A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 180 War
Saturday, December 2, 1997.

It's 5:30 in the morning.

It was still dark when Lin Jianlu opened his eyes.

He has recently developed a new sleep schedule: he goes to bed between 11 p.m. and 12 a.m. and wakes up promptly around 5:30 a.m. the next morning—and is able to stay energetic and not sleepy all day long.

Coming to her senses, she carefully pulled the arm away from her and then pushed away the arm and leg that were draped over her. They only showed slight changes in their breathing before quickly falling back into a deep sleep.

Lin Jianlu propped herself up on the bed with one hand, lightly leaped up, and got off the bed over Rosamund Kwan.

In the pitch black, Lin Jianlu leaned down to look at her, then at Liang Yongqi over there. He smiled, went to the bathroom to wash up quickly, and then went downstairs. He got up early every day, so whenever he stayed at home, the housekeeper's schedule had to be adjusted accordingly. However, at this time, only the housekeeper was already up, preparing breakfast, while the ladies were all still sleeping.

While running, I turned on the radio to listen to the morning news.

Well, the main reason is actually related to one thing: the Southeast Asian financial crisis.

On July 2nd, the Thai baht collapsed. Since then, the baht has fallen by as much as 37% against the US dollar, and it continues to fall almost every day. Throughout July, Southeast Asia was in turmoil, with the Philippine peso, Indonesian rupiah, and Malaysian ringgit all under heavy attack. Yesterday, August 1st, Friday, the Malaysian government announced that it was abandoning its defenses, and the ringgit's exchange rate against the US dollar plummeted. The Kuala Lumpur stock market nearly collapsed.

According to news reports, the Singapore dollar, which international speculative capital has already begun attacking, also seems to be unstable.

All I can say is that this was a truly ruthless cut.

With one slash, they cut open the major artery and used a blood pump to draw out the blood!
International power struggles can be incredibly brutal.

As he mentally calculated how much of his 8600 million US dollars in Thai baht loan still needed to be repaid and how much he had earned, he heard the news about himself again.

Yes, as early as last Saturday, July 26, Tommy Mottola, on behalf of Columbia Records, officially announced that the global sales of "21" had exceeded 20 million copies, reaching 2066 million copies!

Without a doubt, this is the best-selling record in the world in recent years!
There are many superstars in Europe and America, all of whom are very talented and have a large fan base, but their sales generally fall within the range of ten million copies.

They've been famous for a long time, so they don't lack fame, the attitude and ability to make music, or promotion. Therefore, most of the time, if the album is of high quality, receives rave reviews, and performs strongly on Billboard, it can probably reach 1200 to 1500 million copies sold within two or three years. If the reviews are a little worse, it can still reach 800 to 1000 million copies sold. Any lower, and even the record company will judge that you are already past your prime. Gradually, you'll become a former superstar or a former diva!
Aside from Michael Jackson, the only other group capable of challenging the sales records of those phenomenal records from the golden age of the 1970s and 80s was a rock band that suddenly emerged and became an overnight sensation. In fact, most of the legendary records of the 1970s and 80s were created by rock bands.

Zeppelin, The Beatles, and so on.

No wonder Michael Jackson is the unparalleled King of Pop!

To date, only he has managed to break through the encirclement of a group of rock bands that can be described as godlike, with 2000 to 3000 million copies sold, or even more, and stand at the pinnacle of human record history!
Well, now we can say that there's another Lin Jianlu.

The album "21" has been a hot topic in global entertainment news for the past week, with four number-one singles on the singles chart for fourteen consecutive weeks, dominating the album chart for thirteen weeks, and surpassing 2000 million copies sold. The closest we've come to 2000 million copies is Michael Jackson's 1991 album "Dangerous," which took him a year to reach that milestone. One year, 2100 million copies sold.

