Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

Chapter 660: My Own Sin

The news that Yang Ye and Li Wen recognized each other on the stage of "The Voice of China" quickly spread throughout the Chinese world.

Yang Ye has been donating money to support education in both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the four places in recent years, and has long earned the reputation of being a great philanthropist.

This good deed eighteen years ago became a legend, and many people remembered Li Wen's name because of it.

"Moonlight Lover", sung by Li Wen in Zhang Guorong's group match, quickly became popular and became a hit song, with a high rate of song requests on radio stations and KTVs.

Li Wen's current popularity has instantly surpassed the other three finalists who entered the finals: Zheng Zongji, Xu Ruyun, and Mo Wenwei.

However, these four are rare pop singers in the Chinese music scene, and it is still unknown whether Li Wen can win the championship.

After all, if it comes to strength, everyone is not weak. If it comes to relationships, Li Wen is just a relationship with Yang Ye, and there is no way she can compare to Prince Ji.

There was a heated discussion among the people about who would win the championship, but Yang Ye didn't care much about the result.

The end of the competition is just the beginning of a singer’s career.

What worries Yang Ye is that there are too many singers discovered through The Voice of China and it is difficult to digest them all.

Now, except for the four students who entered the finals, there are also some popular students who will create albums for themselves, while others can only release mini albums or compilation albums.

Some may even only release an EP to test the waters, and if the results are good, they will go on to produce an album.

However, Star TV has already had five spin-off programs based on "The Voice of China", and these singers have become familiar faces thanks to these programs.

Over the past four years, the influence of The Voice of China has gradually expanded, from being a hit in the beginning to becoming a major event in the Chinese music scene today.

After the first session, more than ten well-known singers emerged, including Tao Zheji, Guang Liang, Meng Tingwei, Zhu Zheqin, Chen Ming, and Rene Liu.

In order to absorb these singers, Yang Ji waved his money and bought up record companies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and in Hong Kong and Macao, recruiting and cultivating musical talents.

It already owns more than ten music labels including Baiyang, Rolling Stone, Magic Rock, Shanghua, Shangge, Ocean Butterflies, etc., spread throughout the Chinese world.

Therefore, Yang Ye decided to gather all the leaders together after the finals of the 4th Voice of China, and announced that he would merge these labels, add the previously acquired BMG Records and Avex Music, to form a multinational music group and initiate the listing.

The purpose of going public is naturally to raise more funds. Now is the golden age of the record industry. Several major international record groups are scrambling to grab land everywhere. They rely on the money in their hands to buy everywhere, and Yang Ye cannot fall behind.

In the Chinese world, many record companies have been acquired by international record companies, such as Warner swallowing up Feidie.

After its establishment, Bluebird Music Group became the fifth largest music group in the world, second only to Warner, Universal, PolyGram and Sony, surpassing EMI.

Next, Bluebird Music Group will compete with international giants for these Chinese record companies and expand overseas markets.

……

The finals of the fourth season of The Voice of China are approaching, but Yang Ye did not attend because the Golden Horse Awards are about to begin.

Since "Seediq Bale", Yang Ye has been absent from the Golden Horse Awards for twelve years.

At first it was because I was banned, but even after the ban was lifted, I still didn’t go every time for various reasons.

Some time ago, Taiwan's eight major film producers forced Yang Ye to step down, but Yang Ye avoided them and went to Europe to help with the Olympic Games.

Now that the negotiations between the eight major film producers and Hong Kong have broken down, it is time for Yang Ye to make a shining debut.

After all, as the overlord of the Hong Kong film industry, he must stand up and give an explanation.

Moreover, "Kung Fu" has been shortlisted for the Golden Horse Awards this time, leading with thirteen nominations. It would be unreasonable not to go.

Although Yang Ye was secretly trying to use the Zhuhai Film Festival to poach talent from the Golden Horse Awards, he still had to save face.

……

As soon as Yang Ye and his large group of people arrived in Taiwan, they were invited by the eight major film producers.

Nowadays, Taiwanese film producers have replaced several major companies in Hong Kong and become the actual investors in Hong Kong films.

So, who are the eight major film producers and what movies have they invested in?
The largest one is Taiwan Central Motion Picture Corporation, whose current general manager is Xu Liguo.

Central Motion Picture Corporation owns many leading theaters in Taipei and has many collaborations with Yang Ji, in addition to having the opportunity to invest in Yang Ye's films.

They have also invested in well-known martial arts films such as "New Dragon Inn" and the "Huang Feihong" series.

The second largest is Longxiang Pictures, owned by Wang Yingxiang.

Long Xiang has collaborated with Wong Jing and Gao Zhisen many times. Some time ago, he was badly cheated because he bought "Journey to the West" directed by Stephen Chow and Johnnie To.

The third largest is Judeng Pictures and Yang Dengkui.

In the original time and space, Yang Dengkui and Jet Li founded the Zhengdong Company.

He is also the godfather of S and S, and he was the one who created Meteor Garden.

