"Fang Fang" only successfully filmed for 8 days before the crew was forced to stop operations. The main reason was that Sophie Marceau had a contract dispute with her original company and was unable to come to Hong Kong for a while.
The cause of the whole incident was that when there was no hope of renewing the contract with Sophie Marceau, Gaumont forced Sophie Marceau to take on a movie in the last two months of her contract period.
The current situation is that Sophie Marceau's agency contract with Gaumont has expired, but the contract for the film she is filming must be completed.
The entire plot of "Fang Fang" has been greatly modified by Kang Jianfei. For example, the background of the film is set in Hong Kong. Leung Ka Fai plays the male protagonist Liang Lehui, a poor intern doctor in Hong Kong who has just graduated from school, and Sophie Marceau plays the heroine Fang.
Fang is a French college student majoring in perfume who came to Hong Kong to visit her grandmother during the summer vacation.
As for Tony Leung Ka-fai's fiancée in the film, she is his distant cousin. The cousin's family is relatively wealthy. During the few years that Tony Leung Ka-fai came to Hong Kong from the countryside to study, he stayed at his cousin's house. Family members on both sides hoped that they could get married.
As for the rest of the plot, it is basically the same as the original film of "Fang Fang", except that the lines have become more orientalized, the rhythm is faster than the original film, and there are comedy scenes in many places.
To put it more directly, Kang Jianfei turned "Fang Fang" into a Hong Kong romantic comedy, but retained the most interesting aspects of the original film.
This will ensure the film's box office success in Asia. As for whether these changes will be accepted by French audiences and film festival judges, we can only wait and see.
While the filming of "Fang Fang" was suspended, two more big news happened in the Hong Kong entertainment industry.
First, a group of film producers headed by Li Xiaoping and Ma Fengguo initiated the establishment of the Hong Kong Film Industry Association. Kang Jianfei was also symbolically invited to join the association. Unfortunately, only a few minions were sent to deliver the invitation letter, Li Xiaoping and Ma Fengguo.
Kang Jianfei didn't even bother to meet him and asked Li Yufeng to throw the invitation letter directly into the trash can.
Secondly, the Hong Kong branch of the International Phonographic Association sued Oriental Television Production Company and Phoenix TV for infringement, because the music used in TV series and variety shows rarely pays copyright fees. Of course, it is not only Kang Jianfei who is the defendant, TVB is also sued.
And the situation is even more serious than that of Oriental TV Production Company and Phoenix TV.
The Hong Kong branch of the International Phonographic Association stated in a lawyer's letter that it requires several companies to immediately stop infringement and pay the copyright fees that have been owed for many years. Otherwise, all Hong Kong record companies will jointly ban the two TV stations and Oriental TV Production Company.
It is naturally impossible to block them. Wireless TVB and Phoenix Channel have monopoly positions in Hong Kong. Moreover, they also own China Star Records and Fengxing Records. Other record companies also need to promote on the two TV stations, and it will not be beneficial to each other to break up.
Moreover, it takes time to collect evidence of infringement for many years, and the lawsuit is protracted, and both parties will pay a large amount of legal fees. The best result is that everyone sits down and negotiates in private, the TV station stops the infringement, and then pays the record company a lump sum
How much royalties does the association receive as compensation?
…
Kang Jianfei's office, No. 1 Administration Building, Tseung Kwan O Studios.
Li Yufeng, wearing an OL uniform and skirt, walked in with documents in her arms. She reported: "Brother Fei, there is news from France saying that Sophie Marceau will not be able to come to Hong Kong for another half month."
"I understand. Once you have the exact time, you can arrange for someone from the crew to pick you up." Kang Jianfei nodded.
Li Yufeng added: "Also, will you attend the founding ceremony of the Hong Kong Film Industry Association next week?"
"What am I going to do? I'm not even a member." Kang Jianfei said disdainfully.
It’s not that Kang Jianfei doesn’t support Hong Kong’s Professional Film Association, it’s that the so-called Hong Kong Film Industry Association is too utilitarian, and its sponsors are just a bunch of film producers.
Li Xiaoping, the founder and first chairman of the Film Industry Association, was just a film dealer specializing in importing Western films for distribution in Hong Kong. Sometimes she only purchased a Western film every two or three years, and her two theaters often screened various films.
Old movies are often rented to the Jiang family's Anle Theater when they are in good season, to screen the latest Hollywood blockbusters.
Speaking of which, the theaters under Li Xiaoping were previously franchise members of the New Era Cinemas Group temporarily formed by Kang Jianfei.
Do you believe that a film producer who makes money by introducing Western films and leasing theaters initiated the establishment of a film industry association to promote the development of Hong Kong films and protect the interests of film practitioners?
It's nonsense. They initiated the establishment of the Film Industry Association just to expand their influence in the Hong Kong film industry and make money in the future.
From the fact that Li Xiaoping and Ma Fengguo refused to personally invite Kang Jianfei to join the association, it can be seen that they did not want Kang Jianfei, a giant in the film industry, to join the association, because as long as Kang Jianfei joined, Zou Wenhuai, Mecca, Pan Disheng and others might also do so.
If they join, Li Xiaoping and Ma Fengguo will no longer be able to sit firmly in their positions as chairman and vice chairman of the association.
