In the tea restaurant of the Peninsula Hotel, Shao Yifu sat at his old seat where he had drank tea for decades. He drank afternoon tea in a calm manner, showing no signs of being affected by public opinion.
Qiu Degen laughed and said: "Sixth brother, this time you can be defeated by that young man."
Shao Yifu smiled while drinking tea: "I'm not really a general, but it is indeed a little troublesome."
Qiu Degen and Shao Yifu met in the late 1950s. At that time, Shao Yifu was a tycoon in the Nanyang Film Industry. However, when he returned to Hong Kong to start a business, he was still poor and had nothing to do. However, Qiu Degen was just a small businessman who started from scratch.
The two initially had a purely business partnership. Later, Lu Yuntao entered the Hong Kong film industry, and Qiu Degen suddenly became Lu Yuntao's general. In the next ten years, Qiu Degen and Shao Yifu had a hostile relationship.
It wasn't until Lu Yuntao died in the plane crash that Qiu Degen sold his theaters, and all the largest theaters among them were sold to Shao Yifu, and the two became personal friends.
Qiu Degen looked at Victoria Bay in the distance and said with a smile: "We haven't had tea together for more than two years."
Shao Yifu said: "Brother Qiu, you have been very prosperous in the past few years, how can you have time to drink tea?"
The two chatted about trivial matters, and after reminiscing about old times, Shao Yifu said: "I heard that Kang Jianfei's "Looking for Qin" is going to be filmed in Songcheng?"
Song City is a new historical and cultural amusement park invested by Qiu Degen. It is full of imitation ancient Song Dynasty buildings. Construction started three years ago and has been completed one after another until now.
"I don't know much about this. The third son of my family is in charge of Songcheng." Qiu Degen asked with a smile, "Why, does Sixth Brother want me not to take over Phoenix Terrace's business?"
To be honest, neither TVB nor Phoenix TV has its own studio. TVB usually shoots at the Clearwater Bay Studio, but that studio is owned by Shaw Brothers. TVB needs to pay rent to film at the Shaw Studio - although the rent is
It's very cheap.
As for Phoenix TV, it only has its own studio in the TV station building, so the scenery used for costume dramas shot by LiTV in the past was far inferior to that of TVB's costume dramas.
Now that Kang Jianfei wants to shoot "Looking for Qin", it would be too expensive to go to mainland China or Taiwan for filming, and it would be thankless to choose the location and set up the scenery by himself. The ideal thing is to film in Qiu Degen's "Song City". There are all kinds of antiques there.
For construction, you only need to pay a rent, and even the effort of setting up the scenery is saved, and the real-life effects will be much better than TVB's scenery scenes.
Shao Yifu said in a very kind tone: "I'm not that domineering. How can I stop Brother Qiu from doing business. However, the Phoenix Theater's dramas are well-produced. I think they will accept the higher rent."
Qiu Degen felt a little contempt for Shao Yifu's pettiness. He actually spoke out in person about such a trivial matter, which lowered their status. He built Songcheng just to make money. As the only antique building complex in Hong Kong, there will definitely be many ancient costumes in the future.
The drama was filmed in Songcheng. Kang Jianfei's DreamWorks and Phoenix TV are both potential big customers. You must know that it cost him more than 60 million to build Songcheng, and he doesn't know when he will get his money back. Qiu Degen's brain
Only when there is a problem do you mess around.
Sometimes, friendship is friendship and business is business. It can't be settled by just a word from a friend or a pat on the chest.
However, despite the years of friendship between the two, Qiu Degen still said: "Okay, I'll tell the third child."
After the afternoon tea, Shao Yifu walked out of the Peninsula Hotel, ignored the reporters squatting for interviews, and took the car directly back to the TV station.
When passing by Fang Yihua's office, Shao Yifu heard his concubine losing her temper again. He couldn't help but frowned and walked in. After sending everyone else away, he said: "The people below should be scolded if they do something wrong.
, but it’s better not to let out this kind of nameless fire.”
Fang Yihua threw a form on the table and said: "This is the ratings of the past two days. The ratings of "Love is Always Love" are about to fall below 20 points! Ever since Kang Jianfei, that loser, held a press conference, now
Many people are criticizing TVB, even the ratings of variety shows are falling."
"So serious?" Shao Yifu was a little surprised. Generally speaking, no matter how loud the TV station is, it will not affect the ratings. The audience will curse a few words at most after watching the news, and decide which channel to watch the TV at night.
Fang Yihua picked up a pile of newspapers on the leather chair and said: "Look, what are they written in these newspapers? They say that we are unfairly competing, that TVB is bullying the market. The most annoying thing is that someone from the police came just now
They asked me and said they suspected that I was related to the case in which Mo Shaocong was threatened!"
"Getting angry won't solve the problem. Think about how to make a good show." Shao Yifu patted Fang Yihua on the arm and said.
Fang Yihua suppressed the anger in her heart and said: "I am planning to finish "Love Across Thousand Rivers and Mountains" ahead of schedule, and then launch the Jin Yong martial arts drama."
Shao Yifu nodded and said: "It can be considered a solution."
Jin Yong dramas have always been good for TV stations' ratings, but the copyright fees for Jin Yong dramas are too expensive. TV stations generally prefer to adapt Gu Long dramas with cheap copyright fees. For example, Xiao Sheng, who switched jobs from Lishi to TVB earlier this year, is famous for his golden reputation.
Yong is good at martial arts dramas, but during his two years at LiTV, he suggested filming a Jin Yong drama several times, but was rejected by the TV station because filming a Jin Yong drama was too expensive.
When a Jin Yong martial arts drama is filmed, the copyright fee paid to Jin Yong accounts for almost half of the production cost. If you are not careful, you will overspend and lose money.
