The literary era since 1979

Songcheng is ATV’s costume shooting base, similar to Hengdian Film and Television City in the mainland.

Of course, at that time Hengdian was just an ordinary and unknown town in Dongyang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The reason why Songcheng is called "Songcheng" is that the entire filming base is made up of Song-style buildings from the inside out.

Shops, banks, theaters, temples, gardens, etc. are lined up, and performers in the city will dress in ancient costumes while working.

All members of the delegation changed into newly bought clothes, or new clothes that had been prepared long ago, and appeared in Songcheng with Fangyan.

As soon as you enter the gate tower, you can see the surrounding city walls, towering palaces, solemn atmosphere and ancient charm, as if you have traveled back to the Song Dynasty market in "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". Climbing up the tower and looking out, you can see willows swaying on the bank, streams flowing through bridges, twinkling lights and clusters of starlight.

Coupled with the faint sound of the flute coming with the wind, there is really a trance feeling as if I don't know what day it is.

After walking for a while, they arrived at the pavilion where the welcome banquet was held. The pavilion had an arched porch and carved window panes, and it was quiet and exquisite.

As soon as he entered the lobby, Fangyan raised his eyebrows, shocked that ATV's boss Qiu Degen and his wife were also here.

"Hahaha, welcome."

Mr. and Mrs. Qiu Degen had kind faces and asked everyone to sit down.

Zhang Li and Chen Xiaoxu sat on Mrs. Qiu's left and right, while Ouyang Fenqiong also sat not far from her.

Although she held a high position, she was very amiable. She looked the three people up and down and said that they were like Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai from the novel. She also made a joke and tried to match Ouyang Fenqiong with Zhang Li and Chen Xiaoxu to become a couple.

"You should stop messing around with couples."

Qiu Degen shook his head and laughed, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Director Wang and Mr. Fang."

Fang Yan looked at the old man in front of him and smiled without saying a word. He was not only the boss of Asia Television, but also the chairman of the Far East Group and one of the richest men in Hong Kong. In terms of seniority, he was probably the predecessor of Li Zhaoji and Li Jiacheng.

"I just heard from Director Wang that Fang Sheng is the consultant for the TV series Dream of the Red Chamber?"

There was a hint of curiosity in Qiu Degen's tone.

Wang Fulin nodded and said that dialects not only made great contributions in script creation, acting guidance, and actor casting, but also made great achievements in the field of Redology. When he gave intensive training courses to all the actors of "Dream of Red Mansions", he specifically explained several chapters of "Dream of Red Mansions".

Qiu Degen became more and more interested, "I didn't expect Fang Sheng to have such achievements in Redology!"

Fang Yan said: "I only know a little bit. I am grateful to my teacher and Mr. Wu for their guidance."

Qiu Degen smiled and said, "Mr. Fang is too modest. If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely ask you questions about the Redology."

Fangyan readily agreed, but he didn't expect that Qiu Degen had actually wanted to invite him to have a face-to-face chat and even form a cooperative relationship.

Qiu Degen sighed, "It's a pity that TVB got there first. We really missed the opportunity."

Fang Yan said: "There is no priority in cooperation. I can assist TVB, and of course I will not refuse to cooperate with ATV."

"If it had been a few years earlier, I would have definitely expanded the film business like Shaw Brothers did, and then entrusted it all to you, Mr. Fang, to run."

There was a hint of regret in Qiu Degen's words.

Fang Yan and Wang Fulin looked at each other and vaguely felt that he seemed to be planning to stop and retire.

"I spent a lot of money to acquire 82% of the shares of ATV in 50."

Qiu Degen said that he was close to semi-retirement at that time, and his sons shared many affairs of Far East Group for him, so he was more relaxed than before, and was able to free up his hands to enter the film and television industry that he had never been able to achieve in the first half of his life. After all, he started his career with movies, just like a rural projectionist, opening a cinema in the suburbs.

Since the rental of old films was extremely cheap, costing only HK$1 a day, and the ticket prices were low, business was extremely booming, and he soon opened 14 open-air cinemas in the countryside. He made his first pot of gold and was called "the Shanghai guy who started from scratch" by his peers.

But later, because of the prospects of the money lending business and considering the problem of insufficient capital, he had to temporarily give up the film business.

When I have sufficient capital, I naturally want to fulfill my old dream.

"At that time, there were two TV stations in Hong Kong. One was TVB, which was well managed and strong. It had produced many influential TV series, but it was already in the hands of Shao Laoliu. The other was Rediffusion Television, the predecessor of ATV, which had a poor foundation and suffered heavy losses, otherwise it would not have been sold."

Looking at Qiu Degen's nagging expression, Fang Yan was sure that he had begun to think about retiring and even planned to sell ATV.

“To develop a TV station, you need both funds and talent, as well as good scripts.”

Qiu Degen said quietly: "But after so many years, compared with TVB, it is still a long way behind."

"Mr. Qiu need not worry. If the introduction of Dream of the Red Chamber to Hong Kong is successful, it may be a way out for ATV."

Fang Yan said: "There are many excellent TV series in the mainland, such as Journey to the West, which is also adapted from a famous novel."

"Mr. Fang is right, but as far as I know, TVB has also been trying to import TV series from the mainland recently."

Qiu Degen cast a meaningful look at him, "Just like Fang Fangsheng's play The Inspector General of the Song Dynasty."

Fang Yan openly admitted that it was he who came up with the idea of ​​TVB introducing TV dramas from the mainland, and that he was even the one who brokered the cooperation with the Yenching Television Art Center. However, even if he didn't say it, with the wisdom of Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua, they would do the same as ATV sooner or later.

"Yes, Shao Laoliu and Miss Fang are so smart, how could they allow ATV to monopolize the benefits of importing mainland TV series."

Qiu Degen said helplessly.

"In fact, introducing TV dramas from the mainland can only solve ATV's urgent problems. Ultimately, ATV's biggest problem lies in its insufficient self-production capabilities." Fang Yan suggested that ATV could completely invest its limited production resources in costume historical dramas and urban business war dramas.

As far as I can remember, ATV produced many classic TV series in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

For example, "Empress Wu Zetian", "Qin Shi Huang", "Across the World", "I Have a Date with Spring"...

"Perhaps this question should be left to the later generations to consider. I am already old and will be of no use in a few years."

Qiu Degen directly revealed an important piece of information that he was considering stepping back and transferring ATV's shares to others.

"From what Mr. Qiu said, could it be that he has already found a buyer?"

Although Fangyan did not get the specific information of the buyer from him, he was able to follow his memory and guessed that it was Lin Baixin's family.

Thinking of this, he reminded him, "If Mr. Qiu plans to sell some of his shares, it's best to make a decision early, otherwise things will change if you delay."

"Mr. Fang, do you also study stocks and the stock market?" Qiu Degen asked with interest.

"I know a little bit, I just heard some information from my good friend in the United States, Buffett."

The dialect was half true and half false, saying that there was a rumor circulating on Wall Street recently that the United States would raise interest rates, which would affect the US stock market.

Although Qiu Degen was surprised, he held the idea of ​​"it is better to believe it than not to believe it" and prepared to send his son to Wall Street to inquire about the news. "If the news is confirmed to be correct, I will definitely hold a banquet and invite Mr. Fang to have a good discussion about the stock market and finance." (End of this chapter)