As for his remix album "Blood -On -The -Dance -Floor" released in May of this year, the market response was very lukewarm. In fact, it failed to reach the top of the album charts in its first week of release. According to sources within Columbia Records, after more than two months on the market, global sales have barely exceeded five million copies, and sales in North America have not even reached two million copies.

Of course, if you disregard the "Michael Jackson" label and only consider the genre, this album is already the best-selling remix album in the world to date!

This time, Hong Kong media reported on a hot news story in America yesterday: a reporter interviewed Mariah Carey, the super diva who has been very popular in recent years, at an event. She reportedly claims to be a loyal fan of Lin Jianlu, saying that the two met by chance in Tokyo and felt a strong connection during their conversation. She also mentioned that she would consider inviting Lin Jianlu to participate in the songwriting of her new album, saying, "His musical talent is unparalleled! Our friendship is wonderful; he is my dearest friend!"

Oh, and there's another report. It's said that "Cold to the End" was officially introduced by Columbia Records in May, and after being officially released in North America, Europe, and Latin America through Columbia Records' channels in June, its sales have now exceeded 100 million copies—undoubtedly the highest-selling Chinese-language album in various regions.

Old Duan didn't mention this news.

We'll have to ask Zhang Aijia later how she'll split the profits from this kind of licensed distribution.

Uh, ask Ge Fuhong!
Damn it, Zhang Aijia raped me!

I'm allowed to deal with you, but you're absolutely not allowed to deal with me!

Well, as for whether to make her retire or terminate her contract, we'll see—she's still very capable. As a newcomer to the North American society, it's not fair to say she's incredibly talented or has achieved anything extraordinary. But for a newcomer to become popular, a steady and solid approach is not a bad thing, and she's done quite well.

As punishment, we could consider demoting her.

Forget about renewing the contract with Ge Fuhong, who would take a 10% cut. Old Ge hasn't made any mistakes, and people shouldn't do things like kicking someone after they've served their purpose. Besides, Hong Kong and Taiwan do need her connections and execution skills to cover things up for them. So, let her keep her 5% until the contract expires, but Zhang Aijia can keep it down to 2%.

Take it or leave it!

That crazy woman!
Hmm, while running, listening, and thinking, I found myself drifting off again without realizing it.

Then, at some point, a news story suddenly drew my attention back—two guests, who appeared to be financial experts, were discussing the Hong Kong Chief Executive's high-profile announcement that he would do everything in his power to protect the Hong Kong dollar should it be attacked in the future. They didn't seem very optimistic about the Chief Executive's promise.

Lin Jianlu, a post-95s generation in his previous life, had no recollection of the specifics, but he knew the outcome.

It's definitely saved.

If this were a war, then in the end, Hong Kong would definitely win.

But... damn, the recent news hasn't been good.

Last night during dinner, Brigitte Lin said that there was a super luxurious villa on the Peak that was put up for auction. It was said to belong to some tycoon. It was a super luxurious and huge house, but the asking price was only HK$2.5 million!
Compared to the normal valuation, the original homeowner's self-cutting move should have resulted in a direct reduction of HK$1.5 million!
It really gives people the feeling of cutting off an arm to survive!

Let alone hilltop villas, even villas on the hillside, especially detached houses like those you buy yourself, are basically a matter of luck. You can only buy one if someone is selling it. And for the super-rich who own these properties, unless they desperately need money, they generally won't choose to sell their houses here.

Even for them, it's impossible to sell a house, even if it means taking out a loan—it's too easy for people to see that you're actually quite weak, and once that impression is formed, it becomes even harder to get a loan.

And guess what? I bought this hillside villa for 1.18 million yuan just over six months ago! At this rate of depreciation, how much is it worth now? Can it even exceed 100 million yuan?

Damn, we lost 20 million Hong Kong dollars!

With Lin Jianlu's limited knowledge of economics and finance, he really couldn't understand it. If Hong Kong had ultimately weathered the financial crisis, why were property prices already plummeting so drastically before the real crisis had even begun? He had initially thought that the continuous decline in Hong Kong property prices over the past two years was mainly due to the handover, as local residents were generally pessimistic about Hong Kong's future prospects, leading to an exodus and driving down prices. That's why he chose to buy in early last winter.