(Note: Because most actors receive a fixed salary, the labor costs for filming TV series are generally included in the administrative budget of the TV station. In other words, Phoenix TV’s filming of "Sister Tuoqiu" cost an average of 15,000 per episode.
The production cost does not include the remuneration of the producer, director, screenwriter, actors and other staff)
Shao Yifu returned to his office, took out a cigar and lit it. He actually rarely smoked, but recently he was angered by Kang Jianfei and started to smoke more frequently.
As soon as Kang Jianfei's words at the press conference came out, it was a ground-breaking shock in Hong Kong's business community. Many people were waiting to watch the show with great interest, wanting to see how Kang Jianfei, a newborn calf, could fight against Shao Yifu, a big tiger.
Although Kang Jianfei and the major media did not name Shao Yifu by name, the insinuations and descriptions were very clear, and even Shao Yifu became a talking point and joke in the wealthy circles.
Some newspapers were concerned about Shao Yifu's reputation and just told the story in roundabout ways; for the sake of sales, some newspapers were afraid that the world would not be chaotic and even published Kang Jianfei's words verbatim.
In newspapers, Kang Jianfei was compared to Don Quixote rushing towards the windmill, a completely tragic hero and victim. Especially the "Hong Kong Dream" he mentioned in his speech also resonated with many people.
, because 80% of the more than 5 million people in Hong Kong have immigrated in the past 30 years or so, and they have experienced a Hong Kong dream together.
The new immigrants who have only arrived in Hong Kong in the past 10 years regard Kang Jianfei as an entrepreneurial idol and stand unequivocally on Kang Jianfei's side. Because they, like Kang Jianfei, are suffering from various kinds of discrimination and suppression. They also hope to be able to work with him.
Kang Jianfei also has a successful career.
As for the "Hong Kong Morning Post", no one bought it as Kang Jianfei called for, because after the continuous explosive news, many readers who like to read gossip became its loyal viewers. Since then, the sales volume has been stable at more than 10,000 copies.
It can be said that "Hong Kong Morning Post" was also the winner of this incident. Although its editor-in-chief was severely beaten, the owner of this newspaper made a lot of money.
Zheng Shuying, on the other hand, was not so lucky. People would recognize her and spit on her even when she went out. She had no choice but to hide in Malaysia in despair.
Shao Yifu is naturally not someone to be trifled with. He won't do petty tricks like Fang Yihua. What he would do is to directly strangle Kang Jianfei's neck. Meeting Qiu Degen for afternoon tea today is just one of them. He will also make an appointment with the Hong Kong Examination Office tomorrow.
Heading out to eat.
After living in Hong Kong for decades, Shao Yifu still knows a lot of people. They go out for dinner and do a little bit of planning. Although they can't let the censorship office directly shoot DreamWorks movies. But they can make a few more stops at critical moments.
Make more cuts and make Oriental DreamWorks feel like you're dying.
At this time, Hong Kong's censorship standards were very strict, but they were much stricter than those in the mid-1980s. It didn't matter if you showed your buttocks, but movies that touched on mainland politics or smeared the mainland's image were all shot. For example, movies that had a huge impact a few years later
Movies such as "Provincial and Hong Kong Flag Soldiers", "Cousin, Hello", "Domestic Lingling Paint", etc. will definitely not pass the inspection of the censorship office now.
This is because the British Hong Kong authorities avoid friction with the mainland, but after the breakdown of the Sino-British negotiations on the Hong Kong issue, the British no longer worry so much. Even if the plot of the movie denigrates the mainland, it is still reflected in Hong Kong.
By that time, the electronic inspection office will have almost no real role, and all films will pass.
But now, the prosecutor's office can find various reasons to block Kang Jianfei's film without leaving any excuse.
Of course, Shao Yifu's move will not last long, otherwise he would have used this move against Zou Wenhuai, where would there have been a rise of Jiahe? At most, it would temporarily cause trouble for Oriental DreamWorks and make Kang Jianfei lose a lot of money.
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After Shao Yifu was provoked by Kang Jianfei, he was angry and wanted to play dirty. But now that the conflict between the two parties has been made public, if something happens to Kang Jianfei, whether it is Shao Yifu or not, he will definitely be the first person to be suspected.
What worries Shao Yifu the most is what Kang Jianfei said - Kang Jianfei is still young and has countless opportunities to make a comeback, but Shao Yifu is over 80 years old and does not have that much energy to fight with young people. What a shame for Kang Jianfei.
If you are desperate and set fire to TVB's film library, then you will be wasting water in a bamboo basket.
Shao Yifu may have a high reputation, but Kang Jianfei is not a small role that can be dismissed casually, and he cannot be suppressed at will.
Hong Kong is not a place where anyone can control the sky with one hand. At the beginning, Huo Daheng was suppressed by the British Hong Kong government. The Hong Kong government directly used administrative measures to cut off water and electricity in Huo Daheng's building. However, others are now living more and more prosperously. The mainland government has no part in this.
How can I help? At that time, there was a lot of unrest in the mainland, and there was no time to take care of Huo Daheng, a red capitalist. It was Huo Daheng who carried it all by himself.
Shao Yifu's secretary knocked on the door and came in, handed over an invitation and said: "Chairman, Kang Jianfei asked someone to send it!"
Shao Yifu opened it and saw that it was an invitation to Kang Jianfei's 21st birthday party.
Kang Jianfei hadn't invited Shao Yifu to his birthdays in the past two years, and when an invitation suddenly arrived, what else could it be if it wasn't disgusting? Shao Yifu picked it up and threw it in the trash can. (To be continued) 8