Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 340 351 [Hong Kong and Taiwan variety shows, get TV drama licenses! ]

"Boss, do you want me to clean out the people in ATV?"

Huo Wenxi had not been the general manager of Pioneer Electric for the past two years for nothing. After hearing what Li Yishu said, he immediately figured out the key.

"Not bad!"

Li Yishu nodded in agreement: "There are two advantages of you being the head. First, you are still young. Whether it is good or bad, you can always have a reason to reform the TV station. Second, you are from Hong Kong. If you step forward to dismiss those unqualified people, there will be fewer rumors."

The history of Asia Television can be traced back to Rediffusion, which was established in Hong Kong with British capital in 1949. In terms of history, it is longer than TVB, which was established in the 60s, and its influence on the citizens of Hong Kong is still quite large.

Although most Hong Kong residents prefer to watch TVB now, ATV's influence is there. Although it is invisible and intangible, it can still be easily exploited by people with ulterior motives.

For example, mainlanders bought ATV, fired old employees, or mainlanders changed the program randomly...

Li Yishu may not care about these remarks, but the higher-ups will definitely take them very seriously. 1997 is only two years away. In order to ensure a smooth transition in 1997, the British Hong Kong government will definitely fart loudly at the last minute.

Although there is no actual harm, the smell is stinking and makes me feel sick!
Li Yishu is not really young and does things based on his personal preferences. He can make drastic reforms to ATV, but it is easy for him to fall into the trap of the foreigners. In this case, it is better to make arrangements in this regard early.

Huo Wenxi, a native Hong Konger, is appointed as the chairman of ATV. Although she is a little young, only 23 years old this year, she has served as the general manager of Pioneer Home Appliances for two years and has relatively rich management experience.

In addition, young people have their own temperament and way of thinking. Even if there are mistakes in the reform of ATV and it fails to achieve Li Yishu's goal, the outside world will only judge Li Yishu for not being able to judge people well and handing the project over to Huo Wenxi, a young girl.

After hearing this, Huo Wenxi said thoughtfully: "I will listen to my boss. If he asks me to do it, I will do it. But I have never been involved in TV business, so I am afraid I can't do it well."

"No one can do a good job the first time. Being the chairman of a TV station is not that complicated. Peter Lam can do it, so why can't you? What's more, you have done a great job at Pioneer Electric in the past two years."

Li Yishu smiled and said, "I will write a few program scripts for you when the time comes. You just need to give orders and let the people below carry them out. We will adopt a performance system, and those who fail to complete the task will be punished or fired."

"The boss can also write program scripts?"

Huo Wenxi looked at Li Yishu in surprise. She knew that her boss was talented, but all of his talents were related to movies. She didn't expect that he could also write scripts for TV shows.

"Drive well!"

Li Yishu reminded her, and seeing her looking forward, she said, "I just have a few ideas. I feel that if it is made into a variety show, it should be quite interesting. After all, the purpose of a show is to make people happy."

"That's true!"

Huo Wenxi nodded while driving seriously, saying, "The TVB show 'Super Invincible Prize Master' that aired last year was really interesting. I often asked my mom to record it and send it to me to watch."

"Some programs from Hong Kong and Taiwan are very interesting to watch after dinner."

During her last few days in Taiwan, Li Yishu asked someone to get her a lot of videotapes of high-rating variety shows in Hong Kong and Taiwan during that period.

"Dragon Brothers", "I Love Matchmaker", "Super Sunday", "Super Invincible Prize Master", etc.

I have to admit that the variety shows in Taiwan during this period were really fun and interesting. Not to mention Fei Yuqing and Zhang Fei's "Dragon Brothers", the hosts frequently made golden sentences and brought a lot of laughs. "Super Sunday" by Sister Xiaoyan, a famous host from Taiwan, was also very fun.

In comparison, variety shows in Hong Kong are a bit scarce, which may be related to the population.

The show "Prize Winner" is somewhat similar to the later "Ace vs. Ace". There are two groups, A and B, with two hosts serving as team leaders, leading the star team members to start various games.

Even in mainland China thirty years later, this type of variety show featuring rival stars can still attract audiences and make them happy, not to mention today when entertainment variety shows are not very developed.

"Boss, what about the TV series?"

Huo Wenxi is still very optimistic about Li Yishu's creativity, although he doesn't know what the program he is talking about will be like. But since the boss has watched Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment programs, it means he has a prediction in his mind.

