PS: Taiwan’s eight major film studios only took shape in the 1990s and did not exist in 1988. They are still written like this for narrative convenience and do not have to be true!
……
Cai Songlin, the founder of Taiwan Scholar Pictures, has a close relationship with Baiyang Pictures.
When Cai Songlin first entered the industry, he made several movies and they all failed.
Learning from the painful experience, I came to Hong Kong to find someone to cooperate with. I invited Yuan Heping’s father, Yuan Xiaotian, to film a movie called "Strange Fist, Strange Master".
The result was a huge success, and Scholar Films was firmly established.
Later, Cai Songlin introduced and invested in many films from Baiyang Pictures, such as "Laughing Tai Chi" starring Donnie Yen.
But at that time, Baiyang Pictures mainly cooperated with China Film Group, and Cai Songlin could only get some scraps.
Even so, it was enough to make his mouth full of oil.
After Bai Yang Pictures was banned, Taiwanese film producers did not dare to cooperate with Yang Ye anymore, because Taiwan is still under martial law and the white terror is still there, and people will die.
The scholars turned to cooperate with other Hong Kong filmmakers. The film "The Best Lucky Star" co-produced by Hong Jingbao and Mai Jia was invested by the scholars.
However, after Yang Ye was banned by Taiwan, he did not recover and turned around to open up the mainland market.
And it showed great power, crazily made stars, and made rapid progress in the Japanese and Korean markets.
Hong Kong's best film talents and film resources are still firmly in Yang Ye's hands.
After Baiyang Pictures was banned, none of the movies of big names like Yang Ye, Chen Long, and Lin Qingxia could be released.
Taiwan's cinema chain revenue has dropped by 40%, and Taiwan's film producers and cinema chains all dream of cooperating with Yang Ye.
Especially in 1987, many films from Baiyang Pictures swept across Asia, and "Terminator 2" even claimed the global annual crown.
The eyes of Taiwanese film producers are red. If these movies can be released in Taiwan, how much money will they make?
Actually, even if Baiyang Pictures is not banned, it will not have much to do with them, because Baiyang Pictures mainly cooperates with China Film.
But precisely because of this, with the death of Jianfeng, they felt that their opportunity had come.
...
In the private room of Fulinmen Restaurant, Yang Ye met Cai Songlin.
Yang Ye said straight to the point: "Mr. Cai, I don't know what you mean by giving me such a big gift?"
Cai Songlin said calmly: "" "Terminator 2" is a world-class film, and it is well-deserved to sweep the Hong Kong Film Awards. I heard that "Terminator 2" has also been nominated for the Academy Awards. I wish you success!"
Yang Yejia. I picked up a goose paw, held it in my hand and gnawed it slowly: "Tell me about your plan!"
Cai Songlin said: "We are helping you build momentum, Mr. Yang!"
"What do you mean?"
"Mr. Yang, you are the pride of the Chinese people, and your movies are world-renowned masterpieces. , but it cannot be released in Taiwan. The Taiwanese people are very dissatisfied."
Yang Ye nodded and listened to him continue.
"After Jianfeng died, Li Zhengnan came to power. We, the Taiwanese film producers, made a collective appeal, hoping to lift the ban on your company and allow your company's films to be released in Taiwan. However, Zhengnan is still a fledgling man. , too timid to agree, then we can only find a way ourselves.”
"Your plan is to let "Terminator 2" sweep the Academy Awards? Is there any connection between the two?"
"Of course there is, we have to...create public opinion. Since the old crotch route doesn't work , let’s go to XinCang for help.
Since “Terminator 2” swept the Academy Awards, all XinChou media will hype this up.
We want the people of Taiwan to know. A movie made by Chinese people that has swept the world, but Taiwanese people can’t watch it. Why?”
Oh shit, it’s a bit fierce. Yang Ye said: "Are you going against each other?"
Cai Songlin said: "Thirty-eight years have passed, and the Taiwanese people have long had enough. This incident is a battle for Xin Crotch to establish its power, and they are willing to cooperate fully!"