As it turns out, it seems we only managed to find the part halfway up the mountain.

If one didn't know for certain that the price would definitely rise back up in the future, or even rise several times over, it would be incredibly frustrating for a time traveler to make a mistake on such a major trend!

After finishing his run, he turned off the radio and went for a walk in his house to relieve his sweat.

Behind the house, against the mountainside, there was a fairly large swimming pool. I only discovered it while taking a walk. There was already a mermaid swimming in the pool. It seems that Rosamund Kwan told Leung Wing-ki that swimming could make a woman's breasts bigger. She firmly believed it and went swimming every morning.

She should have been an extremely proud girl, but in the past year or so, that pride has been repeatedly shattered. On the one hand, it has made her grow up quickly and become more and more sensible, but on the other hand, she has inexplicably developed a vague sense of inferiority.

Those who are compared to her are basically all far superior to her.

Especially the Hong Kong media, who often speak in particularly harsh and sarcastic ways—Leung Wing-ki's flat figure has been mocked countless times!
"Honey, come swim with me for a bit!"

Lin Jianlu waved her hand, "I want to practice boxing! I'll go swimming with you this afternoon!"

Boxing.

Well, although no one would openly watch, every time Lin Jianlu stayed here, after her morning run and boxing practice, she could vaguely notice that the servants, doorman, and driver would almost always be watching her secretly.

People in Hong Kong still believe that Lin Jianlu is a super master!

On the 20th of last month, the music video for "Believer" was released here. Yu Feihong amazed all of Hong Kong and became an overnight sensation here. The fact that Lin Jianlu is a super expert was also instantly hyped up again.

While practicing her boxing, Brigitte Lin had already gotten up and gone for a walk.

After standing in the main hall of the villa for a while, she walked away and, under the watchful eye of the nanny, continued to stroll leisurely around the villa. Suddenly, she exclaimed, "Husband, he kicked me again!"

Lin Jianlu ignored him and continued punching.

She was just using the child to act cute—she's close to giving birth soon, with about fifty days left until her due date, and her mindset has gradually returned to normal.

Although I am a bit old, and in terms of looks and how I rely on my beauty to please men, I might fall out of favor in less than two years. But it doesn't matter, I gave birth to a son for him!

If he doesn't love me anymore, how could he not love his own son?

With this son around, I'm already in an invincible position!
So she stopped being so humble and yielding. Liang Yongqi complained that she had scolded Liang Yongqi harshly, but considering that she was heavily pregnant, Liang Yongqi didn't dare to talk back.

Yes, war is everywhere.

After being reprimanded, she lowered her head and admitted her mistake, saying that she would never do it again. She even apologized to Liang Yongqi in a serious manner, saying that she had been experiencing prenatal anxiety and had a bad temper recently, and that it was not appropriate for anyone to really blame her. However, she could definitely sense Lin Jianlu's unhappiness, which basically meant that this test had failed.

So for the past two days, she has been looking for opportunities to act cute, please, and make amends.

She's a seasoned veteran, very shrewd and worldly.

It was two minutes to seven in the morning, time for breakfast. As usual, the beautiful cat was still asleep.

When she occasionally comes to stay at the villa on the hillside to keep Lin Jianlu company, Cat Beauty will go to bed much earlier than usual, but she will be more exhausted, so she will still get up after 10:30 am.

Even knowing that Brigitte Lin and Leung Wing-ki would get up early to have breakfast with Lin Chien-lu, she didn't care. You could call her naive, but you could also say she was spoiled and arrogant. She didn't care at all about the beautiful Brigitte Lin in her forties, and she basically ignored Leung Wing-ki.