But it’s different for TV dramas. No matter how good the script is, if it’s not directed by Li Yishu, there will always be problems. What’s more, TVB has crushed ATV countless times in TV drama production.

"The production cycle of TV series is long. I estimate that we will control ATV in early March. By then, we can use the TV series produced by our art entertainment to make up for the shortage. However, variety shows have a short preparation cycle and quick results. When the time comes, the TV station reform will start with TV programs."

Li Yishu plans to produce a variety show first to increase ATV's ratings, which can also be regarded as a test of the first round of reforms of ATV's internal program team.

"Okay, boss. I'll try to find more people to find out about ATV's situation in the next few days."

"No need to ask. I'll give you Yang Shoucheng's phone number. If you have any questions, just contact him directly."

"Yang Shoucheng from Eagle King Entertainment?"

"Well, it's him."

Li Yishu glanced at Huo Wenxi who was driving and found it quite interesting. In the previous life, it was Yang Shoucheng who discovered Huo Wenxi, and now he discovered Huo Wenxi.

That evening, Li Yishu had dinner with local leaders and stayed overnight. Early the next morning, he flew back to Yanjing.

As soon as he returned to Yanjing, Li Yishu started to get busy. He first went to the company and talked with Yongmei about the company's recent business conditions.

"Sunrise in the East, Rain in the West", directed by Zhao Baogang, starring Wang Zhiwen, Wu Yujuan and Xu Qing, was broadcast on Yanjing TV at the end of last year.

Originally, I wanted to send it to CCTV, but at that time CCTV was broadcasting "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and the price offered by Yanjing TV was quite high, so the premiere was broadcast on Yanjing TV.

The ratings are okay, reaching 20% ​​at its highest point, but Yanjing TV cannot compare with CCTV, and its influence is only in the future Yanjing urban circles such as Tianjin, Hebei and other places.

The post-production of "Legend of the Han Palace" directed by Chen Jialin was finally completed last month. Such a historical drama will naturally be broadcast on CCTV. CCTV currently plans to broadcast it in March.

After several months of polishing, Wang Shuo, Haiyan and other members of the Haima Film and Television Creative Team wrote the script for "Haima Ballroom 2", which continued the style of the first part. However, in addition to Liu Bin, Chen Xiaoyi, Liang Tian and others, Ge You also joined the cast.

Guo Baochang followed Li Yishu's original instructions and spent nearly a year writing the future direction of "The Mansion Gate", including the script. As he said himself: If necessary, "The Mansion Gate" can be filmed for at least several hundred episodes.

Make "The Grand Mansion Gate" into a real long-form TV series!

The crew is still in preparation, because they will consider shooting the second and third parts in the future, so the selection of actors is quite cautious. At the very least, they cannot be too old, otherwise when shooting the sequel in a few years, the actors will be too old and not match the role.

After hearing that the casting for The Mansion Gate had not started yet, Li Yishu asked, "When will Director Guo's auditions start?"

"They said we'll see when spring comes. I guess it'll be March."

Yongmei paused and said, "Director Guo is very dedicated to the crew and has been busy at the Huairou Film and Television Base recently." Hearing this, Li Yishu thought for a moment and said, "Do you know Chen Baoguo?"

"know."

Yongmei smiled and said, "During the Chinese New Year, I was watching Wu Zetian, starring Liu Xiaoqing, at home. The actor who played Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, was Chen Baoguo. I remember that he also starred in the Fragrant Soul Girl, directed by Xie Fei, two years ago."

"Let him audition for the role of Bai Jingqi."

In the TV series "The Mansion Gate", Li Yishu still thinks that the role of Bai Jingqi is most suitable for Chen Baoguo, who truly portrays the style of the Seventh Young Master.

"Okay, I'll ask someone to contact Chen Baoguo and invite him to audition."

Although Yongmei was a little surprised, she didn't ask any more questions, thinking that maybe he thought Chen Baoguo was suitable.

After talking about the TV series, they talked about the award-winning Li Shaohong, who is currently in Berlin participating in the copyright transaction after the closing ceremony. Li Yishu just asked Yongmei to remember to hold a celebration party for Li Shaohong when she returns to China.

Li Yishu had never expected that "Red" would win the Berlin Prize, even if it was just a small award. At the beginning, she invested in Li Shaohong just because she thought that they had worked together on the crew of "Farewell My Concubine", and Li Shaohong herself is one of the few well-known female directors in China.

Spend some money to invest, as long as the film is not crap, then go to the Berlin Film Festival, at least you can get your money back or even make a small profit.

Unexpectedly, there was an unexpected surprise.