Yang Ye felt a little funny , as a time traveler, he doesn’t like Xin Crotch, but now he wants to use Xin Crotch’s power to help him unblock Taiwan. What is this?
Forget it, never mind it! The old crotch is a waste, no match for the new crotch. They are dog-eat-dog. What does it have to do with me? I make my money.
Yang Ye does not have feelings for Jiu Crotch just because he was born in mainland China. That thing was driven away. Do you empathize with it? It’s purely sick!
Yang Ye threw the gnawed goose paws on the plate, wiped his hands and said, "If you complete this matter, what benefits do you want to get?"
Cai Songlin said: "Of course I hope to get the distribution rights of your company's movies in Taiwan."
"But you are more than one company, how are you going to divide the cake?"
" This depends on our internal competition. We only hope to get a promise from Mr. Yang not to cooperate with China Film Group again. This is also the condition for Xinbo's willingness to take action."
"That's it!"
China Film Group is the only one company in Taiwan, and it is a moneymaker. If the new crotch wants to compete with the old crotch, it must weaken the old crotch.
The new crotch was very brave, no wonder he was successful. For decades after that, he kept hitting the old crotch on the head until his head was covered with bruises.
"Sorry, I can't do it!" Yang Ye refused directly.
Cai Songlin was dumbfounded. He never imagined that Yang Ye actually refused when they took the initiative to show their kindness and offered such generous terms.
And it’s straightforward and without hesitation.
How did Cai Songlin know that for Yang Ye, he likes to see old and new dogs biting dogs, but he does not want to be a chess piece of either party.
Yang Ye said: "Mr. Cai, I can't thank you enough for your actions. But for us, unblocking is certainly a good thing, and there is nothing to lose if we don't unblock.
Currently Japanese, Korean, and Nanyang films Businesses are investing in our movies. We are not short of investment or market, and our artists also have a lot of jobs."
Mr. Cai said: "Mr. Yang, with all due respect..."
Yang Ye interrupted him and said: "Of course, it is a good thing to be able to enter one more market. No one has trouble with money. However, I cannot agree to exclude China Film. The crotch is still the master of Taiwan, and I don’t want to make enemies!
So what I mean is that no matter how much trouble you make, it has nothing to do with me. When I can go to Taiwan, I will go.
I welcome friends from Taiwan to invest in and represent our films. I can also give you half of the investment share in my new film next year! ”
……
Although the Taiwan side made a vigorous effort, Yang Ye’s reaction was relatively cold.
Adhere to the three principles of “not taking the initiative, not refusing, and not being responsible” No principles, showing the true nature of a scumbag.
The promise he gave was nothing more than to welcome Taiwanese film producers to invest in Baiyang Pictures films.
Yang Ye doesn’t want to spoil Taiwanese film producers, especially Cai Songlin.
Cai Songlin's Scholar Pictures started late, but in just over ten years it has grown into Taiwan's largest film company, with great means and great courage.
Since obtaining the film scheduling rights for Taiwan's "Golden Horse" and "Big World" cinema lines, this person has begun to invest in Hong Kong films on a large scale.
Cai Songlin's investment is dominated by commercial themes, highlighting the appeal of Hong Kong movie stars, abandoning the form of Taiwan-led production, and turning it into a pure investment cost, with full filming by Hong Kong production companies.
This method was quickly imitated by others, and colleagues in Taiwan regarded it as the "established model" for operating Taiwan-funded Hong Kong films.
With strong financial support from Taiwanese film producers, Hong Kong's big stars have left big companies and formed their own film companies to work alone.
In order to break the monopoly of large companies such as New Art City and Golden Harvest, Cai Songlin also encouraged Chen Rongmei and others to establish Xinbao Cinemas to provide theater support for these independent directors and stars.
At its peak, Hong Kong had six cinema lines operating simultaneously and more than 200 film companies, capable of shooting more than 300 movies a year.