Because Ben had helped Yang Ye, he had a lot of business dealings with Yang Ji. In addition, he also invested in many movies of Danny Lee's Universal Pictures.

Danny Lee is famous for playing the role of a cop and has a very positive image, but his Universal Pictures likes to make third-level films, such as "The Eight Immortals Restaurant: Barbecued Pork Buns with Human Flesh" and so on.

The fourth largest is Scholar Films, Cai Songlin.

Cai Songlin mainly invested in Liu Hua's Tianmu Company and Sunglasses King's Zedong Company, but was badly cheated by Sunglasses. However, he is still a shareholder of the Xiang family.

The fifth is Era International, Qiu Fusheng.

There were not many Hong Kong films invested in by the period, but there were many Hong Kong dramas introduced, and the filmmakers also liked to invest in Zhang Yimou's films.

The sixth largest, Changhong Pictures, Wu Dun.

Wu Dun does not engage in distribution and does not have a cinema chain. He is the boss of Zhu Yen-ping, the "King of Taiwan".

Wu Dun directly asked Zhu Yanping to take Hong Kong actors to film. Movies such as "New Meteor Butterfly Sword" and "The Crazy Knife and the Flying Cat" were produced by him.

Wu Dun is also Jia Jingwen's godfather, but now Jia Jingwen is studying in Hong Kong, so her godfather can only be Yang Ye.

Seventh, Xiongwei Pictures, Jiang Wenxiong.

Xiong Wei likes to cooperate with mainland film studios and invite Hong Kong stars to film in the mainland.

The eighth is Xu Anjin, who runs cinema chains and distributes video tapes in Taiwan.

Xu Anjin does not have a film company. He does not invest in the production of Hong Kong films. Instead, he directly purchases Hong Kong films and distributes them in Taiwan.

He collaborated with the Xiang family, Zhang Guozhong's Entertainment, and Shaw Brothers' later Metropolitan Pictures.

He also went to Yang Ji to buy slices, but he was not given any of Yang Ji's good slices and could only drink the soup.

……

Taiwan, Yuanshan Hotel.

Yang Ye ate Meiling cake and listened quietly to the complaints of the bosses of the eight major companies.

When they finished talking, Yang Ye threw away the half-eaten Mei Ling, wiped his hands, and said, "When you went to Hong Kong for negotiations, I happened to be on a business trip to Europe. I really couldn't spare the time. Please forgive me."

Naturally, everyone flattered him and said a lot of polite words like Yang Ye contributed to the Olympics and was the pride of the Chinese people.

Yang Ye said: "Let's talk about the first one first. There are still more than 200 Hong Kong films that have not been delivered. You have been talking with Hong Kong for so long before, haven't you reached an agreement on the delivery?"

Wang Yingxiang of Long Xiang said: "Hong Kong's Xiang Huasheng and Huang Baiming have indeed agreed to come forward to negotiate and urge those producers and directors to deliver the goods as soon as possible.

We have sorted out a batch of film contracts and have also drawn up a final delivery date.”

Yang Dengkui added: "But after all, it's just empty talk. We've been back for so long, but we still can't pay what we can't pay."

Yang Ye said solemnly: "This incident has seriously affected the reputation of Hong Kong films. As a member of the Hong Kong film industry, I cannot tolerate these bad apples.

Since you have already reached an agreement with Hong Kong, let me make it clear that if anyone still fails to pay by the deadline, all the actors and directors in my agency will refuse to cooperate with them, and the theater alliance will refuse to screen their films.

Moreover, I will not only ban these companies and producers, but also prohibit other film companies and filmmakers from cooperating with them.

I will ban anyone who dares to cooperate with them, and I will make sure that these people have no place to stand in Hong Kong."

"Jazz is mighty!"

Everyone was very happy. This kind of thing had to be handled by Yang Ye.

Yang Ye pretended to be cool, then changed the subject and said, “But the current situation is caused by the producers and directors, of course, but also because of your blind investment.”

Yang Dengkui asked, "Is our investment also wrong?"

Yang Ye said: "With the scale of Hong Kong's film production, the staff in front of and behind the scenes work around the clock, and making a hundred films a year is already the limit.

You guys invested in 300 films at once, but Hong Kong only has so many people, and they can't even cry about making so many films.

You may say that you can refuse the offer if you are too busy, but who can resist the money that comes to your door? Of course, you should accept it.

So in order to deliver the goods as quickly as possible, they can only produce shoddy products and try to fool around as much as possible. Can they make a good movie this way?

If you take a movie like this back, it's no surprise that you make a loss.

As for those who really cannot deliver the goods, they can only delay the delivery.

By then, they have spent all their money, and you want them to return it? No way!

A strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake. If he hides, I'm afraid you will find him difficult to find.

Therefore, you should be more cautious when investing. At the very least, when making a decision, you should find out what the other party is going to shoot and how the script is written.
They just grab the contracts of two stars, don't know what the film is about, and come to you to sell trailers, and you just pay the money. Isn't this too easy?

Even real estate has its share of crashes, let alone movies?"

These words made everyone blush. Some people felt unhappy and thought, why are you lecturing me?