Li Yishu thought of the TV drama license and changed the subject: "By the way, Yongmei, what did the TV license say?"

"Boss, I'm afraid you really need to go and discuss this with the higher-ups in person."

Yongmei said with difficulty: "In the past few months, I have been trying to communicate with the leaders of the TV department, but they always shirk their responsibilities."

At the end of last year, in order to successfully obtain the first TV drama license in the mainland, the Art Entertainment Group established a new company in the mainland, called "Jingyi Film and Television Company". Yongmei spent more than two months applying to the higher authorities, but it has not yet been implemented.

It was always stipulated that it was not allowed in principle, and Yongmei had come up with other solutions, but it seemed that the TV department was hesitant.

"Don't worry about it."

Li Yishu pondered for a moment and finally understood what the above meant. It's not that it can't be done, but it requires someone who can take charge of it.

After all, the document clearly states that "individuals and private enterprises are not allowed to set up film and television production and management organizations in principle."

That's true in principle, but there are always exceptions, right?

He just happened to be preparing to talk to his superiors about ATV as Hong Kong Island was about to return.

At this time, if Li Yishu acquired ATV and broadcast some programs that spoke well of the mainland, or if it allowed the citizens of Hong Kong Island to truly understand the situation in the mainland instead of having the British media expand its reports, it would more or less be beneficial on the political level.

In the diplomatic field of the past two years, nothing has been more important than the return of Hong Kong.

After leaving the company, Li Yishu drove the car parked downstairs of the company and went straight to the Beijing Film Studio. In addition to chatting with Han Sanping about movies, he also talked about TV drama licenses and ATV.

He could go directly to the Film and Television Department to find Director Zhang who once supported him in making blockbusters. However, Li Yishu had not been involved in the system in his previous life, and the level of his contacts was not as high as Director Zhang's. He should talk to Han Sanping first and then see how to say it.

Beijing Film Studio.

"You control the Hong Kong Asia Television?"

Han Sanping was shocked. He didn't expect that Li Yishu would bring such shocking news this time.

"not yet."

Shaking his head, Li Yishu said, "But I have already discussed with the current chairman of ATV, Lin Baixin. I estimate that in about a month, I will be able to officially take over ATV and become the new chairman of ATV."

"Yishu, this step you've taken is amazing." Han Sanping looked at Li Yishu, who is only 25 years old this year, and couldn't help but sigh at her great achievements at such a young age!

He knew a little bit about the Art and Entertainment Group and thought that this was quite impressive. However, he didn't expect that Li Yishu would set off another big firecracker just after the Chinese New Year.

No matter how big Asia Television is, it is at least a television station qualified to broadcast, and it is located in Hong Kong, the financial center of Asia.

Li Yishu smiled and said, "Uncle San, the world is changing with each passing day. If I don't take bigger steps, it will take us many years to expand our group and become comparable to Fox and Disney in Hollywood."

“It’s good to have ambition!”

Han Sanping nodded in agreement. Since he became the director of the Beijing Film Studio, he has collaborated with Li Yishu several times and also visited the European Film Festival. Now his sights are no longer limited to the mainland.

Han Sanping would definitely support Li Yishu's desire to expand the scale of the entertainment group and enter the media field. He has been studying and watching Hollywood movies for many years and gradually understood the principle of the "head effect".

If domestic films want to go global, in addition to relying on government support, the most fundamental thing is that private film companies themselves must be strong.

The most powerful group in mainland China today is naturally Li Yishu’s Art and Entertainment Group.

Li Yishu asked again, "Uncle San, what do you think about Director Zhang of the Film and Television Department?"

"I can't say much about the TV series license, but judging from the content on the document, there must be an idea of ​​opening up to private TV series production, otherwise it wouldn't say in the document that it is not allowed in principle."

Han Sanping pondered for a moment and said, "Come with me to the Film and Television Department tomorrow morning and talk to Director Zhang about the film first. I will ask for you then."

"it is good."

Li Yishu nodded and stopped talking about these things. Instead, she started discussing the filming plan of "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms".

The next morning.

Li Yishu and Han Sanping went to the Film and Television Department and met Director Zhang. They first talked about the Red Cliff movie for a while. After it was confirmed that it would start shooting around June, they talked about the TV series license and ATV.

Director Zhang was also surprised at Li Yishu's development, but he clearly supported her in his words and personally took them to meet the department's top leader.

Talked all day.

Li Yishu successfully obtained the first private TV drama license in the mainland!
(End of this chapter)