Stars' salaries have skyrocketed. Chow Yun-fat and Stephen Chow Sing-chi have exceeded 20 million, and Hong Kong's entertainment industry has shown extreme prosperity.
But after the climax, there was a fall, and Cai Songlin finally suffered the consequences.
Cai Songlin strongly believes in star power. Wong Kar-Wai once approached Cai Songlin with film offers from Lin Qingxia, Leslie Cheung, Leung Caowei, Wang Zuxian, Maggie Cheung... and many other stars.
He told Cai Songlin that I wanted to make a Jin Yong martial arts blockbuster.
Cai Songlin looked at it and thought, damn, there are so many celebrities, but he still shoots Jin Yong, is this making him crazy?
I’ll step on the horse and throw myself! cast! cast! Tens of millions were spent.
That movie is the famous "Ashes of Time"!
Cai Songlin waited and waited for several years, but the film was not finished and he almost vomited blood.
Cai Songlin was once obsessed with Zhou Xingchi, and he and another blockbuster businessman, Ying Xiang, spent HK$24 million to buy the first and second episodes of "Westward Journey".
As a result, after the movie was released in Taiwan, it failed at the box office. The two movies together only sold more than NT$40 million, and all money was lost.
Under this model, Taiwanese businessmen spend a lot of money, and Hong Kong stars naturally ask for high prices.
As a result, more and more money was invested, but the films were made worse and worse. The audience did not buy it, so they invested one film and lost the other. In the end, it was a one-shot deal and everyone was done with it.
......
Yang Ye does not want to encourage this trend!
A few years ago, he made a fundamental change.
When New Art City was established, Yang Ye took the initiative to accept Lei Juekun and let him invest in Baiyang Cinema Line.
A few years later, Shaw Brothers was about to cease production, and New Art City planned to break away from Baiyang and form its own theater chain.
Yang Ye was a step ahead and proposed the "theater alliance" model.
This move allowed the Shaw Brothers theater chain to survive. New Art City did not organize its own theater chain. Later, Debao was established and did not set up a theater chain.
The theater chains in Hong Kong are integrated into one. If you want to establish a new theater chain outside the "theater alliance", it will be extremely difficult.
In 1985, Jewish businessman Ji Aihua established UA multiplex cinema in Hong Kong. Although he had strong financial resources, he took the initiative to join the "Cinema Alliance".
...
The existence of theater alliances has made it more difficult for big directors and stars to go it alone.
This is just the first step.
The second step is to restrain to a certain extent Taiwanese film producers from making blind investments that drive up prices and disrupt the market. The practice of fishing in dry waters.
Once upon a time, you could find young girls in alleys for two hundred yuan.
Later, it was often two or three thousand, inlaid with gold?
Celebrity salaries can be high, but they cannot be outrageous.
Is it true that future generations of Chinese stars will be paid more than Hollywood stars?
Some people may be dissatisfied, why can't they be higher than others?
Nonsense, how big is their market, how big is your market?
These fucking Taiwanese film producers are the culprits.
......
Film is actually an industry. It cannot be started or last long by relying on the small workshop model of a few stars.
Zou Wenhuai once lamented in his later years: There are no longer big companies or big studios in Hong Kong, and the sense of continuity and belonging seems to be gone.
No company has a long-term plan, not to mention a hundred-year plan, nor a ten-year plan.
In fact, large studios are very important. Countries with developed film industries, such as the United States and Japan, have large film companies.
Large companies can reserve a lot of technical talents and can guarantee the quality of a movie to the greatest extent.
The filmmaking mode is also very flexible. You can shoot it yourself, you can pay someone to shoot it, and if you have a good script, you can invest in it.
In the prosperous era of the film industry, even if an actor has no acting skills and is a "vases", he will have the opportunity to slowly hone his skills by making many bad movies.
The actors of later generations work in studios one by one, find work by themselves, and cannot make a movie for several years. Even if they hone their acting skills, they are old. (End of chapter)