taiwan.

Zhao Yazhi will become the goddess in the hearts of countless people next year because of "Shanghai Bund"

Wan Ziliang will become popular in Southeast Asia next year for Li’s TV’s classic series “The Big One”, and then become a hit in the movie circle.

Lam Zixiang will become the king of Hong Kong music scene next year because of "In the Water Center" and "Need You Every Minute".

Zeng Jiang has nothing... He has been in a state for 30 years, has a gold medal supporting role and an all-round actor. He plays various heroes, both spiritual and physical, and is a classic in the history of Hong Kong films.

Xu Shaoqiang will become popular in Hong Kong in a few months because of "The Legend of Silkworm Change" and become the focus of the crowd.

And now, they are all cheap... good quality, cheap and easy to use.

After feeling a little, I looked at the list of behind-the-scenes producers, drama affairs, and other less important characters. I swept it over and focused on two positions.

Photography - Zhong Zhiwen, 10000.

Soundtrack - Lin Minyi, 0.

...

Photography is fine. Zhong Zhiwen is very good and powerful. Historically, the photography and lenses of "Crazy Joe" were highly respected. He later won the Best Photography Award for the Academy Award three times, and his strength is unquestionable.

The soundtrack actually has zero value... The soundtrack of "Crazy Job" has been criticized, and Chen Chong wanted to replace him.

"Director Xu, who is this Lin Minyi?"

"She is my friend, an alumnus of the University of Hong Kong. Later, she went to Italy to study piano and then studied composing at the Freiburg Conservatory of Music in Germany." Ann Hui introduced: "Last year, she held several piano concerts on the Leicester stage, which was very popular. I heard that I wanted to make a movie, so she promised to help with a free music."

"Oh, I said why is the name a little familiar..." Chen Chong concealed his intention and did not mention the change of people.

The soundtrack is post-production, and there is no hurry now, and he has no particular candidate in his heart. Since Lin Minyi is Ann Hui's friend and has such excellent resumes, it's better to wait for the soundtrack to see her performance before talking about it.

"I have no problem with this list, and the salary is also reasonable." Chen Chong put down the list and asked: "Director Xu, what are your requirements for salary?"

"I have no requirements. As long as there is a scene to shoot, I will be satisfied." Ann Hui said indifferently, "Mr. Chen will give it whatever he wants."

"Where is Miss Chen?"

"So, I'll take a look."

Chen Chong pondered for a moment, picked up a pen and filled in two numbers behind the names of Anhua and Chen Yunwen, and handed them over.

"50,000?" Ann Hui looked surprised, but she did not refuse, "Thank you, Mr. Chen." (Note 3)

"Mr. Chen is so generous." Chen Yunwen was also surprised. She said: "My script that is useless in your eyes can actually be sold for 30,000 yuan, which is more than writing a TV series."

"Ms. Chen is a talented woman from Xiangjiang. How could the script she wrote be useless?" Chen Chong smiled and leaned on the back of the chair, saying, "Everyone can check for omissions and make up for shortcomings. Originality is the ability. If Miss Chen had no wonderful writing, it would be useless for me to point fingers, right?"

The crew and salary were all set, so Chen Chong took out a contract from the drawer of his desk and officially signed a shooting contract with Ann Hui.

As soon as the contract was signed, a "beep" sound in my mind popped up with a blue light curtain.

"You invested in a movie. Do you use this experience as a trial result?"

Of course it is...

"The trial mission officially started..."

Then a subtitle is displayed on the light curtain, showing the list of crew members currently determined by "Crazy Joe", and then a progress display bar at the bottom.

“Photography progress: 22%.

All 22%?

Maybe it's because of this?

While turning his mind, Chen Chong closed the light curtain in his mind, he took out a folder and handed it to Anhua Xu.

"Director Xu, look at these places, is it suitable for shooting?"

Ann Hui took it over and opened it and found that there were many photos inside, including long streets, alleys, outdoors, and indoors. Even in the same scene, there were different time periods, and there were notes next to it, which was very professional.

“What are these?”

"Oh, you are busy forming the crew, and Ms. Chen is busy writing scripts. I, a producer, can't be idle." Chen Chong pinched the pen and said unintentionally: "These are some scenes I have found in recent days, based on the descriptions in the script and combined with my own imagination, that I think are suitable for the filming of this movie. I will give you a reference."

Anhua Xu picked up the folders and browsed them one by one. Chen Yunwen also came over. The more they looked, the more surprised the two of them were, there were hundreds of photos in the folder, and the scenes displayed in each photo could almost match some of the scenes in the script.

"Mr. Chen, no wonder Yan Hao highly praised you very much, saying that although you have never made a movie, you are very knowledgeable." Ann Xu closed the folder and said very admirably: "These scenes are almost exactly the same as I imagined. With these photos, the shooting progress can be greatly accelerated."
To be continued...