Well, having a harem of wives and concubines sounds like happiness, but the prerequisites for happiness are that you have to be able to support them and keep them in check. Lin Jianlu knew this very well, and it was fortunate that they all knew about her strong personality, and even the whole of Hong Kong knew about it. Otherwise, this family would be in constant turmoil every day!
At 7:15, before she had even finished breakfast, Ge Fuhong arrived on time to clock in.

Lin Jianlu greeted her, "Have you eaten yet? Let's eat together!"

Ge Fuhong was not polite and enjoyed being invited to eat with everyone every day she came. Even though she had already eaten, she still asked the nanny to serve her a bowl of porridge. She sat down and slowly drank it, while quietly reporting some things to Lin Jianlu.

Zou Wenhuai set up the banquet venue, and many people called Ge Fuhong to ask if it would be convenient for them to come. After Ge Fuhong conveyed Lin Jianlu's message to all parties, Zou Wenhuai generously replied that he would welcome everyone!
Well, Lin Jianlu didn't want a grand thank you ceremony, but Zou Wenhuai insisted on having a banquet to thank Lin Jianlu for helping to get so many Golden Harvest films released in Hollywood.

Since it would be disrespectful to refuse a gift from an elder, Lin Jianlu accepted it.

The dinner party was scheduled for tonight.

Unexpectedly, many people wanted to go, so Ge ​​Fuhong acted as a middleman, contacting both sides. Since neither side objected, it seemed that today's banquet would not be as large as the originally planned two or three tables.

Xu Ke once again subtly inquired with Ge Fuhong about whether Ms. Yu Feihong, the female lead in the music video, had any plans to develop her career in Hong Kong, and whether it would be possible to invite her to star in a movie.
In contrast, Wang Jing's relationship with Lin Jianlu was much closer; he didn't need to go through Ge Fuhong, but called Lin Jianlu directly.

He's going to film a movie called "Lucky One" in the second half of this year, and Stephen Chow has already been cast as the lead actor. This is funded by Win's Entertainment. Next, he's going to film another movie called "New Love Generation". This time, it's produced by Best Partner Film Company, which he co-founded with Wen Juan. You can choose whatever you want. Let Ms. Yu Feihong come and act in one of my movies!
It is said that Mr. Xiang from Win's Entertainment has also made a statement. Although Win's Entertainment is funding "The Lucky Guy," the Hong Kong film market is currently in a continuous decline, and everyone should put aside their differences. If Ms. Yu Feihong is willing to come and star in the film, he has no objection and Win's Entertainment would welcome her wholeheartedly!
I once chatted with Wang Jing over drinks. Despite the continued slump in the film market, he was planning to expand production. In his words, "The more difficult the times, the more we need to preserve the assets that Hong Kong films have accumulated over the years. If unemployment lasts too long and everyone stops making movies, Hong Kong films will be unable to find prop, lighting, costume, makeup, and production staff in the future. How will we make films then?"

Of course, he is a very insightful person. Although he wants to do some things to give Hong Kong films more confidence for future development, he does not intend to sacrifice himself for others. This year, he plans to work on a lot of Category III films.

In the first half of this year alone, he wrote and indirectly invested in two Category III films, "The Woman Who Loved Me 2: Uniform Temptation" and "Sex and Zen: I Want You". Well, they weren't huge hits, but they made money—there are always plenty of perverts, and perverts always have money.

But "The Lucky Guy" and "New Love Generation" are both mainstream films. Not to mention the past, even now, the actresses who get to play the female lead in his self-directed films are definitely from one of a few categories: either they are local Hong Kong people with big money to support them, or they are very popular in Hong Kong and can boost the box office to a certain extent, or they are people that Win's Entertainment wants to promote, or they are his own girlfriend or lover. This time is an exception. Yu Feihong is a girl from the mainland who became popular all over Hong Kong with a music video. In addition, she has a special relationship with Lin Jianlu, so she can directly play the female lead in his new film.

