Hong Kong Entertainment 1979: A Beating Up the Manager at the Start

While Li Jiangbo and Wang Jing were preparing for the film crew's production, the first batch of copycat films based on "Happy Ghost" were also released.

First, there was Shaw Brothers, who directly commissioned veteran director Chor Yuen to film "The Crybaby," which tells the story of a junior employee of a large company who is possessed by a crying ghost, leading to a series of hilarious events.

This movie was released a week after "Happy Ghost" finished its run, and it was the first to benefit from "Happy Ghost's" success. The box office was quite good, earning 245 million yuan in 20 days, almost making it onto the annual box office charts.

What surprised Li Jiangbo the most was that Mai Jia's Struggle Company also followed suit and produced a movie called "Ghostly Campus".

They learned it quite well, and even grossed more than three million at the box office in just 18 days, surpassing the Malaysian film company's "Lin Yazhen Tiger Fish Shrimp Crab" and only six hundred thousand short of Shaw Brothers' "The Legendary Twins".

Upon seeing this news, Li Jiangbo exclaimed, "Hong Kong has so many talented people!"

Wang Jing, standing nearby, was adding fuel to the fire, urging Li Jiangbo to hurry up and film the second "Happy Ghost" so that he could make even more money.

Li Jiangbo shook his head; this was exactly what he had expected.

Think about it, in the 1960s and 70s, Shaw Brothers and Cathay Organisation would make whatever kind of film was popular, and it was the same with Golden Harvest and Cinema City.

What Li Jiangbo needs to do is to never let those who follow his lead catch up with him, so that he can make a fortune.

On September 2, Li Jiangbo, Chen Xunqi, Wang Jing, and Johnnie To were in a small conference room at Time Pictures, looking through the script for "A Better Tomorrow" that Li Jiangbo had given them.

When Chen Xunqi closed the script and imagined the storyline with his eyes closed...

Johnnie To couldn't help but ask, "Director Li, could I be the assistant director on this script?"

Before Li Jiangbo could reply, Wang Jing said, "Director Li, how about I direct 'A Better Tomorrow,' and you direct 'Chasing Girls'?"

Li Jiangbo shook his head. "Go back to making your movie, you're trying to steal my thunder? I'll punch you!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Jing muttered, "Tch! It's just a remake of Director Long Gang's script! I don't care."

Johnnie To was taken aback. "Is this a remake?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xunqi opened his eyes and nodded, "That's right, I remember it was starring Xie Xian, the fourth brother."

Li Jiangbo cleared his throat. "I'm planning to ask Dillon to play Sung Tze-ho, Chow Yun-fat to play Mark Gor, and Leslie Cheung to give Sung Tze-kit a try. What do you think of these guys?"

The people present would all become big names in Hong Kong's film and television industry in the future. As soon as they heard the candidates proposed by Li Jiangbo, they closed their eyes and imagined them.

After a while, Johnnie To opened his eyes. "Okay! These are all suitable."

Next was Wang Jing, who said with some concern, "It's suitable, but..."

Li Jiangbo threw his pen at Wang Jing, saying, "Just say what you have to say, stop stammering."

Wang Jing dodged the pen flying through the air and laughed, "Dilong probably won't come; he has five film contracts this year. As for Zhou Runfa, as far as I know, he should be filming Director Cheng's 'The Web of Deception,' so he might not have time."

Upon hearing this, Li Jiangbo suddenly remembered that Dillon was currently a major figure at Shaw Brothers, producing at least five films every year. As for Zhou Runfa, if he remembered correctly, "The Web of Deception" had over eighty episodes; he wondered if there was even time for that.

Two of the main actors are missing. What's the point? They can't exactly make him do it himself, can they?

Thinking of this, Li Jiangbo sighed, "A-Jing, you help me settle things with Alpha first, then come with me to invite Dillon."

All I can say is that I'll do my best.

After saying that, Wang Jing went to make a phone call.

Li Jiangbo then handed his storyboard to Chen Xunqi, saying, "Old Chen, these are the storyboards I drew. Take a look."

Chen Xunqi curiously took the notebook, and was shocked as soon as he opened it.

He had never seen a storyboard before, nor had he seen one with any other director, and asked incredulously, "Boss, did you really draw this?"

Li Jiangbo nodded without speaking, while Johnnie To leaned closer to Chen Xunqi and explained as he looked at him, "That's how Director Li is. He also drew up the storyboard before filming 'Happy Ghost'."