But I have to say that Yang Ye’s lesson was right.

If you ask yourself honestly, these film producers are just asking for trouble.

It would be a shame not to cheat such a good guy.

If you have money but don't make it, you're a bastard. If you give me money, of course I'll take it.

If I can’t pay it back by then, what can you do to me?
No matter how powerful you are in Taiwan, can you come to Hong Kong to chop me down?

Cai Songlin can threaten the King of Sunglasses and kill him if he doesn't hand over the film.

That's because he has connections with the Xiang family, but others can't.

After Yang Ye elaborated for a while, he continued, "Now let's talk about the second point. The pay of Hong Kong stars is too expensive and must be curbed.

Regarding this point, do you think that the production cost of Hong Kong films is too high now because the salaries of Hong Kong stars are too high? "

Scholar Cai Songlin is a victim of this. Hearing this, he said, "Of course. I invested 60 million Hong Kong dollars in a movie called Ashes of Time, and the salary accounted for %. Isn't this expensive?"

Yang Ye shook his head: "Of course it's not expensive! You invited nine Hong Kong stars including Zhang Guorong, Liang Jiahui, Lin Qingxia, Liang Caowei, Liu Jialing, Yang Caini, Zhang Xueyou, Zhang Manyu, and Wang Zuxian. With such a large cast, this is already very cheap. My movies don't even have such a luxurious lineup."

“Uh…” Cai Songlin was speechless for a moment. After thinking for a while, he said unwillingly: “When making a movie, of course the bigger and more luxurious the cast is, the more it can attract the audience!”

Yang Ye shook his head and said, "Movie making is a business, and doing business requires cost control. Stars are the face of the show, and they can attract fans to buy tickets, which is naturally correct.

But you need to understand one thing: adding stars to stars will not achieve the effect of 1+1 being greater than 2. In fact, the more stars you have, the worse the effect will be.”

"Why is this?" Cai Songlin was puzzled.

"Because of the characteristics of this group of fans, I want to think of a word to describe it... toxic fans!"

Yang Ye created a word that did not exist in this era, and then explained: "Vicious in "du", only in "wei", what do they mean?

Many people who like a star will regard him or her as an idol and pour their affection into him or her.

He would think that his idol is unique and he would be willing to pay for his idol, but he just wants to see his idol shine in the movie.

If you find a bunch of stars and cram them all into one movie, then each star's role will be diluted to a very small amount, which will result in not enough highlights.

For example, if I am a fan of Nick Cheung, then I buy a ticket to the cinema just to see Nick Cheung.

As a result, you found eight other people to share his part, and I spent NT$100, but it was equivalent to only watching a movie worth NT$10.

I'm at a loss, right? Why should I buy a ticket?"

“Ah…” Everyone was stunned. Is there such a saying?
Yang Ye said: "The configuration of the cast is very particular.

If you decide to invite top-tier celebrities and have a large budget, you can hire one for the male and female lead.

The budget is small, so just hire a big star for the male lead, and find a beautiful female lead, even a newcomer will do.

For other minor roles, use second- or third-tier actors, or talented actors with good acting skills.

These people can support the quality of the film, but they are not needed to support the box office.

If your movie is about two heroes, you can invite two first-line stars of the same level.

But in this case, the heroine can only be a second-tier actress.

What happened? You hired nine top celebrities at once.

Isn’t it normal for your budget to exceed 60% of the cost? Even more than 80% is not too much! "

Cai Songlin was speechless and choked for a long time before he said, "I didn't think it through. I will pay more attention next time.

But now Hong Kong stars’ pay is often several million, isn’t it really too high? "

Yang Ye said disapprovingly: "Is it high? Scarcity makes things valuable, it's not high at all.

The current market situation is that Hong Kong can only produce 100 films a year, but you have invested in 300.

Every film must have big names participating, and there must be many big names participating.

So, where do all these big names come from?

There are no more than twenty stars in Hong Kong who truly have box office appeal.

Everyone wants to invite these big names, so they can only raise the price.

You offer one million and he offers two million. I only have so much time available, so of course I will take the role of whoever offers the highest price.

After all this, wouldn't the pay be raised?

There is no such thing as a cheap product, and a good product is not cheap. How can there be so many cheap and beautiful things in this world?
Ladies and gentlemen, you were the ones who raised the remuneration, and now you want to lower it. How is that possible?

To tell you the truth, these big names have been well overwhelmed in the past two years and have plenty of money, so they would rather not take on any roles than reduce their pay.

So, it is totally wrong for you to point the finger at Hong Kong stars. You should point the finger at yourselves instead.

What you should do now is to stop driving up prices.

In fact, all our film companies in Hong Kong are in a difficult situation. We at Yang Kee have reduced the number of films we make because it is more profitable to let the stars go out and take on other roles.

But now that things have come to this, if we want to make money, we have to find other ways!"

Yang Ye's mouth was dry after talking for a while, so he stopped to drink some tea. Everyone wanted to know where he was going to find a solution.

(End of this chapter)