Lin Jianlu originally didn't want to make this decision for Yu Feihong; she wanted to leave it to her. Since school was starting soon and she would be teaching at the Beijing Film Academy, the specific arrangements were up to her.

But surprisingly, she seemed to be secretly planning something.

Then let her come and act.

I already told Brigitte Lin and the others the day before yesterday that Yu Feihong would be coming to film a movie and would be staying at my house—Brigitte Lin knows her and has met her two or three times, so she has no objections.

Liang Yongqi had no say and dared not voice her opinion.

Rosamund Kwan doesn't care.

Anyway, the three best bedrooms on the second floor have already been divided up by the three of them, so anyone who comes later can just go to the third or fourth floor—as long as Lin Jianlu doesn't insist on letting Yu Feihong move into his own super big master bedroom, no one will have any objections.

Seeing that Lin Jianlu was about to finish eating and had already put down her bowl, Ge Fuhong tentatively said that Zhang Aijia had called her and asked Ge Fuhong to intercede on her behalf, saying that she wanted to come back for a visit.

It really was a test – because Ge Fuhong had no idea why Zhang Aijia, who had been in charge of North American affairs and had been struggling to breathe for the past few months due to the huge success of "21" in North America and around the world, had suddenly offended Lin Jianlu and become so humble and timid.

Even wanting to come back, they have to go through a roundabout way and ask me to put in a good word for them.

This woman is not the type to be so weak.

But Lin Xilei hesitated and wouldn't say anything—she was now Lin Jianlu's woman and wasn't so obedient anymore. She didn't hide small things, but as for things Lin Jianlu was sensitive about, she could no longer easily find out as before.

Ironically, the trust she now enjoys with Lin Jianlu might even be stronger than her own, making it impossible for anyone to use any coercive or enticement against her—if the truth were to leak out, the fish might not die, but her own net could very well be broken.

Over time, Ge Fuhong came to understand Lin Jianlu's personality very well.

His humility, modesty, and low profile are all superficial; deep down, he is domineering, ruthless, shrewd, and fiercely protective of his own—Lin Xilei is even someone who can sleep in his house, whether in the capital or Hong Kong. Whether they actually slept together is unknown, but she is definitely his possession.

Considering the number of his lovers, it's possible that many of them didn't hold the same status or intimacy with him as Lin Xilei!
The power of spending every day together!

Lin Jianlu wiped her mouth and thought for a moment before answering, "No one can stop her from going wherever she wants. Whether she stays there or comes back, you don't need to ask me."

Ge Fuhong responded softly, "Okay, I understand. I'll relay her words verbatim."

…………

Around 9 a.m., a Mercedes-Benz drove into the yard of the large villa.

Miss Guan was still not up, but Liang Yongqi had already finished recording her album and refused to go to the company. So she and Lin Qingxia stayed in Lin Jianlu's study to discuss the script with him.

This is the third draft of the script for "The Myth".

Currently, the main storyline is still based on Tang Jili's original concept, which is a story about a modern person who awakens his past life memories by chance, enters the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, meets his lover from more than two thousand years ago, and recalls everything from his past life, their love story, and so on.

However, the specific plot and details had already been greatly adjusted when Tang Jili, Hong Jinbao, Wang Jing, Lin Jianlu, and Zhuang Cheng of Media Asia Films sat down to discuss them.

When Lin Jianlu invited Lu Wei, a screenwriter from mainland China, to join the discussion, the changes became even more significant.

So much so that Lin Jianlu vaguely remembered that when she watched old Hong Kong movies in her previous life, she still had some memories of the plot of the movie "The Myth" in her mind, but it didn't quite match up anymore.

It has changed dramatically.

By the time of the current third edition, written by Lu Wei, it was almost unrecognizable.

Aside from the main framework remaining unchanged, many character designs and plot points have undergone significant adjustments and alterations. There's no doubt that Lu Wei is a good screenwriter, given his works like "Farewell My Concubine" and "To Live." When it comes to the art of screenwriting, few people are qualified to say that he lacks skill.