Chen Xunqi looked at him with admiration. No wonder he had succeeded at such a young age. Just look at his style of doing things, and you'll know why he was able to succeed.

It took a while for Wang Jing to return from outside.

"Director Li, I think you need to talk to Uncle Liu in person."

Li Jiangbo looked at Wang Jing with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean?"

Wang Jing sighed, "Now TVB casts Ah Fa and Adam Cheng in almost every movie. They only get two or three hours of sleep a day. Yesterday, Ah Fa was diagnosed with liver disease at the hospital."

Li Jiangbo nodded. "Alright! How about we go see Dilong first, and then go talk to Uncle Liu?"

Wang Jing said, "I suggest you go find Uncle Six, because Dillon should be filming on set right now."

"Then let's go and meet Uncle Liu first." Li Jiangbo stood up and picked up his coat.

After half an hour.

In Shaw Yi-fu's office in the TVB headquarters building.

Li Jiangbo and Shao Yifu leisurely sipped their tea. Li Jiangbo exclaimed after just one sip, "Excellent tea!"

Shao Yifu smiled slightly, poured himself a cup of tea, blew on it to warm it, and took a small sip.

"What? Bo-zai knows about tea too?"

Li Jiangbo chuckled, "I don't know, I just think it tastes good."

Upon hearing this, Shao Yifu instantly lost interest in discussing tea ceremony with Li Jiangbo. "Speak," he said, "what do you need my help with?"

Li Jiangbo gave an awkward smile and said, "Sixth Uncle noticed?"

"Otherwise what? Would you have the patience to drink tea with an old man like me?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jiangbo stopped talking nonsense and said, "Sixth Uncle, I'm preparing to shoot my next movie."

Upon hearing this, Shao Yifu's eyes lit up. "Oh! What movie?"

"A film about brotherhood."

Upon hearing this, Shaw Yi-fu frowned deeply. "You're not making a sequel to Happy Ghost? You're actually going to make this?"

Li Jiangbo nodded. "Yes! I think the 67 film 'A Better Tomorrow,' directed by Lung Kong, is very good. I want to remake it, so I'd like to invite Chow Yun-fat and Dillon to be the leads in my new film."

Shao Yifu thought to himself, "Has this guy gone mad? Remaking black and white films? Does he think he's making too much money?"

Young people still have their pride; they'll only know the pain when they hit a wall.

Thinking of this, Shao Yifu put down his teacup and tapped the table lightly with his finger.

After a while, he said, "Bo-zai, it's not that Uncle Six doesn't want to help you. Ah Fa is our TVB's star right now, filming three dramas at the same time, with his schedule booked until the early hours of the morning every day. You want him to film movies? What about the progress of the TV series? Ah Long is currently filming Director Zhang's 'Ten Tigers of Guangdong and Five Tigers in the Back,' so I'm afraid he won't have time either."

Upon hearing this, Li Jiangbo didn't respond to Shao Yifu's question, but instead chimed in from the side, "Sixth Uncle, a good movie is a bigger boost to an actor than ten TV series. Alpha is talented, but constantly making TV series will only wear him down. If he can make a name for himself in the film industry, you can then promote him as a movie star!"

Seeing that Shaw Yi-fu was still hesitating, Li Jiangbo pressed on, saying, "Uncle Six, look at my film 'Happy Ghost,' it's already grossed over ten million at the box office. This also indicates that Hong Kong's film market will only get better and better. So letting the talented Alpha make movies will earn us even more."

Upon hearing this, Shao Yifu curled his lip. This kid was clearly lying through his teeth. Television dramas in Hong Kong are making increasingly better profits these days. In the film industry, besides Li Jiangbo's *Happy Ghost*, what other film has grossed over six million?

However, he could take this opportunity to cut a large chunk of flesh off Li Jiangbo.

Thinking of this, Shao Yifu said, "I can give you a month, but you'll have to exchange it for all the overseas distribution rights of your films!"

Li Jiangbo sneered inwardly. He had long known that Shao Yifu was not so easy to fool, but he was prepared for a protracted battle.

It was already evening when Li Jiangbo came out of the TVB building.

After an hour of fighting, Li Jiangbo finally managed to secure Zhou Runfa's availability for a month by trading the overseas distribution rights of two films.

As soon as Li Jiangbo got into the car, Wang Jing eagerly asked, "How was it?"

Li Jiangbo gave an OK sign, fastened his seatbelt, and said, "Let's go find Dilong."