In order not to make wedding clothes for others, Li Xiaoping and Ma Fengguo formed the Hong Kong Film Industry Association, and actually blocked all the major Hong Kong film giants from the door.
Without companies like DreamWorks, Golden Harvest, New Arts City, Debao, etc., what else would the Hong Kong Film Industry Association be called? It’s just trying to sell something like a sheep over someone else’s head.
However, Kang Jianfei is not a god who knows everything. He forgot that Hong Kong’s film rating system was invented by Li Xiaoping. Two years later, the Hong Kong Film Industry Association, which had no sense of existence, cited an article from a foreign country
As an introduction, he initiated the hype about the importance of Hong Kong film classification, and it turned out to be really successful in the end. From then on, the Hong Kong Film Industry Association became truly well-known to the public in Hong Kong.
For this contribution, Li Xiaoping won the Film Lifetime Achievement Award many years later and received a ticket to invest in and build a theater in the mainland; while Ma Fengguo became a representative of the National People's Congress after the return of Hong Kong and became the chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.
Kang Jianfei now has no interest in the association between these two people and that Lao Shizi. He focuses all his attention on the lawsuit between the Recording Association and the TV station and TV production company.
At about ten o'clock in the morning, Huang Xizhao and Zhong Jinghui walked into Kang Jianfei's office one after another. Huang Xizhao is still the general manager of Phoenix TV, while Zhong Jinghui is the general manager of Oriental TV Production Company, and Xu Xiaoming is the vice president of TV Production Company.
Also serves as program director.
"What do you think of the Recording Association's requirements?" Kang Jianfei asked.
Huang Xizhao said: "It will take two or three years before we start a lawsuit. The record companies in the Record Association are also dissatisfied. As long as the TV stations cooperate in counter-banning those companies, some record companies will give in within half a year. This matter will finally end
It will definitely be settled through negotiation. One thing is very important, that is, Phoenix Channel must reach an agreement with TVB in private to jointly deal with the Record Association's criticism."
Zhong Jinghui's point of view is different: "I think it is better to be polite first and then to fight. Let's sit down and talk and find out how much it can cost. This can solve the problem once and for all, so as to avoid endless trouble in the future."
Kang Jianfei did not ask for further details about the discussion, and directly decided: "Let's do it through negotiation first. If the differences are too big and we can't reach an agreement, just do what Manager Huang said."
Both Huang Xizhao and Zhong Jinghui were greatly surprised. They did not expect that the topic of today's discussion would be decided by Kang Jianfei and Xini in just a few words.
Then I heard Kang Jianfei say: "I invited you two here today to discuss what to do in the future. The problem of music scarcity in TV program production. Although there are many composers at Pop Records, they can only compose music for TV series and variety shows.
The demand for theme songs, interludes, etc. is too great and requires a lot of effort. Popular records also have their own things to do."
There is another point that Kang Jianfei did not mention, that is, Oriental TV Production Company also needs to pay for hiring people from Pop Records to write songs. Various interludes and background music in a TV series, and about ten TV series throughout the year, all cost money.
If you pay someone to write music, the production cost will be greatly increased. This is why TVB has a good cooperative relationship with Huang Zhan and Gu Jiahui, but refuses to hire them to write music, and always uses music from major record companies directly without paying.
reason.
Generally speaking, when TV stations use the latest works, they have to pay a certain royalty fee. For example, TVB once paid Kang Jianfei the copyright fee for "The Original Scenery of Hometown". But for old works, they are not so particular. Kang Jianfei
The copyright of the song "Shanghai Beach" that was "created" is still in the hands of Kang Jianfei, but TVB has used it countless times in the past few years without paying a penny.
The Recording Association is suing two TV stations this time. It is for this reason that almost all the works of record companies in Hong Kong have been infringed and used by TV stations without compensation.
Huang Xizhao and Zhong Jinghui discussed for a long time in Kang Jianfei's office, but they really couldn't come up with any good countermeasures. This kind of thing is obvious. They must either continue to use the infringement for free, or increase the production cost in the future and find someone to write the music themselves. They really can't find any solution.
What a compromise.
The three chatted for a while but couldn't think of anything. Just when Huang Xizhao and Zhong Jinghui were about to leave, Li Yufeng, who was refilling their coffee, suddenly interrupted: "Mr. Kang, Manager Huang, Manager Zhong, I remember that I received the
In a letter, someone recommended a mainland composer. The remuneration demanded by mainlanders is very low, why not find that person and give it a try?"
Huang Xizhao also recalled: "Oh, you are talking about the recommendation letter written by the staff of the Legislative Council. I have also received it. A mainland composer who has just come to Hong Kong, what good things can he write? Write about the East
The red sun rises?”
Kang Jianfei ignored Huang Xizhao's contempt for mainland musicians, but suddenly remembered an outstanding person, and asked: "Meifeng, what is the name of the recommended composer?"
"I forgot what name it was. I'm going to look for the letter and see if it's still there." Li Yufeng turned around and ran outside.
Kang Jianfei, Huang and Zhong waited for half an hour. Li Yufeng finally came in with a letter and said happily: "Fortunately, I put it in the drawer and it was not treated as a waste document. That mainland composer