However, his version of the script, in addition to the things that everyone had discussed together, added a lot of extra details. It looks good now, the characters seem more complete, the lines are more concise, powerful and appropriate, but there are still some concerns.

The scenes he added could be considered filler in online novels.

It's all dialogue-driven, with very nuanced character interactions. However, for a purely commercial film aiming to make money in the North American market, especially a Chinese commercial film starring Chinese actors, we have to consider whether North American audiences can understand it and whether it will slow down the overall plot pace.

Americans aren't incapable of appreciating art films; "The Godfather" and "Once Upon a Time in America" ​​are classics!
But art films are art films, and commercial films are commercial films.

If too much stuff is crammed into a commercial film, it disrupts the overall fast-paced enjoyment, and Americans will likely not accept it—commercial films can't handle depth and gravitas!

Yes, we need to discuss and revise it further.

Ideally, the delicate details of the reeds and the solid character portrayal should be preserved, while making the rhythm smoother and faster!
It's only 120 minutes, so it's best not to exceed that by even a minute!

Movie theaters have a limited number of operating hours each day. If you dare to exceed 120 minutes, it will directly result in one less screening per day. To be precise, the upper limit is 125 minutes, but basically no movie will insist on extending its length to this extreme. Most movies will choose to end within 115 to 120 minutes.

So, with the runtime fixed there, Hollywood movies have developed their formulaic screenwriting techniques over the years, such as how many minutes it takes for a character to be established, how many minutes it takes for the theme to appear, how many minutes it takes for a joke to appear, how many minutes it takes for the first minor climax, and so on—and the key is that it really works!

This actually goes quite close to the realm of psychology!

After watching it, I asked Brigitte Lin, and she said, "This version feels a bit too heavy. A lot of things could have been omitted. When people go to the cinema, they just want to enjoy those two hours."

When asked, Leung Wing-ki said, "I don't really understand! I just feel that this Mr. Lu Wei has a very good writing style!"

Lin Jianlu pursed her lips, frowned, and pondered.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door. Lin Qingxia answered, and the maid quickly opened the door and bowed as she entered. "Sir, Mr. Zhao Mingxin from Sony Columbia Records has come to visit. He said it was arranged."

"okay!"

  Lin Jianlu patted the two women's bottoms, one in each hand, and they both stood up. "Heh... your legs are numb from sitting so long! Sigh!"

Lin Qingxia, heavily pregnant, said coquettishly, "I just want to sit on your lap!"

So she got up and went downstairs to see Zhao Mingxin. Lin Qingxia didn't plan to go down; she wasn't interested in music. But Liang Yongqi followed her downstairs.

They discovered that Zhao Mingxin had brought people with him while they were still on the stairs.

Hmm, not quite. She looks young and inexperienced, and most importantly, she has a bit of baby fat, but it is indeed her—Li Wen.

After shaking hands and exchanging brief pleasantries, Zhao Mingxin briefly mentioned his return to Hong Kong the day before yesterday. Then, he stepped aside and introduced the girl behind him to Lin Jianlu, saying, "This is Li Wen, whom I signed last year. Everyone calls her Coco, you should have heard of her. Her album, 'Every Time I Think of You,' which she just released in June, has already sold over 500,000 copies in Taiwan! She's always told me how much she admires you, so I brought her along this time to give her a chance to pay homage to you!"

As Lin Jianlu laughed and shook hands with the girl, he added, "COCO has a great feel for singing English songs! When you have time, could you give her some pointers? She's kind of like your junior!"

Oh, I understand.

However, since Lin Jianlu entered the industry, mainly after "Cold to the End" became popular, he started to promote it in Taiwan and Hong Kong. It has been more than a year since then, and he has been dealing with record companies and singers there more and more. He has come to understand that this is a very normal situation in the music industry.

First the rising stars lead the way, yes, that's industry practice.

(End of this chapter)