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

Li Jiangbo returned to Hong Kong and got busy again. He first called Shao Daheng to discuss the screening schedule of Wang Jing's film "Chasing Girls".

After learning that screenings were expected to be delayed until after the Lunar New Year, Li Jiangbo slowed down the post-production of "A Better Tomorrow".

Actually, the post-production of "A Better Tomorrow" wasn't difficult; it was just a matter of editing and dubbing.

But to create a version of "A Better Tomorrow" comparable to John Woo's later version, Li Jiangbo had to personally oversee the project and even personally edit it.

Slow motion is quite common in Hong Kong nowadays, especially in martial arts films. But for Li Jiangbo's promotional video, which was less than a minute long, almost no one could help him. Only he knew that this kind of film required pacing.

Now that he had bought the equipment, Li Jiangbo planned to practice shooting first, as a preparation for future shooting.

Li Jiangbo directly handed over the Mandarin song for Little Ma's gunfight in the maple forest to Zhao Yazhi to find someone to write it, while he wrote the song "Tomorrow Will Be Better".

This song is featured in the scene where Sung Tze-ho hands over evidence of the counterfeit money ring to Jackie.

Since Luo Dayou hasn't written a dark version of "Tomorrow Will Be Better" yet, Li Jiangbo can just write the charity version that will be most widely sung in later generations.

After finishing these tasks, it was almost the end of January. With only half a month left until the Chinese New Year, Li Jiangbo decided not to do anything more.

News also came from the north that they would discuss it after the New Year. Li Jiangbo could understand; government offices generally don't handle much during the New Year holiday.

1 month 25 number.

Zhao Yazhi finally acquired the third failing newspaper, and Li Jiangbo immediately convened a meeting with many of the original newspaper's editors, reporters, printing staff, and other leaders.

The location was chosen to be the office building of Time Film and Television. Li Jiangbo rented two more floors above Time Film and Television, intending to integrate the three newspapers into one newspaper.

The meeting was still held at Time Pictures. Once the renovations upstairs were finished, the newspaper office could move in.

At 2 p.m., the conference room of Time Pictures was full of people.

More than 20 people, including the original management team, senior editors, and reporters from the three newspapers.

Li Jiangbo sat in the main seat, with the personal information, organizational structure, issuance data, and financial status of these people displayed in front of him.

He frowned as he looked at the report on the table, occasionally asking Zhao Yazhi, who was sitting next to him, a question.

The employees on both sides remained silent, filled with doubt and worry about the new boss.

It's almost Chinese New Year, and my newspaper has gone bankrupt and been acquired. Will I lose this stable but low-paying job?

Furthermore, the new boss looks really young. Can he lead them to survive in the Hong Kong newspaper industry? What about their salary and benefits? All of this is still unknown.

It was half an hour later when Li Jiangbo finished reading the documents.

For the next half hour, everyone present was restless and unable to sit still.

It wasn't until Li Jiangbo spoke that everyone snapped out of that state.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I've invited you all here today not to lay off anyone, but to integrate resources and create a brand new newspaper."

Li Jiangbo paused here, looked at the crowd's reaction, and seeing that everyone was very quiet, he didn't waste any more words and continued:

"You know the current environment of Hong Kong newspapers better than I do, so I won't say more."

"Next, I would like to propose three points: integration, division of labor, and upgrading."

Li Jiangbo suggested dividing the Time Newspaper into three subsidiary publications: Time Entertainment Daily, focusing on entertainment and film; Time News Daily, focusing on social and political affairs; and Time Novel Daily, focusing on novels.

The staff of the three newspapers were reshuffled and reassigned to prevent former members from colluding and forming factions. Subsequently, leadership teams were appointed for the three subsidiary publications, with all reporting to Zhao Yazhi, who in turn reported to Zhao Yazhi.

He also put forward the newspaper's creed: to be the most serious newspaper and the most credible newspaper.

Finally, Li Jiangbo said with a serious expression: "First, there must be a bottom line in reporting; you can't fabricate scandals. Second, social news must be verified; you can't distort the facts for the sake of sales."

......

The meeting lasted for two hours.

After the meeting, Chen Guohua, the newspaper editor-in-chief, Lin Wei, the entertainment editor-in-chief, and Zhou Qiming, the novel editor-in-chief, who had been appointed by Li Jiangbo at the meeting, all approached Li Jiangbo.

Chen Guohua frowned and said, "Boss, I agree with your principles. But the reality is, the best-selling books right now are still tabloids..."

Lin Wei, standing next to her, nodded in agreement, "Editor-in-Chief Chen is right. I'm in charge of entertainment. The boss is also in the entertainment industry and knows what the entertainment section sells."

Li Jiangbo laughed and explained, "I didn't say we can't gossip! But we must be objective and fair in reporting every event, and we must also have our own bottom line. As long as everything we report is based on solid evidence, the newspaper's credibility will naturally increase."

"Solid evidence?" This term is quite novel. Although I had never heard it before, those who are skilled in writing immediately understood what Li Jiangbo meant.

After thinking for a moment, the two nodded. "Boss, we understand."

Zhou Qiming, who was standing to the side, finally spoke up: "Boss, most of the well-known writers in Hong Kong now have their own affiliated newspapers. If we want to poach them, it will probably cost us a lot of money."

Li Jiangbo laughed and said, "It's alright, you guys help out with the other subsidiary journals first. I'll make arrangements for you after the New Year."

Zhou Qiming nodded helplessly, "I understand, boss."

In fact, Li Jiangbo's organization of this story newspaper had a deeper meaning; he planned to solicit articles from the mainland to overwhelm these Hong Kong writers.

He wanted to use this method to tell those Hong Kong intellectuals that not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry can become a writer!

Here, we're specifically calling out Ni Kuang. In reality, he was a fugitive in mainland China. To keep warm, he stole wood from a bridge, and a passing tractor fell into the river that day, killing the tractor driver instantly.

Hearing that he was going to be investigated, he forged official seals and documents, fled back to Shanghai, and spent 450 yuan to be smuggled to Hong Kong by a human trafficker.

Looking back on his life, he was nothing more than a criminal who had a crooked backside.

No, he also had a son with questionable character.

Li Jiangbo gets annoyed just thinking about Ni Zhen. He's a complete scumbag. He married Hong Kong's "Jade Girl" Vivian Chow and also pursued Li Jiaxin and Chen Farong. He's also had numerous scandals with female celebrities.

He may not have the life of a tycoon, but he has the womanizing ways of one. Only someone with Zhou Huimin's personality could tolerate Ni Zhen.

Li Jiangbo has been in this world for a year now, and the company has been established for almost half a year. It's time to organize a company annual meeting.

Having transmigrated from another era, he was adept at using such methods.

In this day and age, most companies in Hong Kong hardly have the concept of an annual meeting.

He wanted to use this advanced collective ceremony to tell his employees that following the boss would bring them rewards.

This time, he planned to invite everyone who worked with him, such as the bodyguards from the mainland, Zhao Dong who helped him with the glass business, and the employees of the three newspapers he had just acquired.

Well, all things considered, booking a room probably isn't feasible.

He needs to rent an exhibition hall at the Peninsula Hotel to give everyone some perks, paint a rosy picture... no, I mean, plan for next year.

A plan is something that can be achieved; something that cannot be achieved is just wishful thinking.