The world begins with Hong Kong movies

Chapter 333 Too much shit

The animation production orders from ATV in Hong Kong immediately relieved the financial pressure on Shanghai Animation Film Studio, at least it didn't have to live such a tight life.

But once the problem of food is solved, people naturally want to live a better life.

That's the famous Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and it's located in a place like Shanghai where the cost of living isn't low.

Since the failure of the "price reform" a few years ago, the prices of various daily necessities in mainland China have risen sharply.

As a major city, Shanghai has been severely affected.

At this time, by using contract manufacturing to produce animation, Shanghai Animation Film Studio was able to pay wages on time and provide various benefits.

But the most important issue, housing, is clearly not so easy to solve.

The key point is that Shanghai Animation Film Studio is still using the traditional model.

It's not that there's a problem, but the salary level of a lead artist is just enough to make a living, but there's no extra money left.

In comparison, ATV Hong Kong offered a much higher production cost for the animated series.

Historically, the Shanghai Fine Arts Factory had some unpleasant disputes over wages and benefits.

Finally, some of the middle-aged core illustrators left their jobs and went south to Shenzhen to do subcontracting for animated films and cartoons for companies like Xiao Rizi and the United States.

This resulted in a sharp decline in the mainland animation market, which for a period of time was almost entirely dominated by Little Days Animation and American animation.

Wu Feng remembers watching many classic animated films when he was a child.

There are just too many anime like "Voltron," "Tenkuu Senki Shurato," and "Ronin Warriors."

There are also American films like "Superman on Earth" and "Mars Rats," and most famously, the "Transformers" series.

Of course, domestically produced animated films occasionally pop up, causing quite a stir, but they quickly fade away.

Shows like "Black Cat Detective" and "Shuke and Beta" were later found to be banned, and it was unclear why they were banned.
"Haier Brothers" is quite good, and "Calabash Brothers" is considered a classic, but unfortunately they never become a trend.

These points need no further explanation; many urban rebirth novels cover them.

The current situation at Shanghai Fine Arts Factory is much better than it was at the same time in actual history.

However, there are also significant internal disagreements, especially among young and middle-aged artists who are not yet qualified to be main illustrators but whose skills are already quite impressive. They want to earn more money and take on more important responsibilities.

To put it bluntly, it's essentially a struggle for the right to speak.

The right to speak is not just about having a voice; it also encompasses a wide range of benefits and perks.

In short, the young and middle-aged painters at the Shanghai Fine Arts Factory were unwilling to accept a fixed salary and wanted to earn more money through their skills.

Wu Feng strongly supports this!
If they're willing, they can directly set up an animation studio in Shenzhen. The inland factory group will take care of all the initial investment and property rental.

The demand for art talent is immense, encompassing not only animation production but also animated film production, poster design, arcade game graphics production, and home game graphics production.

One Shangmei factory is simply not enough to meet the needs of the Hong Kong Island market.

Wu Feng took good care of the departing employees of Shanghai Animation Film Studio, allowing them to focus wholeheartedly on animation production, which set a good example. Subsequently, Hong Kong television stations, game development companies, and even comic book companies were able to hire qualified art talents with solid artistic skills from the mainland, even if their salary and benefit requirements were not too high.

The mainland does not lack such talent; on the contrary, there is a large number of idle talents.

The export of handicrafts was quite popular in the 1980s and 1990s.

There are countless craft factories across the country, and the artisans there are absolutely top-notch, far more skilled than the so-called cartoonists in Hong Kong.

Following the call for novel submissions, mainland Chinese art talents have become highly sought after.

Moreover, Wu Feng's Fengrui Film and Television, along with its television station, collaborates with mainland film studios and various art troupes, providing numerous opportunities for exchanges in Hong Kong, which has caused restlessness among many film studios and art troupes.

There's nothing we can do about it; there's a severe shortage of suitable film and television acting talent on Hong Kong Island.

At that time, in the mainland's art and literature circles, "pretty boy" was an absolutely derogatory term.

The actor who played Prime Minister Zhuge in the 1994 TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was still troubled by the label of "pretty boy".

There's also Zhou Yemang, who played Lin Chong in the 1998 version of "Water Margin". He was definitely a handsome guy when he was young, but he was also troubled by the "pretty boy" label and never really became popular.

Who would believe that his wife had left him far behind in his acting career, resulting in a huge difference in their status in the entertainment industry, and ultimately she did not hesitate to divorce him.

Anyway, Wu Feng had seen a rebirth entertainment novel mention it briefly, and when he got interested, he even looked it up on Baidu. After seeing the photos of the couple, he felt quite confused.

In terms of looks, Zhou Ye is definitely better looking than his ex-wife!

Such examples are quite common in the mainland's arts and culture circles.

On the contrary, television stations on Hong Kong Island are in dire need of 'pretty boy' actors.

Otherwise, why is it that, whether it's TVB or ATV, the same few young male actors are always playing the main roles that emphasize good looks?
It can be said that the demands for actors in the mainland and Hong Kong film and television industries are completely different, leaving a lot of room for maneuver.

In Wu Feng's previous life, the Hong Kong entertainment industry was too dominant, and there was no intention to actively recruit male actors from the mainland.

Only top-tier mainland male actors can participate in the filming of Hong Kong films and television dramas; it's simply impossible for them to stay in the Hong Kong entertainment industry year after year.

Since Wu Feng is already the boss of ATV and also the boss of Fengrui Films, he naturally wouldn't waste the mainland's film and television talents.

Similarly, many mainland actors who have received professional training and have a solid foundation, as well as behind-the-scenes staff, are often overlooked and thus get the opportunity to work temporarily in Hong Kong.

ATV happened to invest a lot in television drama production and needed a large number of actors, so it gave many mainland actors who came to Hong Kong on loan the opportunity to participate, and the response was quite good.

After all, seeing new faces with acting skills on television from time to time is a pretty friendly move for viewers.

No. It's not like that. Seeing familiar faces in TV dramas all the time is unbearable for anyone after a while, and more importantly, it makes it hard for viewers to empathize with the characters.

Moreover, for some roles, if it weren't for exceptional talent, the actors from Hong Kong would really not be as good as the actors from the mainland who have received systematic training.

However, borrowing a large number of employees from the mainland will also cause problems later.

Wu Feng naturally had to handle these matters, and it seemed like there were just too many trivial things to deal with.

(End of this chapter)